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It happens to us all

An inevitable accompaniment of living to a ripe old age is the gradual loss of one’s friends and family. A couple of years ago, my father attended the funeral of an old Fleet Air Arm chum. Chatting with the widow outside the church afterwards, when she asked him “You are coming to the drinks [...]

August 19, 2014 // 0 Comments

If the Emperor’s suit fits, must we wear it?

We learn today that Britain is now getting involved in the Islamic State (formerly ISIS) crisis in Iraq beyond the supplying of humanitarian aid to the refugees who fled – or who are still fleeing – from persecution and/or genocide. This raises many issues, not least David Cameron’s approach [...]

August 18, 2014 // 0 Comments

I never got around to it

For a while now I’ve been thinking of drafting a piece on the West’s complicated and contradictory attempts, through the UN and otherwise, to advance the causes of human rights, oppressed minorities and – well, just the world of geo-politics. This is a distinctly fraught area of human [...]

August 12, 2014 // 0 Comments

“Go! Go! Go!” (as Murray Walker would say)

An elderly man of my acquaintance, bless him, holds strong political views. Let’s just say that, whilst they’re not quite out there to the right of Attila The Hun, sometimes I suspect that he’s still struggling to come to terms with the concept of democracy. In bald terms – his argument [...]

August 8, 2014 // 0 Comments

Going back and actually enjoying it

Last night, in keeping with my normal television-choice routine, I channel-hopped as far as BBC4 in a desperate attempt to find something worth watching and thereby came across The Story of the 1986 Commonwealth Games on BBC4. [Here I must confess that I am about to comment upon an hour-long [...]

August 7, 2014 // 0 Comments

When there’s nothing you can do …

Yesterday I joined my brother Peter on an early morning trip to the coast to see my father. We had an early lunch and set off to return shortly after 1.00pm. At approximately 2.10pm, we turned off the M25 going towards Heathrow and onto the three-lane M3 going northwards into south-west London. At [...]

July 31, 2014 // 0 Comments

Coming up fast

With Jessica Ennis-Hill on a year out of competition to have her recent baby, since January the 21 year-old rising English heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson had been promoted as one of the Commonwealth Games poster girls and favourite for the gold medal. Sadly, on the eve of the  the Games [...]

July 25, 2014 // 0 Comments

Phew! At least that’s over …

Natural cynic that I am, any review I might have attempted of last night’s Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony – reputedly beamed live to over 1 billion viewers throughout the Commonwealth – was always destined to be awarded a disappointing ‘5’ upon a scale of ten. And ‘5’ is what I [...]

July 24, 2014 // 0 Comments

Just get on with it!

We have now learned that, under the ‘Maxwellisation’ convention in place regarding official inquiries [whereby those whom – it is intended – will be criticised in a forthcoming report are formally advised in writing of the criticisms concerned], former Labour ministers Tony Blair [...]

July 21, 2014 // 0 Comments

It’s okay for some

I hadn’t personally noticed it, but apparently ‘the thinking classes’ are up in arms about the Daily Mail’s coverage of David Cameron’s recent Cabinet re-shuffle – specifically the fact that he axed a number of men, supposedly in order to promote women in their places for the express [...]

July 17, 2014 // 0 Comments

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