A rumbling of concern about electric cars came from an unlikely source earlier this month in the form of a piece in Mail Online by Rowan Atkinson. Unlikely, that is, until you are acquainted with his credentials.
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I won’t be seeing any of my four offspring on Father’s Day, and I don’t mind a bit. I have a similar attitude to birthdays. I won’t see any of them on Christmas Day either. Of course, I love spending time with my kids but…
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Rod Liddle’s Sunday Times article headlined, “We slurped up loads more sugar and salt in the Seventies. So why are we fatter now?” He went on to bemoan Tony Blair’s government for bullying food manufacturers into reducing sugar and salt and in the process ruining the flavour of teatime favourites like Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup and Spaghetti Hoops, to the point where “nobody eats that stuff anymore.” Maybe he’s right?
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As the sun begins to make a more frequent appearance and the temperature rises, ice cream sales are also on the up. News so important that it featured in Radio 4’s bulletins, that Cadbury flakes, now made in Egypt, are too crumbly! Then there’s the matter of Percy Pig ice cream and Golden Gaytime…
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I have known my colleague and friend for about twenty years. He trained as an accountant, has a neat haircut, smart appearance, and lives in the home counties. Having spent a great deal of time in his company I thought I knew him pretty well, but it seems he was hiding a dark secret.
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My 26-year-old daughter recently encouraged me to watch a film called “End to End” about singer songwriter George Ezra's charming Cross-Britain hike. Have you seen it?
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Growing up in Yorkshire, it seems there was a chippy on every street corner. Less so now, but there are still some brilliant exponents of The Noble Art, complete with awards. However there was a rather dramatic turn of events at two of my locals recently…
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I'd like to have had a go at someone for time wasting and daft questions, but Chatbots have thick skins and don't care.
According to Forbes 86% of people prefer a human to talk to, and I'm one of them.
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I can barely remember my early visits to Greek Islands, lost as they were to late nights, Raki, Ouzo and Retsina. Art director Terry, who is responsible for much of our graphic content, got marooned in his Cretian holiday home during Covid and never came back. I went to stay recently and had a very different sort of experience this time around.
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According to McKinsey the wellness industry is a staggering $1.5 trillion market worldwide, but is it good for us, or just making us sick? I admit to feeling a little queasy listening to Radio 4’s programme The New Gurus over breakfast this week. The episode was titled Taking the Urine, inspired by one guru, Will Blunderfield’s habit of drinking his. And from there it got more bizarre, explicit and rather sad.
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I felt a ring of empathy with comedian and writer Paul Kerensa’s slot on Radio 2’s Pause for Thought this week.
He started by relating a conversation with his mother who was objecting to the overuse of the word…
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I am Senior Non-Executive Director of Adnams, the Suffolk brewery and distillery which is celebrating its 150th year anniversary. We were honoured this week by a visit from The Princess Royal who…
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People who have a rosy outlook on the world may live healthier, longer lives because they have fewer stressful events to cope with, new research suggests. Scientists found that whilst optimists reacted to and recovered from stressful situations in much the same way as pessimists, the optimist fares…
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There was particular local interest in last Saturday’s Oscars because the immensely kind and talented Charlie Mackesy was nominated for the animated film of his best-selling book, The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse. His book broke all records, spending over 150 weeks in the Sunday Times best sellers list and the subsequent film premiered on BBC 1 on Christmas Eve…
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Every weekday evening, just before the news, Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman host the ever-popular Pointless tv quiz show. On Saturdays there is a celebrity version which last weekend featured BBC sports journalist Mike Bushell and news presenter Kasia Madela. We were quite chuffed to see our company name advertised on BBC peak viewing. Then it got me thinking about other pointless things.
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My two eldest children’s first school was Little Missenden Church of England Infant School, an idyllic establishment catering for just 45 pupils. The next-door churchyard was separated from the playground by a low iron railing fence and often an elderly looking gentlemen would chat to the children at breaktimes. None of the children really knew who he was, but the teachers did.
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Fishing is, by a distance, the biggest participation sport in the UK with over 1.5 million taking part each year.
I am no fisherman but have enjoyed a fishing trip three times in the last three years when on holiday. On our latest encounter we…
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I came across a tv news story of a chap in New Zealand, who, on his first day of retirement cut the lawn. The next day he cut it again.
He then scarified, treated and reseeded it.
While waiting for nature to catch up he…
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In my youth I’m not sure I paid much attention to climate change, a hot summer’s day in Yorkshire was a treat and not something to be concerned about.
Then we were in New Zealand’s largest city Auckland last Friday when it experienced its most extreme rainfall on record…by a distance…
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Unless you only visit high end restaurants where it’s still difficult to get a table unless you book three months ahead it seems, you might have noticed a distinct absence of staff in catering establishments across the board. So much so that…
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