Marks and Spencer, more than just a shop, a veritable British institution can usually expect to make a tidy profit at Christmas because folk like us like to spend our money there. Their displays of Christmas goods and, especially their food, are a joy to behold. Even without buying anything, a visit to M&S at […]
In China it appears you can take the peasant out of rural areas, but you cannot stop them being a peasant. Early in the last decade China initiated a project to move 250 million people from the rural areas to the cities; from shanties and small houses to the high rise apartments that characterise so
As a cis-gendered heteronormative white male, I spend most of my time insanely jealous of those blessed with a victim status. I have longed to experience a microaggression, to join the serried ranks of the offended, and to be able to proclaim my victimhood from the rooftops. At long last, it has happened, and I
Microaggressions? Tell me about them! Read More »
If anyone reading this can afford it, could they please pay the money to whomever has captured the Roman Catholic Church and is holding it to ransom? This is not the first time my church has provoked my ire. The past two years have seen an increasing level of politically charged nonsense from CAFOD (Catholic Fund for
(Photograph: Senedd Cymru / Welsh Parliament, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons) That small strip of land to the west of England which self-identifies as a country has struck yet another blow for abject stupidity. Of course, I am referring to Wales. For sheer comedy value, Wales truly takes the Welsh Cake. It aspires
It was a few nights before Christmas and I was in Manchester. It was late. I stepped out of the taxi into the cold night air and headed to where the driver had told me the hotel reception was located. I walked into the reception and my spectacles immediately steamed over. The room was very
A Memorable Night Before Christmas Read More »
Looking over Luzhou City in Sichuan Province from the fifteenth-floor balcony of my apartment I was wondering, after over twenty years of coming to China, what was wrong with this country. Then it hit me. I could see four main streets from my apartment, all right in the heart of the city with shops, bars
Diversity, China Style Read More »
(Photograph: Scottish Government, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons) Presumably saving all their bangs for the impending war between Israel and Hamas, the SNP conference in Aberdeen ended with the usual whimper about seeking independence if they had a mandate to do so. This is the safest promise that could be made, akin to
Ross Clark in The Spectator reckons that Pope Francis has gone ‘full Greta’ over his recent document Laudate Deum, which he presented to the current and ongoing Synod of Synodality in Rome. He could well be right. Popes issue several types of documents with different levels of authority, including Encyclicals, Apostolic Exhortations and Papal Bulls.
A Climate of Pessimism at the Vatican Read More »
My taxi driver in Washington DC was from Eritrea. He had asked where I came from and how it compared with my country; and he told me how different he found it from his. So I braced myself and asked the most politically incorrect of questions: where was he from? Turns out he had won
The Diversity Lottery Read More »
