Blog
Wendy Cope’s poem for the Poets House, Ely
I joined Ely's beautiful people yesterday for the opening of Ely's first boutique hotel called Poets House - complete with copper baths in the bedroom - and sipped my champagne with a local bishop, our MP, my dashing potato farmer friend, a few councillors and local...
Colon cancer – have you been checked?
The first time I met Jola Gore-Booth and Julia Kennedy from EuropaColon in Brussels in 2008, they quizzed me closely about my medical background to see if I needed to be screened for colon (bowel) cancer. They say people find it embarrassing to talk about bottoms -...
YourEly is now live!
YourEly is now live - and it looks amazing! I enjoy shopping, but I also love a bargain. So I am one of the 2,000 community members who signed up to YourEly to be updated about promotions and special offers right on my doorstep. While working with Caroline Bailey to...
The Margaret Thatcher legacy we really need
Love her or loathe her, whichever political colours you endorse, there is one way that Baroness Margaret Thatcher could make a positive difference for countless people's lives, and that is by donating part of her estate for research into dementia, the disease which...
Rachel Johnson’s Eddie Mair moment in Cambridge
Our glittering literary stars descended on Cambridge this weekend for Wordfest 2013, always a highlight of my year. Using St John's College as a venue for the first time worked brilliantly - who couldn't feel inspired and in awe each time we walked across the famous...
Cambridge Samaritans celebrate 50th anniversary
As a former dedicated supporter of Cambridge Samaritans, I was delighted to attend their 50th anniversary today where the city's Mayor, Coun Sheila Stuart, praised volunteers for their listening and non-judgemental skills. "Bereavement, redundancy, poverty, the loss...
North Norfolk’s links with Winston Churchill and Southern Rhodesia
We have just returned from a short Easter break to a fabulous North Norfolk hotel, somewhere I always wanted to stay after first setting sight on it back in 2009 when I joined Conservative European parliamentary candidates on a fact finding coastal erosion visit to...
Community support for YourEly tops 1,000
More than 1,000 people have signed up to YourEly within a month of dynamic Ely business woman Caroline Bailey announcing plans to launch a unique initiative for businesses in the city to engage with their community. It has also been 'liked' by more than 1,000...
What is the alternative to ineffective antibiotics?
It is terrifying to learn how resistant bacteria is becoming to antibiotics. They have been used as a last resort for both my sons, and I cannot bear to think of the pain they would have continued enduring without them, and what their recovery would have been like...