Christianity
John Clare
John Clare I am—yet what I am none cares or knows; My friends forsake me like a memory lost: I am the self-consumer of my woes— They rise and vanish in oblivious host, Like shadows [more…]
Philosophy
21st Century
Always Worth Saying’s Easter Railway Review
Last week’s trip to Albania being too mainstream, this edition of Railway Review (how I yearn for the return of Question Time!) was going to be of an obscure South American mineral line. Observing the [more…]
Christianity
Pastoral Letter on Assisted Dying
On Sundays, the priest preaches a sermon about half-way through Mass. Depending on how good a speaker he is, this is an opportunity to pick up some insights on today’s gospel, or alternatively to drift [more…]
Human Interest
Dog Walking Thoughts – No 1: K.B.O.
As with all large projects or major goals, in life or work, things can seem too big to be achievable. The usual advice is to break it all down into manageable ‘chunks’ – and that [more…]
Diary
A View From (Inside) The Greenhouse; Merry Eid (By Gum) And A Happy Ramalama-Dingdong
Following the last “storm” and the subsequent damage, the path alongside the main growing area had turned into a bit of mud-swamp. This was unavoidable, due to Buildings and Maintenance trekking up and down it, [more…]
20th Century
Interesting Lives, Part Two
When Aga Khan III died, it was a difficult act to follow, especially since the title skipped a generation and found itself resting upon the shoulders of 19-year-old Prince Karim Al Husseini, who we know [more…]
20th Century
Interesting Lives
After happening upon some sad news at the breakfast table the other morning, I sighed, folded my newspaper and gazed wistfully out of the window across the frost-pinched meadows of my native Debatable Lands. Beyond [more…]
21st Century
Renditioning Dissidents
28 December 2024 While Kenyan authorities deny their involvement in renditioning Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, a blood-stained history of collaboration in Western-backed renditions speaks dubiously for itself. Above: Ugandan opposition leader, Dr Kizza Besigye [more…]
Islam
Taleb A. – An Untypical Terrorist?
Labelled by mainstream media as an untypical terrorist and referred to by the German legal system as Taleb A., Taleb Jawad H al-Abdulmohsen was born into a Shiite family in February 1974 in the Saudi [more…]