I WAS BORN into the afterglow of post-war Britain. The year was 1958. Food rationing had ended only four years previously. Coal rationing, however, remained in force. At that time, men's hats bore brims not peaks. Front doors were often left unlocked. By the time I reached my formative years in the 1970s, the world …
Why Saying “Hi” Still Matters THERE IS something almost quaint about the idea of greeting a stranger. A brief 'hello' exchanged on a pavement, a nod to a passing walker, a smile offered without expectation. In an age of constant purported connectivity, such moments can feel oddly subversive—small acts of recognition that dissolve detachment and …
'The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.' Philip K Dick A Novel Idea While reading the novel 'Shake Loose the Border' by Robert Low, I came across a passage that set …
I have recently shared on here details of my mental health crisis. It was one which, ostensibly, began sometime in 2023 but which had, in all likelihood, been present for decades. An inherent fault line. All that was needed was a trigger to set in motion a total collapse. My post 'The Raven' catalogues that …
