re YOU your brothers keeper? - communities across the globe, of different cultural, religious, economic heritage/tradition have grappled in one way or the other about the question of whether we can/should take responsibility for the actions of others (relatives, friends, neighbours). This is a question which remains somewhat mysterious and most definitely paradoxical! Take for example the contrast which follows: in most modern "western!" societies, the only person who can legally be responsible for their actions (providing that they are an adult in law), is the person him or herself - so if a 31 year old male were to steal something from a grocery store and get caught, it is he (and he alone) who will answer to the courts for his actions. At the same time, if he were to steal 6 or 7 times, certainly people who know him and his family begin to raise questions (usually to each other and in speculation - as to whether his behaviour is somehow the result of the kind of upbringing he had....often pointing to some potential, hypothetical and often unsubstantiated inadequacy on the part of his parents, (or even more so if he had an absent parent - indeed even more so if he has a sister who has also been caught stealing in the past!) 

 NOW, let's take the a quick look at the opposite type of scenario - using for example internationally known athletics champion USAIN BOLT, or champion swimmer and multi-gold Olympic medallist MICHAEL PHELPS, or for that matter long-time tennis champ ROGER FEDERER - people who are somehow directly (or almost directly) associated with such persons - parents, siblings, neighbours and others who may have impacted the lives of these persons before they attained remarkable success will no doubt initially be given the benefit of the doubt by many others (i.e. those persons must have been a positive influence on the life of the famous person in question)......only through the passage of time are the realities of each situation brought out into the open- and even then we cannot be sure.

Certainly entire home communities and even entire countries go so far as to suggest (and this is often further hyped by certain media) - that they have a right to claim that that person's success is somehow a natural product of his community/culture/country etc..

.....BUT IN ALL THIS - IS THERE NOT SOME BALANCE TO BE STRUCK? ARE THERE NOT MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADULT MEMBERS OF ANY AND EVERY SOCIETY TO LEND A HELPFUL HAND INSTEAD OF TURN A BLIND EYE AND IS IT NOT POSSIBLE TO DO THIS WITHOUT BEING BLAMED WHEN THINGS GO WRONG (OR BEING PRAISED WHEN THINGS GO RIGHT)? GIVEN THAT THERE ARE 7 BILLION PLUS HUMANS SHARING THIS LITTLE PLANET -  ARE THESE TYPES OF POSITIVE ACTIONS NOT A PART OF OUR NATURAL ROLE IN LIFE? - Tell us what you think: (& please don't forget to cast your vote in our opinion Poll.)

Happiness - is it something that we achieve when we are able to tick all the boxes on our special list of  goals that we have highlighted to ourselves as being crucial to our own sense of satisfaction and completeness OR is it simply a mood that we are in for a collection of coincidental reasons (or that we believe that we are in - depending on our perspective on life), or is it an actual state of emotional well-being that we achieve (whether consciously or sub-consciously)? Together with Love, it seems to one of the most complicated, sometimes elusive and definitely difficult to describe 'states of being'. HOW DO YOU DEFINE HAPPINESS AND WOULD YOU SAY THAT THERE ARE DIFFERENT STAGES/LEVEL OF HAPPINESS?

Saturday 26/07/2013 - In an interdependent world, where so much of our individual lives are both directly and indirectly affected by others, are we really, as the old saying goes, "in control of our own destinies?" 
Putting aside the various religious beliefs and philosophies that exist regarding fate, predetermination etc., to the extent that we make our own decisions (e.g. "I will smile at least  three times today." or "I will have cereal for breakfast." or "I will change my career path within the next 12 months." - ARE WE LIVING IN AN INCREASINGLY INTER-DEPENDENT WORLD? and in spite of our strongest desires to have our own individuality and and self-expression, IS THIS REALISTICALLY SOMETHING WE EVER ACHIEVE (EVEN IF WE ARE PAYING OUR OWN BILLS AND LIVING UNDER OUR PROVERBIAL OWN ROOF?" - Please share your thoughts with us on our Blog page....

ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD - though initially it may seem a bit of a "fantastical" or "romantic" thought - the idea that many people living on this planet, if determined and ambitious enough, can probably move to almost any country in the world that they might wish to live. In some cases, depending on the place, the time and the person, such a move may be more daunting than in other circumstances. Excellent students, for example, in professions such as the medical profession and many of the pure sciences are actually almost invited to stay in certain countries. This of course is part of the reason behind the familiar "brain drain" conversation which is particularly relevant in developing countries which often tend to see their most highly educated young people emigrate in hopes of a better life. IF YOU COULD, WOULD YOU CONSIDER MOVING SOMEWHERE ELSE TO MAKE A LIFE - PLEASE VISIT OUR POLL SECTION TODAY  - TELL US WHERE YOU COULD SEE YOURSELF MOVING TO AND BEING HAPPY....VISIT OUR BLOG PAGE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DISCUSSION!

WHAT HOPE IS THERE FOR REAL PROGRESS IF SO MANY OF US FAIL TO SEE, BY way of  excuses,,,,,that we have to each take responsibility, that we have to each do a little something and that the vast majority of us DO NOT have an excuse to not be involved - and thus accept (when we do not) that we are not true to ourselves or one another. The excuses?: (too busy, working too hard, preoccupied with family, preoccupied with progressing in career, preoccupied with issues that are of immediate direct concern to me...OR WHY should I stick my neck out for the "common good" when others won't and I will end up with all the risk, others will benefit from my efforts and I will be a focal point for any negativity which results from anyone who does not want change) - none of these are truly acceptable when we come down to the basics of life - WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE?

Tuesday 23/07/2013, 17:52 GMT - WIDEST POSSIBLE INPUT! - In the last 100 years, we have seen the "enfranchisement" of millions of people, who have, for thousands of years prior to the 20th Century NOT HAD ANY SAY WHATSOEVER nor any right to contribute to decision-making EVEN in countries which are considered relatively "liberal" - women, certain races, certain religions - all have been unfairly excluded from what is now by and large considered to be a fundamental right - the right to contribute to decision-making in society through the democratic vote (aka: "Universal Suffrage"). In some instances we have seen the "age of majority" lowered from 21 to 18 in terms of right to qualify for the right to vote. We believe that there can be no argument that the more inclusive societies have become in this respect, the more significant improvements have been in way they are run or managed......additionally, the overall positives have outweighed any arguments in the negative.
........More recently, there has been increasing focus on the rights of younger people.....that is to say.....person's under the age of 18, but who are old and mature enough to make very significant contributions in terms of suggestions, ideas and forms of productive participation for teenagers in the functionality of greater society - the arguments in favour of this position are unquestionable - one such argument being that "greater ownership" will not only increase greater attachment of value for and adherence to society's systems by soon-to-be adults BUT it will also decrease the general malaise that is inherent in a group which otherwise feels that it has no ability whatsoever to make any form of useful contribution to - Do you agree with these suggestions/arguments/perspectives and how can we improve on the values that young men and women around the world have with respect to society and taking up responsibility as part and parcel of their 'growing-up' process? 

Friday 19/07/2013 14:20 GMT - Legislating morals.......this has been a debate  which has raged on for time immemorial - sometimes resulting in genuine progress but often regressing into the realm of the unjust, unfair and unequal treatment of people for the wrong reasons. Indeed democracy itself, as a system of government, has been fundamentally shaken on a number of occasions - especially where small and often not fully aware majorities have forced their standards on large minorities within a society. Some would argue that it is not actually possible to legislate morals and that crucial to any truly fair system of running civil society is a combination of understanding, open-mindedness, and a willingness to live and let live - the principle caveat underlying the functionality of this concept being that no person has the right to invade another person's personal space or to deprive others in any way of what are almost universally accepted human rights. In principle, this would appear to be a sensible approach for people who must share everyday life on a planet of over 7 billion persons from many different races, cultures, religions and belief systems.....but drawing the lines - as we sometimes must (with greater specificity) is not always easy - TAKE FOR EXAMPLE THE DECADES LONG DISCUSSION ON THE LEGALISATION OF MARIJUANA - HOW IS THIS WORSE, MANY ARGUE THAN THE LEGALISATION OF ALCOHOL - SHOULD IT NOT BE A MATTER FOR THE INDIVIDUAL TO DECIDE (AGAIN CONDITIONAL ON ANY SUCH DECISION NOT HAVING A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE LIFE OF ANY ONE ELSE)? BUT THE ARGUMENTS AND DISCUSSION POINTS HERE ARE WIDE AND VARIED - PLEASE SHARE WITH US SOME OF YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE QUESTION...: 

 After a long, cold winter, which even saw snow and sleet fall in the West Midlands as recently as May, the UK is now gripped in a remarkably long heat wave - the BBC reporting today that over 700 people are dead as a result of the onslaught of daily rainless, windless heat!.....just a few months prior during the southern hemisphere's summer, Sydney,Australia reported a record temperature of 46C (115F) - at the same time, other parts of that continent were experiencing so much rain that severe floods were causing immense damage, while in Tasmania, forest raged uncontrollably across that island - not unlike the terrible, massive fires that engulfed large sections of New Mexico and Arizona just last month and caused the extremely sad deaths of 19 elite fire fighters.

There are clearly a vast array of examples of the fact that since humans began recording weather trends, the last few years have demonstrated some of the most extreme and significant changes of weather patterns across the globe

The debate therefore continues regarding the interactions between man-made and natural causation.....to what extent is this the earth going through one of its natural planetary "cycles" and to what extent can we blame increasing "carbon footprints"  (by countries all over the world) and by a globe where some 7,166,000,000 people now co-exist (that is the number of people alive on planet earth at the time of writing)?

Many argue that its a bit of both things - BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK AND WHAT SHOULD EACH ONE OF US, WHEREVER WE HAPPEN TO LIVE BE ATTEMPTING TO DO IN OUR DAY TO DAY LIVES TO LESSEN THE POSSIBILITIES OF MOTHER NATURE PRODUCING MORE AND MORE EXTREME WEATHER PATTERNS? PLEASE LET US HAVE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS IMPORTANT QUESTION? 

Wednesday 17/07/2013 08:36 GMT - Much has been made of the now infamous Payday lending schemes which emanate from Financial Institutions across the globe, the clear risk that their existence merely serves to compound debt cycles for the poorer members of Society - there have been varying degrees of response to the dealings of these entities, ranging from all-out declarations of war to promises to rapidly enact legislation which will facilitate better regulation of Payday lending schemes. Nevertheless the fact that a number of these company have been hugely successful is indicative that perhaps they are filling a sorely needed role.....and once again, regulators are behind the wagon and with these promises of greater regulation not much has been said about viable solutions to service the obvious need for more reasonable lending standards......DO YOU FEEL THAT THERE IS A ROLE FOR PAYDAY LENDING COMPANIES/SCHEMES AND THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO BALANCE SENSIBLE CREDIT CONTROL WITH THE PUBLIC DEMAND FOR BETTER ACCESS TO SHORT-TERM CASH FLOW?