The adage “You can kill the messenger, but not the message” purportedly traces its roots to somewhere in the Middle Ages. Its 21st century application is to do the literal killing blatantly, and disprove the second half of the admonition furtively.… Read the rest
President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous advice; “speak softly and carry a big stick”, did not preclude using the stick if necessary, a point that seems to escape the Biden administration in its efforts to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. One reason, I submit, is the enforced absence of the foreign Press in Gaza.… Read the rest
A poem many of my generation tacked on our bedroom wall included the line: “And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” Depending on your point of view, that was either comforting or disconcerting. I wonder which one the author, American poet and writer Max Ehrmann, would have felt if he’d penned it today, rather than in 1927.… Read the rest
Nothing can be done about youth being “wasted on the young”, but squandering the power of moral outrage on the ridiculous is waste to the nth degree. Beset as we are by screeching to ban books for “woke” agendas, universities more focused on ensuring students don’t feel “uncomfortable” than in sparking critical thinking and a Press willing to quote lies in the name of “balance”, it’s time to rehabilitate the Luddites, if only in spirit.… Read the rest
Autumn has arrived. For the next several weeks the inexorable change in the colours of the forest that envelopes us here challenges description. A fitting word would be “awesome”. Unfortunately, despite at least a dozen synonyms, it’s a rote response to everything from the truly awe-inspiring to the most prosaic, which strands it in a verbal wasteland.… Read the rest
According to a recent headline: “Coverage of Ukraine has exposed longstanding racist biases in Western media”. The thrust of that and similar articles was that reporters noting the victims were Europeans, rather than people we normally think of as being refugees, were guilty of racism. As a journalist who has covered more than a few conflicts, I beg to differ.… Read the rest