My public speaking challenge

Posted by on Jan 31, 2008 in updates | 16 comments Regular readers will know about my fear of public speaking and how I am trying to overcome it with the help of Cambridge Speakers Club, a Toastmasters International organisation. I used to freeze and dry up and feel so panic stricken, but I am gradually becoming more confident. In fact, so confident that I have accepted an invitation to chair a discussion entitled “Addressing Business...
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When did food become so complicated?

Posted by on Jan 30, 2008 in updates | 19 comments If, like me, you watched Newsnight last night with journalist Mi chael Pollan being quizzed about his latest book, In Defence of Food, did you also wonder why food has become so complicated? For example, who eats butter any more? Is it made from the right kind of fat, does it contain Omega 3 oils? These are the questions I ask myself too as I avidly scan food labels. Have we become a little...
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Who will inherit Nigella’s fortune?

Posted by on Jan 29, 2008 in updates | 19 comments As someone who has helped Nigella Lawson amass her millions by tuning in to watch the Domestic Goddess demonstrate her culinary skills, as well as buying her latest Nigella Express cookbook – the pear and chocolate pudding is to die for – I was fascinated to learn that she does not plan to leave her fortune to her children when she dies. I wonder whether being the daughter of a...
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News at 10 and sex trafficking tonight

Posted by on Jan 28, 2008 in updates | 6 comments Do be sure to watch ITN’s News at 10 this evening and see their dangerous undercover investigative work on sex trafficking in Eastern Europe, it’s a highly lucrative trade. I’ve just seen a trailer and it is going to be really gripping and eye-opening. Award winning journalist Chris Rogers liaised with CHASTE – Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking in Europe when working on...
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Tony Juniper to leave FoE

Posted by on Jan 28, 2008 in updates | 4 comments I don’t imagine it will be too long before Tony Juniper lands a top new job which will enable him to continue promoting green issues. The Friends of the the Earth will find him a hard act to follow after he steps down as director from the green group later this year. I am very surprised that he chose to announce he was quitting in the Mail on Sunday rather than via his regular Guardian...
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A strictly fun weekend

Posted by on Jan 26, 2008 in updates | 14 comments My exotic mother Loula is visiting me this weekend. Her motto in life is to “live and love your life away”. Yet every time I speak to her on the phone, her last words are: “I must go and wash the kitchen floor”. She seems obsessed with washing her kitchen floor! But this weekend she can leave her mop behind and have some fun with me. It starts tonight with a 25th wedding...
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Tea with Barbara Cartland

Posted by on Jan 26, 2008 in updates | 3 comments I must confess I have never read a Mills & Boon book, yet 35 million bodice-ripping copies are sold every year – one every three second. This year marks the centenary of the publisher, and I was surprised to learn that its romance writers did not include the legendary Dame Barbara Cartland, who produced 724 books, sold over a billion copies and entered the Guinness Book of Records as...
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Are men discriminated against?

Posted by on Jan 25, 2008 in Uncategorized | 26 comments Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker made two references at yesterday’s sex trafficking conference expressing surprise at the zero media coverage following the launch of a new organisation called the Men’s Coalition. It aims to advise government and other policy makers on designing policies and services that take account of the specific needs and experiences of men in a wide range of...
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Should royal males still take precedence on inheriting the throne?

Posted by on Jan 25, 2008 in updates | 14 comments It may sound like a sexually transmitted disease, but primogeniture is in fact the common law right of the first born son to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings. Note the word “son” in this sentence, in this enlightened day of sexual equality. So why in the 21st century do males still take precedence over females when succeeding the throne? Why are...
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My sex trafficking conference today

Posted by on Jan 24, 2008 in updates | 6 comments I shall be working in London today at the CHASTE conference – Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking in Europe – where many authoritive speakers will give their valuable insights into this very topical and worrying issue. I’m delighted that the Press Association is interviewing and filming CHASTE’S founder Dr Carrie Pemberton there at 8am, which means this story will feed...
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How should we treat evil lifers like Rose West?

Posted by on Jan 23, 2008 in updates | 27 comments While I strongly believe that prison should help rehabilitate offenders, how should evil lifers like Rose West be treated when they are locked up? West was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 10 young women and girls, including her 16-year-old daughter, her eight-year-old stepdaughter and her husband’s pregnant lover. Her monster of a husband Fred escaped trial by committing...
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A happy house last night

Posted by on Jan 23, 2008 in updates | 4 comments I have two Tottenham mad fans in my house, and even my youngest son, a Man U supporter, cheered on Spurs’ terrific 5-1 victory over Arsenal last night – the first time they have beaten their arch rivals in nine years. So you can imagine we had a very happy house last night as one ball after another hit the back of the net – and at the right end. My husband sometimes lodges...
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Paxman’s pants grips the nation

Posted by on Jan 22, 2008 in updates | 11 comments The question which springs to my mind over the apparent lack of support in M&S pants expressed by Newsnight’s tough anchorman Jeremy Paxman is, how long does he expect them to last? On a day when the health of our economy takes a serious dive, Paxman has the nation gripped about the quality of his undies, complaining about “widespread gusset anxiety”. He also believes his...
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YouTube help needed please

Posted by on Jan 22, 2008 in updates | 17 comments This is an appeal for any YouTube experts who can give me some technical advice. During my visit with Julian Sturdy and Yorkshire postmaster Aasif Rabbani to present their post office closure protest petition to 10 Downing Street, I made a video recording, but it hasn’t downloaded as I had hoped. I have downloaded three excellent recordings, but when I transferred them to YouTube, only...
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The truth about Hackney, do you feel safe walking there?

Posted by on Jan 21, 2008 in Uncategorized | 28 comments If our Home Secretary Jacqui Smith doesn’t feel safe walking in Hackney, what do the people who live and work there think? I asked a teacher I know at Hackney Free and Parochial Seconday School to tell me, and her response was very candid and eye-opening about the violence. This is what she said, this is her story: I have listed below some of the incidents/ experiences I have encountered...
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Protecting our kids

Posted by on Jan 21, 2008 in updates | 11 comments We know so little about what our kids are doing on the internet. My youngest son recently joined Bebo and it seems to take up much of his free time, he really enjoys it, and assures he is only conversing with school friends. And I believe him, despite his furtiveness sometimes. But that is not always the case, and Angela Fagan, of Kidshield Europe, warns us about the dangers of predators who...
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Octogenarian dances his way to American chat show

Posted by on Jan 18, 2008 in updates | 16 comments There has been much  publicity today about the sadness of elderly people and the loneliness they face. They are a generation of our society which I feel should be treated with more dignity and respect. I remember being told  during a visit to Corsica that there were no old people’s homes on the Italian island, that grandparents lived with their children, and this was done with...
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Could King’s Cross cope during a terrorist attack?

Posted by on Jan 17, 2008 in updates | 12 comments I have serious worries about how King’s Cross would cope if there were to be another terrorist attack. I was at the station last night when all trains in and out of the station were cancelled due to signal failures. As you can imagine, it was chaos. If King’s Cross cannot communicate and immediately operate an effective emergency strategy in these circumstances, what chance do we...
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No 10, Nick Robinson and the Mongolian ambassador

Posted by on Jan 17, 2008 in updates | 13 comments Who do you think was waiting for us when we arrived at No 10 yesterday with our post office petition? None other than the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson, I wonder who gave him the tip off about our visit. He was very charming and said he remembered me being on the Andrew Marr Sunday AM programme along with himself and other political bloggers (not sure I believe this) and happily...
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Govt urged to apply for bluetongue funding immediately

Posted by on Jan 17, 2008 in updates | 1 comment A few days ago a Dutch vet warned that livestock farming in East Anglia could be decimated unless a vaccine is available in time. So it is very welcome news that the European Commission will co-finance a mass bluetongue vaccination campaign across the EU. The plans, which include meeting the full cost of purchasing the vaccine and 50% of administrative costs, will be paid out of the EU budget....
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Heading for Downing Street today

Posted by on Jan 16, 2008 in updates | 14 comments I am joining Julian Sturdy today who is heading for 10 Downing Street today to present his protest petition against the proposed closure of a post office in Yorkshire. Julian, Conservative parliamentary candidate, has actively been meeting villagers in Fulford to discuss their concerns and objections. He will be joined by postmaster Aasif Rabbani. Julian said: “Under this government there has...
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Where is compensation for other MRSA victims?

Posted by on Jan 16, 2008 in Uncategorized | 12 comments My husband always used to fancy Leslie Ash in Men Behaving Badly before she had her trout pout. But that was nothing compared to the suffering she endured after catching MRSA, which has left her unable to work ever again. The £500,000 £5 million compensation awarded is a record for a superbug victim, but is too small a price for the loss of good health, independence and...
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Two new kids on the block

Posted by on Jan 16, 2008 in updates | 7 comments Two Cambridge sixth formers have started writing a blog, and the quality of their work is exceptional. I think they could prove to be a great tool and make them stand out from the rest when it counts. Emily’s site was a Christmas present from her social media savvy dad Geoff, who created my site too. Her intelligence shines out, I hope her psychology tutor is impressed with her posts. Her...
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Well done Barclays

Posted by on Jan 15, 2008 in updates | 22 comments It seems I have been a victim of online banking fraud. We are quick enough to criticise banks, but I would like to praise Barclays online for the excellent way they picked up on what happened to me so quickly. I had a scam email purporting to be from Barclays last Friday which I thought was genuine, followed by a call from the bank the next day asking me to contact their fraud office urgently,...
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The Passion Play

Posted by on Jan 15, 2008 in updates | 7 comments I missed Radio 4′s highly acclaimed Passion Play last weekend, a tale of middle-aged boredom and and unmet desires, where flattery and attraction leads to a flurry of of lies and exhilarating thrills, to love, as well as the inevitable broken heart, I imagine. The play is based on James and Eleanor who are happily married, or so they think. Kate, the young widow of one of their oldest...
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