I lost my posting nerve today. The loss of confidence happened after the thought that the leaders of our nations have a duty of care. That thought took me to a keyboard to tap out my idea that leadership requires a set of standards by which leadership performance can be assessed. Perhaps we need an international body, I thought. Tentatively, I wondered if the International Bill of Human Rights might have the teeth. And then I began to seriously worry that I have no self-appointed right to express unqualified personal opinions in such a public forum as an online journal. My musings might constitute noise. Or misinformation. Considered dangerous by some perhaps. Danger is relative. Could something as simple as an E at the end of your name mark you as a Catholic? A English friend of mine thinks it could one day. “No matter now” he said, “because Catholicism is being tolerated”. But we know pograms happen. And like it or not, it’s complacency that enables them. A read of Antonio Tabucchi’s novel Pereira Maintains is a very instructive what-if.
[Read more…] about Nervesbooklink
Famine and Worse
The National Geographic owns a very evocative photograph from 1931 by Melville Chater. He documented Basuto women picking apples in the Prairie province of South Africa.
[Read more…] about Famine and WorseDisplacement Inactivity
“… those who philosophise on the matter, and who think men unreasonable for spending a whole day in chasing a hare which they would not have bought, scarce know our nature. The hare in itself would not screen us from the sight of death and calamities; but the chase which turns away our attention from these, does screen us.” (from Pensées by Blaise Pascal)
[Read more…] about Displacement InactivityNo Comment
Dateline 20 May 2017: Imagine being so sick that you need home visits by nurses. Imagine having a friend who one day takes you out to lunch where one of your carers happens to see you. Imagine being told that since you have a friend who can drive you to lunch, you no longer need home visits. Is this nationalised health care?
[Read more…] about No Comment20 Lines
What thoughts and whose ideas have a value?
Lia bought 20 Lines a Day by Harry Mathews recently. Stendhal had commented that “20 lines a day, genius or not, was a good place to start”. I was deeply impressed by Scarlet and Black when I first read it perhaps 40 years ago. A conversation with Gerry Hanley in the bar of the Delgany Inn elucidated from him that Stendhal got him writing with those same words. I had only just finished reading Scarlet and Black and was quite surprised at the coincidence, his bringing Stendhal up over a pint, my knowing who he was talking about. But I didn’t write 20 lines a day. Maybe that was a good thing?
[Read more…] about 20 LinesStrange Day
27 March 2020 – 21:28 GMT – 7°C Mostly Clear – Co. Dublin, Ireland
Chemo for our daughter started today. We’re the drivers because everyone else has children whose awareness of contamination has yet to develop. Only the patient can go into the hospital. The same hospital in which our neighbour is in palliative care with widely metastasised cancer. A cruel situation for her, separated from family. And cruel for her kids and grandkids. Less cruel for our daughter in absolute terms but it’s hard to consider absolutes when you’re sick