The Republic of Moldova — First Impressions
There is something rather alien about arriving in a new country like Moldova, where you don’t know your way round, you don’t have any of the local currency and you don’t know anyone. I am sitting in a cafe in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, a tiny little European…
The Buzz of Getting Away
When I’m getting a train away from the city I often get a wonderful feeling of liberation. It’s as if I’m leaving all my worries behind and heading into a bright new future where things will be different. I think some people have a similar feeling when…
I Love to Cycle in Kathmandu
My brother’s house in Kathmandu is old, narrow and tall. At the bottom of the house is a dark room which doubles up as an entrance hall and bicycle garage. This is where I am, getting ready to cycle across town. I’m wearing good trousers (I’m going to a meeting) and…
What is Writer’s Block?
I just had an insight: writer’s block isn’t a single obstacle on the road to productivity; it’s not just a feeling of depression that removes the motivation to write. I’m having a writer’s block moment right now and I want to describe it….
Why Work?
Photo: Dylan Thomas by Lee Miller. There’s plenty of videos, articles and books about how to write a book, make a video, do any kind of art form, or even learn a trade — and this is great as it gives people enough of an insight to try things out. But…
What is the Psychology of Travel?
If you’re pressed for time, scroll down and see links to some really useful resources. What does “The Psychology of Travel” mean? Is it some weird form of therapy? Am I a psychologist? The answer to these questions is NO, but I used to get mistaken for a therapist…
How to get a Job Without AI
When someone asks me “How did you get 12 Jobs in 12 Months? (the title of my forthcoming book) I go into a rant about the usual approach to getting a job: someone does a CV with the help of AI; it goes to the employer who, with the help of AI, assesses the CV…
Why Change Jobs?
One of the reasons I wrote a book called 12 Jobs in 12 Months was to show people that getting a job is easy. Why is this important? So many people I know feel stuck in their jobs. There are many reasons for this: the familiar complaints about bosses, colleagues, pay,…
Introducing 12 Jobs in 12 Months, a Travel Book
I’d love to know what you think of the draft introduction to my new book “12 Jobs in 12 Months”, below. It explains how the idea came together. Would you buy a book with mad stories of chasing jobs, and the blind faith that sustained me? I’d be so grateful if you…
Why am I writing a Book About 12 Jobs in 12 Months?
This is a difficult question to answer. It was easy enough to make the decision to do 12 jobs in 12 months, but now that I’ve done them (I finished in December last year) and have to write up the stories, I’m faced with strong internal reluctance to get…
Stephanie Wolfe Murray in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography published Timothy Neat’s lyrical description of Stephanie Wolfe Murray, in 2021. You can see the official version if you pay about £100 to the Oxford dons, or see the draft version (here/below) for free. I reposted it…
Ukraine must learn from Bosnia’s disastrous peace treaty
I first published this article in May 2022, just after the Russian Empire invaded Ukraine and I’m re-posting it now as the points I raised here are still very relevant (not much has changed in the Ukraine War). It’s hard to imagine what could be worse than the…
A Guide to Ukraine’s Future
Art books can be beautiful but often I get a gradual sense of boredom as I turn from one perfect image to another. Too much art, beauty and perfection can be overwhelming. I don’t like the way art is presented. What bugs me are those convoluted, oh-so-clever texts…
Letter to my MP about GAZA
I think the best thing we can do about the nightmare being inflicted onto the people of Gaza is to write to our Member of Parliament. Let them know where you stand. I wrote to mine, Peter Kyle MP, over two weeks ago but he’s not replied. Normally MPs reply…
The Fabulous Funeral of Angus Wolfe Murray
First of all, I want to ask if you’ve seen this film we made of my Dad, using footage from the sixties and some video shot about 10 years ago when he was obsessed by hens and living with my Mother again. Secondly, if you were one of the approximately 200…
Funny, unusual and interesting memories of Angus Wolfe Murray
I wrote this blog post just after my father died, at home, on the west coast of Scotland, in January 2023. I’m in a state of shock but also not surprised as he lived his life in a state of wild defiance of the conventions and norms of ordinary life, and hated the…
Bosnia’s Unique Wartime Posters
I’m working on an epic book that’s coming out in May this year: Bosnian War Posters, by Daoud Sarhandi. It’s an incredible collection of propaganda and art that he and Alina Wolfe Murray, my ex-wife, collected just after the war in Bosnia Herzegovina. It’s taken…
Why I Moved to Bosnia
Daniel Craig was a good actor before he got turned into a bad-tempered robot for the Bond films. A great film he starred in, before the Bond franchise gobbled him up, was Layer Cake. It’s one of those clever-witty-vicious crime films that the English are quite…
Travel the Balkans even if Mother tells you not to
I’ve just been travelling round the Balkans and want to share my impressions in the hope that you will feel inspired to do the same. Accommodation, transport and food are cheap, the people are friendly, parts of it are stunning (see the photo below) and…
Belgrade’s Station Disappears
Bewilderment is the word which best describes my feelings when I got to Belgrade’s main station and found it to be abandoned. A flimsy wire fence was the only sign that this once-busy station, the hub of rail travel in the Balkans, has been closed down. Was I in…
Croatia Looks Perfect, but…
Croatia has one of the most spectacular coastlines in Europe, with mountains plunging into the sea, countless islands, and Dubrovnik: the ancient port city that features in the epic TV series Game of Thrones. If you’re mega rich, or connected to Croatia’s…
Visiting Srebrenica: Negative Expectations; Positive Impressions
Srebrenica is so much more than a small town on the eastern border of Bosnia. It’s a name that is associated with genocide. The number 8,372 is often mentioned alongside the name of the town, as that’s the number of unarmed men and children who were killed there…
My mother’s notes from Montenegro
I spent my last month in Scotland going through the residue of my mother’s stuff (she died in June 2017 and if you’d like to see how wonderful she was click here). We had a container full of things and I gave most of it away, to family and friends, but…
My Time in East Berlin
East Berlin was controlled by the Russians until 1989. It no longer exists. I spent some time there many years ago, on my way to Asia. This is how I described it in my first travel book, 9 Months in Tibet. Berlin back then was entirely surrounded by a high security…
If I was Napoleon
If I was planning to invade Russia with a massive land army (Napoleon went in with 635,000 men and emerged with about 20,000) I would set off in the middle of winter. “But zat is madness your Highness,” they would say. “Even the simplest peasant in…
Philip Pullman’s storytelling system
Writing about a book of essays is hard because each essay is a complex entity unto itself; each one has a brilliant idea that I’d like to write about – but then I read the next one and I forget what I was so interested in a few pages back. Suffice to say that…
Travel as a Way of Life
I first posted this article in 2016, but it’s so useful for anyone who wants to go travelling that I’m re-posting it again now. In the interim, Darmon Richter has published a book that is well worth getting: Chernobyl: A Stalker’s Guide By Darmon…
Could Scotland provide the leadership needed to save the planet?
The National newspaper in Scotland just published my comment piece on the hypocrisy of Scotland’s leadership when it comes to climate change…You can read it here (without having to subscribe)… The Scottish government is ignoring a once-in-a-century…
Some Views on Scottish Independence
I first published this article in 2021 but now (2025) it still seems relevant. Here’s the article: During the 2014 referendum I was against independence but now I’m in the unclaimed centre ground, the no-man’s land, the “Don’t…
Travelling in the Time of the Coronavirus
My heart goes out to everyone who’s stuck at home feeling bored and worried. I’m the only person on the train from Brighton to London. Usually you can’t find a seat at this time of the morning (10:42 departure). The only people at the station were…
My Coronavirus Diary
At first I was like Trump – in denial – but when it became clear, except to the most diehard conspiracy theorists, that this wasn’t just another seasonal flu I realised that self-isolation and lockdown were essential. “Easy,” I thought,…
Hitching is eco-friendly and fascinating
My Romanian sister in law was rather horrified to hear that I wanted to take her 12-year old daughter hitching. But she’s open-minded enough to realise that the chances of robbery, rape or abduction — or any of the horrors that the media feed us — are…
I use Time Travel to Cut my Emissions
When I was in Romania last month I discovered time travel. I know this sounds ridiculous — isn’t time travel a futuristic, high-tech impossibility used by the likes of Doctor Who and the crazy professor in Back to the Future? Well yes, time travel is a popular…
Near Miss in Romania
I was cycling down the hill so fast I thought I might fly, like those kids in ET – Steven Spielberg’s classic film – when the alien enables the kids to fly their bikes through the night sky. It’s incredible what speed you can reach when going downhill on a good bike,…
Do Romanians understand tourism?
Since I first came to Romania in 1986, it’s been clear to me that Romanians don’t understand the full potential of the tourism business. Over the 17 years I lived in Romania I’ve had countless conversations with people who own pensions, hotels and restaurants;…
Greenhouse Gases: Romanian Burgers Give me Hope
It’s easy to feel despair about global warming. The IPCC tells us we have less than 12 years to cut CO2 in half — or face devastating consequences. But wherever you look people are driving more, consuming more and those who say we must change our ways are often…
Open Letter to Boris Johnson
Dear Boris, Did you know that you’re facing what may be the biggest political opportunity of our generation – to turn the world green. A majority of the Great British public realise that global warming is a problem and you could appeal to a large slice of the…
Villages Made Me
1963. Leeds I was born in a house with wooden floors and an open-plan kitchen. It was located in a rural area by Leeds called Little London. I have flickering memories of a white coat with bloodstains, people standing around and a little sink. 1968. Scottish Highlands…
Boris Johnson Reminds me of Slobodan Milosevic
This week, in the English village of Flore, I was quite shocked by the tabloid headlines about increasing prison sentences and realised that Boris Johnson is similar to Slobodan Milosevic: he is a blatant opportunist. Both of these leaders can be explained by this…
When Joseph Beuys met Jimmy Boyle
If a great artist met a convicted murderer I wouldn’t expect much to come of it. In most cases, I assume, nothing more than an ordinary conversation would happen for the simple reason that the prisoner wouldn’t be open to the artist. The prisoner might view the artist…
Skull
He leaned into me, blue eyes wide, face twitching. ‘My elbow’s fucked mate. I can barely open it further than this.’ An arm extended, palm facing up. ‘It’s from plasterin’ mate. Plasterin’ and wankin’. His skin was blotchy and sagging. Bags were grey and oily under…
My last three years in 7 bullet points…
My friend Dave Barnicle runs a bar in Liverpool. But he’s not your typical bar manager who hires and fires and shouts and chucks people out. In fact, Dave’s bar doesn’t even serve alcohol as it’s one of very few “dry bars” where addicts in recovery can hang out…
Big Jack teaching Fats Waller in Lhasa
I felt so lucky to have been asked to look after Roger and Isabella’s flat and I was determined to take this responsibility seriously. The flat had two rooms, a huge bedroom-cum-living room, with a wide array of windows, and a kitchen. Tibetans tend to decorate with…
Hit by hepatitis and cured by Tibetan medicine
This is chapter 34 of my Tibet memoir in which I was laid low (I thought I was dying) by hepatitis, for which western medicine has no cure. A few days later I got hit by a shockwave of illness and it was so bad that I was convinced I was about to die. All I could do…
My Chinese friend
This is chapter 33 of my Tibet memoir in which I make friends with a Chinese guy who’s English was not only self-taught but it was a lot better than many native speakers. One of Sir Woo’s visitors stood out from the others. Not only was he taller than the rest…
Living with Tibetans
This is chapter 33 from my Tibetan memoir, in which I manage to avoid the law (and the backpackers) and stay with local Tibetans… Although the Import Export people didn’t give me a job everything started happening at once. Life seems to work this way; once…
Trekking from Gyantse to Samye
When I’m walking alone over a long distance, with no need to adjust my pace for other people, my subconscious takes over; it works out how far I have to go and then sets my body at the optimum speed – usually pretty fast. I felt myself powering over that mountain as…
A double life in Lhasa
This is chapter 30 from my Tibet memoir in which I make the transition from a debauched life in Lhasa and head into the mountains… What followed was a nightmare. I could hardly control my feelings of panic and confusion; how was I supposed to make a lesson out…
New Yorkers in Tibet
This is Chapter 29 from my memoir about hustling for work in Tibet in which I describe my American friends, some of whom you might not approve of… The next morning I hung around the Cheese Factory and kept a sharp eye on proceedings. I put a reservation in with…
Trying to make a phone call in Tibet
At the Kirey Hotel, the most expensive place to stay in the old town, I met a charming Tibetan who had been educated at an English-style private school in the Indian city of Chandigargh. Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans had fled their homeland since the 1950s and…
Tea in Heinrich Harrer’s house – podcast
This is chapter 27 from the eBook version of Tibet memoir. Podcast above, text version below. Hope you like it. I was surprised that they let me back into the Pemba truck stop and even more surprised when they gave me my own room. It wasn’t a room, more of a…
You can’t get a job here! Podcast
This is chapter 26 from my memoir 9 Months in Tibet. If you click on the thing above you can hear me reading it — it takes less that four minutes — or you can read the text below (or you can go back to what you were doing before). As always,…
A three dog attack — PODCAST
This is my second podcast. I got some encouraging feedback to my first podcast and decided to do another one from my Tibet memoir. I’d be so grateful if you would leave a comment under here. Feedback from readers of this blog feels so valuable and…
