Ian on Sunday

After an absence of a couple of years, the Link Show has been revived at the National Cultural Centre.

As I get older, I find I try to capture in memory more fully than ever the passing marvellousness of an ordinary day by writing down what happens in a journal.

About to arrive at the age of 86, so suddenly after being born, I recognize very clearly that I am slowing to a jog, approaching a hobble.

Perhaps my oldest memory—I must have been two or three—is of my mother hugging me at night when she put me into bed and holding the palms of my hands together while she said a simple prayer, which I soon learned by heart.                                 “Gentle Jesus meek and mild,                                 Look upon a little child.                                 Pity my simplicity,                                 Suffer me to come to Thee.”

My father was a gentle, calm, and wise man. “He never raised his voice except to give encouragement nor raised his hand except to greet a friend.”

In two of the main centres of democracy, America and Europe, democracy is rapidly failing.

When I worked in the sugar industry I remember once discussing a problem with a young colleague.

There are times when even the best sportsmen fail not for want of talent, pride, serious application and commitment.

We often wonder why those around us – very much including those in supreme authority – are making such a mess of things.

Our lives of such infinite value come and go in a whirl of busyness. 

So many Christmas poems from which to choose. E.U. Fanthrope’s lines:   “And this was the moment When a few farm workers and three Members of an obscure Persian sect   Walked haphazard by starlight straight Into the kingdom of heaven.”

Even in the worst of times – and who can doubt that the times are pretty bad– reading comes to the rescue by revealing other worlds of experience where cruelty and mindlessness and man’s inhumanity to man do not continually have the upper hand.

An old sporting argument – good for many lovely hours of intense discussion and fervent argument – surfaces every now and then: Is winning everything?

My wife and I have just returned from one of the great cities of the world. 

Individual effort is the basis of success in any endeavour.  Yes, I know about teamwork. 

I apologise if this appears to take the form of a health and fitness page in this newspaper.

Let me continue on the theme of reading, the love of reading, the absolute value of reading in a child’s life.

Anyone who writes about life must think about death.  It is not being morbid to do so. 

I remember “Read to Succeed” was once the theme of the activities and exhibitions organised to celebrate the work of library services for the children of Guyana.

Certain words are beloved of bureaucrats; words like monitor, check, regulate, review, classify, and control.