Category Archives: Thoughts

What We Need Now Is Outrageous Grace

Can you love and forgive someone who appears to hate you? That is a question many of us are having to answer right now, as explored in this piece for the Independent on Sunday in 2015.

Are you afraid of heights? Better not watch this then…

Here’s what it’s like to step out of the Lantern Room at the Belle Tout lighthouse near Beachy Head in Sussex, in the South Downs National Park, and walk around the platform on the outside of the tower. Yes, the outside. A long way above the ground, and beside a four hundred foot drop. I’mContinue reading “Are you afraid of heights? Better not watch this then…”

Look at these astonishing views from the Lantern Room high up at the top of the Belle Tout lighthouse …

Hello you. How’s it going? Last night we stayed at the Belle Tout lighthouse. This is a Georgian lighthouse on the edge of a four hundred foot drop on its own hill near Beachy Head in East Sussex, The Lantern Room is a wonderful space with 360 degree views of the South Downs, the SevenContinue reading “Look at these astonishing views from the Lantern Room high up at the top of the Belle Tout lighthouse …”

“This isn’t about the politics. We’re either side of the same sea.” Making The Walk: Across The Water (Calais and Dover) for BBC Radio 4

I live on the coast. I can hear French radio on the car stereo. Ferries leave for France every day. The fishermen here are related, way back in time, to families from Normandy and Spain. We’re nearer to France here than we are to Westminster … yet my town voted for Brexit, by a largeContinue reading ““This isn’t about the politics. We’re either side of the same sea.” Making The Walk: Across The Water (Calais and Dover) for BBC Radio 4″