WRITERS ON THE STORM

By Yasmin Ali They get into the car, Den and Anita. Hand sanitiser, remove masks, seatbelts on. They’ve been shopping. ‘You bought more...

By Mary Ellen Flynn Early in March I ushered my year 7s into my room for an English lesson. Daniel* turned to one of his friends and...

By Louise Palfreyman No communications strategy, even one seeking to pin down a rapidly changing and constantly evolving target, needs to...

By Mick Scully I have been reading Darren Coffield’s book, Tales from The Colony Room Club – Soho’s Lost Bohemia. Wonderful – spending...

Anthony Ferner Many years ago, when our kids were still young, my wife gave me a pair of inline skates for my birthday. I was already...

By Jacqui Rowe Radiolab podcast on Richard Feynman They’re talking about a famous physicist, and how, if all of science was eradicated by...

By Yasmin Ali For some reason I’ve been thinking about Dick Hebdige. Not the Professor of Art at the University of California, nor the...

By Sibyl Ruth This is the fourth of nine letters that my German-Jewish grandfather wrote from a very different kind of lockdown. He had...

(Hecataeus, Genealogies) By Aled Gruffydd Jones Historians are omnivorous creatures. If they’re really lucky, they dine out at the classy...

By Marg Roberts you pour me a glass of Pinot, yourself a lager. I wear my slinky grey dress Alison’s orange and cream wrap, curled around...

By Yasmin Ali Lockdown inevitably blindsides us with moments of introspection. My own tend to be evoked by the sight of an ambulance, the...

By Garrie Fletcher Zack isn’t his name. I know his name, but Zack will do for this. Zack’s a measurer, a pattern follower, a routine...

Virus 4 Sara is a London-based artist who has documented Covid times in a series of monoprints using oil paint on A3 paper. "I made them...

By Liz Kershaw Scene One – The first team meeting by vid-con There’s a minuet for the first few minutes. No one has the etiquette, but...

By Alan Mahar We don’t feel like prisoners, because we’re sitting on our bit of grass: a shady medium-sized garden, inner-city enclave,...

By Mary Ellen Flynn I stand on my doorstep— Neighbours’ homes sit like Grannies drinking tea, a lull in conversation— Legs crossed,...

By Steve Bishop “What are sex workers doing in the pandemic?” asked one of my feminist friends on Facebook. I laughed and posted:...

Jacqui Rowe The first pen I take out is dry. The birds are quiet today, this Friday we still call good come round too soon, when nothing...

The government permits us to take exercise for up to an hour outside the home, as long as we maintain a distance of at least two metres...

Pandemic isolation is now accompanied by glorious spring sunshine. As I sit outside, I am conscious of the sound of birdsong, children...