For this piece for The Fence I asked my dad to cast his mind back 40-odd years to one of the many weird and chaotic occurrences of his special effects career that spanned the 1970s-2010s and was extremely (and almost exclusively) weird and chaotic. This is how he poisoned himself while making the prototypes for the original Spitting Image… CLICK HERE.
Illustration by Viz cartoonist Davie Jones.
For The Guardian, I wrote about how the rural housing crisis has been exacerbated by the pandemic. This stretches all the way from Devon and Cornwall to the Hebrides. It’s so much worse than I thought it was, and I knew it was bad. Second homes have become a major problem—if you have a second home in an area where there’s a housing crisis you should be renting it (affordably) to the people who are currently being made homeless. Let’s hope something changes, fast. To read it, click here.
Seen a lot of manifestos being published recently? Manifestos are in the zeitgeist again, but his time it’s different. For Literary Review I wrote about what commercialisation means for manifestos and their movements. How radical can something mass market be? Read online here.
Or in print here:
I wrote for British Vogue about why I wore my mother’s wedding dress after my parents divorced. About sentiment, superstition, heirlooms and searching for a sense of permanence this year. Wishing you all a happier new one. Read Here.
“My levels of paranoia quickly reach coked-up Ray Liotta at the end of Goodfellas. I refuse to see or touch anyone. Those helicopters are following me.” I wrote about the unholy folly of planning a church wedding this year (worth it!) for The Fence. Read Here.
https://www.the-fence.com/issues/issue-6/in-sickness-and-in-health
I think this might be one of my favourite pieces I’ve written. I wrote about the fallen raven chick I thought was a rook and adopted, Rookie the raven. About how the strong bonds we create with our pets (whatever they may be) means they are usually our first, lasting experience of deep emotion. Also featuring strange pets and extravagant funerals from Percival Everett, Virgil and Mozart. Read here.
Me and Rookie the Raven
For Tribune I wrote about the power of protest witnessed globally with the Black Lives Matter movement and wielding that power on a local scale. And the hospital in my hometown as a prime example of how we can, and why we should can, fight for local services and communities as hospitals around the country are being closed or partially closed. Click Here.
For Vogue I wrote about my sister and her experience of having cancer and waiting for a stem cell transplant during coronavirus, and what it’s been like to watch. Click Here.
