Living in Peace and Wisdom on our Planet

Was Richard III a vile hunchbacked villain who murdered the Princes in the Tower? Well, he was according to Shakespeare, repeating a century later the propaganda of the dynasty which overthrew him, the Tudors; but not according to the contemporary citizens of York, who on 23 August 1485, publicly recorded their reaction to his death at the Battle of Bosworth in their municipal diary as "King Richard late mercifully reigning upon us was through great treason ... piteously slain and murdered, to the great heaviness of this city".

So trying to impose the right pattern on events is an enterprise fraught with pitfalls, and an even more chancy affair is the spotting of Turning Points, even as they happen. It might look like a turning point now, but it might well not in a few years' time; which is why I am somewhat hesitant in saying that what happened last week, on Wednesday and Thursday, was perhaps the key turning point in the efforts of human society to deal with climate change. See full article