You have to bear in mind that some people have two characters: the open character that everyone sees and accepts, and the hidden character which is their real self. Actors, through their chosen trade, create public characters which all of their viewers get to see, get to sympathise with, get to accept as being the…

I’m surprised that you replied to that religious fanatic, and can say that I most certainly would not have done so. There are some people who are so set in their ways, so sure of themselves, that they do not see anything to the left or right of where they are going, are blinded to…

Sometimes even the best laid plans, ones which you have set in concrete and definitely wish to stick to, have to be changed according to sudden or unexpected need. And so it is, rarely admittedly, with my time: I make plans and set myself a routine, a series of deeds I wish to perform, a…

There is a phenomenal advantage which I have, and which I sometimes forget when writing to people around the world: access. You mention in your letter that I am well-read which, to all intents and purposes, is true, but only because I have access to any number of books at very short notice and, of…

To say that I was pleased to hear about the court decision in the Cosby case is something of an understatement: it has been too long in coming and there are too many others who escape justice, either because of their perceived position in society, or because those they have attacked are too scared to…

Understanding why a person, or a group of people, undertake any action against another, when they know very well that it will cause harm and suffering, is something that I have also never managed to get to grips with. The very idea is something which evades all my senses, all commonsense, everything that I have…

It is a pleasure to see that my letters appear to be an exception, in your case at least, but that is not so everywhere. Sadly I received another returned letter from the United States just the day before yesterday, marked as being undeliverable despite everything being correct. The return from the United States took…

Peaceful protest, one of the hardest things we have come to accept as a part of our modern-day society, and also one of the most effective when done correctly, when it remains peaceful and clear that what lies behind the protest is more than just minor disquiet, but an honest belief that there needs to…

Your letter addresses many valid points about friendship which I have been considering, even puzzling over, for a number of years and to which, I am sad to say, there appears to be no answer, no solution, no remedy. What we consider to be friendship today is something removed from social interactions, removed from all…

I will admit a certain degree of surprise, not so much that you wrote to me, since I am always actively seeking people who are willing to enter into this wonderful Art and commit themselves to a friendship on paper, but more because your missive arrived in the form of a birthday card, and I…