Lessons from the naughty step

At my secondary school there was a large, red-faced head teacher. He had an impressive belly looming over his smart suit trousers, a bushy grey officer's moustache and glasses teetering on the end… Read More →

New Creation (an apology)

Sometimes, a church sermon really blindsides you. Earlier in the week, I was feeling very angry, and the object of my anger was Giles Fraser. He had written this piece for The Guardian… Read More →

Living Dolls

Continuing my habit of reading books at Waterstones, I skimmed through “Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism” by Natasha Walter today. I didn't read it in as much detail as “Like A Virgin”,… Read More →

Sunday Assembly – where are the weirdos?

There have been a few articles recently about an “atheist church” starting up in Islington. The Sunday Assembly will meet monthly to “solace worries, provoke kindness and inject a bit more whizziness into… Read More →

Like a Virgin (or “What Women Want?”)

With a whole day to spare today and having already defrosted the freezer (modern man? I'm all over it) I headed to a local bookshop. Not to buy any books you understand; my… Read More →

No Strings Sex – A Response

A friend recently sent a message to me with some objections to the points I made in this post. He keeps teasing me with the prospect of a proper comment on the piece,… Read More →

An Experiment to Investigate… Home Sous Vide

One of the (few) benefits of a married couple working nightshifts is the occasional evening of unexpected, almost perversely unaccounted for time, which enables all sorts of last-minute experiments occasionally quashed elsewhere by… Read More →

Lessons in being British

My last little foray into cultural ethics on this blog probably made me sound fairly traditional, or at least morally conservative. I think that's accurate. However, I'm quickly coming to understand that –… Read More →

Veganism and Virtue

I was obviously pleased to see a recent letter to Christianity magazine published in this month's edition; and as letter of the month no less! Here it is for those who don't subscribe,… Read More →

Salmon Tartare

Whilst I'm in no way a raw foodist, I do enjoy looking for ways to eat meat, fish and vegetables without cooking. The tastes are unexpected, invigorating and full of freshness; a raw… Read More →