You knew I think, in that funny way that we both sometimes know things. I left work early, it couldn’t wait. It meant that we had one last meal together before it began. You ate fish and chips with your fingers and I teased you gently as I always did. I heard the phone ring…

I’m good in a crisis. I’ve had enough of my own and I’m paid to help others manage theirs. I’m good in a crisis. I know what you’re supposed to do.  Tipped off by a friend who saw it coming, I start to read about it and can just about make out the white of…

Shame is one of the most powerful human emotions we can experience. All emotions have their roots in evolution which means they have to serve some sort of useful biological purpose. Shame is all about making sure that we don’t get outcast by the group. It whispers in our ear that we are dirty, unlovable,…

The 90s were a time of unbridled optimism. Fukuyama was so certain of the victory of Western liberal democracy that he excitedly declared that  were witnessing the ‘End of History’, leaving us all to sit back smugly on our laurels, put our enlightened feet up and carry on  reading the Guardian in the knowledge that all…

I’ve been struggling to find the words to write how I’m feeling recently. I know I should be engaging with the recent worrying events in the world but I have found myself avoiding the news, turning off the radio and trying not to click on the numerous stories about Donald Trump dominating my Facebook feed….

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!!!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “FOR GOD’S SAKE – YOU COULD HAVE PUT YOUR HEAD THROUGH THAT GLASS!!!”  I’m getting into my stride now and the shouting feels cathartic as I continue to berate my eldest child who has just fallen over, narrowly missing a glass cabinet in…

Something has been bothering me about the ‘This Girl Can‘ campaign but I’ve been struggling to put my finger on it. At first I thought it was because of the infantilising language coming from a campaign that’s supposed to be empowering women rather than making them feel like little children –  but after a trip…

So the recent furore over the seemingly surprising revelations that Donald Trump is a sexual predator (despite him already having a pending hearing about the small matter of the rape of a 13 year old girl) has highlighted a massive problem with the way the world thinks about sexual assault. Feminists have been talking about…

After I left home at 18, it took me a while to figure out that I was damaged. I had assumed my upbringing was normal and had no idea that I had spent years being traumatised by the violence and abuse I suffered at the hands of my father (which you can read more about…

This morning I changed a wheel on my car for the first time in my life. I felt ridiculously proud of myself for completing such a simple task. Then I climbed out of our bathroom window onto a roof and cleared up some broken glass that’s been there since the storm smashed one of our…

The fear of getting pregnant has been an almost constant feature of my life since I became sexually active as a teenager. Hormonal contraception has never agreed with me so I’ve always been at the mercy of condoms. The brief period in my 30s when I was actively trying to conceive my children was a…