In the real world there is no respawning

A long day in London today with a series of meetings on possible and current projects. A morning crisis (never forward an email to a client without checking what is in the history) resolved by the evening, some good conversations in and around more serious business. I finally got back to Pewsey station in time to hear Martin Bell’s Lent talk on the theme of being Godforsaken. Martin Bell is one of the BBC’s more distinguished foreign correspondent, and independent MP and a generally interesting person aside from his reporting. 18 war zones in 50 years gives him a unique insight into the human condition.

He talks around 12 minutes in (its 15 minutes overall) about the way in which he was frightened by a group of war gamers. He recommends recent war zones for holidays, talking of a recent trip to Bosnia, and the situated learning that you gain when you stand in a place where evil was perpetuated. As he says: scenes from hell written on the darkest pages of human history.

Listen while you can, the BBC has a very bad habit of only allowing you to listen for a limited period of time. The curious may also be interested in this transcript from Terry Eagleton, which does not make for easy reading.