72 out 1001 things to Bang On About – out today!

There are at least 1001 things worth banging on about. Here are 72 of them.

Why do bosses sometimes behave as if they’re your parents? What exactly is the point of school? Why does everybody want to “unlock” everybody else’s potential? What happens when arts workshops go horribly wrong? And why are institutions so extraordinarily good at making perfectly simple things complicated?

For more than a decade, writer, educator and cultural troublemaker I’ve been banging on about the things that fascinate, amuse, irritate and occasionally infuriate me.

1001 Things to Bang On About gathers 72 of those short pieces into one gloriously miscellaneous collection.

Education and creativity rub shoulders with terrible management. Cultural policy encounters Monty Python logic. There are travels, open letters, imaginary films, organisational absurdities, encounters with bureaucracy and observations on the peculiar ways human beings behave when they organise themselves into schools, businesses, committees and cultural institutions.

Some pieces are thoughtful. Some argumentative. Some distinctly silly.

All are designed to be dipped into.

Read one on the train. Three over coffee. Ten when you can’t sleep. Start at the beginning, open it in the middle or work backwards if you like.

There is no examination at the end.

Funny, provocative and occasionally exasperated, this is a book for anyone who has ever looked at the world and thought: “And another thing…”