Blog Archives
HOW COULD CLIMATE CHANGE FARM ANIMALS?
Animal Farm is a novel written by George Orwell on the cusp of peace in 1945. It satirises a new world of peace threatened by totalitarianism. He uses farm animals to portray, simply and honestly, the inhumanity and logical deficiencies of the incipient Soviet system.
Martin Knox has written a sequel, Animal Farm 2 (2021). The story is a new episode of the satire, with farm animals struggling under totalitarianism which continues after the end of the Cold War up to modern times. It updates us on a world that is adjusting to central control of responses to climate change and a new world without access to fossil fuels. The animals debate changes imposed on them, revealing science that has been faked. They want to revolt again, but will they be able to escape from rule by pigs this time?
Available on Amazon. For reviews see martinknox.com
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION SATIRISED
In the novel Animal Farm 2 by Martin Knox, George Orwell’s 1945 satire is brought up to date with recent events, after the revolution replaced the farmer with a series of autocratic pig presidents parodying Stalin to Yeltsin. When President Dimitri perpetuates his presidency, will the animals tolerate his campaign to restore an empire which crumbled in 1989? Or will they revolt again, to achieve the liberation the animals have wanted for so long?
Available on Amazon. Reviews: martinknox.com
ANIMAL FARM 2 – why a sequel?
It has been 75 years since George Orwell’s prescient satirical novel Animal Farm was published. A lot has happened since then: the Space Race; the Cold War; break up of the USSR; climate change; animal liberation; emergence of China as a superpower.
Totalitarianism has been rife, as Orwell warned. The animals are in the midst of these changes, their lives perilously affected by the manoeuvring of their pigs and the superpowers. They learn pidgin English and science, realising climate science is flawed and requiring different action. A satirical sequel continues what Orwell started, bringing it to a logical, unexpected and optimistic conclusion.
martinknox.com
WHAT IS A FAIR PRICE FOR OIL?
Dairy farmers get a price for milk that is held down by oligopsony, agreement between a small number of buyers for their product. For stability of supply, the price has to recompense investment. Oil exporting countries get a price for oil that is held down by oligopsony, agreement between major oil importing companies. For stability of supply, the price has to recompense investment and also anticipate the depletion of petroleum resources with oil supply running out. For example, a higher price could be demanded to fund diversification into agriculture. Oil has varied per barrel between $20 in 1997, $160 in 2008, and $60 today.
Is the ethical position of companies buying oil different from supermarkets buying milk? Who will provide for oil exporters to transition away from oil when it runs out?
Novel ‘$hort of Love’ is about love set in the international oil industry, with some relationship and oil supply dilemmas considered in a satirical commodity framework.
