Author Archives: bill

MARKING ADAM SMITH

Posted on September 7, 2014 by bill

Having recently read the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, upon which a whole new ideological financial system, called Free Market Capitalism, has  currently been tried out, with pretty disasterous results, I thought a review of his thoughts and opinions could be measured … Continue reading →

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A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

Posted on July 15, 2014 by bill

Yesterday, the 22nd August 1995, Ursula and I visited our friends, John and Esme Salmon at their house in Woldingham and, whilst we were walking after lunch, the conversation turned to the matter of belief. At one point John said … Continue reading →

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WE LAND INTO A CALCUTTA RIOT

Posted on May 28, 2014 by bill

Dum Dum was as humid as a Turkish Bath. We never stayed here long enough to become acclimatised to it, if that was a possibility. Many of the Staging Posts along the route were hotter than Calcutta, but with low … Continue reading →

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DO WE REALLY LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY?

Posted on April 20, 2014 by bill

The financial crash of 2008, with its attendant series of recessions around the World, has affected the UK in a manner that makes it pertinent to ask the question, ‘are we deluding ourselves in thinking we are living in a … Continue reading →

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INTERNATIONAL TRIGGER POINTS

Posted on March 29, 2014 by bill

There are at the present time – 24 March 2001 – a number of ‘trigger points’ around the world which could change the course of history were any one of them to erupt and start off a war. I started … Continue reading →

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TWENTIETH CENTURY IDEOLOGIES AND NOW.

Posted on March 24, 2014 by bill

If we view the causes of the 1914/18 war objectively we are forced to conclude that there were no great ideologies involved; it was a case of Sovereign States jockeying for power with Germany wanting more colonies and a world-size … Continue reading →

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WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

Posted on January 10, 2014 by bill

At the end of the 1939/45 war a battered and bankrupt Britain took stock. With the bleak war years now over, how could the future not be one of hope and promise? We had prevailed in a victory, won by … Continue reading →

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SAYING GOODBYE TO CORINNA

Posted on January 2, 2014 by bill

It was on a Sunday, 13th December, 1981 when I first set eyes on Corinna and her boy-friend, Hanno Wismar. This was at the home of her step-brother, Svend and his wife, Gisela. A flat in the north of Hamburg. … Continue reading →

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TREVOR

Posted on December 29, 2013 by bill

I arrived early for my Friday visit to Trevor. He would be waiting for me, seated in his chair in front of the television and facing out to the open French windows to the loggia and the garden beyond, either … Continue reading →

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WE PLAY THE BRAZILIAN CHAMPION AT A CHESS COLLECTIVE

Posted on October 28, 2013 by bill

The expatriates working at the British owned gold mine in the remote area of the Brazilian Highlands had to make their own entertainment. Unlike the inhabitants of the town, on the periphery of which, their spacious bungalows were clustered, this … Continue reading →

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