The death of Stephen Hawking was, above all, a tragic loss for his immediate family and closest friends. The world of physics, and science in general, will also be much the poorer without him. Whereas none of us, common mortals,… Continue Reading
I wasn’t planning on writing anything else on the subject, so quickly, until I received a few comments, pointing out that I had made a terrible mistake, making me (for some) unworthy to write anything on the subject of transgender… Continue Reading
I thought that I could peacefully finish the day, away from Brexit and Facebook, when I accidentally came across the following tweet from a leader of a Western democracy, whose shoulders are probably hurting from the weight of responsibility, that… Continue Reading
I recently wrote a post on “The Neon Demon”, a 2016 horror film that I watched on my movie pay-channel. My main thought was that Nicolas Refn, who directed the film, had cast the female characters with such masculine bias, that… Continue Reading
Photo: Wikipedia Commoms As always, around this time of year, the arrival on our shores, of Saint-Nicholas, with his band of merry Zwarte Piet’s (Black Peter’s), causes a few people to question the appropriateness of it all. They’re not… Continue Reading
“We didn’t know.” At the time of Hurricane Harvey, Charlie Hebdo’s cartoon, featuring Nazi’s drowning in Texas, with the caption “God exists, He has drowned all the Nazi’s in Texas,” provoked a mis-directed world-wide outcry. The latest controversy will probably… Continue Reading
The death of UK-born Isis recruiter, Sally Jones, may be considered regrettable for one reason only. Had she been captured, she may have given us valuable information concerning the methods used in the recruitment of terrorists. Under the circumstances, though,… Continue Reading
When we stopped over in a hotel in Strasbourg, on our way down to Italy, my son was looking forward to a dip in the hotel pool. We were deeply disappointed to find out that the hotel rules did not… Continue Reading
Islamic attacks on Western democracies pose a deep philosophical and moral problem to anyone sympathising with a progressive humanist vision of society. The Islamic fundamentalists are targeting the very heart of our democracies and, more importantly, our entire way of… Continue Reading
If ever a ranking of ordinary-looking houses that possess a universal value were made, the building situated at 38 Oudezijds Voorburgwal, in the centre of Amsterdam, would probably be near the top of the list. Whereas the Anne Frank House,… Continue Reading