Inflation is often sold as a mysterious force in mainstream commentary – like weather, or fate. In reality, it is a predictable redistribution mechanism. A stealth tax. And like most mechanisms in our economic system, it redistributes to the few. It’s a pipeline – straight from your pocket to theirs. A slow, silent redistribution of…

What the sea remembers, the land forgets. The first people to walk this green and pleasant land came from Africa.Not recently – but in the long dawn of our species, when the only borders were rivers and mountain ranges, and the only language was survival. They carried no papers or flags. They followed herds, water,…

Natthaya, 2014. She had grasped the principles of repentance, but not yet the importance of separating it from the funding application. The opening was strong. The closing demand may have weakened her case.

Take your pick – CouchSurfing, HelpX, WWOOFing. Different acronyms, same broad principle: a kind of barter network for the twenty-first century wanderer. Travellers exchange their labour, skills, or mere enthusiasm for food, lodging, and a taste of local life. No money changes hands – just goodwill, elbow grease, and a pinch of cultural curiosity. CouchSurfing…

New Year’s Eve. The local hunters were out in force, already well into their celebrations and firing potshots at anything that moved faster than a snail. Fortunately for the region’s fauna (including us), most creatures with the good sense to keep their heads down survived intact. The kids and I managed the hundred-metre dash from…