Monday 20th January 2020 is designated “Blue Monday” – no not a celebration of the now-classic song by New Order, but the day in the year when the combination of post-Christmas debt, dreadful weather and the lapse in our New Year’s resolutions combine to make us reach a peak of misery. The first bank holiday is weeks away. The approach of Valentines’ Day is ramping…

The Valentine’s Day proposal.  How many of us, I wonder, are waiting with bated breath to see if this might be the day they’ll propose. Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, a January birthday have all gone by and nada. The problem is that you can rarely be entirely sure a proposal will be forthcoming particularly if you already live together. Will you get a Valentine’s Day Proposal? It’s…

Do you find that January is the month you decide to do something to get you moving towards your dreams? Do you make endless New Year’s resolutions, spend a fortune on planners, write bucket lists, create vision boards and create a public commitment by telling all your Facebook friends that this will be your year? Yes – you will hike across Mexico and start an award…

Now we’re all re-emerging from the traditional post-festive slump, do you find your thoughts automatically drifting to those things you want to improve this new year? We have already probably read, by now, the myriad of pop psychology suggestions to transform our existence – from writing a letter to your future self and making gratitude lists to mindful meditation, seeking your guardian angel and rebalancing…

Until the 2016 coverage of the tragic case of little William Mead and the alleged failure of the NHS 111 helpline and other medical agencies to make a correct diagnosis of Sepsis, I was unaware of this potentially deadly disease. In fact, Sepsis affects 25,000 children each year in the UK – a staggering statistic. As parents, we sometimes put our faith in the NHS…

The new year is a great time for parents and teachers to plan some exciting new kids’ craft projects to help pass the cold grey days of January and February. Here is a round up of some great craft ideas which will see you through the year and make it a memorable one. These ideas are ideal to make in small groups, pairs or even…

It dawned on me recently, after years of reading self-help books that the carefully crafted, much revisited and endlessly scribbled-out bucket-list I have been lugging about in my head is, well, not actually my list. It is a list of shoulds, oughts and could-do’s.  A scroll of items to buy and to experience all suggested by the media, magazines, and advertising in general. For example:- Have a designer…

Valentine’s Day is around the corner and, if things aren’t entirely hunky dory in your love life, you may feel like hiding under the duvet and avoiding the whole damn thing. But what if, to use that hoary old cliche, it really isn’t them and it is YOU? Some of us have an absolute gift for trashing our relationships, don’t we?  Our happiness lies in…

Many of us decide that come the new year, we are going to do everything we can to be a better, healthier and happier person in the 12 months to follow. The festive season leaves many of us with dull, dry complexions – the result of too much wine and too many mince pies.  That, coupled with a reduction in our usual exercise, late nights…