Why do so many geopolitical analysts assume the most heavily resourced empire in human history operates through the incoherent decisions of a group of politicians? [Alternatively] that it operates via a flawless, omniscient Masterplan hatched in a single smoke-filled room? … Read More »
I’m sorry this is such a long letter. I didn’t have time to write a shorter one. Attributed to, amongst others, Mark Twain and Blaise Pascal Years ago a friend told me, I think he meant it as a compliment, … Read More »
Time and hindsight can bring the kind of clarity which, provided we take care to monitor and continually adjust our evolving understanding in light of new evidence duly reflected on, goes beyond the complacently self-serving. Looking back on over a … Read More »
A huge thank you for the many expressions of support and well wishing from across the world following my 15 night sentence at Sheffield’s Northern General, whose staff at every level I cannot praise too highly. I was released on … Read More »
And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon Gods they’d made. Paul Simon, The Sound of Silence A commodity appears a trivial thing easily understood but its analysis shows that it is in reality a queer thing, abounding in … Read More »
Cuckooing is when criminals take over someone’s home to use for dealing drugs, storing weapons, sex work or other illegal activities. They target vulnerable people: someone with a drug or alcohol problem, money troubles, a mental health issue or disability, … Read More »
Taken today, looking north towards the steel city from Meersbrook Park … … while yesterday I rode the escalator to the first floor of Atkinsons, a recent refurbishment of whose gents offers an eye-catching floor to ceiling photo-tryptich of the … Read More »
Lebanon’s rivers are more than lifelines. They lie at the heart of a long-standing struggle shaped by external ambition. From the Litani to the Wazzani, Israeli efforts to dominate regional water show that control over Lebanon’s water has been pursued … Read More »
Three years ago, almost to the day, I first saw the bluebells at Strelley. Yesterday I revisited with my friend Heather, she who on that prior occasion introduced me to this woodland haven bounded west, north and south by farmland, … Read More »
Two nights at the in-laws’ beautiful house in Keswick saw me on Derwentwater’s shores on a wet Good Friday. Here’s me looking southward across the bay beyond Friar’s Crag … … southwest from the same spot, into a Borrowdale I … Read More »