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We are not all in the same boat.
We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar . Your boat might be a luxury cruiser with the mortgage paid off, all mod cons. The next door neighbour’s might be a dinghy seeping with...
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hypocrites are running Britain
Too many of our politicians and aides are hypocrites. How many Labour MP’s own homes in London but claim second homes at taxpayers expense? How many Conservative MP’s have travelled despite telling others not to. Even the Greens are hypocrites. Caroline...
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What? A Saint for the Internet!
In 1997, Pope John Paul II decided that the internet could use a patron saint to guide Catholics in its proper use. He chose Saint Isidore of Seville (560-636), Doctor of the Church, and last of the Latin Fathers. His twenty-book opus (called Etymologia...
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Coronavirus discriminates us the poor
Coronavirus doesn’t discriminate we are informed, not least when the Prime Minister was moved to intensive care. Maybe it doesn’t but society does. Of course, the chances of catching it are apparently the same for anyone and if it takes hold then you...
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a successful economy - dreadful for the planet?
a successful economy should no longer be measured by growth which is ultimately unsustainable and dreadful for the planet. It should be measured by its ability to provide a basic living wage and some sense of parity of reward for hard work. Not unbridled...
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Cake and coffee - Baltic Style
In a time that the old people still remember it was a habit among Germans in the Baltics, that if you visited your neighbour - where you couldn't announce your intention as nobody had a phone- you were bound by convention to bring along a certain sort...
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A good life
What is the good life? Entire books have been written to address this question. Philosophers of all ages pondered about this transcendent query as well. Still, the question remains to this present day. It therefore comes as no surprise that people are...
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English words from Arabic
1# Alcohol Although this is quite unexpected, the Arabs were the first to make alcohol. But it wasn't used for weird drinks, it was used for an eye dye (or eyeliner) known as "Kuhl" [كحل] and was probably taken from the Arabic word "Kaheel" , another...
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Streets are a factor in community
Streets are a factor, but natural meeting places are more important. We have a lot more restructuring of society to think of, especially if we want to stop extinction. We have, in effect, developed a system unsuited to people but suited to institutions....
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sound space
SOUND=SPACE is an electronic musical instrument that is played - by one person or several at the same time - by moving around in an empty space. It consists of a system of ultrasonic sensors - an ultrasonic echo location system - that very accurately...
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The Virus is blowing in the wind
The virus is blowing in the wind airborne viruses can spread far and wide Keeping at arm's length won't protect you from catching an infectious disease, Coronavirus has been found on wee little particles of air pollution by scientists that were looking...
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A Time for bubbles bursting
We Work is yet another example of a classic 'bubble'. Whether its the South Sea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company Tulips: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania Or Asteroid mining: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613758/asteroid-mining-bubble-burst-history/...
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A true story at the Pearl Harbour
A true story at the Pearl Harbour The Uncle, of John Murphy, Tom (Thomas Murphy) died a few years back. He was Weapons Officer on the USS California. They were hit by torpedoes. He and his Sunday crew shot up all the ammunition they had on deck back at...
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W.H. Auden ."Musee des Beaux Arts"
About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters; how well, they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting...
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The golden ratio
The golden ratio is roughly equal to 1.618. The special nature of this ratio appealed to the Greeks, who thought that objects in this proportion were particularly aesthetically pleasing. It has been said that they used this ratio in their architecture...
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They hang the man
Back in Tudor times it was the rich and powerful took land of the peasants. There was a rhyme about it, then .. They hang the man and flog the woman Who steals the goose from off the common Yet let the greater villain loose That steals the common from...
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Wolves
Wolves Many countries in Europe have a wolf and even a bear population. You can see this in Italy, Jugoslavia,the Czech Republic, Slovakia and also Poland amongst many other European countries. There are no major issues with livestock as they were always...
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Biblical Lavender
The word lavender comes from the Latin, lavare, meaning “to wash,” and it was a popular herb added to the bath in ancient Egypt and Phoenicia, Greece and Rome. A lavender-infused salve applied to the body was a welcome perfume in times when fragrance...
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Lavender in containers
Lavender is a favourite herb of a lot of gardeners, and for good reason. Its soothing colour and fragrance can pervade your garden when fresh and your home when dried. Few can resist its charms. Unfortunately, few of us live in a climate similar to its...
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Reading aloud
Reading aloud Some books are better (and more fun) for reading out loud than others. One of the reasons we invented continuous prose was to lay out an argument, piling points on top of each other, weighing one view against another, even to invite the...
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Roses in March
Roses March is the latest you should plant bare-root roses. These are usually purchased by mail order and arrive, as the name suggests, not in a container but with their roots exposed, so it's very important to get the plants into the ground as soon as...
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“Little Ice Age”
European colonisation of the Americas resulted in the killing of so many native people that it transformed the environment and caused the Earth’s climate to cool down. Settlers killed off huge numbers of people in conflicts and also by spreading disease,...
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Celts in Poland
The Forgotten Celtic History of Ancient Poland The ancient history of Poland is more connected with Goths and other local tribes than with the Celts. However, during many excavations archaeologists have discovered links between the modern territory of...
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Pickling for Brexit
pickles, chutneys, jams, marmalades and fruit butters and cheeses. I do the same. It's a routine in this house whenever there's a glut of whatever. At present in the cuboard are, cold-pickled onions, ditto red cabbage, pickled plums, pickled beetroot,...
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Rich
The World's 26 richest people own as much as the poorest 50%, The growing concentration of the world’s wealth has been highlighted by a report showing that the 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest...