Angels have got into churchesall over the county:climbing the ancient wallsthey beam brightly and carry hammers They look down on our flimsy worshipas if nonplussed,somehow restraining themselves and we look backholding our strange grey bookssinging uneven songssafeguarding the saintsin odd…
If you want to kill something, bring in management consultants. You may think this statement a little sweeping, but we live in a world where it seems almost routinely true. In fact the management class has taken over to such…
Read: The curse of management
At some point in your childhood you and your friends went out to play together for the last time, and none of you knew it. I read this sentence out of the blue recently and found it profoundly sad, without…
I met a guy in a wheelchair yesterday. We were at a funeral, and he had driven down from up north to Norfolk on his own, in his specially adapted van. I attempted to give him my place in the…
Read: Positivity on wheels
Wondering about her dreams,I sit in a stiff wooden chair and wait for the curtain to come down She breathes steadilybut without much convictionher mouth wide open, ready to call I say her name, but softly:I want to speak to her…
Read: Thelma
Generations come, and generations go. I am now in the last generation – my family’s last, anyway. It is a strange feeling, looking down. I emerged into this state a couple of weeks ago, when my last aunt died at the…
Until recentlyI reached for the skynow I make tracksinto the wilderness The sky is temptingup and downbut the wildernesshas no other sideno other side
You may have missed the Olympics. If so, you must have been out of the country, or denied access to any kind of media. If so, I should explain that it is a recurring worldwide event that focuses on athletics…
One of the greatest regrets of my life concerns my graduation from Birkbeck College, London University, back in 1969. The surprising news that I had achieved an Upper Second BA Honours in German arrived with my birthday cards, which I…
Looking for Narnia you stand outside the wardrobein gloves and blankets but there is nothing to see;the door is shut and the cupboard is filledwith things you may need some time, blocking the way through Gazing into the distanceyou try to see snow…
Read: Looking for Narnia