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Dr Mark Dooley

Philosopher, Journalist, Broadcaster

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That we choose music and wine to wrap a halo around the day is not arbitrary. Both root us to time and place, to the soil and the soul. Both force us to focus on the higher life.

That we choose music and wine to wrap a halo around the day is not arbitrary. Both root us to time and place, to the soil and the soul. Both force us to focus on the higher life.

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← I will always remember the little things: Dr O’Donoghue’s warm smile, his firm handshake and polished shoes; FitzGerald’s untamed hair, the coat that had seen too many campaigns and his infectious energy. I recall being shocked at how small Haughey was but how he held himself high with grace and poise. To most people, such things seemed unimportant. To me, however, they revealed much more about those figures than anything they did on the political stage. All of which is to say that we should keep an eye out for the little things. In losing sight of those, we lose sight of everything. St Paul tells us that, in becoming a man, he gave up ‘childish things’. Growing up demands leaving behind our childish ways but it does not mean severing all ties to that world of simplicity and wonder. Through our toys, we can peer back beyond the years to a time when sweet comfort was found in ‘childish things’. →
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Latest Book

Against the Tide is the definitive edition of the late Sir Roger Scruton's philosophical and political essays and reviews, now collected in one volume edited by Mark Dooley, Scruton's Literary Executor.  Right up until the last essay in this book ('My Year 2019'), Scruton proves himself to be at his most scintillating and controversial. He writes with passion and conviction about such varied topics as feminism, racism, fascism, Tony Blair and Donald Trump. In all cases he takes aim at those who defy conservative common sense in favour of liberal falsehoods. But with polymathic intelligence, he also writes of Michel Foucault, Male Domination, The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Monumental Egos and The Trump of Nothingness.  This book shows Scruton at his most brilliant and demonstrates how his influence will remain strong and will last. Like Christopher Hitchens' final collection And Yet, this new collection shows a writer at the height of his intellectual powers whose works will provide a philosophical legacy for many years to come. 

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