The following photos are a selection of the reality that I see when I travel. It’s very different from a newspaper. I’m a big fan of a natural smile. It’s almost always reflected straight back at you, wherever you go, and just goes to show that joy is our natural state. While arranging the photos, I was reminded of something I once read somewhere – that there are dangers in the world, but the world is not a dangerous place. On the contrary, it’s full of opportunity.

If you click on a photo you’ll get the label of where it was taken and the option to view as a slideshow. Note – the better photos of Afghanistan were taken by friend, Audrey Le Mault, who has her own website of excellent photos. The great ones of Damascus were taken by another friend, Umama Hamido, who knicked my camera for the morning.

Apologies that I haven’t yet given you the option to view by country. I’ll get round to it. For now the order is random.