Hillsborough: Cover-up and Group Think

23 Years after the Hillsborough Stadium disaster, when 96 people were crushed to death, a government-commissioned Independent Panel has concluded that police failures contributed to the tragedy; more lives could have been saved; and after the event the South Yorkshire...
Six Elements: Modern Poems and Buddhist Reflections

Six Elements: Modern Poems and Buddhist Reflections

Last week a Buddhist friend organised a celebration of the elements, inviting contributions to his Facebook page. This stimulated me to look out some favourite works, mostly modern and mostly poems. Here is a cento on the Buddhist elements – earth, water, fire, air,...
Ghostwritten: a Buddhist Novel?

Ghostwritten: a Buddhist Novel?

David Mitchell’s Ghostwritten is a novel for the interconnected, globalised times in which we are buffeted among billions; it offers not so much an answer as a neural network of thought, not so much an argument as ideas whirring like minds, and interacting like...
Buddhism and Drugs

Buddhism and Drugs

New research shows that teenage cannabis use causes lasting damage. As well as the physiological damage, Buddhism suggests that drugs are  about avoiding experience rather than engaging with mindfully with it  Thought for the Day 29/08/2012 Some of the parents I know...