What is the real cost of this ridiculousness? As I have said before, I don’t ever claim to be an expert on any subject. That doesn’t make me indifferent – I love the learning process. I’m interested in lots of things, and perhaps I know quite a lot about the things that really interest me, but to

Over the last 18 months, I have tried my hand at writing poetry. Before I began my creative writing journey in 2019, I always assumed poetry was something other more intellectual, academic people did. I have always held poetry in great esteem and regarded it as the cream of all writing genres, so when the words

I won’t apologise for this discursive blog. The subject is complex and convoluted; it needs to be carefully unpicked in order to understand the intricacies. The subject is, in fact, so large, I don’t hope or expect to touch on all of it, but if I may, I want to tease out the threads I feel

As readers of my blogs will by now have come to realise, the blogs are my way of venting my opinion. No person or place pays me to express my opinion. I don’t advertise anything and I’ll never encourage anyone to spend time, effort or money in anything, be it a leisure activity, any kind of

As usual, I’ll start by making it clear these blogs are about my opinion. In the process, I’m not ‘taking aim’ at any individual, group or entity. I just say as I see. It’s the way it is with Yorkshire folk! I was going through some of the news stories circulating online over the last few

The Importance of Words and the Creative Medium. Creative producers (like me) ply their craft by inventing a space, a moment for the reader to immerse themselves in. A reader will open a book, a film-buff will visit a cinema, some love live theatre. In each case, the reader or audience unconsciously agree to believe what

At last, I’m a published writer! It’s been a long journey with many bumps along the way. I’ve ended up self-publishing, and I was extremely pleased to find the self-publishing platforms have healthily high standards, and so they should. Out of respect to prospective readers, any self-respecting author should always aim for the highest standards and

Before I get into discussing a topic, I want to make clear to everyone reading this I do not at any time hold myself up as any kind of expert. I am not a specialist of any kind. As a writer, I do make a point of undertaking as much research as I need to in