Like a scene at the end of an adrenalised movie: a flimsy, overcrowded dinghy flailing in rough waves. Women, men and kids clinging to the sides, faces stretched in terror. There’s no land in sight – they’re going to capsize and drown. Just as the dinghy is tilting over, a bigger boat swings into view […]
Dear COVID – 19: a viral invitation
Hello virus. I haven’t met you personally, thank God. You haven’t visited my mum and my stepfather, my sister and her family, or my best friends here in England. They’ve all passed under your radar. You have turned me into a semi-caged hermit, who goes round the park early in the morning, without even a […]
Far from the madding crowd…… an appeal to support refugees on Samos
Last New Year’s Eve, I was in Greece, sitting round a beach fire on the isle of Samos, just a few kilometres from the coast of Turkey, drinking I can’t quite remember what. It was a cold, breezy night: we were wrapped up, laughing, planning a swim the next morning. I actually did it, and […]
Remembrance Day for remarkable humans
On Monday, just after 11 in the morning I paused for thought. Remembrance Day marks the moment World War One ended, at 11 o’clock on 11th November, 1918, after some sixteen million people had lost their lives. In terms of sheer volume of slaughter, the Second World War was even deadlier: up to 56 million, […]
