En route from Amsterdam to London for the Oxford Roundtable, on board a Boeing 737 on March 25, my mind scanned memories of my childhood as the plane ascended.

Memories of my beloved grandfather who died more than 20 years ago took shape in my "mind's eye", as Jungian psychologists would say.

Like Irish poet James Joyce's "stream of consciousness" these images played out like a slide-show at intervals of several minutes.