Ethiopia: The Agony of Tribal Nationalism: In whatever form it manifests, whether it’s distaste for foreigners, refugees and asylum seekers, a nationalistic economic policy or flag waving patriotism, tribal nationalism is a cancer upon the world. 10 March 2023 Read More
Ethnic Terrorism Continues to Stalk Ethiopia: Where there is division there will be conflict. In a country such as Ethiopia with dozens of ethnic/tribal groups, the need for tolerance, cooperation and unity is essential if there is to be peace and social harmony. 20 Jan 2023 Read more
From Excess to Simplicity of Living and Social Justice: As we look atthe various interconnected crises facing humanity, from poverty war and displacement to the environmental emergency, it becomes clear that they all stem from the same source, from a particular approach to life and way of living. 23 December 2022 Read more
Copout in Cairo: ‘They’ Just Don’t Care: As COP 27 drew to a pitiful close with no action on emissions or reparation, I met a friend in a cafe in West London. Distracted by our discussion, we failed to notice his Earl Grey being served in a takeaway cup; aghast, I requested a china mug for mine. 25 November 2022 Read more
Ethiopia: Peace Agreed Now the Work Begins: Faced with imminent defeat, on 2 November the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) finally agreed to stop their vicious attack on Ethiopia. Theyhad little choice in the end, the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) had taken TPLF strongholds in Tigray, and encircled the regional capital Mekelle. 18 November 2022 Read more
Crisis or Catastrophe: Nothing Changes: Nobody, well nobody in their ‘right mind’ can anymore deny, ignore or escape the burning fact that the natural world is being battered and vandalized by humanity; not all of humanity, just a certain subset. 4 November 2022 Read more
A Loud and Clear Lesson – For Ethiopia and the World: First things first: as I write so-called peace talks are underway between the democratically elected government of Ethiopia and The Terrorist TPLF. That in itself is a bizarre sentence, and prompts an array of related questions, and issues around law and order, justice, national governance. 28 October 2022 Read more
Ethiopia: Peace is Impossible While TPLF Roam The Land: As Ethiopians celebrated the new year on 11 September, the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) issued a Stance on a Peaceful Resolution of the Current Conflict. Choking on hypocrisy it states that they were, are, will one day be, prepared to “participate in a robust peace process under the auspices of the African Union (AU)”. 21 October Read more
Women Life Freedom. Frustrated and angry, people everywhere are mobilizing, protesting, striking, demanding change, screaming out against injustice, suppression and control. 14 October Read more
Universal Tipping Points: Change is Coming: Much like individual change, societal developmentshappen gradually, often painfully; even when sudden shifts take place, seemingly ‘out of the blue’, they arethe result of an accumulation of incremental steps. 7 October 2022 Read More
Renewed TPLF Terror War Against the Ethiopian People: After a fragile ceasefire lasting just five months, the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) have once again initiated violent conflict with federal forces in Northern Ethiopia. 2 Sept 2022 Read More
Drought in Horn of Africa: Worst in 40 Years: The Horn of Africa (HoA) is once again being battered by climate change induced drought, with the UN report, over “20 million people, and at least 10 million children facing severe drought conditions.” 15 July 2022 Read more.
Killing Palestinian Journalists and Israeli Apartheid: Within the cacophony of the Middle East and war in Ukraine, Israel’s brutal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza had drifted into the shadows. But the assassination of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh served as a vicious reminder of Israel’s criminality. 13 June 2022 Read More
Unhappiness and Discontent By Design: Everyone, everywhere wants to be happy; how to find this jewel however is not easy and many people, most perhaps, spend their lives battling misery, whilst searching in increasingly narrow circles for happiness, or relief from unhappiness. 27/05/22. Read More
Karma Yoga: Sponteneous Action Free Fron Attachment and Desire: All the world’s religions emphasise the importance and value of service (to others, the community, the world) or Karma Yoga. In The New Testament (which is littered with such references), Mark recounts Christ teaching: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 10/04/22 Read more
Multiplying Hatred and Division: Humanity at War With Itself: Whatever our differences, beliefs and prejudices we can all agree that peace is a good thing, can’t we, don’t we? All rational decent human beings would, I’m sure, nod enthusiastically, and who among us would admit to not being rational or decent. 18/3/22 Read more
The Keep Africa Poor and Dependent Project: Exploited and abused for generations by white colonial powers and manipulative economic structures, there is a growing feeling of solidarity within parts of the African continent, as exemplified by the #NoMore movement. 18 Feb 2022 Read More
Observation is Awareness: Text and exercise: The single most important question to ask oneself is Who Am I? It is not a question to be positively answered; one can only say what I am not. 12 Feb 2022 Read more
Western Lies and False Narratives About Ethiopia: War is big, loud, significant and attracts an audience; media likes it. Foreign wars (commonly Middle Eastern or African) distract from domestic chaos and reinforce a long-held prejudice of savagery and race, and the opposite, equally false notion of western superiority. 4 Feb 2022 Read more
The Fundamental Law: Cause and Effect: Making sense of the events of our lives and the world around us is often impossible to do. Why do certain things happen? Why do some people get sick and die and others live; why do some survive accidents while others suffer life-changing injuries? Read More
Johnson Does Downing Street: Booze, Lies and Playacting: It’s hard to think of another time when a buffoon of Boris Johnson’s stature would have been elected Prime Minister of the UK. He lacks completely the intellectual and moral capacity for the role, and while politicians trade in duplicity and deceit the world over, Johnson is a serial liar. 21/1/22 Read More
Signs of The Times and The Emergence of Maitreya: Yanis arrived in the UK twenty years ago after fleeing gang violence in his homeland. His wife and four children were deported, he doesn’t know where they are and cannot contact them. 23/12/21 Read more
Ethiopia: Historic Battle for The Mother of Africa: The outrage felt by Ethiopians at the Western-backed terrorist attack on their country is spreading across the Horn of Africa and parts of the continent more widely. 16/12/21 Read More
Ethiopia Conflict by US Design: Supported by America and other foreign forces, including elements within United Nations (UN) agencies, The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) are attempting to overthrow the democratically elected Government of Ethiopia and regain power. 26 Nov 2021 Read More
Discontent by Design: The Lost World of The West: A cursory glance at the ‘State of the World’ reveals what a mess things are: from the environmental emergency and war to injustice and poverty, a tightly woven man-made mess of interconnected issues, unprecedented in scale. 15/10/21 Read More
Media Attacked, Journalists Murdered: Democracy Eroded: The media occupies a crucial space within all societies. It always has, but in an uncertain age, dominated by social media with its proliferation of opinions and “facts”, and the trend towards increasingly polarized, controlling governments, it is more important than ever. Read more
Complacency Rules: Consumerism and the Environment: The 16 Year Old, middle class, privileged, argues that meat and other animal produce are essential for his health, his ability to play sport, and the development of his adolescent brain. Read More
The Poison of Nationalism: Once upon a time Nationalism was an ideology reserved for extremists. But in recent years it has moved from the irrelevant fractious fringes to become a central movement in western politics. Read more
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: A Unifying Peoples Proejct: With a population of 118 million (expected to top 200 million by the end of 2049) Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa. 70% (c.80 million) are under thirty. 24 July 2021. Read More
“Stop Interfering”: Ethiopias Opportunity Post Election: Despite ongoing violence in the northern region of Tigray, persistent attempts to de-rail the process and cries of catastrophe by western powers (most notably the US) and mainstream media, on the 21 June Ethiopia conducted its first ever democratic elections. 9 July 2021. Read More
Race to Net Zero: Are We Ready? ‘Net Zero Emissions’ is the new political slogan, chanted by governments and business leaders desperate to be seen to be taking the environmental emergency seriously. 28 May 2021. Read More
GDP versus Lasting Growth Rooted in Love: In what feels like a throwback to another era, banks and big business are once again talking about ‘growth’, and economic development. Both of which amount to the same thing to the men and women of money – profit. 7 May 2021. Read More
The Emerging Culture of Compassion: Given the level of divisive conditioning, with its emphasis on competition and selfishness, that we are all exposed to, it’s a wonder that kindness and compassion exist at all. 22 March 2021. Read More
Freedom of Thought and the Death of Ideologoes: Amidst widespread mistrust of authority and governing institutions (politicians, particularly governments, are the least trusted group in society), dogma, from whatever source, appears to be losing its suffocating hold on the minds of people everywhere. 5 March 2021. Read More
The Global Cry for Change: Change is in the air, it’s been hovering for some time, but thanks to Covid-19 festering social issues and inequalities have been highlighted, intensifying the need for a new approach.19 February 2021. Read More
The Rich The Poor and Climate Change: Only the most deluded denier can now question that the global climate is dramatically changing, and that the chaos is man-made. 22 January 2021. Read more
The Shame of Global Hunger: We live in a world of plenty, resource rich, financially wealthy, but, despite this abundance an estimated 700 million people go hungry every day. 11 January 2021. Read more
Change and Decay: A Time of Transition: It’s the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere, a beautiful and refreshing space between the heady days of summer and the chill of winter, a transitional time. 18 Sept 2020. Read more
No Going Back: Environmental Action Post Covid: It’s been a weird time, the last six months, and so it continues; perhaps it always was. It’s certainly been an unjust violent mess in varying degrees of severity, for as long as most can remember. 31 August 2020. Read more
Ethiopia’s Volatile Path to Democracy. Ancient ethnic divisions and long held grievances die hard. Ethiopia is made up of dozens of tribal/ethnic groups, divided into nine regional states. 27 July 2020. Read more
Prison: Therapeutic Centers Or Academies of Crime? We may know where one is, we may regularly pass by one, but most of us will never go to prison. Dark Islands of Confinement, existing in a space separated from the rest of society, where men, women and youths are locked up, often poorly treated, seldom rehabilitated. 10 July 2020. Read more
Racism: Are We All Prejudice? Loud acts of racism, like the atrocious killing of George Floyd by a US police officer; the disproportionate number of black men incarcerated in American prisons or the high percentage of young black or minority ethnic (BAME) men subjected to ‘stop and search’ by police in Britain are blatant and ugly. 26 June 2020. Read more
Reinvogorating the UN? Whatever corner of the world one happens to live in, the most pressing issues of the day affect everyone. 15 June 2020. Read more
Air Pollution Mental Health and Covid-19: Lockdowns imposed in response to Covid-19 forced millions of people to stay at home, businesses closed and a widespread hush descended. 29 May 2020. Read more
The Spiritualisation of Culture: Much like socialism or love, ‘spiritual’ is a word that through overuse and misappropriation has been diluted to the point where it has lost virtually all meaning. 14 May 2020. Read more
Covid-19: The Rich, the Poor, the ‘Other’: ‘We’re all in this together,’ chant the duplicitous politicians, meaning the Covid-19 pandemic. The official language around the crisis is consistently hypocritical and disingenuous; – ‘trite and misleading’ is how the BBC described the UK government’s slimy rhetoric. 21 April 2020. Read More
Change Love and the Need for Unity: Much needs to change in our world, and while this was clear before Covid-19, the pandemic is highlighting festering issues and creating a space in which to re-access current modes of living. 6 April 2020. Read More
Death of the ‘Usual‘: Humanity is faced with a series of self-made, interrelated crises, from the environmental catastrophe to poverty, inequality, the absence of peace and an unprecedented level of displaced persons, among other pressing issues. 20 March 2020. Read more
Systemic Crulety: When bailiffs broke down his door on the 20th June 2018 they found Errol Graham emaciated and dead. He weighed just four and a half stone (28.5kg). 10 February 2020. Read more
Education: Expanding Purpose: As the world stumbles from one crisis to another it is increasingly apparent that existing systems and institutions are incapable of responding to the challenges of the time and the growing demands of the people. 21 January 2020. Read more
The Rise and Rise of Green Politics: Alongside the flag-waving surge of right wing and extreme right wing groups, political parties concerned with environmental issues are on the rise. Read more
Hidden Plastcs: Glitter Gum and the AIr We Breath: The plastic contamination of the natural world flows from three main sources: complacency, apathy and ignorance, a poisonous trinity that is itself the result of a narrow and destructive approach to living.Read more
Zero Waste The Global Plastics Crisis: Plastic pollution is everywhere, it litters beaches, clogs up oceans, chokes marine life, is ingested by seabirds that then starve to death. Read more
Global Rebellion to Save our Planet: “The greatest threat to the Earth is thinking someone else will save it.” The responsibility is ours; politicians and governments are complacent, dishonest and buried in the ideology of the past.Read more
Maitreya:” Share and Save the World“: Amidst deepening global divisions and intolerance ‘Project Maitreya’ plan to build 1,000 statues of Maitreya Buddha around the world, with the aim, they say, of inculcating an atmosphere of ‘loving kindness’; Read more
A World Divided by Ideologies: Six-year-old Kate was playing with her younger brother, each had a Frisbee, which they threw as far as they could. After each round of throws Kate declared that she had ‘won’, having thrown the Frisbee further than her three-year-old sibling.Read more
Young people lead the charge to change the world: We are living amongst the largest generation of young people in history; young people who are better educated, better informed and more widely connected than ever before. Read more
‘No Love on the Streets’: Knife crime in Britain: “I started carrying a knife aged 12…when I’ve got this [samurai sword] with me I feel safe, scare tactics init – the bigger [the knife] the better…No one breaks the cycle round here – the cycle never breaks.” Read more
Complacency and the Environemntal Catastrophe: Ask any reasonably well-informed person what the cause of climate change is and the chances are they will say greenhouse gas emissions (GGE’s), but they would only be partially correct.Read more
Give Children the Vote, Strengthen Democracy: In December 2018 David Runciman, Head of Politics at Cambridge University, made the radical proposal that children as young as six should be allowed to vote in elections to deal with the age bias in contemporary democracies. Read more
A Global Battle of Values and Ideals: With each day that passes the conflict and animosity between the conservative reactionary forces and the global movement for progressive change becomes more acute, uglier and increasingly dangerous. Read more
Britain’s Homeless Crisis: Under the suffocating shadow of economic austerity, homelessness in Britain is increasing, poverty and inequality deepening. Read more
Fracking Filthy Fuel: Burning fossil fuels is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions (GGE), and, greenhouse gas emissions (water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O)) are the principle cause of man-made climate change. Read more
Priorities of the Time: Peace: For as long as anyone can remember violence and conflict have been part of daily life: humanity appears incapable of living peacefully together. Read more
Alcohol: Why do we drink?: I had known John for 40 years on and off; just over a year ago he died. He was 62 and homeless, an alcoholic who over the course of four years or so had drunk himself to death. Read more
A Time of Hope for Ethiopia: As a result of the protest campaign that started in 2015, political change is at last underway in Ethiopia, and a feeling of optimism is beginning to pervade the country. Read more
Education and the Mental Health Epidemic: Across the western world June is exam time; in Britain, written tests taken halls of silence and tension have triggered a mini-epidemic of anxiety rooted conditions. Read more
Diet, Ignorance and the Environmental Crisis: Climate Change sounds vast and impersonal, but it’s really a very personal matter; a global crisis caused by the individual actions humanity has collectively taken. Read more
Creating Right Relationship: Within many areas of contemporary life there is a growing momentum for fundamental change. Inequality and injustice are being resolutely challenged. Read more
The Shame of Injustice:Poverty is the greatest cause of death and illness globally; it strangles the lives of billions of people. Read more
The Environmental Christmas Hangover:Christmas may seem like a distant memory but the environmental effect of the annual consumer frenzy, over-indulgence and extravagance is lasting damage. Read more