Thoughts about things I’ve written or read or heard or seen. An attempt to stay positive in a turbulent world.
Subscribe to the Column
Subscribe on Substack
Search the Column
Select
a Topic
Categories
Most Recent Articles
RMS Titanic: a perfect storm
At this time of year I often post about RMS Titanic. Last year’s post remembered the Welsh Able Seaman, Thomas Jones, who captained Lifeboat Number 8 – the lifeboat that carried my great-grandmother, Noël Rothes, and twenty-four others to safety on the terrifying night when Titanic sank. But when I was invited by Fred Olsen...Continue reading→
Antiracism: Student Confessions Series, with Nova Reid
I took part in Nova Reid’s series of Student Confession Interviews after graduating from her deeply affecting, life-changing course: Becoming Antiracist with Nova Reid. The Course altered the way I live my life and transformed my attitudes and my core beliefs about racism. I discovered and dismantled so much both internally and externally, including the...Continue reading→
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 Astronomical Spring which depends on the tilt of the Earth in relation to its orbit round...Continue reading→
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 emotion? My shame and I have been strongly-attached for decades. But now we’re breaking up....Continue reading→
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...Continue reading→
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 year I made my friend Helen Hermanstein Smith’s Caribbean Rum Fruit Cake from her glorious...Continue reading→
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 suggestion of the leader of the White Allies Network. I was humbled, informed, heart-broken and...Continue reading→
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 or written about. Our history is a shared history, a history that belongs to all...Continue reading→
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 most difficult piano concertos, and it moved me to tears. Nobu was led onto the...Continue reading→
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 when I couldn’t sell it I did what I should’ve done before I tried to...Continue reading→