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Three men stand on a pavement in London looking reluctantly at the scene in front of them. A pile of maybe 20 bulging sacks of waste sit festering at the edge of the Occupy camp off City Road, stewing in the morning sun. Not that these men are dismayed about them being there. It is after all their job to take them away, and a job they do day in day out all around the city. These council workers aren’t annoyed they’re there; it is that once again the protestors have welched on the deal. The agreement is, they told me: we give you theRead More →

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Dear iPhone I think we both know things haven’t been great for a while now. I haven’t tried to disguise the fact that I’ve been getting frustrated with things you do; I just don’t think you have ever given me many options, whether it’s ringtones, settings or anything to be honest. I have a mind of my own and you just don’t let me be myself. I look around and I see you, and hear you wherever I go, and it’s just always the same thing. I REALLY don’t like the way you try to guess what I’m thinking when I write texts; to beRead More →

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Smoking is stupid. It gives you cancer, heart disease, ages you, makes you smell and drains your cash. I’m not saying it’s clever or healthy, how could I? But seriously, it’s time to stop the persecution of smokers. We’ve given up airplanes, cinemas, workplaces, restaurants, wine bars, and pubs. Gladly in most cases. The pleasure of lighting up in all of the above places is something we used to love but we knew it couldn’t, and shouldn’t last. Out of consideration for others and oursleves we gave up that right. We’ve also put up with the constant price-hikes of the past three decades, shelling outRead More →

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St Pancras stood cool and strong, a serene rock. I cursed my own bad planning and dashed red-faced from platform to platform, as though if I moved stealthily enough I might be able to slope across the grand old station and avoid its disapproving stare. It had hardly been the smartest preparation for another big slog. I’d only groaned through the front door eight hours ealier, ragged and feeble after a day of travelling, and already the four o’clock alarm was screeching in my ear. It was pointless setting one, looking back. I had hardly sunk into anything more than a thin stream of unconsciousnessRead More →

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BEING A JOURNALIST sometimes just involves waiting in a state of wretched anxiety while something you desperately need to happen doesn’t happen. It’s not unusual for me to be sitting hunched over my laptop, stomach acid flowing freely, feeling like it’s burning a hole through a vital organ or two, praying that a simple question I asked seven hours ago to an indifferent press officer is being handled. Knowing but denying the truth that it’s sitting feebly in an inbox about as likely to be read as a letter from the bank. Here I am, in exactly one of those moments. Several hours late forRead More →

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Please see my latest blogpost, another story from my travels around Asia, that has appeared on We Blog the World   One evening as I sat outside my hotel, slouching and sweating in the heat, a young Cambodian boy called Thoi who I had given a few dollars to the day before suddenly arrived out of nowhere. Without any hesitation he repeated an offer from yesterday to visit his home and his family. I had awkwardly but politely declined it then, but this time, maybe just out of sheer curiosity, I decided to take him up on it. As we scrabbled across the dust, dirtRead More →