A pleasantly symbolic moment on our flight to the southern hemisphere occurred when the captain of Qantas Flight 002 announced himself as Captain Cook. He was probably no relation at all of the great explorer, Captain James Cook, FRS, RN (1728-1779), but the shared name and the nature of his task made an immediate historical …
December 2012 archive
Dec 11
Leaving with no regrets: the positive discipline of looking forward
I am now on the verge of departing St Mary’s Calne, and the past few days have been full of very moving occasions in which I have been able to say farewell, and in which members of the community have been able to say farewell to me (although I do point out that Australia is …
Dec 08
How do we protect our children from this rising tide of self-harm?
The BBC reported earlier this week that calls to ChildLine about self-harm had risen by 68% compared to last year, and this is a statistic that should alarm us. Most of the calls were from girls, and the age of many of the callers on this subject had dropped: self-harm has now become a leading …
Dec 05
Fidelis et Fortis
‘FIdleis et Fortis’ is the motto of James Gillespie’s High School, in Edinburgh, where I was a pupil for the last 4 and a half years of my secondary schooling. These were formative years but in common with many young people at the time, I know that I did not appreciate enough the influence that …
Dec 02
Dr Livingstone, I presume …
On Friday I returned from Edinburgh, where I met with some recent leavers from my current school, all now studying at Edinburgh University. It was a super occasion, and it was wonderful to see them enjoying student life – which includes studying very hard, of course! I had half an hour to spare between meetings, …