Anne Pickles

Margaret Thatcher may not deserve a state funeral, but I can’t imagine her having anything else

I raised an eyebrow on reading that Baroness Thatcher was to have a state funeral – the first British prime minister to be honoured in such a way since Sir Winston Churchill.

Last updated 13 December 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

Supermarket pricing can send you off your trolley

Here's a couple of shockers, just to be going on with. (10 comments)

Last updated 10 December 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

Advice? I try never to give - or take it

So, there I was in the front pew. Eyes fixed on the glittering Christmas lights – as all eyes are when a twinkling tree’s in the vicinity – and feeling a little out of the comfort zone.

Last updated 9 December 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

The nuclear family is no more – who cares?

Back to the basics of good old family values – that’s what this country needs. And that means... erm, what does that mean? (10 comments)

Last updated 6 December 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

There’s no-one like Grandma to sort out a child

Poor woman. Two Co-op carrier bags in one hand, a small person dragging on the other and soaked to the skin – she looked done in. I’d have told that wet, sulking little girl at the bus stop all of that – if I’d had more courage.

Last updated 2 December 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

No wonder mortality rates are so high

Customer service is so important. Those who get it right bask in the beneficial glow of shining reputation.

Last updated 29 November 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

We love a sense of occasion, but with no nonsense

A sense of occasion is as important to a woman as a sense of smell at a fragrance counter. No two ways about it, a day without a sense of occasion is wasted.

Last updated 25 November 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

We’ve always got something to celebrate

A sense of occasion is as important to a woman as a sense of smell at a fragrance counter. No two ways about it, a day without a sense of occasion is wasted.

Last updated 25 November 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

It’s never going to work so, as my teacher used to say...

You have to be pretty silly to light up a cigarette, while driving your car. You’ve got to be a raving loony to chat to your mother on the phone about the weekend’s menus while negotiating a five-lane intersection. (1 comment)

Last updated 22 November 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

Football fantasy has got me off the subs’ bench

If all the world were a football ground and all the men and women merely players – I suspect I’d be spending a lot of my time on the subs’ bench.

Last updated 18 November 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

What did you do with all our money, Silvio?

Never having had much of the stuff – more’s the pity – what I know about money tends to be strictly limited.

Last updated 15 November 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

Please keep your special advisers away from kids

Something tells me the Government could do with a specialist advisory team to help ministers make better decisions about who they’ll appoint as special advisers. (5 comments)

Last updated 8 November 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

If it’s feral you expect, guess what you’ll get?

The brim of her pointy hat just about reached my letterbox. Her face was a paint palette of green and mauve; long-lashed eyes, as big and round as dinner plates, gazed with an intensity to break hearts.

Last updated 4 November 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

The littlest witch cast a spell on me!

The brim of her pointy hat just about reached my letterbox. Her face was a paint-palette of green and mauve; long-lashed eyes, as big and round as dinner plates, gazed with an intensity to break hearts.

Last updated 4 November 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk

St Paul’s protesters’ inconvenient truths

Having been told by churchmen – in the gentlest possible terms – to pick up their tents and walk, protesters camping outside St Paul’s Cathedral are proving more than a little tricky to handle.

Last updated 1 November 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk