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Review of Kitschnbake Cafe in Newport, Fife
Just across the river from Dundee, is the sweet little town of Newport, and Cafe Kitschnbake. I’ve long been a fan of Mary-Jane and her incredible Tunnocks Teacake Brownies, so when she invited me along for a sneak peek of her new cafe last night, it would have been terribly rude not to go. Plus, I reckoned that she’d probably make the aforementioned Brownies. The cafe is situated near the little harbour, and through the newly installed bifold doors, the visitor can enjoy an unrivaled view over the silvery Tay to Dundee. Fitting the name of the business, the decor is a little bit kitsch, quite colourful and very welcoming.…
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The Best Twitter Client – Hootsuite vs Tweetdeck
If you’ve been using Twitter for a while, you may find that as you follow more people, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of them. Your timeline whizzes by, and you realise that you are missing updates from people you find interesting, or from real life friends. Another common issue is when you are managing more than one Twitter account, eg. you have a private and a business account, or you run a charity twitter account. Instead of logging in and out of Twitter, try one of the Twitter Clients. There are others but I am going to give you a simple overview of the main contenders for…
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Crazy About One Direction – Teens and Social Media
Twitter was ablaze last night with disparaging comments about a group of young girls, known collectively as ‘Directioners’ – the fans of the group One Direction. The reason for the discussion was a report about a group of Directioners, who were interviewed and followed by a camera team from Channel 4, as the journalists attempted to find out – Why are these girls Crazy About One Direction? Directioners have a fierce reputation, and have recently been featured in GQ, who wrote about the Most Terrifying Responses to our One Direction Covers. GQ had revealed their new covers, which included quotes from 1D, which some Directioners objected strongly to.…
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Simple Steps when Running a Social Media Campaign
Twitter is often seen as a quick fix to getting a lot of attention for a campaign or charity. It can be very useful, but there are a few pitfalls that should be avoided. Here are some tips to help you run a successful Twitter campaign Whether you are campaigning to raise money for charity, or to raise awareness of an issue, you will likely be looking for the greatest possible public exposure without spending any money on advertising. You might be told, ‘Sign up to Twitter, is great for getting publicity‘, which is not wrong but it is not quite that simple. Here are a few tips on…
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Is Creative Work Worthless?
‘Was nix kostet, ist nix wert’ This German saying, which means, ‘What costs nothing, is worth nothing’ is one I use a lot. Lately I have been using it a lot when talking about payment for writing, and it came to mind when I read this blog post from writer, Nate Thayer, who was asked if he would be interested in having one of his articles republished on The Atlantic website. When he asked about format, deadline and fees, he was informed that while the Atlantic would like to publish his work, they were not willing to pay him for it. His reply: I am a professional journalist who has made my…
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Volkswagen Small But Tough Girl vs Barclay Precious Pink Girl
No, Barclays. This is NOT how I see my daughter’s relationship with her father. I have been known to throw things at the TV when that advert comes on. As this blogger notes, ‘Unconditional Love’ does not mean raising selfish kids. We may give up sleeping through the night and drinking tea while it is hot, at least for the first few years, but we draw the line at giving up our entire lives for our kids It is no sacrifice, the changes that we have made since becoming parents. It is being part of a family, and making compromises to ensure that everyone in the family…
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Can A Day Without Technology Change My Life?
Could you do a day without technology, Joanne Mallon asked. ‘Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo’, I shrieked, while clutching my iPhone close to my chest. When I got over the shock of the mere premise, I read Joanne’s blog post, and the blog of her daughter who originally set the challenge, I started thinking about it. I was surprised last week to hear that the first iPad was revealed to the public just three years ago. Is it only three years? It feels like an eternity. I bought my first iPhone when we moved to Geneva, five years ago, and I now cannot imagine how I lived without it.
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Best Twitter Tips For Writers
For any self-published authors out there – I have blogged on Off The Shelf Book Promotions about publicising your book on Twitter. This post gives basic Twitter tips for writers, to help you hit the ground running when you sign up to Twitter. Debbie’s book Sell Your Books aims to help self-published authors market their books. It is concise, well-written and chockablock with useful tips, from identifying your target market, planning your strategy to getting media coverage. While it is a must-buy for those who have published their own books, it also contains plenty of tips for those who are working with a publisher. As Debbie says, ‘If you…
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The Social Media Generation
Most schools offer good advice, and have policies in place to tackle cyberbullying, but what about the wider implications of our kids being the first Social Media Generation? They have grown up with Facebook and Twitter, they are used to their lives being shared online. My kids say, ‘Put that on YouTube’ when I filmed the dog doing something funny. They have not yet learned the dark side of the internet. I have written about keeping kids safe on the internet, but how should we be teaching our kids about Social Media, and the long term implications of what they are tweeting or facebooking. I have had conversations with teachers who admitted…
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Raising Girls vs Raising Boys
The comparison between raising girls vs raising boys is one that I have been making these past years. My children have conformed pretty well to the ‘gender stereotyping’ by being sensitive, artistic and the peacemaker (my daughter) vs rowdy, maths and science fan and dominant (my son). A friend recommended the book by Steve Biddulph, “Raising Boys” a few years ago. I glanced through it, but really didn’t get on well with it. I can’t remember much about it, or why I put it down, but was interested to hear that Steve has followed up with a book about girls, called (predictively) Raising Girls. On Radio 2 this morning,…
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Mary Robinson Everybody Matters
When Mary Robinson speaks, people listen. Not because she is the former President of Ireland, and the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, but because she is an inspiring and compelling woman. My ten year old daughter and I went to hear her give the Christmas Lecture at Dundee University this weekend, and were not in the least disappointed. I had heard Mary talk at the London Summit of Family Planning earlier this year, when her speech was sadly cut short as she had a plane to catch. The scent of mulled wine and a sense of anticipation filled the air of the foyer when we arrived. As the…
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Simple Steps to Promote with Social Media
Started a blog for your business or have a campaign to promote with Social Media? It may look complicated, but just follow these six simple steps. 1. Twitter Since I started using Twitter to promote my blog, I have gained a lot of readers. And more people comment, both on the blog or on Twitter. And let’s be honest, that is what we are all looking for, us bloggers. As much fun as it is to write, it is a lot more fun if people are reading and enjoying the blog. For a business, you are looking to connect to your customers, and to strengthen customer loyalty. If you don’t…
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Avoid The Knife – FGM in Kenya
I met Vivian in Nairobi. We were told that we were to meet a young woman who had narrowly escaped Female Genital Circumcision (FGM), a practice that is barbaric and abusive. She had escaped being cut, not because of the intervention of Western aid workers or other incomers to her rural Kenyan community, but because her parents forbade it. The Luo community, to which Vivian and her parents belong do not practice FGM, but she grew up in a Kuria community where girls are cut. It is seen as a rite of passage, which most girls eagerly anticipate . When Vivian’s parents refused permission for her to be cut,…
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Four Born Every Second – Saving Lives of Women and Children
Numbers are funny things, aren’t they? 287,000 If I said a house I bought a house in London that cost £287,000, then you would know that it was not a particularly posh area of the city. If I said I earned a bonus of £287,000 last year, you would think I was a high powered executive (sadly, these two examples are not true) If I said that Mumsnet clocked up 287,000 page views in around 5 hours, you would imagine that it was quite a popular and influential website How about this statistic: Around 287,000 women die every year from pregnancy related causes. Most of these deaths are preventable,…
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Feminism Is Over … Say Women
‘Feminism is over … say women’ Wow. That is a snappy headline. The alternative headline, “Feminism is over according a small sample of mothers on a parenting website that doesn’t really ‘do’ feminism” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but would be more accurate. FEMINISM IS OVER… SAY WOMEN – Daily Express FEMINISM in the modern world is viewed as outdated and aggressive and is being shunned by women, research has found. One in seven would describe themselves as a feminist with many believing they have achieved equality with men on issues like fair pay and skills.They believe single mother turned multi-millionaire author…
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The Cult of Motherhood
What does the phrase ‘the cult of motherhood’ mean to you? Nora Heyson It came to me this morning during an interesting discussion on Twitter about being a mother. I have storified it, so you can see the whole exchange, rather than just the quote later in the blog. The discussion started when we were talking about the excellent article by Rowan Davies in the Guardian about ‘Yummymummy Hate’. Now, anyone who has been following my blog for a while will know that ‘yummymummy’ is a term that makes me narrow my eyes and grit my teeth. I hate it for its twee-ness, for the assumption that mummies must…
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Ban TV for Children Under Three Years Old? Not In This House
Ban TV for children under three years old – every couple of years a new ‘study’ is released calling for banning of TV for young children. This one was released by Psychologist Dr Aric Sigman. Mumsnet Bloggers’ Network asked, ‘Are parents being demonised?’ The problem with making such a statement is that it immediately puts parents on the defensive, and that it sadly does not reach the parents of the children who are watching TV because their parents cannot be bothered interacting with them. I am not being snobby, but lets be honest – the kids that are plonked in front of Cbeebies all day every day are unlikely to…
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Privacy in Social Media and The Press
When we share our lives with our blog readers, or with our Twitter followers, do we automatically give permission for the press to access that information? Is there any privacy in Social Media? What would you do, if your entire life history was broadcast to the world, at a time when your life was falling apart? And where is the line to be drawn, when reporting a story of national interest? These questions have been going around in my head since I read the article on the Daily Mail website about the wife of Jeremy Forrest. For those who are not in UK, and may…
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The Signs of Controlling Behaviour – Red Flags and How to Spot Them
If we were able to teach young people to recognise the signs of controlling behaviour, the ‘red flags’, would we be able to protect them from abusive relationships? If we were to teach children in schools how to spot a controlling person, would be help save them from misery and self-doubt? If we talk openly with friends about the ‘red flags’ would they recognise their own relationships and find the strength to walk away? I hope so. For this reason, I am writing two blog posts today. One for adults, here on this blog, and one for tweens and teens on Jump! Mag When writing for kids, I am very concious of…
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Learn Twitter in Ten Minutes
Interested in Twitter but not sure where to start? Read on and find out how to Learn Twitter In Ten Minutes, when my first book is released later this year. A couple of months ago, I was approached on Twitter by a follower I have ‘known’ for some time. She represented a publishing house and wondered if I would be interested in writing a book about how to tweet. The company already has books on the market about learning to play Chess, and are looking to develop this line of books further. I was intrigued and agreed to send in a proposal to be reviewed by Anova’s sales team. They…
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Rambling in a Biergarten
It occurred to me that lately I have done lots of ranting and campaigning on the blog, and not as much general rambling, reviews, and travel reports. It has become a bit too much Salt and not enough Caramel. I started to rectify this earlier today with a blog post about my new handbag and find myself wishing to tell you readers more about my life. It has been a busy couple of months. Moving to Scotland, receiving the offer to blog in Kenya, my first book contract, agreeing to host a workshop for Mumsnet about Social Media, writing for Salt&Caramel, Jump! Mag and more recently for the Gates Foundation…
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London Family Planning Summit – Global Bloggers Report
At the London Family Planning Summit, I joined a group of bloggers from around the world. They were from activist blogs, charity blogs and blogging fora. Before and after the summit their work was added to by those who could not attend, but who observed the Summit from afar. It is interesting to read the other blogger’s work, and to see what their impressions of the Summit were. Bloggers who attended the summit: Maeve Shearlaw was blogging for the White Ribbon Alliance Zoora Moosa was blogging for the Fword Owen Barder blogged for the Centre for Global Development Rachel Silverman and Amanda Glassmann also blogged for the Centre for…
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The Family Planning Summit London 2012 – More Than Statistics and Soundbites
The Family Planning Summit of 2012 took place in London today. A stones throw from the UK Houses of Parliament, world leaders, activists and health care workers and providers gather together to put Family Planning back on table in developing countries around the globe. Melinda Gates began by calling it ‘an important milestone in the history of Family Planning’. In Ban Ki-Moon’s pre-recorded video address he expressed the wish that ‘no child should be born unwanted, and no woman should die needlessly in childbirth’. There followed a lot of speeches by ministers of various countries, expressing their commitment to the cause. Speeches filled with statistics and soundbites. ‘One in three…
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Family Planning in Kenya – A Tale of Two Women
This week I will be blogging from the London Summit on Family Planning, organised by the UK government and the Gates Foundation. The ambitious aim is to provide family planning methods to an additional 120 million women worldwide by 2020. I have already blogged at length about this, so will simply give you all an impression of what this means for two of the women I met on my recent trip to Kenya. Miriam is 32 years old and was at the Marura Village Dispensary in Laikipia District with her 3 month old son, Peter. She already has five girls at home and is struggling to keep them in school.…
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Oi! P&G. THIS is how to advertise to women
Ok, before I start, I have to say that I know this is advertising. I am aware that Nike are trying to sell me their brand and they are cynically tugging at my heartstrings to do so. BUT at least the message is better than the P&G Sponsors of Moms advertising that I ranted about earlier this year. Advertisers should take note that women are not all mums and those of us who are mums don’t all define ourselves by our “status” as a mother. I am a mother by an accident of reproductive luck. It is not something that requires particular skill. I just got lucky. It does not…
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Saving Kenyan Lives
Gordon Okal Owera is a 26 year old teacher from a small village in Kenya. We visited him last week with the woman who saved his life. It is not an exaggeration; Pamela cajoled, bullied and persuaded him that life is worth fighting for. When Gordon started feeling unwell in Autumn 2011, he thought he had just been working too hard. A school teacher, he worked left home at 6am and didn’t return until 6.30pm. He put the fatigue that he was feeling down to the long hours, particularly during the harvest in December. He would work in the fields from early morning till midday then go home…
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Living (HIV) Positively
Jasinta lives with the knowledge that she has HIV. She was diagnosed in 2009 but kept it a secret, even from her husband. ‘I lived in stigma and denial’, she told me. The stigma of HIV is a big problem here in Kenya. Newly diagnosed patients find that their neighbours and friends turn away from them and their customers shun their businesses. It is a lonely life for many Kenyans with HIV. When she discovered she was pregnant, a year after her her diagnosis, she went to the local health clinic. She was lucky that the clinic she visited was one that offered a support group for mothers with HIV. She…
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Pumwani Maternity Hospital, Kenya – People Not Numbers
One million. Can you visualize one million people? The Kenyan population is growing at a rate of 1m people a year, and is in danger of slowing the positive development of the country. The effects of this population explosion is often told, but too often we concentrate on numbers and graphs, instead of on the human cost of this issue. To put a face to the statistics, we travelled to the Pumwani Maternity Hospital in the East of Nairobi. Dr Omondi Kumba told us a bit about the place. It was founded in 1926 and after Kenyan independence was turned over to the City of Nairobi. The hospital is a…
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Kenya – A Country of Contrasts – Wealth, Poverty and Slums of Nairobi
Any visitor to the city of Nairobi will testify to the contrasts to be found within the city. Poverty and wealth are but a few streets apart. Kenya is a city of contrasts, that impressed me. Despite the challenges faced by the poorest inhabitants, the wealth of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit was inspiring. We arrived at Joma airport late last night. It was dark so my first impressions of Nairobi were that it seemed like any other large city. The first sign that things were different here was the airport style security checks on entering the hotel. This morning we met the other bloggers and the organisers of the trip…
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Africa Without Pity – Stereotypes and Slum Tourism
How do you report from Africa without being patronising? It is a topic that has been going through my mind for several days now. Do the people in the slums really feel that Angelina Jolie cares about them, when she arrives in her private jet, stays at the best hotel in the country (if she stays there at all) then jets right out again. Is there a danger that it can be seen as “do-gooder tourism”. How do you leave the slums without feeling helpless, hopeless, daunted by the task ahead? And how do you cope with the stories you hear? I watched Sian from Geek Is The New Chic…
