My Working World: N is for…
It’s time for another in the occasional series looking at places I’ve worked around the world. We’ve covered the first half of the alphabet in the past couple of years […]
Eating My Way Round The World: Wedding in St Petersburg
Before we were so rudely interrupted by Covid-19, I began a new series of themed posts. We’re taking a break from my usual ‘seven decades of’ pieces and going for […]
Busy, Busy, Busy…
It’s the second Monday of the month, which is always interview day. Except, this month, it isn’t. There are five Monday in July, which doesn’t fit too well with a […]
Writerly Round-Up: June 2019
Here we are, nearing the end of June; and although it only seems like yesterday when we were all stuffing ourselves with chocolates in front of the Christmas tree – […]
Writerly Round-Up: April 2019
April seems to have gone by in a flash. There were two bank holidays over the Easter weekend and we spent the whole four days mostly eating, drinking and chatting […]
Snapshots of Russia: Yekaterinburg
For a while now, you have accompanied me on a monthly visit to some of the towns and cities I worked in during my time in Russia. We’ve been to […]
Snapshots of Russia: Chelyabinsk
Between 1989 and 2012, I worked in the international pharmaceutical industry (yes, the sometimes murky world in which my thrillers are set). During that time, I travelled all over the […]
Snapshots of Russia: Vladivostok
Between 1989 and 2012, I worked in the international pharmaceutical industry (yes, the sometimes murky world in which my thrillers are set). During that time, I travelled all over the […]
Snapshots of Russia: St Petersburg
Between 1989 and 2012, I worked in the international pharmaceutical industry (yes, the sometimes murky world in which my thrillers are set). During that time, I travelled tall over the […]
A Broad Abroad: Emails to the Big Chief (8)
Back in 2007, when I first started this blog, I wrote a series of posts to my mother; electronic postcards based on a trip to Russia, that would hopefully get […]
Generations of Thinking
Different generations often have difficulty understanding each other. My late Father used to say: when you’re a teenager, you are surprised at how little your parents know, or understand, about […]
In Pharmaceuticals, Things Are Rarely Black And White
I spent a good part of my working life as an independent pharmaceuticals consultant, but I learned my trade working for manufacturing companies. The first two were based only in […]
Sharing The Love Around…
As anyone who has walked past a florist, a sweet shop or a stationer can’t fail to have noticed, 14th February was St Valentine’s Day, traditionally dedicated to love and […]
There Are No Words…
…to describe what most people must have felt when the news broke of Friday’s atrocity in Paris. Angry, or distraught, or frightened, or belligerent, or heartbroken; they all seem […]
A Broad Abroad: Why Do I Do This?
Before I ‘gave up the day job’ to write full-time, I spent many years travelling around Russia and the former Soviet Union countries. I had some wonderful experiences, met […]
Reflections on Ukraine
Travelling to Ukraine was one of my most enjoyable and fascinating experiences in recent years. I first went there in 1999 and, for the next decade, returned several times a […]
Peace is Not at Home
[For the past 20 years, I have been lucky enough to visit Russia many times and my experiences and impressions colour much of my writing. This piece was written after […]