Practical Thoughts

  Dear Reader, Well, Ms Winfrey earned more to boost her billionaire status, yet without eliciting anything more than the suggestion that the whole world should be in sympathy with Megs. According to the interview, she has been so harshly treated by a totally unfair and biased Royal Family. And the proof? Reading the Daily Mail today (I only buy it on Saturdays - essentially for their excellent TV guide) it exuded headlines about a 6-page revelation of the truth about this bizarre matter. I hesitated to read it but did so just to see if there was anything worth gleaning. In fact, those pages did nothing more than to state bare facts without becoming sensationalist in the slightest. It was actually quite well done and showed just how much fabrication there has been by Mr and Mrs Markle (er, Harry and Megs).  There were glaring inconsistencies in their stories during the interview anyway, but Ms Winfrey made no attempt to probe those. After all, the whole world is supposed, is ...

Dear Reader, Well, all I can say is that I hope we are seeing the pinnacle of the cult of personality and that it will cause such a backlash that it will disappear from view altogether.  How can the extreme world developments of the last 20 years that have caused such suffering, followed by the COVID pandemic, and the effects of Climate Change, take second stage to the personality of Donald Trump and Meghan Markle? Yet that is how both have been treated by many - as though they are both so important to world peace and prosperity. Perhaps they reflect the nature of the world as it appears to many. Yes, there can be questions asked about the suitability of the UK Royal household in this day and age, but it has continued to fulfil a function and I feel it has survived as long as it has through the Queen's determination over near-70 years to stick to her responsibilities and moral purview through thick and thin. She has set a remarkable standard. in my view, considering the changing ro...

Dear Reader, As though the world's problems are under control, the UK government looks towards making further decisions that really do not change the way the world is being governed - a system that only bends to reality when faced with an imminent emergency.  World governments have been advised by the few wise men that exist for at least 50 years about how economic growth would affect world stability, and only when faced with utter devastation has some action been practically sought.  Right now, the British government is talking 'up' the positives of what it has achieved - the COVID vaccination roll-out, and its effect on the virus transmission rate, the best CO2 reductions in the world (to combat Climate Change), and even Brexit. And the government talks as though matters such as pandemics and climate issues are close to being things of the past. Even the leader of the opposition party - Sir Keir Starmer - has this week preached his version of the message 'getting back...

Dear Reader, In the midst of this COVID pandemic and the awful grief that so many families have suffered, let alone the sufferings created for people in many other parts of the world as a result of the exertions of misguided western governments and power-crazed ideologies, let alone Climate Change and the rape of the Earth's wildlife and resources, it is refreshing to hear of at least some potential improvement in the world's condition. Thus, the exit of Donald Trump from the White House must surely be seen as (if nothing else) a symbol of hope. Perhaps we have needed his presence just to see how bad things could become for the Earth's welfare, standards in government and the needy people of America, The question is, "Will the incoming president be able to restore equanimity?" Following his recent inaugural address, President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at reinstating White House ethics standards that were diminished or disregarded by the Trump admin...

  Dear Reader, Just hearing of the daily infection rate of COVID-19 is cause enough for me to believe this virus is a serious matter, but hearing this week the news of the first person that we knew - and knew well - who has died of the COVID-19 virus seems to make the matter strike home a little more. However, though it is a serious matter, it is only one of a number of issues of profound importance that have raised their head over the last few decades, and issues that seem to have escalated. Apart from Climate Change, epidemics appear to have increased. This time, COVID-19's tentacles have involved virtually the whole world. Should we believe that it's soon going to be over - that it's the end of all epidemics? Further, should we take stock and decide that there are things we all should do to stem this trend? It is interesting that about a year before COVID-19 raised its head, the WHO produced a report entitled 'Managing Epidemics' ( download here ) Written in lay...

  Dear Reader, As a humble student of both history and spiritual philosophy, I am very conscious that as we exit 2020 (which coincides with the notion of 20-20 vision, which we have demonstrated to be severely lacking!) the world faces many very profound predicaments, particularly about health and sustainability. In addition, the UK enters into a new commercial world on exit from the EU. The USA faces the future without Trump. For me, our future outcome very much depends on us all (not just 'them') looking deeply into ourselves and determining the wisdom that we have come very close to losing altogether.  It is a wisdom that I discern is still present in farmers (who seem to know more than the weather forecasters with their powerful computers), and in ancient priesthoods and philosophers, of whom the Greeks were representative of the wisest - according to the West. Plato referred to five geometrical shapes, saying that  the Creator "practices eternal geometry",  and ...

  Dear Reader, The shortest day of the year, December 21st, has just passed us by but much has also been made of the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn that was first visible that day. It is being said by some that this event ushers in the astrological Age of Aquarius. Further, because of how close the date of this year’s Great Conjunction is to Christmas day, many are comparing it to the Christmas Star that Catholics believe heralded the birth of Jesus.  I am writing about this     Great Conjunction and  Age of Aquarius , not because I am specifically interested in astrology, but because I do believe that everything in the universe is inter-connected, and if that is the case, why shouldn't movement of planetary bodies generate different types of energy that affect everything within our solar system? It is only in the past few decades that people have become more fully aware of how the Earth's myriad of different species are inter-dependent, so to include p...