Cities were places of “pessimism not hope”

Megalopolises cities like Chicago where 6 per cent of its inhabitants died of Cholera pandemic in 1854, the outbreak killed 8. 600 in 1892 and the great plague claimed the lives of over 100, 000 for London  (a quarter of the population) between1665-1666. Although cities have only ever been inhabited by a tiny minority of…

“Be Honest, Trust your team, and never please your boss” new mantra

Trust your team, be radically honest and never, ever try to please your boss. These are the ground rules if you work at Netflix.  These trade secrets have revolutionised the entertainment and tech industries, and this  was part of a unique cultural experiment that explains how the company has transformed itself at lighting speed from…

Distortion of Truth

While other leaders were marshalling resources to combat the greatest pandemic in modern times, President Donald Trump was watching Fox News over six hours a day which his staff refers to as “executive time”. In January 2020, when Fox News began to downplay COVID-19, the president was quick to agree. In March, as the deadly…

Ancient Greece’s early medicine and healing

Hippocrates is a celebrated worldwide father of medicine and the Hippocratic Oath is admired throughout the medical profession as a founding statement of ethics and ideals. In the fifth century BC, The ancient Greeks even wrote of medicine as a newly discovered craft they had invented. Robin Lane Fox’s book put Greek invention of medicine…

Landscape of Misogyny exposed

Acclaimed feminist writer Laura Bates exposes the community of men who hate women, going undercover, both on and offline, to explore the ideology and impact they have worldwide. She visited British schools almost weekly since founding the Everyday Sexism Project 2012 and later she found an increase in the number of students who are angry,…

Magical tales of Mythical Beasts

  The power of picture books presents cornucopia of beasts from myth and legend,  including Cerberus, Fenrir and the Thunderbird. From the West African fable of Anansi the Spider to Michabo, the magical hare who rebuilt the world and Tanuki, the sweet troublesome raccoon-dog of Japanese folklore, the tales are wonderfully bizarre and often gruesome.…

Challenging Appalchia

“Nothing’ll ever fix what’s broken in this town, but it would be nice if they’d at least  get the dead bear out of  the parking lot at Food Country”. “ The Holiday Inn Express on Richland Skyway seemed like as a good place as any for `Margaret Price to maybe, possibly, stick her finger up…

Cognitive ability has become the gold standard of human esteem

Too many very clever people who are not very collaborative, in a room together could block the prospects with their love for complexity and conflict. What they have in their brainpower, lack in empathy. In our meritocracy IQ is valued much more highly than EQ (Emotional intelligence) or most physical ability. Political analyst David Goodhart…

Unlock true potential of your five senses

“SENSE – Unlock Your Senses and Improve Your Life”  by Russell Jones. Published by Welbeck on 20 August 2020 £12.99 COALS TO NEWCASTLE FOR SOME, REMIND YOURSELVES OF HOW TO COUPLE UP AND HAVE FUN. Self help books have been season of the day for many moons now and this one is no exception.  In…