We were never allowed to use the word “nice” at school.  It was tantamount to using the word “lovely”, a lazy way of saying, well, “nice” things, when there was a whole world of adjectives out there just dying to be picked in its place.  ”Nice” was boring, when you could use, say “pleasant” or [...]

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I wrote an article that appeared in today’s Sunday Times Style section about Smile Train, an incredibly worthy charity that helps mend the cleft palates of kids worldwide.  I had the good fortune to be welcomed to the hospital in Oudomxay in Laos, (I should add, we were on holiday in Laos at the time [...]

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Last night we went to see A Prophet.  The kids are away for a week, skiing, so being able to decide at 5pm what we want to do in the evening, without having to book a babysitter is, as any parent knows, incredibly liberating.
A Prophet is really worth seeing. At times it feels like a [...]

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On Monday night I went to the Stella McCartney hosted, UK premiere of Food Inc, an Oscar-nominated documentary film which exposes the corruption, mis-information and generally scandalous behaviour of the food production industry of the US.  Before we could give ourselves a congratulatory pat on the back for living off the fat of England’s green [...]

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The snow falling in the mews outside my window is so pretty it’s distracting me from writing two features… one on British teeth, the other about cellulite.  Both of which seem rather apt for what I shall present you with today!

Because when the kids get home from school, and it’s cold and too dark to [...]

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Off they went,trundling out of the car, late again, running to the gates, their backpacks jostling on their backs, my son’s puffy anorak bulking him out, my daughter worried her teacher’s sensibilities would be offended by her real rabbit fur coat (vintage, the rabbit died years ago, and my husband bought the coat behind my [...]

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It snowed today.  Big flakes of doily-edged snow, the kind that make you want to stick your tongue out and catch one.  Which we did, myself and Armand, on our way out to Poundland (it’s becoming a regular haunt) to buy cupcake cases and milk and envelopes.  Honestly, it’s a one-stop shop.
Yesterday I found myself [...]

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The faculty at UWIC (University of Wales Institute of Cardiff) invited me to give a talk to their English and Creative Writing Students. I had studied for six months there in 1993, a post-grad NCTJ course in journalism, and they liked to invite their old pupils back occasionally.
I have fond memories of my time at [...]

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Posted via email from kathleenbaird-murray’s posterous

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