Ivo Mosley

Ivo Adam Rex Mosley (born 1951) is a British writer. His career has encompassed ceramics, poetry, social commentary, opera and musical theatre. His focus of the last few years is on works of non-fiction relating to politics and monetary reform.

Early life, family and education

Born in London in 1951, the son of writer Nicholas Mosley, and grandson of politician Oswald Mosley, Ivo Mosley went to Bryanston School before studying Japanese at New College, Oxford.^[1] In 2007 he also completed an MA in musical theatre at Goldsmiths College, London.^{[citation needed]}

In 1977 he married the artist Xanthe Oppenheimer.^{[citation needed]}

Ceramics

Whilst studying, Mosley became fascinated by Japanese pottery and porcelain. On completing his degree in 1972, he purchased a kiln and started making pots. Based in London, this was his career until 1987,^[2] and he became known for his bold use of colour and the development of new glazing techniques.^[3][4] Not unlike other Oxbridge educated ceramicists such as Edmund de Waal, Mosley combined pottery with writing; he was asked to write articles on his techniques of firing and glazing, and had an ongoing project translating Japanese poetry.^[5]

Mosley's ceramics have been exhibited at The National Theatre, Liberty of London and elsewhere and sold through Designers Guild.

Poetry

His Japanese studies inspired Mosley with a profound interest in Japanese poetry. On graduating he began translating the waka poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro's work for The Dublin Magazine then under the editorship of John Ryan.

In 1993 Frontier Publishing published his The Green Book of Poetry, a poetry anthology of over 300 poems from around the world, originally written in 30 different languages in defence of nature.^[6] Mosley provided commentary and many translations, but the poets most heavily featured are the Australian ecopoet Judith Wright, and Brendan Kennelly, who once said "Poetry is the ultimate democracy".^[7] In 1996 Harper SanFrancisco re-published the anthology as Earth Poems: Poems from Around the World to Honor the Earth, updated and including eighty new and contemporary poems and commentary.^[8] Mosley's own original poems have been featured in journals and national newspapers.^[9] In 1999 he was appointed Poetry Editor at the Journal of Consciousness Studies.^[10]

Writing

In 2000, Mosley's first work of non-fiction, Dumbing Down, a collection of essays and interviews on the concept of dumbing down, was published on Imprint Academic.^[11][12][13] Contributors to the publication include Michael Oakshott, Ravi Shankar, Phillip Rieff, Robert Brustein, Roger Deakin, Adam Boulton, Peter Randall-Page, Claire Fox, John Ziman and Jaron Lanier.

He followed this in 2003 with Democracy, Fascism and the New World Order,^[14] and a second book about democracy, In The Name of the People published by Imprint Academic in 2013.^[15][16][17] In this book Mosley clarifies the distinction between representative government and rule by the people, along with the former's dangers, citing works such as The History of the Origins of Representative Government (1821/22) by François Guizot, later prime minister of France. The long chapter How Debt Came to Rule the World charges elected representative governments with betraying the people by allowing banks to create the money supply, recommends Bank Credit by C.A. Phillips (1920) as the clearest extant explanation of the current international banking system, and quotes heavily from Henry Calvert Simons' Economic Policy for a Free Society (University of Chicago Press, 1951).

Mosley's most recent book, Bank Robbery, has been serialised on two monetary reform websites, The Cobden Centre,^[18] and Positive Money.^[19]

Ivo Mosley has been a vocal critic of the fascist politics of his grandfather Oswald Mosley, often commenting publicly on the "evil legacy" of fascism.^[20] As a journalist he has written widely and internationally on topics including democracy, religion, multiculturalism, science, and economics.^[21][22][23]

Mosley has also written articles for national newspapers, including the Telegraph, the Catholic Herald, Resurgence, and the Times Higher Education Supplement, mostly reviewing works of non-fiction.^[24][25]

Opera and Theatre

Since the late 1990s, Mosley has written a number of pieces for theatre, film and opera including ‘Danny’s Dream’ (1st performance: Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, 1998) ‘Science’ (Bridewell Theatre, London 2002),^{[citation needed]} and ‘The London Women’s Buskers Orchestra Meet for the End of the World’ (Battersea Arts Centre, 2008). Personal Justice is a short thriller film (2005) which Mosley wrote and scored. Mad King Suibhne, an opera for which he wrote the libretto, was produced by Bury Court Opera and had its first performance in 2017 at Messum's Wiltshire.^[26][27][28]

References

1. "Present Company". Vogue. UK: Conde Nast. April 1984. p. 208.
2. Shulman, Alexandra (1985). "U Can Make It If You Try". Tatler. UK: Conde Nast. p. 87.
3. Van der Post, Lucia (19 May 1984). "Expressions on a Plate". Financial Times. UK.
4. Rice, Paul (2002). British Studio Ceramics. UK: The Crowood Press Ltd. p. 237. ISBN 978-1861265296.
5. Mosley, Ivo (August–September 1985). "Once-fired Coloured Stoneware". Ceramic Review. UK: Craft Potters Association of Great Britain. pp. 29–31.
6. "Review by Septimus Waugh in Literary Review". Ivo Mosley. November 1993.
7. "Brendan Kennelly". Poetry Archive.
8. Preston, Jane. "The Language of Conservation" (PDF). Poetshouse. p. 199.
9. Mosley, Ivo (12 March 1999). "The Daily Poem (Machines, after Rilke)". Daily Express. UK. p. 33.
10. "JCS Editorial Board".
11. McCrum, Robert (12 March 2000). "Raised Highbrows". Books. The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
12. Coupe, Lawrence (November 2000). "The Moronic Inferno". PN Review 136.
13. Day, Gary (30 June 2000). "No Marx for young Mosley". Times Higher Education.
14. Ingram, Edward (2004). "Democracy, Fascism and the New World Order". Philosophy Now. No. 46.
15. O'Brien, Cynthia-Marie (10 March 2013). "This is What Democracy Looks Like: PW Talks with Ivo Mosley". Publishers Weekly. USA. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
16. "Media Spotlight:In the Name of the People by Ivo Mosley". Mortgage Strategy. 1 April 2013.
17. Onwuneme, Gloria (February 2013). "In the Name of the People". The Bookbag.
18. "Bank Robbery: Chapter Nine: Reform". The Cobden Centre. 22 May 2019.
19. "Bank Money: How to change the system". Positive Money. 22 June 2017.
20. Mosley, Ivo (9 April 2006). "Evil people are just too tedious to take seriously". The Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
21. Mosley, Ivo (7 April 2000). "Who will protect us from these dangerous scientists?". The Independent. UK. p. 27.
22. Mosley, Ivo (22 May 2013). "Council Democracy - reform must begin with the local". Open Democracy.
23. Mosley, Ivo (21 November 2014). "Anti-Semitism and Banking". The Budapest Times.
24. Mosley, Ivo (21 May 2004). "Pollyanna glosses over world's savage reality". Politics. The Times Higher Education Supplement. UK. p. 23.
25. "An Interview with Peter Randall-Page". Resurgence. No. 229 The Spiritual Imperative. March–April 2005.
26. "Birthday Double Bill: Bury Court Opera Celebrates with a New Piece". Planet Hugill. 13 March 2017.
27. Dunnett, Roderick (May 2017). "Review of Mad King Suibhne in Opera Now". Bury Court Opera.
28. "Performance: Mad King Suibhne". Messum's Wiltshire.