Almost Lost in Translation on the Longest Day (in 2004)
Below is a copy of my email to some friends, which I sent in August 2004, from Yunnan Province, China. That day, I had saved an American’s life. As I [...]
Amor fati: Morvan’s Syndrome
I’m writing, this evening, for the first time, in a long time. Not about party-gate 1, 2 or 3; not about Reckless Boris; not about my booster jab; nor about [...]
Voices For Burma (Wikipedia entry)
(What follows is my Wikipedia entry for the organisation which I co-founded in 2003: Voices For Burma (VFB). Wikipedia removed the entry, so I add it here for posterity. Hopefully [...]
They f%$% you up, your mum and dad
So wrote Philip Larkin. I blog to make sense of all the noise. And there is more noise than ever. This blog is just more noise, I know. My noise. [...]
In Sickness and Health, in New Earswick
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of one of my best friends. The ceremony was in York, with the wedding reception at the New Earswick Folk Hall, [...]
New dictionary word: “Phillip-Allott-ed”
Verb (transitive) To be “Phillip-Allott-ed” is a four-staged test. First, during a stream of consciousness, you brain-dump your most bizarre, innermost thoughts, at the most insensitive of times, in full [...]
Living Adventurously, in Settle
Typing this blog on my phone, in Settle Quaker Meeting House, North Yorkshire, I can hear an English language lesson taking place, one on one, in the room above. The [...]
Buy a Generator, Just in Case
Political nerds like me are fascinated with Dominic Cummings. So interested, in fact, that I pay him a monthly fee to read his excellent newsletter. I know: I have just [...]
Dysautonomia 2: The Sequel
When your daughter theoretically starts to design the colour scheme for my custom-made electric wheelchair (I have not ordered one, for clarity), to enable me to attend her dance performance, [...]
On Wasps, On CBT, On Oxbridge, On Change
As a six-year-old, I had a crush on a classmate. I’ll refer to her as ‘S’. One pleasant summer’s day, our family went on a walk, along a former railway [...]
