Blog
Abbeyfield’s mission – caring for the whole person
This is a video I produced of Abbeyfield's launch of its future housing strategy for elderly people, driving forward its mission to combat loneliness. Chief Executive Paul Allen explains that their goal is to care for the whole person - "their body and soul" - and the...
Who is Labour’s WikiLeaks “bully and sex pest” ?
Lots of names and embarrassing detail is gloriously published in the Guardian's WikiLeaks exclusive today. Yet the blushes have been spared of a Labour minister who was forced to apologise for sexual harassment and described as a "bully". The newspaper is witholding...
A brief encounter with Michael Crick
My pulse rate increased when I spotted Newsnight's terrier Michael Crick sitting a few inches from me in a Westminster coffee bar. I was passing time there as I was early for an event in the House of Lords to promote Abbeyfield's future care home strategy in the UK,...
Tuition fees and student unrest
My grave concern about tripling university tuition fees is that it is a flawed business plan. A bank would not lend thousands of pounds on the pretext that it might be paid back ONLY IF the students secures a job with a salary of £21,000. With the proposed changes...
David Ruffley’s neighbourhood coalition
We all know you can choose your friends, but not your neighbours. It means that suddenly the Lib Dem and Conservative coalition has a whole new meaning as Tory MP David Ruffley has inadvertently moved next door to his former Lib Dem parliamentary rival David Chappell...
Combating loneliness in old age
Loneliness is one of the biggest fears for older people today. But this is nothing new. One inspirational man who recognised how loneliness affected the older generation back in the 1950s was Richard Carr-Gomm who resigned his commission in the Coldstream Guards to...
Congratulations to Francesca and her second Mexican Takeway!
I had some wonderful news over the weekend. There's nothing that beats putting a smile on my face than the arrival of a new baby. I love them all!! The mother is an inspirational woman who is campaigning to reduce bureaucracy over adoptions in the UK, Francesca...
Monitoring Social Media
I'm sorry to miss this unmissable event in London next Monday as it could provide the elusive answer for PR, marketing and social media professionals about how to measure ROI on the internet. Entitled Monitoring Social Media 2010, it includes some great speakers, and...
Trying the new Nescafe Dolce Gusto
Nescafe is confidently taking on the Italians as King of Coffee with its new stylish coffee making machine, the Nescafe Dolce Gusto, and its mouth watering collection of recipes, including the scrummy sounding, waist expanding Chocolate Butterscotch Latte Macchiato -...