The awesome thing

About a crisis

Is that it highlights

One's capabilities.

Some sink.

But others

Thrash about

Swallow murky water

Then rise triumphantly

To the surface

And swim like their lives

Depend on it.

I must have been about thirteen when a member of our church was killed by a soldier. I'd been living in Nigeria for a few years by then, and was no stranger to death. Or violence, poverty, and the sheer recklessness that comes with knowing there might not be a tomorrow.

A relatively young man, he'd studied in that other pseudo land-of-promise, once heralded as God's own country, but now mired in controversies so deep and dark, it couldn't smell the nard for the manure.

Mission Impossible was a 60s phenomenon. A well-crafted and suspenseful series about covert government operatives, each episode left me more and more fascinated by the curious and continued threat of their being "disavowed". How could you be "authorised" to do something one minute and a fugitive the next for doing the very thing you were instructed to do? It didn’t make sense then, and to an even greater extent, it still doesn’t now.

The new Vauxhall advert featuring their Crossland 4x4 is a metaphor for our times; and a funny one to boot.

Parents are out en masse to watch their offspring play a particularly muddy game of rugby. Numerous tackles, dropkicks, and touchdowns later, the game ends in tumultuous applause. So far, so good.

The problem with being a Nigerian is that, delightful as it is, it sometimes dulls the senses. And before you bring out the knives, let me explain!

The first time I witnessed a peaceful-demonstration-gone-awry in London, the police were at a definite disadvantage. I matter-of-factly asked, "Where are the riot police?" Trouble was, it was mid-afternoon, in the office. Everyone in my section swung round, more confused than me…