author - oman observer

Despite our good natures, our concern for nature and the environment, and our humanitarian dispositions, we are still by nature, covetous. Not in the greedy, avaricious manner that the word accurately...

The English language is a simple one to learn, or maybe Omanis are just very good learners, and it is now if not the most spoken language of our world, it has surely displaced French as the...

Although penned by Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, the Bee Gees, in 1968, somehow those words came into my head as I read of the passing of Omani poet Hilalah Al Hamadani, earlier this week....

All of this week’s offering is plagiarised... well maybe, copied... or maybe simply inspired, by someone else... but is made up of some of the most impressionable philosophers, homespun and...

Experience, and experiences, have left me with a distinctly cynical perspective about many things, and disappointingly, too much of that is in the institutional encouragement to our young people to...

Why do you get out of bed in the morning? Because you must... to go to work, or school, or to care for your family, maybe cooking breakfast, or make coffee? We do tend to get up because we have to,...

When it rains we want sunshine. When it’s hot, we want rain. We are so fickle aren’t we? Even though we know it’s the weather, and we are never going to change it. Are we just naturally moaners?...

You may not think it, but your Arabic literary culture is a survivor. Authors and researchers both within, and outside the region, point to a remarkable 600,000 different documents having survived the...

Have you ever had a pebble in your shoe, felt a twinge in a calf muscle, or in your back? Of course you have, and until you remove the pebble a couple of steps on, or until the twinge simply ‘goes...

Arabic folk tales hark back to a golden age, with their origins to have been Persian, Indian, and Iraqi from the 8th century as performances, later formally written in Syrian Arabic script of the...

When we see people protesting, particularly on social and environmental issues, have you ever noticed how it can be difficult to empathise, or sympathise, with them?To be honest, I thought it was just...

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is the name of a 2018 anthology western film by the Coen Brothers, Ethan, and Joel. Just one of the anthology tales follows the deeds, of cowboy anti-hero Buster...

Who would be a ‘fly on the wall?’ I sometimes feel that to be the best you can be, whether as a family or an individual, a ‘no consequences’ family discussion may be cathartic and empowering...

The Sultanate of Oman, with its rapidly developing educational sector is perfectly positioned to become, and be, a world leader, by providing learning experiences that can meet its societal,...

Throughout all his 74 years, Charles Phillip Arthur George has been the heir apparent, dignified, resilient, and remarkably tolerant of a media, and sometimes a society that has painted him as the...

“We’ve got technology, and social media,” said a student to me this week. “We don’t need nature!” I never had to think much to know what my response would be, but I did need to deliberate...

Is religion more, or less relevant to society, today, than at any other time in history? We could also ask why faith must change, to remain relevant to today, and tomorrow?For certain, Christianity...

Change is constant, or so we are told. First uttered by Heracticlus, the Greek philosopher 2,500 years ago, it has been parodied through history by such diverse entities as Mother Teresa, Mahatma...

Of all generations, so the men in white coats tell us, the ‘Greatest Generation’ was born from 1901-1924, moulded by the frugalities and demands of the Great Depression, when millions barely...

What is it that sets us, humans, apart from others in the animal kingdom? It’s fair to say, isn’t it, that chimps, gorillas, or orang-utans, and dolphins, are those that we on the street would...