Quite a lot has happened since I last put fingers to keyboard…

Not long ago, the UK was dragged, kicking and screaming, through the Covid era, when things were really tough for many people. I didn’t have to change my lifestyle very much, apart from wearing a face mask and getting through about six packets of anti-bac wipes a day, thanks to my OCD. I did avoid crowds, but I’ve been doing that for years.

Then came the period of Government Farce and Frolics in 2022, when we witnessed a sort of conveyor belt of politicians charging in and out of Number 10, in the guise of Prime Ministers and their aspiring lackeys.

We had Boris, the blustering buffoon who apparently couldn’t tell the difference between being at work and being at a party (bless him); then we had Liz, who, although possibly the shortest ever serving PM, managed to destroy the entire economy inside of a week.

There was the chief adviser to Boris who – famously mid-lockdown – drove all the way from London to the far north-east, and then drove a bit more because he said he was concerned about his eyesight. So, when you think you have vision problems, you pile your family into the 4 x 4 and trog off to Jordeyland. Hmmm…

And, still in post – incredibly – Mr Sunak, who insists he understands completely the plight of the working classes, and he presumably does this from his golden palace in the La-La Land of the multi-millionaires.

We cringed when the man we were supposed to trust in his job as Health Minister was caught on CCTV, snogging a colleague at work and then went on to subject himself to even further public ridicule by appearing on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here. However, when we found out the astronomical fee he’d been paid for letting total strangers tip buckets of unmentionable slime over him, and having various species of creepy crawlies set up camp in his ears, some of us thought, well… OK.

The man who was Conservative Party Chair and a good buddy of Mr Sunak’s, as well as a fellow millionaire (multi or otherwise), despite his ardent denials of any wrong-doing in his official post very high up there, was finally ousted amid a scandal around some unpaid tax. That’s the man who was in charge of the country’s purse.

I’m pleased to see Britain is still so Great…

Maggie x

I love this time of year, when all around us is awakening, opening everything up for a new cycle of life and living. The hedgerows, for the past few months dormant and dark, suddenly herald their own springtime by bursting with buds and blossoms, trees proudly display a parasol of floral delight, and gardens suddenly come alive with colour and energy. The power of nature.

As I write with this renewed springtime vigour, two new books are about to be published and I am proud to be the ghostwriter of both of these stories, as I am also proud to have formed a friendship with both authors. Two ladies, very different from each other but equally determined to tell the personal story they have lived.

his way… or no way is a compelling and dark true story of a young woman who believed in the value of family, a belief that almost saw her lose her life to the man she married, the father of her children. It’s a story many of us are familiar with – a marriage that begins with hope and promise, then problems set in and things turn bad, bad becomes worse and worse leads to impending disaster.

You can follow Paula through her gripping story, written in the hope that it will help others who find themselves in dysfunctional relationships to realise there is always a way out, no matter what.