Hope Part 1: 2025-2027

— 2025 —

Hello Joanna,

I hope all is well back in London. Thank you for looking after me after my little breakdown in the office last week. I assure you that sort of thing doesn't happen often, as I'm usually very adept at keeping it all in. It was not a very dignified moment for me, but your sympathy was much appreciated, as was your offer to write to me while I'm away. This email is quite rambling, so please don't feel you have to read all of it. But you are right: writing down my thoughts and experiences definitely helps, especially when I have somebody to write to. And thank you for your discretion with the others too. Maria is here with me and remains clueless to the whole thing, which is for the best.

Perhaps you want to hear about Shanghai. I have been here once or twice before on assignment, and I must say it looks like their Air Pollution Action Plan has yielded results. Not only is the air quality so much cleaner, but the whole feel of the city has changed. Colours seem brighter, views more spectacular, and (although this is pure conjecture) the people seem happier too.

Of course, it remains suspicious quite how fast the Chinese government turned things around, and I do wonder if our little investigation will turn up some unpleasant truths. For instance, what happened to all the diesel vehicles, and the people who depended on them? Diesel vehicles are so heavily taxed now that they might as well be forbidden, and petrol also carries a far higher price than it used to. The government subsidised the purchase of new electric vehicles, but as far as I know there was no 'buy back' scheme for the ones that run on fossil fuels. Maybe that's why there are much fewer personal vehicles altogether: lots of electric public minibuses, and thousands of bicycles and rickshaws. The streets are still chaos, but a different sort of chaos.

Look at all that, I am basically writing Maria's article for her. I should focus on taking photographs, I think; a picture paints a thousand words, after all! I have some fantastically clear shots of the city skyline, which would have just been obscured by smog only a few years ago. I have attached a few you might like.

Maria is proving a reliable travelling companion, although she does like to chat for hours on end. This is fine most of the time, but it made the flight quite exhausting. I just wanted to watch a bad action movie or two in peace! Otherwise, she's inexperienced in the field and I get the impression she finds the city quite daunting, but overall she is doing well. She is very much still in her honeymoon phase, and talks about her new husband like he's the Messiah reborn. He's a graphic designer from Norfolk, and sounds a little boring to me, but who am I to say. I try to not let all her talk of love and 'the one' grate on me; she doesn't know what happened to Enya, of course. Her chatter would only be insensitive if she knew.

As for me, I'm feeling okay. Not quite as down as last week, that's for sure. I was worried that travel might make me feel even more lonely, but actually I think a little distance helps. It's difficult to find time to feel sorry for yourself when you are busy negotiating a foreign city. I had a message from one of my sons the other day, although I haven't brought myself to reply yet. I will soon though.

I think that little paragraph is about all the 'writing about my feelings' I can do at the moment. Small steps. I would also like to hear your news, especially Raymond's retirement party. I am sure it was a wild one, if I know him at all. It was a shame I was not able to be there, but I will definitely get a drink with him (a non-alcoholic one for me, don't worry) once I'm back.

That's about it from me, I think. I hope to hear from you soon, if you have the time.

Best wishes,

Bertram

Hey Bertram,

So glad you wrote! And I don't think you need to worry about appearing 'dignified' to me. There's nothing wrong with expressing vulnerability from time to time. I'm glad you did tell me what you were going through, and I just hope this helps in some small way. Grief is tough for anyone, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, I promise. Just don't give up hope.

Really fascinating to hear about Shanghai. Your photos are amazing, as always. There's always all sorts of conflicting news about anything that goes down in China, so I'll be interested to see what your investigations uncover. If some (or many) people have suffered so that the entire city is healthier and more pleasant, I wonder whether history will look favourably upon it? It is progress of a sort, I suppose. Things can happen fast, perhaps too fast, when the state has so much power over its people. I'll be sure to read Maria's article closely!

Great to know that you and Maria are getting along well. I've gotten to know her a bit whilst she's been in the office, and she's a lovely soul. Very sharp, even if she might not seem it at first. And a good laugh, too! Remind me - were you at the Christmas party? I remember she was having great fun on the karaoke machine, giving it her all. I'm glad she and her new husband are happy.

Good to hear you're finding things a little brighter, too. Definitely do get back to your son. Maybe you could meet up with him soon? I'm sure he finds his mother's passing just as difficult as you do. Remind me of your kids' names again? They're both at uni in Heidelberg, is that right?

Raymond's leaving do was pretty raucous, as you predicted. We'll all miss him, but it sounds like he's got an action-packed retirement ahead of him. He's only just back from roaming around Australia, you know! Next he's off on a road trip round the States, seeing some of his old ex-military friends along the way. Sounds dreamy.

As for me, I'm busy doing the background research for my next assignment, which will be taking me to Mexico City. We should overlap for a few days in the office once you're back, so I'll fill you in then, but I think it's a relatively mundane one. Other than that, my parents are coming down from Glasgow next weekend, so I'll be showing them the sights! It's a fair while since they've been in London, so we'll be doing the tourist trail – already got our London Eye tickets booked. I've persuaded them to take the train down here rather than their rickety old 4x4 – a lot safer, given my dad's eyesight is going, and not to mention more eco too!

Do keep me updated how the trip goes. Looking forward to hearing what you find out! Also, I've copied in my personal email, given this isn't strictly 'work business', so feel free to write back to that one – and you can lose the formal tone too, if you like!

Take care,

Joanna x

— 2026 —

Hi Joanna,

How are you? What is Athens like? I imagine it's quite a similar situation to here in a lot of ways, but it will be interesting to see if there are any differences.

Things are pretty crazy in Naples. There are thousands of migrants here, mostly Libyans and Algerians, all fleeing the troubles in North Africa. This new BabelVox app is doing wonders for Maria's interview process, translating interviewees' words literally as soon as they finish speaking. Considering the number of assignments I have done where the language barrier has been so tortuous, it's a wonder to finally see a solution in action. A new age for journalism, certainly – and for diplomacy, too, one hopes.

Most of them are afraid, and many are angry too. Maria and I spoke to one woman called Isabis, who was a pastoralist from northern Algeria. She had first been driven into the city by years of drought, and then driven out of the city by the unrest. Yet she didn't blame any of the fundamentalists or the military for their troubles; she blamed us. The advent of globally available internet has done wonders for accelerating education, although that may bite us Westerners in the backside. It turns out pastoralists like Isabis have been using the internet to find out why they have had so many droughts, and of course they discovered climate change. Not only that, they found out who has caused it: the West. The worst thing is, it's undeniably true. I think coming to Europe for refuge is a bitter pill for her to swallow, since we are such guilty contributors to their struggle.

I also bumped into a pro bono international lawyer, who's planning on taking witness statements from the refugees to carry on this argument. Did you know you can effectively take entire nations to court? Who knows where the 'damage payments' from such battles will end up. I have my doubts that it will reach the right pockets, but maybe that's just my cynicism speaking.

Anyway, it has really made me think about our lifestyles. I wonder if Fred would be open to looking into the company's carbon emissions? I especially worry about all these flights we are taking so often. I don't think they're even offset. It's more than humbling, to see these people that have left everything behind, when I know I'll be on an air-conditioned plane back to comfortable London in a few days.

I followed your advice and talked to Maria a little about Enya and all the accompanying fallout. You were right, she deserves to know, considering how much we travel together. She was nice about it, and even invited me round for dinner with her and her husband when we get back. That'll be a fun one; I can learn all about the epic highs and lows of graphic design. I must say I find your letters infinitely more helpful than her sympathy, even though she really means well. Writing back and forth with you has been such a lifesaver this past year. I do hope we can keep it up.

That's enough from me, in any case.

Best wishes,

Bertram

Hey Bertram,

Great to hear from you as always. What interesting insights you've come across! Certainly some similarities here in Athens, but some differences too.

I hadn't heard about the climate change angle – that's a new one for me. I wonder just how much it can be attributed to the droughts? I don't see how anyone can be certain. Interesting that it's permeating through to even pastoral people, though. Even without climate change, they have a right to be angry at us Westerners. It's not as if our governments have done much to relieve the North African situation in recent years in any case; quite the opposite, in fact

Having said that, Greece is dealing better with this migrant crisis than you might expect, and the local people here seem to be suffering less than when I was last here a decade or so ago. The EU is lending more financial support this time, although I expect this is a canny ploy from Germany and co to stop migrants attempting to get into Western Europe! Still, the results are good no matter the motivation. Funnily enough, I also think North Macedonia's inclusion in the EU and its newfound cooperation with Greece is also smoothing over the process, but I'll have to do some more research before I can say that for certain.

Having said all that, things aren't exactly rosy here. There's plenty of prejudice, as you might imagine, and there has been the odd little patch of violence. I do think the BabelVox app is helping matters, on the whole – although I wonder if it slows the acclimation process in some ways? It must remove the incentive to learn the local language somewhat. Not many of the migrants seem to show much inclination to learn Greek, but then few of them plan to settle here anyway: they have their sights set northwest.

Michael is getting on my nerves a little. He's a decent photographer, don't get me wrong, but he seems more interested in his kit than the subject matter at hand. I don't think he's quite sussed out the difference between an objectively decent image and a good 'storytelling' picture yet – he mainly seems to like photographing sunsets and ancient ruins! Lovely as they are, not quite what we're here for…

I see your point about flights and carbon emissions, although it's difficult to see an alternative. If we want to be decent journalists, we have to get to the action as soon as it starts happening, and flights are the only way to do that really! I guess there's no harm in offsetting though, if the budget can afford it. What exactly does it involve? Planting trees or something? (Speaking of which – my parents say the hills around Glasgow are all covered in saplings these days, part of the government's planting initiative! Goodbye open landscapes, I guess…)

Great to hear you and Maria are chatting. That dinner invitation sounds charming. I've met Jonah, her husband, and I promise he's not as tedious as all that! He'll have you putting the world to rights in no time, just like we do. On that note, yes, let's absolutely keep on writing! I've come to really love writing these letters, actually – if we can call them letters. 'Email' doesn't seem to do it justice. Feels too much like a proper connection.

Will see you back in the office in a week or so – we can compare articles! (I wonder whose will get more online traffic…)

Joanna x

— 2027 —

Hi Joanna,

How is Norway? I wish I could be there with you, but this flu is not budging. Even if I was well, I have a feeling Fred would have sent me off to Edinburgh with Maria anyway. He thinks Maria and I make a 'good team', which I suppose is true, when I can bear her relentless talking!

I'm fine, aside from being under the weather. One of my neighbours dropped off a few supplies for me, which is kind of her. It even included some vegetables from her family's allotment, one of these new 'rooftop gardens' that have started springing up all over the city. I used to think they were a bit silly, an excuse for city slickers to play at farming, but now that food prices are getting higher it might not be a bad idea. It's not the cheapest to rent a patch, but if I doubled up with someone, it could make it worthwhile. Would you consider it, as you live quite close by? Only a suggestion, no obligation.

I video called my GP the other day, just because this flu has been going on longer than expected. He actually suggested I could have malaria, even though I haven't left London for two months! Apparently hospitals are seeing it more and more in the damper parts of Europe. He said it was still very unlikely that I had it, though. There have only been a couple of cases in London.

Congratulations on your Egypt article. It really took off online, didn't it! I hear website traffic has almost doubled since this time last month. I imagine you can expect a nice bonus on your paycheque. It is rightly deserved, though: it was a fascinating read. Who knew that solar energy would become their new primary export? I suppose they have the weather for it, but I thought the infrastructure would take years to put in place. A wise investment decision, it seems. I can't imagine their oil-rich neighbours across the Red Sea are too happy about the competition, though.

Only one more bit of news from me: Harry is coming to visit. We have been messaging back and forth a little bit recently, and it turns out he will be in London soon to see some friends. He said he would have time to grab lunch, if I wanted to. I'm hoping this could be a chance to reconnect, but I don't want to mess it up! I feel like I was such a poor excuse of a father following Enya's death. How stupid, all of us feeling so alone, only feet apart. But, like you say, and like my therapist says too: that is in the past. Time to move on, and make sure I am a better person going forwards.

Thank you for listening to my ramblings once again. I can't wait to hear about your Scandinavian adventures.

All my best,

Bertram

Hey Bertram,

Sorry to hear you're still unwell. Crazy that your doctor mentioned malaria! That sounds highly unlikely to me, but always worth considering every possibility. Let me know if you're feeling better (or worse) soon? I care!

I love Norway. It's such a gorgeous country throughout. The fjords are my favourite, of course, but the forests and mountains are arguably just as stunning. But unfortunately, I'm not on assignment to look at the scenery!

It's all politics here at the moment. Norway has a reputation as an 'environmental pioneer', but continues to export sizeable quantities of oil and gas, which isn't a good look these days. The Norwegian government is under a fair amount of pressure from not only its European neighbours but also its own people to change things. Considering a big part of the climate youth movement began here, they are really under some heavy scrutiny! But, the country is also accustomed to the economic benefits of fossil fuel exports, so they're unlikely to give them up just like that.

This is why it is interesting that a few key government officials have agreed to meet me. The word on the grapevine is that there will be a big policy announcement in the next couple of days, and it seems that they feel it will be one that boosts their popularity. I strongly suspect they have some ambitious energy targets in mind, which to be honest could probably win them a re-election later this year. Perhaps their government has finally caught on to the zeitgeist – now for the rest of the world!

I love the idea of sharing a rooftop allotment. It would be a great excuse for getting me out the house at weekends. I have a terrible habit of wasting days watching old 2010s sitcoms! And I'm sure we could have some great conversations while planting carrots or picking beans, or whatever you do up there. Let's go for it!

Thanks for your kind words about my article. I was taken by surprise by how well it did, actually. I feel that Egypt is one of the 'forgotten' countries when it comes to our media, along with much of the developing world, of course. People know about Egypt's ancient history, but not so much its present. Their big solar project might really put them on the map! The fact that the foreign investment came off the back of intricate trade deals with the UK and other European countries is probably the main reason it's got any international attention, but if my article plays a part in getting their efforts globally recognised, I can call that a job well done.

And fantastic to hear you'll be seeing your son. It sounds like he wants to make amends just as much as you do. Grief can do such awful things to people. I remember seeing it in my mother when my grandfather died, many years ago now. She wasn't the same for years. But, eventually, she did return to how I remembered her, and now she's just as full of life as ever (if getting on a bit!). Let me know how it goes.

Joanna x