Crisis, What Crisis?
We can learn so much from our great leaders if we pay attention to their words and deeds. I’ve been looking at how they deal with ‘difficult situations’ – what we might call a crisis – and it’s fascinating to see that, whatever the event, they basically follow the same pattern. …
Reflections on Father Christmas
It was our family tradition to gather together early in December and prepare our Christmas wish lists. My brother, sister and I would carefully write our lists and hand them over to Mum and Dad to be checked. Then we threw the lists into the fire and let the smoke carry them up the chimney to waft away to Father Christmas. …
There Were Only Eight Hundred
When visiting war graves on Crete, we were told that relatively few soldiers were buried there. But it still seemed a lot.
The bush-flecked Cretan slopes
Surround the glistening graveyard,
Where pale monuments salute in rows
Those heroes felled in war.
The repeated remorse of pointless loss
Laid out in military symmetry. …
Notes of Loss
This poem tells of my shock in hearing ‘God Save the King’ for the first time when for my whole life I have heard ‘Queen’.
In shock we tuned in to the rolling news,
And tears were shed across the nation,
Leaders stepped up to share loving views,
With tributes and stories of her dedication. …
Making Jam – and History
The latest litany of events in the life of our PM began just two weeks ago. In a rare revelation, Prime Minister Bravo Jollyone talked of his enthusiastic participation in domestic duties. He focused on a recent bout of jam making. Bravo claims that in the short time he was able to spend in the No 10 kitchen one recent Friday evening, he produced 10 jars of jam. As his wife, Carryon, was putting their young children to bed at the time, it seems the PM did most of the task unaided. In typical Bravo style he described it is a, ‘Tour de sauce, one that really hit the sweet spot’.
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