Miscellaneous Writings
King Philip IV (‘the Fair’) of France and Henry VIII of England
This article was first published in The Present Age magazine Vol. 3 No. 5 July 2017 In a lecture of 1 October 1916 Rudolf Steiner discusses the superficiality of much of the modern study of history and points out that “when one traces things back to their causes in the superficial easy-going way that modern history largely employs, one comes to positive absurdities. Ultimately, one would have to come to the opinion that the greatest part – perhaps even the most widespread part of what happens – owes its existence not to sense but to...
read moreAspects of the Brexit Referendum – The One and the Many
This article was first published (with slight abridgements) in New View magazine Issue 80 July – Sept. 2016 On 23 June this year Britain’s referendum on membership of the European Union (EU) resulted in a dramatic decision to exit the European Union (EU), but the decision does not change certain fundamental underlying elements of our social and economic life today. The economic establishment has shown very little sign at all of changing its practices since the crisis of 2008, and furthermore, relations between the superpowers, the...
read moreCharlottesville August 2017: Where is the Truth?
This article was first published in New View magazine Issue 85 Autumn 2017 When people in Britain recall the summer of 2017 they may remember the two blockbuster movies showing that season which evoked nostalgia for a summer 77 years earlier – June – August 1940: “Dunkirk” and “Churchill”. On release exactly a year after the Brexit referendum, these two films reinforced the British mythos of national unity in the face of imminent national disaster and threat. Although “Churchill” is about the period immediately before the...
read moreThe Year of the Black Swan – Brexit and Trump
This article was first published in New View magazine Issue 82, Jan. – Mar. 2017 The study of biography is an important and growing area of research in anthroposophy, related as it is to Rudolf Steiner’s work on the study of karma and reincarnation. As such, biographical work has a socially hygienic function, as it helps to promote the understanding of time (and timing) in one’s life and thus to restore meaning. And it is meaning that human beings crave above all, for we are beings who create meaning through the act of cognition,...
read moreEchoes of the 9th Century in Our Time
This article was first published in New View magazine Issue 81 Autumn 2016 “Matthew was an angel as a young child – sensitive, well-behaved, affectionate, often joyful, and often dreaming away on another plane. After turning nine, however, he soon changed into quite a different person. He was sometimes rude and critical, and often moody if not downright wretched…. Prior to age seven or eight, most children are sunny, smiling, exuberant, joyful beings – little angels, for the most part. Around the ninth birthday, however, a tinge of...
read more2016: Britain’s Year of Decision
This article was first published in New View magazine ‘No. 79 Apr – June 2016 2016 looks to be a momentous year in British history, when the nation makes its choice in the referendum on 23rd June on whether to remain in the European Union or leave it. This could affect Britain’s direction for decades, if not centuries. In the world of science Professor Stephen Hawking (74), who seems to be regarded by the media as something of a British scientific ‘cardinal’ in the contemporary western world’s modern ‘religion’ of...
read moreHistorical Conscience – From Uriel to Michael
This article was first published in New View Magazine Issue 77 Autumn 2015 The light from the widths of the world Lives on within me powerfully, Becoming light of soul And shining into spirit depths, To bring forth all the fruits Which in course of time shall ripen The Self of Man from the Self of the World - Rudolf Steiner, The Calendar of the Soul (Week 22) translated by Terry Boardman In October...
read moreBack to Buccaneering and the Jolly Roger?
This article was first published in New View magazine 3rd Quarter Summer 2015 I am myself. I “identify” with myself and am responsible to and for myself and my actions and for the care of my body. I am also a member of the human race, the extended human family or community, and identify as such. I am aware of the body of the world, which supports my earthly existence, and I also feel a responsibility to that. I know that I have responsibilities to the rest of the human race and to the planet’s environment through my...
read more1914, Scottish Independence & the Future of Britain
Thoughts on 1914 in relation to Scottish Independence and the Future of Britain This article first appeared in New View magazine Issue 72 July-Sept 2014 2014, a year rich in historical resonance: D-Day in Normandy 1944, seventy years ago; a hundred years on from the birth of Dylan Thomas in 1914; the deaths of Franz Ferdinand and his dear wife Sophie in Sarajevo that same year; the defeat of King Edward II of England at the Battle of Bannockburn by Robert the Bruce in 1314, which saved Scottish independence for nearly 400 years. Yet Scotland...
read moreBeyond Ishihara Shintaro & Halford Mackinder: William E. Deming – 2012 to 1979
This article was first published in New View magazine, Winter 2012. This is a slightly expanded version of that published article Time has been much on my mind this year, as I turned the round and weighty number of 60 in the Chinese Year of the Dragon, and my first grandchild arrived on Earth. Time has clearly been on the minds of millions of others this year too. The reason of course is the various expectations surrounding the completion of a supposedly particularly significant cycle in the ancient Mayan Calendar at the winter solstice, 21st...
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