I first came to London to live properly fifteen years ago. By properly I mean deep within the city of London, not out on the hinterlands, where I’d grown up as a teenager. For the first six months I was very lonely—I didn’t know that many people here—and I saw a lot of things. Those …
Experience is king. If you are experienced at this or that skill—at socialising, or at dating, or at running as business or whatever—then clearly you are in a better place than if you are not experienced at all. However, none of us are experienced at everything. It is impossible. And at any moment we might …
In May 2016 my girlfriend at the time moved into my apartment in London. Six months later I was so frustrated and unhappy I asked her to leave. That is the full and triumphant history of my cohabitation with women since my early twenties. The reason this girl moved in was complicated, but basically it was one …
I am too far gone, it is true. It is true, because when you have drunk deeply from the cup of life it is difficult to ever get back. When you have cut the rope, and the ship has sailed, there’s no point in saying ‘ oh, hang on a minute, maybe I should turn the ship …
I found it hard to muster any enthusiasm for the royal wedding. In the morning I went to meet a friend (Paul Janka, as it happens) over in Highgate. When I came back into central London at about 12-ish the streets were deserted, save for the outsides of a few bars and cafes where crowds …
What to do when everyone’s against you? There are times when I feel like this, certainly. I can go along for a few weeks with everything being fine and dandy, getting on great with the world. And then all of a sudden, for some inexplicable reason, everything seems to go to shit. I get haters …
Today’s extract from my forthcoming book about happiness explains the exact technique that I used when I was at a crossroads in my life and I decided I needed a new method to work out exactly what I wanted and where I was going. I’m keen to know what you think about this, so please do …
The activity that has changed my life more than any other in the last few years is undoubtedly listening to podcasts. The podcast has of course come of age in that time: now a great many people put them out and standards are very high. And sticking in the headphones for an hour or so …
A little ‘trip’ down memory lane today. The following is an extract from the new book I’m working on at the moment about how to achieve happiness. In the incident I describe I’m certainly not happy . . . but it was one of the stranger occurrences of my younger, more dissolute life, in my party …
You haven’t got time for resentment. You haven’t got time for friction. You haven’t got time for beefs. You haven’t got time for any of this stuff. Are you crazy? If you have got time for those things, or think you have, then you really need to have a look at your priorities. Time, you …
