Valentine’s Day
1990 was our first Valentine’s Day.No mobile phones.No internet we knew of.No fake news we knew of.Just the reality of being in love. 2017 is our 28th Valentine’s Day.Mobile phones.Internet.Fake… Continue Reading
Time is pressing
Dear Ren, Time is pressing, which is why, for the first time since we’ve been writing these letters, I’m scrawling mine directly onto my blog (can you scrawl with a… Continue Reading
An open letter to Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party
Dear Jeremy, I voted for you twice, once in 2015 before the wounds of the referendum were ripped into this nation’s sides, and once afterwards, when I still had hope… Continue Reading
What value education?
I am going through a severe identity crisis. Part of me feels that I am, at the age of 56, becoming the sort of man I never wanted to be… Continue Reading
Heinrich von Kleist and all that
Dear Ren, I wonder if it is the truly personal navel-gazing nature of our correspondence which makes people not comment on it on your blog – or perhaps it is… Continue Reading
A Different Corner
The quiet start, the build-up of notes, before that voice, low at first, then soaring through the room, through space, through my heart. The radio on, in the echoing, mouldy… Continue Reading
The Perils of Parenthood; Serendipity, Irony & Christmas
Dear Ren, 20th December 2016, 09:30 As soon as I had sent you my last letter I realised that I’d made a mistake on the track listing for Not Nul… Continue Reading
Legibility was never high on the agenda
Dear Ren, 11th December 2016, 19:42 I start this knowing that I won’t finish it today, but I felt the need to start it anyway. Last night I got an… Continue Reading
Those perfect moments you wish would last forever; and infinity
Dear Ren, 4th December 2016, 12:15 Once again, my desk is littered with all sorts of detritus; things done and things undone – and an almost overflowing ashtray, bad man… Continue Reading
Religion, politics, and a space to breathe
Dear Ren, 23rd November 2016, 20:29 Just a quick start to this. Thanks for your letter which arrived as I’m struggling with the middle section of Ice Child – the… Continue Reading