People I greatly admire …

• Christopher Hitchens: Died december 15th - 2011

English-American intellectual, philosopher and social critic who expressed himself as an author, orator, essayist, journalist and columnist. Hitchens was the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of over 30 books, including five collections of essays on culture, politics, and literature. A staple of public discourse, his confrontational style of debate made him both a lauded public intellectual and a controversial public figure

• Marcus Aurelius: Emperor of Rome: Died march 17th - 180AD

A Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors. A deep thinker who had a lot to offer on how to live meaningfully, congruently and ethically. Author of one of my favourite books: Meditations

• Miyamoto Musashi: Died June 13th - 1645

Was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and ronin. Wrote the Book of Five Rings. 

• Socrates: Died 399 B.C
• Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought. Taught via the Socratic questioning method. All about enquiry - rarely making declarative statements.

• Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Alive and kicking
• A Somali-born Dutch-American activist, feminist, author, scholar and former politician. Wonderful advocate of women’s rights and big on push-back on 

• Islam; she regards it as a religion of intolerance. Author of Infidel. Has a price on her head; put there by Ayatollah Khomeni for her blasphemy against the ‘prophet’. What a heroin!