A cold coming…

Christmas almost upon us, the cold snap coming to an end, shopping for spices in the fabulous market of this fine city, the friendly stallholder asked me how I was. A dangerous question to a writer partial to telling it like it is. A bit down, I answered. Sad…...

We are not afraid of death . . .

While football-crazy folks spend large amounts of money flying to Doha to watch super-rich footballers kick a ball about a stadium (built by poor immigrant workers, some dying in the process), I’d like to take you back to the Qatari capital and February 29th 2020....

Lies, damned lies and…

Lies, damned lies and statistics. For some reason, these words came into my mind, and since, politically-speaking, they summed up January 2022, they are the theme for this blog. The full phrase, There are three kinds of lies – lies, damned lies and statistics, was...

In Xcess

In my previous incarnation as a cartoonist and illustrator, back in those days of editorial demands and demanding deadlines, come December, another self-imposed deadline would be added to the Must Do list ahead of Christmas: the all-important Christmas card – a...

Running Away: the story of a story

If success can be judged by being placed in competition with other writers, then Running Away is one of my successful stories. Written in 2011, sent out into the competitive world of international short story competitions in 2012, it was placed on two longlists,...

Happy Holidays

I have never been someone for whom an annual holiday is a quintessential part of life. This may be due, in part, to my childhood experience of that getting-away-from-it-all word: a working-class background that meant, until the age of twelve, family away-days and a...