Encouraged by various readers, I've returned earlier than I'd imagined. “Help me. Call the police. Get me out of here. I’m being held against my will.” His voice was calm, measured, as if he were reading from somebody else’s script and, like a record stuck, these exact words went on with no deviation, the pauses, even the precise tonal changes were retained. Poor man, stuck in a mind bubble between 3 and 4am, when, thankfully, his mind released him and he slept. Relieved, eve

There’s no better start to the morning than a fresh little face beaming at you with the enthusiasm a three year old has for life. Big blue eyes, irises wide open, curly strawberry blond hair framing a round pink face, her little voice chiming, “Good morning!” and recounting what she’s seen as she walked up the shallow hill. Then there’s the matter of fact acceptance, “Yes, my boots are pretty.” As you watch her walk on up the street clutching her grandmother’s hand, little fe

She said, “I trust Boris because he’s a liar. It shows he’s human, we all lie, so I trust liars.” Could that sum up why Trump and Boris gained power? The problem with lying is that you dig yourself in deeper with each manipulated truth. Eventually the hole you are in is too slippery to clamber out of. It’s why Boris’s election manifesto seeks to make politicians beyond accountability. He wants them to be able to lie as much as they like and get away with it without recourse.

Forgive this 3 day delay. I've been quite unwell. I thanked him for treating me and was surprised when he said it was nice to meet somebody polite. “People over a certain age appreciate what we’re doing here, but many others complain.” We were in hospital. He was probably about 40, an expert in his field and I'd liked him from the moment we’d met and was impressed by his bright mind. He said, “I’m sad to say 20% of people are verging on insulting and yet we’re doing our best

People are talking about it all over the world, and they are doing so because we are so caught up in a time which counts every minute as cash and so, rushed to deliver, we speed about with little time to linger. It is in dawdling that we are enriched, not by wanting instant wealth, as seen on TV or the Internet. It is in slowing down that we are able to be human, rather than automatums. Kindness is under rated. I’m not the only one thinking this in this weird period of histor