What’s a personal mantra or philosophy you live by? View all responses Load every rift with ore, whatever the subject! Strange! How I turn to John Keats quite a lot for guidance, though there is a lot in him with which I take issue. When Shelley, who offered Keats many kindness which he refused (a … More Load every rift with ore, whatever the subject!
Which relationship has taught you the most about yourself? View all responses Relationships and their meaning for those who form a part of them are at the heart of dramatic fiction for a reason. Human culture has always judged itself in terms of how it articulates the worth and value of a person in relationship … More At the end of Oedipus Tyrranus Creon says to Oedipus: ‘Seek not to be master more. Did not thy masteries of old forsake thee when the end was near?’ You are not in control of what relationships do or mean to you entirely. if anything relationships set bonds and bounds to you!
If you could start a new business right now, what would it be? View all responses I am reading Tressell’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists at the moment in preparation for seeing a dramatisation of it at the Horden Playhouse next week by Ensemble 84. In it capitalism is called by Owen, the Socialist hero, as … More I am reading Tressell’s ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’. I have my idea for my business now!
New York was built upon the workers’ graves,London erected from their burnt up bones:To serve the greed of Capital, the wavesOf seas of want were held back by gorgeous homesHousing Amsterdam, city of rich trade,Excess and lucrative hustles, and painOnly for those whose work is only paidShort of enough so capital will gainIt’s weight in … More The best way to explore a city is to build it anew.
Do you believe in karma? View all responses I believe in karma, only in as much as we practice in our early life or lives what is our practise when we think ourselves grown up. Hollie McNish at the Latitude Festival said to the BBC reporter, Charlie Jones: “My poems are pretty much word for … More I believe in karma, only in as much as we practice in our early life or lives what becomes our practise when we think ourselves grown up. This is really a blog in preparation for seeing Hollie McNish reading from her 2025 collection ‘Virgin’ and talking to Michael Pederson in Durham on Friday 9th October 2026 at 7 p.m. at the Gala Theatre
The Booker shortlist and my plan of possible INACTION The List came out yesterday and I updated the last of my longlist blogs last night accordingly (see it at this link). As you can see there, my predicted shortlisted included four of the actually shortlisted novels. The other two were novels I had not read, … More The Booker shortlist and my plan of possible INACTION
In Simon Stone’s The Oresteia, the character Alice says to her brother, Augie, of their family tragedy: ‘it has to stop’.[1] Does it stop? Does it even have to? This is a blog on reading, long after seeing Simon Stone after Aeschylus and Others (2026) The Oresteia London, Methuen Drama. I saw Simon Stone’s The … More In Simon Stone’s ‘The Oresteia’, the character Alice says to her brother, Augie, of their family tragedy: ‘it has to stop’. Does it stop? Does it even have to? This is a blog on reading, long after seeing Simon Stone after Aeschylus and Others (2026) The Oresteia
In Freud, the ‘unheimlich’ and the ‘heimlich’ are a kind of equivalence. Is what ‘feels like home’ really the ‘uncanny’? Even if we do not invoke Freud, the doubt about the comfort conveyed by this prompt question is in the prompt question itself: ‘What’s a place you visited that felt like home?’ There are two … More In Freud, the ‘unheimlich’ and the ‘heimlich’ are a kind of equivalence. Is what ‘feels like home’ really the ‘uncanny’?
Should we start much earlier than we do learning about ‘Life, the littleness of it’.[1] Do little books about littleness in enlarged contexts need prizes or forgetting? Do little books about littleness in enlarged contexts need prizes? This is a blog on Emma Cline (2026) Switzy London, London, Chatto & Windus (Penguin). In a final … More Should we start much earlier than we do learning about ‘Life, the littleness of it’. Do little books about littleness in enlarged contexts need prizes or forgetting? This is a blog on Emma Cline (2026) ‘Switzy’.
What’s one thing that would instantly improve your city? Durham city lacks the cultural vibration of constant reinterpretations of great works that a living professional theatre company gives any city. I am using this graphic of the Empty Space of the Gala Theatre in Durham to denote a wider absence, brautiful theayre though it is: … More Durham city lacks the cultural vibration of constant reinterpretations of great works that a living professional theatre company gives any city.
As I said in an earlier blog, some books say we are already switching lives with a ‘fictional character’ in order to survive. The absolute best and most comprehensive writing of our time must ask, as Marlon James allows his characters to do, ‘Why am I writing this shit?’1 Is it because our characters switch … More As I said in an earlier blog, some books say we are already switching lives with a ‘fictional character’ in order to survive. The absolute best and most comprehensive writing of our time must ask, as Marlon James allows his characters to do, ‘Why am I writing this shit?’ Is it because our characters switch to fictional form so often? This is a blog on Marlon James (2026) ‘The Disappearers’.
Did I have to look up that idiomatic term ‘life-hacks‘ because of my age and slow adaptation to computer technology? Perhaps that is the case but it soon dawned upon me that the term ‘Life-hacks’ is yet another example of itself, a way of pretending to understand a more complex explanation of the process by … More ‘Life-hacks’ is yet another example of itself, a way of pretending to understand a more complex explanation of the process by which human understanding of a problem and its solution is reached and implemented. It is also perhaps a ‘democratisation’ of that understanding, – creating a term more clearly understood by more people in a rising generation.
