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Truth on a Tee Shirt

Truth on a Tee Shirt

Slo­gans on tee shirts gen­er­al­ly seem to run from gar­ish to inane and over-hyped. In a place I’d rather not have to spend time, I’ve final­ly seen one that accu­rate­ly describes those who wear it as they go about a job its most famous prac­ti­tion­er called her “God-giv­en calling.”Read the rest

Liar Liar, don’t put our pants on fire

Liar Liar, don’t put our pants on fire

I have come to accept that politi­cians can lie as eas­i­ly as they breath, and the most bla­tant­ly ambi­tious ones do it almost as often. I sus­pect  many peo­ple who live in democ­ra­cies would agree. But when they do it in an inter­na­tion­al set­ting, they make all of us liars. And that is not acceptable.Read the rest

Birds of a feather not to be flocked with

Birds of a feather not to be flocked with

The proverb “Birds of a feath­er flock togeth­er” has been in use since at least the mid ‑16th cen­tu­ry, so apply­ing it to the new rap­proche­ment between Turkey and Sau­di Ara­bia is apt. It’s close to the cen­tu­ry and val­ues of their respec­tive lead­ers’ mind­sets and actions, and an augury  Pres­i­dent Joe Biden might bear in mind on his upcom­ing Mid­dle East jaunt.Read the rest

Luck, tragedy and The Blame Game

Luck, tragedy and The Blame Game

For jour­nal­ists who cov­er con­flicts, luck is like a blind trust fund; You can make with­drawals, but not deposits, and you have no idea how much is left.” I wrote that as part of an epi­taph for two of my friends and col­leagues — Paul Dou­glas and James Brolan – who were killed in Bagh­dad on May 29, 2006.Read the rest

SIX QUESTIONS TO CLEAR UP MY GUN CONFUSION

SIX QUESTIONS TO CLEAR UP MY GUN CONFUSION

On the basis that Amer­i­ca being hell-bent on re-brand­ing itself ‘Guns R U.S.’ isn’t real­ly any of my busi­ness, I’ve decid­ed I need to put aside nat­ur­al abhor­rence of mass mur­der, and look at the issue through the prism of a reporter’s six (in ran­dom order) basic questions…Read the rest

Putin’s Biggest weapon, hidden in plain sight

Putin’s Biggest weapon, hidden in plain sight

Just in case the mess the world is in hasn’t con­found­ed and con­fused you enough, here’s anoth­er conun­drum: the “2020 Glob­al Go To Think Tank Index Report” list­ed more  than 8,000 think tanks in 85 coun­tries. So why does it seem to have come as a sur­prise that Vlad­mir Putin could and would, use Ukrain­ian grain as a weapon?Read the rest

GUN VIOLENCE: CONSIDER A LOUSE

GUN VIOLENCE: CONSIDER A LOUSE

Amer­i­cans try­ing to make sense, or oth­er­wise, of their lat­est mass shoot­ing tragedy, might find it instruc­tive to con­sid­er the best-known line from renowned 18th cen­tu­ry Scot­tish poet Robert Burns’ “To a Louse”: ‘O wad some Pow­er the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us!’

Politi­cians like Texas gov­er­nor Greg Abbott and sen­a­tor Ted Cruz who insist the prob­lem isn’t guns, it’s a “men­tal health issue”, could stand back and take stock of their own men­tal state.Read the rest

The Once Great, Replaced

The Once Great, Replaced

Some years ago, a cam­era­man gave me one of the tee shirts he’d sold as a side­line at a Repub­li­can con­ven­tion. The front read “Life in News”. On the back, in large type, was print­ed “BLAME IT ON THE MEDIA.” Del­e­gates, he told me, didn’t get the joke. Today, it’s in dan­ger of becom­ing less a joke than a jus­ti­fi­able truism.Read the rest

MISOGYNISTS AND GLASS HOUSES

MISOGYNISTS AND GLASS HOUSES

Much as it is jus­ti­fied, the oppro­bri­um heaped on the Tal­iban for decree­ing women must shroud them­selves in all-encom­pass­ing burqas in pub­lic, would car­ry more weight if it includ­ed an uncom­fort­able acknowl­edge­ment: insti­tu­tion­alised misog­y­ny doesn’t make them unique.Read the rest

The Curse of Times That Are A’Changin’

The Curse of Times That Are A’Changin’

When Bob Dylan sang ‘the times they are a changin’, nei­ther he nor those of us who sang along with him had regres­sion in mind. Not even the oft-pre­scient Dylan could have guessed the verse that begins ‘the line it is drawn/the curse it is cast’ would sum up what the times have changed into.Read the rest