When it comes to the age-old question of men and women, their relative strengths and weaknesses, a strange species of madness seems to have recently taken hold. Everywhere, not only in the media but also in academic and political life,...
Read moreThe opening of Australia across Australia was quite an event. At local cinemas, there were premieres for Baz Luhrmann's film, with red carpets and audiences of A-list dignitaries from the area. Despite an undeserved mauling by the Australian critics, it...
Read moreWhat word would you use to capture the mood of the country as 2008 draws to a close? Crunch? Crisis? Corrupt? Sachsgate? Each of these is rather too specific. Perhaps the most telling verbal tag to attach to the spirit...
Read moreThe little-known prediction website OldBoresAlmanac.com has had a reasonably successful 2008 with only one forecast ("There will be dancing on the streets of the market-place") proving to be completely wide of the mark. So what does Old Bore predict for...
Read moreIt is a difficult week for those of us of little faith. At every turn, there are songs in the air about certain poor shepherds, the angelic host proclaiming, the mother mild, the wondrous childhood all deep and crisp and...
Read moreIt is unlikely that any of the obituaries of Richard Rhys, the ninth Baron Dynevor, will present him as an establishment outsider, perhaps even a victim of the class system. Being born into a distinguished aristocratic family which Burke's Peerage...
Read moreSince the dawning of the age of sentimentality, which probably took place in that year of Blair and tears, 1997, there has been a self-consciously caring attitude towards employment. Staff and personnel have become valued human resources, whose individuality and...
Read moreOn Mega Monday, the day this week which apparently marks the peak moment in the year for internet sales, I received an email from a fellow author. In chummy tones, he invited all of those in his internet address book...
Read moreImagine for a moment that, in an effort to make sports-minded young people become involved in the London Olympics, Sports England had commissioned an advertising agency to make a publicity film. The agency decides that the best way to encourage...
Read moreNow that George Bush is pouring public money into private firms and bankers have suddenly discovered the attractions of state intervention, it is increasingly difficult to find examples of savage, unadulterated, old-fashioned capitalism. Now, one of the few businesses where...
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