A Thinking Man

By now some of you have doubtless heard the one about the teddy bear who was called “Paddington” because his owners didn’t want to end up being beheaded for calling him “St. Pancras”. (You probably have to be a Brit. to get that joke, so don’t worry if its cultural references pass you by. [...]

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“A bunch of bow-tied twits who are just trying to get attention and brownie points for their cvs …” “Upper-class prats …” Those were just two of the terms of endearment posted in response to an interesting article by James Ball concerning the storm over how far free speech should be extended at Oxford University.

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The UK press has been excited in the last couple of days by the fact that the Metropolitan Police have been found guilty of endangering the lives of the public.  The police broke the health and safety laws (such irony) in the shooting of the innocent terror suspect, Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.  After the trial [...]

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Regular readers will be aware of my recent Coming Out. Since then, at least two friends have sincerely and earnestly said: “What about Lewis’s Trilemma? Jesus had to be mad, bad, or God.” Rather than rehearse the arguments myself, I have found at least two people who have already done it very [...]

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I have recently finished reading Sam Harris’s “The End of Faith”.  It has been widely acclaimed as a passionate call to the West to wake up to the dangers of irrational thinking, with a special warning about the dangers of Islam.  It was compelling reading, rich in illuminating factual illustrations, and was argued with the cogency that [...]

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In the Bolivian city of El Alto 10 prostitutes have sewed their lips together with thread as part of a hunger strike.  Why are they so moved to such extreme action?  They are are demanding that the mayor reopen brothels and bars which were recently ordered closed after violent protests by residents last week.
Lily Cortez, leader of [...]

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“If they win, they win.  If they lose, they win!”
This statement was spoken with frustration and a degree of sarcasm in Christopher Brookmyre’s recent comic novel “Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks”.  In this book Brookmyre wittily explores and exposes the fraudulent activities of people involved in the world of the paranormal.  One of the major themes [...]

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A group of pupils in�a Welsh�Comprehensive school walked out of class recently and set fire to their blazers.� It was their way of protesting about the decision made by the School Council to reintroduce black blazers.� The decision was popular with parents and came a day after Michael Gove, the UK Shadow Schools Secretary, made [...]

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I was reminded this week that there are certain words that tell us more about the speaker, than about the actual content of what is being said.
Stewart Dimmock, a school governor, truck driver,�and father from Kent, is seeking a juidicial review of the UK government’s decision to send a copy of Al Gore’s documentary on [...]

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Have you heard the story about the man and his monkey?
One day�John was sitting in his office, minding his own business, when suddenly his boss opened the door and threw in�a monkey.� “Here,” said his boss.� “Here’s a new monkey for you.� You’ve got to keep this one.”� And his boss closed the door and [...]

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