Dominic Cummings has made some very interesting positive comments about Rupert Lowe, in stark contrast to his verdicts on Farage and ‘Kemi-kasi’.

But does this amount to an endorsement, as some have claimed?

I examine that question in this new video, so have a watch below.

And for something more lighthearted afterwards, I also looked at the Star Wars meme that’s going viral, and why Zoomers relate so much to Anakin Skywalker. That one is here.

Cheers,
Nick

I recently wrote some rather scathing comments over on my books page about Haruki Murakami’s novel, A Wild Sheep Chase, which I would now like to revise, having finished reading the book for a second time.

I first read it in January 2004. I am able to give you the month and year because I have just checked my old lists, which I titled ‘Stuff Nick Has Read’ and dutifully recorded on Cambridge A4 lined paper. Why I made these lists is another story, possibly one without a real resolution, like most of Murakami’s work. But why I consulted it just now is much easier to say. Though, again like some of Murakami’s work, I warn you it does get quite dark.

Upon rereading A Wild Sheep Chase, I found that it got much better as it went on, and felt bad that I had unfairly dismissed it. The first part seemed too much like Murakami’s first two novels, which are genuinely poor, as even Murakami admits. But towards the middle the book does actually get going, for those earnest enough to stick with it.

It’s not unprecedented for a writer to find their voice with their third novel (see Saul Bellow’s The Adventures of Augie March), or to suddenly find it in the middle of the book (try Thomas Bernhard’s Gargoyles). What was surprising to me was not any of this, but how little I remembered from the last time I’d read it.

Often when rereading novels I remember certain lines verbatim, and much else besides. However, with this I remembered virtually nothing, except one particular character, and the odd inclusion of an illustration.

What surprised me even more, however—and here I have to give a major spoiler—is that I had forgotten the suicide in the novel.

Anyone who has read Murakami knows that suicide is an obsessive theme for him, occurring somewhere in virtually all of his fiction. But when I first read A Wild Sheep Chase, I didn’t know anyone who had taken this particular path out of life. Now I do. This is why I went to my old notes to check. I realised I must have read the book just before my cousin’s suicide, which happened in autumn 2004.

I will always remember getting that call from my dad. I was at York University in my halls of residence, listening to the Tom Waits album Real Gone. Strangely the track playing was ‘Sins of My Father’. I was worried as soon as I heard my dad’s voice. It was always my mum who called, passing the phone to my dad after a few minutes. So my dad making the call himself meant bad news. That’s how it works in my family. My mum does most of the communication work, but my dad gets the really hard jobs.

Nothing was ever the same after that call. I still have dreams of my cousin to this day, and he always remains seventeen years old. In the dreams I am aware that he can’t really be there, yet somehow he is.

Had I read Murakami’s novel a few months later, presumably its tragic theme would have made a significant impression on me. But I was still a few months away from experiencing this particular form of pain, so it bounced right off.

Which brings me to the question: do books change with us? I suppose I have already answered that they do.

There are, it seems, several different version of A Wild Sheep Chase. The one I first read when I was not exactly a callow youth, because two friends had already died, but certainly before I was acquainted with this form of loss. Then the one I have just read now. And yet because I had read it all those years ago but not remembered a key incident, the experience hit harder than the other Murakami novels I’ve read this year, even those that heavily feature suicide. So perhaps the very act of rereading also makes it a different book than if I’d read it now for the first time.

I don’t know why this is exactly. It may be the way the incident occurs in this particular book (which I’m being slightly vague about so as not to entirely spoil it for you) or it may be something about the fact that I had read the book before, but forgotten this part. Perhaps I was caught unawares. Though the other novels were completely new to me, so that doesn’t really make sense—like so many things to do with Murakami, and indeed with my life.

Had I not read his prior two novels first this time, I presume the experience would also have been different.

This all suggests there are infinite versions of a book, depending on who we are at the time of reading. Here I suspect I am straying dangerously close to some sort of annoying postmodern theory I’ve also managed to forget since studying English literature. Oh well, it can’t be helped.

It is relatively common, I suppose, to enjoy a book the first time and find it not as good upon rereading. This has certainly happened to me with books and films that seemed to mean a lot more when I was young. But I imagine it’s much rarer to feel a particular book is not very good, then find it much better the second time, if only because it would take a real eccentric to reread something they hated. By apparently being the kind of nutter to do just such a thing, I have chanced upon a profound or at least somewhat interesting, if painful, experience.

I have just checked my old notes again and am surprised to see that the book I read immediately before A Wild Sheep Chase was The Adventures of Augie March. Did I unconsciously know that when I mentioned it just now? I thought I was just grasping for an example of a third novel stylistic departure. Was that why I read these two books in that order in the first place? I don’t think so, as I don’t think I even knew it was Murakami’s third novel. But can I trust my memory anymore, after failing to remember so much about this book?

Again like Murakami, the questions pile up, but the answers seldom come.

As you may have noticed, I am a fan of C.S. Lewis. So today I am ranking every C.S. Lewis book.

It’s a bit of fun but hopefully you will also learn something. Yes, we are laughing and learning.

I cover Lewis’s fiction, like the Ransom trilogy and The Great Divorce, his Christian apologetics, and his philosophical works.

Along the way I offer summaries and factoids that only true Lewis obsessives know.

Check out the video below.

Cheers,
Nick

C.S. Lewis said Till We Have Faces was his best book.

This strange, beautiful retelling of Cupid and Psyche is the story of Orual, a queen who veils her face and puts the gods themselves on trial for injustice.

In this video I look at the main themes of the novel, including the dangers of possessive love, why we might find it easier to deny faith, and the limits of reason.

I also consider the influence of Lewis’s wife, Joy Davidman, and why Lewis said this was his favourite.

Hopefully I’ll have more political content soon, when I’m feeling up to it. For now I hope you won’t mind me sharing these book videos, especially Lewis, who is always relevant to our current problems.

Watch the video below.

Best,
Nick

Did J. R. R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis really fall out? Today I look at the most famous literary friendship of the 20th century, and what broke it.

Tolkien and Lewis met at Oxford, became close friends, and helped each other become better writers. But by the 1950s the friendship had cooled.

In this video I go through what actually happened, including Tolkien’s problems with Narnia and Lewis’s layman theology, the deeper Catholic versus Ulster Protestant tensions, Lewis’s intense friendship with Charles Williams, and Tolkien’s disapproval of Lewis’s marriage to Joy Davidman.

I also cover the positives: how Lewis urged Tolkien to finish The Lord of the Rings, their shared love of myth, and why their mutual respect remained till the end.

Lots of people get this wrong, so I go into detail and extract the facts, with reference to a wide range of sources. You simply will not find this level of autism elsewhere.

Even though this is largely a political page, I believe many followers may be interested in this topic, so check out the video below.

Best,
Nick

I just interviewed of Write Conscious about the state of literature, and it was a banger.

Although the video is on my books channel, I hope you won’t mind a bit of cross-promotion on this one, as we touched on many themes that I think will interest followers of this Substack page.

We cover:
-Whether literature is dead, and if so can it be resurrected?
-What both political sides get wrong about literature
-Is there hope for mainstream publishing, or should writers turn to self-publishing or Substack?
-Is it still possible to write ‘transformative’ literature?
-Why MFA courses are so dangerous
-The masculinity crisis in reading
-What happened to the experimental writing of the postwar era?
-What is a ‘logic bro’?
And much more!

Check out the video below, or go to my books page here for the audio version.

Many thanks,
Nick

Dixon Cox is back.

This week:
-As France burns, we look at the causes and whether it will happen here
-The French woman who supported the leftist movement, only for it to destroy her own shop
-Reform UK say they’ll sue ITV following the undercover documentary

Sign up now to watch the full episode, exclusively on nickdixon.net

By becoming a paid subscriber, you get full versions of all Dixon Cox episodes, my entire archive of guest interviews (never released in full anywhere else), and all my articles. Plus you can comment on all posts and join my private chat group.

Sign up for £5 a month, or just over £4 with the yearly option. As ever, I can only keep doing this with your help, so please consider subscribing today.

Many thanks,
Nick

Read more

The argument about whether Restore Britain is ‘splitting the vote’ has intensified in recent days.

As such, I have made a new video addressing this question, and why the vote-splitting accusation is a losing strategy.

Listen in the audio player or watch below.

Cheers,
Nick

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Dear Legends,

I have made a new video on Dominic Cummings' latest truth bombs about the state of our state, including the claim that the UK's own government and civil service is more dangerous to us than Putin.

Addressing a House of Lords committee, Cummings went into detail on the catastrophe that is the ECHR, lawfare against our Special Forces, and where it all went wrong for our Civil Service (1854).

I have selected the most interesting parts and added my commentary. I have also provided an audio version for subscribers only. Otherwise check out the video below.

Thanks,
Nick

Read more

Dixon Cox is back.

This week:
-We unpack Andy Burnham’s comments on Russian involvement in Brexit
-What was the nature of Burnham’s relationship with the owners of Man City?
-Would Labour really want to rejoin a Europe that is becoming more right wing?
-Burnham rules out working with the Greens whilst their ‘Zionism is racism’ stance remains in place
-Kemi picks a fight with Farage over Chagos, and is rebuked by US officials
-Why are the Tories going for Lib Dem voters rather than the much larger Reform-voting cohort?

Sign up now to watch the full episode, exclusively on nickdixon.net

By becoming a paid subscriber, you get full versions of all Dixon Cox episodes, my entire archive of guest interviews (never released in full anywhere else), and all my articles. Plus you can comment on all posts and join my private chat group.

Sign up for £5 a month, or just over £4 with the yearly option. As ever, I can only keep doing this with your help, so please consider subscribing today.

Many thanks,
Nick

Read more

Many people (on many sides) are questioning whether Anne Carson deserved to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In this new video I ask whether she is actually any good, compare traditional forms of poetry to contemporary work, and give my pick for the rightful Nobel winner.

I can’t say more as I’m in a rush, but watch the video below and look forward to a new podcast tomorrow on Burnham’s latest nonsense.

Cheers,
Nick

The Screwtape Letters is one of C.S. Lewis’s most enduring and prophetic works.

Adopting the voice of the demon Screwtape, Lewis predicts everything from virtue signalling, to porn addiction.

He also shows us the folly of political utopianism, and, as is typical of Lewis’s oeuvre, exposes how the modern world has dispensed with truth and reason in favour of fashionable ideas and materialism.

At the personal level, we are implicitly warned (by taking the opposite view to the evil Screwtape) of how an obsessive focus on the future causes anxiety, and how the pleasures, though divine in origin, can be corrupted and perverted.

Lewis also makes it clear that our thirst for novelty and concerns about social status are further avenues for evil to exploit.

Watch my new video breakdown of this surprising classic below.

Dixon Cox is back.

This week:
-Kemi Badenoch’s conference speech is praised for its ‘antiracism’
-Badenoch says Tory ministers ‘didn’t notice’ mass migration
-Tim Stanley is thrilled that the British are being replaced
-Jacob Rees-Mogg says economic migrants are conservative
-Kemi plans to create a new ‘Iron Dome’ for Britain, but doesn’t know what it is
-Tories pledge to scrap inheritance tax on family homes
-Reform to take ‘aggressive legal action’ against the undercover documentary makers

Sign up now to watch the full episode, exclusively on nickdixon.net

By becoming a paid subscriber, you get full versions of all Dixon Cox episodes, my entire archive of guest interviews (never released in full anywhere else), and all my articles. Plus you can comment on all posts and join my private chat group.

Sign up for £5 a month, or just over £4 with the yearly option. As ever, I can only keep doing this with your help, so please consider subscribing today.

Many thanks,
Nick

Read more

Tucker Carlson just debated Jacob Rees-Mogg on his show, and unsurprisingly it has gone viral.

The wider significance here is the clash of values on the right of politics, particularly in the US, but also in Britain.

To some Tucker is a Putin apologist who has lost his mind, while to others he is a brave maverick who has boldly broken with the neocon establishment he formerly endorsed.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has recently come out with some unpopular opinions on war and the nature of Englishness, but many are praising him for his cool and precise arguments in this debate.

Here I break down some of the key points made by both, with my typical dispassionate approach, and say who I think ultimately won the debate.

Watch below.

Thanks,
Nick

The latest escalation in anarcho-tyranny and the war against the British people is here.

149 migrants have been allowed to land at Gosport, and given the usual special treatment, whilst locals were force to disperse under a Section 34 order.

I cover this insanity in my new video, including why I don’t think it’s good enough for the police to say they are just following orders.

Watch below.

Thanks,
Nick

Suella Braverman has been put through a struggle session on Question Time for saying she is not English.

Why has simple statement caused so many people to freak out, and why does the question of English identity keep resurfacing?

Furthermore, why does Jacob Rees-Mogg end up coming to the same conclusion as leftist Oli Dugmore?

I look at all this and more in my new video, so check it out below.

Cheers,
Nick

New podcast with your old pal ND.

This week:
-Andy Burnham’s anti-Thatcher speech gets Labour all excited
-Burnham opens a very wide door to rejoining the EU, after only just ruling it out
-A Labour MP claims the English countryside never existed
-A new report documents the mental health impact of cancel culture

Sign up now to watch the full episode, exclusively on nickdixon.net

By becoming a paid subscriber, you get full versions of all my podcasts, including access to my entire archive of guest interviews (never released in full anywhere else), and all my articles. Plus you can comment on all posts and join my private chat group.

Sign up for £5 a month, or just over £4 with the yearly option. As ever, I can only keep doing this with your help, so please consider subscribing today.

Many thanks,
Nick

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Something a bit different today, as I’m joined by to discuss Bret Easton Ellis’s book The Shards, and various related literary topics.

We rate the book vs the TV show, and talk about the death of the ‘monoculture’, the nature of nostalgia, unreliable narrators, and much more.

Anyone on this page will know that any conversation with Simon is worth your time, so I will not sell it further and simply direct you to listen or watch (both options have been provided).

Best,
Nick

Andy Burnham, who incredibly is our prime minister, has ruled out an early general election.

But is he telling the truth? And if so, is it the right move?

There are dangers to him waiting, and different dangers if he goes for it now.

I weigh up the pros and cons in this new video, so check it out below.

Many thanks,
Nick

With several big new MRP polls showing Reform UK’s projected vote collapsing, I decided to dig deeper into the numbers.

I look at how MRP modelling actually works, whether we can trust the results, and what it means for Reform if we can.

I also discuss what the coalition government would look like if these models prove correct, where this leaves Labour, and whether the Tories have actually had a Kemi bounce.

Plus there’s the question of where Restore Britain fit into all this. Rupert Lowe is claiming the results as a victory, yet the party’s vote currently looks spread too thin across the country to make a difference (a problem shared to some extent by Reform).

There is quite a lot of detail in this video that I believe will be of interest so please watch it below.

Cheers,
Nick