Shame wakes with her. A shadow at the bedside. It knows her name. It hooks a finger under her chin— Look. And she does. Every morning: the mirror, the smear of yesterday’s mask, the new one waiting....

This young man— my precious son. He can still a storm in me with his sweet smile, melt the iron in my chest with his curious look. When he holds my gaze, the restless drive in me, and the endless...

Hackney, mid-week, and it is a cold and wet evening there, as night beckons and winter looms, full of foreboding for those that must live on its streets. Up ahead, under a bridge by the station, I...

Estranged from my own heart, it was my little sister, Debs, who first introduced me to him, as his voice uttered, "If we could have hated ourselves into becoming better people, it would have worked...

I long for her now. She knows who she is— the one who stepped out of snow and early dusk, on that last day of autumn, and found me— half-buried beneath my own weather, longing for a love that had...

We met through my ex-wife. He ran past our house one late Summer’s afternoon. Ken was a distinctive figure. Late 40s, fair, very tall and shirtless, with one hell of a physique, carrying a three-le...

Here's Ed, though I like to call him "Eddie". He faces more than most of us can imagine. The cerebral palsy has brought with it a life of immense difficulty. Eddie turns 40 soon, and has already...

Midday on the train, and I gaze with wonder at a baby sitting opposite me. He is possessed of a curiosity and joy, at least I think it is a boy by virtue of what he is dressed in, dark blue and green...

There’s something utterly terrifying about the depressed mind, how it ravages the sense of self. Any semblance of self-worth or self-love — I mean the latter not in the narcissistic sense — crumbles,...

The burden of care increases, as my sons’ disease takes its course. Non-ambulant and wheel chair bound, both now struggle to lift their arms. When will they be unable to feed themselves? Might this...

Culture is not unique to humans, even though they use this notion to mark themselves out as superior to us, their ape cousins. Culture is the stamp of humanity, they proclaim, animals do not possess...

It is late summer, the sun shines its light on him, his face reflected on the water's surface, the yellow lillies dwindling, as Luca sits on the top wooden step leading into the pond, and marvels at...

How I love this young man, perhaps my greatest teacher. He can quash my anger with his smile, melt any resentment, as he holds my gaze. What he gives me when I hold his stare, to let him witness me,...

I lie on the decking by the pond, a hot English summer’s afternoon. My brow sweats,  my mind churns with dread. A persistent feeling the last few hours… lost, sad, broken.  Theodor is away, on summer...

It as is if I, and a few others, inhabit an alternate universe, when the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, despite being in possession of the most recent reports from the IPCC and United Nations,...