Overview
Insight
Insight
I’ve been writing blogs for a few years now, talking quite a lot about current affairs, about aspects of culture, and for much of 2021 charting my journey from a cancer diagnosis to my recovery.
I write from experience, sometimes with specific knowledge or expertise, and sometimes as an interested observer.
The cancer pieces have their own heading (Good health). They tell the story of my illness in 2021, pausing on the way to talk about related elements of our culture or society. Below I've also summarised the rationale for each of the other sections, and finally there's a brief guide to finding your way quickly around the full listing.
Good work
Here you'll find thoughts on my experience as a professional business writer, on the craft of writing, and ways business communication might better connect with the real world. I discuss the tech tools that make my work easier, as well as reflecting on the broader radical impact of technology developments.
Some of these blogs may be strictly practical, about how good writing works (for instance). Others may reflect on notions of brand in marketing, on the kinds of relationship we might want to have with commercial entities.
Good stuff
... a place for the things that make life worth living, in books, film, visual art and food.
I studied literature to a high level, particularly poetry, but I also have a strong interest in narrative, whether delivered through prose, film, TV or indeed any other art form. I have an amateur's enthusiasm for painting and architecture. As well as playing music I'm an avid consumer of it, of pretty much all genres, though I have very little interest in the stuff spewed out by the major labels to make money for themselves.
Good thinking
... or essays on society, politics and philosophy. I’m not pretending to be a philosopher, but I’m interested in epistemic well-being, in ideas about knowledge and faith.
By epistemic well-being I mean commitment to seek out knowledge that will stand up to scrutiny, and to distinguish between those areas where an opinion is useful, and those where we have a responsibility to inform ourselves of how things actually are. In these blogs, whether discussing the validity of a political or philosophical position, I try to understand these distinctions.
Good health
In the early part of 2021 a routine scan revealed the presence of a stage two tumour in my colon. Although this was in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic my treatment was swift and efficient. I decided to write a blog immediately after the first diagnosis, in the hope that however things turned out for me it could be useful for other people facing bowel cancer. Written from day to day the blogs capture the stress of the uncertainties you inevitably go through, as well as recording the physical effects of the treatment (I had a major operation to remove the tumour, then a preventative course of chemotherapy). I'm hoping this section will now be a closed book, though I'll be tested for any recurrence every year for a few years yet.
The complete list
To navigate the list click here and you'll go to the main blog page. You'll find a listing of pieces in reverse date order (most recent first). To navigate by topic (Good stuff, Good work, Good thinking, Good health) click in the topic box to the right of the blog screen and the listing will show the entries in that subject.
The blogs are time-specific, in that they tend to be written in response to a particular event or development. The listing includes all those that have a persisting relevance or interest.