Let me first say the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt will not change the political map for the better in the Middle East as far as the Western idea of change is concerned. There will be no great democratic whirlwind because the leaders who are falling are old men, their time had come years ago….
Category: Quotidial
Emotional Intelligence
Every mind is different, and whilst we are on the subject of mind we should all remember that every baby and child is a growing mind and however cute we think them everything we do and most of what we say, is being collated in there somewhere. This difference means that not every child is…
The Naming Of Art
My painter friends have told me in the past they have ‘problems’ giving their paintings titles, not that I don’t mull over a title or two myself but it seemed to me strange for people to lack imagination with a few words when they are so brilliant with oils and water colours. And not that…
Two Writers
There is the suburb talent that can put down in words an experience they share with other people, and others who have had that experience can see the honesty in the writing. Those who have not had the experience can none-the-less feel the authenticity and know that this is what it must be like. They…
Choice Cuts
It has been very frosty outside the past week, the ground is a solid, hard block that crunches when you walk over it. A friend of mine visited on Saturday to talk about a trip to India and in particular the Mumbai area and when she arrived she said she had heard a lot of…
The Castration of Knowledge
An admiral of the Ming Dynasty in China, Zheng he captained seven voyages to the Indian Ocean starting from 1405 at the request of Emperor Yongle. Zheng He’s expeditions also aimed to expand the Ming Empire’s influence overseas and establish an alternative trade route in place of the Silk road, which fell under the control…
Angels And Devils
We cannot go as far back as the first intellectual discussions human beings had about the world, but as far back as we are able to go we find reflected in our beliefs the dichotomy between good things happening and bad things happening. Born from the experience of everyday living and from the observation that…
High End Geophysics
Someone once told me that if you read anything or hear anything in the political sphere, before answering one should ask the question, ‘Who benefits?’ Who benefits from me knowing this, who benefits from this happening, who benefits if this becomes law etc. So when people criticize the Climate Change science I always ask this…
The Politics Of Nonsense
Even a cursory glance at the history of all countries shows us that there are links between the thinkers on all sides of the political spectrum, what we broadly term left, right and centre. It is interesting to note that despite the links shown by cross-country co-operation between political parties of similar persuasion, people do…
This Mobile Living
There is a scene in the book ‘How Green Was My Valley’ (I believe) in which the protagonist walks with a girl from another village and gets home late to find his male relatives sitting with their boots on waiting for trouble. The reason being that the girl comes from the next valley and they…