A 2022 moment. Lets hope its a good one, without any fear The lyrics of that song by John Lennon seemed naively optimistic even back in 1971, at the start of that hey-decade of the iconic Christmas pop anthem. Happy Christmas (War is Over) – obviously it wasn’t, even back then; and fifty years later, ‘I …
I’m on my knees in a muddy field in Scotland, planting tiny trees. Digging, pushing their little plugs of root into the heavy clay soil, closing the ground around them, driving in a stake and fitting a tubular protector to give them the best chance of a future. I won’t live to see these trees …
On Sunday 19th May I performed again with my friend and musical collaborator, the composer, concert pianist and climate activist, Lola Perrin, in the final gig on her End Climate Chaos tour. The event was in a church in Heptonstall, and part of the evening is dedicated to a discussion by the audience on Extinction Rebellion’s …
WHY ON EARTH MAKE ART ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE? 2 : LONGING, BELONGING AND UNBELONGING Read More »
Last weekend saw two marches of protest in the UK. By far the largest and most reported was the march in London for a People’s Vote on the final terms of Brexit. ‘Hundreds of thousands’ is the reported scale, comparable with the estimated 750,000 who marched in 2003 to stop the war in Iraq, with …
14thJuly 2018. I’m on the deck of a Stena line ferry – stern end. The sun is shining, its warm and I’m watching England’s east coast retreat into the morning haze. It feels good, like an escape. We’re heading for Holland, then Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and France. Seven of the twenty seven EU countries …
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of appearing with the composer and pianist Lola Perrin as guest speaker for her Significantus project in Leeds. Other speakers have included scientists, journalists, artists and environmental campaigners, so I joined an august list of contributors. I was planning to perform the ‘storm’ section of my …
I’m on a ferry from Naxos to the port of Piraeus. The ship’s wake spreads behind it like a bride’s white veil as it pulls away from the pier. As we clear the headland I glimpse a dolphin fleetingly arc out of the water. Then again, a brilliant flash. Then gone. I’d arrived on the …
Last weekend was Heavenly in my home town of Hebden Bridge. It was Heavenly weekend, a celebration of the 25 year-old record label whose roster includes Doves, St Etienne, The Vines, Magic Numbers, Temples, Cherry Ghost, Stealing Sheep, to name but a few. My good friend and blogger Olivia Rosen was up for the weekend, …
There’s been this thing in recent weeks on Facebook where people nominate friends to list three positive things in their day – or things in their life they are grateful for. For five consecutive days . One of my friends issued veiled threats, via her FB status, to anyone who nominated her for this challenge, …
