author - oman observer

Seeing as it’s Christmas Day, and from memory the first time this column has been published on this festive occasion, I thought I would wrap some Christmas wisdom. I’m a wee bit short of goodwill...

Living in the Middle East, even though surrounded by one of the most attractive and hospitable coastlines in the world, it’s easy to take the desert environment for granted, but it is very much more...

Is bigotry and intolerance on the rise? Or have we just become more sensitive? Or are we being wrangled by the world’s media, yet again?There certainly ‘appear’ to be rising tensions globally...

I enjoy food, and always have. After all, what’s not to like about it? And... as John Safran Soer put it so immaculately, “Food is not rational. Food is culture, habit, craving, and...

How safe do you think cyclists feel when they are on the road? Apart from finding them an inconvenience now and again, do you ever genuinely consider them as much road users as you are? They are...

I think we, as global societies, have achieved so much in diversity acceptance in recent years, rather than continuing at this exhausting pace, we should now, to paraphrase Simon and Garfunkel,...

It hasn’t been a dramatic realisation, but one that has gradually emerged from the experiences of a lifetime, and the observations of a uniquely equipped generation, trying to make sense of having...

I’ll tell you later. In the meantime, in what could be a significant game-changer for the Sultanate of Oman, and the entire MENA region, the Kyung Hee University in Seoul, working alongside the...

A friend confided recently that he was feeling absolutely shattered, ‘wiped out,’ was how he put it, ‘completely exhausted, but that he had no prospect of a break, or a holiday to unwind, until...

With a current population of around 4.5 million, approximately half Omanis and half expatriates, the Sultanate of Oman is fortunate to have a tolerant, respectful, and compassionate population, so...

Here we are, in an age where autistic spectrum disorders are becoming progressively more widely acknowledged, across all societies. They are nothing to be scared of, but to be aware of, and in fact it...

Mother Nature, I feel, could do with a little help right now in keeping a sense of balance. Although we are challenged by one thing after another, in the ‘nature’ of cyclones, hurricanes,...

I have been, at different times in my life, like most of us, a worrier! However, if there is one outstanding learning in this often entertaining, sometimes chaotic, remarkably diverse, always...

In 1984, Jim Steinman and Dean Pitchford collaborated with the husky-voiced Welsh, yes that’s right, she’s Welsh, starlet Bonnie Tyler, to produce the almost anthemic, “I’m Holding Out for a...

Tomorrow sees the State Funeral of Elizabeth II, the Queen of Great Britain, who has been a particular friend of the Sultanate of Oman for so many decades. It is a passing Oman will mourn, and her...

As tens of thousands of pupils, students, and teachers returned to the classroom last week its surely the right time to reflect upon the wisdom of the statesman philosopher Socrates, who believed...

It’s been a massive week of foot trips, stumbles, and falls in the United Kingdom this week, and the Sultanate of Oman, as having traditional ceremonial, commercial and educational ties to what...

This day, the 28th of August, will only ever have one significance for me, as it’s my mother Dawn’s birthday, or Mum, as she was, as she’s been gone for four years now, but while we didn’t...

As if having to have a username and password wasn’t bad enough, now we have mobile phone verifications, one-time-passwords, and we must change our passwords at regular intervals, it’s all becoming...

I have always been an advocate of sports as a way of growing individuals in a way that ensures they will become, and be, the very best version of themselves... and I don’t believe that will ever...