Boris Johnson’s war of words in support of the Ukraine is going down well with the media. Yesterday he raised the metaphorical stakes to new levels by pronouncing that the ‘economic ligature’ was being tightened around Putin’s neck. But despite Johnson’s bluster about sanctions being ‘unprecedented’, the overwhelming proportion of Russian assets in Britain and its offshore tax havens, where … [Read on]
Last year at a C of E gathering, in a ‘safe space’, meaning not so much avoiding the virus as everyone being kind and inclusive, we were asked for ideas on the future of our church, not ‘brain-storming’, a term no longer allowed in case if offends epileptics, or rather I should say, people with epilepsy. Myriad notions were scrawled … [Read on]
Putin’s hands would not now be around our throats if we had followed a decent energy policy over the past two decades. There is enough gas under the North of England to keep us self sufficient in energy for 50 years, but we gave into a small handful of global warming demonstrators among whom were of course Russian agents, just … [Read on]
With Russia tanks now rolling into Ukraine and Russian parachutists descending from the skies our thoughts must be with the people of the Ukraine defending their homeland. Putin’s pretext for invasion (that various staged explosions in the East, and the staged bussing out of a few hundred civilians to Russia, all detailed in advance by American intelligence, constitute Ukrainian aggression) … [Read on]
Eugenics has proved a popular subject for authors and scholars in recent years. Adam Rutherford’s Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics is the latest addition to the canon and has attracted much praise by reviewers. The subtext of course is that we can congratulate ourselves on our superior twenty-first century ethical standpoint as we consider the spectacle … [Read on]
The dangers involved with extreme sports are obvious; some fools are determined to have a go at the luge, the Bobsleigh or climbing the Matterhorn without a harness but most of us choose safer recreations. But now it seems even painting may present danger. ‘Turps is lethal,’ said a friend recently. She really believes that and is not alone. Solvents … [Read on]
‘The name’s Bond, James Bond’ are among the most iconic cinematic words ever uttered. The moment you hear them, you are instantly transported back to Sean Connery’s first outing as 007 in Dr. No. No matter how much rebranding he goes through, Bond is inseparable from that image. Even those such as myself who didn’t grow up with Sean, will tell … [Read on]
Increasingly it seems we cannot trust the police and why should we? They used only to have to consider whether a crime was being committed and what action they would take. Now they make their own decisions, not as to whether a crime is being committed, but about whether they are going to stop it when a crime is clearly … [Read on]