Blogs

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001ckxy/harriet There’s an old trick for a director to add a few lines of text and also claim credit as a writer. Harriet is about slavery. Black people were bought and sold like slaves (and still are). You’ve probably had a mental blip, because it’s clichéd. From Prince claiming he was a slave and changing his name to a squiggle during a contractual dispute with his record company. In contrast, Liz Truss...

There is always that little bit of debate and controversy about the Morris. Is it backdated and pointless all these ancient wallies with their bells and sticks? What about black face Morris is it racist? I saw a young troupe of black face Morris a few years back. They had theire faces greeny black and green and black streams from their hats. Wild costumes, wild dancing, lots of hefty stick banging and bell jangling And of course the 'obby oss...

Two very different, and very thoughtful, pieces this week. Story of the Week is jxmartin's 'Ian - the aftermath', about the devastation of a hurricane. One commenter on ABC has likened this author's beautifully written diaries of American life to the BBC broadcasts by the late, great Alistair Cooke, and I would certainly agree. The same warmth and friendliness, accompanied by acute observation: Ian- the aftermath | ABCtales Poem of the Week is...

Not long ago I got a ride in Kirkcaldy from my old pal Brian who I have known since uni days. Brian is now a senior paramedic. He harked backed to the old days where as a rookie cabbie he was learning 'the knowledge' on the busy streets of Ayr. In those days all the drivers gave lifts to hitchers. We used our savvy and went for it. Then we heard the horrible story of aileen wournos. Aileen was American she was a mad murdering bitch who took out...

The formless nought. That was my thinking when I heard Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng mentioning ‘the people,’ ‘the people’ he talked to, ‘the people’ he listened to, ‘the people’— Not my people. Not me. Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, friend of Queen Victoria, leader of the Conservative Party and twice Prime Minister but also a writer. Sybil (1845), for example, brought the two nations argument into dining rooms. The...

Where have all my imaginative thoughts gone to? I ask myself this as I try to conjure up words...to bring my story back to life...to continue where I’ve left it off and take it through the middle, and on to the ending. It's not often I’m lost for words; in fact, I usually carry too many around and toss them out of my thinking bag a bit over zealously…then I have to comb through the mess of words I’ve tossed about and kick out the useless, over...