Our Woke Defence

I was astounded the other day to learn how the Government has set net zero emission targets for our defence forces. Our defence services are currently undermanned.(probably a politically incorrect word) and under provisioned. The government seems determined to hobble our defence capability. In an extraordinary display of wokeness it seems to believe it will […]

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Diversity and the Decline of the West

Post-modernism has thrown up considerable challenges for Western societies. More and more it demands that minorities are given voices which is undoubtedly, usually, a good thing. But we continually have to mediate between listening to minorities and maintaining the welfare of the majority, for after all in a liberal democracy decisions should be made on […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

Continue Reading

Our Woke Defence


I was astounded the other day to learn how the Government has set net zero emission targets for our defence forces. Our defence services are currently undermanned.(probably a politically incorrect word) and under provisioned. The government seems determined to hobble our defence capability. In an extraordinary display of wokeness it seems to believe it will […]

November 17, 2024

Diversity and the Decline of the West


Post-modernism has thrown up considerable challenges for Western societies. More and more it demands that minorities are given voices which is undoubtedly, usually, a good thing. But we continually have to mediate between listening to minorities and maintaining the welfare of the majority, for after all in a liberal democracy decisions should be made on […]

November 10, 2024

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