It’s eleven days since I last posted – and the break has shown just how much can happen – and change. Work began to get hectic, with Monday the start of our deputy editor’s two weeks of leave. Doing the job of two people, every day has seemed like one where I’ve started with a…
Month: September 2018
A golfing tribute to Gramp – and introducing the next generation
Despite his best efforts to introduce himself to us extremely early, Albie never made it to meet his great-Gramp. It was around the 31-week mark when I made the two-and-a-half-hour journey back to Swindon for my Gramp’s funeral. It was a risk, given just three weeks earlier we had been warned to expect Albie’s arrival…
An open letter to Daddy Pig
Dear Daddy Pig, My son recently returned from a day trip with his mother brandishing a crumpled carrier bag he informed me he obtained from Peppa Pig World. Inside said bag, by now discoloured from a couple of hours’ dribble and vomit, was a pair of socks emblazoned with your mugshot and the slogan ‘Stop:…
BBC’s Press: a drama to make us journalists cringe
The titles of new BBC journalism drama Press roll and it’s already irritating most of the journalists watching. There’s some fancy shots of notepads with lots of longhand. Where’s their shorthand? Did the reporter flunk their entry exams? Why are they being burned? Their owners must be pretty confident they won’t need to defend any…
Spotlight, Press and the inside story into a major investigative journalism team
Oscar-winning biopic Spotlight aired on BBC Two last night, giving viewers a thrilling insight into the United States’oldest journalistic investigations unit. It was a timely showing, with new show Press airing for the first time last week to some mixed reviews from journalists, who questioned the accuracy of the British journalism drama. While I’ve yet…
Can we as parents help reduce worrying trends of youth knife crime?
Journalists encounter the very best – and worst – of our communities. Among the worst issues I have had to deal with in my career is knife crime, a persistent problem which is sadly getting worse rather than better, according to national statistics. As a trainee in 2014, I reported on the most horrific court…
From Majorca to Morocco: how life as a journalist is the best job in the world
Juggling life as a journalist and a parent is a really tough one, with both demanding not only bags of time but being pretty intense. Both are among the best jobs in the world and I wouldn’t change anything. But it’s fair to say that the nature of my blog will sometimes highlight how tricky…
Help! Parenting tips for getting babies to sleep solo
As he scarily edges closer to his first birthday, Albie appears to have taken the lyrics to S Club 7’s hit Don’t Stop Movin’ literally. He’s crawling, rolling and shuffling around like he’s drunk gallons of Coke and scoffed packets of Percy Pigs. New nappy time now appears to be the perfect opportunity to perfect…
Why IKEA cruelly lured me back after hellish childhood visits
At least when you went to IKEA as a child you had some hope of meatballs at the end. If you went to B&Q, it wasn’t like if you were good you’d be able to pick out your favourite wood screw, or test drive the ride-on lawnmowers. But a trip to IKEA usually meant I’d…
Treasured memories with grandparents
“You sound like you had a terrible childhood reading your blogs,” my Mum said during our visit to my old home of Swindon this week. Endless boring trips to Cornwall and DIY stores left her questioning why day trips she took my brother and I on had not got a mention. I had to laugh,…
