Category: Uncategorized
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Another bloody battle to fight
In the week of International Women’s Day, I’ve been thinking about the battles we’re still fighting. As I’ve written in this column, it’s a day that increasingly makes me feel torn. Celebrating inspirational women is, of course, a good thing. But we have a bloody long way to go when it comes to equality, and…
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It’s the wrong-shaped ball…
This column first appeared in The Western Mail in February 2023. Joy of joys, it’s my least favourite time of year to live in Cardiff again. It comes around so quickly, the Six Nations. Just as I’ve breathed a sigh of relief that the Autumn internationals are over, here comes rugby again. As a keen…
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The great caffeine swindle
This column first appeared in The Western Mail in January 2023. I once had a colleague who proudly sported a sweater with the slogan “But first, coffee!” underneath a cartoon of a steaming caffeinated beverage. The implication? That nothing of note would be achieved in her life without the oral ingestion of liquidated amphetamine. Imagine…
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The algorithm is gonna get you….
This column first appeared in The Western Mail in December 2022. In a break from the usual family tradition, we won’t be playing Trivial Pursuit this festive season. Instead, you’ll find us hunched over a laptop experimenting with our latest obsession – ChatGPT. I hope I’m not overstating it to say this mind-blowing technology feels…
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Watches Qatar, gently weeps….
This column first appeared in The Western Mail in November 2022 It’s morally problematic world cup fever time. Over 60 years since we last qualified, it’s typical that this is the one to break the spell. Because make no bones about it, Qatar 2022 is highly problematic. The fact that this World Cup is being held in a country…
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Fight for your right (to moan like hell)
This column first appeared in The Western Mail in October 2022 It’s not every day you develop a sense of kinship with a random Scouse footballer. But it was hard not to feel sympathy for Wrexham striker Paul Mullin this week. Poor, principled Mullin was given a dressing down by his club for deigning to…
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We face a cost-of-living crisis – but kindness is free
This column first appeared in The Western Mail in September 2022 Fifteen winters ago, I stared at my baby boy – not yet one year of age, wrapped in layer upon layer in his cot – and felt as powerless as I have ever felt. That was the winter things went wrong for us. Instead…
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A love letter to Motown
This column first appeared in the Western Mail in August 2022 A needle drops smoothly into a groove. The vinyl, dark and shiny as coal crystals, spins hypnotically. My mam, a cloud of blonde curls and hairspray, hands me a toy Fisher Price phone. I clutch the handset between my tiny fingers, ready for my…
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On the joy of pockets
This column first appeared in The Western Mail in July 2022 My partner Alex says I never look more cheerful than when he compliments an outfit I’m wearing, and it elicits the magical four-word response: “Thanks! It has POCKETS!”. The first time this happened, it was as if his brain had short-circuited, and his face…
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Bread and roses: How outdoors art can inject new life into our streets
This column first appeared in The Western Mail in June 2022 A striking mural commemorating former Wales football manager Gary Speed appeared on the streets of Cardiff this week. Located near the Cardiff City Stadium, the mural by creative collective Unify has captured imaginations across Wales. It’s part of the My City My Shirt campaign,…
Silver Disco Daps 