May your enemy be happy

There was a time a few years back when the media was full of tales about how Mindfulness could change people’s lives.  “That’s so Kings Heath!” I remember scoffing to one of my friends as we sipped our skinny decaf americanos in a vegan-friendly café in, you guessed it, Kings Heath.  The irony didn’t escape

UNESCO, radio and the ‘second orality’ revolution

The following blog first appeared on BOLDtexter Tim Stimpson’s website. I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by UNESCO’s Giulio Bajona for World Radio Day (13th February). It was for an article about the power and resilience of radio: how it can connect us to our past, help us understand the present, and even

Spring is on the way

Crisp bright days, sparkling frost, hats, coats and gloves to keep out the cold. Great for some but not for me. Ok, I’ll admit snow is lovely, when you don’t have to go out to work – which many of us aren’t doing right now. But what I really crave is warmth and sun –

Happy New Month

I love New Year – any excuse for a party – though it could do with a new theme tune.  Auld Lang Syne is a bit of dirge and nobody knows the words. And I’m not too fond of the fireworks. Or the hangovers.  But I love New Year resolutions. I love that feeling of a

Happy New (Tax) Year!

Okay, the new tax year starts in April, but January means one thing (other than giving up booze and New Year’s resolutions): TAX. Movember is much easier for me, as I now have a permanent moustache – being a woman who has lived for several decades.  But somehow my longevity doesn’t help me deal with

Writing the future

I’m not one for New Year resolutions. It’s mainly because I’m useless at keeping them and I hate the feeling of failure that has normally set in by the end of the January. This year was no different. The world, however, seemed to have other ideas…. As Big Ben rang in 2021, the UK departed

Not so dry January

I’m totally rubbish at New Year resolutions. I was one of those children who’d ask for a diary for Christmas and would have abandoned keeping a journal by the time we went back to school. I do, however, usually manage ‘dry January’ (or, as it’s known around our house, ‘almost dry January’) but, like a

Small actions

My 12 days of Christmas have in recent years extended to 37 days as I keep my Christmas tree up until the end of January. This helps with the gloom of the first month and of course, it’s especially important this year to do whatever it takes to keep one’s spirits up. I completely forgot

Goggle eyed

My New Year’s resolution is TV-related due to the many hours I’ve spent goggle-eyed in front of the box recently.  In fact, over the 43 weeks since the first lockdown, I’ve probably watched upwards of 1,500 hours of television. That’s an incredible 62 days!  For two whole months, I have squirmed around on my lumpy

Time to get the deckchairs out

New Year inevitably makes me think about some of the people I miss. This year my grandmother Ivy has been on my mind. Born in 1905 in Newark (Nottinghamshire), Ivy lived through World War I with her beloved older brother Harold away in Germany on active service, World War II in Coventry where she remained