Boston is the most British place I’d been in a year. It reminded both of us of Manchester. There are tight road, looming heavy grey buildings, and it was raining when we arrived. People I like told me they don’t like Boston. Apparently it’s too white and too conservative. I get it, lacks the vibrancy …
Nighthawks
I love this painting so much we shipped it with us to New York. It's not the most fresh or original piece of art to have on display, but I love it. And I've fallen back in love with it anew over the last few months, because it captures one of the things I'm missing …
Running for the border
Ten days ago we had a fabulous leaving party; joyfully drunk in our favorite pub with 40 of our dearest friends. We knew we had to wash our hands pretty regularly and try not to cough in public, but apart from that the world seemed to be very much as it always had been. Last …
London
After fourteen years I no longer live in London. To begin with I lived in a flat in Battersea with a couple of Afrikaans bears and an Irish gamer. The bathroom was at the back of the flat. Whilst I was watching TV the bears would walk through hand in hand in towels to shower …
Oman
We’ve done and seen so little here. We’ve not left the three interconnected hotels that form the resort; we’ve not been out in the kayaks, joined a yoga class on the beach or learned to wake board. It has been a wonderful, floppy, wasted time. My sole achievement has been to read three books in …
Tianjin
I’ve been chased down a rural Kenyan road by children shouting Mzungu at the first white person they’d ever met; I’ve had selfies with half the young people at an Indian historical site; and I’ve needed a personal security guard in suburban Nigeria. China's indifference isn't that bad. And China isn’t unwelcoming to travellers, it …
UK General Election
I'm currently awake with jet lag in China. The local time is 5.47 and I have a long day of briefing and groups ahead of me. So, this seems a good time to give my Qual researcher "take" on the recent election. More precisely, this is why I think Labour lost (so badly), and I …
New York 1
We're moving to New York next year, and my relationship with food in America will have to change. Helen and I are currently here to find somewhere to live and hopefully sort out my visa so I can work. The move is fuelled by Helen's professional brilliance, I'm just along for the ride. As with …
Warsaw
I arrived in Warsaw at lunch time and right next to my hotel was a "traditional restaurant, so I wasted no time. Pierogi are traditional fried Polish dumplings. They can be filled with meat, cheese, vegetables. They're fried and then served covered in a very oily bacon "gravy". I ordered the mixed portion. They looked …
Andalusia
You've got to love a culture built around a lunch of drinking and nibbling salty things; followed by a nap; followed by an evening of drinking and nibbling salty things. Madrid is my favourite city in the world for a messy weekend with Helen. I took her for her 30th and it nearly killed us …
Everything in moderation 