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Good News Journal (2) -- extreme dog

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OK. This was supposed to be my first heart-warming story, but the Ferguson urgency took over. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/30180472 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2847555/He-crawling-parasites-Sportsman-adopted-stray-dog-followed-Ecuadorian-jungle-wait-four-months-reunited-pet-recovers.html   Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/30180472

Good News Journal (1)

Some time ago I said I wanted to start a 'good news newspaper'. I'm sure others have already done that. So, here is a story that warmed my heart. Except that that there is often more to good stories. Some years down the road, we may learn that all is not what it appears to be. Never mind. For now let us just enjoy: Chinese millionaire builds free luxury homes for entire village where he grew up The timing was also serendipitous as I had watched on 'catch-up' TV a programme about Tatler . This programme featured rich Nigerians in the UK, multi-millionaires. My meandering thoughts were just going: if only these multi-millionaires could spare a million or two for their fellow countrymen, how different would Nigeria be? Extrapolating this argument I think of all the ultra-rich Chinese and Russians which are flooding the west, buying up land and homes. What if -- WHAT IF -- each of these would just spare a million each for their fellow countrymen. What a huge di

PPI: Please Pass (on) Information

I was reminded to write about this after reading another news item today about PPI. Just last week I had an elderly client at the advice agency where I do some work present a letter demanding some £700 for getting his £1700 PPI claim back. Seven hundred eye-watering pounds for something the Client could have got for free. All he needed to do was complete a form to churn out a letter. Go to websites like Adviceguide , Moneysavingexpert  and Which . Worse still, this "claims handler" alleged that the bank had duly refunded the Client and so the Client should cough up the commission within seven days, or risk having bailiffs at his door. The bank however tells the Client that this claims handler is not even a registered claims handler. O dear! Meanwhile poor guy gets sucked further and further into debt while his blood pressure goes higher and higher. Were they a bogus company simply trying to frighten an old man into giving them £700? Who knows? If you know friends,

Picky about Pixie

This has nothing to do with anything organic. On Facebook I read huge number of comments about people who cannot 'warm' to Pixie on Strictly Come Dancing. Well, glad I am not the only one who finds something about her so annoying. This is the opposite to 'something about Mary', as in the film starring Cameron Diaz, where there is something about Mary that makes her so lovable. I am not bothered with the argument/gripe that she had had dance training. She clearly has the benefit of 'muscle memory' to help her dance so well. She IS a delightful and competent dancer. If I was watching a programme about celebrities who dance fabulously then she will be loved. Full stop. I know little (ie not a lot!) of Pixie Lott except that she's a singer. I do not know what songs she is famous for, or the genre of music she sings. OK, I'm not really into popular music these days. Why don't I like her? There seems to be something 'put on' (fake) about

Is it better to use tissues or real handkerchiefs?

I had just realized a link from www.organic-ally.co.uk  is not working properly. This is because the original article is now being protected by a paywall although the original article was published before the paywall went up. The critical details are here: By: Anna Shepard Eco-Worrier Published at 12:00AM, February 23 2008 Q Is it better to use tissues or real handkerchiefs? A Hankies all the way. Kinder on the nose, they also save trees and reduce landfill. A tissue is a one-use-only product. Needless to say, if you don’t use the recycled variety, you are using virgin fibre fresh from the forest, which requires a significant amount of energy to transform into a silky-smooth tissue. Under Health and Safety regulations you can’t recycle tissues as they are considered contaminated. Composting them is the best disposal method, but I know that when I have a stinking cold the amount of tissue I get through would overwhelm my wormery. According to the European Tissue Symposiu

Going mad over fabrics

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My family and I went over the pond in the summer to attend my niece's wedding on the Pacific coast. I took the opportunity to shop for fabric. Since I've lost my main source of organic cotton fabric I have been eyeing suppliers overseas. But this particular one does not ship abroad without a great kafuffle. And it's expensive. So I ordered fabric which was delivered to my brother and picked it up on one of the several occasions we met up. While cutting the fabric I was suddenly brought back to a floral pink (yes, I'm afraid) that I remember I loved so very much. My eldest sister worked in an import-export business and she had samples of everything under the sun that a little girl could want: buttons, fabric swatches, make-up, etc. I remember a book of swatches which I took to school when I was about nine years old. I had to show my teacher that beautiful swatch. The fabric Miraleste (the orangey one) is a bit like the swatch from this memory.      

One egg, three uses

I am becoming more like my mother every day. My son is heading off back to school today. I had offered to make him pancakes, but a meeting got in the way. So I thought, "Ah! Pancakes for breakfast then." Of course, being the efficient person that I am, I thought, "Ah! Prepare the mixture the night before." Which I did. Mixture done and stashed in fridge for the next day, I then put a finger into the egg shells to scrape off whatever egg yolk was left and ... just like my mum used to do ... smear it on my face. You can feel the skin tighten. After a few minutes I washed off the eggy film. Has it been any good for my skin. Dunno. But it cannot be bad. If you google egg white face mask, you will come up with loads of ideas and info about this very natural and nutritious face food. That's (1) pancake mixture, (2) face mask and then (3) after removing the membranous bit inside the egg shells I let them dry overnight. When dry I broke the shells into b

Sanitary Pads

I tried ways of making a viable reusable organic cotton version but they were not very successful.   So very please to read about this: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

Cotton Reports

Wow! I've been away from this blog for such a long time. Been writing my more political ones elsewhere, I'm afraid.   Anyway, this week, several reports on BBC Radio 4 You and Yours on 'sustainable cotton'. Might be worth catching up.    Working in the cotton industry   Fast Fashion: Affordable or Exploitative?   Cotton imports  

Lazy Housewife Roast Chicken Recipe

This is now one of my fail-safe recipes. I start on this at 5.30pm by turning the oven on to 220C, prep the ingredients, and put the dish in at 5.45pm when the oven is up to temperature. At 6.15pm I remove the lid and let the chicken continue to brown and crispen up for 15-20 minutes, hoping that husband gets home by 6.40pm or whenever to eat it with us. The important thing is to cover for the first two-thirds of cooking to prevent meat from drying out. I used to cook this in a roasting tray and cover with tin foil. I thought this was wasteful of tin foil. I tried buying a lid to fit the tray, but failed. Then while trying to bake sourdough bread discovered my husband's father's mother's enamel roasting tin that is rather ancient, hidden and forgotten in a dark corner in the cupboard. It looks like this, and I am borrowing an image and link from a well-known retailer for which I am not paid: http://www.lakeland.co.uk/13262/Traditional-Enamel-Round-Roaster It's a

Baking Bread -- is easier than you think

This is based on a post I put up earlier for friends in Singapore. After baking my bread today I came across this article . It does not take all that long to knead, but you must be patient with waiting for the dough to rise. I now gather all the ingredients together before starting and can get a lump of dough ready for first proofing within 20 minutes.   It's cheaper to buy a packet of yeast rather than the 7g sachets. In the UK and if you have room, you could also have bigger bags of flour delivered. Better still if you could get locally-grown and/or milled flour. You need STRONG flour. White, wholemeal, granary, whatever, or a combination. I now regularly use 1 kg of flour, usually a mix of wholemeal and white and/or granary. I normally make one loaf (about 950g wet weight) and turn the rest into rolls of about 70g (wet weight), some of which I take into the advice charity on Mondays just in case we get clients who have gone hungry or are homeless.   ===========  

Escape FROM the Country

My husband and I had been thinking of moving to the country when he retires and we dream of keeping honeybees and chickens and growing our own vegetables, etc. Last night we were in Devon to celebrate his mum's 80th birthday. We had a great time but I was nervous about travelling knowing how treacherous the weather promised to be. Thankfully husband drove well (as usual) and I suspect given the weather warnings, only those who needed to travel, did, and the roads were pretty clear. Still the rain beat down. We checked into a riverside inn in Bovey Tracey, rested, and met up at the pub restaurant for the party. When we were leaving after the party the staff told us that the road we arrived by was flooded and traffic was not getting through. So husband, who knew that area well, chose a different route. Once we got into the car the local radio notified us of various flood spots and, of course, that the river had burst its banks at Bovey Tracey. Ah! What do we do? Son in th

What a stupid, stupid statement!

A certain man made this statement: Team GB chief: dominance of public schools is unacceptable . But of course, he must have been quoted out of context. I had to go out to buy some ginger to put into my slow cooker where the glorious aroma of cinnamon and star anise means the belly pork must surely taste wonderful come dinner time. There was a steel band made up of young people (black and white) performing at the town centre. In the sunshine. I found myself thinking: now how would the lives of our young people be different if they are required to be in a steel band, a marching band, a school cadet corp, a competitive sport, etc. for all the years that they are at school. This goes back to my own school days when I spent so much time playing in the school band and orchestra I had no time to get up to any mischief (or pregnant). Every year we had a marching band competition. We had a concert band competition. We played in concerts from the presidential residence to public park

Banana leaves - natural packaging

My cousin and her husband passed through Heathrow early this morning. My husband met them to collect a package of food for me. I was delighted that she had brought fresh food. My son watched me eat a strange red thing which we call "ang koo kueh", or "red tortoise". He watched me tear off the banana leaves from the bottom of this "cake" and said, "Banana leaves." I said, "Yes, banana leaves, completely biodegradable." Son also chose to buy me a large basket of flowers for "Yummy Mummy" this Mothering Sunday. I really appreciated it. However, it came wrapped in yards of a plasticized clear wrap. It is very difficult to find real cellophane these days, the crinkly variety that actually biodegrades when exposed to light and air. I look forward to a week of eating dumplings wrapped and steamed in banana leaves. Yumm!

Liar, liar

Some weeks ago I dealt with a young man from the Horn of Africa. I came this close to throttling him. He slumped into my office and started off straightaway with "I want to know what benefits I am entitled to". [Why should he be "entitled" to anything? He has not contributed a penny to the British economy.] He told me he was being given some benefits in another part of the country and so clearly he was "entitled" to those benefits. But his JSA (JobSeekers Allowance) was stopped because the woman at the Job Centre said as a student he is not looking for a job and should not be entitled to JSA. This woman is right. Otherwise every college student would be claiming JSA but these students are not really prepared to leave their courses to work. The point is without his JSA his Housing Benefit (paying rent) and Council Tax Benefit (paying council tax) were also stopped. So this poor chap had to move in with his sister. Previously he had "his&qu

Homeless in London, who cares?

My clients yesterday included a 44-year-old mother of four who suffers from incontinence and told me that "I am claiming [benefits] for them [husband and sons]". She's one of the thousands the government is trying to move off Incapacity Benefit (she was classed as severely disabled) back into work (JobSeekers Allowance). However because no one in the family works, for her to lose her benefits would mean the family would struggle to survive. This is despite one son and husband also claiming benefits. She "claims for them" in the sense that she is entitled to most. When I probed further she said that she is a bit embarrassed by her problem and so does not feel that she could work. She also mentioned depression. I wonder if the depression is a result of her not working or her reason (excuse?) not to work. Similarly her son who trained as a plumber could not find a job -- and is depressed -- and so has signed on. Before I met this lady I didn't think inc

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

Warning: This is a brag post, originally written for a Singapore audience. My son, his mate and I enjoy watching the comedy series "Miranda" in which Miranda's friend (and employee) often holds up a mask of Heather Small and mimic her singing "What have you done today to make you FEEL proud?" Yesterday I went to bed thinking that I really toted up well. First, a meeting with fellow social scientists outside academia. It was a group I started – by accident – some years ago and now it has grown, nearly 400 members! Was able to encourage those present. Then on the way home – my train, for which I was careful to buy a first class ticket to ensure a seat after a tiring meeting, was cancelled – I was squashed into a Tube train whereupon a man with a beard, long hair, a very large ring in his nose, dirty finger nails, on a walking stick asked my fellow social scientist and myself whether the train was going to MK. He, too, was supposed to be on my cancelled t

Parents who (don't) try: Three cases

On Thursday mornings before I set out for my stint at the local CAB my son often tells me, "Hope you don't get too many benefits cases." He knows how I detest having to deal with benefits clients who say, "I'm entitled to this. Do this for me. NOW." Today I was incensed that a client has had his benefits stopped. This man is a refugee from an African country. He has four young children. He was on unemployment benefits and housing benefits because of that. He decided that he needed to improve his English and signed up for a college course (ESOL Intensive) and did so well that he passed his exams before the end of his course. However as a result of the 15 hours he was studying, plus some mistake made by some civil servant (who turned this into 16 hours), he was deemed "unavailable for work" and therefore his JSA was stopped, leading to his Housing Benefits (which pays his rent) being stopped as well. Now his landlord is threatening eviction

In defence of David Starkey

Wrote this piece for my friends in Singapore: my perspective of what Mr Cameron called the "sick society". David Starkey in using the phrase "The whites have become black" has been branded a "racist". I am no fan of Mr Starkey. As a social scientist from outside the UK, one who is not weighed down by the guilt of British colonialism (but is in fact a product of it), one who is colour-blind except when it is culturally significant, I feel that Mr Starkey is only using this statement to make a "shortcut" to what I had alluded to in my original blog piece referenced above. There is something in the black African/West Indian/Caribbean culture/s that is preventing their younger generations from benefitting from all the resources thrown at them in the UK. The same is happening amongst a certain class of young white generations. Taxpayers should be keen to ascertain what exactly are the factors (fatherlessness, lack of disciplinary boundaries,

Sourdough Bread

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After building up my sourdough starter for two weeks (details in the next post, perhaps) I was very excited about making my first sourdough loaf. The diary was cleared. This was my starter in the morning. The volume has reduced from its evening time high, as you might have noticed from the "tide marks", but still bubbling when viewed from the top: I am trying to followed a "recipe" from Dan Lepard in a newspaper and combining that with a recipe by Daniel Stevens ( River Cottage No. 3 ). Emptied most of this into a mixing bowl, added 500 strong wholemeal (because I don't like eating white) flour and about 300ml tepid water and mixed into a ball. Left it for 10 minutes. Then decided (perhaps wrongly) that it probably needed a little more water. Added what I thought was about two teaspoons of salt, but probably much less. Left this for about two hours and it became like this. Notice the holes on the surface. Removed this onto an oiled surface and knead