'Sword of Truth.'
Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
Slow start to THURDAY. (So no change there then?) Working from the back page forward in last Friday's Times, the highs and lows of notable people, forming the mental architecture of our lives - living and dying. Cricketers, racing car drivers, rugby players, golfers, all with their ambitions either achieved or thwarted, with associated psychological challenges. Remeniscences of Michael Tebbit by the Rev ('Sword of Truth') Jonathan Aitken. (What memories of events those names bring to mind?) Like falling stars we all leave a trail. Everything rounded off with the obituaries: an actor, a horse trainer, a stained glass artist with a picture of himself from the seventies wearing his 'punk' tee-shirt declaring, "We are all prostitutes'. It reminded me of a friend who said much the same, "All men are perverts!" It took me by surprise at the time but I suppose there's an element of truth to it. Human nature is a maelstrom of conflicting elements that reveal themselves as flowers or thorns or more likely a combination of both. They may prove difficult reconciling from without or within. The daemons that prove our downfall and destruction are ever present. (Do we control them or submit to them?) Such was Sir Brian Clarke who could produce something as beautiful as this and will be remembered primarily for it:
17.7.2025: Armando Bacco As you would expect, I always treat these major disasters and incidents with a great deal of caution. State organs are often involved as we have witnessed every day in the Middle East, most recently in Damascus (besides all the other multiple incidents over the years) These same states audaciously want us to think we need to worry most about rogue groups scattered here and there when it couldn't be further from the truth. It is STATES we have to worry about with their multi-trillion budgets going to either regular military violence or covert sabbotage. Gaza has demonstrated in no uncertain terms what America and Israel are capable of, ably and disgracefully suported by Europe and even Arab states, with the notable exception of Yemen. Of course aircraft crashes are in a different category, but not excluded from 'terrorist' activity from whatever source. We had the two Malasian Airline Boeing crashes, the first inexplicable and unsolved, the second subject to a secret and very, very suspect investigation, the findings of which are disputed by Russia. As to this recent Air India one, the circumstances are extraordinarily unusual, so much so that in my mind it makes conventional explanations highly unlikely. That is just a hunch with little to support it, other than the points I already made. Would two experienced pilots kill themselves and all their passengers? They would have had to be positively deranged to do so. Those fuel switches could not have been turned off unknowingly or accidentally. Nor I think would one or other of the pilots not have noticed the other turn them off and corrected immediately or put out a Mayday call, if it had been deliberate. The only other explanation would be a failure of automatic/computerised systems of which there are many examples. Now on the final point on information being made public, these investigations are highly confidential. Partial leaked snippets always raise questions as to motivation. Who leaked it and why? It is clearly prejudicial and pointing to pilot error. That in itself is suspicious. If it was a terrorist or state inspired act, clearly India and Britain were the main affected parties. All of this and I haven't even touched on the utterly incredible - miraculous even - escape of one passenger from crash and fire ball that immediately enveloped the plane!
18.7.2025: Christoph Bluth
Since the collapse of the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in March 2025, Israel has significantly escalated its military operations in Gaza—not only through aerial bombardment and ground assaults, but increasingly through the systematic demolition of civilian infrastructure.
Entire towns and neighborhoods that once housed tens of thousands of people have been leveled in the past few months. Satellite imagery reviewed by independent analysts and international media, including BBC Verify, confirms that thousands of buildings—residential blocks, schools, public institutions—have been razed to the ground in areas under Israeli military control. In some regions, entire urban zones have disappeared, leaving behind only skeletal remains of once-dense communities.
Unlike earlier phases of the war, much of this destruction is now methodical and premeditated. Verified footage from drones and journalists embedded with Israeli units shows controlled demolitions—buildings brought down with precision explosives, one after another. In many cases, these demolitions targeted structures that appeared largely intact, not just those damaged by previous shelling. These operations appear aimed not merely at targeting active combat zones but at rendering areas uninhabitable and unusable. Israel's military has defended these actions as legally justified. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), many of the demolished structures harbored Hamas military assets—such as tunnels, weapons caches, or command centers concealed within civilian environments. The IDF insists that such demolitions are carried out only when “imperative military necessity” demands them, in line with its interpretation of international humanitarian law. But many legal scholars and human rights experts disagree. BBC Verify, Human Rights Watch, and legal experts cited in The Guardian and other outlets argue that these large-scale demolitions, particularly in areas already under Israeli control and cleared of active combatants, may violate the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit an occupying power from wantonly destroying civilian infrastructure. Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention forbids the destruction of property by an occupying force “except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.” The scale of the devastation is staggering. According to satellite data reviewed by analysts at multiple institutions, including humanitarian research organizations, over 191,000 buildings across Gaza have been damaged or destroyed—amounting to more than 60% of all structures in the territory. This includes entire swathes of Rafah, Khan Younis, and central Gaza, where satellite time-lapse images show dense urban grids reduced to empty, dusty plains. Observers say this pattern resembles not just tactical destruction, but a strategic policy of depopulation and displacement. Multiple reports suggest that bulldozers are being recruited not only for military engineering, but for long-term urban clearance—raising fears among Palestinians and human rights monitors that Israel may be reshaping Gaza’s physical and political landscape in ways that could amount to de facto annexation or forced displacement. Israel rejects these accusations as politically motivated and maintains that it is acting within the bounds of international law. It accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields and embedding its military assets in homes, schools, and mosques—thereby, in the Israeli view, forfeiting the civilian protection these sites would normally enjoy. Nonetheless, the visible results—entire suburbs flattened, infrastructure erased, and the long-term livability of Gaza thrown into question—are prompting a broader debate: Is the systematic destruction of Gaza a military necessity, or a breach of humanity’s most basic rules of war?
20.7.2025: People arrested for demonstrating against genocide! You couldn't get more Starmer-Orwellian than that, could you?
""This is a slippery slope to tyranny"
One of those speaking at the rally said: "This is the stuff of nightmares. George Orwell wrote about this. I am 75 years old. I have had a professional career in education. I'm a trained counsellor. I have never broken the law. But I have a conscience and this government does not have a conscience. It has lost its moral compass but I have mine. Their actions made my moral compass clearer. "Our civil liberties, our freedom of speech, our right to assemble to take non-violent action. To take that away and threaten it, we will lose our democracy. I call on anybody listening to me now, to step up and take action before it's too late. Our democracy is slipping away from us. Please think about future generations. This is a slippery slope to tyranny. In my lifetime, with my father having served in the war to stop a genocide in Europe."
22.7.2025:
I am SICK of the American/Israeli DEATH-CULT, and all the rest of the world cluck clucking behind like frightened chicken. The claim to 'values' is now proved to be a complete CON. It is a fraud and a hoax perpetuated because it sounds good but has no substance. Banning and locking up people who protest against massacring states is proof positive of that. We have had nearly two years of genocide and AT LAST Lammy condemns it but still no ACTION. Who were the two smirking MPs behind him as he spoke? Were they amused by yet more theatre without intervention, whilst children's limbs were being blown off with the assistance of the British Government?
Tim Veater
An atrocity not in the past but TODAY because western and arab countries will not confront israel directly or provide aid and protection to civilians. If israel is blocking aid by road and shooting people if they line up for provisions, why no international
food drop by air? Why no troops to protect civilians? Just this one dead emaciated boy condemns the whole damn corrupt political CONSPIRACY!
1m
Reply
Amanda Spindel I think you must live in a fantasy land of your own making. Or is it made for you by the deceitful murdering regime called Israel? You have either buried your reason or your humanity or both. Have you been UNCONSCIOUS for nearly two years? Haven't you seen how Israel, using American bombs has laid waste to an effectively defencesless Gaza? Arn't you aware that this country you support has been intentionally bombing and shooting women and children, even when starving and queuing for food, as a direct result of your embargo? Don't you know you have murdered at least 70 000 named persons and killed and maimed hundreds of thousands more, have shot and tortured people in detention including children? Does all this mean nothing to you, or are you so indoctrinated, hate-filled and bigoted that you are unable to empathise with the unjustified suffering you have caused? If so you really illustrate the fundamental problem with Israeli politics and society and you are I'm afraid beyond reason or redemption.
Peter Kane As you must know, Israel created, funded and controlled Hammas to use as the excuse for its policy of mass murder and displacement; just as it did ISIS, Oct. 7th, the hostages and all the other terrorist ploys. International zionism is a pernicious and destabilizing entity without parallel.
Gloria Searle Hasn't the question even crossed your mind, how after nearly twenty years of shooting dead anyone who came close to the most watched and guarded border in the world, and despite being informed on more than one occasion, an invasion was planned, Israel allowed hundreds to cross and then took almost a day to respond with army units? Not to mention that a significant proportion of those killed were by the IDF itself? Haven't you heard of the Hannibal Directive and its implications? Don't you know Israel was deeply involved in 9/11 (not Saudi-Arabia) Don't you know ISIS worked at the direction of Israel and America the recent proof being Syria. If you don't, it really is time you caught up and stopped casting aspirsions at those that do. If you don't believe me how about the Times of Israel?https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/
23.7.2025: The day kicks off with tea in bed, diary, paper and the computer-turning-on ritual, ever hopeful it will reveal something life-enhancing. Of course, cup of coffee in hand, it fails but at least it helps to pass a morning and slides us seamlessly from crazy dreams, to the dreamy craziness of a world full of both beauty and horror. Small droplets of water on Hazel leaves flash and twinkle like stars and tiny suns. The wild garden in front my cottage is ablaze with orange Crocosmia and pink Japanese Anenomes, lit up by the morning sun. The latter are called 'Windflower serenade' apparently, although their propensity to spread via their roots is phenominal and problematic. In no time at all it creates a dense forest of foliage and flower. It has just dawned on me, like the morning, that I have reached the age my father had when he died forty years ago. Were it not for advances in surgery, I might have followed him. I am daily grateful I have so far been spared his cruel fate of debilitating decline. As I rub my weeping eyes, I picture him in his chair doing the same. So one generation just repeats and rewinds. I am conscious that whatever time I have left is gratuitous and borrowed. We all live in the past as we look to the future, although perhaps the secret of inner peace is to only live in the present moment; in this case the tap of the key-pad ringing in my ears, sprawling text onto the screen in front of me, in the process, obtaining a sort of pointless immortality that only words on the Internet can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaQm48G6IjY
