For the first time in what feels like forever, I am working from home, alone. No one is asking for snack every half hour. My meetings are taking place uninterrupted. I can work from wherever I want in the house. And it all feels... strange! My youngest went back to her Primary school on Monday. And my eldest returned to her Secondary s...

If you’ve been reading my writing for a while, you’ll know I tend to only write about the books I enjoy. I rarely bother to jot down anything about a book I didn’t like. I’m not in the business of formal book reviews; I mostly want to holler about the books that mean something to me and, perhaps, trigger a reader or two to go out and g...

I’ve been reflecting on the words from Fr. Richard Rohr that make up the title of this post for some months now. It’s classic Rohr: Oodles of truth and cause for reflection in just a few words. I can’t recall the first time I heard him say it, but it’s fair to say it’s stuck with me. And when it came up again in one of his daily medita...

My wife, Rachel, got me I Never Promised You a Rose Garden for Christmas. Truth told, I’d never heard of Jonny Oates, or this book before. And seeing the names of people endorsing it – Nick Clegg, Laura Kuenssberg, and Gary Gibbon – I assumed it was a purely political book. This would have been fine; I’m quite happy dipping into a poli...

Yaa Gyasi’s second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, is now out here in the UK. Long-time readers of my writing will recall my admiration for Gyasi’s first book, Homegoing. And I was so looking forward to her second that I had it imported from the US, months ahead of its UK release. Here’s what I wrote about it in December: “Transcendent Ki...

I have news of a significant change to how I send out my email newsletters. For the last couple of years I’ve been using a tool called Substack to deliver my emails to you. However, I am moving away from there and from now on I will be using a new service called HEY World. I’ll explain why (if you’re interested) below. But, if you are ...