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Can The Circle Be Squared?
Last Saturday, the Grand National, one of the most prestigious fixtures in the horse racing calendar, was delayed for four minutes while police officers arrested protesters. Animal rights activists had elected to sabotage the three-day Aintree festival in general, and in particular, its high point, the Grand National. They wished to highlight what they say…
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Bye Cycle … I Wish
One of the proudest moments of my life occurred at about 3 minutes past 4, on the afternoon of Wednesday 4th February 2004. There I was, walking through the centre of Hereford, minding my own business, my white cane alerting pedestrians to my presence in their midst, when it happened. A cyclist, riding where he…
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Nihil Dicere
In his excellent novel, Birds Without Wings, Louis de Bernieres wrote of Ibrahim, a goatherd who, as a boy, could imitate the different bleats of goats. There were, among other things, the bleat of a goat looking for its kid, and most importantly, at least for my purposes, the bleat of the goat who has…
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Gambling With Lives
One of the things which is causing an increased level of frustration among Facebook users, is the number of adverts. These adverts are not, in themselves, at all surprising. Facebook may be free for most of us, but it exists to make money. As we don’t pay the bills, advertisers must. The striking thing, however,…
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Theatrical Theology
Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending a delightful performance of Humperdinck’s opera, Hansel and Gretel, at my local theatre – the Courtyard in Hereford. As theatrical criticism isn’t my forte, I shan’t give a review here. The man charged with the responsibility of teaching me to write sensibly about the theatre failed spectacularly.…
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Too Much Democracy
Most of us in the West believe in democracy. Although it is no longer regarded as proper to “civilise” people by teaching them about God and European ideas about law and order – a clever way of empire building – we do still find it acceptable to try to persuade Johnny Foreigner to embrace our…
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Dishonourable Honours
One of the courtesies extended to outgoing prime ministers, is the convention of allowing them to submit a “resignation” honours list. This allows them to recommend to the Sovereign anyone they feel deserves something special. Beneficiaries have included friends, colleagues, heroes and supporters. This may sound terribly civilised, but prime ministerial recommendations are often controversial.…
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A Moving Experience
At the time of publication, I shall be surrounded by boxes, bags, crates and the like. I shall be involved in the chaos that is moving house, which will, I think, explain why this is going to be far from my longest post. But I couldn’t leave you to pine for me, now could I?…
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Who Knows Best?
During the EU referendum campaign of 2016, the cabinet minister, Michael Gove, made what can only be described as an infamous comment. During a television interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Gove declared that “people have had enough of experts”. The nation spluttered as one into its collective cup of coffee. Remainers expressed shock that…
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