Backgrounders about Colombia, and how it works – or doesn’t – drawn from my context journalism and years of living here.

1538: Bogotá’s conquest

Was the Spanish Conquistadors’ arrival on the Bogotá plain in 1538 a Good Thing or a Bad Thing? Depends who you ask.

A church for all seasons

The opinion piece printed in the Going Local column in The Bogotá Post in 2018 Related posts: Two Funerals and No WeddingCorruption: do you feel the bite?‘It’s the (narco) economy stupìd’1538: Bogotá’s conquest One thing sure to bug me at the end of a long day’s drive over Colombia’s dodgy roads is my wife phoning her mum to announce we ‘made it safely home, gracias a Dios’. ‘Thanks to god! Did you actually see a guy with a flowing beard

Building battles

You don’t need to go further than your own front door to find conflict in Colombia, as I discover after a stint managing the block of flats where I live..