October 2025

Earlier posts first.

Shoreham incident

In 1955, on a long summer holiday in England, my father rented a house in Shoreham, on the Sussex coast. This was when I met Brighton and Eastbourne, and fell […]

Back to the future?

(As I write, the country’s landlords—and landladies—are lining up to support ‘Reform UK.’) Telephone Conversation Wole Soyinka (1962) The price seemed reasonable, location Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived Off […]

Literature

‘Literature’ is often thought of as a kind of thing. You can even come across people arguing that some text ‘is’ or ‘isn’t’ literature. This is a thought-tool (see my […]

What are ’emotions’?

A human being without an emotional life would be a strange sort of creature. But what is an ’emotion’? Let me give you a few examples. Loneliness, reverence, depression, boredom. […]

Emotions in our lives

Blake notoriously said, “Those who restrain Desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.” In the same way that people can see a half-full glass rather than […]