What was I when the cat needed letting in?
Before the cat needed letting in the front door, I was about to write about the fun of visiting good bookshops and literary festivals. Especially as my local bookshop – West End Lane Books –…
Life
Measles and MMR vaccine deniers: how to create a panic
You may have seen reports this week of a surge in measles across Europe and the United States. The media have blamed a paper by British scientist Andrew Wakefield, whose research connected the combined MMR vaccine with…
The Boots Scribbling Diary
Every year, when I was between about nine and thirteen, I’d buy one. A Boots Scribbling Diary. On New Year’s Day, I’d open it up and gaze at the empty lined page, headed January 1st.…
What I learned from the World Cup
Bored with the World Cup? Take another look. Football has probably taught me more about people and psychology than anything else ever has. I mentioned the World Cup to a friend of mine last week.…
Small things can be important too
Small things can be important too. Sometimes, I sweat for an hour over a paragraph, a line of dialogue, a single word. I’ve known comedy writers argue for ages over whether the number 35 is…
Fighting yourself? Here’s a way to stop.
Fighting yourself? Have you ever started a project and found that for some reason you’re not moving ahead? Maybe you’re trying to write a book and not getting round to it. Making sales speeches that…
Do criminals have free will – or is it all down to good and bad luck?
If you ever thought philosophy was for people with glasses and sticking-out ears who need to get out more, you may be in for a shock. Every crime thriller you’ve ever read is steeped in…
12 top tips for quickly learning a language you’d love to know
Interested in learning a language but think it might be too hard? Planning a holiday or meeting people from abroad? It annoys me that language teaching is so bad in this country that it puts…
Feeling overwhelmed? People love David Allen’s “Getting Things Done.” Are they right?
Feeling overwhelmed by all those emails, all that paper,the to-do lists stuck to the wall or just the things you know you have to do that are running round your head? Everyone I know who’s…
Bookstore rage: How I came close to losing my temper with an indie bookshop manager
Yesterday I came close to inflicting serious verbal damage on an indie bookshop manager. I’d very much like to know from anyone else who has a similar story, either as an author, a publisher or…
Sex, Drugs and Taxes
Today’s guest post on Sex, Drugs and Taxes is by Multi Platform Artist, Author and all-round Renaissance man Russell C. Brennan. Russell sold his first film script at 17 before moving into music, to become one Europe’s…
Photo of the Month: Total eclipse, Madras OR
Maybe you heard, there was a total eclipse on August 21st that went right across the United States. I heard about this eclipse over a year and a half ago, and resolved to go and…
Photo of the Month: Modern Aladdin: Jemaa el-Fnaa, Marrakesh, Morocco
This seller of lamps in the famous Jemaa el-Fnaa night market, in Marrakesh, Morocco, bridges old and new – the traditions of the North African/Middle Eastern seller of lamps, that go all the way back to Aladdin…
Review – What Makes You Not a Buddhist by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse
I’ve read many books on Buddhism, but this, by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, stands out as very special. In just a few pages, he cuts through the faff – writing in a very down-to-earth manner. Starting…
Photo of the month – Nara, Japan
This month’s photo is one of my favourites. It sums up something special about Japan, for me. That sense that the place can look superficially so normal and almost Western and yet always there’s something…
Review: As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie LeeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I don’t know anyone who’s opened this book who hasn’t been immediately enchanted by it. Much less famous than Cider…
Could a strong local press have prevented the Grenfell Tower fire?
On the week that my novel The Breaking of Liam Glass comes out – a crime satire about the role of the press – here’s a very topical and thoughtful piece from Emily Bell in the Guardian asking…
Photo of the month – Krka Waterfalls, Croatia
Photo of the month: Wild swimmers at the Krka Waterfalls, in the Krka National Park. One of my favourite parts of Dalmatia in Croatia. There are a number of waterfalls in the park, which you reach…