If you had to give one life-changing tip, what would it be? A life is made of many-coloured strands.To pick out one, let’s say the one that’s blueAnd dye the rest that way, so that it standsAs your sole flag, ignores each lovely hue Even blues are variegated into. YouAre made to other that you … More My tip! Beware the call to be consistent!
In Djamel White’s novel All Them Dogs being ‘officially an adult’ is learning to no longer be ‘fighting an urge to pop’ and becoming in control of how you appear and how much you visibly react: ‘Keep it there and keep it steady’. But in that novel the desire to be ‘officially an adult’ is … More In Djamel White’s novel ‘All Them Dogs’ being ‘officially an adult’ is learning to no longer be ‘fighting an urge to pop’ and becoming in control of how you appear and how much you visibly react: ‘Keep it there and keep it steady’. But in that novel the desire to be ‘officially an adult’ is the reason we lose responsibility for ‘the child’ we find in the world or inside us, failing to safeguard it: the mark of effective adult responsibility.
Obviously some judgments in life are irreversible. These tend to be the ones you make about people and your relationship with them, for once the judgment is made and, in any way shared – discursively or in the form of an action to change the relationship – you alone are not in control of the … More I can’t rememember who gave me the advice, if anyone, but it is: “Never make a judgement that cannot be changed or revised’.
Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July The question is open. Each year I set out to read at least some of the books. Here is the list for this year, which I will update as I progress through my reading and responses: 2026 Booker Longlist … More Do Booker winners become so for a reason? The 2026 Longlist came out on 28 July. Update.
I used to worry about finding out that a novel was not ‘for me’. But you don’t have to like writing just because in its own terms, it is good. This is a blog on Gwendoline Riley (2026) The Palm House London, Picador. It starts by defining that strangeness in the novel that is precisely … More I used to worry about finding out that a novel was not ‘for me’. But you don’t have to like writing just because, in its own terms, it is good. This is a blog on Gwendoline Riley (2026) ‘The Palm House’. It starts by defining that strangeness in the novel that is precisely ‘not the kind of strangeness for me’ anymore.
Baz was a rescue dog, aged 10 years when we first got him from a shelter at Darlington, he is often loving, intelligent and joyous dog but stricken with phases of extreme anxiety and what looks like depression. He backs himself into corners where he cannot be disturbed, freezing into an attitude of non-engagement and … More Baz and his sad eyes.
Why not name Troy, Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul and keep proliferating names for names for the primary city of the Golden Horn until you reach 10 such names for cities rich in trade that are for ever renewed or ‘renovated’. In a description of the renovation of Istanbul under Erdoğan as ‘the simulacrum of progress … More Why not name Troy, Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul and keep proliferating names for the primary city of the Golden Horn until you reach 10 such names for cities rich in trade that are for ever renewed or ‘renovated’. This blog is about Kenan Orhan (2026) ‘The Renovation’.
What’s your home decoration style? Let’s get it right from the start. It is almost an oxymoron to talk about a ‘home decoration style’ for ‘style’, however you define it (let’s instance the list in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary), is a cold thing. Often opposed to the notion of ‘content’, ‘matter’ or ‘substance’ , it is … More Let’s get it right from the start. It is almost an oxymoron to talk about a ‘home decoration style’ for ‘style’, however you define it, is a cold thing!
“If love be rough with you, be rough with love. / Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.—”. A quotation is a thing used again to make it live, not a thing to save and favour in secret. This blog in honour of Sisu Theatre’s production of ‘Mabel’, a dark feminist fantasy on … More “If love be rough with you, be rough with love. / Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.—”. A quotation is a thing used again to make it live, not a thing to save and favour in secret. This blog in honour of Sisu Theatre’s production of ‘Mabel’, a dark feminist fantasy on sex/gender and the death of Mercutio.
Who is the fictional character you relate to the most? Does anyone ‘relate to’ the Two Peasants Binding Firewood by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, ‘as Moralist and Entrepreneur’ as the Barber Institute of Fine Arts identifies their maker? If not, what could be the use of art that approaches humanity through the making of types, … More Does anyone ‘relate to’ the ‘Two Peasants Binding Firewood’ by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, ‘as Moralist and Entrepreneur’ as the Barber Institute of Fine Arts identifies their maker? If not, what could be the use of art that approaches humanity through the making of types, not persons?
When I taught social work, I very quickly learned that you cannot rely on the empathy presupposed in people who go into such professions, and that empathy can be co-learned. I use that term co-learned because one of the most damaging assumptions in education is that educators (teachers if you prefer) are often in deficit … More The statement, ‘Maybe I need to find out more before I jump to a harsh judgment’, is not necessarily the result of an inborn trait in human beings that think like that, and usually needs to be learned. It relates to ’empathy’ and empathy can and should be taught in schools.
‘It’s dark and I can’t see a thing, but the scent of Sixten’s coat finds its way in, causing something inside me to shift. To be rearranged.’ Do you suddenly stop worrying about death? Some thoughts based on reading When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén. The following lines of free verse came to … More ‘It’s dark and I can’t see a thing, but the scent of Sixten’s coat finds its way in, causing something inside me to shift. To be rearranged.’ Do you suddenly stop worrying about death? Some thoughts based on reading ‘When the Cranes Fly South’ by Lisa Ridzén.
Steve_Bamlett_blog 