The NHS is probably the most comprehensive health service in the world. But it is now in crisis at every level and in every sphere. From time to time I plan expose what I believe are fatal flaws, which hobble its outcomes and frustrate both its selfless, overworked and dedicated staff as well as its […]
All my (quite long) life, I have been a keen observer and sometimes participant in the political merry-go-round which is the politics of democracy. By its nature democracy is undisciplined and unpredictable, which is exactly what it needs to be, otherwise it could not and would not be free. But it has to be grown […]
Boris sees himself as the mega hawk about Putin and his intentions. He proclaims a determination to see Putin beaten back from Ukraine and warns of going soft on Russian aggression. Without discussing the merits of either case, it seems to me that the ordinary people of Ukraine have suffered enough and that diplomacy needs […]
The move by the tennis authorities to cut Wimbledon from the ranking points system in retaliation for the ban on Russian players is right. I absolutely disagree with the current fever for banning individuals from sport, or anything else, just because they are Russian. Individuals are not their government and to ban or punish people […]
Adolf Hitler is reviled as the greatest tyrant in history. Yet behind this well-deserved image, there was a man with personal and political secrets known to very few and almost unknown to conventional historians. This remarkable novel reveals his hitherto unknown connection with England, including a secret pact with Churchill. It is based on the […]
A quick answer is world events. The pandemic recovery, labour shortages, supply chains, gas prices, Brexit, Covid surge in China, war in the Ukraine. The key point is that human history in one long chain of events, some good, some bad. What effect those events have on individuals or the society or country in which […]
The West is making sure that Putin becomes the western world’s number one ogre. In its backing for Ukraine the West can see no bad in its new ally and no good in Russia, its old adversary. I have repeatedly warned of the dangers of this partisan approach to a humanitarian disaster on an epic […]
The political entanglements and miscalculations which create the conditions for war are many faceted, nuanced and complex. But once war breaks out there are only two elements, depending which side you are on. The Good and the Bad. This is certainly the case in Ukraine right now. But if the suffering of the innocent is […]
It does not matter how many blue and yellow flags you hang, how much you demonstrate support for a brave and resilient people, how much you deplore the suffering of innocent civilians, how much you sing Zelensky’s praises, how much you demonise Putin as a tyrant, butcher and war criminal. There is a fundamental truth […]