I recently attended the launch of a new air source heat pump, by Swedish company Aira. Heat pumps, widely, adopted, would make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions from UK homes. Look around any residential area, and what are the images that come to mind to define progress in reducing carbon emissions? Expensive electric… Continue reading
LA drive to the hill of dreams – how I made it to Hollywood, without a nomination
I wrote this in 2011, more in tribute to the liberating power of satnav (then very new) than as a homage to Hollywood, which is really a world-wide community of sitting with strangers in a darkened space and being transporting to the far corners of the imagination by images and music. ‘Hollywood is on a hill,… Continue reading →
Across Turkey by train
The first 30 years of Turkey’s tourism story has been utterly dominated by air travel, and more recently cruise ships. It’s the rare intrepid visitor who drives all the way. But now the train is becoming a realistic travel option within Turkey, and even an alternative way to get there. While we continue to fret over… Continue reading →
The Good News from Ghent
By Eurostar to Brussels, then onwards to Ghent. The city, emerging from the dazzle of near neighbour Bruges, was recently named one of the world’s top destinations. I found five more good reasons to visit this marvellous mediaeval gem. (Some details and prices are out of date in this piece I originally wrote for the… Continue reading →
Under Milk Wood – 70 years on
The BBC first broadcast Under Milk Wood, “‘A Play for Voices”, on the Third Programme on 25 January 1954 (two months after Thomas’s death). The play featured a distinguished, all-Welsh cast including Richard Burton. Dylan Thomas knew Under Milk Wood was good, even in its hurried, jumbled, unfinished form in which he gave several performances in 1953, with a cast,… Continue reading →
Four reasons not to tunnel under the Stonehenge world heritage site
I’ve followed the campaign to overturn the decision to drive a tunnel and dual carriageway through the World Heritage Site at Stonehenge for the past few years. This year and last I’ve taken a more active role, handing out leaflets outside the British Museum, and helping with Stonehenge Alliance’s online media campaign. Unlike more direct… Continue reading →