9/11 Eleven Years On

I write this eleven years to the day since terrorists decided to hijack several jets and crash them, along with the hundreds of innocent passengers, into US buildings, an act that would take the lives of thousands and leave the world shaken and facing an uncertain future. In those eleven years it appears we have learned very little.

Perfect Song Lyrics

It's not often that I find a song's lyrics perfectly echo my thoughts, but these do. The song is called Out In The Darkness by Martin Orford (lyrics by Steve Thorne) from the superb album The Old Road. You can find the YouTube video of the song here - it's rather wonderful.

A Bit About Abortion

Today on Twitter I was accused of being immoral as I am Pro Choice. So, as it's difficult to squeeze anything like as much indignant bile into 140 characters, I'll do it here.

Before I continue, let me make it crystal clear that I DO NOT like the thought of abortions. I am, however, a pragmatist and I recognise that no amount of legislation, nor rabid bible thumping will change that. I should also state that I am in the UK, not America where the issue has reached such ludicrous levels that several abortion clinic staff have been murdered. You might think I have no right to opine as I'm not in America. Well, fair enough, but I'm going to anyway, so kindly hush and let me type!

Religion for Godsake?

Gonna talk a little about something close to my heart …

If a person truly believed rain fell upwards we would think them mad. If a group of people believed, against all the evidence to the contrary, that the sky was green, we would rightly consider them at best slightly weird. It’s hopefully unlikely these groups of people actually exist outside our more padded institutions.

However, there was a time when people believed the solar system rotated around the Earth. To suggest this to be wrong was dangerous and you risked being the main course of a barbecue. Now, of course, we have all the evidence we need to prove the solar system is heliocentric; the planets revolve around the Sun. These days, nobody is flambéed for suggesting the Sun is the centre of the solar system – unless we really don’t like them, but that’s less to do with their astronomical views.