A Decade of Transition

Not long before the powerful tsunami wreaked havoc in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, we visited the Maldives, a very long archipelago to the south west of India. Discussions of climate change and global warming were taking place around the world, of course, but little was being done. Staying on an island whose highest point was only just above the waterline emphasized the fragile nature of the land-sea

Several years before what became known as the Arab Spring we paid our second visit to Morocco. Even within the few years since the last time we were there, it was possible to sense a change in the people; there was a new, welcomed, monarch, but tension was in the air. They were scared and excited, arrogant and frightened, all at the same

Hospitals are rarely bright and beautiful places, as worried patients, families and friends mix with earnest professionals doing their best for those in their care. I have a genetic condition that is not at all troublesome, as long as I have five or six phlebotomies every year, where a volume of blood, and the excess iron it contains, is removed from my body and thrown away. My condition thus requires me to attend a hospital, wherever in the world we are, for this procedure, which is usually done in the cancer ward – since that is where haematologists largely work and where the nurses have the skills to painlessly get into the veins. So I am treated in a ward surrounded by patients with the most serious of

Taking time off from a lecture tour of India, we visit Rajasthan, from the Taj Mahal to the Pink City of Jaipur. The contrasts of poverty and splendour are profound; so too are the expectations of

On that same journey in India, we find a remarkable village, with a tented hotel on the shores of a reservoir, and centuries-old

On our first extensive visit to South Africa, where our work brings us into contact with the world famous Groote Schuur hospital of Cape Town, we had some time to contemplate the juxtaposition of poetry and medicine. The complexity but fragility of the heart would become my focus of attention for the next

Medical technology is increasingly becoming reliant on nanotechnology, with all the uncertainties that it

The heads of state of those countries bidding for the Summer Olympics of 2012 met in Singapore to hear the committee’s decision. Among them was the Prime Minister of the UK, intent on pressing the London case. No sooner had he returned to that city, than terrorists’ actions shattered euphoria and many lives. With grateful acknowledgement to the Beatles for some of their lines, which I have

The power of Hurricane Katrina needs no

Our first experience of China came in 2005: Shanghai, a city of old European concessions, now alive with power and money, especially on the Pudong side of the Huangpu

We had been in Phuket, Thailand for a vacation some years previously. A year after the Asian tsunami, which brought so much damage to this part of the world, we

My first poem about an African safari, but the action took place as we landed at the lodge’s

On a different safari we experienced the one-sided meeting of leopard and hyena, and then a meeting between leopard and man, which would have been one-sided but for a

Back to China and the contrast that Beijing, with its historical and political power, has to offer, compared to Shanghai, with its financial

The Midwest does not connote hedonism or even excitement. Kansas City is not a favourite destination, even for just one night in a downtown hotel, but where better to relive some long-forgotten

The soccer world cup comes to South Africa, more remembered by the sounds than the

The soccer world cup comes to South Africa, more remembered by the sounds than the

No explanation is needed here, as the world is still reeling from financial stupidity, incompetence and

Back to some science, and nanotechnology again, where there is a great deal of confusion and debate about the promise and dangers of man’s exploitation of the nanoscale. One of the world’s epicentres of nanotechnology is in

There is only one sport that is worthy of attention and that is rugby union. The power of the game facilitated the end of apartheid in South Africa, demonstratedin the film ‘Invictus’. The rugby world cup took place in New Zealand in

Dylan Thomas famously wrote about his father’s decline and suggested that he should not become milder as he faded away. Some may differ when they witness such

A brief story about a visiting cat, never seen by us before, who chose our house as his last resting place. We called the cat

A short visit to Kazakhstan, to give some lectures, just before the long, hard winter set in, revealed just how far this former Soviet country, in the Steppes of Asia, has come since independence, but raised questions about contrasts between old habits and oil-fuelled

The discovery of the Terracota Warriers in Xi’an, China transformed
this ancient city to being the host of a world-class

Several poems have their origins in contemporary politics and need little

A commentary of the stupidity of
the American election

Table Mountain in Cape Town is a wonderful sight, especially on a beautiful spring evening, sitting on the Waterfront; but the whispery clouds that form on the table summon some other

I wrote a few poems for our premier Café Poétique, held in Franshhoek, South Africa in 2014. I have hosted a few Café Scientifiques around the world, including one in Franschhoek a few years earlier in which we described our work with children suffering from rheumatic heart disease. We decided that it was appropriate now to turn our attention to poetry; the event was called ‘The Heart of

I wrote a few poems for our premier Café Poétique, held in Franshhoek,
South Africa in 2014. I have hosted a few Café Scientifiques around the world, including one in Franschhoek a few years earlier in which we described our work with children suffering from rheumatic heart disease. We decided that it was appropriate now to turn our attention

A light-hearted look at

Back on safari, we had a close encounter with a massive male

This poem is inspired by the sound of the Cape Eagle

Back in the USA, the fragility of the ageing population becomes more evident by the

I find it difficult to write poetically about science; it is possible to write some good lines but to retain meaning is not easy. This poem is about stem cells, describing them in terms and objects that should be familiar, especially to those who live in our

Still with biology and medicine, and a further emphasis on nanoscience, where it is possible to combine nanoparticles and drugs so the body’s normal defence mechanisms are fooled and the drug gets to its target more

Hunger is pervasive. We see evidence of hunger and attempts to ameliorate it most places we go, including both Winston-Salem and Cape

There are elections in many parts of the world; we see on a regular basis just how problematic these can

The British government makes an educational policy decision: remove most American literature from schools’ reading

Still with education, there is a tendency, when you get a little older, to believe that standards are slipping and that outcomes, that is the intelligence and abilities of educated people, are not the same as they were. This temptation is very strong

The 70th anniversary of D-Day needs no introduction. The pattern of war has changed, and this type of action is unlikely to be seen again, but these momentous events in history should never be

We live under one of the helicopter flight paths to a major hospital that has a transplant

The daily news of terrorist-delivered death and destruction is heartbreaking; the events defy all logic to the majority of

On a brief visit to Hong Kong to advise government on research strategy, the tension with the mainland is palpable; soon to lead to unrest and student

Spring comes very belatedly to North Carolina, but omens on the world stage are not