I must confess I’m not much of a cinema goer (best not to ask – it’s a long story) but I have just been to see The King’s Speech. And it really is as good as it’s cracked up to be. It conveys powerfully the struggles of the shy Duke of York, ‘Bertie’, who’s already [...]
Well, it’s here! 2011. And a very happy New Year to you all. The bells rang, the pipes skirled, 80,000 people partied in the streets of Edinburgh to the thunder and shimmer of thousands of pounds worth of fireworks … and yes, it is worth saying, because the official celebrations have been cancelled before, and [...]
In my former life as a researcher at Edinburgh University, before I became a novelist, I spent a number of years with bereaved parents. Now, I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of anything much more harrowing than watching your child die. And yet I heard first hand from these grieving men and [...]
Wahey, Remember Remember is now officially launched – a mere three months after publication date. Last week, as I wrote my blog, you may remember, I was cooking wee delicacies for the nibbles (the very ones pictured below), and juggling several other competing demands (humdrum domestic as well as professional ones), wondering if I’d ever [...]
Phew. What a week! We might have seen history in the making but I for one will be devoutly thankful when the dust settles from this jolly old general election. And rest assured, I have absolutely no intention of extending the agony here. But I do want to talk about one particular politician, Independent MSP [...]
I’ve just this evening returned home after a rather horrible couple of weeks, so forgive me if this time my blog is more serious than you have come to expect. In my novel, Right to Die, Adam O’Neill is a young journalist with a bright future when he is diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. He’s [...]
What a week since I last posted a blog! The news has been a positive playground for medical ethicists!! IVF clinics reported to be destroying embryos with minor conditions; a ‘genetic breakthrough’ which could help treatments for breast cancer to be tailored to individual need; a mother who forced her son to fake illness being [...]