Ex-nun Karen Armstrong writes in her iconoclastic book "A History of God" that the rationale behind sacrifice of the first-born child in the ancient pagan world was the replenishment of the strength of the god believed to have begat it (begetting is what gods and men did in those days). In the intervening years mankind has made strides with the invention of the wheel,…
Never judge a book by its e-ink screen
Amazon is hardly ever out of the tax headlines these days. Following on from management's mauling by a British Parliamentary Committee late last year and the developing Transfer Pricing dispute with the IRS, last week all eyes were on Amazon's reaction to the Senate's passing of the heat-seeking, this one has your name on it A-M-A-Z-O-N, Marketplace…
Men in Sepia
When larger than life Oscar winner Orson Welles was asked why there had been a self-destructive theme running through his career, he replied that he was like the scorpion who begged the frog to carry him across the river on his back. When the frog hesitated, fearing that the scorpion would bite him, the scorpion…
I did it their way
Less than a month after my rare downing of a beer in an English pub, I was at it again – this time in New York. Served an ice-cold bottle of lager, I looked around furtively for the glass. Then I remembered: John Wayne didn’t do glasses. Swigging from the bottle – a practice I…
Beating about the Bush tax cuts
I believe it was John the Baptist who coined the phrase, "In the beginning was the Word". Whatever your creed, words have definitely had a pretty serious effect on the world from time immemorial. For me, the mere mention of the word "War", in all its mono-syllabic, animal-like simplicity, is enough to strike fear into my…
The Greatest Show on Earth?
Laurence Spiegel was my first political hero. Never heard of him? Don't worry - nor had Google the last time I checked. The one and only time I worked on the campaign team for a British General Election it was for Laurence Spiegel . That was an important election for two reasons: despite polls showing a clear advantage…
Territorial expansion
M.A.D. has to be the best acronym ever. "Mutual Assured Destruction" is what the world looked like it was heading for 50 years ago this week when the young John F Kennedy faced down Nikita Khrushchev in the Cuban Missile Crisis. October 16, 1962 has gone down in history as the morning National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy…
One small step for Mitt
Neil Armstrong, who died last week, was one of my childhood heroes. It was not that I aspired to be an astronaut - I was a sedentary kid for whom "space" was what separated the sofa from the TV set - but I knew how to recognize greatness when I saw it. There were plenty of…
Tax and the C.T.
Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" was an unlikely international bestseller. The Louvre, the Vatican and a French Church would hardly be expected to be up there amongst the 1001 places Joe Sixpack must visit before he dies. However, looking at what it did for interest in religion, can you imagine what a boon it…
Washington the dream factory
Last year, the Oscar for Best Actor was awarded to someone who feigned inability to speak coherently. This year, the same award went to someone who chose not to speak. The 2012 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor went to that prize's oldest recipient best known for playing a singing sailor whose most memorable line, nearly 50 years ago, was…
Tax Break 