Dublin diaries: the road to Damascus.

Seismic shifts in my thinking have a habit of originating from the most mundane circumstances. I guess that is the beauty of life – as opposed to the alternative – that makes being human so wonderfully confusing; from chaos a sense of clarity is often the victor. Adam’s milestone 30th birthday – my youngest child … Read more

Gruesome gossip: the soulless pursuit of titillation.

If human communication was simply the exchange of sanitised data life would be pretty dull. We are an emotional species and have an eternal obsession with exploring, questioning and dreaming. As the late entrepreneur, Steve Jobs, concluded, “The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who … Read more

The woe of WhatsApp groups.

From my perspective, WhatsApp is a terrific tool for convenient communication; fast and often furious. However, there is an important qualification to this assertion: one to one chat is champion. Unfortunately, being connected to a group chat is where it all seems to get gruesome. Even more grotesque are the community groups – a virtual … Read more

Is this the real life or is this just fantasy: no escape from reality?

I love a good natter: from idle chit-chat through to the philosophical riddles of life. At the lower end of the communication continuum, the topic of talk rarely bewilders or bamboozles me. Similarly, gratuitous gossip – although often exciting as long as I’m not the central character – comes without cerebral strain. I prefer to … Read more

Being human: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Humanity is beautiful, bizarre, and barbaric. Since I am human, I am allowed to make such a delightful and damning statement and I intend to comprehensively prove my assertion ─ but let me first frame the formation of this eureka moment. During a recent engaging and often chaotic conversation with a friend, I grasped a … Read more

Love and hate: the passion paradigm.

Love and hate are powerful feelings. Arguably, they occupy opposite sides of the coin of emotion; however, I would advocate that the latter term is more emotionally charged than its nemesis. Love can occupy a lengthy continuum from mild to meteoric, whilst hate has a narrower band. I’ve used the word “love” to cover all … Read more