Mobs demand death over teddy’s name

Posted by on Nov 30, 2007 in updates | 24 comments How much worse can this unbelievable situation get? This picture of mobs wielding clubs and knives today in Khartoum looks terrifying. There are demands that her 15 day jail sentence was too lenient and that she should be shot. The great thing about British law is its emphasis on the word “intent”, and clearly Gillian Gibbons had no intention to be blasphemous by naming a teddy bear...
read more

Government urged to support families of the missing

Posted by on Nov 30, 2007 in updates | 7 comments The anguished mother of a missing son is urging the government to provide desperately needed support and additional police training to deal with these unfathomable cases. Nicki Durbin, mother of Luke (pic left) who vanished in May 2006 aged 19, and Valerie Nettles, whose son Damien (pic right)disappeared mysteriously in November 1996 when he was 16, are teaming up with other families of the...
read more

How can Obama defend himself over terrorist slur?

Posted by on Nov 30, 2007 in Uncategorized | 6 comments Would you vote for Barack Obama if you thought he had terrorist links? Of course not. So how can the presidential hopeful defend himself against this slur, should he sue the respected Washington Post for insinuating that he is a Muslim extremist who wants to overthrow the government? I know politicians must have a thick skin, but instilling imagined fear in people’s minds over threats of...
read more

How will we be living in 2030?

Posted by on Nov 29, 2007 in updates | 15 comments Can you imagine what life will be like in 2030? What changes will technology and medicine have made to our lives? Do you fancy living to 130? Futurologist Ray Hammond has come up with some answers in a thought provoking book entitled The World in 2030. My thoughts are that cars will be banned from cities, there will be taxes galore for global and local environmental projects, we will live in...
read more

Caretaker’s home used to teach migrant children

Posted by on Nov 28, 2007 in Uncategorized | 10 comments So how can we teach our migrant children which turn up on our doorstep? What thought did Tony Blair give to this when he opened our doors to their families? Just to let you know what is happening in Fenland, my home patch, where a secondary school has resorted to using a caretaker’s house to cope with the demands of teaching English to children from migrant families. The property became...
read more

How good is a $100 laptop?

Posted by on Nov 28, 2007 in updates | 8 comments   Can you imagine the excitement of these young Nigerian school children who have been given a $100 laptop each as part of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme in Africa. Some of them don’t even have a television at home. Their local community built their school, now well worn, from plaster, wood and tin. It educates 150 students and three classes are crammed into the two-room...
read more

NIAB welcomes support for GM crops

Posted by on Nov 27, 2007 in updates | 8 comments It takes a brave man to speak out on unpopular subjects, like Sir David King did today, when he supported the need to use GM technology and research for future crops. Still, as the comments were made in his last speech in his capacity as the government’s chief scientific adviser, he knew it was too good a chance to miss to put across his views. This is a press release I have issued for...
read more

An update on Loula

Posted by on Nov 27, 2007 in updates | 20 comments My mum is still in hospital where further tests are being carried out as some results caused concern. The main thing is that her spirits have improved. I was waiting at the front door of the hospital when she arrived to be admitted last night, she had travelled there with my sister Rosalind. She looked very rough, but pride in her youthful appearance made her insist on vehemently refusing a...
read more

An emergency hospital trip

Posted by on Nov 26, 2007 in updates | 13 comments I am now heading off to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn where my mother Loula is being admitted this evening for tests because of her heart and breathing difficulties. She lost her zest for living five years ago after dad died. Now she never looks after herself, dresses warmly or eats well. "What is the point?" is all she ever says. I spent Saturday with her and...
read more

Could rich countries be sued for climate change?

Posted by on Nov 26, 2007 in updates | 9 comments Could the poorest countries in the world sue the rich, polluting countries which are deemed to be responsible for climate change by producing excessive carbon emissions? The Make Wealth History blog tells us that the Bonn Agreement in 2001 recognised that developed countries were largely responsible for climate change and should pay towards alleviating its effects in poorer countries, with...
read more

Defra’s luxurious bird flu jaunt

Posted by on Nov 23, 2007 in Uncategorized | 10 comments Knowing how tight Gordon Brown keeps his purse strings, and condemnation over his inadequate funding for our troops, I wonder how he will feel when he learns that Defra officials stayed at one of East Anglia’s most lavish hotels when investigating the recent bird flu outbreak. The Ickworth Hotel near Bury St Edmunds is a very special hotel for anniversaries and honeymoons, it is for those...
read more

The missing – Kevin Ayotte

Posted by on Nov 23, 2007 in updates | 24 comments Kevin Ayotte was last seen by his mother playing with his brother upstairs in their summer home in Sugarbush, Minnesota. That was 25 years ago. He was just over two years old. Their mother went outside briefly and when she returned, Kevin was gone. Kevin has a scar on the right side of his chin. His speech is limited and he is hearing impaired. The pic uses age progression techniques to show...
read more

Where was Hilary Benn today?

Posted by on Nov 22, 2007 in Uncategorized | 7 comments Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today failed to turn up for the launch of Britain’s first bioethanol plant. He was due to perform the opening ceremony. Neither was he in the Commons to answer questions about the latest reported outbreak of foot and mouth at Pirbright. He took the easy way out by slipping out the information by written statement. Food and Farming Minister Lord Rooker...
read more

Post Office consultation lets down the public

Posted by on Nov 22, 2007 in Uncategorized | 4 comments How can government pick and choose the time it wishes to consult with the public? Its decision to suspend consultations over proposed Post Office closures in the run-up to next May’s local council elections is immoral. It clearly demonstrates that it wants to control the consultation process and bury any potentially bad news in advance of it happening. Public consultations have begun on...
read more

My PR Diploma

Posted by on Nov 21, 2007 in updates | 26 comments I heard today that I passed my third paper for my CIPR Diploma in Public Relations. I distinguished myself with a Merit on my personal project which focused on MPs who write blogs, and how it relates to two-way communication and PR theory. It is a post graduate qualification and taught me the strategic roles and functions of the public relations practitioner. I find my new knowledge of great...
read more

My concern over loss of child benefits data

Posted by on Nov 21, 2007 in updates | 11 comments As a mother of two sons eligible for child benefits, my personal details are among the millions included on the missing discs. What concerns me more than the possibility of my banking details being fraudulently used is the fact that personal data of 15.5 children in the UK are included on them too. What would happen if that information fell into the hands of evil people who preyed on young...
read more

Does Echinacea work?

Posted by on Nov 21, 2007 in updates | 9 comments Every October, I start dosing myself up on Echinacea to prevent colds and take it every day until February. I have never had more than one or two poorly days throughout the winter. This year I thought I would wait and see what happened if I didn’t take the herbal medicine. So is it a coincidence that I now have the shivers, jelly legs and a sore throat? Needless to say, I have started...
read more

Are AIDS figures up or down?

Posted by on Nov 20, 2007 in updates | 8 comments We are told today that new cases of HIV are less than predicted, in fact 6 million fewer, according to latest figures just published. This is a timely update, with World AIDS Day coming up on 1 December. It has to be good news if there are fewer cases, but what exactly does this mean? The UN AIDS fighting agency has said that it has overstated H.I.V. cases by millions, and that new infections...
read more

The give and take of marriage

Posted by on Nov 19, 2007 in updates | 15 comments I I guess the Queen and Prince Philip have had their ups and downs like any married couple, and even more as being royal, their marriage is far from ordinary and always in the public gaze. I remember as a cub reporter having to write up on golden and diamond wedding anniversaries. When asked the secret of their success, they invariably replied the same – to give and take. It reminded me of...
read more

Crusading Jemima wins my respect

Posted by on Nov 18, 2007 in Uncategorized | 26 comments Jemima Khan has gone up tremendously in my estimation following her very public support for her former husband Imran, as well as other political activists, following their arrest in Pakistan. Jemima has become a lead spokesman in the UK fighting his cause, and other opponents jailed in the run up to January’s elections. We are now seeing a different Jemima from the socialite often...
read more

Robert Sturdy seeks EU funding for immigration growth

Posted by on Nov 16, 2007 in updates | 8 comments My MEP Robert Sturdy has had a string of media interviews today following his meeting with Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Julie Spence to discuss population growth and the impact of immigration which is particularly prevalent in the Eastern region. Robert initiated the meeting and was joined by three local MPs, Malcolm Moss, James Paice and Shailesh Vara. It is naturally not just policing that...
read more

Commons committee urged to stamp out sex trafficking

Posted by on Nov 16, 2007 in updates | 9 comments A parliamentary committee will next week debate amendments to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. These include proposals submitted by Dr Carrie Pemberton, the dynamic founder of CHASTE, to stamp out sex trafficking. Carrie is concerned that those who support licencing brothels, like the WI and Bishop Crispian Hollis, do not understand the full implications of this, that 98% of female...
read more

My blind lunch date

Posted by on Nov 15, 2007 in updates | 17 comments I am meeting a fine bunch of bloggers today for the first time, and as they write under pseudonyms, I have no idea what they look like. They will have the advantage as my photo is published on my blog. I certainly admire the literary flair of Winchester Whisperer, and shall be thrilled to meet the famed Wife in the North. King Lear is very much a mystery man to me, but in a few hours, I shall be...
read more

Supporting war zone women

Posted by on Nov 14, 2007 in updates | 11 comments One of the most inspirational speakers at the Conservative Women’s Association conference for me was Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International. This is an organisation which supports women in war-struck countries. Zainab was fortunate enough to escape Iraq, and has described her terrifying years living under Saddam Hussein in her memoir, Between Two Worlds: Escape from...
read more

Jonathan Aitken’s other new role

Posted by on Nov 13, 2007 in updates | 12 comments While the nation is getting to grips with Jonathan Aitken’s new role in leading a much needed prison review for The Centre for Social Justice, I can disclose that he is spending this week touring the UK to promote a campaign against sex trafficking. He is a keynote speaker for CHASTE – Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking across Europe. Their tour, entitled Love’s Not For Sale, is...
read more