Politics, Lives, Page Turners: The Courage of Claret Press publishing Sylvia Vetta and Pen Farthing I first made this blog before Pen Farthing and I talked at the Oxford Indie Book Fair . Today's Guardian feature warrants re-posting it.
In todays i Yasmin Alibhai Brown writes about British Citizens of Pakistani ancestry and how they regard the grooming gangs. The conclusion was that most people of that background despise them and are distressed by the suffering of the exploited
Simon Schama and I https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0026zyn/simon-schamas-story-of-us-series-1-2-whose-britain-is-it-anyway I may not have Simon Schama’s brains and erudition but, watching episode 2 of 'Whose Britain is it any way' made me realise that we share the same attitude to the evolution of this
The Water of Life: Bill Nighy, Victor Glynn and I Do you find that life is like water –rivers flowing alongside crossing, meeting and blending? Thursday was like that for me. The film producer Victor Glynn suggested I be
I am chairing this meeting where the people of Kennington and Radley can show how much they care about the wildflower rich woodland near where I live. Thank you Hamish Campbell for This video shows why the community is
I love the Today programme during the Christmas period, when it has guest editors. Their choice of in depth subject matter is inspirational. First off was author and screenwriter, Frank Cottrell Boyce, on a subject dear to my heart -
Is violence normal ? In her 2024 Reith Lectures, Dr Gwen Adshead, addresses four questions that she has most commonly faced in her work as a therapist with violent perpetrators in secure psychiatric units and prisons: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0025cmg. It’s not surprising
Yesterday, in Ely Cathedral, I took this photograph. In the exquisite Lady Chapel, all the heads had been knocked off the sculptures in the niches. I visited the Fragrant Buddha Temple in the Summer Palace in Beijing with the
TIME TO PUT AN END to the empathy and dynamic culture destroying idea of CULTURAL APPROPRIATION ? I'm delighted that more people are voicing their opposition to this insidious idea. Brushstrokes in Time was made into an audio book by an
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19607563.novel-walk-around-oxford-author-sylvia-vetta/ Most visitors to Oxford cluster around a few streets of Dreaming Spires and, in my opinion, miss out on the complexities of this beautiful city. I recommended a few books on the subject for https://shepherd.com/best-books/oxford-and-where-town-meets-gown In Sculpting the Elephant,