The Royal Hospital Chelsea Carol Service 2010

The Friends of the Royal Hospital Chelsea Carol Service held on 10th December is one of the loveliest of the Christmas season. Unusually the beautiful Wren chapel has its candle-lit choir stalls in the centre of the nave, creating a wonderfully intimate atmosphere. This year one of the lessons was a fine poem written and read by Alan Tichmarsh which you can read here. A video of the choir singing the first two verses of 'Once in Royal David's City' can be heard here, but the solist was a woman, who's voice lacked the cut-glass purity of a boy's

Click here for the 2009 Carol Service

The Mission to Seafarers Carol Concert 2010

The Carol Concert 2009. No photos were allowed this time

The Mission to Seafarers concert of nine lessons and carols was held at St Michael Paternoster Royal on 8th December 2010 in the presence of the Princess Royal, accompanied by the chairman of the trustees, Robert Woods. Lessons were read by the likes of Jeffrey Archer and the choir was from the London Nautical School. Unlike last year, it was not a vintage performance and one wished that they would stick to traditional carols and not attempt jumpy tunes from Moldova.

Clic here for some wonderful on-line carols

Illogical Arguments

One of the things that annoy one most is having a discussion with someone who doesn't follow the rules of logic. The most common error is arguing from the particular to the general instead of the other way round. Here are some more of the logical fallacies we encounter, with examples. Identifying them makes one feel better immediately! 

GENERALIZING FROM SELF: I'm a liar. Therefore I don't believe what you're saying.

THE FEW ARE THE SAME AS THE WHOLE: Some Londoners are animal rights activists. Some Londoners wear fur coats. Therefore, all Londoners are hypocrites.

FAULTY CAUSE AND EFFECT: On the basis of my observations, wearing huge trousers makes you fat.

I AM THE WORLD: I don't listen to country music. Therefore, country music is not popular.

IGNORING EVERYTHING SCIENCE KNOWS ABOUT THE BRAIN: People choose to be obese/gay/alcoholic because they prefer the lifestyle.

ARGUMENT BY BIZARRE DEFINITION: He's not a criminal. He just does things that are against the law.

ANYTHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IS EASY TO DO: If you have the right tools, how hard can it be to generate nuclear fission at home.

IGNORANCE OF STATISTICS: I'm putting ALL my money on the lottery this week because the jackpot is so big.

IGNORING THE DOWNSIDE RISK: I know that bungee jumping could kill me but it's three seconds of pure thrill.

SUBSTITUTING FAMOUS QUOTES FOR COMMON SENSE: Remember "all things come to those who wait." So don't bother looking for a job.

IRRELEVANT COMPARISONS: £100 is a good price for a toaster, compared with buying a Ferrari.

CIRCULAR REASONING: I'm correct because I'm smarter than you. And I must be smarter than you because I'm correct.

INCOMPLETENESS AS PROOF OF FACT Your theory of gravity doesn't address the question of why there are no unicorns, so it must be wrong.

IGNORING THE ADVICE OF EXPERTS WITHOUT GOOD REASON: Sure the experts say you shouldn't ride a bicycle in the eye of a hurricane, but I have my own theory.

FOLLOWING THE ADVICE OF KNOWN IDIOTS: Uncle Horace says eating pork makes you smarter. That's good enough for me.

REACHING BIZARRE CONCLUSIONS WITHOUT ANY INFORMATION: My car won't start. I'm certain the spark plugs have been stolen by rogue traffic wardens.

FAULTY PATTERN RECOGNITION: His last three wives were murdered mysteriously. I hope to be wife number four.

FAILURE TO RECOGNISE WHAT'S IMPORTANT: My house is on fire! Quick, call the post office and tell them to hold my mail!

OVERAPPLICATION OF OCCAM'S RAZOR: The simplest explanation for the moon landings is that they were hoaxes.

INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND THAT SOME THINGS HAVE MULTIPLE CAUSES: The Beatles were popular for one reason only: they were good singers.

JUDGING THE WHOLE BY ONE OF ITS CHARACTERISTICS: The sun causes sunburns. Therefore the planet would be better off without the sun.

BLINDING FLASHES OF THE OBVIOUS: If everyone had more money, we could eliminate poverty.

BLAMING THE TOOL: I bought an encyclopedia but I'm still stupid.

TAKING THINGS TO THEIR ILLOGICAL CONCLUSION: If you let your barber cut your hair, they next thing you know he'll be lopping your limbs off.

PROOF BY LACK OF EVIDENCE: I've never seen you drunk, so you must be one of those weird people.

BAD ANALOGY: You can train a dog to fetch a stick. Therefore, you can train a cat to do the same.

TOTAL LOGICAL DISCONNECTION: I enjoy pasta because my house is made of bricks.

Also frequently misunderstood: 
CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION in science and statistics emphasizes that correlation between two variables does not automatically imply that one causes the other. 

The opposite belief, correlation proves causation, is a logical fallacy by which two events that occur together are claimed to have a cause-and-effect relationship. The fallacy is also known as cum hoc ergo propter hoc (Latin for "with this, therefore because of this") and false cause. By contrast, the fallacy post hoc ergo propter hoc requires that one event occur before the other and so may be considered a type of cum hoc fallacy.

A wonderful illustrated guide to Bad Arguments here

Wellbeing of Women Christmas Fair 2010

The Christmas Fair is now held every year at the Drapers' Hall in early December by the Wellbeing of Women charity. About 50 stalls of gifts, cards, clothes, cheeses, jams, chocolate, the best Christmas cakes, jewellrey, bags, small electronics, gardening things etc are set up around the main rooms at the Hall - and you can sit and have champagne and sandwiches when you need a break. A marvellous way to do 90% of your Christmas gift shopping! Click the heading for more photos and here for photos from the 2009 Fair

Favourite Writings - Gilbert White

Venus, with Jupiter and the Moon 2008 (Bullit Marquez/AP)

Before dawn on these crisp cold mornings Venus has been shining astonishingly brightly, reminding me of Gilbert White's famous line

8th February 1782: 'Venus shadows very strongly, showing the bars of the windows on the floors and walls.'

With Samuel Pepys, Gilbert White is perhaps the most famous of all the keepers of journals. He wrote his Natural History and Antiquities of Selbourne from 1768 to 1793 when he died. 'No literary work has ever recorded more precisely, more sensitively and yet with less pretension the changing face of the countryside with the passing of the seasons'. (John Julius Norwich)

A Bavarian Christmas Fair in Hyde Park

The Bavarian Winter Wonderland Christmas Fair in Hyde Park is a great improvement on past fairs. Lots of high quality shops and cafes as well as some impressive-looking rides. Click the heading for more photos.

Fortnum's Christmas Windows

Pieter Claesz.
Still Life with Drinking Vessels

Fortnum & Mason's Christmas window displays are brilliant recreations of Old Master paintings in the National Gallery.

Click the heading to see some more

The Glasgow Boys at the Royal Academy

The Royal Academy's exhibition of paintings by the 19th Century Scottish artists known as The Glasgow Boys shows some charming pictures, though 'pioneering' - the description given to them at original Glasgow exhibition from which this comes, is true only in respect to their British contemporaries.

For instance, their efforts at paintings of rural labourers is easily eclipsed by a single example by John-Francois Millet.

Click the heading for some examples.

The Olympic Waterfall in Rio

Doubt that London will have anything as spectacular as this!

The Three Questions

One day it occurred to a certain emperor that if he only knew the answers to three questions, he would never stray in any matter.

What is the best time to do each thing? Who are the most important people to work with? What is the most important thing to do at all times?

The emperor issued a decree throughout his kingdom announcing that whoever could answer the questions would receive a great reward. Many who read the decree made their way to the palace at once, each person with a different answer.

In reply to the first question, one person advised that the emperor make up a thorough time schedule, consecrating every hour, day, month, and year for certain tasks and then follow the schedule to the letter. Only then could he hope to do every task at the right time.

Another person replied that it was impossible to plan in advance and that the emperor should put all vain amusements aside and remain attentive to everything in order to know what to do at what time.

Someone else insisted that, by himself, the emperor could never hope to have all the foresight and competence necessary to decide when to do each and every task and what he really needed was to set up a Council of the Wise and then to act according to their advice.

Someone else said that certain matters required immediate decision and could not wait for consultation, but if he wanted to know in advance what was going to happen he should consult magicians and soothsayers.

The responses to the second question also lacked accord.

One person said that the emperor needed to place all his trust in administrators, another urged reliance on priests and monks, while others recommended physicians. Still others put their faith in warriors.


The third question drew a similar variety of answers. Some said science was the most important pursuit. Others insisted on religion. Yet others claimed the most important thing was military skill.


The emperor was not pleased with any of the answers, and no reward was given.

After several nights of reflection, the emperor resolved to visit a hermit who lived up on the mountain and was said to be an enlightened man. The emperor wished to find the hermit to ask him the three questions, though he knew the hermit never left the mountains and was known to receive only the poor, refusing to have anything to do with persons of wealth or power. So the emperor disguised himself as a simple peasant and ordered his attendants to wait for him at the foot of the mountain while he climbed the slope alone to seek the hermit.

Reaching the holy man's dwelling place, the emperor found the hermit digging a garden in front of his hut. When the hermit saw the stranger, he nodded his head in greeting and continued to dig. The labor was obviously hard on him. He was an old man, and each time he thrust his spade into the ground to turn the earth, he heaved heavily.

The emperor approached him and said, "I have come here to ask your help with three questions: When is the best time to do each thing? Who are the most important people to work with? What is the most important thing to do at all times?"

The hermit listened attentively but only patted the emperor on the shoulder and continued digging. The emperor said, "You must be tired. Here, let me give you a hand with that." The hermit thanked him, handed the emperor the spade, and then sat down on the ground to rest.

After he had dug two rows, the emperor stopped and turned to the hermit and repeated his three questions. The hermit still did not answer, but instead stood up and pointed to the spade and said, "Why don't you rest now? I can take over again." But the emperor continued to dig. One hour passed, then two. Finally the sun began to set behind the mountain. The emperor put down the spade and said to the hermit, "I came here to ask if you could answer my three questions. But if you can't give me any answer, please let me know so that I can get on may way home."

The hermit lifted his head and asked the emperor, "Do you hear someone running over there?" The emperor turned his head. They both saw a man with a long white beard emerge from the woods. He ran wildly, pressing his hands against a bloody wound in his stomach. The man ran toward the emperor before falling unconscious to the ground, where he lay groaning. Opening the man's clothing, the emperor and hermit saw that the man had received a deep gash. The emperor cleaned the wound thoroughly and then used his own shirt to bandage it, but the blood completely soaked it within minutes. He rinsed the shirt out and bandaged the wound a second time and continued to do so until the flow of blood had stopped.

At last the wounded man regained consciousness and asked for a drink of water. The emperor ran down to the stream and brought back a jug of fresh water. Meanwhile, the sun had disappeared and the night air had begun to turn cold. The hermit gave the emperor a hand in carrying the man into the hut where they laid him down on the hermit's bed. The man closed his eyes and lay quietly. The emperor was worn out from the long day of climbing the mountain and digging the garden. Leaning against the doorway, he fell asleep. When he rose, the sun had already risen over the mountain. For a moment he forgot where he was and what he had come here for. He looked over to the bed and saw the wounded man also looking around him in confusion. When he saw the emperor, he stared at him intently and then said in a faint whisper, "Please forgive me."

"But what have you done that I should forgive you?" the emperor asked.

"You do not know me, your majesty, but I know you. I was your sworn enemy, and I had vowed to take vengeance on you, for during the last war you killed my brother and seized my property. When I learned that you were coming alone to the mountain to meet the hermit, I resolved to surprise you on your way back to kill you. But after waiting a long time there was still no sign of you, and so I left my ambush in order to seek you out. But instead of finding you, I came across your attendants, who recognized me, giving me this wound. Luckily, I escaped and ran here. If I hadn't met you I would surely be dead by now. I had intended to kill you, but instead you saved my life! I am ashamed and grateful beyond words. If I live, I vow to be your servant for the rest of my life, and I will bid my children and grandchildren to do the same. Please grant me your forgiveness."

The emperor was overjoyed to see that he was so easily reconciled with a former enemy. He not only forgave the man but promised to return all the man's property and to send his own physician and servants to wait on the man until he was completely healed. After ordering his attendants to take the man home, the emperor returned to see the hermit. Before returning to the palace the emperor wanted to repeat his three questions one last time. He found the hermit sowing seeds in the earth they had dug the day before.

The hermit stood up and looked at the emperor. "But your questions have already been answered."

"How's that?" the emperor asked, puzzled.

"Yesterday, if you had not taken pity on my age and given me a hand with digging these beds, you would have been attacked by that man on your way home. Then you would have deeply regretted not staying with me. Therefore the most important time was the time you were digging in the beds, the most important person was myself, and the most important pursuit was to help me. Later, when the wounded man ran up here, the most important time was the time you spent dressing his wound, for if you had not cared for him he would have died and you would have lost the chance to be reconciled with him. Likewise, he was the most important person, and the most important pursuit was taking care of his wound. Remember that there is only one important time and that is Now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person with whom you are, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future. The most important pursuit is making that person, the one standing at your side, happy, for that alone is the pursuit of life."

Leo Tolstoy


With thanks to Chris Loker of the Childrens' Book Gallery for pointing me to this lovely story, which has a similar message to Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now