United Kingdom
I write news and features on arts, culture, politics, travel, outdoor swimming and other subjects. Contributing to Museums Journal, the Guardian, BBC Travel, the Sunday Telegraph and others. Email: knottjp [at] gmail.com
Arts and culture
Capital projects | The pandemic has led to delayed openings and spiralling costs across the UK
Arts organisations led by BME and disabled people were less likely than other organisations to be successful when applying for Arts Council England's (ACE) National Lottery Project Grants last year, figures obtained by ArtsProfessional reveal.
The 100 top executives at major arts institutions in England and Wales earn pay packages totalling over £10m a year, AP has discovered.
Politics
Should councils and communities raise a glass to their success in protecting the Great British Pub?
Could a basic income for all citizens provide security and give people more control – or would it be complex, costly and discourage working?
How the cabinet office's 'Nudge Unit' has grown to influence policy and strategy across government - and beyond.
Travel
Nevis is less well-known than other Caribbean islands - and Nevisians prefer it that way. It's only a few miles across the water from lively St Kitts. But here, the most cacophonous noise you'll hear is the chirping of insects among the lush vegetation.
As I reached the small village of Burträsk in northern Sweden, I saw snow piled by the roadsides like icing and a group of reindeer sitting down for a rest. When I got out of the car to take a photograph, they stood up, crossed the road and disappeared into the woods.
In central Riga, people are laying flowers beneath the Freedom Monument. It's a green statue of a woman holding three gold stars on top of a 42-metre stone pillar at the end of a broad, busy street. One woman explains to me that it's the 65th anniversary of the day in 1949 when 42,000 Latvians were deported to Siberia by the Soviet government.
Outdoor swimming
"Take off your clothes," a foreign voice said over the loudspeaker - slowly, rhythmically, emphasising each syllable. "Get into the water." It was not the kind of voice you disobey. So although I was on the Arctic circle, surrounded by ice and snow on all sides, I got in.
I couldn't see them, but there were almost 200 people joining me in this venture, now in its 12th year. Kitted out in yellow or green caps, we were swimming between the islands which, though technically one country, proudly maintain distinct identities.
Rowena Hoseason was dismayed when she discovered Cornwall county council planned to axe its subsidy for Bude sea pool. "When the council withdrew funding for the sea pool, people here were horrified," she says.