Christmas cheer — or not

I asked a young man on the streets of Hastings when and how he became homeless.  He told me he had returned from some time in France, and discovered that though British, he was not eligible for any help for three months.  He only had enough money to last one month, and then couldn’t pay […] Read more »

When I told the late Sue Townsend that she must be Jewish, since her mother and mother’s mother were Jewish, which is the clincher by Jewish law, she was pleased. “I always wanted to be part of a discriminated against minority.” She never wanted to be the insider; I think she knew her job was […] Read more »

Why do so many people sound burnt out in the run-up to Christmas? A friend last night sat staring at her pile of 200 cards, that had cost her a fortune she didn’t really have in printing and postage, and nearly had a breakdown thinking about writing in them and addressing the envelopes. But her […] Read more »