Apr 4, 2014
In last week’s blog I described Twitter as a fabulous global cocktail party, which was later – in a gratifying example of just the sort of exchange I was promoting – nominated by one of my tweeps (or followers) as her quote of the week. Of course, as I said then, it’s...
Mar 27, 2014
As one door closes, another opens. I kept this hopeful saying in mind when pondering recent reports that a giant vending machine has replaced a village shop. I wasn’t thinking so much of the plastic swing door at the bottom of the automated shop, or even the...
Mar 21, 2014
Eugene O’Kelly was the high-flying CEO of one of the world’s largest accountancy firms, with a packed diary for the next 18 months, a rock solid marriage and two loving daughters when, aged 53, he was told that he had inoperable brain cancer. “I was blessed,” reads...
Mar 14, 2014
A blood test that can detect early signs of dementia – good news, surely? When I saw the recent reports I hoped it was, but knowing how these things work – and being a cynical cove – I wondered about the upbeat certainty of many of the headlines. These are the...
Mar 4, 2014
“Basil!” Anyone of a certain age will remember Sybil Fawlty’s voice imperiously summoning her gaff-prone hotelier husband in the ’70s sitcom, Fawlty Towers. Prunella Scales seemed to inhabit the role of Sybil: organised, efficient, bossy. She had to be with...
Feb 25, 2014
To Wengen, Switzerland, where CH and Emily skied and I walked in glittering snow among conifers laden with icy white blossom. The views – of the Eiger, the Jungfrau and the Männlichen – were stunning and the air was nectar after the fumes of SW17. As so often after a...
Feb 14, 2014
Recently a confluence of events has started me thinking. Always dangerous but on this occasion, positive. First up was some great news involving my daughter Emily. Modesty, and the threat of being disowned as her mother, prevent me elucidating further; suffice to...
Feb 6, 2014
As a journalist I’m wary of word counts and in the past I have been known to refer to “dementia sufferers” rather than “people living with dementia” because two words are always better than four in the world of the hack. Now my use of language is being challenged. ...
Feb 3, 2014
As I’ve become more and more interested in the way those living with dementia are treated by both health care systems and society I’ve realised that, given we don’t yet have a cure, the best way forward is to encourage and enable everyone who has the...
Jan 16, 2014
So, here I am. Finally. Writing my blog. I suppose it was inevitable really, given that I love writing and it’s what I’ve done, in various guises, throughout my career. I can also be pretty determined (others call it bolshie) when I put my mind to it. And I...
