A Gentle Childhood  My mother stands at the kitchen sink. She smells of bubbles, of rainbows, of hot hot water. I pick up the puppy’s red ball and roll it to the door of the garden. ‘Don’t…’ she begins. In the...

Unexpected  Maud opened the front door. Billy was mowing the lawn.   She carefully lifted her rollaton walker over the step. Behind her   Radio 4. News at One. Headlines over. In her tracksuit pocket:- her purse   credit card, out-of-date driving...

  As if by magic      I’m led blindfold into the Dilworth’s front room My knees tremble, tummy turns. I’m eight years old.   My knees tremble, tummy churns. Other kids giggle. I pick out Andrew’s.   He let me hold a baby chick in my palm Its warm heart...

COVID infections reach record high. 117,093 new cases in 24 hours. Merseyside cop took selfies at murder scene. PM blamed for test shambles. British socialite found guilty of recruiting and trafficking young girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein. Gender pay...

    The final withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, resulted in many Afghans becoming refugees. They were afraid of what the rule of the Taliban might mean for them. Though they loved their country, perhaps because they did, they...

Wearing my plastic clogs, I walk down our concrete path, unlock the summer house door with the brass-buckle key ring, and sit on the new camping chair. The morning's sun dazzles and I to position my head so the sun's hidden behind the door's wooden  lock panels. The...