The quest to isolate the defining characteristic of our essential humanity has been a long and convoluted one. Aristotle wrote that “Man is a social animal.” In retrospect this seems far off the mark. Although the human animal is indeed social this is hardly a defining characteristic. We are aware of not only the social […]

I am often amused and sometimes alarmed by the way data and statistics are handled by firms, public officials and particularly the media. The erroneous use of data is either at best a result of ignorance on behalf of these people or at worst a deliberate misuse to manipulate public opinion. One area that exemplifies […]

I go to the barbershop. My sparse hair still grows, albeit more slowly these days, and perversely the less of it I have the shorter I like it cut. The barber knocks off a few wisps here and shortens a few odd strands there. Finally he is done and I shake off the smock he […]

It was one of those historical occasions. Like the death of JFK. Or the first moon landing. Everybody seems to remember what they were doing when we first saw those chilling pictures on 11 September 2001. Who could believe it? Airplanes being deliberately flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New […]

In his marvellous book “Happiness”, Matthieu Ricard told of research that showed how someone lying beside a path, seemingly in distress, attracted the attention of only 15% of passersby. But once he put on the jersey of the local football side 85% stopped to help. The research concluded that people are much more inclined to […]

I was fascinated last week to hear the news that Australian woman, Elizabeth Blackburn, had won the Nobel prize for her work in molecular biology. The work she has been doing for many years is certainly groundbreaking and the world owes a debt of gratitude to such dedicated and talented people. I applaud her, and […]

The figures move a bit with the years of research, but on the evidence it is fair to say the universe is a little under fifteen billion years old. The first vestiges of life on earth seemed to appear some one and a half billion years ago. Hominids have been around for less than ten […]

The plane is doing its approach to the airport. There’s a small crosswind and the aircraft sideslips onto the runway with a bit of a jolt. The left-hand wheels are on the runway now and gravity soon ensures that the right wheels touch down soon after. There is a dramatic braking and we are thrust […]

The Australian psychologist, Dorothy Rowe, who has written extensively on the issue of depression, makes the point that depressed people manufacture prisons for themselves – not to keep themselves in, but to keep the world out. Whilst this is a phenomenon taken to extremes by depressives, it seems to me that it is something we […]

Way back in July, I quoted T S Elliot, from “Little Gidding”.. “We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.” We have a prescience here, that something profound has been conveyed to us. It has […]