Category Archives: Language

In Retrospect, Simon Armitage

Posted on May 14, 2025 by Angela

In Retrospect The world asks a great deal of the poppies, insists they carry the wounds of war and shoulder the weight of remembrance. Such flimsy, wavering plants; we painted their flowers the colour of blood and punched dark holes … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity, Democracy, Flowers/Blossom, History, Hope, Human Rights, Language, Poetry | Leave a comment

Hamlet on the Titanic

Posted on April 14, 2025 by Angela

This 15th April is the 113th anniversary of the night RMS Titanic sank. My great-grandmother, Noël Rothes, was, ‘One of the lucky ones’, as she wrote three days later. Lucky not only because she survived, but because none of her beloved … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Fiction, Good Things, Language, Plays, Psychology, Titanic | Leave a comment

A Blessing for our times

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Angela

Jan Richardson wrote this Blessing for her blog The Advent Door in 2014. It’s included in her book Circle of Grace published in 2015. Elsewhere Richardson talks about wild and stubborn hope. I love that phrase. A friend of mine … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists, Books, Creativity, Democracy, Equality, Good Things, Goodness, Hope, Human Rights, Kindness, Language, Love, Morality, Poetry, Politics, Psychology, Storytelling | Leave a comment

Language: how it means everything, and nothing

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Angela

A couple of weeks ago some friends suggested we see ENGLISH, by Sanaz Toossi, at the Kiln Theatre. It’s finished its run now, but if you see it advertised anywhere, go. Toossi wrote the play after the travel ban, colloquially … Continue reading →

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Artists, Equality, Fiction, Human Rights, Kindness, Language, Listening, Literary Prizes, Plays, Refugees, Storytelling, Theatre | Leave a comment