I have, close to hand, about six hundred letters dating back to the Nineties – although fifty or so are from this year – and can guarantee there are several which have postage stamps no one cancelled on them. One which immediately comes to mind is a very large and ornate Australian issue with Queen…

It is easy to have a discussion but impossible to have a debate when everyone has the same opinion, which is why panels incorporating people from many divergent backgrounds have the most success, which is why Socrates and Parmenides were able to debate and so many other people from our past. Today it is normal…

There are those, I am told, who simply give up and allow the course of events to wash over them as if there is no future, no past, and most certainly no present. They remove themselves, both as a person who should answer for actions and beliefs and as a member of society, from all…

Ease of use is one thing, ease of access is quite another. It’s not that I have anything against this modern technology, with the idea of being instantly in touch with people, no matter where they are, at all times of the day and night, it’s just that it really cannot work that way. We…

Have you ever wondered where we gain our inspiration? I am told that some of the greatest artists need a certain level of noise, or warmth, perhaps even the sound of someone’s voice before the Muse strikes them. Others can find inspiration in a cup of tea and a biscuit, and then write one of…

One of the things that I find fascinating about younger people is their firm belief that when they have planned something, no matter what it is, how simple or complicated, it will work without any problems whatsoever. They are so convinced of themselves, of their future, of the plan they have made, they cannot see…

I feel almost as if I am becoming a multimedia correspondent: written letters received through the post; electronic mails sent over the internet; images and postcards sent by some through both the internet and the postal services. My desk has become the centre of a small paper world, with words and wishes, thoughts and memories,…

The world is changing very fast indeed. There are times when I wonder whether we will even be able to keep up with the technological transformations being thrust upon us by all the multi-media companies, through the internet, in our workplace and, of course, in our homes, as more and more of the ordinary things…

I’m trying, as I set out the first words here, to think back to a time when I have not needed to convince people of the merits of letter writing; that old-fashioned means of communication which has held strong for centuries and which, despite modern technological advances, is still fighting fit and useful today. I…

A short while ago, someone asked me whether I get lonely, sitting on my own in a street café. Reading my book while everyone else around me is chatting on their cell phones and doing all those electronic social things people do these days. Although I already knew the answer – no, I don’t get…