Andy Murray is not dead.   I think it’s very important that we understand that Andy Murray is not dead. Across the media, his imminent retirement from tennis is being announced with sweeping statements in the past tense. ‘He was the greatest British sportsman of his era,’ tweets Patrick Collins, President of the Sports Journalists […]

It’s two o’clock in the morning on Christmas Eve. Everyone around me is sleeping. The house is full to bursting – even the kitchen has been commandeered as an extra bedroom – and our final guests will arrive this afternoon. I’ve been woken up by fear that I’ll forget to take today’s lunch, prepared in […]

It’s the last Sunday of Advent. Here at Christmas Central, we’re expecting another tranche of relatives, plus my niecepup (‘No, mummy, she’s our cousinpup!’), a small energetic Jack Russell with a face that always looks like she’s smiling. The small peoplecousins aren’t familiar with dogs and things aren’t straightforward between all the humans who’ll be […]

There are people we love and yet cannot be there for, because to be there for them involves hurting ourselves. If love could be turned on and off, life would be easier, for we could instantly stop loving the people who hurt us. But at some point, we have to recognise when a parent, or […]

Family, family, family, family. Will of the people, will of the people. BANG ouch BANG ouch BANG ouch. It’s a tough time. As I write this, Gatwick airport is still closed due to drone activity. Parliament is more concerned about whether Jeremy Corbyn did or did not call Theresa May a stupid woman than they […]