Launch Date!

My three books will be released on an unsuspecting (except for you dear readers) public on September 24. If you’re in the Cardiff area you will be welcome at the launch.

THE MIDAS OF MANUMISSION: The Orphan Samuel Gist and his Virginian Slaves

This is a story that appeared in my research for the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum to celebrate the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade back in 2007. The bare bones of the story are that Samuel Gist was an orphan from Bristol who was educated at one of the city’s charity schools … Continue reading →

UK Royalty and Race

There’s a lot of discussion about how the present royal family is dealing with Prince Harry’s present partner, but I am increasingly fascinated by what defines race. This is an article by Kate Williams takes definitions of race onto a new level: Queen Charlotte, the German wife of “mad” King George III and mother of … Continue reading →

Forth Bridge and Britain’s Decline

This is from a piece by Ian Jack who remembered the opening of its predecessor 53 years ago. What has been lost? Odd little things: a quiet pice of shoreline a view, a further erosion of Fife’s separateness – which could be argued is for the good. The argument against the car is a bigger … Continue reading →

No More Boys and Girls: Can OUr Kids Go Gender Free?

This 2 parter suggested it was about political correctness gone wrong, but it is an intriguing concept. Dr Javed Abdelmoneim was given access for a month to a class of 7 year olds, chosen as this is the age that gender ideas become fixed. In the first episode the children were asked to describe themselves, … Continue reading →

Secrets of Silicon Valley – part 2

In the second and final episode, of this fine investigative programme, ‘The Persuasion Machine’, Jamie Bartlett took us from the big players in Silicon Valley to what they actually do, and in some way sit was more frightening than the big bucks involved. This is an aspect of the internet few of us pay much … Continue reading →

America Defying Trump

In the gloom that has descended since last Saturday, here’s a ray of hope for us all.  This is an article from last Sunday’s Observer, written by Mark Ruffalo and Rahwa Ghirmatzion Donald Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the historic Paris climate agreement and turn his back on the other 194 nations … Continue reading →

Secrets of Silicon Valley BBC2

This is the first of 2 documentaries by blogger Jamie Bartlett whose intelligent, low key investigation of the big tech companies are seen to be very different to what they claim. He visits Silicon Valley, the main source of so many inventions that claim will improve our lives, but he finds they are based on … Continue reading →

Perfume: A Sensory Journey

This is a fascinating exhibition at London’s Somerset House, which encourages participants to re-think how they engage with perfumes and scents. The display is made up of 10 rooms, each with different scents,presented in displays from bowling balls in black sand to a colourful chaise loungue draped in scented fabric. We are given a card … Continue reading →

Nourishment for our Brains

This is from the i paper, an obituary for Marian Diamond Neuroscientist 11/11/1926 – 25/7/2017. Her work has huge implications for how our society is changing: Marian Diamond, a neuroscientist who studied Albert Einstein’s brain and was the first to show that the brain’s anatomy can change with experience, has died aged 90. … Her … Continue reading →