An unusual look at life ...

Jack Higgins, novelist, Baroness Shirley Williams, politician Bobbie Gentry, singer, Allan Border, former cricketer, Christopher Dean, former Olympic ice-skater

Jo Durie, former tennis player, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, actor, George Shelley, former Union J musician, WITH teachers being pushed to breaking point and leaving the profession due to unmanageable pupils/workloads, we’d do well to compare the human race with the London Marathon.

While the first of more than 40,000 competitors crosses the line in about two hours, the last to cross it (perhaps a paralysed war veteran/amputee), could take a couple of days. While a few are in it to win, the vast majority, simply want to do the best they can.

Just as in the human race, marathons have a mix of people, eg) with cerebral palsy or even a terminal illness.

One of the worst examples of people reaching breaking point is surely dementia – a prolonged/terrible way to die. At first it ‘attacks’ the victim – sometimes, thanks to MRI, knowingly; then it ‘attacks’ loved ones; then carers (it can break their heart too); then the NHS suffers.

Another terrible example of ‘breaking point’ is mass shootings.

Why does America have so many?

Will they become more common in the UK?

What does evolution hold for us?

Where ‘beasts of burden’ have been replaced by combined harvesters/tractors etc controlled by GPS/artificial intelligence, given the internet – with its Dark Web – and mobile phones, what ‘beasts’ might humans become?

Some children are born with high IQs and ‘perfect’ health while some are born with low IQs and life-limiting illnesses.

The London Marathon with spectators being entertained every competitor being supported and getting a medal, and ‘pots of money’ being raised for charity, isn’t everyone a winner?

Isn’t life a lottery? Doesn’t the government need to stop gambling with people’s lives?

No matter what deal we get from Brexit, there will be winners and losers. Accordingly, we surely need laws that stop people winning by cheating, especially by dealing drugs and breaking speed limits.

Doesn’t the latter contribute to global warming and will ultimately drive planet Earth – our home – to death?