I'm not a particularly courageous person. I much prefer to avoid conflict than to enter into it with any enthusiasm; and when I do find...

It has been a while since my last entry. Chalk that up to another visitor from England and then to the arrival of our son Chris from...

For those readers who are not receiving my email updates (and you are welcome to ask to be included), the news is that I have decided not...

Summer has finally arrived here in New Zealand - as usual, just in time for the return to classes. Hands up all those who would support a...

Someone has lent me the book When breath becomes air, written by Paul Kalanithi. He was a highly talented neurosurgeon and neuroscientist...

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Over the New Year weekend I noticed a sudden drop in energy levels; whereas before Christmas I...

In September 1977, I arrived at Howrah station in Kolkata (Calcutta) and took a rickshaw into the city. The route took us past the dozens...

The first part of this post is an edited version of a piece I wrote fourteen years ago, when our daughter, Becky, was dying of a brain...

In a restaurant review of all things, one of London’s most gifted newspaper columnists, A.A. Gill, recently revealed that he was riddled...

Back in 1979 I was at theological college when Life of Brian hit the screens. Half of my fellow-students were inside the cinema watching...

Well, actually I'm not doing a huge amount of reading at the moment (too busy mucking round on the computer, going for walks and having...

So you have a friend or relative with a terminal illness, and you’ve decided to go and see them. Well done! You are a hero. For many...

We had the experience, but missed the meaning. T.S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages In 1981 I visited a small town called Ste-Jamme-sur-Sarthe,...

When we were living in the UK, it was always a delight to meander up the narrow country roads of the Hambleden Valley in the Chilterns,...

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