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
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
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
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
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
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
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
“A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.” Attributed to U.S. Vice-president (1893–1897) Adlai Stevenson I, the quote is an apt warning that strident avowals of Western leaders to go all out to help Ukraine are as much a thin veneer covering self-interest and hypocrisy, as they are firm and unshakeable policy.… Read the rest
It must be really annoying to be so rich that bleeding hearts are always banging on about how you could single-handedly solve world poverty or whatever. So, here’s a suggestion to ease the pain for the world’s leading multi-billionaires: try cashing in on the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin: “It is prodigious the quantity of good that may be done by one man, if he will make a business of it.”… Read the rest
The Peanuts character Linus once said: “There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people…religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.” Pumpkins aside, the rare convergence of Passover, Easter and Ramadan prompts me to ignore his wisdom and ponder why faith is so often used as an excuse for venal behaviour.… Read the rest