Chairman of the board

Posted by on Nov 30, 2008 in Headway, Personal, Robert Sturdy MEP | 19 comments I’m afraid blogging is going to have to take a back seat between now and the end of the year as I focus on meeting a crucial deadline for my publisher. I also have important commitments as chair of trustees for Headway Cambridgeshire which supports adults with an acquired brain injury. Tomorrow I am in London attending a course for new chairs of charity trustees which is being held at the...
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Black Wednesday

Posted by on Nov 26, 2008 in News | 16 comments They are both iconic British retail emporiums which failed to keep up with modern times and maintain their public appeal. But it’s still a sad day, a very sad day, to learn that both Woolworths and MFI (whose furniture can we joke about now?) have gone into administration. This comes on top of reading today how 30 local journalists – a couple who I know – have lost their jobs...
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Families at war

Posted by on Nov 25, 2008 in News | 8 comments I don’t see there being any winners in the horrible court case between a mother and her author daughter, Constance Briscoe, who is a part-time judge. Constance described her very unhappy childhood in her book, Ugly, including how she was – allegedly – starved and beaten and told she was an "ugly waste of space". Carmen Briscoe-Mitchell, her mother, claims that the...
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Christmas, the credit crunch and alcoholism

Posted by on Nov 21, 2008 in PR | 22 comments I issued a press release this afternoon on behalf of a client, Veronica Callanan, a recovered alcoholic who now runs her own rehab clinic, and within seconds the deputy editor of Take5 magazine responded and said she "would love" to run Veronica’s story. We are hoping for further media coverage too because Veronica’s story is truly inspirational. And, having lost four dear...
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Would you buy this Ronnie Kray painting?

Posted by on Nov 20, 2008 in News | 15 comments I’m not an art expert. But I  know I wouldn’t want this amateurish looking stuff hanging in my lounge. It’s being sold at auction next week. Not because it is a great work of art. But because it was painted by notorious gangland killer Ronnie Kray while serving time at Parkhurst Prison for murder. It is one of two which is estimated to reach £1,000-£1,500. Not...
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The day I joined a pirate watch

Posted by on Nov 19, 2008 in News, Personal | 14 comments As pirates are in the news at the moment, it reminded me of the time I joined a pirate watch when the ship I was sailing on passed near the Moroccan coast. While my cruise mates were busy topping up their tans or playing deck quoits, I joined the guard pictured here to keep watch and protect them against any threat of piracy. This sophisticated sonar tracking device would have detected the...
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Migration figures take a dive

Posted by on Nov 18, 2008 in climate change | 12 comments I remember collecting James from school one Friday afternoon when he was 11 and telling him I was taking him a mystery tour, that we were going somewhere really special. We stopped off at the chippie en route and James was bursting to know where we were heading, especially as it was only a short drive. We ended at the Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust in Welney for the floodlit winter feed which...
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Should Baby P’s mother be allowed to have more kids?

Posted by on Nov 16, 2008 in News | 28 comments I was totally shaken to see how gorgeous Baby P looked before he became a punch bag. Don’t you just want to squeeze those chubby cheeks and bounce him on your lap, sing a nursery rhyme, clap hands and laugh together. That’s what most mums would have done with this bonny boy. But not Baby P’s mum. Instead of enjoying this kind of happy childhood, the blond haired, blue-eyed...
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League tables and life

Posted by on Nov 16, 2008 in Uncategorized | 5 comments We are in the process of looking at secondary schools with James who takes his GCSEs next summer and then starts at sixth form college in Cambridge in September. There are two schools in particular we are visiting. One is regarded as the creme-de-la-creme, and many parents of these kids wouldn’t dream of sending them to the other one down the road which is regarded as a poor...
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Seeking hot ideas on climate change

Posted by on Nov 13, 2008 in climate change | 8 comments It’s not just scientists and world leaders who are trying to tackle the threat of climate change. Financial Times readers – surely some of the brainiest on the planet – are being asked for their creative ideas too. I mentioned before how I am really impressed by Lionel Barber, editor of the pink one, and he is backing the FT Climate Change Challenge to find the world’s...
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Welcome the return of bendy cucumbers

Posted by on Nov 12, 2008 in Robert Sturdy MEP | 11 comments My MEP Robert Sturdy has welcomed the return of mis-shapen fruit and veg to our stores. Rules which dictate the size and shape of fruit and veg sold in the shops have today been scrapped by the EU’s management committee. It means that bendy cucumbers and nobbly carrots can be stocked again after they were banned following the introduction of EU-wide marketing standards which ensured only...
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My King’s Cross assignation and Toastmasters

Posted by on Nov 11, 2008 in Toastmasters, updates | 7 comments I am meeting a strange woman at King’s Cross Station, London today – strange in the sense that she is unknown to me – to research another hopefully gripping instalment of a book I am writing. All will be revealed in due course. I’m hoping we can find somewhere quiet and discreet to conduct our interview with my MP3 recorder. Her story is tragic, heartbreaking and totally...
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Go John, go

Posted by on Nov 10, 2008 in News, updates | 12 comments The Beeb’s latest upset is the huge popularity of genial journalist John Sargeant as he clumsily trots his way around the dance floor on Strictly Come Dancing. Who can blame him for his huge grin as his stunning dance partner Kristina Rihanoff snuggles against his chest seductively and is using all her kittenish, beguiling charms to help him win votes too. If BBC programme makers are not...
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Football history could be made in Cambridgeshire

Posted by on Nov 9, 2008 in News, updates | 7 comments While Barack Obama made sensational history last week, football fans are waiting to see if it could be made in Cambridgeshire too following the victory of a little known village team of amateur players called Histon FC who beat professionals Swindon 1-0 yesterday. In the second round of the FA Cup, these local guys, who my husband supports, could play Leeds if the Yorkshire team beats Northampton...
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Pot noodles and Pauline Prescott

Posted by on Nov 7, 2008 in updates | 18 comments We are visiting David in Hull tomorrow, the first time since we dropped him off when he started university. He didn’t have a half term and, after seeing him via my webcam last weekend, I didn’t want to wait another two weeks for his first trip back home. We talked away on Skype while he tucked into his Pot Noodle. These little plastic pots which are teeming with unpronounceable...
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When will Al Gore join Obama’s team?

Posted by on Nov 6, 2008 in climate change, updates | 10 comments How long will it be before Al Gore is leading Barack Obama’s climate change programme? The Nobel Peace Prize winner described his frustrations at being unable to persuade the Bush administration to take climate change seriously when I heard him speak in Cambridge. Treehugger has a report of Obama saying he wants Gore as part of his team to address global warming: “I will make a...
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My Woman’s Hour plug

Posted by on Nov 6, 2008 in Personal, Social Media, updates | 13 comments A thousands thanks to Iain Dale for his spectacular plug of my blog on Woman’s Hour today. He was taking part in a discussion on political blogs after Hazel Blears accused political bloggers of undermining democracy. The ill informed Communities Minister made a speech to the Hansard Society saying: “Mostly, political blogs are written by people with disdain for  the political system...
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Good morning America

Posted by on Nov 5, 2008 in updates | 20 comments Congratulations to Barack Obama, America’s first black president. It is an extraordinary and exciting achievement having persuaded the country with one word – change. Whatever your politics, his sharp and tireless campaign team must be admired for its incredible strategic tactics which I know political parties in this country – and around the world – will be closely...
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From food to fuel

Posted by on Nov 3, 2008 in updates | 14 comments Sainsbury’s is to stop dumping thousands of tons of waste food at landfill sites and will instead use it to generate its own electricity by converting it into methane gas. This gas will be used to provide light and heat for its stores. What concerns me about this is the quality of wasted food  they are throwing out, that they are forced to dump good food because of sell-by dates. Is...
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