I had a bit of trouble with my ears recently—my right one decided to block up, leading to a thrilling few days of muffled conversations, shouting at the telly, and eventually, the slightly medieval experience of having it syringed. Not the most glamorous chapter of my life.
During this auditory adventure, I found myself on the phone with a client and had to ask him to speak up a bit, explaining that I was going a bit “Mutton Jeff.”
...
I have been listening to a great podcast recently. It is by former Tory politician, Rory Stewart. It is about how alleged knowledge can cause hubris and bad decision making on the presumption politicians know human behaviour.
Stewart discovers that Human behaviour is often unpredictable, especially when people become aware of policies designed to control their actions. They tend to adapt in unexpected ways, which can undermine the intended ...
To understand the series of conflicts in the Middle East over the last 100 years takes a lot of effort. If you are not a Middle Eastern expert who has studied and worked in this area, you would have to give up years of your time to fully understand it all. There are lots of good websites though and I have been reading a fair bit, checking sources as I do so.
1917 - A Big Date
To even begin to understand the conflict in Middle East, you ...
The first thing I noticed about Tallinn is it is a beautiful city. Its medieval streets are clean, proud, and intriguing.
Arrival
On our arrival, we were greeted by cold and clean air and a walk straight into the street of the Russian embassy. Outside were tens of banners expressing hate towards Putin and his brutal, imperial fantasies. I felt a sense that if Putin dared have a go at Estonia, they would fight like dogs to retain their ...
I have been thinking a lot about racism and prejudice this
week. I still don’t know enough about it to be anywhere near an expert. Still,
I hope what I am about to write makes sense.
The problem as I see it, is there are a lot of people who
have convinced themselves they are not racists because they are fundamentally
decent. They wouldn’t scream racial obscenities like those morons in London
last week; so, in their mind, that means they ...
