Laurence Hitterdale,
Good to see you back. I enjoyed your essay, which, as always, portrays careful reasoning; in particular, focusing on 'time' as it is currently and often 'misconceived'. You note that "this unreality of time need not mean that time is absolutely nothing." Indeed!
Similarly to Georgina Parry, I believe we are consciously aware of the Now, while past and future are logically constructed in our brains, based on experiences, including measurements, that fundamentally support the practical use of our concept of time as 'flowing'. As you say, "we are wrong when we believe in a moving Now." It might be better (or not) to conceive of things "moving through" Now. In any case, there is motion, and [see my essay] I believe it is matter in motion that is sensed by consciousness, conceived as a field. As you say, "Passage is the basic feature not only of human temporal consciousness, but of human consciousness with all its qualities and relations."
As I implied above, the 'A-series attributes' such as past, being present, and future, are logical projections of order or sequence, at which our brains excel. Yet we are ever aware of the eternal Now, with its physically real content. Barbour abstracts time away, but we cannot ever get away from the motion.
You discuss "how consciousness adds passage to time", and say that "the subjective experience of temporal passage is not only pervasive; it is also irremovable."
My essay deals with subjective experience when neural patterns are perturbed, and lifelong learned patterns are temporarily subordinated to "unstructured" experience. I review reports which imply that 'learned' boundaries and ideas of separation, (so necessary for survival in a world that ever requires harnessing energy just to stay alive, hence manipulation of 'separate' entities) are dissolved, and the unity of all space and time are subjectively experienced as real. I do not equate this to the 'block' universe, but that is a metaphor for what is experienced.
In short, I do not focus on time, as such, but I do think my essay is relevant to your concerns.
It's always a pleasure to read your thinking.
Best regards
Edwin Eugene Klingman