2019 Gregorian New Year

Welcome to EDITION 722 of GRAPEVINE

The 2019 Gregorian New Year has not gotten off to a good start for men.

Put bluntly, men can be dumb beyond imagination.

Why would any man – whether for a religious or social reason – ban women from a temple or a tennis,

golf or recreational club? 

Have these bonzos ever wondered where they came from in the first place?

Without a woman, would they even be here!

A new year is traditionally a time for resolutions. 

Several years ago, I decided that were a group, society, culture, or country be still fighting with itself or another, I would not read any more news about them if they had been fighting from the time I was in secondary school (the same time I started listening to the BBC World Service).

Children going home after school. Photographed in Beijing in June 1990.

Here was the logic.

I reckoned that after 40 or 50 years of trying to kill each other, they should at least have some brain to realise that fighting is not the solution.

Why then should I continue listening to, or reading, about their problems?

After all, they don’t seem to want to solve them. Except by fighting.  

Good luck to that.

The Lunar New Yearof the Pig starts on 5 Februrary 2019, a month from now.

Time enough to work out a few more resolutions.

Wishing you All the Very Best in 2019!