One inescapable feature of my visits to my mum in Poland is my involuntary exposure to adverts. Every single radio station and TV channel broadcasts them. Some adverts are clever, funny and creative; most of them, however, are dull or silly. What all of them have in common, though, is the vision of easy solutions and a trouble-free life. For…

In the last decade or so, whenever an atrocity has been committed, the first assumption is that must have been a terrorist attack perpetrated in the name of Islam. Such a suspicion is based on the common perception that most infamous atrocities since 9/11 have been committed by Islamist terrorists. Paradoxically, among the victims of such acts of violence are…

We are special and pretty much unique in Europe. Unlike anywhere else in Continental Europe, we drive on the left-hand side of the road. Similarly, we have different power sockets. Many still prefer to use Imperial units rather than metric ones to measure things. We are so used to the British way of life that we realise those and many…

For the last three Sundays we’ve been listening to parts of a long, sometimes confusing, always challenging, theologically-loaded speech by Jesus. Like his contemporary audience, some of us might have been taken aback by his insistence on consuming his flesh and blood. Some of us might simply have ignored his insistence as outdated religious drivel, while others might have tried…

Cannibalism is forbidden in Scotland. Or so I believe, but I didn’t dare to look it up on the internet just to check, in case it were flagged up and the authorities were informed. I really didn’t fancy a long, serious chat with the police about my eating habits. In that respect, there’s no difference between modern Scotland and ancient…