For all its deception, double-dealing and treachery spying would appear to be straightforward. Side ‘A’ recruits and infiltrates a spy or mole into side ‘B’. Once installed in ‘B’ the mole begins leaking information to ‘A’ to the detriment of ‘B’ and the immense advantage of ‘A’. Simple. And that’s how most espionage and spy […]
Over the past thirty years Scotland, along with the rest of the UK, has adopted the policy and practice of harm reduction for people with addictions. Though controversial, the philosophy behind it is simple: people are strongly addicted, physically and psychologically, to a range of substances such as alcohol and heroin. For many, completely giving […]
Following the end of the Cold War, Western countries, primarily the US and Britain, embarked on a series of interventions in overseas conflicts that seemed to yield quick results in terms of an end to fighting and an apparently sustainable peace. This began with the response to Saddam’s Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990-91 resulting […]
The recent attacks on Paris and now San Bernardino have, rightly, focused on the sheer barbarity of the assaults. These atrocities were deliberately intended to cause as much wanton loss of life as possible. Such callous targeting of innocent people defies most people’s comprehension. Surely these people must be psychopaths or beyond the pale of […]
Vincent Bugilosi’s monumental book on the Kennedy assassination Reclaiming History* is a rigorous dissection of the events and circumstances surrounding the JFK shooting, and at over 1600 pages, vigorously rebuts the numerous conspiracies that have attended the brutal slaying in Dallas in 1963. Two examples. Firstly, Bugilosi presents a clinical account of the movements and […]
The framework within which policy-makers and decision makers have been operating over the past decades in Britain and most Western countries has been dominated by ‘managerialism’. This is a focus on the best way of managing and implementing policies in the socio-economic and political spheres which transcend, indeed almost dismiss, ideological considerations of left and […]
Prince William and Kate Middleton appear to be a personable, attractive young couple, and as with the news of anyone’s wedding, no reasonable person can wish them anything but health and happiness for the future. The problem is, that unless you’re closeted on Mars or sequestered in some isolated Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas, every […]
The Coalition Government’s public spending cutbacks have provoked much outrage. A lot of that has been directed at the economic case for the cutbacks with observers arguing that reductions on this scale are unjustified and run counter to the imperative to stimulate an economy through deficit finance at a time of recession; on the contrary, […]
Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city is a health promotion and social care professional’s nightmare. In spite of hundreds of millions of pounds spent on programmes and a plethora of initiatives targeted at poor health and lifestyle, the city stubbornly remains at the bottom of the table when it comes to bad health, atrocious diet, dreadful levels […]
Imagine a man aged over 50 who is grossly overweight and eating a salt and vinegar saturated fried take-away fish supper, washed down with a sugary, high calorie soft drink. Having vociferously consumed the fish supper our man proceeds to open a can of strong lager and accompanies this by lighting up one of 60 […]