Politics

A perspective in 2023: This article contrasts the situation from an article written in 2014 with what pertains today and why the country has regressed hugely. Novosibirsk Diary — 2014: The terror has ended but the fear lives on: I have a fantastic young team here in Novosibirsk. Most of them are in their late twenties or early thirties and they are symptomatic of the new, young, professional and confident generation of Russians. Most of them speak English or another foreign l

I don’t usually write political articles but a few people asked me to say something about Donald Trump’s victory in this week’s US Presidential Election, so here goes: I’m trying to approach this issue from an objective and neutral viewpoint, and the first thing that must be said is that Trump was re-elected in a fair and democratic contest because he was adjudged by the majority of voters as the better candidate. As much as many people may not like it, that’s democracy. Ther

After two weeks on Medium, I think it’s time for some Truth and Plain Speaking: I had a job one time which involved a lot of writing; preparation of briefs; making cases for projects; updating boards of directors and similar. I had a boss at that time who encouraged me to use plain words. It wasn’t his own invention, in fact the original book ‘plain words’ had been written by Sir Ernest Gowers in 1954, apparently in an effort to encourage parts of the British Civil Service to

Most people are aware of the horrendous events which have been happening in Gaza over the past few months and the seemingly intractable hard line stance taken by both sides in this seemingly never ending conflict. I am not going to go through the rights and wrongs of either side here. The Genesis of this article is that despite wall-to-wall media coverage, nothing brings a story, particularly one of conflict, closer than an account of someone’s first-hand experience. Last wee

The Matterhorn. Who is the President of Switzerland? I think I could ask that question of a hundred people or even more and no one would know the answer. Why, you may ask? Most people know who the President of the US is, and of Russia, China, France and so on. People will even know the leaders of smaller nations. But in all my life, I have never heard any mention of Switzerland in a political sense, other than as the headquarters of the United Nations and many other world age

I have been fortunate to visit over eighty countries in my lifetime and I still try to visit at least two new ones each year. It was a little difficult during the covid pandemic but despite the restrictions, I managed it. People have asked me to write something about places I have visited and to give my impressions. I’ve decided to start with South Africa as I have visited quite recently and it’s fresh in my memory. In fact, I have now visited the country on two occasions. I’

Blyde River Canyon I looked at my Medium profile a couple of days ago and realised I had five new followers. As I haven’t written anything in a while, I thought, better do something if people are following. So, where to begin…I have visited many places and later regretted that I didn’t record my thoughts at the time and do a travel blog. I am therefore going to start with my most recent trip and over the coming months, work backwards. I have now visited Cape Town three times.

The Three Rondavals I've done travel blogs on South Africa before but this time, having just spent six weeks there, my longest time yet, I can probably do a more in-depth look at or analysis of the country. I'm calling this article ‘where worlds collide.’ It may sound dramatic but it's not. The message I'm trying to get across say is that it is probably the only country I have visited which has strong evidence of first, second and third world elements to it. We all know the h

Altai Mountains - Siberia I read an article by a fellow writer this morning which stated that Russia is experiencing profound demographic issues and that this is effectively the root cause of their invasion of Ukraine. There is merit in this assertion. Russia, as the leading actor (Dictator) in the Soviet Union was a powerful nation, some would say a superpower. But since the break-up of that failed entity, Russia’s population has declined significantly and continues to do so

Pavlovsk Park near St Petersburg in Autumn I have tried to explain here before how Russian society works and how the system always requires and generates a strong leader, who is generally accepted and supported by the majority of the population, regardless of how they may act. Sometimes an anecdote or a practical example is the best way to explain something so I hope the following tale may make some sense of the current situation. I have many good friends in both Russia and U

Donough O'Malley - Ireland's pioneering Minister for Education I saw an article recently which listed and compared the world's top economies. There were two listings, the world's biggest economies and the world's richest economies. In terms of the world's biggest economy, the obvious largest was the United States, followed by China and so on. Naturally, Ireland didn't feature in this listing at all as it only went down to about number 20. But in the other list, which was the

This is written in response to Chris Snow’s excellent article on present day Russia, which we have corresponded on. Chris — there’s no doubt that your and Peter Zeihan’s estimate of young men leaving Russia is accurate. I know quite a few of them personally. They are people I worked with and unfortunately from Russia’s viewpoint, they are among the best and the brightest. Where I do disagree is in relation to your assertion that Putin is evil or that his regime is evil. He ha

There is obviously a huge world spotlight on Ukraine right now and rightly so, given the dangers and deprivations that those proud people are suffering. I mention this because I received more reaction to the one article I wrote about Ukraine recently than any other. I am still being snowed under on a daily basis by receiving numerous articles on the war and the situation in the country.   There are people who are based there and others with knowledge far greater than mine who