It seemed like a good idea at the time. Having the grandchildren to stay with us on holiday in Cornwall with their little purple buckets and spades. What could be more delightful? We'd get to read them improving stories and watch them corpse with laughter...
Phillip Hodson first campaigned against censorship of published material when the novel Last Exit to Brooklyn was prosecuted for alleged obscenity in the mid-1960s while he was still at university. The book was acquitted on appeal and the implementation of the law radically changed....
Therapists agree about one thing: their clients are the problem. I get quite used to telling trainees: "You know, if your clients had no worries they wouldn't be coming to see you". Adding: "So inherently your job is difficult". But that never stopped a therapist from...
[embed]https://soundcloud.com/alex-hooper-hodson/phillip-hodson-on-the-radio-talking-about-poldark[/embed] The Rev Osborne Whitworth in the popular tv melodrama Poldark has a passion for female feet. Phillip on radio is asked if his character is true to type....
[embed]https://soundcloud.com/phodson/hodson-on-infidelity[/embed] Phillip Hodson discusses on radio the anguish of rejected love. Note - it's assumed by the interviewer that the owner of the damaged car is a man though this may be untrue. Questions covered: Is taking revenge a useful psychological release? Can you...
Even psychotherapists do fashion. After all, you must present yourself so as not to alarm your clients. Once, a traditional woman took exception to my cagoule and never returned. Outside California, nudity in therapy is unacceptable so ideally you pick garments modern-seeming...
Of course, I am the most accepting psychotherapist around. At least, my tolerance is genuine in the workplace. But privately I prefer to discriminate (in the good sense). Fashion wise, I like to discriminate against what I regard as 'celeb' clothes for...
As a parent, you figure you will finish with the self-sacrifice once they achieve a certain age. It used to be when they reached 18. Then it was 25 and now I've stopped counting the birthdays. My son Alex is...
In journalism's olden days, physical copy had to be transported to the typesetter - sometimes even by train from London to Manchester! Today, instant communication brings with it the dubious luxury of last minute corrections. Case in point. I am asked by a columnist...
Letter published in The Times, April 29th 2015: Auschwitz-survivor Eva Kor claims she has 'forgiven' her death-camp tormentors. Your correspondent, Meira Ben-Gad (April 28th) says that remorse by the offender has to precede any rational act of forgiveness. In fact, the nature of human trauma requires...