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…

A TV NEWSREADER READS THE NEWS “Two hundred and twelve people including sixty one children have died in Gaza. Twelve people including two children have been killed in Israel.” So…

Today I joined the Creative Writing Group at the Maggie Centre in Manchester for the launch of Brambles a pamphlet of poems by my daughter Katie. For those who may…

When I started reading Kate Clanchy’s How to Grow Your Own Poem I got the idea that I could work through it, reading the poems and writing my own. And…

Kate Clanchy has written another marvellous book. Following the success of Some kids I taught and what they taught me, which thoroughly deserved its Orwell Prize, she has shown what…

Sharp Scratch is a slim volume of poetry by members of the creative writing group at the Maggie’s Centre in Manchester. Maggie’s is a charity that provides free practical, emotional…

Oxford Spires Academy is about as far from our idea of the dreaming spires as you can get. OK, it is in Oxford. But this is working class Oxford in…