Dreamlands

Have you ever woken from a half-remembered dream, feeling like you've returned from a journey of a thousand leagues or more? I've  just discovered the quirky, dark and playful landscapes of Jacek Yerka.  Got to love his dreamlands, even if they make your head spin a little. Erosion Homestead Garden squared Brick and Stone

Won’t somebody think of the fishes??

Yes, the wee lil fishies in the sea. And how half of the fish caught in the North Sea are discarded - their limp corpses thrown back into the sea thanks to some very dodgy EU policies. Not to mention all the turtles and dolphins that die a horrible death tangled in purse seine nets …

Sweet solidarity against hate in Egypt

A sweet act of solidarity by Egyptians following a horrific attack on the Coptic community on New Year's Eve. I only wish I was optimistic enough to believe that a hate-bomber might hold respect for any human life - Muslim, Christian or even his own.  But that doesn't take away from this bravery - well …

Daft Quote of the Week

Far too often you read or hear something so stunningly daft that it leaves you blinking and wondering what kind of vegetable this person was using in lieu of a brain that day. This week I offer you: "Heels show the humanity burkas lack" - Joan Smith in The Independent applauds a Romanian minister who …

How the City Hurts your Brain

Fascinating article from the Boston Globe How the city hurts your brain ...And what you can do about it By Jonah Lehrer [...]Now scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes. After spending …

Perspective matters

Extract from “I Saw Ramallah” by Mourid Barghouti "It is easy to blur the truth with a simple linguistic trick: start your story from 'Secondly.' Yes, this is what Rabin did. He simply neglected to speak of what happened first. Start your story with "Secondly," and the world will be turned upside-down. Start your story …

‘Possible’ War Crime in Beit Hanoun

I came across this article buried deep in the Middle East section of BBC News online: A report to the UN Human Rights Council on Israel's shelling of Beit Hanoun in Gaza almost two years ago says it may have been a war crime. The report compiled by Archbishop Desmond Tutu casts doubt on Israel's …

Muslim Panda Fights Raise Funds for Semtex

It's a tad unfair to choose this article for such a daft reason, but you should read it if only for the pleasure of coming across this marvellous sentence in The Independent: "Muslims in Darlington have been raising money for semtex by organising panda fights." The article by Mark Steel pours Montypythonesque scorn upon a …

Living on thin ice

I found a scrunched up piece of paper with something I'd scribbled while sat at a hospital bedside a few years ago.  It's true - I had forgotten. "Only someone who has sat helplessly in the back of an ambulance listening to the monitor's beep-beep-beep could know of the appeals a heart can make to …

Rare Ruby-tailed Wasps and other jewels

Sometimes the world can turn and snarl in your face like a rabid dog. Evil rules the earth. But then, if you keep your eyes wide open something else can make it bearable again, providing a rolled-up newspaper to fend off the slavering jaws. I found a Ruby-tailed wasp. It was climbing up the cobwebby …