In 2020 we have our close friends and family in our pockets 24/7, always available to chat to on Whatsapp or check in with on Facebook or Instagram, but living on a street where you know your neighbours by name and family are close enough to swing by unannounced for a cuppa is not the common state any more.
Read MoreSince turning 40, which seems *old enough* I’ve found myself at a lot of parties. I’m sometimes there to photograph which gives me purpose and reason. But sometimes I just go for the craic. A dance, a chat, a catch up, a nose, a chance to observe the youthful avante garde in all their colourful and loud glory.
Read More“The first step will be to create the biscuit base. It should be short and rich. So, that won’t be a problem.” Welcome to the Bloomberg Cookery Channel - a satire piece that will have you cackling, musing on Michael Bloomberg’s US election campaign and baking the perfect millionaire’s shortbread at the same time.
Read MoreHoping with hope, with or without squinched up eyes, doubles up the optimism power I think; it’s a prayer, without a church, but with a congregation. I hope with hope for a better world. It’s a massive and unwieldy hope, and a daunting one.
Read MoreSometimes life does feel like you’re Samwise Gamgee struggling up Mount Doom with Frodo bitching in your ear and Gollum trying to murder you. Mondays can be that grim.
Read MoreI don’t know about you, but I tend to ignore the news once it starts to panic about flooding/cold weather/train strikes (or insert other disaster here). And generally nothing happens when I do. But today, I went out to the supermarket, and found it nearly empty.
Read MoreIt’s incredible to see the deconstruction of the stigma around mental health; but it’s important to remember it is a double edged sword and a topic that still seems to focus on anxiety and depression, leaving other illnesses still very much in the dark.
Read MoreIn 2013, we met an awesome woman, C, who was already helping another couple to become parents. And when she had helped them by carrying their daughter, she offered to help us. We had become good friends, and bonded over our love of food, particularly curries.
Read MoreThis is an improvised love story; the two main protagonists, Caitlin Campbell (who plays Holly) and Dan South (who plays Ben) just don’t know it. In a rigged drawing of straws 10 minutes before the show, the rest of the cast act surprised as Caitlian and Dan are chosen as the protagonists. It’s now up to Sam (who plays Pete) and Andy (who plays Olly) to turn this into a love story.
Read MoreI spent 11 months in Australia and a month travelling home (via various countries). During that time I heard the term ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ frequently. I heard it from other backpackers, from people I met, from people at home. I never liked the phrase.
Read MoreNastiness is embedded into the world in one form or another and we’ve all been a part of it. Whether that be giving, receiving, contributing or even just watching it happen. Shamefully, I remember when I was young, finding it extremely hard to give people compliments. I remember actually feeling and thinking ‘I don’t want to compliment that person’.
Read MoreThis year I’m going to Glastonbury. I am part of the chosen few that secured a ticket. I should be overjoyed, which I am, but for some reason I keep thinking of the fact that I’ll be 23 when Taylor Swift tells me how great it was to be ’22’.
Read More‘When mentioned Bermuda is always attributed to the mysterious part of the sea that’s responsible for ship and air plane disappearances.’ But there’s so much more to Bermuda than that… and what's so interesting is how the location has shaped the residential buildings. An incredibly well informed and sophisticated piece by Carrie Cross.
Read More“OK, so I have a really scary question to ask you”. Holding my breath, my dignity and my stomach muscles firmly in place, I looked at the man I’d been friends with for the last 20 years.
Read MoreAre more young people getting involved in progressive activism or is it just a trending topic?
Read MoreA brown skirt suit, Jesus, what was I thinking? I thought borrowing something smartish from my big sister would help, and maybe it did, but it absolutely wasn’t me! I felt like a total fraud. I sat on the coach at Maidenhead bus station thinking it was the start of the rest of my life! That 11 quid fare was my ticket to freedom! It was the summer of 1989.
Read MoreCandle lit table in an Italian restaurant. The soft glow of the flame creates dappled shadows around our wine glasses - mine, half empty, his, near gone. His hand slowly glides across the table cloth, gently falling on top of my palm. He looks up at me, burning curiosity in his cool eyes, “so”, he says, “tell me about your family?”
Read MoreThe thing about democracy is that more than half the people are getting what they want, more than half the time. Or that’s what American journalist E.B. White thinks. But let’s dig below the surface a little bit… Is that what’s actually going on?
Read More"Cartoons are not art."
Cue the sound of my heart, hopes and dreams shattering into a million pieces.
Fourteen-year-old me was being told that my kind of art didn't count.
Read MoreWhen my son was four we spread ourselves out on the floor that Valentine’s Day and made the most ridiculous mess with glitter, glue, feathers and red paint, stuck to a massive stack of cards… I asked him “Who is your first card for?”. “It’s for me Mummy, I love myself first”. The wisdom of babes, indeed.
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