“This cultural worship of reason and empiricism means that our educational systems and other societal institutions train us to express disbelief in anything that we can’t directly perceive with our five physical senses, and that’s how it’s come to happen that the world has been demystified, leeched of magic.” “I…

“I understood that people would do almost anything to not feel pain, including causing pain and abusing power, and I understood that there were very few people who could handle being held accountable for causing hurt without rationalizing, blaming, or shutting down.” “Regardless of how strongly our body responds to…

Introduction “Russians are thus themselves a palimpsest people, citizens of a patchwork nation that more than most shows these external influences in every aspect of life. Their language is testament to this. A railway station is called a vokzal, for example, after London’s Vauxhall station, the result of an unfortunate translation…

“To be passive is to let others decide for you; to be aggressive is to decide for others. To be assertive is to decide for yourself.” “You might picture one of the happiest times of your life, and think of your emotions during that time. Or think of someone you…

“Everyone professes to love the NHS, few would dare criticise it, yet everyone elects to go private at the first chance.” “Your minor party is totally irrelevant unless it threatens to break the balance of power between Labour and Conservative. It just so happened that many UKIP supporters were former…

“The tearoom lady called me love. All the shop ladies called me love and most of the men called me mate. I hadn’t been here twelve hours and already they loved me.” “”Do you have cornflakes in America?” “Well, actually they’re American, too.” “Never!” I smiled weakly, and begged my…

Ancient History

Introduction “Although very few of the Asians, Africans and Caribbeans living in England would define themselves as English — most call themselves British, which has come to be regarded as a more inclusive term — they have clearly contributed to the ‘grammar’ of Englishness.” Small Talk “You do not go up to someone…

Introduction “In the Middle Ages, Latin and French had been the languages of government and diplomacy, but during the Renaissance the change to vernacular languages was happening all over Europe, and England was no exception. As yet, English had little or no standard spelling and existed in a thousand different varieties…