Category Archives: Morality

A Blessing for our times

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Angela

Jan Richardson wrote this Blessing for her blog The Advent Door in 2014. It’s included in her book Circle of Grace published in 2015. Elsewhere Richardson talks about wild and stubborn hope. I love that phrase. A friend of mine … Continue reading →

Posted in Artists, Books, Creativity, Democracy, Equality, Good Things, Goodness, Hope, Human Rights, Kindness, Language, Love, Morality, Poetry, Politics, Psychology, Storytelling | Leave a comment

If the son of a Klu Klux Klan leader can become an Anti-Racist, everyone can

Posted on June 14, 2024 by Angela

It takes 25 minutes to watch this video. It takes a lifetime to remain committed to anti-racism. But this person’s journey from white supremacy to anti-racism shows us just how essential it is that we all begin that journey. Click … Continue reading →

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Equality, Listening, Morality, Psychology, Racism, White Allies, White Fragility | Leave a comment

RMS Titanic: a perfect storm

Posted on May 15, 2024 by Angela

At this time of year I often post about RMS Titanic. Last year’s post remembered the Welsh Able Seaman, Thomas Jones, who captained Lifeboat Number 8 – the lifeboat that carried my great-grandmother, Noël Rothes, and twenty-four others to safety … Continue reading →

Posted in Death and Dying, Equality, History, Human Rights, Morality, Talks, Titanic | 2 Comments

Afrikan Reparations: a conference

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Angela

On Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd October, in London, a conference to discuss Afrikan Reparations and to address the legacy of the trafficking and enslavement of peoples of Afrikan descent, of colonisation and colonialism, was held. I went, at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Equality, History, Human Rights, Love, Morality, Politics, Racism, White Allies | Leave a comment

Windrush, 75 years on

Posted on June 14, 2023 by Angela

Seventy-five years ago, on 22 June 1948, HMT (His Majesty’s Transport) Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, on the River Thames. She was named, as many empire ships were, for a British river, in her case the River Windrush, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Black History, Books, Creativity, Democracy, Equality, Fiction, History, Human Rights, Morality, Racism, Windrush, Writers, Writing | Leave a comment

What does it mean to be good?

Posted on May 14, 2023 by Angela

In a 2013 article by Steve Taylor PhD in Psychology Today, good is defined as: a lack of self-centredness … the ability to empathise with other people, feel compassion … and put [others’] needs before your own. It means … … Continue reading →

Posted in Allyship, Art, Artists, Equality, Fiction, Goodness, Morality, Plays | Leave a comment

Reading Black Writers

Posted on May 14, 2022 by Angela

Until George Floyd was murdered on 25 May 2020, I had not begun to acknowledge, let alone unearth, my inherent racism. That racism includes not reading or even thinking about the work of Black writers. But since that May I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Creativity, Education, Equality, Fiction, History, Human Rights, Literary Prizes, Mental Health in Fiction, Morality, Psychology, Racism, reading, White Allies, Writing | Leave a comment

White Allies Network, and Black British History

Posted on September 14, 2021 by Angela

On 2 September, I joined the White Allies Network. They are, as they say on their website: A network of people that are committed to learn and do what it takes to be counted true allies against racism. It consists of … Continue reading →

Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Equality, History, Human Rights, Love, Morality, Psychology, Racism, White Allies | Leave a comment

Stephen Lawrence Day, 22 April 2021

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Angela

We will no longer ignore, the racism we all deplore. We will never forget Stephen Lawrence. Directed by Simon Frederick. Written by Simon Frederick, Marcus Jones & Max Cyrus. Narrated by Max Cyrus And, from the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation website: Stephen … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiracism, Art, Books, Democracy, Equality, History, Human Rights, Morality | 1 Comment

Bookshop.org: an online bookshop that supports indie bookshops. And, ‘It’s easier to be a Dad, this morning … .’

Posted on November 14, 2020 by Angela

Bookshop.org, as the Guardian articles below suggest, is exactly what the publishing world has been waiting for. Bookshop.org supports independent bookshops (it doesn’t undercut them, as the unmentionable does) and it makes it possible for independent bookshops to benefit from online sales … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiracism, Books, Bookshops, Democracy, Equality, Fiction, Good News, Good Things, History, Human Rights, Living Standards, Morality, News, News Outlets, Politics | 2 Comments

Happiness & Rights balanced by Meaning & Responsibility; and William Golding on Women

Posted on October 14, 2018 by Angela

Jordan Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life: an antidote to chaos said, in an interview with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Radio 4 recently (these words come from the beginning and the end of the programme): We’ve been fed a diet of … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Gun Control, Literary Prizes, Morality, Things I'd Love to Have Made, Women, Writers | 4 Comments