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Are World Events Bringing About The Biblical Armageddon?

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Dear Reader, I emerged out of World War Two as a one-year-old and what I encountered in the aftermath, as I grew up in a reasonably happy family in the UK, was a note of positivity. No one wanted any more wars after 10 years of extreme suffering spread over 30 years; 10 years in which many millions were killed or maimed. These wars had been too close to home. The UK was set back on its heels having been virtually bankrupted by a war effort to - ostensibly - retain a free world. What the UK populace called for in 1945 was peace based on social justice and opportunity for all. A General Election brought a sea change in the kind of national government wanted, a government that was committed to much-improved education open to all and a healthcare system to replace the unaffordable to most system that was previously in place. These things happened, or were initiated, but not without experiencing severe austerity to help pay for it. But the fact that these changes happened created improvemen
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If The World's Human Population Were To Reduce By 99.2%, What Would Happen?

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Dear Reader, Imagine a world where the human population has been suddenly reduced by 99.2%. It hardly bears thinking about, but why am I even thinking such a provocative thought? As will be seen it is to hypothetically yet  forcefully  illustrate (by analogy) the impact on the balance of nature as another species has already been reduced by that figure of 99.2%. Let us just consider the situation. If the human population was reduced by such an amount (and I am certainly not advocating it should), the effect would be that the rest of nature would take over and everything on Earth would come back into balance. The cessation of the slaughter of plants and wild creatures - directly and indirectly - would enable wildlife to get back to where it was (say) 500 years ago. In a healthy, sustainable, state. That would be the end of virtually all the environmental problems we have, and also would probably greatly assist in the solving of the climate change issue. Yet we - as a worldwide people,
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The Failure Of Universities In A Disunited World - And What To Do

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Dear Reader, Hello! It has been a very long time since I wrote on this blog. There have been circumstances that have prevented this of late, but, at the same time, there did not seem to be much else of any importance that needed to be said that was different from what I had already posted over the preceding years. A sabbatical was appropriate. Truth transcends opinion? Some may say my posts are only my point of view anyhow, and that other opinions exist. The question arising therefore is whether that is a valid view, or is that a view that we have been educated and/or feel obliged by society to accept? Perhaps we need to study whether there is a Truth that transcends opinion. Perhaps we need to study ourselves thoroughly to understand the world. As Socrates once said: "The unexamined life is not worth living." I try to relate only what certain ancient teachings say about the application of wisdom in our lives, knowing that is what the future is to bring about. Materialism, s
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Who Am I? And Who Are You? But What Questions Are These?

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Dear Reader, A national economic crisis looms large, with leadership problems to go with it. In the main, we are transfixed by it all. There are no easy answers but wisdom tells us to look through the problem; to look through and identify the true causes and effects so that we may understand how to properly deal with the issues that surround us. At the end of the day the only real solution is one that is sustainable; one that will last. And unless we want utter anarchy, deeper reasoning must prevail and connect to our hearts. In my last post, I finished off by saying: There are many individuals who are conscience-stricken and seek solutions for the needy and the betterment of society and the environment at the local level. These individuals often form local enterprises to efficiently coordinate the work required. By themselves, they do not provide a panacea. There is hope, however, but there are great challenges ahead. It is a change in our individual and collective consciousness about
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National Growrh - But Any Kind Of Growth?

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Dear Reader, Today's world is virtually indescribable. The UK's new government thought they would be welcomed as heroes with their planned American-style race for growth, but have been pulled down by both members of their own party and the business market, both of which are supposed to support this flavour of government. Yet it is we voters - in a roundabout way -  that   put them there. A number would say it was the Tory membership that put them there, but that is not so. A chain of events got them there since the 2019 election. Does that say something about the electorate's muddled thinking? Just what sense of life values do we possess to make this possible? These politicians are only a reflection of our own attitudes as a society that became more and more relentlessly attached to individuality and our possessions and worship of material success and glitz rather than the nation's good, socially and environmentally. And we cannot seem to see a practical alternative. Li
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How Can You Tell Me You're Lonely? (And For You The Sun Don't Shine)

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Dear Reader, How can you tell me your're lonely, and for you the Sun don't shine...? These lyrics in Ralph McTell's  Streets of London  still haunt me today as I recall how this song caught me in a wave of self-renaissance back in the 1975-76 period. At a time when the UK economy was much as it is now, a personal disaster caused me to be  conscience-driven back then, and this hitherto well-paid 32-year-old individual went to London to look at the social issues for himself after some experience in Birmingham. A very memorable experience regarding a homeless teenage girl occurred very soon after my arrival and that event greatly helped to push me into action. I was soon involved with the YMCA and employment in the work against homelessness among youngsters in Brixton. In my time with the YMCA and other organisations I saw enough homelessness and also saw enough psychiatric patients in central and south London to know that our society was going in the wrong direction. I also l
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The Last Throw Of The Devil?

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Dear Reader, So, the UK Chancellor and his friend Liz Truss appear to have  decided   between them that the notion of One Nation politics is void. It almost looks as though London is to be regarded as a separate state and that the rest of the UK is there just to be enslaved and to pay taxes. Though the government is paying out large sums of money to help people through the Energy Crisis, the money to be borrowed to pay for that will be recouped from the taxes of the same public. Meanwhile, the major energy companies have made huge surplus profits and management and shareholders are left to enjoy it all. The Chancellor and the PM also seem to be deciding that the Environment and Climate Change are secondary issues having removed major restrictions on fracking and town and country planning. So, we face a future of inland wind farms and endless brown sites, already made worse by the proliferation of buildings alongside motorways over the last 25 years. And what of the future? What does ou
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King Charles III - How Will He Reign?

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Dear Reader, The new King has arrived, but how will he influence the country over the next years of his reign? The nature of the King will remain intact, I am sure,  but what will carry over is the influence of both his parents, who both greatly encouraged his interest in the countryside and the arts in general. Prince Philip was deeply involved with various activities to do with conservation and wildlife, viz. his presentation on BBC in 1960 on that very subject, and taking up the presidency of the World Wildlife Fund. As I was more than 4 years old when Prince Charles was born, I rather feel as though I grew up with him, and followed his development in the press. One of the things that were revealed about him was his offbeat sense of humour, possessing a great liking for the Goon Show that used to be on the radio 70 years ago. The radio was marvellous in many respects, particularly when it came to the  kind of  humour found in the Goon Show, and music. I very much shared his love of
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A Way To Avoid War, Depression and Any Unnecessary Suffering

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Dear Reader, In his book, The Republic , Plato argues that kings should become philosophers or that, alternatively, philosophers should become kings, or philosopher kings. This should be so as they would possess a special and necessary level of knowledge with which to rule successfully. Well, dear reader, the new King is a " philosopher king"! And he has declared himself to be a defender of the faiths - meaning all religions in the UK.  Those who have studied or lived amongst the world's religions know that there is a common purpose of peace that is central to them all. It is only highly non-peaceful extremists that make them seem to be otherwise. However, though this praiseworthy commitment is surely welcome, the sadness is that this King does not have any role except a constitutional function. His main influence on government is in his weekly meetings with the Prime Minister, or in the Privy Council. He can only suggest and make known his thoughts in those non-publicise
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