pint-sized rants

A rant about changes to blood donation

2012-05-14T13:00:00.001+02:00

I'm slow, I know, and I can't believe I only heard about this today. And I hope that someone is going to come on here and say that no, this is not happening, even the Tories wouldn't privatise blood. But it appears they are, and it appears I am the last person to know about it, and I am shocked. Blood donation is particularly close to my heart; just over a year ago I spent a couple of weeks

A rant about the French elections

2012-05-07T16:22:00.001+02:00

It is ironic that although I consider myself a bit of a leftie in British terms (I was horrified when the Tories were kind of but not quite voted back in, and have been steadily more horrified with each policy they have put forward) in French terms I am slightly to the right. I am one of the rare people who admit to actually quite liking Sarkozy. I don't like everything he did, and was pretty

A rant about wondering where the bodies are buried

2012-05-01T10:30:00.001+02:00

I think it is fairly obvious that the unelected government in power in the UK is playing massive cover-up right now. Angry at being caught out at having a Ministry for Murdoch Cameron is for some reason standing behind Jeremy Hunt, when pretty much everyone else in the country, other than some who appear blind to the obvious, is calling for his resignation. Yesterday Cameron was visibly angry at

A rant about the ever rising French extreme right (and a warning to the UK)

2012-04-23T18:34:00.002+02:00

I live in a very small village in the east of France, close to the border with Luxembourg. There were less than a thousand people eligible to vote in my village, and the results don't reflect the rest of France. My village is made up largely of cross border workers, people who cross the border to work in Luxembourg, mainly in the financial services. The majority of the rest of the habitants

There's just too much to rant about...

2012-04-18T18:26:00.002+02:00

... so I'll make a little announcement. Tomorrow I will be going for my three month scan. Bit premature to announce it, but I want to put something out there and on the internet for people to search, in case I do get bad news tomorrow and put the whole thing to the back of my mind. I went for my first scan at 6 weeks and 3 days, and there was no heartbeat. Everyone knows you're supposed to have

A rant in defence of Samantha Brick

2012-04-05T18:33:00.001+02:00

I have been meaning to write about this since The Article first came out on Tuesday. I saw it and thought, Daily Mail, why are you yet again publishing an article to undermine women? Why oh why? I've noticed Brick's articles before; I never agree with them, but I don't agree with most things printed in that rag. I disagree with her ideas about men, women, the workplace, France, French men and

Could the Olympics be a step forward for telecommuting?

2012-04-03T10:46:00.001+02:00

Part of the fuss over the Olympics is the inevitable effect it will all have on the traffic and public transport system. Yes, London will grind to a halt for a few weeks. Unfortunately you can't have life run as smoothly as we are used to during the Olympic Games. Sorry, as smoothly as we would like - my memories of living in London already involve traffic jams and a battered and unreliable

A rant about it being far too easy

2012-03-27T18:31:00.000+02:00

Is anyone surprised at being able to buy the right to have dinner with the so-called PM? We all know the current Tory party are interested in money money money. For themselves. So learning that if you donate a certain amount of money you get to eat with the PM and his wife (approx the amount of money I would pay not to have to eat with them in fact) and get filled in on juicy policy news, and

A rant about assumptions and prejudice

2012-03-23T18:57:00.000+01:00

That title could encompass a lot couldn't it. But I'll focus on just the one event of the week. I've been itching to blog all week - every day there has been something to rant about. Gideon's budget making the rich richer (surprise surprise), removing the tax break incentive on donations to charity (how angry I am about that), but I have decided to focus, today, on the great events which took

YouTube is my friend and helper

2012-03-18T10:08:00.000+01:00

And babysitter. On more than one occasion this last year I have turned to youtube to find things which entertain my baby daughter so I thought I would share the videos she has enjoyed the most. 1. Nellie the Elephant is the first song I sang to her so now when I just can't sing it any more I put this on and we jiggle to it: 2. The Runaway Train is one of my favourite songs from childhood,

We believe you

2012-03-14T10:56:00.000+01:00

We Believe You is the name of the latest Mumsnet campaign, launched this week to raise awareness of rape, how prevalent it is and how many myths surround it. Please go and read about their campaign - the research they have done is quite eye opening, to say the least. I have ranted before about victim blaming and have decided to make that again the focus of this post. I would like to point out

A(nother) rant about the cuts

2012-03-11T10:48:00.001+01:00

There are certain things that should be labelled as untouchable when governments want to make cuts. In any case, when cuts are made from public services they should be made where the effect will be felt the least by the people the public is serving, if you see what I mean. So if local councils have to cut back, things like shelters for victims of domestic abuse, public libraries and public loos

A rant about why people should mind their own business

2012-03-09T19:14:00.002+01:00

I don't know who Stacey Solomon is. I suppose she must be famous for doing something - acting, singing, I don't know. I'm not interested enough to find out . I do know she was popular until this week, and was proud holder of the "Celebrity mum of the year" title, decided by I don't know who for I don't know what reason. And then this week she was caught smoking. There are pictures of her doing

A mother's work

2012-03-06T18:24:00.000+01:00

Rules: Please post the rulesAnswer the questions in as much or as little detail as suits youLeave a comment on mother.wife.me so we can keep track of the memeTag 3 people and link to them on your blogLet them know you tagged themTweet loudly about taking part (well ok, that isn’t a rule, but how about if we start ahashtag – #amothersworkmeme) Questions: 1. Did you work before becoming a mum?

A rant about a massive attack on democracy

2012-03-05T20:03:00.002+01:00

I have recently been told that I sometimes come across as slightly hysterical on this blog. Referring to the Workfare scheme as slavery was cited as an example. To that I say "Oh well, nevermind". Because I am about to be "slightly hysterical" again. Actually, a little more than slightly. I have been following the proposed changes to our justice system over the last couple of months and I am

A rant about Blogger

2012-03-03T14:36:00.001+01:00

I love google. I love almost everything they do. When I hear complaints about the new privacy settings I stick my fingers in my ears, close my eyes and sing as loudly and as out of tune as possible. I don't want to know. I love gmail, and youtube, and google earth and google maps and of course the wonderful telepathic search engine. I love chrome, picasa and google reader. It is hard for me to

Anyone want to try putting the toothpaste back in the tube?

2012-02-29T18:05:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I've posted on the ongoing Leveson inquiry. I even refrained from commenting on Paul Dacre's evidence, which was a tough thing to do. I'm a little in two minds about it. Or several minds actually. I don't believe there will be any curb on press freedom as a result of the inquiry, however much the tabloid editors are squealing about it. I also believe that anything that

A rant about bad manners

2012-02-28T18:41:00.000+01:00

At the risk of sounding far older than I actually am today I am going to rant about bad manners. I am aware that society as a whole is changing, and that certain formalities which were important in the past are no longer necessary. It is no longer necessary to bow or curtsey to people when you see them, and I believe that is a good thing. But there are some aspects of common courtesy which are

A rant about hypocrisy about food

2012-02-22T18:15:00.000+01:00

I have been debating foie gras with someone again. I shouldn't get into conversations about foie gras - the liver from an overstuffed goose (or duck) which is served as a delicacy in France and the production of which is illegal in the UK, among other countries. I'm going to admit here that I eat foie gras. I love it. Yum. I know that is terrible of me so I'd like to add a disclaimer. I only

Ten things I love about living in France

2012-02-21T17:37:00.001+01:00

I felt so guilty yesterday about being so mean about my adopted country, I feel I must redress the balance.... So, here goes: 1. The health system. Yes, it is cumbersome, yes, it is heavily in debt. But I have had nothing but excellent health care here. Treatment is fast, and effective. OK, every time you leave the pharmacy you are laden down with far too many pills to pop, but if you pick and

Five things I don't like about France

2012-02-20T18:49:00.000+01:00

I have been accused of never being negative about France, of always comparing it in a positive light to the mess that is the UK. So to even things out a little, here are five things I don't like about France, the French or the French culture. Remember though that I have only live in the UK and France - the things I decribe here may well be problems elsewhere, of course. 1. The TV. A cliché I

A rant about Workfare and the DWP in general

2012-02-18T10:52:00.000+01:00

I recently ranted about free internships in general and government sponsored slavery in particular here. And up this disgusting scheme has popped again. And this time it looks like people agree. Whereas when Cait Reilly announced she was taking legal action against the government for the situation people decided she was a snob and looking down at Poundland, for some reason it looks like the press

A rant about could of, must of, should of etc etc etc

2012-02-13T09:40:00.000+01:00

I try not to unleash my inner pedant too often. Pedantry can be annoying, and correcting people is considered impolite. So I try not to do it. My grammar isn't perfect - it's quite good but then I mould it to suit what I am trying to say. The beauty of the English language is that it is so flexible, unlike, for example, French, which has rules which must not be broken otherwise they won't

A rant about how a simple gesture can save a life

2012-02-09T18:24:00.002+01:00

Several months ago I wrote a post about the importance of donating blood. Today I would like to talk about bone marrow donations, thanks to this post by Mme Lindor. Sound scary? Well, donating bone marrow is easy peasy nowadays. Have a look at the Anthony Nolan website to see if you are eligible. If so, putting yourself on the donor list could save a life. Perhaps, if you are lucky enough to be

A rant about school sport

2012-02-08T17:48:00.000+01:00

According to today's Guardian children are doing less and less sport in schools, partly due to government cuts. I don't in any way understand the logic in reducing the hours children play sports, or reducing the financing of sporting activities. And I say that as someone who hated school sports. I wasn't particularly bad at anything, and in fact was happy to do sport during my free time - horse