A coach, an HR business owner, a children’s author and a communications specialist walk into a bar (OK, this blog). They get chatting about poetry with a marketing consultant and an advertising creative. Here are a few of their favourite poems. And what if poetry puts you off, brings you out in hives? These kind… Read more »
As we mark Remembrance Day with two minutes of silence, here’s a selection – a tiny selection – of events, resources and media that you too may have spotted recently. Draw a deep breath; stop thinking; count fifteen, And you’re right as rain… Siegfried Sassoon Lest we forget. Regeneration Long overdue on my reading wish-list… Read more »
Wee tim’rous beastie: wouldn’t you be with that bird of prey in pursuit? As Burns Night beckons, what better occasion to savour some of his poetry. Celebrations to mark the birth of Robert Burns are held in venues from eastern Scotland’s Glamis Castle to the Birmingham Whisky Club 7 hours south. Then there’s the homage… Read more »
We all have way too much to do, whether for work or all the rest of it. All the more reason, perhaps, to take 10 minutes here and there to read a book… Relaxing? For sure. Develops our skills including writing? I’d say so. Reading fiction also helps us become more empathetic, I’ve often heard… Read more »
From a Star Trek scriptwriter who talks elastic thinking and creativity… to how healthy eating can boost our mood — here’s a smorgasbord of events in or near London. Also vying for our time: how artificial intelligence keeps us from flagging in an art exhibition … or an event about the future, or otherwise, of the… Read more »
Three months into the working year, you may already feel like you’ve been fired out of a cannon. So perhaps some rest and relaxation is planned — or at least, wished for — over the Easter holidays as you catch up with family and friends. Whether you’re excited for or about the religious and cultural… Read more »
You arrive in a country, thinking you have a fair grasp of the language. Then along comes a word or expression that bamboozles, confuses — or perhaps just delights… Grab a magic carpet, prick up your ears and join us for a whistle-stop tour of eight linguistic lovelies. Botswana / Botswana: reetsa It’s a command that… Read more »
Whatever sound and fury at the moment with Brexit bickering back and forth, the election’s second round in France at the weekend is, as they might say, incontournable. No treatise here on Macron vs Le Pen and politics outre-Manche. Rather a brief meander, in no particular order, around things French and language. (Excuse the lack of French… Read more »
