That well-known phrase, ‘to see ourselves as others see us’ was originally a line from the Scottish poet Robbie Burns’ famous poem The Louse. The poet had observed the creepy-crawly making its way across a posh woman’s hat in church, and his musings leads to one of his most famous pieces. In The Louse, Burns Read more

As we enter this new year, many of us will have been thinking about making small or even big changes in our lives; considering what we might do a bit better or more consistently, or maybe just thinking this will be the year I plan a holiday, give up eating meat, or find that new Read more

Who knew that I would spend the early days of my retired life bickering with far right Christian nationalists on Twitter? I know the site has been renamed X, but that sounds laughably James-Bond in its bad-guy-ness. But Twitter, with its suggestion of inane mutterings, somehow serves a more helpful purpose in deflating its collective Read more

It was Shakespeare’s Hamlet who, in a fit of angst about whether or not to kill his father’s murderer, said: ‘there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so’. By the same token we could say a gun isn’t in itself a good or a bad thing. A gun can be used Read more

My cat died last Sunday; Tommy was very, very old. He was deaf, arthritic, losing weight and struggling to make it to the cat tray. He had a great innings, as they say, and I’ve had pets die before. What was different about this one? Well, his deafness meant he became my shadow in his Read more