“Plague Wars”, by Tom Mangold and Jeff Goldberg, Macmillan, £18-99p. When reports appeared of an outbreak of a mysterious brain virus which claimed the lives of five people in New York, the City’s then mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, gave orders for the spraying of...
Loss and Gain by John Henry Newman
In 1848 John Henry Newman published his novel “Loss and Gain: The Story of a Convert.” Recently re-published in paperback by the Echo Library, its beautiful prose and moving narrative is well worth reading – especially as we reflect on Newman’s beatification. It was...
Apocalypse, Revelation, Lord of the World, Lord of the Rings, and Fr.Elijah.
I have written previously about Michael O’Brien’s novel, "Father Elijah" (see below). He has just published a sequel – “Elijah in Jerusalem” – which sees the central character, a Jewish Catholic priest, and survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto – continue to challenge...
When China Rules the World…
“When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order” (out in paperback next January) is the provocative the title of Martin Jacques’ assessment of China’s future role as the dominant global power. For more than a...
Please Look After Mother – A Korean Perspective On Dementia
In September the universal Church commemorates the feast of the Korean martyrs. The one time Anglican bishop of Korea, noted scholar and, later, Catholic priest, Monsignor Richard Rutt, who died in July, put their number at between 8,000 and 10,000. Mainly lay...
The Great Partnership, God, Science and The Search For Meaning by Jonathan Sacks
When Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, made his Maiden Speech in the House of Lords he recounted that at the burning bush an overwhelmed Moses told God he could not speak because he was "not a man of words". “Mind you”, continued Lord Sacks, “that did not stop him...
Ethnic Cleansing in Southern Kordofan: When the Stars Fall To Earth http://starsfalltoearth.com/
On July 9th the world’s newest nation was born. Under the presidential leadership of Salva Kiir Southern Sudan’s 10 million people finally broke free from the grip of Khartoum. It is twelve years since I first entered Southern Sudan, travelling in with the Sudan...
To Seek A Newer World – Robert Kennedy
To Seek A Newer World - written in 1967 by Robert Kennedy. by David Alton on Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 11:38pm In 1967, a year before he was assassinated, Senator Robert Kennedy published “To Seek A Newer World.” It grew out of his speeches, out of his travel...
Harry Patch, Michael Murpurgo and War Horse
Harry Patch and War Horse It's just two years since the death, at 111 years of age, of Harry Patch – often called "the Last Fighting Tommy." He was the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. In August 2009, on the day of his...
The Jeweller
As a boy, growing up in Wadowice, Blessed John Paul II – Karol Wojtyla – wanted to be an actor and, as a teenager, he participated in the school theatre. In 1938 on enrolling at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University he was able to study drama until the Nazis ended classes...
For 18 years David Alton was a Member of the House of Commons and today he is an Independent Crossbench Life Peer in the UK House of Lords.
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Letter from the Lord (David) Alton and Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, co chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea, to Lord (David) Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, about the CCP’s forced repatriation of North Korean refugees in breach of both the 1951 Refugee Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
£1 Trillion – Raised In Parliament Today. The Cost of Reparations In Ukraine and Bringing To Justice Those Responsible.
https://youtu.be/xlEfrgwELvc Alongside the fatalities, injuries and chronic suffering and misery which Putin’s war has brought to Ukraine, the economic cost of rebuilding and remedying war damage is now estimated to be close to £1 trillion. Yesterday David...
Stop Perpetrators Getting Away With Genocide – Public Letter sent to the UK Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary on the Genocide Determination Bill 2023-24. The letter was published this morning, 17 April 2024, 06:00 am UK time.
Stop Perpetrators Getting Away With Genocide - Public Letter sent to the UK Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary on the Genocide Determination Bill 2023-24. The letter was published this morning, 17 April 2024, 06:00 am UK time. 'First of its kind': Prominent lawyers...