Who has failed our children?

Posted by on Feb 14, 2007 in updates | 30 comments It’s half-term week this week, the kids are at home, but are they happy there? According to a stinging Unicef report, the UK is accused of failing its children, coming bottom of the league table. It looked at 40 indicators, including poverty, peer and family relationships, when monitoring child well-being across 21 industrialised countries. As a result, the UK has been described...
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Long live romance, but not just for today

Posted by on Feb 14, 2007 in updates | 19 comments I can’t not mention what today is with all those hearts and flowers at the top of my site. I wonder if men feel pressurised into buying cards and  flowers to celebrate St Valentine’s Day. I suspect they do. Although it smacks of consumerism, many men ignore it at their peril. I feel it’s what happens throughout the year in a...
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Archer’s lost shepherd returns to flock

Posted by on Feb 13, 2007 in updates | 10 comments I expect Bryan Applyard will sleep happier tonight knowing that the Archer’s stolen sculptures have been recovered following a sensational overnight swoop by police at a Cambridgeshire village. The boys in blue turned out in full force, with eight police cars swarming to the recovery scene with flashing lights and spent five hours there. I didn’t even know we had that many...
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Gordon Brown hammers Chernobyl charity for airport tax

Posted by on Feb 13, 2007 in Uncategorized | 20 comments A Chernobyl charity’s plea to Gordon Brown to waive airport taxes for bringing sick children to the UK for recuperative breaks has fallen on deaf ears. The Chancellor has refused to exempt it on humanitarian grounds. The adorable looking girls in this picture aged seven and eight are currently visiting my area, thanks to the East Cambs branch of Chernobyl Children Life...
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Council coughs up light bulb compensation

Posted by on Feb 12, 2007 in updates | 15 comments A person who injured their hand on a light bulb is to be paid compensation by Cambridge City Council. And so is a Cambridge Folk Festival reveller who slipped. These are two compensation claims highlighted in today’s Cambridge Evening News, they were obtained by the paper from Cambridge City Council using the Freedom of Information Act. It says dozens of people are demanding cash payouts...
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Blue Shark bites into politics

Posted by on Feb 12, 2007 in Uncategorized | 10 comments Welcome to Blue Shark, the inspirational new multimedia blog launched today by a bunch of very proactive young Tories. I met Caroline Hunt when we sat on the sofa at 18 Doughty Street, she has verve, passion and intelligence and is a great force behind this new project. I hope it gets a good plug by Iain tonight. This is what it’s all about: “An exciting new multimedia blog...
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Will Obama’s drug past hinder his bid for the White House?

Posted by on Feb 11, 2007 in Uncategorized | 21 comments As David Cameron woke up today to more headlines about smoking cannabis at Eton, I wonder if Barak Obama’s drug past will hinder his bid for the White House. He has openly admitted taking cocaine as a teenager, saying this about himself in a book he wrote 11 years ago: “Junkie. Pothead. That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the...
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Should Hillary Clinton be more cyber savvy?

Posted by on Feb 9, 2007 in Uncategorized | 15 comments Could Hillary Clinton’s bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination hinge on how cyber savvy she is in the face of “web insurgents”? That is the claim made in today’s Times by Joe Trippi, the strategic guru who helped to drive Howard Dean to the brink of the Democratic nomination in 2004. He predicts that Barack Obama or another candidate will ride an even...
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Correcting a few PR Week inaccuracies

Posted by on Feb 9, 2007 in updates | 32 comments For the second week running I am privileged to be mentioned in PR Week, the latest is today’s special feature on blogging. Unfortunately, a profile about me is peppered with inaccuracies. Mostly they are quite minor, for example the reference to how Dell replaced my faulty laptop with a new model after reading the complaint on my blog when in fact the company simply repaired it. But it...
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Govt plans to limit access to democratic information

Posted by on Feb 8, 2007 in Uncategorized | 12 comments Does anyone care about the draconian and far-reaching changes proposed to the once glorious Freedom of Information Act? While Shilpa Shetty swanned through the House of Commons yesterday and charmed everyone she met, truth seeking MPs were actively debating their concerns over the curtailment of access to vital information, which could begin as soon as 19 March. I have just read the Hansard...
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Has the snow affected your day?

Posted by on Feb 8, 2007 in updates | 22 comments We were warned it was coming, but the arrival of the white powder stuff still takes us by surprise and causes chaos. I have one son at home delighted that his school is closed, and another feeling cheated that his classes are still on – as well as the parents evening tonight. Geoff is particularly anxious, he is hoping to catch a flight to Dubai later today to visit his son and is...
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Freedom of Information Act at risk today

Posted by on Feb 7, 2007 in Uncategorized | 10 comments A crucial debate is being held in the House of Commons this afternoon on the Freedom of Information Act which may result in charges  being made for  requests. The Act has, in effect, been a victim of its own success, government has had enough. This excellent article by Heather Brooke warns that the proposed change to the law will allow government to aggregate...
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Today’s two inspirational figures

Posted by on Feb 7, 2007 in updates | 11 comments How can you not admire Kylie for looking so stunning after a painful break-up with her French lover, on top of battling with breast cancer, and having to make a very public appearance. She knew she would be in the full glare of the public spotlight at the launch of an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum to mark her fashion icon status over the decades. And she looked sensational in a...
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My day of BBC filming

Posted by on Feb 6, 2007 in updates | 15 comments I have had a brilliant day in London, which included being filmed by the BBC for a report on political blogging to be broadcast on the Andrew Marr Sunday AM programme this weekend. I was chosen to speak about women bloggers because their producer Libby Jukes had seen the recording of me on 18 Doughty Street talking about the impact blogging had on my family life, how my younger son wants me to...
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Westminster drink culture blamed for death of former MP

Posted by on Feb 5, 2007 in Uncategorized | 24 comments A husband has blamed the Westminster drink culture for the death of his wife, a former MP. Ten years ago Fiona Jones was one of Blair’s Babes, but after losing her seat and becoming embroiled in allegations of election fraud, of which she was eventually cleared, and being unable to find new work, she turned increasingly to drink. Chris Jones says his wife hardly drank before she became...
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Racial row over "Uncle Sam’s" pizzas

Posted by on Feb 4, 2007 in updates | 25 comments If you think we have racial problems in this country, you will be amazed at this latest example of intolerance shown towards the Hispanics in the US. The Pizza Patron company hit upon the idea of allowing customers to pay with Mexican pesos in its 59 stores due to the booming migrant Latin American population, it also wanted to compete with major pizza chains. This makes good sense to me –...
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What a sensational week …..

Posted by on Feb 2, 2007 in Uncategorized | 14 comments It’s been a sensational week for Iain and Guido whose relentless pursuit of the Smith Institute story played a major role in an inquiry being launched to investigate its charitable status and links with Chancellor Gordon Brown. It’s been another disastrous week for Tony Blair, who has today said he will not give in to pressure to quit over the cash-for-hours affair. Whatever The...
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Top Gear and those insensitive remarks

Posted by on Feb 2, 2007 in updates | 31 comments Both my sons enjoy watching Top Gear, but we missed it last weekend when Richard Hammond returned to the screen following his terrifying crash. So I didn’t hear the offensive comment made to him by presenters Jeremy Clarkson who asked him if he was “mental”, while James May  offered him a tissue in case he started dribbling. I wonder how that made him feel...
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A PR-blogging first for me

Posted by on Feb 1, 2007 in updates | 10 comments This is a first for me. Last July I wrote on my blog about a campaign to give small shareholders a fairer deal and more rights following a demo outside the House of Commons. The campaign  involved persuading government to make an amendment to the Company Law Reform Bill and was led by Lansons PR. It was successfully carried, and even Baroness Margaret Thatcher turned out to vote in...
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What mileage will govt give to road charge protesters?

Posted by on Feb 1, 2007 in Uncategorized | 8 comments Protesters have until 20 February to add their name to the government’s online petition objecting to ill conceived plans to introduce road charges. There are more than 626,000 signatures to date, it is the biggest online poll set up by Shropshire man Peter Roberts.  However, I’m not entirely confident of it receiving the time of day from Transport Secretary Stephen...
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