I was, as they used to say in Manchester, dead chuffed to have one of my poems published in the latest edition of the distinguished British literary journal, Acumen. The poem was a remembered moment, an epiphany, in fact, when,…
T.S. Eliot’s masterpiece is 100 years old this year and I am preparing to read the complete poem online in the virtual world known as Secondlife to mark the centenary of its publication. Yes, virtual worlds really do support writers…
Perseus and Andromeda Nude in chains on the rocks she’s picture-perfect. Titian’s Andromeda displayed for us mortals, for hungry beasts, and for Perseus who dives seaward dressed-to-kill in pink and gold robes to slaughter the slavering monster. He’s a boy-hero,…
There are two poems about Adam and Eve in my new poetry collection, Remembering Blue, this one, Eve, came together as a little film made in my home town of Lewes, UK. Maybe I’m a bit obsessed by our earliest,…
Jamal Khashoggi People have said to me recently, here in the UK, that Donald Trump isn’t that bad – or is he? We all suffer from that phenomenon known as news fatigue. Nothing is as shocking as when we…
I know, it’s been too long, but I’m back. I noticed in amazement and a touch of horror, that I last posted a blog on this site last December. Forgive me. I’ve been busy with various writing projects – a…
Nothing can undone the harm that they’ve done but, at least, this week, we have seen some of the nastiest men of our life times getting their comeuppance. For all the horrors committed by Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serbian…
I have just finished the third draft of my new Brighton novel, my third, Over the Hills is a Long Way Off. I will put it aside for a few months and then take a final look at it, but,…
I’m often under scrutiny in my small Lewes urban garden but I’m getting used to it. I live next door to a one-eyed Siamese cat and, without actually being on speaking terms, we have a pleasant enough relationship which I…
Mignon – an opera by Ambroise Thomas. Portrait of Ambroise Thomas (1811 – 1896) in 1834 by Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin I know not all of my readers share my enthusiasm for opera but stay with me…