Thoughts about things I’ve written or read or heard or seen. An attempt to stay positive in a turbulent world.
Recent Articles
The Aristocrat and the Able Seaman will be published in April 2026
For several years I’ve done a talk about Lucy Noël Martha, Countess of Rothes, and Thomas William Jones, the Aristocrat and the Able Seaman who survived Titanic in the same lifeboat. In April, 2026 their stories will be published by The History Press and I’m delighted that the courage of these two people, their kindness,...Continue reading→
In Retrospect, Simon Armitage
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 in their heads as if bullets had passed through, then trimmed them with green sprigs...Continue reading→
Hamlet on the Titanic
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 menfolk had sailed from Southampton with her. If they had, they would have died in...Continue reading→
Hidden Histories with Nova Reid
Nova Reid, producer, author, truthseeker and all-round remarkable Black woman, has made a podcast with Audible about other remarkable and unsung Black women: women who not only survived enslavement and unimaginable racism, but who thrived. It’s called Hidden Histories and, as Nova says, it explores the lives of: Pioneers, journalists, and rule-breakers – remarkable figures...Continue reading→
A Valentine to Life: What Does It Feel Like? Sophie Kinsella
Unlike forty-five million people worldwide, I’d never read a Sophie Kinsella novel until I picked up What Does It Feel Like? in my local bookshop a couple of weeks ago. But if, like me, you’re not one of the forty-five million and you think you might never be: read this one. It’s funny. It’s optimistic....Continue reading→
Our view of the world is distorted – so our worldview is distorted
A big thank you to Black History Studies and Mark Simpson, Director of Operations, for the title of this piece and for his insight into the ways different world maps have been put together and how they affect our view of the world. On the first evening of the Introduction to Black Studies course Mark...Continue reading→
In the Bleak Midwinter: Rosetti & Holst
In the Bleak Midwinter – words by Christina Rossetti and music by Gustav Holst (it has to be Holst for me) – is my favourite Christmas carol. I have a memory of singing it as a child beside my father in the gallery of the church we used to walk to. It always makes me cry because it’s so very beautiful – the giving of our hearts – and because of that long-ago memory.Continue reading→
A Blessing for our times
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 sent Blessing when the World is Ending to me a few days ago. It feels...Continue reading→
Black History Month; Black History Studies and Nova Reid’s Student Confession
October is Black History Month in the UK. But obviously Black History should be taught and celebrated every day of every year in history lessons in our schools, in everyday conversation, in stories, in music and song, in any way at all, everywhere in our lives. The theme this year is Reclaiming Narratives #reclaimingnarrativesbhm :...Continue reading→
Tell Climate Change Stories
On last Tuesday’s The Life Scientific with Jim Al-Khalili, the guest scientist was Professor Peter Stott, a senior climate scientist at The Met Office’s Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services. The biggest challenge in climate science today, Stott said, is whether we can adapt quickly enough to the increasingly dangerous effects of climate change...Continue reading→
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