WELL, it’s time to celebrate (or apologise) for half a decade of Bm@ils – that’s roughly 250 columns and about 84,000 words since 2008. Hmm, enough for a book…Read
I HAVE never joined Facebook, Twitter or the like because I’ve never felt the need to broadcast to the nation. And I’m sure the nation feels the same way about me.Read
ON THIS day, April 3, in 1895, the libel trial instigated by Oscar Wilde began. He lost the case, leading to his arrest, trial and imprisonment for having relationships with men, and we can only marvel at how much has changed in nearly 120 years.Read
SO, WE have a new Pope, and I’m not at all surprised that His Holiness has taken the name of every child’s favourite animal lover. No, not Dr Doolittle but Saint Francis, who must have learned from his affinity with birds and animals that they are much easier to deal with than humans.Read
I WATCHED two TV programmes last week – Channel 4 Dispatches and BBC Panorama – that dealt with the scandal about horse meat being found in many supermarket products.Read
I AM drawn to emails which begin ‘I read your column every week’ because I know that I, and the reader, will have shared much of our Hillingdon lives since Bm@il was ‘born’ in 2008.Read
DID you know that many Members of Parliament feel they are underpaid and should have a 32 per cent increase in their salaries? This is the finding in a survey of MPs carried out by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). To the 69 per cent of members who thought this, I’d just like to say: “Join the queue”.Read
CAN someone tell me exactly when paying tax became voluntary? I’ve just had a reminder to pay my tax by the end of this month if I wish to do it online – which I do.Read
I HAVE just watched a show on Sky Arts 1, called In Confidence, which consists of one-to-one interviews. The last person I saw grilled was Michael Frayn, which made fascinating viewing, so I made a point of tuning in again.Read
HOW’S the Christmas shopping going? Have you dug out the decorations, dusted off the tree, untangled the lights? Maybe the cards are all written? No? Me neither.Read