Lisa Harding and I meet in a city centre park on a day so inclement that we battle bend-double wind, snow and some hail as we walk and talk. Somehow, the elemental weather feels fitting for a discussion of Lisa s new novel, Bright Burning Things, which features a protagonist, Sonya, so ferocious that she leaps straight off the page and into the imagination, in a story of motherhood, addiction, love, loss and the delicate dawn of hope, that is viscerally told and beautifully written.
Simon (pictured) argues that having a candlelit dinner every night is no longer special
How ironic that a man who has made a lucrative television career out of eating standing up and talking with his mouth full should suddenly decide to judge how the British public take their own suppers.
Masterchef s John Torode says that a TV dinner is bad manners and a surefire romance killer. I disagree.
In fact, John, to paraphrase one of your show s catchphrases: Opinions don t get much more half-baked than this.
You see, this is 2021, more than 60 years since America s Swanson food company invented the grim yet hyper-convenient TV dinner.
Women Doing a Great Job in Male-Dominated Fields
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As the 21st century moves forward, the imbalance of the genders in certain industries is being challenged across the country, and around the world. Though far from perfect, improvements are being made every day that help to bring intelligent, hardworking and deserving people to the forefront of different fields. In honour of the women who are breaking barriers now, we are going to take a look at some of the trailblazers that we can look to for inspiration and lessons to learn.
Construction and Architecture
This labour-intensive field is one that women have typically been excluded from as we were considered to be fit for office work, caring for families and maintaining our households. While these are valid and difficult tasks in and of themselves, seeing women move into construction/trades/architecture positions does a lot for gender equality, proving that we can do anything that we put our minds to.
How the Chasers got their nicknames â truth behind The Governess, The Vixen and more
The Sensational Six are best known by their nicknames - The Beast, The Dark Destroyer, The Sinnerman, The Vixen, The Governess and The Menace - but how did they get them?
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Tributes from across the world of comedy
Tributes have been paid to Iain Pattinson, the writer of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, who died at the weekend at the age of 68 after a short illness.
His agent, Kate Haldane at PBJ Management, said: ‘It is with heart-break and sadness that we announce the death of our client and friend, Iain Pattinson. We are enormously proud of him and his extraordinary and often undersung career, most notably as the writer of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.
The show’s host, Jack Dee, added: ‘Iain’s unique brilliance was his ability to combine the absurd with the plausible. His sense of silliness was without limits and I treasure the memory of having worked with such a comedy legend.