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Baroness Margaret Thatcher and the Wiccan Rede

I am not celebrating the death of Baroness Margaret Thatcher.  The passing of the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 was announced this morning.  It has been said that she is one of the most vilified and controversial of leaders of our time as well as one of the most socially divisive.

She was responsible for the privatisation of several state owned industries and was in Power when the UK went to war with Argentina over the invasion of the Falkland Islands.

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Curiosity Can Kill More than the Cat

This has been specifically written for cats and their owners, a lot of the information will apply to dogs and their owners as well.  If your cat is special to you, is a pedigree cat, or has unusual or special markings please, get it chipped. In Portugal this will cost between twenty-five and fifty euros and can be done by most vets.  These cats have a high risk of being stolen.

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The Harsh Realities of the Circle of Life

In the dim and distant past when I first had a job, I used to get a lift to work with a friend.  In return I would look after their family animals while they were away on holiday.  This meant feeding and mucking out three or four rabbits and four guinea pigs which lived in a huge wooden hutch in the garden. He would ruefully remark to me at times that he wished the animals he had bought to teach the children about life and death would actually oblige. They must have had the longest living rabbits and guinea pigs I have known.

Fast forward thirty five years and the cats of my lap in the Alentejo shed are giving me a prime example.

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Is Compassion a Melting Virtue in a Modern World?

Compassion — or the lack of it — has been a recurring theme on this blog recently, perhaps understandably as we do not shy away from topics that raise questions about the behaviour of society and in particular those who govern us.  The absence of compassion is evident worldwide — it is not confined to one country or one group of people — it is universal.

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Vegan and Vegetarian Food and Recipes in Portugal

Over the last few weeks, I have shared some of the abundance that Portuguese cuisine has to offer. David asked me in one the comments how well Vegans were catered for in Portugal.  It was time for me to do some research.  On the face of it, Vegetarians can manage quite well as a lot of traditional Portuguese dishes incorporate eggs and cheese.  There are even some places where Vegetarian cheese can be bought.

If you are a Vegan, however, it is a very different story.

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David Cameron has Blood on His Hands

“David Cameron has blood on his hands.”  Yes, I dare to write those words because, apparently, that is the most evil and disgusting thing I can say — at least according to one judge in the UK — who fined a disabled woman £450 for saying the same thing.

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Suspended in Terracotta

The house stands square and proud, tenaciously clinging to the last vestiges of dignity it once owned. The once vivid rose-coloured paintwork, now weather worn, peels to reveal aging stonework below.

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