All of a sudden, we seem to be talking about World War Three. People are worried, and some, knowing my professional background, have asked me what I think. Given the complexities, a 900 word blog may not be the ideal vehicle for answering that question, but here goes anyway. Let’s start by recognising that the [...]
In December 1989, I left my office Christmas party early to make my way to Tower Records in London's Piccadilly. The previous day, we had been at the Barbican to see Leonard Bernstein conducting his operetta Candide. We sat in the front row as one of my musical heroes led a now legendary, and most would agree, definitive [...]
We seem to be living through one of those moments in history when it’s difficult to process all the things that are happening across the globe. And yet somebody has to do so. Our political leaders, of course - but they in turn depend on advice from policy officials. One of the key recent learning [...]
It's that time of year again: Remembrance. I'll tell you what it means to me. It's that period when I reflect on the sacrifice people have made in conflict to defend our way of life - to ensuring that we have the freedom, prosperity and wellbeing to thrive in a society where we get to [...]
Growing up, there was a lot of classical music in our house. Of the many composers on the turntable, Ralph Vaughan Williams - affectionately known as ‘RVW’ - enjoyed pride of place. It was the soundtrack of my early years. In more recent times I’ve reacquainted myself ever more with RVW’s output, not least through [...]
As the dust starts to settle on the whole Lineker affair, it’s perhaps worth taking stock for a moment. Was this a storm in a very British teacup, or something more fundamental? At the heart of this is something called Godwin’s Law - ‘an Internet adage asserting that as an online discussion grows longer (regardless [...]
No-one heads for the hills thinking it's going to end badly. But sometimes, it just does. We hadn't been to the English Lake District since 2018, a long interruption in a sequence of visits going back almost 40 years. The pandemic, family issues - there were lots of reasons for the gap. But to say [...]
I won't be the first commentator to note that the current perfect storm of crises, centred on Ukraine in the international sphere, the cost of living at home and Brexit somewhere in-between, barely registered in the Conservative Party leadership contest that, today, gave us a new Prime Minister. It puts me in mind of the [...]
The following is a (substantially) adapted version of a talk I gave as President of Defence Humanists on World Humanist Day, 21 June 2022, to Ministry of Defence staff at the invitation of the Department's Humanists And Non-religious in Defence (HAND) network. We seem to be living in a Brave New World: the pandemic, the [...]
A working class woman goes to the opera. And not just any old opera, but Glyndebourne, the über poshest of all (British) opera. My goodness - whatever next?! The snobbery that says that opera, and other high culture, is only for the privileged, the rich and the powerful, is a particularly insidious kind of prejudice. [...]
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