In a Mad World

In a Mad World

The writing was on the wall in Europe long before 1939. Hitler came to power in 1933, the culmination of a series of economic and political catastrophes across Europe. Churchill warned a complacent British political class (aren’t they always?) of the dangers on the...
Shingle and Sand

Shingle and Sand

The soft susurrations of shingle stones in Sussex on calm days are few by comparison with the shattering crash of waves in mad March days. Pebbles can be thrown hundreds of feet by forceful waves measured on the Channel wave buoy at nearly 14metres from peak to...
The Cat Sat

The Cat Sat

Spring is sprung in the garden. The occasional night drops below zero and we have the occasional frost but the daffodils are out, crocuses abound and everything is popping into bud. The right time to start a new piece of work and do a bit of a spring clean to the...
Chicago Style

Chicago Style

In 1871 Chicago had its fire. Mrs O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in the barn. The city was built of timber – not just houses but boardwalks, road blocks, fences – and with the weather tinder dry, four square miles went up in flames as the...
Escaping the Tunnel

Escaping the Tunnel

I have agonised over whether to write this piece, but after the interest that the previous piece on cancer has generated, and the continuing interest in my 2013 piece on beating type 2 diabetes, I thought I should share my experience in the hope that it will shed...
Art lives Outside the Hive

Art lives Outside the Hive

An artist friend of mine spent Christmas in Bangkok. They wrote to me saying: “I could not get over the tension and apocalyptic nature of the street experience I have been sensing in Asia. I started to break down the elements I was reacting to and analyzing my...