Wrapped in the Flag?

Wrapped in the Flag?

I was brought up a ‘service brat’. I am the son of a man whose adult life, from age 16 to 53 was spent serving his country. My father came from a poor background. Grandma and grandad lived in a council house in Bromborough in the Wirral, just across the Mersey from...
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...