(courtesy BBC) SNAPSHOTAfter a life spent travelling the globe, the world’s most famous naturalist turns his attention closer to home to explore the wildlife of England’s iconic capital. Having lived in London for 75 years, Sir David has an intimate knowledge of the city’s natural history, and there’s no better Continue Reading
New Year’s Eve book review: New York, New Year, New You by Rachael Bloome
(courtesy Secret Garden Press) The idea that you can reinvent yourself if you just find the right inciting incident is a seductive one. It defies the idea that who we are at any one point in time is the only person we will ever be, and encourages us to dream Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more NYE songs 2025: Hurts, Aubrey Logan & David Ricard, Blair Davie, Ben Rector + Sia
(via Shutterstock) Gotta be honest – I’m a Christmas guy and once that day is done and dusted, I tend to lose interest in gthe other big event on the calendar, New Year’s Eve. I used to be more excited by it but as the years have gone by, I’ve Continue Reading
Popcorn and wine and a comfy seat in the dark: My top 25 films of 2025
(via Shutterstock) Due to an unrelenting level of stress, which it seems only books could address in any meaningful fashion – they are the only medium which has ever allowed me to properly switch off and escape and forget the world around me; these days, they are the only one Continue Reading
Fire up the playlists and let the music fly free: My top 25 songs of 2025 + my 8 fave clips of the year
(via Shutterstock) It’s been a weird year for me and music. I still listened to lots and lots and LOTS of it, it was still the soundtrack to all my commutes and occasional exercise outings and even short trips to the shops, and it remained the focal centre of the Continue Reading
Conquering the TBR like a mountaineer: My top 25 books of 2025
(via Shutterstock) I can overstate how much reading means to me. It makes commutes feel fleeting and full of characters and events and excitement it would otherwise meaningfully lack. It fills my stressy moments with such a profound sense of escapist release. And it dials down my anxiety and sense Continue Reading
Stream, stream my televisual dream: Top 25 TV-streaming shows of 2025
(via Shutterstock) It may amuse you to learn, and it certainly amuses many of my friends, that I maintain a very long list of TV shows possibilities, which I either tick off if I manage to see them, or cross of as reviews come in and they are deemed not Continue Reading
Merry Christmas in books and movies and on streaming platforms and in song … may all your pop culture festive dreams come true
(courtesy Pinterest (c) Disney) In honour of Winnie the Pooh’s first appearance in a story by A. A. Milne and the 75th anniversary of Peanuts first cartoon, this year’s Christmas greeting centres on these two groups of characters. I have loved both of them ever since I was a child Continue Reading
Festive kids book review: Bah! Humbug! by Michael Rosen
(courtesy Scholastic Children’s Books) It’s a big thing to say, given how thick on the ground A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, are on the ground, but Bah! Humbug! by Michael Rosen is quite simply one of the best retellings of the Christmas classic I have ever come a cross. Continue Reading
Festive book review: The Christmas Market by Linda McEvoy
(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) One of the kinds of festive romcoms I love the most are where someone’s life falls apart – no, that’s not the movable; I’m not a sadist, thank you – and they flee back to their hometown in England or Ireland (this happens in U.S. Continue Reading