My Thanks

This book owes its existence to the kindness and support of many people. Two, whose influence upon me has been long-lasting and without whom it would not have been started, are my previous colleague and friend Les Mitchell, and my counsellor and friend Warren Tranter. Their influence, I hope, lives within the book.

Confidence to commit to it was given to me at a Meeting for Clearness of local Quaker friends seventeen years ago, with my special appreciation being due to Peter Buttle whose personal support and commitment gave me the space in which I could begin. Local Quaker friends have subsequently supported me throughout.

I have also received huge encouragement and support from friends in the Northern Friends Peace Board. The quiet gentle indomitable spirit of all those forming the Board has been persistently inspirational, with special thanks due to Philip Austin, Mary Alice Mansell, and Phoebe Spence without whom I most certainly would have faltered.

Those reading drafts of some, or all, previous chapters and have provided much needed criticism, insight and support include Jette Howard, Gerry and Robert Dickinson, Martin Smith, Alex Hume, Nick Tanna, and Keith Lewis, with the latter’s pithy comments being spot on and much needed. Of particular importance, however, has been the careful, detailed scrutiny of a fairly recent draft by Mike Woulfe, without which my present offering would be very much poorer.

Laura King has provided practical support, and Usman Ali’s experience of the transformational power of humanity’s humanity has been much valued.

The dedicated research of the authors of the books and papers I have cited, together with the many I have read that are not cited, have also been crucial. Without them this book could not have been devised, never mind written.

In this vein I would like to express my gratitude for the availability of open access academic articles, and occasional books, upon which my researches have necessarily relied, upon the open access availability of Wikipedia that has often been invaluable in pointing me in the right direction, and to all those maintaining and developing the open source Linux operating system with which the book has been researched and written.

However, while acknowledging my debt to all these people, I would also like to acknowledge my own regret. The book should not have taken me twenty years. The material on which it is based is all in the public domain. As such, as time went on I anticipated that someone with far greater skills, abilities and resources than me would write it and publish it, enabling me to lay the task down. This, inexplicably, did not happen.

The outcome has been that, driven to complete it within my own limitations, but believing it would not take too long, I knowingly neglected the friendship and welfare of family, friends and many others. Twenty years of neglect is, however, too long. I wish it would have been otherwise, but it has not.

Lastly, and most important of all, I would like to thank my wife Linda and my son Richard. Not only have they put up with me over all this long time, they have done so with unfailing patience. They have provided much appreciated belief and encouragement, and they have provided much needed practical support. Linda’s own selfless commitment to the values outlined in this book, has, in addition, provided ongoing validation and inspiration for me, as it has for very many others. It is due to them both that I now have a story to tell.

My heartfelt thank you to all.