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February’s Cosmopolitan magazine has been lauded by some as a watershed moment for celebrating the plus-size female body. It features cover stars of various body shapes showcased across different digital and print editions, including some extremely overweight women, accompanied by the line ‘This is healthy’. Well, I’m sorry to say it, but I was far … Read more
Nine years ago my grandmother passed away at the age of 85. A long time before, she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and when it returned ten years later, her body soon became riddled with it. It was, of course, a distressing diagnosis but she was greatly helped by the honest and sympathetic discussions … Read more
My gran was tough as old boots. She was one of 14 and brought up in grinding poverty. She was never one to complain. Proud of her Yorkshire roots, she had a proper stiff upper-lip. Her motto in life was you just get on with it. Despite having had a very hard life, she never … Read more
The heartbreaking image that appeared on the front page of yesterday’s Daily Mail proved beyond doubt that Britain’s shameful treatment of its care home residents needs to end. Showing a loving wife having to kneel in the street to see her husband’s face through a metal railing, it was yet more disturbing proof that the … Read more
My mum was not always the perfect parent when I was growing up. Times like when I fell down the manhole in the front garden and knocked myself out while she chatted to our neighbour. Or the time when I was eight and I was left waiting for three hours outside an empty church hall … Read more
I am usually pretty upbeat and positive — a glass-half-full person. But even I was knocked back by the Government’s new restrictions and the prospect of another full lockdown. Just as we started meeting friends and venturing back into the office, boom! We seem to be careering back to square one. It’s so disheartening, I … Read more
When coronavirus first struck Britain, Boris Johnson assured the public that ‘our country remains extremely well prepared’ to cope. Among our national assets, he boasted, was a ‘fantastic testing system’. Even when the virus was at its peak in May, the Prime Minister was still in hyperbolic mode as he promised that the testing regime … Read more
We all know someone who has, let’s say, certain quirks. Perhaps they like their pens and pencils perfectly aligned on their desk. Or they are forever plumping up their cushions. Or their cutlery drawer is a work of art and their wardrobe perfectly colour-co-ordinated. All too often they will try to laugh off this quirky … Read more
Here we go again! A new war is declared on obesity and this time it’s personal. For it’s the Prime Minister himself who is leading the charge. After his brush with death courtesy of Covid-19, he has undergone something of a Damascene conversion. Now he knows the high price to be paid for those excess … Read more
Rapper Kanye West has long had a reputation for attention-seeking and so, when he announced on July 4 that he was going to stand for the presidency, it was hard to know whether he was being serious or just seeking publicity. But as his behaviour become increasingly erratic, it began to look as if West, … Read more