Standing in the Shadow of the Lady Buddha
Yesterday, my German friend Michael from Hamburg and I shared a taxi out to the Son Tra Peninsula to visit the Lady Buddha.
It's funny how travelling works. Two people can make exactly the same journey for completely different reasons.
We chatted on the drive up, watching Da Nang slowly disappear behind us as the road climbed higher into the hills. Scooters buzzed past, monkeys occasionally appeared at the roadside and every bend revealed another glimpse...
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The New Gold Rush: Why Digital Nomads Are Flocking to Southeast Asia
There is another wave rolling across Southeast Asia.
It isn't backpackers.
It isn't retirees.
It isn't gap-year students armed with oversized rucksacks and a Lonely Planet guide.
It's digital nomads.
They're arriving from Britain, Germany, Australia, Canada, Brazil and dozens of other countries, carrying little more than a laptop, a smartphone and the freedom to work from almost anywhere with a decent internet connection.
When I...
What Does a Week in Da Nang Really Cost in 2026?
One thing I've learned after travelling around Southeast Asia for decades is this: if you live like a local, you'll spend like a local.
Too many visitors arrive in Da Nang and immediately head for the first flashy beachfront restaurant with laminated menus and cocktails costing more than an entire day's food a few streets away.
That's fine if you're on holiday for a fortnight.
Me? I'd rather have another week in Vietnam than another overpriced...
Living Like a Local: How Vietnam Is Teaching Me to Travel Again
There comes a point in every journey when you stop behaving like a tourist.
You stop chasing landmarks.
You stop looking for the highest-rated restaurants.
You stop trying to squeeze every attraction into a single day.
Instead, you begin to live.
That's where I find myself now.
Da Nang.
And, in a few days, the road will take me north to Huế before turning south again towards the lantern-lit streets of Hội An.
I'm in no hurry.
The best...
Rolling Through the Night: From Nha Trang to Da Nang
I've always believed there are two ways to see a country.
You can fly over it.
Or you can travel through it.
I'll choose the second every time.
Late that evening, I climbed aboard another Vietnamese sleeper bus, leaving Nha Trang behind and heading north to Da Nang.
The tropical heat still hung in the air like a warm, damp blanket as we queued beside the coach.
Then came the first rule.
Shoes off.
Everyone slipped their footwear into little plastic...
The best parts of any trip are almost never planned.
Guidebooks don't mention them.
Travel websites certainly don't.
They usually start with a conversation.
Mine started over a couple of ice-cold beers with a German bloke called Michael.
The Sailing Club
We met one sticky afternoon at the Sailing Club in Nha Trang.
The sea breeze did nothing to cut through the heat.
Condensation ran down our glasses almost as fast as we could...
After three brilliant days wandering Saigon and drinking one or two more Saigon Beers than I'd planned, I climbed aboard the sleeper bus to Nha Trang at eight in the morning. Street-side, those little bottles run about 10,000 to 15,000 VND, roughly 30 to 45p, versus 5/7 for the average UK pint these days. More if you live in London.
I had a mild hangover and a backpack that felt twice as heavy as when I'd packed it.
Nothing a good journey...
'MY HEART BELONGS TO SOUTH EAST ASIA'
Escaping the Heat: From London to Saigon via the Marble City
There comes a point when you've had enough.
For me, that moment arrived standing on the platform at Shepherd's Bush Overground Station with a small backpack digging into my shoulders, sweat already running down my back before the train had even rolled in.
Typical British weather.
The one time you actually want London to be grey, damp and miserable to make leaving easier, it decides to turn into the...
The Man Who Visited Every Country Without Ever Flying
Most people dream of travelling the world.
Torbjørn "Thor" Pedersen actually did something that makes his achievement remarkable, not just that he visited every country on Earth. It's that he became the first person to reach every recognised country without ever stepping onto an aeroplane.
His extraordinary expedition, called Once Upon a Saga, was built around three simple rules:
• Spend at least 24 hours in every country.
• Never board an...
The Search Is Over: The Steve Dior Band Delivers at a Packed Stewart Arms
Sometimes everything clicks.
Saturday night at The Stewart Arms in Notting Hill was a proper roadblock. Friends, music obsessives and faces from back in the day all crammed into the room for something genuinely special.
Because we kicked off early, nobody had to play the miserable game of choosing between raw live music and the nerve-shredding England v Norway World Cup quarter-final. The room was buzzing long before a...
Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell Return to Centre Stage
If you fancy a proper dose of Swinging London this autumn, get yourself down to Bermondsey.
The Fashion and Textile Museum is staging what promises to be one of the biggest fashion exhibitions of the year, celebrating the extraordinary partnership of Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell. Running from 2 October 2026 until 27 April 2027, it's a rare chance to see the work of two people who helped redefine British fashion.
Now, anyone who knows...
The Long Road Back from Half Way Tree
Paperwork has a strange way of reducing a life to a handful of typed lines.
Court dates.
Convictions.
Sentence lengths.
CRO numbers.
The Home Office record doesn't lie, but it doesn't tell the whole story either.
When I look at my official record, I don't just see seventeen convictions and thirty-one recorded offences. I see the ghost of a man I used to be.
For twenty-seven years, I drifted in and out of trouble, running from the police, standing before judges,...
The Stories Behind the Sleeves: Designing My Book Covers
A book cover isn't just there to look good on a shelf or a digital screen.
It's the first impression.
The poster for the story inside.
A great cover should set the mood, hint at what's coming, and make you want to know more before you've even turned the first page.
Looking back at my books, each cover reflects a different world, a different story, and a different chapter of my life.
Nightmare in Jamaica: From First to Second Edition
The...
Eleven Years, One Needle: The Woman Recreating the Bayeux Tapestry by Hand
The room smells faintly of damp linen, beeswax and dog hair.
Outside, the Cambridgeshire drizzle turns the fens into a blur of slate grey. Inside a modest terrace in Wisbech, the world has been reduced to thread, linen and extraordinary patience.
There is a particular kind of madness that begins with staring at a completely blank canvas and thinking:
"I can dedicate the next eleven years of my life to this."
That's exactly...
The Sound of the Streets: Three Decades of Tommy Kennedy IV
Tommy Kennedy IV didn't just witness London's live music scene evolve over the past three decades—he helped shape it.
From global arena tours to sweat-soaked basement venues in West London, his career has been built around one simple belief: great music deserves a stage. Whether he was running the door, mixing sound, promoting gigs, or managing bands, Kennedy became a familiar figure behind some of the capital's most authentic live...
Why Footballers Use Viagra at High Altitude: The Surprising Science Behind England vs Mexico
With England taking on Mexico tonight, here's one of football's strangest – and most misunderstood – sports science secrets.
Imagine checking your kit bag before one of the biggest international matches of your career.
Boots.
Shin pads.
Tape.
Energy gels.
A blister pack of Viagra.
It sounds like the punchline to a dressing-room prank.
It's actually backed by science.
Believe it or not, Viagra has become a...
Walking into Indian Veg on Islington's Chapel Market feels like stepping back into the early days of the internet. Every inch of the walls is covered in colourful clip-art posters, bold slogans and hand-made manifestos celebrating vegetarianism. One sign claims vegetarian food will improve your love life, another argues meat is responsible for war. It's wonderfully chaotic, completely unapologetic and unlike anywhere else in London.
Indian Veg first opened in 1985 under Mohammed Safa and,...
It’s going to be an emotional, powerhouse of a gig. As most of you know, Gene October had to step back recently after some serious surgery, but he gave the lads his full blessing to keep the engine running and the legacy alive. That...
Who Is Julian Assange? The WikiLeaks Founder
Julian Assange is one of the most polarising figures of the 21st century. To some, he is a heroic whistleblower and a champion of free speech. To others, he is a reckless actor who compromised international security.
As the founder of WikiLeaks, Assange fundamentally changed how the public interacts with classified government data.
Early Life and the Rise of a Hacker
Born in Townsville, Australia, in 1971, Assange...
Mapping the Smoke and Heartache of Patrick Hamilton's London: A Review of Hangover Square and Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky
There is a particular kind of cold that crawls into your bones when you spend your last quid on a drink you do not even want, just to sit somewhere warm. Long before I began studying creative writing, I found that exact grey, shivering feeling alive on the pages of Patrick Hamilton.
He is the undisputed laureate of the smoky interwar pub, the master of the cheap...
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