Spiked has been running a survey these past couple of months, asking a selection of scientists, philosphers and commentators what they think the key challenges will be for the next generation. I’m coming late to this, so there’s a whole pile of reading to catch up on – some of it looks thought-provoking, and no doubt some of it will be dross.

I mentioned an article on the persecution of gay people in Iraq that appeared in last Sunday’s Observer newspaper. Last night, a documentary on which the report was based was shown on a British TV channel. That documentary is available for viewing over the web on this page. Doug Ireland also has more background on the situation in Iraq available via his web site here.

I’ve said it before, and doubtless I’ll say it again, I have a lot to be thankful for; living as I do as a gay man at this particular time in this particular country. I have the fact that the laws of the land grant me equal rights with my straight neighbours.

 

In many parts of the world this is not so. In today’s Observer comes a reminder that Iraq seems to be following Iran in using the majesty of the law to pursue gay men to their deaths.

While I’m waiting for the photos from yesterday’s Canal Parade to be uploaded into Flickr, I’m in a somewhat reflective mood – caused in no small part I suspect from the glass (or two) of Rosé that I have recently imbibed.

 

I came across this entry from Brent Rasmussen, over at the Unscrewing The Inscrutable blog. It’s about the Great Library in Alexandria, founded in the 3rd century BC, and which stood for centuries until it was finally destroyed in 646 AD. It also mentions Hypatia, the last librarian. She was a remarkable woman by all accounts, but in 414 AD, as Brent reports it: "a faction of fundamentalist Christians, led by a shadowy character named Peter, ostensibly endorsed by Cyril, Pope of Alexandria, dragged Hypatia through the streets by her hair, beat her to a pulp inside their Church, and then scraped the living flesh off her bones with broken tiles and abalone shells. Her remains were cremated; there is no grave. Cryril was made a Saint, a status he enjoys to this day". So it goes.

 

Brent reflects: "We take science for granted these days, we trust that knowledge hard won will not be lost. But it wasn’t always so".

 

I think, looking around at the state of the world today, that I would say that I am less certain than Brent. There are times when I feel that the candle of science is flickering once again in a new rise of the Demon-Haunted world.