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Labour and the Scottish voters .- So, the British Labour Party has been voted from second party place to third party place by the voters of Scotland.  And what should we take from this; that the Labour Party is not doing enough to convince the Scottish voters to vote for it?  Well, that might be the case or partly the case; something we are unlikely to know unless the voters are asked what it is that they want for their country. If, for example, more of the Scottish people are being persuaded of the merits of breaking free of their forced 300+ year old union with England, then, voters who had hitherto voted for the British Labour Party, might now have a preference for the Scottish National Party, and vote for them. If this kind of scenario is correct, then the Scottish Conservative Party will, of course, end up becoming a refuge or bastion for those Scots who remain loyal to the Union and will not change their position; come what may.  Consequently, the voters might not have vote

If only the combatants could sit and talk and make peace. The proxy and civil war in Syria has now been raging for just over 5 years, during which time several hundred thousands of Syrians have been killed, many more injured, and millions have been displaced in the country and even more have left it as migrants to other countries bordering it and away from it. The war has been raging between the Syrian Government and the myriad of opposition forces, and their respective allies. The Government forces are augmented by their Iranian, Hezbollah and Russian allies, while the opposition forces are being supported by their respective allies, such as the Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Sunni Gulf States, the United States, some of the NATO countries, and some of the states in the Middle East. Various reasons and rationale have been given for this war of attrition between the Government and the Opposition forces, but more often than not, it has been characterised as a struggle between Sun

The results of the local government elections in Scotland seems to have concluded with the Conservative Party, the party forming the current British Government, has made gains at the expense of the British Labour Party, with the latter now becoming the third, as opposed to the second largest political party in a politically vibrant Scotland. This is clearly something which should concern the Labour Party, as one might have expected the Tories to be less favourable than Labour, amongst the Scots, and vote accordingly. Clearly an outcome which should please the Tories, and dismay the Labourites. The initial projections of the local government elections in England seems to suggest that, overall, Labour has lost more seats than it has gained, but that the losses are not on such a scale as to warrant them being considered a disaster or very bad outcome for the Labour Party, under its new leader, Jeremy Corbyn. One projection, in The Guardian newspaper, seems to suggest that

After having some rather nondescript days, with the  appearing to be confused about what it should be doing, today has transpired to be a beautify, sunny day, with just the correct mix of Sun, breezy and humidity. And so I decided to make the best of it and went for a long walk in the fields and amongst the woods. This is a short video of what I could see from one vantage point. Enjoy, if you will, and may your day be equally or more enjoyable.

The grass might be greener on the other side, but the obstacle has to be overcome. The battle for the White House is now drawing towards the penultimate stage, with the Republicons having selected or having the electorate of the primaries selected their man for the Presidential Candidate. Donald Trump has spectacularly defeated his 'establishment' rivals, and, in so doing, has forced the Republicon Party hierarchy to legitimise his candidacy and get the last of Trump's rivals to stand down. The likes of Ted Cruz and Kasich will have, at least privately, been advised to give up their torturous and embarrassing campaigns, in the interest of party unity.  They would have been told that they cannot win, and that the money being spent on their futile campaigns could be used to support Trump's campaign against Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, and, eventually, the Republicons against the Democratic Party. A marriage or alliance of expediency has been forged between

For many of us, both Americans and foreigners, the rise of Donald Trump into becoming the rising star of the non-establishment Republicon American electorate, is a cause of some trepidation. Not so, of course, for the millions of Americans who perceive the Trump message of 'making America Great again', and bringing back 'our jobs' and keeping the Latinos out by building the 'great American/Mexican Wall' and forcing the Mexicans to pay for it, and keeping the Muslims out, as the country's salvation. The Donald, it now appears, has trodden over his feeble and reactionary Republicon establishment presidential nomination contenders. The likes of Ted Cruz, and of Marco Rubio, men whose anachronistic so-called pro-life, anti-Cuban, anti-libertarian, and unprogressive policy promises, made them unfit to become the President of the United States.  And now, having flattened the feeble Republicon opposition, Donald Trump has placed himself and those backing h

Contemporary economies and societies are dependent on the health of the national and global stock markets for their own well being. If the share prices of the leading companies and commodities fall, it causes concerns on the markets and the economies they serve, and if they rise, it encourages optimism. Falls can result in the value of the stocks of companies being greatly depreciated, or even become worthless, which then leads to the companies having to lay of workers, or down-sizing, and hope for an upturn in the demand for their products, before they literally go to the wall. The market can either induce and/or react to contractions and expansions in the economy. Although the individual worker might not always be conscious of it, their job security can be dependent on the health of the stock market, as much as does the security of the companies and business for which they work. So also can be the economic well-being of the individual countries, as the demand and supply of prod

A s I see it, love is really what makes the world goes round; probably more so than, as the old saying goes, money. F or the enquiring person, as soon as the term 'love' is mentions, the mind will automatically ask: 'what kind of love is being referred to?' And so it requires me to provide some clarification about the kinds of love there are and the one, if I am being specific, I have in mind. N ormally, it seems to me, when people speak of 'love', they are referring to the intense, extensive and consuming mutual feelings that two individuals can or have for each other. Feelings which gives them a sense of warmth, glow and radiate pleasure through their bodies when they think of, speak of, tough and hug each other. A sense of joy, of pride and an enduring feeling of wholesomeness about being 'loved' by their love and of 'loving' their love. N ow, of cours

Are dark forces at work here? The British Labour Party is currently being accused of antisemitism, with comments by two of the Party's supporters, MP Shah and Ken Livingstone, being used to highlight and fuelled the controversy. It is not clear to me why the Labour Party, as opposed to, say the Conservative Party, which forms the current British Government, should be any more antisemitic and racist. Both parties are made up of  and are supported by ordinary British citizens of all ethnic groups and cultural and religious persuasion, and are likely to be representative of the general populace. So, what is going on here? Is it really likely that there are, in the Labour Party, groups of antisemites whose aim it to be offensive to Jewish people in general, and to work for the destruction of the state of Israel, which embodies the core value of Zionists? The Labour MP, Naz Shah, has, over a year ago, put forward a ridiculous suggestion that the nation of Israel should be tra

  Stonenge T he history of humankind has, in my current view, been a gradual one from basic life forms which are instinctively driven to meet their basic needs for survival, to the more complex four and two-legged varieties which evolved the sense to cooperate to better ensure their survival.  C urrently, humankind, by virtue of our greater ability to objectify and study the "me" and engage in introspection and transform and adapt to our changing environments, have become, as a whole, the masters of the accessible universe. With 'man' having been, probably, both the architect of his specie survival and the facilitator of its pending destruction, he has sought to master and dominate the physical environment which he inhabits, using all the technological equipment he has invented and developed.  M an has also sought to better understand and manipulate what I would call the 'spiritual dimension' of his/her life and existence,

T he story of Shaka is unique, as seen through his perceptual prism, but is not markedly different, in recalling his life, from that of the childhood of thousands of Jamaican children who grew up in the land of 'wood and water' throughout the 184 year period since the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act, which set in motion the process of freeing his ancestors from slavery. S haka's forebears were indeed brought to the famous and, for the native Taino Indians who were the island's first inhabitants, and the African slaves who replaced them, infamous Island of Xamaica, later becoming known as Jamaica, from Africa. It is unlikely that Shaka's blood-line or lineage, were he to trace it, would take him back to the famous and indubitably courageous Maroons of Jamaica, who were the first slaves brought to the Island by its first European colonisers, the Spaniards, but were set free after the British took over the Island and drove the Spaniards out.  No, it