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Day 19   And the final one of my ten new commandments is simply this – thou shalt smash the patriarchy. By gendering God, we set half of humanity above the other half. We place power and agency in the hands of one half of humanity, and nurture and care

Day 18   Someone, long ago, took me aside and described, earnestly, repeatedly and at great lengths, the horrors that had been heaped upon them when they were a child. This, they told me, is why they could not control their temper. Why I should never take their violent outbursts

Day 17   As a Habitually Invisible Woman, I find myself constantly amazed by the degree to which I’m reflected in media representations of the season. Capable Mother, organising excited children and hapless husband, supported by the big supermarkets and corporations which understand her pursuit of the Perfect Christmas better

Day 16   A couple of years ago, we had a Christmas craft party in the local village hall. I took my sewing machine and some dried lavender, and some blank canvas tote bags and fabric paints, and chocolate truffle mixture ready to be rolled in coloured sprinkles, and some

Day 15   It’s tempting to think of kindness as a lovely soft thing. A pillow against the awful times we’re living in. An analgesic marshmallow. The easy way. Give money to the homeless, buy for the foodbank, donate a gift. Invite the estranged relative to the family feast; say

Day 14   I struggle to maintain a healthy relationship with food. Fat was bad when I was growing up; thin was marvellous, beautiful and (most importantly) unattainable. Other people could be thin, but not me, because I was ‘big’ from an early age. Carrots were ‘good,’ but they weren’t