Once in a while, the work of a charity hits home as truly inspirational. Jamie’s Farm is one such charity, supporting young people and their families in the often difficult years of secondary education and, in the process, changing lives. They run two farms on which young people can spend time and learn life skills […]

Alexander McCall Smith joined the Cyrenians charity today, along with patients and volunteers, at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for a book reading, where he presented a new poem written for the occasion and gifted books to hospital patients and staff. You can watch his visit to the Garden here. The Community Hospital Garden The event […]

W.H.Auden, who died 40 years ago this month, is one of the most humane, loving, direct and affecting poets of all time, writes Alexander McCall Smith (article first published in the New Statesman in 2013). He wrote a poem in praise of limestone. He wrote a poem about Sigmund Freud. He wrote poems about cats […]