Is silence golden?

Musings

Is silence golden?

In these times of instant updates and reaction on social media sites, is silence from a corporate PR department golden? There is an interesting article in this week’s Radio Times by Justin Webb. He suggests that being open is easier said than done and …is it possble that the smart response to the public is sometimes, still, silence? I think not. He gives an example of a Quantas social media

Musings

The most brutally honest blog post I will ever write

<sharp intake of breath> I made the decision last week to finally do something about my weight. If you are reading this and have never met me you might not know that I have an issue with it. In fact, if you know me you might not know I have an issue. I am the first to poke fun at myself. I have long joked that I am a size

Musings

“French children don’t throw food”

I have been dying to read this book since I saw a bit of a Twitter buzz about it awhile ago and I was thrilled to have been lucky enough to get an advanced copy. I wanted to hate it. I wanted to read it and say “oh for God’s sake woman” (the “woman” being Pamela Druckerman, the author, an American, married to a Brit, living in Paris). But I

Musings

Carlos Tevez

If you think this blog post is another rant (and there have been a few this week so you have reached a logical conclusion) you are mistaken. Come back if you are about to leave. It is not. It is about Tevez and how he plays a role in what might be my greatest EVER achievement. And the best way to demonstrate this is to show you a video I

Musings

Dear Hollister

Dear Hollister I visited one of your stores for the first time just before Christmas and what an experience it was. So much so that I felt I just had to put my thoughts “out there”. I have looked at your website before but as the papers before Christmas were full of stories of deliveries not being made I thought I would go along to the nearest, recently opened, store

Musings

That Match.com advert

Seen it? It is a lovely ad. Couple meet on a railway platform and seemingly fall in love. There are a whole series of them on Match.com’s YouTube site. All around the same theme, accidently falling in love. One in a shoe shop, one whilst playing at pianos, or at a bus stop. Ah how lovely. How romantic. So why in God’s name then is the advertising theme for an

Musings

Celebrity Big Brother

ce·leb·ri·ty [suh-leb-ri-tee] noun, plural -ties for 1. 1. a famous or well-known person. 2. fame; renown. Origin: 1350–1400; Middle English < Latin celebritās multitude, fame, festal celebration, equivalent to celebr- (stem of celeber ) often repeated, famous + -itās -ity Related forms non·ce·leb·ri·ty, noun, plural -ties. Synonyms 2. distinction, note, eminence, stardom I copy the above as I am struggling to understand the word “Celebrity” in its context with

Musings

My Top Ten — Bruce Barrow

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you: Mr B And his top ten, again, in no particular order Frank Sinatra — New York Party time, drunken end of parties Eurythmics — Sweet Dreams Got to love a song with abuse in it Hazel O’Connor — Will You Smoking Sax Joe Jackson — Different for Girls Universally acknowledged as the best opening line in popular music Ian Dury — Toast Just because

Musings

It’s my 3rd Twirthday today!

“Twirthday” (c) @britmums. What is that? I hear you cry … well it is my third birthday on Twitter. I joined on January 6th, 2009. So today I celebrate being a petulant child (anybody who says “no change there, then” will be sent to the naughty step). And all Sovereigns have two birthdays (their “real” birthday and then an “official” one in the summer when the weather is more conducive

Musings

Is this the end for the Maldives?

I stumbled across this headline this week and actually said “oh for heaven’s sake” out loud Maldives orders ban of all spas. Now I should state here that I have never been to the Maldives, but I have spent six years living in a Muslim country so I feel this gives me a right to comment (even without living in Saudi I would still feel I have a right to

Musings

And so this is 2012

Good morning and a Happy New Year. I don’t really “do” New Year’s Eve. If I had my way I would be in bed by 10.30pm and sleeping through the whole wretched affair. I am not sure why I feel this way about December 31st but I have done for years. I don’t really enjoy going to parties that start at 7.30pm and by 9pm you are either running out

Musings

My Top Ten — Olivia Donnan

And the last top ten of the year goes to my gorgeous mum. This is quite a list, the second one I have never heard before but I remember her going to Senegal during the university degree she decided to take at the age of 40, having missed out on going as a teenager. #ProudDaughter So here it is. What a list!! Aretha Franklin — Say a Little Prayer Reminds

Musings