A Government Minister wants all children to be able to read music by the time they leave primary school – but being someone who can, I fail to understand the importance. Nick Gibb is an MP on one of my newspaper’s patch, who also happens to be Minister for School Standards. Writing in the Times…
Just when I thought those days were over, suddenly I’m covered head to toe in baby sick
We thought we had turned a corner and waved the days of being covered in projectile vomit behind us. It had been a while since the topic of these blogs was focused on spews, rather than news. But last week’s trip back to Swindon served as a reminder that while it was a new year,…
First shoes lead to fascinating trip down memory lane
When the battered old suitcase comes out and your other half and mum are present, it’s usually a signal for the dust to be blown from those pictures of you in the bath. It was therefore a relief to me (and readers of this blog, no doubt!), that a post-Christmas visit to my home town…
Why we are caught in a vicious social media circle – and negativity won’t solve anything
Used well, social media can be an incredible force for good. But too frequently it descends into a playground to kick around the same old complaints, aimed at the same old targets. Retail is a regular recipient of fault-finding. Just days before Christmas, a Worthing Facebook group debated a deserted evening high-street scene. The majority…
Producing a newspaper at Christmas: behind the scenes in journalism
Christmas is a time to unwind – but for many local journalists, the big day is not so relaxing. Depending on their newspapers – and breaking news – reporters drawing the short straw this year would at the very least be expecting an unwelcome phone call to draw their lunch to a swift conclusion. Let’s…
Merry Christmas from Headline Spews
We’re sat on the lounge floor looking like we’re giving CPR to a semi-inflated rubber dinosaur. A family quiz has been penned which is odds-on more likely to trigger World War Three than Trump and Kim Jong-un. And most of the family have the dreaded lurgy which is striking new victims down so rapidly it…
Elf on the Shelf, real Christmas trees, Alan Titchmarsh and Kelly Hoppen
Within seconds of December arriving, the Christmas bug well and truly infected our household and struck down Hanna worse than the most severe case of man flu. It’s an annual affliction, which is only likely to worsen as the years go by, with a child with half her genes added in. A new house triggered…
How tragic losses left a legacy which paved the way to our new home
Owning our own home was a distant pipe dream when we found out we were expecting a baby. Living on the high-rent south coast and shelling out more than £40,000 in rent since early 2013, saving for a deposit was going to be a ten to fifteen-year ordeal, if we were lucky. Our rent-sapping situation…
We’re finally home owners…after a seven-month saga!
November 20, 2018. Today marks a momentous milestone in our family – we completed on our first house! We thought having a baby would be a baptism of fire, but all the poo rivers and spew spates in the world were no comparison to the rocky road that became our house-buying journey. We had it…
How family life inspired a bid to live a healthier life…sort of
Having a baby in itself is a life-changing decision and I viewed it as the pinnacle when it came to focusing on what’s important. But as I’ve learned in recent months, buying a house also has a habit of sharpening your mind. Perhaps it was the depressingly serious life insurance chat, in which we explored…
