Throwing a sickie

And breathe…! Or not.

Well, I’ve been having some difficulty doing this over the past fortnight. I flew home from the highly energising Dublin Writers’ Conference with a raging sore throat and feeling like a superannuated wet dishcloth. The tiredness could have been due to the conference (it was fairly intense), but the sore throat […]

Fed up with the football world cup? Here's an alternative!

It’s on grass in summer, it can take place indoors, it’s pacey, full of tension, heart-wrenching, breath snatching and an alternative to football… Yes, reading!

And not just reading, but box sets where you get three or more books packaged together. Not only is this convenient, it will also save you money. So let’s […]

2018 Dublin Writers' Conference

Back in Dublin! From arriving at the airport, riding into the city from the airport and stepping down from the bus in O’Connell Street, there was something rather familiar.

Once again, I’d been invited by Laurence O’Bryan who heads up the Books Go Social group to speak at this very friendly festival. Although I’m waving […]

Being boringly inclusive 

Lionel Shriver is opinionated. She got into a lot of trouble in some quarters for criticising the ‘idolisation of diversity’. Mary Beard is similarly opinionated (but has an endearing smile); however, she tries to be balanced. Owen Jones is opinionated – just listen to any debate he takes part in. Diane Abbott raises hackles with […]

GDPR and my blogs - keeping a level head

You’ve probably been getting a load of ‘We’re changing our privacy setting/terms of service‘ type emails recently as today, 25 May 2018, is the deadline for the new EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) coming into force. Some organisations ask you to re-subscribe, some ask for confirmation, some advise you of the new regulations and […]