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Great writers take us to many places

After Christmas is over, and the sunrises start getting earlier and the sunsets later in the Northern Hemisphere, there are still two months of scarce daylight and lowering skies ahead. Here’s a suggestion for how to fill the gloomy hours with uplift: read. Read some great books, returning perhaps to those you ploughed through on school assignments so many years ago. Discover one of the pleasures of aging — how serious books turn out to be more interesting and enriching than what you remember from dutifully ploughing through them years ago. Sit in a comfortable chair, turn off ...

I’m spiritually learning through my writing

As 2025 comes to an end, I want to thank my readers who have emailed me throughout the year with encouraging and kind words. I truly appreciate the thoughtfulness put into every message. Due to my teaching and grading load, I am not able to respond to every email, but I am deeply moved that people would take the time to write me. I’m also grateful to those who shared their dissenting opinions. I think we can all agree that we need more civil and polite discussions in online spaces. Three recent columns that particularly resonated with readers were my Thanksgiving commentary on ...

Great Britain leads in its own self destruction

For centuries, Great Britain stood as one of the West’s crown jewels, a bastion of Judeo-Christian civilization, free speech and rule of law. One small, proud island in Western Europe defeated tyrants, ended slavery and stood firm against the flood of Nazism that swamped the continent and threatened to envelop the entire world. “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,” Winston Churchill famously declared on behalf of the British people and yes, ...

‘You look great’ is about perception

I was sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office last week when someone I hadn’t seen for many years came in. When he saw me, he said “Bob! How are you? You look great!” I don’t look great. Since I last saw him, my hair has turned from gray to white, and there’s far less of it. My skin has gone blotchy. The bags under my eyes have gone from brown to blue. And my wattle has become the size of a bullfrog. “You look great, too, George.” I lied. George looked about a hundred years older than I remembered him. Why do we feel compelled to say “You look ...

Trump plays Mr. New York Christmas

Fifth Avenue swarms with tourists grinning at the fabulous scene as retailers cash in on the cheer. Christmas in New York is a Rockettes kick line of store windows awash in fantasy and light spectaculars. But something is missing from the big show this year. That would be Donald Trump. In truth, the president hasn’t made much of a Gotham showing in years – striking, given how hard he once worked to make Christmas in New York all about him, before he moved on to making the world all about him, all the time. Sure, Trump Tower still looms over Fifth and just a few steps from the ...

Removing Irish son’s name on park on hold

Belfast-born, Dublin-raised Chaim Herzog was a son of Ireland, through and through. Educated at Irish colleges, fluent in Irish and with an Irish brogue he carried with him through life, Herzog was a rugby star and a boxing champion. His father was the Chief Rabbi of Ireland, dubbed the “Sinn Fein Rabbi” for his support of Irish nationalism. With Ireland unwilling to oppose Hitler, Herzog joined the British Army to fight the Nazis. He was a war hero, landing at Normandy, fighting in Belgium, the Netherlands and in Germany itself and helping to liberate the Nazi death camp at ...