Over the past twenty-five years you’ve watched your government literally invade numerous nation states, laying waste to their civil society. And yet you have the temerity to call the bedraggled remnants of those conflicts seeking refuge elsewhere an invasion. Perhaps if you studied history, ancient and modern, you would understand how we are connected to …
I see Jews as humans. Thus do I support an elderly Jewish man with his website now and then, and patiently give of my time without expecting anything in return. I see Christians as humans too. Hence, from time to time, I mow my elderly Christian neighbour’s lawn, and help him in his home. I …
We should be able to talk about racism without singling out specific groups for either special treatment or special protection. To portray a people’s experience as unique in the annals of history is hugely problematic. Many groups have suffered at the hands of others through millennia. And so too have most groups had periods of …
So that’s why I’m constantly being recommended white nationalist content: because I left sarcastic comments under their whinging videos! I’ll purge them now and hope that placates the gora rhythm.
Rather than giving us another hidden camera exposé of carers allegedly abusing a dementia patient, let’s have a proper national conversation about the value we place on carers. Having had joint caring responsibilities for an elderly relative with dementia for the past eight months — two in Turkey, six here — I think I can …
Sometimes I fear that the mosque could be the worst possible place a new believer could visit for their soul. On Friday I spotted a fresh-faced Englishman wander in with one of our elder statesmen — this one over fifty years a Muslim at this point. Perhaps it was the young man’s first visit. Certainly, …
If proof were needed that work dominates my life, my wife captured it overnight, recording me speaking in my sleep. “I don’t know where things are, to be honest,” she heard me mutter aloud. “It’s all messed up.” Sounds like a fair response to many of the messages I surreptitiously peeped at while verifying there …
I must confess that despite my best efforts, DIY is not really my forte. Was I really attempting to thread that fitting backwards? Who knows?* One of many reasons I’m not a professional. Another, drilling ten small holes in the wall, resulting in a mountain of black dust everywhere, staining yesterday’s fresh white silicone a …
When I went to fill up the car this morning, a complete stranger pointed at me to the cashier and exclaimed, “He’s so lucky!” This confused me, but it materialised they were talking about the menopause. “You will never know what it’s like,” she went on. Then, “Ignore me. I talk too much.” It wouldn’t …
Most of my plans remain just plans. After imagining and sketching out a new bathroom in great detail for well over a year, in the end the pragmatist in me realised a few DIY tweaks were the way forward. Rationalising my decisions, I had to acknowledge that there is what we want, and then what …
Reflecting further on the exotic cars driven by the youngsters in our vicinity, I realise something else is different: they’re still living with their parents. Thinking back to the early 2000s, I now recall that even friends who were trainee solicitors were driving old bangers then. That’s because we were setting out in life, prioritising a …
Finding a spouse for an esteemed relative proves elusive. She’s too religious for the locals, and too educated for the religious! May God send her the perfect soulmate.
In life, it seems, I am forever destined to take up the role of defender of geeks. Geek advocate general. Always at the ready to stand up for the nerdy ones in their hour of need. Aways on hand to fight their corner. If anyone’s going to be set upon for no reason whatsoever by …
A sure sign of resurgent convertitus: to your mind, those on your side are always victims, in the right, and never guilty of any crime. There is no nuance. No seeing the world from another’s perspective. No shades of grey. No empathy for the other. Thus do you justify the unjustifiable. It might be hoped …
