“A MESSAGE TO THE CHILDREN” A GUIDE TO WRITING YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY. INTRODUCTION For years I recommended to people that they should write their autobiography, not with any particular view to publication but for the benefit of their families and as … Continue reading
Lady Diana Mosley was one of the Mitford sisters, six siblings who were famous for their intelligence, beauty, charm and independence. I came across them when reading Nancy Mitford’s three romans à clef, in which the entire family provides a … Continue reading
Donald Trump has made me virtuous A couple of days ago I ripped the bottom out of my car by driving over a dragon’s-teeth barrier on the driveway to a golf club where an excellent gig of Brazillian music was … Continue reading
What Christians believe – A new Christian creed Christian churches are characterised by “creeds”: systems of belief to which members must, at least nominally, subscribe in order to be recognised as Christians. However all beliefs imply unstated corollaries that follow … Continue reading
Jim Williams’ American Values American Values, a controversial re-write of American history by Jim Williams: To read a sample, click here Conspiracies are not meant to be understood. America in the Fall of 1963. The ageing “Big A” has been … Continue reading
EVENTS 2018-2019 – 22 January 2018 revision Stockport U3A – 2 October 2019 (sic) – Subject: “Casanova” – This is a follow up to a successful lecture on Charlatans and Frauds delivered in January 2018, which was itself a follow-up … Continue reading
The Riyadh Test and the Trump Test We human beings are a lazy crowd and look for quick rules of thumb (“heuristics” as they are called in the philosophy trade) to help us make quick judgments about situations. I have … Continue reading
Six Yeshiva Students Skimming Pebbles At the end of November 2016 my wife and I spent a few days in the Lake District. It was the end of the most glorious autumn I can recall and the air itself seemed … Continue reading
I learned today of the death of Robert T Carroll, author of the The Skeptics Dictionary book and website. He fell silent in August 2016 and I suspected the worst but for some reason (hope?) did not check. He had … Continue reading
About twelve years ago, a company for which I worked had a new MD appointed. He knew nothing of the business but tried fanatically to impose a one-size-fits-all version of lessons learned in American business school and from corporate self-help … Continue reading
This last Sunday my granddaughter was christened. She is a 13 month-old joyful noisy little soul and we had a vision of her running round the church shouting “Bugger!” – or something that sounded like it. In a fact she … Continue reading