A Load of Shit by John Berger

I bought this on Saturday from a Radical Book Fair in Goldsmith’s, and though it is definitely a pamphlet and though my comments upon it are doomed to solely be “notes”, I’m not including this in my “notes on a radical pamphlet” series, because I don’t consider this to be radical, though it is a pamphlet, and Berger probably does approach a radical perspective in other writing.

(This text includes a brief critique of “elites”, which – in a piece originally published in fucking Harper’s about emptying the cess pit from your rural pile by a fucking famous fucking public intellectual – comes across as misguided (or there’s context I’m missing, e.g. I’m meant to presume that because Berger has to empty and bury the poo from his own cesspit that he can’t be that elite – he’s just like me, normal people, who have land but don’t have servants, right? Right? Cuz we all have land but no servants???)

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This pamphlet was published by Eris Press, and it’s a lovely little edition. Crisp. Physical. Tidy.

I wish I’d found this piece of writing when I was putting together my Poo Anthology a couple of years ago, it would have fitted in!

It’s a witty piece, where Berger explores the metaphors of shit, and its global cultural importance… How “shit!” is an expressive curse in most languages, how only those with servants want to pretend shit doesn’t exist, how it’s important, how it’s funny, how it’s central, how it’s life.

A nice little piece. A very nice little piece. But it’s short and this is all you’re getting on it from me. I’ve got laundry to hang and a holiday to pack for!

More details on the Eris Press website here

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scott manley hadley aka SOLID BALD live

Here’s a video of me recently performing at the prestigious (it has a Wikipedia page) comedy night, Quantum Leopard. Listen to how much fun the crowd is having. You could have that much fun, too!

Forthcoming gigs include the following – there may/will be others:

18th February 2026, 7.30pm: Laughable, Wanstead Library

26th February 2026: Mirth Control, Bexhill-on-Sea

12th March 2025: BALD PERSONALITY DISORDER 30 MIN WIP at Glasgow International Comedy Festival

26th March 2026, 7.30pm: Comedy @ Cosmic, Plymouth

May 2026: BALD PERSONALITY DISORDER FULL LENGTH WIP at the BRIGHTON FRINGE