Long Form

My mum died in January 2022. In the weeks following her passing, myself, my sister and my dad were inundated with sympathy cards and messages of condolence. As news of her death spread, there were text messages, Facebook messages and phone calls. A week after my mum’s funeral, I went to see my dad. He…Read moreRead more

Maybe it’s just human nature. Maybe we’re hardwired to believe that someone, somewhere, knows what they’re doing. We put our faith in people and institutions: governments; federations; regulators; police, not because they’ve earned it, but because that’s what we have always done. And because the alternative is too bloody depressing. Because the thought that no…Read moreRead more

There was a time, not all that long ago, when people were dying quietly. Not from accidents, or old age; but from the very system that was meant to save them. Thousands of people were infected with hepatitis and HIV through contaminated blood transfusions. Many of them were children.
The government said it was safe. Doctors…Read moreRead more

A home is meant to be a place of safety, permanence, and security. It is the foundation upon which lives are built, a constant in a changing world. For thousands of residents in hundreds of post-war tower blocks across England, however, this fundamental promise is being tested in the most profound way imaginable. These buildings,…Read moreRead more

A friend of mine – a local builder – was working alone once. He took off his hard hat to wipe away the sweat from his brow just as a big piece of timber fell from the roof of the building and hit him square on the head. He came round minutes or possibly hours…Read moreRead more

Andy unlocks the gate just after six-fifteen, the yard silent in the hazy dawn light. A grey Ford sits where it always does in the car park, its driver’s door closed, ice criss-crossing the windscreen. He pushes through the site office door and shudders. He didn’t expect it to be colder inside than outside. He’s…Read moreRead more

In the UK, we often hear people saying that there is no incentive to work. We have a welfare state that was created to look after the needy and the vulnerable, but that system is widely exploited by the lazy and the feckless. At least according to the Daily Mail. Whether or not that is…Read moreRead more

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. It’s a very famous line from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, and it basically means: It doesn’t matter what a thing is called; it doesn’t change what it is. I was reminded of that line earlier this week when it was announced that construction equipment giant…Read moreRead more

There’s nothing quite like the smell of bacon frying in the open air; unless, of course, your camping stove runs out of gas. I learned that lesson the hard way, sitting beside a silent lake with a very hungry mate and a very empty gas canister. It wasn’t exactly a life-or-death situation, but it did…Read moreRead more

Post-war Britain believed it had found the answer to its housing crisis. Concrete panels, precision joints, and production lines promised a future of quick, clean, affordable homes. For a while, it worked. Tower blocks rose where terraces once stood, and politicians hailed the triumph of industrialised building. But beneath the promise of efficiency lay fragile…Read moreRead more