The New York Times reports on a new term being coined by psychologists – Languishing. This is the real and developing mental health complaint caused by the COVID lockdowns. “It wasn’t burnout — we still had energy. It wasn’t depression — we didn’t feel hopeless. We just felt somewhat joyless and aimless.” It is not […]
England is what we make it
It could also be said that the English are whatever you make them. Anyone studying the history of these Isles will swiftly realise there really is no such thing genetically as an English ethnicity. We are made up of many different peoples. Recently, the Labour politician David Lammy, in his book Tribes, wrote up his […]
One year on: a better Britain? A more polite society?
As the mob of school children bustled towards me down a cramped alleyway near where we live, my wife held me back to observe social distancing. It was good to see the normality of young people, in that classic teenage way, seemingly unaware of any other walkers, deep in conversation about the latest outrage, of […]
’11 years of lockdown’
I was due to film a short video at a studio space adjacent to a local “Men’s Shed”. Max met me at the door. He enthusiastically showed me into his workshop and through to the room I would be using (of course, we greeted each other in the normal covid-secure fashion). We moved some furniture […]
Faith in the Future: Is faith the glue for 21st century society?
Over the past few months, I have found myself considering the knotty issues of integration, citizenship and cohesion. Life in lockdown acts as a pressure cooker for the issues already present in society. Tensions have been bubbling up between communities, social classes, blue and white collar, young and old, and even within families and households […]