All articles

A chronological archive of everything I’ve published…


A love affair in front of death

For JN Life magazine Every time I am presented with another book about the Holocaust, I think there can’t possibly be anything new to learn. But in Keren Blankfeld’s mesmerising Lovers in Auschwitz, a masterful account of an extraordinary relationship in the worst death camp of all, there is plenty to learn and marvel at. […]

  • 26 January, 2025

From fleas to film stars: Dame Miriam Rothschild

This piece originally appeared in the Jewish Chronicle on July 23 2004.I’m posting it now after a request. I am receiving a lesson in natural history from one of the world’s greatest living naturalists. With great patience, Dame Miriam Louisa Rothschild is describing the astonishing behaviour of the tiger moth ear mite. “The tiger moth […]

  • 24 January, 2025

How to teach and learn about the Holocaust

For Jewish News Jan 15 2025 In recent years there has been a discussion, both inside and outside the Jewish community, about how to talk to children about the Holocaust. The subject is repeatedly aired at this time of year, with Holocaust Memorial Day on the national and international agenda. Children, naturally curious, will ask […]

  • 23 January, 2025

Doing it in style

For the Jewish Chronicle January 2025 I admit, I approached Adrian Tinniswood’s The Power and the Glory: The Country House Before the Great War, with a certain amount of trepidation. I felt like a despised day tripper tourist seeking to unlock the secrets of the Great and the Good. I need not have worried. Tinniswood, […]

  • 16 January, 2025

This is an extraordinary film — The Brutalist

The Brutalist January 2025 for Jewish News Let’s be honest — a film about brutalist architecture does not sound terribly appealing. But Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist — which won him and his star, Adrien Brody, three Golden Globes this week for best drama, best director and best actor respectively — is an extraordinary creation. The […]

  • 7 January, 2025

Tears and sirens as Gaza envelope rebuilds

Nir Kedar for Jewish News Life mag November 2024 We are only a few minutes into our Zoom interview when Professor Nir Kedar’s screen goes dark and, apologetically, he says there are sirens and he needs to run to a shelter. This is the sad reality of life in Israel today — but the remarkable […]

  • 11 November, 2024

How World Jewish Relief won the fight

For Jewish News magazine December 2024 We are inside what is, for me, unfamiliar territory — a boxing gym in the Sheffield suburb of Darnall, home to a large Muslim population. About 30 small boys (and one little girl dressed in Barbie pink from head to toe) are variously jumping in star shapes, practising sit-ups, […]

  • 27 October, 2024

Agony of young Nova party-goers to show on BBC film

For Jewish News September 2024 The tormented faces of the young survivors of the Nova festival massacre last October stay with the viewer, long after the conclusion of Yariv Mozer’s painful and powerful film, We Will Dance Again. Scheduled to be screened in the prime time Storyville strand on BBC2 on September 26, the film […]

  • 11 September, 2024

Jewish community offers solidarity to Muslim counterparts, condemns riots

For Jewish News August 5 2024 The “small but tight-knit” Southport Jewish community has said prayers and taken part in the town’s vigil for those killed and wounded in last week’s tragic knife attack on a children’s dance class. Victor Isenwater, chair of Southport Hebrew Congregation, told Jewish News: ““It is a difficult time for […]

  • 5 August, 2024

Boiling hot water man walks in boiling heat for bereaved children

For Jewish News August 5 2024 He is the managing director of one of the biggest kitchen appliance companies in Britain — and certainly understands what it means to be boiling hot. But Stephen Johnson’s life in August is set to be very different, as he aims to raise at least £50,000 by walking the […]

  • 5 August, 2024