Unfounded optimism

Increasingly likely that my dismal optimism was unfounded. They are saying the right things, but it’s easy to read between the lines: women can work in line with the Shariah (as we define it); Shias are free to worship as they wish (because we know they respect the caliphs like we do), etc. It is […]

The Fall

So, the fall, more quickly than anyone seems to have expected, even the Taliban. Their return feels unbelievable, the end of an era that began on 9/11 and that for those of our age defined our understanding of the world. Certainly without 9/11 my life would have been different as I doubt the GF would […]

Watching history

Watching Afghanistan gives a true sense of history unfolding, even in my lifetime. I was born around the time the Soviets entered Afghanistan. In my earliest memories the war next door was a fact of life and its effects were barely noticed because they just were. Then there are the memories of the Soviets leaving, […]

Despair

The new IPCC report has been released, and the desire to just roll over and close my eyes and pretend to be asleep till I die is very great. The one cheerful thing today was listening to a podcast about Emmy Noether and while I can’t say I really understood her breakthroughs it was a […]

Horrors returning

Afghanistan falls, bit by bit to the Taliban. What was the point of the past 20 years? Pakistan bears so much guilt which will never be acknowledged or accepted. It was a bad situation, yes, but I can’t believe the decisions made were the right ones for anyone – not Pakistan, not Afghanistan. There is […]