If you’re wondering what to buy for the readers in your life for Christmas, can I suggest a gloriously-funny, poignant, heartfelt, beautifully-written novel about the hopes and dreams, ambitions and desires of an unknown screenwriter who gets a call from an Oscar-winning director and dares to believe that, this time, one of his screenplays will … Read More
Gifts
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 reduces the inflammation that can cause serious diseases. Being kind on a regular basis can … Read More
Ukraine: & how we can help #StandWithUkraine
Click on the images below for links about where and how to donate money or supplies and how to support people directly.
Valentine’s Day Traditions
There are at least three different saints who answer to the name Valentine or Valentinus. One legend of St Valentine tells how, when in prison, he sent a letter to a young girl—possibly his jailor’s daughter. He signed it: ‘From your Valentine’. Some countries dislike or actively ban Valentine’s Day celebrations, some countries celebrate a … Read More
Worldwide Ways of Welcoming New Year
Different peoples in different countries do different things to welcome a new year. In SIBERIA, in Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake in the world, and in the River Lena nearby, a Christmas Tree is taken to the bottom on new year’s eve. It’s usually freezing. I’m not sure why they do this … . … Read More
Buy Black for Christmas (and beyond)
If you’re white, like me, perhaps you haven’t consciously thought about seeking out Black-owned businesses and shops to buy from. My own seeking-out was prompted by the marvellous Nova Reid (whose antiracism course has taught me so much about my own racism and how to unearth, interrogate and set about dismantling it). Here are some … Read More
Valentine’s presents; and Pen Heaven
If you haven’t yet bought a present for your Valentine who might, of course, be yourself, you could indulge in this for your toast. You’ll find it here. Or this, for your wine: from here. But if neither of these appeal, then perhaps something from the thing I would love to have invented in a parallel … Read More