Trickle Down Treats
On mischief night I lock my door Against the knocking of the poor.“Trick or Treat?” I hear them cry.We need to eat or we will die!”“The treats are on the…
Instead of taking umbrage I take up my pen
On mischief night I lock my door Against the knocking of the poor.“Trick or Treat?” I hear them cry.We need to eat or we will die!”“The treats are on the…
Wilhelm Von Humboldt (1767 – 1835) was a linguist and a philosopher of language who tells this story about naming. A peasant was listening to astronomy students as they were…
A recent article online attracted some criticism because it referred to black women instead of Black women. The rationale is that ‘Black’ is a placeholder for identity. And it makes…
KABUL AIRPORT 16 AUGUST 2021“Completing the pre-flight checklist:”Flight controls — CheckedInstruments and radios — CheckedAltimeter — CheckedGyroscope — CheckedFuel gauges — CheckedPropeller — CheckedMagnetos — CheckedFlaps — Checked Unchecked items:…
I have just started reading Vaxxers. It is a brilliant book that tackles the anxiety that surrounds the rollout of the Covid vaccine programme. How do I know it is…
Compare these two areas of government expenditure. One contributes over £42 billion to the economy and employs nearly 200,000 people. It also directly supports another 260,000 jobs in the UK,…
Following the final of EURO21 three black footballers were subject to a torrent of racist abuse on social media. Whatever their intent, the racists have only succeeded in provoking a…
Ian McMillan, writing in The i Paper about visiting his mother-in-law in her holiday caravan, thinks we all need “a Cleethorpes of the mind.” The Cleethorpes of my mind came…
A few weeks ago Dave Middleton wrote a well researched blog on the crisis in social care, made all the more powerful by the personal story of the difficulties in…
On Fathers Day here is a poem I wrote for my father. I wish I could have written it when he was alive to read it. It is his birthday…