I read with sadness this morning that Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 Sep 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. She had been Queen for 70 years and will be missed by many. The only question on my mind was “Did she truly know the Lord Jesus Christ”? That, after all, is all that really matters. I am glad that I had the privilege of listening to the podcast hosted by historian Andrew Roberts, which did make me feel as if I had known Her Majesty for a long time. You might like to listen to it here: [Seventy years on the throne: Robert Hardman explains Queen Elizabeth II’s statecraft]

Geopolitical Futures sent out an email about a paper written in 2018, titled “The geopolitics of London: Or, how England joined the world”. George Friedman has never been one to acknowledge the best laid plans of mice and men, neither the Hand of the Living God directing the course of history, but attributes geopolitics to vast, impersonal forces, making geopolitical forecasting something of an imprecise science. Personally, I find his approach useful in noting changes in trajectories of nations and what the peoples of this world can, cannot and MUST do if they wish to continue living well, as most of us would construe it. The paper talks about the importance of London Bridge as being more than a nursery rhyme. You can read the paper here: [The geopolitics of London: Or, how England joined the world]

Her Majesty’s passing also reminded me of one Margaret Thatcher, a certain Ronald Reagan, and a monarch known as King George III who, as historian Andrew Roberts puts it, was easy to rebel against. Do look those up as well!

We are all but mortal men. What have we been doing to serve our own generation? If we have that on the horizon, perhaps we could all truly become the best we could be.