By Richard Boughton What are they afraid of? It is the first question that comes to mind when I read of reactionary religious mobs, shrill pronouncements, pushy protesters, violent vigilantes. What is it that they fear? If their religion is, as they say, the true way, the unassailable word of God, a sanctuary of eternal [...]

By Richard Boughton I tend to be fond of most critters, especially of the mammalian persuasion – from the lowly gerbil to the lofty dog to the human being and his more intelligent relative the orangutan. I like fish as well, particularly for eating. But when it comes to critters of the insect world, my [...]

By Richard Boughton I’m trying to be polite. I’m trying to be sensitive. I’m trying to observe local culture, traditions and ways with a dispassionately astute, non-jaundiced eye – but for criminy’s sake, what in the world can some of these people be thinking! I’m sitting on my Honda one recent morning, ready to exit [...]

By Richard Boughton In the parking lot there is a man with a machinegun. He is dressed all in brown and is wearing a brown beret. The machinegun – or I suppose we would call it an assault weapon these days – is slung from a strap on one shoulder while the weapon itself is [...]

By Richard Boughton In our continuing search for the cheapest cup of coffee as well as the cheapest mug of beer in Sanur, depending upon the time of day, my friend Mick and I happened one day upon a certain restaurant-slash-bar at the north end of town. It is a rather large place on a [...]

By Richard Boughton I like dogs. It may be that I like them better than I like people. I make no apology. I’ve never been done wrong by a dog, save for the one that bit me in the nose when I was 5 – though in all fairness, he was an older dog, likely faint [...]

By Richard Boughton I found a rat in the outdoor rubbish bin. At first I didn’t know it was a rat, for its body was half-hidden within a crisp bag, with just one end protruding – whether head or posterior I could not on first inspection say. Clearly it was not a comely creature. I thought [...]

By Richard Boughton My wife believes in the power of money. It’s a matter for her of the surest conviction and faith that any problem can be solved, any goal attained, through the expenditure of appropriate (or even inappropriate) funds. I admit this may in some cases be true, given a limited scope of predicament [...]