Blog: Mel's Muse

What do you think of when you read of mothers raising children without fathers? Does it incite you to indignation? Rage? And if so, against whom? The mothers who so ruthlessly exploit the benefits system with serial offspring by...

Posted at 22:45pm on 17th September 2008

The article that follows was written more than a year ago, when the true story of global recession was only beginning to unfold. Now, nearly fifteen months later, governments of all nationalities face unprecedented levels of indebtedness. And levels of unemployment, we’re told, are still set to rise. If you are one...

Posted at 17:56pm on 15th September 2008

I thought that in memory of all who lost their lives, and those who lost loved ones, I would reproduce the comment I left on The New York Times online.

I expect, like me, you've been thinking about the terrible events of seven years ago. But can you remember...

Posted at 22:52pm on 11th September 2008

I’m sorry I’m rather late with this week’s How-to of Creative Writing. I’ve been developing my website in the hope that it will make it easier for visitors to navigate. Also, I wanted to make sure that my readers – you! – understand what it’s all about. I hope you’ll take a look around and...

Posted at 17:35pm on 10th September 2008

Hi Mel,
I’ve just finished your book and I’m most impressed! Quite seriously, you made the point in the interview at the end that one of your aims was to get people to identify with incidents or people or attitudes in the book. May I say that there were two points of this kind...

Posted at 09:40am on 9th September 2008