This is, without any doubt, the most inspirational speech that I have heard in my lifetime and one that I constantly return to. And yet most people have heard only small extracts from it. Dear reader please take a few moments out to listen to it and reflect on whether that dream has, or ever will be, achieved. It still points the way forward for us all.
Thursday 13 January 2011
Wednesday 12 January 2011
Bankers.
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeSometimes their gambles go wrong and every person in Britain is now paying off their debts and incurring large tax increases to pay for their mistakes. Despite these mistakes the bankers are carrying on as usual and Mr Eric Daniels, the outgoing chief executive of the Lloyds Banking Group, which we own, is set to receive a handsome bonus of around £2m for failing. The Prime Minister who promised to do something about this during the general election is doing nothing.
Now surely there is something wrong here. We lent them money, so under their rules they should be paying us back interest at the rates that they charge their customers. Who is the fool?
Saturday 8 January 2011
Native Americans.
For most Americans their history begins about the time of the Pilgrim Fathers. That is why they visit Europe to see ancient monuments like me, and "To do" the history. And yet in their own land, before they arrived, the Native Americans, had lived for many, many centuries with their own cultures and traditions.
Back in 1979 I visited Washington DC for the first time and when I raised the topic in conversation it was always met with a nil response. Determined to find out more I visited one of the largest book shop's in Washington and asked to be pointed to the shelves where books on the subject might be found. They had nothing.
Now we all know about the genocide (or the now more familiar phrase "ethnic cleansing") which took place and the taking of the territories of the Indians by the settlers, and as a boy I remember playing cowboys and Indians, where of course, the Indians were the bad guys. But have you ever seen a documentary or read a book on the subject, dear reader? Perhaps for reasons of guilt, but I suspect because of total dis-interest, the subject has disappeared from the mainstream of history.
I remember being actively involved in supporting the Civil Rights movement in America where the terrible legacy of slavery was finally addressed and rectified. But no such similar mass movement has been formed to address the grievances of the Native American. To his eternal credit Johnny Cash addressed the subject in an album called "Bitter Tears" but it did not sell many copies.
Is it not time for an American President to address the issue and apologise to the Native Americans for the terrible wrongs that were done to them?
Back in 1979 I visited Washington DC for the first time and when I raised the topic in conversation it was always met with a nil response. Determined to find out more I visited one of the largest book shop's in Washington and asked to be pointed to the shelves where books on the subject might be found. They had nothing.
Now we all know about the genocide (or the now more familiar phrase "ethnic cleansing") which took place and the taking of the territories of the Indians by the settlers, and as a boy I remember playing cowboys and Indians, where of course, the Indians were the bad guys. But have you ever seen a documentary or read a book on the subject, dear reader? Perhaps for reasons of guilt, but I suspect because of total dis-interest, the subject has disappeared from the mainstream of history.
I remember being actively involved in supporting the Civil Rights movement in America where the terrible legacy of slavery was finally addressed and rectified. But no such similar mass movement has been formed to address the grievances of the Native American. To his eternal credit Johnny Cash addressed the subject in an album called "Bitter Tears" but it did not sell many copies.
Is it not time for an American President to address the issue and apologise to the Native Americans for the terrible wrongs that were done to them?
Monday 3 January 2011
Hundreds of Herbal Remedies to be Banned.
Image via WikipediaNow herbal remedies have been around for centuries as in the beginning this was all that mankind had available. The harmful ones have long been weeded out and many provide cures or assist with all kinds of ailments and conditions from bruising through to help with sleeping and stress. I have taken some myself and know the ones that work for me and those that don't. I haven't the faintest idea in May whether those few that I occasionally use will be available to me or not.
Contrast this with the billion pounds industry that allegedly provide cures for the common cold. None of them work and yet the drug companies will continue to be allowed to peddle this expensive rubbish. In fact I see the hand of the drug companies behind the move to have herbal remedies banned.
Now, when the founding fathers of the EU came together to form the organisation it was with the laudable aim of preventing the wars that had occurred on our continent for centuries to cease. I'm certain that legislation to stop the provision of herbal remedies never entered their mind and yet now the huge legislature within the EU has to justify itself by poking it's nose into every facet of our lives. Soon we will be taxed for farting.
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