Long before this prompt became favoured as an interview question, Christians were told they had a ‘one-word’ answer to it. The word that describes each one of us is ‘sinner’.

March 19, 2026

To tell truth, this question is one the many hoary interview questions that are prompts to elicit from their respondent a word they think makes them seem acceptable to the interviewer(s) and avoid those which can be predicted to make you seem unacceptable. Nothing is further from its purpose than to elicit truths, or even … More Long before this prompt became favoured as an interview question, Christians were told they had a ‘one-word’ answer to it. The word that describes each one of us is ‘sinner’.

And yet, in humans, I know my love as rare / As any they belied with false compare.

March 18, 2026

I am fairly sure I have never received a ‘compliment’ in which I believed that formed itself in words and metaphors, for these things are essentially fictive and their truth at the same remove from simple belief as anything else significant that is still composed of fictions. We can’t live without fictions but we should … More And yet, in humans, I know my love as rare / As any they belied with false compare.

Each day I wish I could find the will to write things ‘technically harder’ than is the norm in order to give me significantly ‘better practice’ in writing. This blog examines as a case study Rupert Brooke’s one-act play: ‘Lithuania’ to show whether he could, as Maurice Bowra claims he wanted to in writing it, forefront ‘the expression of character, not of personal feeling, …’.

March 17, 2026

Each day I wish I could find the will to write things ‘technically harder’ than is the norm in order to give me significantly ‘better practice’ in writing. This blog examines as a case study Rupert Brooke’s one-act play: ‘Lithuania’ to show whether he could, as Maurice Bowra claims he wanted to in writing it, … More Each day I wish I could find the will to write things ‘technically harder’ than is the norm in order to give me significantly ‘better practice’ in writing. This blog examines as a case study Rupert Brooke’s one-act play: ‘Lithuania’ to show whether he could, as Maurice Bowra claims he wanted to in writing it, forefront ‘the expression of character, not of personal feeling, …’.

I wish for that ‘extent of subtleties’ Virginia Woolf discerned in Vita Sackville-West’s ‘Passenger to Teheran’: ‘the sly, brooding thinking, evading Vita. The whole book is full of nooks and crannies, the very intimate things one says in print’.

March 16, 2026

I wish for that ‘extent of subtleties’ Virginia Woolf discerned in Vita Sackville-West’s Passenger to Teheran: ‘the sly, brooding thinking, evading Vita. The whole book is full of nooks and crannies, the very intimate things one says in print’. [1] You glance at the photograph of Vita Sackville-West, taken on her own camera en route … More I wish for that ‘extent of subtleties’ Virginia Woolf discerned in Vita Sackville-West’s ‘Passenger to Teheran’: ‘the sly, brooding thinking, evading Vita. The whole book is full of nooks and crannies, the very intimate things one says in print’.

We think we have the right to travel long distances based on the convenience to ourselves alone of our choices, but to go ‘cross-country’ was also once a choice about how much we have a right to militate against the country in the interests of congregations of human self-interest represented by towns.

March 15, 2026

We think we have the right to travel long distances based on the convenience to ourselves alone of our choices, but to go ‘cross-country’ was also once a choice about how much we have a right to militate against the country in the interests of congregations of human self-interest represented by towns. Cross-country is now … More We think we have the right to travel long distances based on the convenience to ourselves alone of our choices, but to go ‘cross-country’ was also once a choice about how much we have a right to militate against the country in the interests of congregations of human self-interest represented by towns.

In Michael Clune’s 2025 novel ‘Pan’ the narrator sees that sometimes what we think of as negative, like the black ‘fly-tree’ he sees traced in a window pane’ and determines to be ‘Pan’s insight’, exists out there irrespective of our thoughts and strategies to deal with them, because, perhaps: “You can’t change the way you are”.

March 14, 2026

In Michael Clune’s 2025 novel Pan, the narrator sees that sometimes what we think of as negative, like the black ‘fly-tree’ he sees traced in a window pane’ and determines to be ‘Pan’s insight’, exists out there irrespective of our thoughts and strategies to deal with them, because, perhaps: “You can’t change the way you … More In Michael Clune’s 2025 novel ‘Pan’ the narrator sees that sometimes what we think of as negative, like the black ‘fly-tree’ he sees traced in a window pane’ and determines to be ‘Pan’s insight’, exists out there irrespective of our thoughts and strategies to deal with them, because, perhaps: “You can’t change the way you are”.

Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision.

March 13, 2026

Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision. It seems entirely innocent to us to talk about ‘watching’ a film, TV or a ‘movie’ but we don’t often distinguish ‘watxhibg’ from a rather passive act of looking at or gazing at … More Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision.

Do I have enough confidence  in my ability to rate how confident  other people are?

March 12, 2026

Do I have enough confidence in my ability to rate how confident  other people are? Confidence is another one of those slippery words as a noun. The adjective appearing to relate to it, as used in our prompt, appears less slippery but isn’t. When we name a person confident we usually mean, so much so that … More Do I have enough confidence  in my ability to rate how confident  other people are?

Unfortunately I, like most humans, continually find myself comparing myself, perhaps we do so because of the distinctive features of that animal we are, to a human animal only.

March 11, 2026

Unfortunately I, like most humans, continually find myself comparing myself, perhaps we do so because of the distinctive features of that animal we are, to a human animal only. However much the academy still sneers at the reductive in internet resourced explanations, these have a certain economy, though no doubt perhaps an economy of the … More Unfortunately I, like most humans, continually find myself comparing myself, perhaps we do so because of the distinctive features of that animal we are, to a human animal only.

Did she want to be made ‘The Bride’? Yes, but not the Bride of anybody, including Frankenstein! Seeing ‘The Bride’ today.

March 10, 2026

Did she want to be made ‘The Bride’? Yes, but not the Bride of anybody, including Frankenstein! Seeing ‘The Bride’ today. By Warner Bros. Pictures – IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81164420 It is the year of being wives of men famed in and for their art, and as often misrepresented from some supposed original, for Jessie … More Did she want to be made ‘The Bride’? Yes, but not the Bride of anybody, including Frankenstein! Seeing ‘The Bride’ today.

I think finding yourself (when ‘it’ is lost) may be an irrelevance because it pretends that there is an undying continuous self or identity. This is a blog triggered by Jose Ando (trans by Kalau Almony 2026), ‘Jackson Alone’, London, Footnote Press.

March 8, 2026

I think finding yourself (when ‘it’ is lost) may be an irrelevance because it pretends that there is an undying continuous self or identity. This is a blog triggered by Jose Ando (trans by Kalau Almony 2026), ‘Jackson Alone’, London, Footnote Press. Novelist Jose Ando receives the Akutagawa Prize at an award ceremony held on … More I think finding yourself (when ‘it’ is lost) may be an irrelevance because it pretends that there is an undying continuous self or identity. This is a blog triggered by Jose Ando (trans by Kalau Almony 2026), ‘Jackson Alone’, London, Footnote Press.

I learned last what I ought to have learned first: that things connect most when they separate. Transit, Transition & Transfusion: Chiharu Shiota: ‘Threads of Life’ and Yin Xiuzhen: ‘Heart to Heart’ at the Hayward Gallery.

March 7, 2026

I learned last what I ought to have learned first: that things connect most when they separate. Transit, Transition & Transfusion: Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life and Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart at the Hayward Gallery seen on the morning of the 5th March 2026. This is a prompt question response and a reflection on the dual exhibition currently … More I learned last what I ought to have learned first: that things connect most when they separate. Transit, Transition & Transfusion: Chiharu Shiota: ‘Threads of Life’ and Yin Xiuzhen: ‘Heart to Heart’ at the Hayward Gallery.