Category Archives: What’s the Word

Shove yer pipe and slippers

I’m most def not a horoscope kinda gal, but it’s always entertained me that I share a birthday with Barbara Cartland. We don’t have a helluva lot in common (as far as I know, she wasn’t that keen on The Clash), but Barbara was a trailblazer for extreme eyelashes, and I do a like a

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Power to the people

All we need now is the dawning of the zombie apocalypse to complete the collective sense that the world’s going to hell in a handcart. I say “collective” because I’ve not met anyone, not even the most determined optimists, who’s managing to stay emotionally buoyant during these soul crushing times. Even the old “things can

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Double digits and the next decade

This spring has been a biggie chez nous. As the daffodils tentatively turned their golden trumpets to the (occasional) sun, I was marking 10 years since leaving a long career at the BBC. And as is always the case with the passage of time, it’s been hard to believe that a whole decade has flown

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Bad moon rising

2022? Can’t wait to see to the back if it. For all sorts of reasons it’s been a right royal pain in the arse. The year didn’t start all that well, the omens were bad even before January shuffled off it’s dreich days – I definitely felt a bad moon rising. But some years are

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Power cut or power up?

Dunno about you, but I’m bricking it. As the economy spirals into freefall and prices skyrocket, I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling the fear. These are seriously scary times. Often it’s the unknown that fills us with dread, but no-one needs a crystal ball to know that we’re all in for a rough ride, a VERY

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Baby steps and snail’s pace

Spring’s on the horizon, traditionally a time to pick up the pace. But as February storms and relentless rain have battered spirits and prevented any meaningful return to the outside world, there have been moments when it’s been difficult to do much more than limp forward. This ongoing limbo is pants. The light is supposed

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All things being equal

Always look on the bright side of life, eh? Well bugger that when the light at the end of tunnel is all but extinguished. It’s such a bummer that the year is ending in gloom. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s important to focus on the positive, but the pressures presented by Omicron make it supremely

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Feast, famine and feeling the fear

Aye, we’ve all been there, hovering over a draft email, fearful of firing it off into other folks’ inboxes. But as the saying goes, feel the fear and do it anyway. If, like me, you’re a sole trader or small biz owner, feeling the fear is par for the course. The daily uncertainty of the

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Seismic shifting and spreading of wings

It’s taken a seismic shift chez nous to bring back the Last Word blog. Recent cataclysmic events have nothing to do with the titanic forces of colliding tectonic plates, earthquakes, extreme weather, critical illness or bereavement, but we’re experiencing some serious shit.  Or at least, I am. And all because our boy has become a

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A conversation killer

Summer’s coming but the subject matter remains the same. Covid, bloody Covid. The damned virus just will not go away. Wait! Before you all start protesting that Covid-19 will never go away, viruses just keep mutating and last FOREVER – I do know that, thanks. But nearly 18 months since we started to hear about

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