By Prof. Dr. Mathew Koshy Punnackadu, Kerala, India This post is edited for length. The full post with additional context is here A centuries-old assumption was dramatically challenged on 9 June 2026, when the municipal council of Terrasse-Vaudreuil, a small town west of Montreal in Quebec, Canada, unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the Universal... Continue Reading →
Benjamin Britten conducting a rehearsal for the opening of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall in June 1967, with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch the second cellist on the right. Photograph: Hans Wild/Britten Pears Arts Three months after Bergen-Belsen was liberated, Britten and Yehudi Menuhin performed there. Survivor and cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was ‘transfixed’ – as she told the... Continue Reading →
Natalie Kyriacou | “How Will History Judge Us?” | Democracy, Climate & the Future Australian author and environmentalist Natalie Kyriacou delivers a powerful and deeply provocative address at the Reclaiming Democracy Together launch event. Opening with the question, “How do you think we will be written about in history books?”, Natalie reflects on the contradictions... Continue Reading →
And what must be done to stop it Reposted from Robert Reich, Jun 11, 2026 [Ken Gray This post from Robert Reich is long, but essential reading. A coup presses inexorably on, silently, though comprehensively. Even if the House and Senate change after the midterms, resistance will simply take a different form, supported by actions... Continue Reading →
By Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press Last Updated June 7, 2026 7:41 am. OTTAWA — Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed says he’s proud of how Gov. Gen. Mary Simon used her time in office to seek a balance between her dual identities as an Inuk woman and the Crown’s representative in Canada — roles... Continue Reading →
This story was originally published by Grist and later in the National Observer appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration [Naveena Sadasivam for the National Observer] About six years ago, law students at the University of the South Pacific convinced the government of the small island nation of Vanuatu to take the harms... Continue Reading →
I am away from church today, a rare space of rest from preaching and presiding. On such days I have more time to read and write. I am currently reading "East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"" by Philippe Sands. It is a memoir and history of the origins of... Continue Reading →
Christopher Lamb on CNN Pope Leo XIV says control of artificial intelligence must not remain in the hands “of a few” while warning that technology is fueling world conflicts, setting out his proposals in the first major theological document of his pontificate. These include protecting the distinctive “grandeur of humanity” amid rapidly changing technology and... Continue Reading →
Reposted from Letters from an American, by Heather Cox Richardson on Substack. An audio version can be accessed here. [Heather Cox Richardson] On May 22, 1964, in a graduation speech at the University of Michigan, President Lyndon Johnson put a name to a new vision for the United States. He called it “the Great Society”... Continue Reading →
The text below is a recent summary of a recent meeting concerning the relationship between fee-simple land ownership and BC DRIPA legislation. It was found on Facebook here. Written by Geoff Meggs "Anxiety about the threat to fee simple private property posed by Aboriginal rights is so deep in British Columbia that Green MLA Rob... Continue Reading →
Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 