On the Road with Madame Bovary

On the Road with Madame Bovary

When I was a kid I used to mock the names of the great French authors Gustave Flaubert and Honoré de Balzac. I used to pronounce Flaubert as “Flow Bert” and Balzac as “Balls Ache.” I thought this was really …
Letter to Asylum Seekers

Letter to Asylum Seekers

Dear Asylum seekers, First of all, welcome to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – the cumbersome name of my home country, a name that not many of my fellow Brits actually know. We tend to call …
The Amazing Library of Liverpool

The Amazing Library of Liverpool

In my experience libraries are fusty places with fierce ladies telling you to be quiet, or big silent tombs where grim students bury their heads in books for hours on end. Many public libraries in Britain have been closed and …
Can God Help Addicts?

Can God Help Addicts?

I avoid conferences and seminars as they can be so boring but recently I spent two days of my life at the Recovery from Addiction Conference at Chester University and it was really interesting. And I’m not saying this because...