This column first appeared in the Western Mail in March 2021 As I write, it’s twenty degrees in Cardiff, the clocks have sprung forward, and the evenings are lighter for … Continue Reading Should it stay, or should it go?
This column first appeared in the Western Mail in March 2021 A few weeks ago, we set off on “yet another bloody walk” (TM – me), forgot to stop walking … Continue Reading On the soothing power of radio
This column first appeared in the Western Mail in February 2021 Just IMAGINE if, at the age of 13, you were ordered to spend your first full year as a … Continue Reading On pandemic parenting
This column first appeared in the Western Mail in November 2020 From Dylan Thomas to Richard Burton, us Welsh have a long, time-honoured tradition of boozing our faces off. A … Continue Reading Ditching the dreaded hangxiety
This column first appeared in the Western Mail in November 2020 Now, I’m not saying that it’s ever been appropriate to look to political leaders to reinforce the way we … Continue Reading On the US election and explaining geopolitics to our children
This column first appeared in the Western Mail in September 2020 Vox Pops. Latin for “voice of the people”, favoured format of TV newsmakers everywhere and enough to make me … Continue Reading Why we could all be a bit more Mary and Baden Powell
They say that the best years of a woman’s life are the ten years between 39 and 40. The implication being that women feel compelled to claim we’re 39 for … Continue Reading On turning 39
Lockdown has changed all of us in different ways, big and small. Many of us will be shopping locally, adjusting our travel habits and feeling a renewed gratitude for things … Continue Reading Making up is hard to do
Dear Sara, Remember Easter Sunday, alone on a hilltop overlooking the city. Birdsong drowning out the sound of the very occasional car. A city that is sun-drenched and cloudless. Eerily … Continue Reading Remember – A note from Spring 2020
Am I the only one starting most of my sentences with the words “when this is all over”? It’s day 13 of lockdown for my son and me after he … Continue Reading When this is all over
Aneta Kawecka is a Polish-born ethical fashion stylist now based in Paris, France. She is a wonderful human being I am proud to call a friend. Aneta has just … Continue Reading Calais in the time of Coronavirus: Stories from the front line of the refugee crisis
As you read this, I will be luxuriating in a birthday hot tub, knocking back cheap fizz, encrusted in glitter and hairspray. Where will I be lapping up such luxuries? … Continue Reading Festivals, Socrates and me
It all started with Lee Davies*, on our annual church coach trip to the seaside, sometime in the early 90s. “Here, have a listen to this”, he enthusiastically commanded, shoving … Continue Reading The mixtape is dead. Long live the mixtape!
This column first appeared in The Western Mail on Saturday 22nd June 2019. As a kid, I’d watch my parents spend hours making up hanging baskets together. They’d sit on … Continue Reading On finding my green fingers…
Dear Ryan, I’m not in the habit of writing open letters to famous singer-songwriters who will never read them. But I’ve been feeling so angry, and disappointed, today. Actually, disappointed … Continue Reading Harder now that it’s over: An open letter to Ryan Adams
Here’s a little something I wrote for the Western Mail magazine on the seven deadly sins of online dating. Thanks to all my equally permanently perturbed female friends who chipped … Continue Reading The seven deadly sins of online dating
Silver Disco Daps