The Cambridge Analytica Scandal, part 2: biopower

In Part 1 of this two-part series, I looked at the Cambridge Analytica ‘scandal’, seeing how a corporation with knowledge of a population’s ‘hobby-horses’, could steer, with targeted social media posts, enough people to get the vote they wanted. I argued that the ‘scandal’ was not, as was presented by some, about Facebook stealing our data. I suggested it is about what Michel Foucault called ‘biopower’. In part 2, I explain what that means and then go on about the smoking ban a bit.

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Some Books I read in 2016

As 2016 draws to a close, I thought I’d mention some of the books I read this year. I tend to have three things on the go at once: prose, poetry and non-fiction – so the selections come from each of those sections, although two of the writers transcend those boundaries.

Prose:

Lux the Poet  – Martin Miller, 1998. (Thanks Jan.)