Blog
What Jade Goody and I have in common
I wonder how different Jade Goody's life would have been if she had known where "East Angular" was. "I am intelligent, but I let myself down because I can't speak properly or spell," was one of her most touching statements from Big Brother back in 2002. That sentence...
The economic recession and women political candidates
At a time when more women should be encouraged to become parliamentary candidates, I fear they may be even more deterred by the severe economic downturn. Contesting a parliamentary seat is an exhausting task and financially crippling. The immensely dedicated Robert...
The nonsense about labels with country of origin
It seems a nonsense to me that every item of clothing I am wearing states its country of origin on a stitched in label. I'm afraid to say they come from less than glamorous locations -my favourite fuchsia pink cardi from M & S was made in Vietnam, while my black...
Tolly’s flowers, raffle tickets and poor pensioners
I pulled out my husband's winning raffle ticket last night and didn't know what to do. "He bought it fair and square, it's his prize," said fund-raising officer Tracy who was standing next to me. "He's always lucky, he always wins raffle prizes. The week...
Comic Relief and TwitterTitters
Fellow scribe and twitterer Linda Jones has had a brilliant brainwave - to gather a collection of new comedy for Comic Relief via Twitter which will then be published to raise cash. She has been thrilled with the positive response since her announcement earlier...
25 random things about me
I have been tagged several times about this latest meme, 25 random things about me. So here goes: 1. I have ghost written the life of a truly extraordinary man which is being published by a leading publisher on September 3. I can't say more now, but it is very...
Euro election news coverage
It's very challenging trying to persuade local newspapers to print stories about the important work of their MEPs. The best coverage in my patch, East Anglia, has come from the East Anglian Daily Times. Each week it has published a Letter from Brussels column written...
Blog housekeeping
I have had a long overdue housekeeping session on my blog and many links have been eliminated because it was a chore to trawl through them all. If it happened to you and you would like your link reinstated, please let me know. I have also added a link for my twitter...
Impact of pesticides’ ban
My MEP Robert Sturdy fought tooth and nail to try and persuade his colleagues in Brussels to see sense over voting for the EU's pesticides' ban without having an impact assessment, warning it could affect our future food security. Unfortunately, he was not successful....