www.owohrod.com.

D eeds which have been done in the realm of darkness, whether they are good or bad are less likely to be revealed unless the light is shone on them, and although such deeds do have a way of being revealed, it can sometimes take very long, which might add to or diminish their significance and impact. W estern and other countries and organizations have been involved in countries in Africa, helping them to exercise good governance, including principles of 'democracy', accountability to their people and transparency in how they are carrying out the functions of government and business.  S ome people in Africa and elsewhere, including the African diaspora in America, Europe, the West Indies and the Americas, have, with some justification, been wary and critical of American and European attempts to get more African countries to adopt the 'European model of 'democracy',  perceiving it as no more than a neo-colonial s

B ritain's Labour Party is currently under what seems to be a concerted, voracious and, probably, extremely damaging attacked arising from allegations of anti-semitism within the Party.  The Labour Party MP, Naz Shah, who has since apologised for remarks she made about Israel being moved to the United States, and Labour Party member, Ken Livingstone, have both been accused of making antisemitic comments. Indeed, even the Party's leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has himself been accused of having met people from organizations, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been deemed to be antisemitic. T he press and media in Britain is currently having a 'feeding frenzy', as they delve into the issue, massage and manipulate it to their advantage. This attack is being waged so viciously and systematically that it does beg the question: 'Is it a conspiracy to weaken the Labour Party, especially coming as it did, less than a week before the

Choosing the right ally or victim can determine failure or success. F irst we had Greece, where Syriza loomed larger than life, as it were, with millions of disillusioned Greeks turning to its strong advocacy of Greece opposing the ultimatum from Brussels that it surrenders to the demands of the EU, that it adopts austerity policies, only have its wings singed and 'fall in line' as the months pass. A nd now we have Spain, where the party of apparent popular protest, Podemos, has done spectacularly well in the recent Spanish elections, but the triumph of which has not been translated into helping Spain to move forward. Which has meant that the changes for which the Spanish electorate voted, will have to, at best be delayed. B oth Syriza and Podemos are new political parties which appeal to those Greek and Spanish electorate who want to see change in their countries, and are tired of

This is a video of several Black birds defending their nest from a raiding Magpie. See what you make of it.

Freedom can be precarious but it allows choices It would seem that humans have a penchant for inflicting inhumane 'punishment' on their fellow humans. Indeed, a lot of the information we get from what we have received as the history of human societies speaks forcefully and coldly of humans having an inhumane desire to inflict the most merciless of pain on others; something which, is seems, is confined only to us humans. Not satisfied with 'simply' killing someone, history tells us of people being drawn and stretched until their limbs are dislocated, then they are killed, quartered, and impaled on spikes. They are skinned alive or have organs ripped out of their bellies and left to die slowly. Eyes are gouged out and tongues removed. Such is the history and continuation of our specie, that there has been and are still among us those who feel the need to not be satisfied with the condemned person having to or being able to die only once, but that their deaths shoul

A river scene in the Welsh Valleys, Wales, UK S o, there I was having what seemed to be a rather heated discussion with my son, who was confidently putting his position to me and enquiring what was the point I was making. Feeling somewhat baffled and disempowered, as I felt I was eloquently making my point and could not understand how it could have lost its clarity in translation, I tried another tactic; changing the subject matter of the discussion from the specific to the general. M y son responded to this approach in what seemed to me a more receptive manner, and we were then able to continue the discussion constructively. W hen I asked him what made the difference, my son told me that it was changing from the specific to the general. We went on to debate about whether it is the 'teacher' or the 'pupil' who is responsible for ensuring effective communication, with my son placing the primary responsibility onto the teacher.

Why, you might ask, do some people become insecure and fearful when confronted  developments which advance the cause of human progress?  Probably even more significant is the issue regarding the kind of people who become fearful. Prior to Neil Armstrong landing on the Moon, many people were concerned that such a thing could lead to catastrophic events, as it was seen as man or humans invading the domain of the gods.  There are, it seems, among us, people who make it their god damned business to 'protect the gods' and to do so by committing all manner of unspeakable crimes against their fellow humans. How absurd and ironic is this, that anybody should be so unlearned, ignorant and intellectually challenged, to think that the gods need to be protected from physically vulnerable, but intellectually extremely capable humans? This, the ignorance and cretinous nature of the 'god protectors', is of course the very thing which makes it impossible to reason with the ki

This is a short video of a Steam driven locomotive and carriages leaving a station at Chase Waters, Staffs., UK Brownhills West Station, at Chase Waters. The Scene in Malta; different age, different perspective OWOHROD

This is an improved version of the video of the Robin I posted on 16/04/2016.

Flower Garden at Edinburgh Castle complex W e had planned to meet at our usual haunt at 12 noon, but when I got there my friend was not there, so I went north of our rendezvous point and, with my back to the wall of one of the too numerous and increasing closed down shops, decided to become a spectator to the passing pedestrians and shoppers, feeling certain that I would recognise at least one of them, or that someone might recognise me. A s it transpired, I did not see anybody I recognised and, if anybody did recognised me, they did not let on. Looking back south towards Weatherspoons, I felt almost certain that I recognised my friend, who was in the process of looking around as if he is expecting somebody.  I began to retrace my steps somewhat purposefully, and, within a few yards of my friend, we recognised each other and proceeded to shake hands and vocalise warm greetings.  The  plan was that I would be meeting with this friend, Hubart, and our o

So, our non-resident son and his partner came to spend the night with us. Feeling thirsty, he asked, Dad, have you got any Avian water - apparently he does not like Buxton. Yes, I responded; have a look under the sink. He looked and found his avian. Let me look what else you have here, he brazenly commented, as he looked in the long cupboard in the kitchen. Impressed with what he saw, he exclaimed, "I know where I will be doing my shopping now", as he cheekily grinned and looked at me with his winding up facial expression. The inference, of course, being that he would do his shopping from our cupboards. You want a kick, said I. The Stick Insect eats its mate, if the latter is not sufficiently cleaver in escaping its jaws after mating. And so we might contemplate whether children, in their own inimitable way, also consume their parents, emotionally, but not physically. But such is the pain and pleasure of being a parent, with the aspiration being to get more pleasure

As I see it, life is about maximising your enjoyment and minimising the pain of your experience of living. This, which you might call 'the pleasure principle' or the 'id', is what I believe everybody should aspire toward. It does not mean being selfish or hedonistic, as, unless one is already that way inclined, I would also add the corollary, which is that I also see it as essential that one should live by the principle of doing unto others as you would like them to do unto you. Now, in my pursuit of the'idification' of my life, I also aim to enable others to join the pursuit and achieve its target, which can be described as pleasure, happiness, fulfilment, etc. We have only one life to live, as far as we know and have experienced, so, why not endeavour to maximise the experience and cooperate to support others to do the same?! OWOHROD