By massively overstating the problem of child abuse they are already undermining our relationships with each other and with the institutions in which we might once have invested our trust. Continue reading...
There is a natural wariness that takes over whenever anybody asks: "Do you like country music?" As if by admitting to yourself that you like any songs from a genre that spans the majority of Western music means you immediately have to put on a stetson hat and chew on some straw. Continue reading...
Dance has proven to be a fantastic engagement tool for girls and young women who often begin a life-long pursuit which brings them both fitness and pleasure. Continue reading...
As I was finishing secondary school, I remember numerous discussions in my home about how we would be able to fund going to college and being a full-time student. Luckily, we found out that we qualified for the EMA scheme. My family lived from week to week, and that £30 was totally significant and at times helped pay electric, gas and for other essentials. Continue reading...
Woody Allen famously said that "80% of success is showing up". And when it comes to losing weight, it's essential for success. Continue reading...
Storytelling is a fundamental part of human life. It impacts on how we view the world, and in turn, create it. I'm particularly interested in the way film, as a populist medium, can probe our minds and shape our narratives. Continue reading...
Once upon a time there was a thing called foreplay. Sometimes it was silent: just a kiss in a club and an awkward scuffle in the toilets. Others took more time with it. They wrote sweet lines, sent flowers, asked a lady to dance and, even, for her hand in marriage before they even embarked on it. Continue reading...
I had hoped to find poems in the Arctic. I did not expect to return with a whole new language. Greenlandic had become the key to representing the Arctic for me, and I felt I owed it an acknowledgement. I selected the 12 most evocative words that Beathe had taught me, and compiled my own abecedarium. Continue reading...
Last week I was doing 70mph along the M1 in a bath. My hands were cold and my lips were blue-ening and I started to ruminate. Continue reading...
Recently every time I have heard a bike engine revving or a plane fly over I have hesitated for a moment. The red alert sirens in Tel Aviv, five in the last four days, were certainly not what I expected when I moved to Israel almost eight months ago. Continue reading...
Perhaps it's time to recognise that English, education and culture - along with a sustained commitment to International Development - are some of the UK's biggest and best contributions to the world in the 21st Century. Continue reading...
This is the fourth year of our partnership with ITV's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! raising funds and awareness to save lives from malaria. We're inspired and moved by the celebrity's own stories and experiences. Some have suffered themselves, such as 2011 contestant and former horse racing champion Willie Carson. Others have spent time in Africa, where over 90% of all malaria deaths occur, so it is no surprise they've seen the impact of the disease close up... Despite half the world's population being affected by malaria, many celebrities and people across the UK have little knowledge or experience of the disease. Continue reading...
Opponents of female ordination will no doubt see this as a victory for Christian traditionalism. That's no doubt true, but it's also a victory for bigotry, intolerance and small-mindedness, casting aside any chance of dragging the 500-year-old monolith a little closer to the modern world. Continue reading...
I believe that those who desire peace for all Israelis and all Palestinians are in the majority--but they have to speak up. They can no longer remain a silent and ineffective majority and continue to let their crazies dominate the conversation and run the show. Continue reading...
We should also be standing with Israel because if we don't, the scourge of missiles targeting civilian populations will become a world-wide epidemic. Continue reading...
Humans are complex animals. Our intelligence is a complex adaptation. And the diverse and surprising ways in which we use it today suggest that we owe it to more than a handful of simplistic evolutionary scenarios. Continue reading...
If you have a heart problem, would you seek advice from a skin specialist or a cardiologist? The answer is obvious -- a cardiologist. So why should it be any different for climate change? Continue reading...
Let's face it, it's one thing to sell out stadiums decades into your career, like the Rolling Stones are sure to do if they trot out their rumored 50th anniversary tour next year. But it's another thing to keep releasing actual, relevant new music. Remember that? Continue reading...
Shared parenting means giving both parents (and sometimes more than two parents, for example in three parent families) the opportunity to have an equal role in their child's life. Very importantly, that does not mean shared residence in the 50/50 sense, which tends to afford both parents generous overnight contact with their child. Continue reading...
In my opinion, Israel is a rogue state which commits war crimes. It is an aggressor state that has invaded Lebanon several times and holds a chunk of Syria illegally, but despite being the fourth most-heavily-armed country in the world has not won a war outright for 45 years, since 1967. Continue reading...
So... that's that then. I shall, for the for seeable future, be indulging my beautiful wife and wonderful kids AND that crazy football club of mine. There now follows a massive break in transmission. Continue reading...
We are constantly bombarded with messages in society that suggest, either directly or indirectly, that 'young' and 'sexy' go hand in hand. The new Kingsmill advert is a good example and it's already stirred up some controversy. Continue reading...
Starting with the impacts that we are already seeing in a 0.8°C world, it looks at the unsettling prospects of a 2°C world and then the somewhat alarming implications of letting the climate issue slide and all of us wandering, eyes wide open, into a 4°C world. Continue reading...
If Obama doesn't want to go down in history as the American President who missed the last chance for a two state solution he must not only act now to stop the bloodshed but devote serious American engagement to getting peace talks going again. He may fail, as others have before him (although the Arab Spring has changed the Middle East dynamic and should help focus Israeli minds), but at least he will have tried. Continue reading...
While the rockets targeting Israeli civilians - men, women, and children - do not carry as deadly a payload as that of the German bombs of World War II, their aim is equally sinister and illegitimate: to instill fear in the hearts of Israelis and undermine their right to live in a free and independent state. Continue reading...
