There’s rarely any reason for me to talk about the ‘Shoah’ or ‘Holocaust’. The period in the 30s and 40s when two-thirds of the Jewish people in Europe were meticulously and intentionally exterminated by a government which had created the lie of an inferior ‘race’ to justify murder. I don’t…

This is a brief guide to looking through Board Papers. I have aimed it at people looking at the board papers for NHS trusts, because that’s what I am most familiar with, but the same principles (although not, maybe the same language), applies to many public sector organisations/arms length bodies. …

Why is this night different from all other nights? — Seder means ‘order’. It is the celebration/meal/tradition couched in ritual that we, Jewish people, undertake on the first and second nights of Passover or Pesach. The first night is tonight. There are some good explainers that I wouldn’t be able to beat, here, here and here. I have been backwards…

Passover, or Pesach – as it is in Hebrew, is coming. It is an eight day festival that starts on Saturday night this year. It is probably the Jewish festival that holds the most particular memories for me, and not always the fondest ones that the minor festivals of Purim…

Last year was not the hardest time for me during the stretch of the pandemic up to this point. I am glad I didn’t know it would get worse though, back in March. In mid-late March 2020, I was probably the most fearful. ‘Something’ was coming. We didn’t know what…

This time last year.. we’ll be saying that a lot over the next months and the world wakes up into a very different Spring. Things happen. The seasons remain constant. Thinking back to those daffodil filled days of early March 2020, it’s hard to reconcile both how long it has…

This evening is the start of Purim. I always have, as I imagine most Jewish people who grew up within the Jewish community do, happy memories of Purim – which falls in the early days of Spring. When daffodils are very much making their mark on the world waking up…

Last week, someone asked me (in a situation in which is was entirely appropriate), something about my parents. Were they well? How were they getting on? They’re dead. I said. Because it’s true. I always feel a rising anxiety when I am asked that question because it leads to discomfort…

I’m writing this at the beginning of February 2021. In March 2020, I started a journal. It was as we saw the beginning of the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in the UK. I thought it would be useful to hold on to the thoughts and experiences I was having…