Onstage for the first time since the pandemic, my public and private selves are in conflict
Halfway through my interview at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, I have an awful moment when I seem to disengage, and I suddenly feel like a…
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Tracey Thorn
Tracey Thorn writes the fortnightly “Off the Record” column for the New Statesman.
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In my newly wildlife-friendly garden, damselflies mate to a soundtrack of London traffic
There are more bees in the garden than I have ever seen before, more butterflies, more moths, more everything.
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Ben goes into surgery and I end up doing what I’d hoped to avoid: pacing and watching the clock
For the last 30 years Ben’s life has had a lot of doctors in it, but still, general anaesthetics and…
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Men tend to think they’re the authority on music – but I have learned to fight my corner
I’ve been banging the feminist drum for 40 years, but when I reflect on my early song lyrics I realise…
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Browsing my children’s shelves, I understand how the books we read make us who we are
It’s why we keep books, isn’t it, for the little ghosts of our past selves contained within?
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As I enter my empty office building, I feel a strange mix of elation, anticipation and anxiety
Last summer I didn’t take advantage of the loosening of rules and I regretted it; but this time I am allowing…
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It’s easy for women to be written out of their story. So I wrote my rock ’n’ roll friend back in
Go-Betweens drummer Lindy Morrison endured the trials of being a woman in the music business in the 1980s, and her story should…
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I have never had a nine-to-five job but I still cherish the routines of the weekend
It all starts on a Friday night with some booze, as I sink into the relaxation that the end of the…
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For most of us, lockdown life will pass. But for some, there is no “getting back to normal”
As we battle with lockdown fatigue, I remember that those who live with disability or chronic illness always operate within such…
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