No matter what you know about dogs you should always follow the wishes of the owners. But argue about the benefits if a harness over a collar, No matter what places you go get to know the dog before you let them off the lead. You’re taking the dig walking, not vice-versa. The age of…
Edward Thomas
Adlestrop Yes. I remember Adlestrop— The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June. The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop—only the name And willows, willow-herb, and grass, And meadowsweet, and…
So That’s How It Happened
Many time we read history and we think ‘how did they fall for that’ when we think about the terrible leaders that have taken power and then betrayed their electorate. The promises that were never going to be kept. Part of the appeal being the way they pander to the immediate experiences of the electorate…
Generational changes
Listening to Round the Horn, a radio comedy programme in the UK of the 1950s, and then listening to a roast of modern celebrities on TV it is obvious that humour has not just released itself from a wish to be sexually provocative but not daring to be anything but suggestive, to today when crudity…
Roll On Conspiracy
We kill our saints and suffer our tyrants. It is an old adage but in the light of the shooting of Donald Trump I can hear the conspiracy theories now. The shooter was set up to wound not kill and thought he would live. The shooter was seen on ranges and wouldn’t have missed. The…
Animal Farming
George Monbiot has, apparently, called to end the vast majority of animal farming. I think a lot of ecologically thinking people want to do this because it takes so many more resources that could be utilised for better framing, to bring up animals and murder them. In fact the best reason to stop this cruelty…
Drug Addicts
There are, of course, several reasons why people become addicted to certain drugs. From my brief experience with my cousin who was a cocaine addict for a decade and a friend who died of an overdose at 18, I can see that very gentle, empathetic people can become addicted. Hard-nosed people may find it more…
The Little Things
I heard long ago that if everything had to be paid for, nothing would be affordable. So we do not pay grandparents for looking after the children, or mothers and fathers for having children. We do not pay people for the free time they give to communities seen especially in the way people came together…
How Could I Only Learn This Now?
I heard a lot about East Timor in the past but in recent years there has been a media silence on the Indonesian genocide. I read now at the U*N and other sites on human rights watch that near 500,000 Papuans have been slaughtered by the Indonesians. Thousands more have been raped, tortured, imprisoned or…
The French Dilemma
As we said before fascism has always been with us and immigration always raises its spectre. Those who study these things suggest any resident population can take up to 5% increase in their numbers from immigration with relative equanimity but above that and you have unrest and kick-back. And while the British have stopped mass…