Author Archives: Angela

About Angela

I write fiction about the difficulty we have when we try to say what's in our hearts.

Spring: when, exactly, does it begin?

I don’t know about you, but I feel Spring begins when it starts to feel a little warmer and when the are beginning to come out. But according to those who measure these things, it’s not quite that simple. There’s … Continue reading

Posted in Flowers/Blossom, Spring | Leave a comment

I’m breaking up with my shame, on Valentine’s Day

There are studies that show what happens to couples on Valentine’s Day: the less attachment-avoidant among us fare better, as you might guess, and some of us break up. But what if the relationship is between a person and an … Continue reading

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Equality, Human Rights, Love, Mental Health, Psychology, Racism, Rejection, Shame, Valentine's Day, White Allies | Leave a comment

Being kind can reduce chronic inflammation. Who knew?

On 10 January, in Dr Michael Mosley’s series, Just one Thing, there’s an episode called Be Kind. In it, Mosley talks to Dr Tristen Inagaki, PhD of San Diego University whose studies show that being kind improves our immune systems and … Continue reading

Posted in Baking, Gifts, Goodness, Health, Kindness, Love, Mental Health, Mind, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

A Caribbean Rum Christmas Cake

In all my 72 years I’ve never made a Christmas cake. When I was a child I was lucky enough to have them made for me but also, often, we bought them. And I’ve bought them ever since. But this … Continue reading

Posted in Baking, Christmas Cake, Dark Guyanese Rum Fruitcake, Drink, Good Things | 2 Comments

Afrikan Reparations: a conference

On Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd October, in London, a conference to discuss Afrikan Reparations and to address the legacy of the trafficking and enslavement of peoples of Afrikan descent, of colonisation and colonialism, was held. I went, at the … Continue reading

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Equality, History, Human Rights, Love, Morality, Politics, Racism, White Allies | Leave a comment

Black History Month, and David Olusoga

October is Black History Month in the UK, but David Olusoga, historian and broadcaster, and many many others, including me, think it’s well past time that British history included everyone who’s part of the UK’s history wherever it’s taught, read … Continue reading

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Equality, History, Human Rights, Racism | Leave a comment

An astonishing blind pianist

On Friday 8 September we heard Nobuyuki Tsujii (or Nobu to his many many fans). He played Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto at the penultimate 2023 Prom at the Royal Albert Hall. It was a virtuoso performance of one of the … Continue reading

Posted in Artists, Creativity, Goodness, Kindness, Listening, Love, Music | Leave a comment

Flowers from a Stone

Flowers that find their way through stone or rock (or any apparently impenetrable surface) always touch my heart. They manage to flourish in the most (apparently) inhospitable places. I’ve been rewriting a novel I thought I’d finished last autumn. But … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Creativity, Fiction, Flowers/Blossom, Gardening, Rewriting, Writers, Writing | Leave a comment

Independence Day: two dissenting points of view

Independence Day, celebrated in America on the fourth of July, commemorates the Declaration of Independence, ratified on the fourth of July 1776. It stated that the: Thirteen Colonies were no longer subject (and subordinate) to the British monarch, George III, … Continue reading

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Books, Democracy, Equality, History, Human Rights, Politics, Racism, White Allies | Leave a comment

Windrush, 75 years on

Seventy-five years ago, on 22 June 1948, HMT (His Majesty’s Transport) Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, on the River Thames. She was named, as many empire ships were, for a British river, in her case the River Windrush, a … Continue reading

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Black History, Books, Creativity, Democracy, Equality, Fiction, History, Human Rights, Morality, Racism, Windrush, Writers, Writing | Leave a comment

What does it mean to be good?

In a 2013 article by Steve Taylor PhD in Psychology Today, good is defined as: a lack of self-centredness … the ability to empathise with other people, feel compassion … and put [others’] needs before your own. It means … … Continue reading

Posted in Allyship, Art, Artists, Equality, Fiction, Goodness, Morality, Plays | Leave a comment

Tom Titanic: a Welsh hero remembered

On 15 April I went to Cemaes, the northernmost town on the Ynys Môn coast, with my cousin Alex Leslie, and my sister Lucinda Mackworth-Young. We were there because Cemaes is the town where Thomas William Jones was born, on … Continue reading

Posted in BLue Plaques, History, Kindness, Places, Talks, Titanic, Travel | 4 Comments

Older women: Elder, not elderly

It’s getting close to mother’s day here in the UK (here’s a list of mother’s day dates worldwide) and that set me thinking about women and the different stages of our lives … and, naturally enough, Sheila Hancock. In a … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Creativity, Kindness, Listening, Love, Mental Health, Mythology, Psychology, Women | Leave a comment

Let Love Grow Food this Valentine’s Day

Concern Worldwide is a charity that ‘goes to the ends of earth to deliver aid where it’s needed most’. They’re working in Turkey and Syria right now. And they’ve got a Valentine’s Day campaign that suggests buying a cow for … Continue reading

Posted in Charities, Equality, Food, Human Rights, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Kindness, Presents, Valentine's Day | Leave a comment

Kindness

In Matt Haig’s The Comfort Book – reflections on hope, survival and the messy business of being alive – he writes: Life is short. Be kind. A beautiful thing to be. (The Comfort Book is also beautiful, full of ‘consolatons … Continue reading

Posted in Good Things, Kindness, Mental Health, Psychology | Leave a comment

A Ukrainian Christmas

Business Ukraine Magazine reports that Kharkiv’s main Christmas tree has, this year, been put up in an underground station – to protect it from Russian air strikes. The magazine also retweeted the Washington Post’s report about Volodymyr Zelensky becoming Time’s … Continue reading

Posted in Allyship, Christmas, Democracy, Flowers/Blossom, Human Rights, Refugees, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Environmental Racism & COP27 Loss-and-Damage Discussions

Environmental Racism is the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of colour. That’s Joycelyn Longdon’s succinct definition. Joycelyn Longdon is the founder of Climate in Colour, an online education platform that combines climate science with social justice. In her 2020 … Continue reading

Posted in Antiracism, Climate Change, Environmental Racism, Equality, Human Rights, Living Standards, Racism | Leave a comment

Blue Plaques for Black People: Nubian Jak Community Trust

For this Black History month, here’s an organisation which celebrates Black history throughout the year and throughout the land. The Nubian Jak Community Trust (NCTJ) installs Blue Plaques to acknowledge and remember notable Black people. It was founded in 2006. … Continue reading

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Black Plaques, Equality, History, Human Rights, Music | Leave a comment

Redemption Song

A couple of weeks ago I saw the Bob Marley musical, Get Up Stand Up! in London. It’s glorious, it’s uplifting, I felt sound waves, like a breeze, against my body; it’s brilliantly sung and acted, it’s very moving and … Continue reading

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Artists, Creativity, Human Rights, Listening, Music, Politics, Racism, Reviews | Leave a comment

1926-2022 and 1952-2022

CHRIS JACKSON//GETTY IMAGES     Queen Elizabeth II has died

Posted in Elizabeth II, The Queen | Leave a comment