21 HM The Queen’s birthday The media have been remarking on this being the first birthday the Queen has had since being widowed earlier in the month. As with so many people we know who have been in a similar position, saying ‘Happy Birthday’ (or when the time comes, ‘Happy Christmas’) is not being sensitive […]

20 What is a football club for? Is it a business offering entertainment to its customers, and a good return to its owners? Is it an expression of local community identity, bringing together people from a range of backgrounds around a shared interest and identity? Is it part of a country-wide/world-wide network promoting sporting skills

19 Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness Week 19-25 April Over 130,000 people in the UK have MS. Many of us will know someone who has it. It usually starts to develop years before it is diagnosed. MS causes a person’s immune system to attack the coating (myelin) that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, affecting the

17 Various parts of the media, thinking of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral this afternoon, comment on the Queen having to sit alone, there being no singing at the funeral and all those attending having to wear facemasks and sit 2m apart. Sadly those are arrangements that many people have experienced over the last year

16 Where are you planning to go today, with your new found freedom to travel – or are you already half-way to Inverness, Aberdeen or Stranraer? Maybe you don’t have any plans to travel. One of the things about ‘freedom’ is that you don’t ‘have’ to use it all the time, but can choose when

15 The sun is shining, and the temperature is forecast to be higher than parts of South East England today (though maybe not at sun-bathing levels!) Good weather raises our mood, while cold and dampness tends to pull us down. There’s probably a good medical explanation (chemical or psychological), but why do we let the

14 It was a very pleasant surprise yesterday to hear that travel restrictions in Scotland will be lifted on Friday. For some people it means being able to see family and friends that they haven’t seen for months; for others, who feel a sense of claustrophobia from ‘living local’, it means being able to go

13 Parkinson’s Awareness Week (11-17) Parkinson’s Disease is reckoned to affect about 145,000 people in Britain. It is a neurological condition: as it develops, cells in the brain stop working properly and are lost over time. Symptoms start to appear when the brain cannot produce enough of a chemical called dopamine to control movement properly.

12 The Parliaments and Assemblies of the UK have been recalled today for members to pay tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, who died on Friday. Although his lifestyle was very different from that of most people, there were many areas in which his life experience, and opinion, was not so different. His childhood was