I have to admit I start this column feeling furious. As you will no doubt be aware Rishi Sunak has agreed to over 100 new licences for drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea. Presumably he’s banking on securing a one-way ticket to Mars for his family, because these licences will undoubtedly worsen the climate […]
Greening the health system
Inspired by a friend I’ve recently taken up jogging, using the free NHS Couch to 5k app. I’m not a natural runner; I’d much rather be out on a bike, but I figured it would help me to keep fit as I could slot in a 30 minute session from time to time into my […]
Concern over water quality
It’s been a busy time for protests. In late May a friend and I took part in a Surfers Against Sewage protest against water pollution, standing on the pontoon off the Tinside in Plymouth, waving a banner with a simple message; clean oceans. Clean water is enormously important, both from our taps and in the […]
How to fall in love with the future.
I have been lucky enough to encounter the positive eco-guru Rob Hopkins twice in the last few months. His new book, titled How to Fall in Love with the Future is out on June 17th, and I’m eagerly looking forward to reading it. So this article is dedicated to the work of Rob, and those visionaries who create positive […]
Say it with flowers? Fresh, local, home grown are the ones we love the best.
“Say it with flowers” goes the saying, and as today is Valentine’s Day, it seems an appropriate subject to mull over. We spend a lot on flowers. A quick scan of the internet suggests the spending on cut flowers nudges the one billion pound mark, with 86% of those flowers coming from abroad. A carbon […]
For Finn and Dean – a tribute to the lives of two much loved young men.
These last two weeks have been a particularly hard time for me. On Friday 16th February we said goodbye to Finn, the youngest son of one of our closest friends. Finn had taken his own life. His older brother Dean died by suicide two years ago on the 24th February, and life without Dean was […]
It’s a win-win. Show compassion and solve a labour crisis.
I feel myself fortunate to have friends of all nationalities. Of these friends a few have fled from conflict. These include a conservationist, artist, musician, doctor, economist, chemist and locksmith. The countries they have fled from are as diverse as Iran, Serbia and Trinidad. All showed enormous bravery in coming to an alien territory to escape […]
Festive Fun in Devon and Cornwall during November and December 2026
Christmas is fast approaching, read on to see what seasonal delights Devon and Cornwall have to offer at this festive time of year. We will endeavour to update this page regularly but please click on the links to check out the most up-to-date information and booking requirements before you travel. On our Doorstep: Dickensian Christmas […]
We can be heroes. Celebrating extraordinary ordinary people.
The last few days have been very busy. Because our web providers accidentally wiped out our Railholiday blog (rather than the subscription to our band website that we’d asked them to cancel), I’ve had to start again from scratch. Luckily Dave found an Internet Archive website, with a very useful function called Wayback Machine that […]
On a quest for the best recycled toilet paper
It’s extraordinary to think that four years ago we were in deep lockdown, and life was so radically different. One of the memorable incidents of early Covid was the sudden rush to stock up on essentials leading to empty shelves, and a toilet roll shortage. Of all the things we felt we couldn’t manage without, […]