Happy Contemplation! It’s a week of sleeping and walking, eating and drinking, reading and pondering. Plans for the coming year will hatch, but slowly.

Goals will be set, and scratched, and set again.

Current sources of inspiration:

• Matt Ridley on Christmas reclaiming its pagan roots
• The Doctor Who Christmas episode, Twice Upon a Time – Steven Moffat delivers his series farewell as senior writer with a dazzling story of talent: family fun, honour to the (increasingly complex) canon, topical jokes, real, deep pathos and a message for our times: not all aliens are evil.
• Philip Collins, When They Go Low, We Go High – a book on democracy and speech-making by Times columnist and speechwriter for Tony Blair. Just started this Christmas present, but looking good
• The Daily Stoic – Seneca and Jesus, compare and contrast these contemporaries

Established inspiration:

• Nicholas Bate – always, always a source of pithy perspective. When I was at Microsoft, I was lucky enough to attend several of Nicholas’ courses.
• Michael Wade – the Execupundit, I love Michael’s blend of business and military wisdom, …
• Kurt Harden – music, life, perspective, food, politics, life

I can’t now recall which came first, but these are essential daily reading. Highly recommended. I dip into a long list of blogs and find inspiration, but these three are established, regular reading.

My thanks go to all three for their commitment and continued, high quality output.

Image: Winchester Cathedral