Oxthink

Thoughtful Thoughts

  • Vigilantes Required

    Vigilantes Required

    If you know the rules of society and you deliberately break those rules, then you release society from all its obligations to you. You can have no complaints when you reap the backlash from your misdemeanours. If somebody commits a crime against me or my family, which causes harm or disadvantage to us, then I…

  • Vegan Appeal…It’s Not for the Animals

    Vegan Appeal…It’s Not for the Animals

    Having been a vegetarian for over thirty-five years, I have often been challenged as to why I don’t go all the way and become a vegan. For many of those years, I justified the halfway house as mainly a matter of practicality. It was too difficult to be a vegan. Years ago, restaurants didn’t cater…

  • Vegetarian Dilemmas – Where to Draw the Line?

    Vegetarian Dilemmas – Where to Draw the Line?

    If you are, or are thinking of becoming, a vegetarian, it may not be as clear-cut a decision as you might think. There may well be more to it than you realise. There are vegetarian grey areas you will need to consider. It’s a case of where do you draw the line? How meticulous do…

  • Asthma: The Thief Who Stole My Breath

    Asthma: The Thief Who Stole My Breath

    It began in my mid-thirties when I started to wheeze and cough. I became breathless at the slightest exertion and repeatedly woke during the night, struggling to breathe, with a tightness in my chest and coughing up a thick, slimy green phlegm. I was suffering from adult-onset asthma. It felt as if I had been…

  • What Causes Asthma? – It’s Down the Pan

    What Causes Asthma? – It’s Down the Pan

    A staggering 5.4 million people suffer from asthma in the UK. Asthma is an illness that seems to be part of modern Western society, and its prevalence has been increasing since the 1970s. Although mortality rates from asthma have been on the decline, this is only due to the fact that asthma is now better…

  • Brainpower – Use it or Lose it

    Brainpower – Use it or Lose it

    I’m worried about my brain. I don’t think it’s working as well as it used to. I can’t remember things; I’m getting my words mixed up, and I can’t find the right words to express myself. What is happening to me? Is it dementia? Alzheimer’s? Do I have a brain disease? Do I need to…

  • The Importance of Parenting Courses.  

    The Importance of Parenting Courses.  

    Everybody knows the argument. You’re not allowed to drive a car, but you can have a baby. Having a baby requires no license, no permission, no training, no exams. It’s something, given the constraints of nature, that anybody can do anytime they like. The single most important act that people do – raising a child…

  • Obesity – Tolerating a Weighty Burden

    Obesity – Tolerating a Weighty Burden

    Both as a society and as individuals, it seems we are extremely, and often rather, irrationally tolerant of others. Why, when I observe people, do I not recognise the fact that in some cases their condition or lifestyle will involve a financial cost to me? Take, for example, the overweight. We know the risks. We…

  • The Best Start in Life – Conceptual Parenting

    The Best Start in Life – Conceptual Parenting

    Getting the best start in life is about having a good education… wrong. Getting the best start in life is about being offered opportunities to utilise and develop potential… wrong. Getting the best start in life is about being in a supportive and nurturing family environment… wrong. These facets may all be beneficial, but they…

  • Incremental Running – Beating the Reluctant Runner

    Incremental Running – Beating the Reluctant Runner

    The problem with running is that you go out for a run, but the reasons why you do so tend to be rather vague – to get fitter, to stay healthy. There has to be more meaning to it; it needs to be more quantifiable. Incremental Running is a way of giving purpose and motivation…

  • Playing Your Best – It’s All in the Mind  

    Playing Your Best – It’s All in the Mind  

    You can practice your sport all day, every day, you can get the finest coaching, you can use the latest equipment, you can even have a talent – an exceptional talent – for your sport, but whatever you do, whatever you have, it won’t guarantee that on a particular day you will play well. It’s…

  • Olympic Dreams – The Reality Check

    Olympic Dreams – The Reality Check

    Once again, the Olympics are upon us. More than anything else, the Olympics have the power to inspire. The medal success, the patriotism, the desire to be the best in the world, the fun and exuberance of the opening and closing ceremonies – it all makes us want to be a part of it. But…