Gavin Haines

London

Freelance Journalist at Freelance

Journalist, travel writer and sometime columnist. Associate editor @PositiveNewsUK. Writes for @Telegraph @BBC @NatGeo @theipaper. Home is #Nunhead.

Articles

What went right this week: the good news that matters

22 hours ago | positive.news | Gavin Haines

China’s emissions tipped into reverse, scientists had a breast cancer breakthrough, and Europe’s best cycling city was revealed, plus more good news Environment Health Society UK World China’s emissions tipped into reverse, scientists had a breast cancer breakthrough, and Europe’s best cycling city was revealed, plus more good news China’s emissions tipped into reverse China’s embrace of renewables has tipped its emissions into reverse, with some experts predicting the country’s CO2 output...
I took the new eco-friendly Dover-Boulogne ferry - it has its own passport control

2 days ago | inews.co.uk | Gavin Haines

Two hours ago, I stood atop the white cliffs of Dover under a clear blue sky, gazing across the glistening English Channel. The Strait of Dover looked still and inviting, a picture of calm. It was an illusion, I realise now, as our catamaran barrels over eight-foot waves and skipper Andrew Simons fetches the sick bucket. “Look at the horizon,” says the Yorkshireman, calmly.
Academics want to ‘decolonise’ Stratford-upon-Avon, but the town remains gloriously unchanged

4 days ago | yahoo.com | Gavin Haines

My hands are sticky with strawberry ice cream, so I wipe them on my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt while someone blathers on about a bloke called William Shakespeare. I’m in a strange town with marauding swans, a lazy river, and a stone bridge that glows in the decadence of mid-summer. Colourful narrowboats float on a listless canal while cars trundle up streets lined with crooked Tudor buildings. You can’t move for badly dressed Yanks clutching camcorders.
Academics want to 'decolonise' Stratford-upon-Avon, but the town remains gloriously unchanged

4 days ago | telegraph.co.uk | Gavin Haines

The Bard's birthplace has found itself at the centre of a woke row, but tourists continue to visitMy hands are sticky with strawberry ice cream, so I wipe them on my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt while someone blathers on about a bloke called William Shakespeare. I'm in a strange town with marauding swans, a lazy river, and a stone bridge that glows in the decadence of mid-summer.
What went right this week: the good news that matters

1 week ago | positive.news | Gavin Haines

The popemobile was bequeathed to Gaza, Uganda’s Ebola outbreak ended, and elk looked set to return to Britain, plus more good news Conservation Energy Health Society UK World The popemobile was bequeathed to Gaza, Uganda’s Ebola outbreak ended, and elk looked set to return to Britain, plus more good news Popemobile to become a health clinic for children in Gaza One of Pope Francis’s popemobiles is to be converted into a mobile clinic to deliver frontline care to children in Gaza – but not...
What went right this week: the good news that matters

2 weeks ago | positive.news | Gavin Haines

Indonesia topped a new wellbeing index, the hunt for an Alzheimer's cure stepped up, and an ‘extinct’ bird came back from the abyss, plus more good news Indonesia topped the inaugural Global Flourishing Study Various indexes try to gauge how humanity is faring mentally, measuring everything from happiness and wellbeing to life satisfaction. Now there’s a new yardstick in the mix.
What went right this week: the good news that matters

3 weeks ago | positive.news | Gavin Haines

The ‘Green Nobel prize’ revealed its winners, data caught up with climate wreckers, and scientists developed a superbug-busting paint, plus more good news Environment Health Society UK World The ‘Green Nobel prize’ revealed its winners, data caught up with climate wreckers, and scientists developed a superbug-busting paint, plus more good news The Goldman prize revealed its winners Activists who protected the planet from mining giants, plastic companies and energy firms are among the winners...
I visited every country on earth but meeting suicide bombers at a wedding shocked me

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Gavin Haines

Bazooka-wielding militias, psychedelic tribes and cockroach-infested jails are par for the course for the growing 'go everywhere' community"I was kidnapped by terrorists in Mauritania. They kept us in a tent for three days in the desert. When they realised that we were nobodies they let us go. I still ask myself: 'why?'"Nicolas Pasquali is reflecting on the inevitable perils that come with joining the '193 club', an exclusive coterie of people who have travelled to every UN-recognised country.
My mini tour of the 'worst hotel chain in Britain'

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Gavin Haines

Britannia Hotels has been crowned the worst hotel chain in Britain for 11 years running. Are things really that bad? A line of scum clings to the tiles in the pool at Bournemouth's Royal Bath Hotel. "They need to give this place a good jet wash," says the lady doing breaststroke next to me, before merrily shrugging off any concerns she might have about hygiene. "It's not the cleanest, but then I grew up swimming in canals," she says. Good for her.
What went right this week: the good news that matters

4 weeks ago | positive.news | Gavin Haines

Social protection provisions improved globally, Australia slashed marine pollution, and lab-grown meat had a ‘breakthrough’, plus more good news Culture Environment Food Health Society World Social protection provisions improved globally, Australia slashed marine pollution, and lab-grown meat had a ‘breakthrough’, plus more good news More people have access to social protection than ever A record number of people globally now have access to some sort of social protection, including pensions,...