Paul Williams

Splits and divisions – like divorce – are not always avoidable. Sometimes they may represent the best available option. But it is also true that, with the application of enough love and its hand-maiden humility, many breakaways could be avoided.

The usual question we ask ourselves in a crisis is, ‘Who is to blame?’ In one sense most of us are, in that we got it wrong. Very few of us saw it coming. So no one can crow and say, ‘I told you so’.

‘We need a new form of moral capitalism,’ says corporate philosopher Roger Steare.

How can those young men with hard eyes be made to understand that such acts of cowardly violence do not help the cause of India's Muslims? We need a more thoughtful response to the crisis our society now faces.

The rapid environmental degradation taking place in the world could make the current financial crisis look like a tea party. But despair is a luxury we can ill-afford. We must continue to strive for the transition to a more secure and sustainable way of life on our planet – for our children and grandchildren.

The media could become a compelling force for helping usher in a world of peace with justice and prosperity for all.

I was in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, when CNN announced that Obama had won. It was seven in the morning and, as word spread, the city seemed to surge with joy.

There is a cry against the predilection of poisonous political rhetoric that only seeks to divide a people committed to being the United States of America.

‘Today the long-awaited tide of history flows toward the non-white races. Those tides will lift burdens of the centuries and wipe out blood stains in the sands of time. Be sure that tide elevates all humanity,’ said Peter Howard.

Obama’s epic presidential campaign climaxed with a rally of 85,000 in Virginia. It was remarkable and fitting that his journey to the White House concluded in the state which led the way in institutionalizing slavery, fought a civil war to preserve it, and promoted Massive Resistance to school integration after one hundred years of Jim Crow segregation.