Forgive the slight variation on Charles Dickens, but this is a great thought for the start of a new decade. This is a time to look forwards to the road ahead rather than staring backwards in the rear view mirror. Our legacy from the past The past is gone – this is an indisputable truism.…
Category: Musings
Norway Cruise – Days 2-6 : a Week on the Ocean Waves
It’s a strange and wonderful world living on a cruise ship for a week. We are not on one of those massive 3,000 berth Caribbean monster liners with 7 passenger decks, 7 bars and 17 nights of restless B-factor entertainment. Rather, we are on something of a mini-cruise on a robust Hurtigruten Nordic ship, working…
Nice – 86 stars that no longer shine
We didn’t intend to book this hotel in Nice. Not this particular hotel. We just chose the one which seemed to have the nicest pool and rooms. We hadn’t intended to book the actual hotel, directly outside which a murderous 19 tonne battering ram truck was finally halted, having massacred 86 innocent people in 5…
Vienna, best city in the world? It means nothing to me …
Vienna is apparently famous for its high quality of life. In a study of 127 world cities in 2005, the Economist ranked it joint-first as the world’s most liveable city. For the last seven years, Mercer has ranked Vienna top place in its annual “Quality of Living” survey of hundreds of cities around the world. The UN-Habitat classified Vienna as being the…
Running through my mind
I went for a run this morning through Vienna, up and down the banks of the river. The city was waking up to a beautiful sunny morning. It is always fascinating to run through a new place and watch the people – some were coming towards me, some sat on benches overlooking the river, some…
Brexit – A Failure of Leadership
Every nation needs leadership. Leadership is not about charisma or personality. In my mind, true leadership needs these seven qualities – Vision, passion, clarity, judgement, courage, integrity and humility. How did the main characters in the EU referendum pantomime measure up to these seven? This is how I scored them. Cameron 3, Corbyn 3, Farage…
Calais – a Crisis of Compassion
Let’s just call them people. Not a swarm of people, not migrants, not even refugees. As soon as we label people we objectify them. And if we label a group of people, we make them all the same. At least the word people allows for men and women and children, from different countries, each with…
To Russia – with memories.
And so, I was about to finally step into Russia. As a kid, of course, it was all part of the USSR. We lived as children in genuine fear of the Cold War between the Soviets and the Americans escalating into Mutually Assured Destruction, wondering what we would do if the apocryphal 4-minute warning sounded…
The Election – failures, unfairness, fear and the next five years
And so the shouting and voting is over. The fat lady has sung. The Conservatives have been rewarded for with an overall majority, whilst their Lib-Dem partners for the last five years have been severely punished. The SNP has conquered Scotland. UKIP got 4 million votes but only one seat. Labour lost Scotland and made…
Spending My Precious Vote
We have all been given a vote which we can use today. Everyone has one, single vote – irrespective of age, income, height, wisdom, IQ or dress-sense. Nobody has a casting vote, a special vote, the power of veto. Every vote is absolutely identical. We cannot buy more votes, nor can we give our vote…
Unwrapping The World 