Vitalis Veritas Blog

Seems that scientists have finally discovered the secret of Stonehenge ...   SOMERSET - Among the many treasures in the British Museum’s forthcoming Stonehenge exhibition is a collection of carved and polished spherical stones, each about the size of a cricket ball. The stones are 5,000 years old and have mostly been found singly in Scotland. The most famous of the 400 or so discoveries is a beautiful polished black sphere from Towie, Aberdeenshire, with three bulbous surfaces, tactile as a miniature Henry Moore. The sphere is carved with precise geometric whorls and spirals. In common with the much weightier neolithic monuments that the Stonehenge exhibition celebrates, the longer you look at the stones, the more mysterious they seem: what and why and how? If the answers to those questions remain unknowable, one thing that the balls – and the culture that prized them – make clear is their creators were people of enormous curiosity and skill, prepared to invest untold hours in ma...

NATO urges Russia to de-escalate immediately the threat on Ukraine invasion … NATO has sent a letter today to Moscow in response to Russia’s list of security demands, the Western alliance has confirmed. Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have heightened ahead of what the West says is a potential takeover of more parts of Ukraine. Russian president Vladimir Putin and his government have insisted they have no such plans, despite reports of tens of thousands of Russian troops deployed to the border with Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels: “We call on Russia once again to immediately de-escalate the situation. “NATO firmly believes that tensions and disagreements must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.” He repeated his call for Moscow and NATO to re-establish their respective offices in Brussels and Moscow, and to make full use of military channels of communication to promote transparency and reduce risks. John Sullivan, US...

The future of the British government hinges on one thing and it isn’t Partygate ... LONDON - Boris Johnson has still not received a report by Sue Gray into lockdown parties in Downing Street and across Whitehall despite expectations being raised last night that he would address its findings in the Commons this lunchtime. On Tuesday afternoon, it was understood that Number 10 would publish the report compiled by the senior civil servant around midday today and then the PM would make a statement in the Commons after PMQs The catchphrase “it’s the economy, stupid” from Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential election campaign seems jarringly out of place in today’s politics. Britain’s Westminster bubble is totally fixated on Partygate and Boris Johnson’s political future. But beyond the bubble, there is the prospect of a European war in Ukraine; Covid is still with us even as restrictions are shed – and the future of the British government (and others like the Biden administrat...

  Boris Johnson’s rule-breaking and risk-taking have finally caught up with him as the loyalty of Leave voters had hitherto given Johnson cover for his style of leadership – but their fealty has begun to wane .... LONDON - Boris Johnson’s attitude to risk has shaped British politics for the past three years. It made him Prime Minister in July 2019 and then helped him overcome the parliamentary impasse over Brexit by the end of that year. But his risk-taking has now eroded his authority to such an extent that he might not lead the Conservatives into the next election.  Even after the years of cultivating his “Boris” persona – as a journalist and as mayor of London – it was in 2019 that Johnson’s personality really started to have a serious bearing on British politics. Prior to the EU referendum, he behaved as any Eurosceptic Conservative MP ambitious to become PM might have done. Politically friendless, Johnson needed a grand cause to challenge the then chancellor George O...