The thoughts that shape my writing
Fragments of history, reflections on memory, and glimpses of the human thread that runs through it all.
The Real Gold in Life Is Health
I have spent the past five weeks relearning a lesson I thought I already understood.
On Christmas Day, I was hit by shingles. Not mildly. Not inconveniently. Properly.
When Characters Refuse to Let Go
When I retired from corporate life at seventy, I needed to fill the space it left behind.
I had dabbled in photography for decades and built up thousands of images from all over the world. I even produced a few coffee-table books. But in recent years it no longer held the same appeal. I felt bored by it, short of inspiration, reluctant to go out and make the images at all.
Did Donald Trump Actually Break the System?
Donald J. Trump is everywhere, all the time.
He governs like a reality television host who has wandered into the Oval Office and decided the cameras should never be switched off. He holds court in cabinet rooms surrounded by journalists. He speaks in superlatives, threats, jokes, and half-finished ideas. He says things no other modern leader would dare say out loud.
Many see him as a threat to global stability. Others see him as a truth-teller, tearing down a corrupt establishment.
Aristotle: The Philosopher Who Inspired Monty Python
I’m a man of a certain age and, like many students in the 1970s, I adored the zany, intellectual comedy of Monty Python. That’s why whenever I hear or think of the name Aristotle, like one of Pavlov’s dogs, I instantly add: ‘was a bugger for the bottle’.
It’s a line from The Philosophers’ Song, a gloriously silly pub singalong that managed to name-check most of Western philosophy between rounds of beer.
When Power Demands Honour
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has handed her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Donald Trump at the White House, presenting it as recognition of his ‘commitment to Venezuela’s freedom’.
The symbolism is elegant. The reality is not.
Plato’s Cave, Now Streaming in 4K
After Socrates drank the hemlock, someone had to tidy up the conversation. Enter Plato: philosopher, organiser, and the man who turned confusion into curriculum.
If Socrates was philosophy’s street busker, Plato was the one who built the concert hall.
A Death Without Compassion
When power rushes to certainty before evidence — and compassion is treated as expendable — belief replaces thought, and a human life disappears from view.
The Dangerous Art of Asking Questions
Growing up in south Wales, I never accepted what anyone told me at face value. I always wanted to know why. If it rained for days on end — which it frequently seemed to do — I wanted to know what caused it. I wasn’t especially bright. Just incurably curious. Rather like a 20th Century young Socrates!
History Isn’t Objective — and Pretending It Is Is Dangerous
I’ve recently completed my second historical fiction novel, The Silence of the White Shadow, set in Victorian Britain. That means my desk — and my head — are cluttered with research: industrial towns, social reformers, courtroom dramas, even the odd ship’s manifest.
The Man Who Thought Everything Was Made of Water
Next we move from one who found truth in stillness to one who found it in motion: Thales of Miletus, the man who thought everything was made of water.
The Buddha
Before Plato built his Republic or Descartes began doubting his own existence, the Buddha was already onto something: that maybe the mind is both the problem and the key.
Big Ideas (Some I Understand, Some I Don’t and Some That Make My Brain Explode)
At the time of writing this (2025), I’ve been on this lump of rock we call home for seventy-one summers. In January 2026, I’ll be entering my seventy-second winter, and I hope there are many more left. But who knows?
The Future Never Arrives
We spend much of our lives waiting. Waiting for the right time, the next opportunity, the moment when life will finally begin. But here’s the hard truth: the future never arrives. When it comes, it isn’t the future anymore — it’s just today.
Bertrand Russell Warned Us About Fools and Fanatics — We Should Listen Now
I’ve been interested in philosophy and the meaning of life for decades. One philosopher I admire greatly is Bertrand Russell. The more I learn about his life, the more I notice small, unexpected parallels with my own.
Wittgenstein in the Age of Social Media
Wittgenstein wrote one of the most challenging books on philosophy to read. This is a simple guide.
Orwell in the Age of Trump
In 1949 George Orwell wrote what many consider his masterpiece, 1984. What can it teach us about what’s happening in the world today?
The Age of Collective Stupidity
I lived through the first dotcom bubble — a time when hype, “expert” predictions, and collective belief drove stock prices into the stratosphere. I sold some shares early and was told I was crazy… until the bubble burst and fortunes vanished overnight.
Looking back, I realised this wasn’t just market failure — it was collective stupidity on a global scale.
The Pursuit of Purpose
Defining purpose is deeply personal. For some, it’s in learning. For others, it’s in creativity, health, service, relationships, or compassion.
Purpose doesn’t always look dramatic. It might show up in daily kindness. In gentle consistency. In noticing what others rush past.