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Harry Eyres established the FT’s Slow Lane column, which celebrates the creative use of down-time, in January 2004. Before that in a varied journalistic career he was a theatre critic and arts writer for The Times (1987-1993), wine editor of Harpers & Queen (1989-1996), wine columnist for The Spectator (1984-1989) and the first and so far the only Poetry Editor of The Daily Express (1996-2001). He has written on wine and food, travel, theatre, literature and music for most of the UK’s leading newspapers.

In addition to his journalistic work Harry Eyres is a published poet, editor of LSE Environment, the newsletter of LSE’s Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance, and teaches London theatre for a consortium of American universities. He wrote the Beginner’s Guide to Plato’s The Republic for Hodder & Stoughton’s Beginner’s Guides to Great Works series. He was born in London in 1958, read English at Cambridge University and holds the Diploma de Estudios Hispanicos from Barcelona University and an MSc in Environmental Assessment and Evaluation from LSE. - -

Wisdom from the polar north

Weeks of biting cold and sunless days are good cause to be miserable but at Tromsø, Norway, Harry Eyres gets the impression that such extreme conditions can bring out the best in people

Monsters’ ink

Three new books explore our fascination with the monstrous and why the line between the real and imagined is being blurred, writes Harry Eyres
On Monsters
Prehistoric Monsters
The Natural History of Unicorns

Love in a cold climate

Hard winters bring out the importance of real physical proximity, rather than the long-distance or virtual relationships that many have come to rely on, says Harry Eyres

The walk file: Glen Cova, Angus

Climb up the hills, which form the eastern edge of the Cairngorms National Park, and enjoy expanding views of the lovely South Esk valley, says Harry Eyres

Ennobled by suffering

Francisco de Zurbarán’s paintings at ‘The Sacred Made Real’, an exhibition of Spanish art from 1600-1700, leave a lasting impression on Harry Eyres

Blessings that grow with age

A heartening conversation with a distinguished pianist during the quiet holiday period makes Harry Eyres realise the benefits and blessings of ageing

Waking Up in Toytown

Poet John Burnside’s second memoir takes in heavy drinking and drug-taking, promiscuity and a spell in a mental hospital as he falls in and out of relationships and jobs, writes Harry Eyres

In the beginning

Unloved and stumbling, beginners are often treated with condescension and impatience. But, Harry Eyres says, being a novice is not such a bad place to find yourself

When straight is a bit narrow

Our obsession with building fast, straightish roads that cut through landscapes and ignore humble settlements might have infected our whole way of thinking, writes Harry Eyres

Human beings or human resources?

We needs to rediscover the values that give us god-like dignity and restore the non-instrumental beauty of the natural world, writes Harry Eyres

Peaks in a trough year

The graceful revolution

Mind, matter and religion

I have seen the darkness

The walk file: Penn Wood, Buckinghamshire

Childhood for grownups

Does science need religion?

Unnatural disaster

Plodders, pride and prejudice

Art for body, mind and soul