nickhereandnow

Every so often someone accuses me of being smug, self-righteous or self-congratul-atory. I always ask myself if they're right, and if I...

I should be used to it by now, but I'm always surprised by how many people dislike their body image and how few are happy with the way t...

It's still seen as normal to actively socialise. If you confess to being not much of a socialiser, or even preferring your own company t...

What's happening in the world is so relentlessly miserable and depressing, I'm not going to add to the misery. So here's somethi...

There's a lot of talk nowadays about people feeling "entitled", or feeling they have an automatic right to all sorts of things...

As you know, I loathe ties with a vengeance. Utterly pointless items of clothing that are supposed to make the wearer more respectable, more...

Jenny and I decided very early on that we didn't want children. Lots of our friends and acquaint-ances were having children and they see...

There are more and more people emphasising their Britishness and expecting others to do the same. But I've never felt especially Briti...

It seems to me the pandemic has produced a wide spectrum of attitudes from blasé nonchal-ance on the one hand to paranoid fear on the othe...

How do you maintain a relationship (and a marriage) for nigh on 40 years without the D-word rearing its ugly head? How do you keep things ...

It's strange that I feel like a Brooklynite even though I'm not. I was on the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge for ten minutes...

I like those memes where people list all the things they've never done. They're just as interesting as all the things people have ...

I'm bemused by those tourists who seem to have no respect or consideration for the places they're visiting and the local people. T...

If "justice" is a rather nebulous idea, then "freedom" is even more so. It's a wonderful idea, bandied about every...

The more I read of people seeking "justice" after some horrendous crime, the more I realise it's a bit of a fool's erran...

I wrote once about the faculties I would like to have in an ideal world. Faculties that would overcome all the annoying limitations of our...

I've never felt in any way "masculine", and I'm not drawn to any of those things men are supposed to be passionate about...

This new trend of digging up something a person said 20 or 30 years ago and using it to discredit them seems ridiculous to me. We all had ...

I've always envied people with excellent memories, and always seen my own dreadful memory as an embarrassing deficit. But that's n...

I've read several thousand novels in my life, so many that whenever I'm immersed in a new book I can see all the flaws as well as ...