In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Category: General

  • Mental Health Witness – Who’s a Skiver, then ?

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    George Osborne’s division of the nation into Us “Strivers”  and Them “Skivers” (but weren’t  we once “all in this together” ?) has reminded me of some nineteenth century history I learned at school. It provides some context for Osborne’s venomous jingle two centuries later, and a way of measuring its quality and pedigree. I still…

  • Mental Health Witness – Abiding with Mental Ill-health

    Posted:

    This is the second piece specifically on mental health I have posted up. The first can be found a few posts further down. They will form part of a series, all sharing the title “mental health witness” and all filled of a strong sense of present emergency.(However, it’s worth saying that several of the fables,…

  • Fable 8 – The Ring of Defence

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    I am adding  Fable Eight here to the pieces I’ve uploaded earlier, each under the same banner. They belong in a series called “Fables and Reflections” which consists of sixteen pieces in all. “The Ring of Defence” describes a position and way of living given over entirely to defence. It might be said that the…

  • Word from Myanmar

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    Last week, I added six new poems to the bilingual collection called “Poems for…one world.” All the new poems were Burmese, our fifty-first language. Remember that Burmese is a language whose speakers are themselves presently learning to be free again, to speak freely. You can access the six poems here .  You can read the…

  • Fable 7 – The People who don’t Appear

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    I am adding Fable Seven here to the pieces uploaded in previous posts (see further down on the blog for earlier Fables). They belong in a series called “Fables and Reflections” which consists of sixteen pieces in all. In this fable, I suggest that the “people who don’t appear” are the helpers, the healers, the teachers,…

  • The Dry Fly Fisherman

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    I was with some young people during the Christmas holiday. I liked them a lot and wanted them to flourish, for all our sakes. They were vividly awake to the difficulties in front of them,  and were discussing how to take their next steps,  what risks and uncertainty seemed justifiable, what strategies to deploy for…

  • Fable 6 – Jason on the Walls

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    I am adding Fable Six here to the pieces uploaded in previous posts (see further down on the blog for the earlier Fables).  In “Jason on the Walls,” we find ourselves in an ancient Greek landscape for a discussion on hope, leadership and decision-making. With relief, but in grief,  Jason gives up the leadership of his…

  • A Statement of Principle in time for Christmas

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    I suspect that many of us see “principle” as something we can just hive off and leave in airy-fairy land while we hurry out to do our Christmas shopping.  So I’ll say straightaway that, on the contrary,  true and meaningful principle may in the end be the only fact that counts, far more significant and…