Planting
As part of our show Passion for the Planet last summer audience members were invited to plant seeds and to water them. The result was the vibrant splash of colour pictured above. A reminder that we can create new beginnings, that seeds which we plant can produce something beautiful, an encouragement as we start a new year. […]
What a mess
When my children were small we had a book by the late, great, Frank Muir about an Afghan puppy who was always a mess, to the extent that he thought his name was What-a-Mess. It struck me that the same could now be applied to the planet, and what we have done and are doing […]
Love letter to the planet
One of the things which has been exercising my mind this week has been the Valentine special we, at Damn Cheek, are running on Zoom. I’m involved in various ways and one of the spin offs, as always, is the motivation to write. One of my contributions is the poem below which I thought merited […]
Kindergarten and beyond
There was a girl at my primary school who would stick her fingers in her ears and talk nonsense when anyone tried to disagree with her. There was a boy who would storm out of the room if there was someone there who’d upset him. Reading this morning’s news it seems the girl is now […]
Pied pipers
I had the pleasure of attending a show by years 3 and 4 of my granddaughter’s school today. The show was the Pied Piper, the production was fun, the children thoroughly enjoyed it and so did the audience. Not a tough audience but they deserved the applause. From the lad who always got left behind […]
Ankles, teeth and the nuclear threat
Image courtesy of Les Haines, Creative Commons Priorities I’ve been musing on the question of priorities. Just think of what we’re faced with. The newspapers are full of North Korea and the public posturing by TweedleTrump and TweedleKim. Bluster and bragging seem to have replaced reason and diplomacy. Threats serve to escalate the crisis and […]
Democracy Inaction
Image courtesy of Frank Doyle via Flickr Failure to represent Talking to a fellow dog walker this morning, I was reminded just how inadequate our elected bodies can be. We have a local issue which concerns a proposal to drill for oil on Leith Hill. The list of reasons why this is a bad idea […]
Etiquette, Politics, and Facebook
Image courtesy of Kevin Ott and Flickr; Creative commons. Permitted subjects over dinner It used to be said that polite dinner guests did not discuss sex, religion or politics. That might make the dinner party boring but at least you finish the evening with everyone on speaking terms. No such restrictions seem to be applied […]
Threats to the Downs and Weald – the ‘Save Leith Hill’ campaign
Beauty and the beast We live in a beautiful country. So why do our government seem so intent on despoiling it? We’re faced with a need to break our reliance on carbon and fossil fuels. So why have successive governments been more enthusiastic about supporting drilling for yet more oil than in supporting next generation […]