James Buchan — British Novelist born on June 11, 1954,

The Honourable James Buchan is a Scottish novelist and historian... (wikipedia)

We read too much Shakespeare at school, and view our parliamentary politics as dynastic drama, in which an impatient crown prince frets at his long subordination and begins to scheme for the throne he knows he merits, was promised and has earned.
The prevailing ideology of the modern west - which is political economy - is in the doghouse. Having failed to notice atmospheric pollution, the economists then frightened themselves with the sort of financial crisis they said they had abolished.
Saudi Arabia is a puritanical state that claims a monopoly of wisdom and virtue.
An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.
A century ago, petroleum - what we call oil - was just an obscure commodity; today it is almost as vital to human existence as water.