The weather in Newcastle has been extraordinary. We fully enjoy living in a lush, warm and sunny place, so unlike our first impression when visiting last September. And Keele is still inspiring to me, despite upcoming cuts that will severely damage the Centre for Professional Ethics, to the detriment of this one time philosophically oriented university.

This month started in Bowling Green, Ohio, were I attended a workshop on Paternalism – first time ever surrounded by fellow paternalism scholars. Very inspiring.

By the middle of the month I was in Cheltenham, presenting a paper on voluntariness in live role-playing games. I have made the observation that when you are immersed in a shared secondary reality that is very fragile and can be interrupted by a simple unsuitable remark, it is rather impossible to evaluate what your in-game consent amounts to – it could signal that you are ok with the development of the game, but it could also signal that you strongly disagree with the development but find no believable way to say so in-game. This compromises the possibility to ensure voluntariness in-game and raises questions of what responsibility gamers have to one another.

The month ended in Sweden, where I met me fellow philosopher missionaries of Filosofigruppen Sherpa and recorded a few programs for Swedish national radio – Tankar för dagen in P1. Or it just about finished in Sweden, I saw students gathering in Uppsala for the Valborg celebration as I boarded my train to Arlanda, flying home to my little family.

In between these events and preparing for them (and reviewing a book and doing my taxes), I am sure I got some research done but cannot point to anything concrete, except the outline for a book on Paternalism.