climbing hiking camping

This is a letter sent to the Daily Telegraph, recorded in The Week Magazine: Dear Sirs I was assisting my 16-year-old daughter with her homework when she received a text from Mum, which read "What do you want from life?" This was an unexpected and profound question for an exam-sitting teenager. We debated various answers - wealth, fulfilment, love, all three. Five minutes later, she received a second message, blaming predictive text for correcting the word "Lidl".

This is my post at the time Ed beat David. It gives me no great pleasure to note I was right. Sad day for Labour. 1. Ignore what the public want: look to keep the peace in your own party at the cost of becoming unelectable 2. Make sure the election process is long enough for the unions to form around a candidate that is weak enough not to take them on 3. Make sure the Unions have a vote that outweighs their true influence in the country 4. Elect someone that is young and untried 5. Ignore the older brother who has a welcome reformist approach and is obviously the more able communicator 6. Go back to the old party ways, following the policies of the last failed Prime Minister rather than the new approach from the earlier successful and long lasting Prime Minister 7. Look forward to a number of years of debating failed left wing election proposals 8. Look forward to a long time as an opposition party.

When you drive to the polling station on Thursday, your way will not be blocked. Your children will not be kidnapped whilst you are out. There will be no indiscriminate gunfire as you queue. No one will take you into the booth and force you to put a cross by a certain name. We live in a free democracy. But we need to keep it that way. Don’t assume for a moment that your vote doesn’t matter. No vote is wasted. It’s a statement that we’re free. Free to vote. Free to choose. Far beyond our own political views, beyond the choice of a candidate or the success of a candidate, is the fact that we are free to vote in the first place. A privilege many in the world today do not have. Don’t squander the chance. Don’t throw away your right to vote. Don’t stay home. Go to the polling station. Put your cross on the ballot paper. Vote on Thursday.

As I approach my 60th birthday this week, I was thinking back to the reason I started writing a blog, in my early 50's. Here's the very first entry on this blog all that time ago. The daughter I make note of is happily married with our first two granddaughters. Well, time flies, as they say..... “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” ― Mother Teresa Well this is it. I've got there. Started a blog that is. It's taken a while but I got there in the end. It's not really about mountain climbing. It's more to do with continuing to climb in life after the age of 50. I'm 51. I feel like i'm 31! How did I get this old?! But there is so much more to do. Many more mountains to climb in this life. I'm not sure whether anyone will ever read this stuff. Not sure at this moment it will be worth reading! But i'll give it a go. I've kept a daily diary for over 30 years so it shouldn't be too hard to keep ...

There was a bit of a scary documentary on TV the other night. Robert Peston was looking at what might happen to France after their next election. There is a real possibility of the far right getting in.  This is reflected in many other nations, including the UK with the rise of UKIP. Not as far right as the Front National in France, but a definite leaning in that direction. It’s clear that there is a concern amongst ‘locals’ with regard to ‘newcomers’. But if we go back into history, pretty much all of Europe can be classed as ‘newcomers’. Most of us have relations who have travelled beyond old borders and taken up residence in another country. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French Front National, sets out the issue as countries needing to decide if they are ‘globalists’ or ‘nationals’. It sounds almost convincing. Until you consider the fact that she is demanding a choice. Either you support your country, or you are a ‘globalist’ and want to do away with borders. But it’s not ei...

My thanks to our good friend Ros Turner for this one.... Two tough questions ...   Question 1: If you knew a woman was pregnant, Who had 8 kids already, Three who were deaf, Two who were blind, One mentally retarded, And she had syphilis, Would you recommend that she undergoes an abortion? Read the next question before looking at the response for this one. Question 2: It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three candidates. Candidate A:  Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes And drinks 8 to 10 Martinis a day. Candidate B:    He was kicked out of office twice, Sleeps until noon, Used opium in college And drinks a quart of whiskey every evening. Candidate C:  He is a decorated war hero, He's a vegetarian, Doesn't smoke, Drinks an occasional beer And never committed adultery. Which of these candidat...

Splendid grief. Two words that don’t go together? I heard them used by Sir Nicholas Soames MP in relation to his grandfather Sir Winston Churchill, and specifically to the full State Funeral given him in 1965. Fifty years on, there’s been a lot of reflection this week as to what Churchill achieved. It was unusual for a ‘commoner’ to be given such recognition with a State Funeral, and the occasion was both solemn and a celebration of a man who led a nation to victory against the Nazi’s. Grief. But splendid too. It would have be a very different world without him. As I reflect on the loss of two dear friends from cancer, one at quite a young age, the words come back to me. As we celebrated their lives, there was genuineness about the celebration. But grief too. Lives taken too soon. It would have been a very different world without them. Splendid grief.