Pat Kane is a Glasgow native and the Director of The Play Ethic. He had been exploring this subject in journalism since 1996 - observing the twin developments of the rise of the internet and the rise of New Labour, and wondering how the “new work ethic” promised by Blair and Brown would sit with the “playful interactions” afforded by digital culture. His work culminated in the book The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living (2004). He has brought his playful thoughts into the world of commercial, organisational and even political consultancy. Pat was invited to become a Demos Associate in 2000; he was also appointed Visiting Fellow in the School of Management at York University, and became Britain's first-ever 'thinker in residence' at the Bristol Festival of Ideas in 2005. Pat has regularly appeared on Scottish and UK media (Channel Four to Radio Four). He was the presenter and journalist on two BBC Radio Scotland arts and ideas series based in America, and was awarded a 1996 UK Sony Radio Award (Bronze) for Radio Journalism on “Dollar Signs” (1996). He has written for Scotland on Sunday, The Guardian, New Statesman, and Marxism Today, among many other publications. Pat began a weekly op-ed column with the Herald newspaper in Glasgow in 1991, which continued (with a two year break) until the late nineties, exploring politics, culture and technology in Scotland, the UK and globally. Much of this is gathered in Pat's first book, Tinsel Show: Pop, Politics, Scotland (Polygon, 1992). Pat is also a musician with his brother, Gregory, in the band Hue And Cry.
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