Andrew Wilton

United Kingdom

Contributor at Reaction

Articles

Stop and Look: Portrait of Francis Williams

6 days ago | reaction.life | Andrew Wilton

Francis Williams was an eighteenth-century Jamaican whose parents were freed slaves. He was educated in England, and took English nationality. He was a poet, a thinker, and also exceptionally learned in matters scientific. He attended at least one meeting of the Royal Society, and was on intimate terms with some of the great minds of the age.
Family-owned business evicted to make way for corporate competitor

1 week ago | thesarniajournal.ca | Andrew Wilton

Cash & Carry Feed Bin, a staple of the Petrolia community for over 30 years, has been served a sudden eviction notice, to make way for a corporate competitor. The local, independent retailer of pet and agricultural supplies was given 30 days notice at the end of March to vacate their location. Two neighbouring businesses in the same plaza, Petrolia Foot Clinic and Digital Ink Graphics and Printing received identical eviction notices.
Stop and Look: Man Reading a Newspaper by Russell Drysdale

1 week ago | reaction.life | Andrew Wilton

Drysdale’s view of Australia is bleak: his streets are empty, his people glum. His scenes are often without charm, but his view of the place here is of course not a literal transcription. It's a fantasy of the modern world, in which life is almost lost in meaningless devastation; the single figure incongruously pursuing a commonplace activity in a landscape from which all signs of normality have been expunged.
Word Watch: As

3 weeks ago | reaction.life | Andrew Wilton

“I am as intelligent as you”. Here’s a formulation that has begun to invade a completely different construction, of the type “Much as I should like to come, I’m afraid I am otherwise engaged”. Now we find that the first “as” from the other phrase can be found in sentences that do not require it: “As painful as the David Blaine endurance ordeal must be for him …” (Daily Telegraph leader, 15 September 2003).
Word Watch: Disrupt

1 month ago | reaction.life | Andrew Wilton

“Creative Debuts is a platform on a mission to disrupt and democratise the art world. They focus on championing artists from marginalised communities and provide a wide range of services” – announcement by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, November 2024. Fascinating how “disrupt” has become a term of generalised commendation.
Stop and Look: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Picasso

2 months ago | reaction.life | Andrew Wilton

A vast literature has grown up round this famous painting. It is indeed enigmatic, not to say incomprehensible, and was much more so when it was painted at the very start of the twentieth century. From our standpoint a hundred or more years later, we can perhaps assess it more coolly. Its first title was “A Brothel in Avignon” and, unbelievably, it has been seen as an erotic work.
Bill Dennis barred from City Hall

2 months ago | thespec.com | Andrew Wilton

Councillor Bill Dennis has been barred from City Hall, except in limited circumstances, and can only attend Council meetings virtually. After several months, the independent investigation into Councillor Bill Dennis’s conduct in response to a workplace violence and harassment complaint, filed with the city in the spring of last year, has concluded. At a special meeting, January 27, Sarnia City Council held a closed session to review and respond to the findings.
Turner's genius for technology

2 months ago | engelsbergideas.com | Andrew Wilton

January 29, 2025 Andrew Wilton Themes: Art, Culture JMW Turner lived in an age of extraordinary mechanical advances. He was ever alive to the opportunities that new technologies afforded the arts. Like many successful artists, JMW Turner was alive to the importance of commercial reproductions in promoting his work.
Word Watch: It

Jan 24, 2025 | reaction.life | Andrew Wilton

"A hasty diagnosis [of ADHD] stops medics from making in-depth assessments and analysing properly what is happening in a child’s life – how they are being parented, for example" – The Spectator, 4 Jan 2025In this sentence, are you held up, as I was, by that pronoun, "they"? To what or whom does it refer? There is no plural to which it can possibly relate. But then "parented" gives us a clue. We’re talking of "a child".
Ontario community health sector faces staffing shortage

Jan 23, 2025 | thespec.com | Andrew Wilton

Ontario’s community health sector is coming together to draw attention to a growing wage gap causing unprecedented staffing shortages. Ten provincial associations representing 200,000 community workers have launched a campaign called For Us. For You. which is putting pressure on the Ontario government to find solutions for labour challenges in the community health sector.