On Being Especially Ordinary

When I was a young power station manager I had an American engineer from Tennessee as my deputy. He told me a story about Abraham Lincoln. I can’t count for its veracity but I will repeat it just the same. At a function Lincoln was approached by a woman who gushed, “Mr Lincoln it is […]

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Let’s Stand with Israel

It is now twelve months since Hamas terrorists perpetrated a huge atrocity against the people of Israel. The scale and the barbarity of this incursion is beyond the imagination of most civilised people. The abhorrent nature of the Islamist extremist perpetrators is highlighted at the joy they expressed at the killing of innocent citizens in […]

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Challenging Truth

Humankind has now a long history of development and learning. Today’s Western societies in particular have been blessed with benefits that have accrued from the accumulation of knowledge over many centuries. But learning has often been challenged by contrasting ideas that have had to be adjudicated and eventually resolved before adding to the compendium of […]

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On Human Freedom

One of the most compelling questions that philosophers, theologians, psychologists and even neuroscientists have struggled with is, “What is the nature of human freedom?” This is a profound and difficult question. I won’t pretend that I have the answer to it, but I would like to share some thoughts with you that might prove helpful […]

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On Being Especially Ordinary


When I was a young power station manager I had an American engineer from Tennessee as my deputy. He told me a story about Abraham Lincoln. I can’t count for its veracity but I will repeat it just the same. At a function Lincoln was approached by a woman who gushed, “Mr Lincoln it is […]

October 29, 2024

Let’s Stand with Israel


It is now twelve months since Hamas terrorists perpetrated a huge atrocity against the people of Israel. The scale and the barbarity of this incursion is beyond the imagination of most civilised people. The abhorrent nature of the Islamist extremist perpetrators is highlighted at the joy they expressed at the killing of innocent citizens in […]

October 16, 2024

Challenging Truth


Humankind has now a long history of development and learning. Today’s Western societies in particular have been blessed with benefits that have accrued from the accumulation of knowledge over many centuries. But learning has often been challenged by contrasting ideas that have had to be adjudicated and eventually resolved before adding to the compendium of […]

October 3, 2024

On Human Freedom


One of the most compelling questions that philosophers, theologians, psychologists and even neuroscientists have struggled with is, “What is the nature of human freedom?” This is a profound and difficult question. I won’t pretend that I have the answer to it, but I would like to share some thoughts with you that might prove helpful […]

September 26, 2024

On Waking Up


It is amazing how simple things often have a great impact on your life. More than thirty years ago, my HR manager, Roy Evans, told me he had come across a little book that he suggested I should read. The book was called Awareness. It is a verbatim record of lectures Anthony De Mello, a […]

September 8, 2024

Irreconcilable Differences


In Puccini’s famous opera, Tosca, there is a tenor aria titled Recondita Armonia which used to be sometimes translated as Strange Harmony of Contrasts. Even allowing for some artistic licence this seems a somewhat absurd proposition. Nevertheless, some differences are, in the scheme of things, trivial and should easily be reconciled. Such inherent differences that […]

August 25, 2024

Going for Gold!


Here we are in another Olympic year enjoying the spectacle of some of our most celebrated athletes (and performers as I will explain subsequently) competing for recognition on the world stage. There is no doubt that the Olympic Games is one of the more spectacular international events. But I, for one, have significants concerns about […]

August 4, 2024

How Islam is Strangling the West


As I write this essay the headlines are dominated by the resignation of Senator Fatima Payman from the Labor Party. No doubt Labor believed they had scored a cultural victory by recruiting a young Muslim woman to their ranks thus demonstrating their “woke” diversity credentials. In retrospect they might come to rue her appointment as […]

July 17, 2024

Desire and Attachment


  In the Four Noble Truths the Buddha reminds us that the origin of suffering is attachment. I am going to try and convince you of the truth of this assertion.   You might remember the quote from “A Course in Miracles” that I have referred to in previous essays:   I am affected only […]

July 12, 2024

Getting Behind the Façade of Renewable Energy


The case for renewable energy has been promulgated using disinformation and at best half-truths. Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese continue to run the line that that renewable energy, particularly solar and wind installations, are the cheapest forms of generation available. Now, largely because there are no fuel costs, at the point of generation, when this […]

June 23, 2024