Archives for August 2010

A while ago, when I interviewed the chief of Thames Valley Police, Sara Thornton, I asked her what she'd do if she could wave a magic wand and fix one thing about society. She answered straightaway. "I'd put an end to domestic violence," she said. "It's one of the biggest issues facing the police nowadays, and it's growing."

Can you believe that one in four women will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime. And women will be assaulted an average of 35 times before they seek help. Well today I met a woman who has injected her own dynamism into a local charity, East Berkshire Womens Aid which helps women (and some men) who are the victims. She's Gerry LeJeune - whose life was changed when, as head of HR for a big global company, she took some Christmas presents around to the local women's refuge. She couldn't believe what she saw - women and children living in terrible squalor because that was their only refuge. Within months, she was working for the charity - and has nurtured it from strength to strength.

Thanks to her efforts, and those of her team, she's received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service and the MBE. What's more, they've won the Royal Borough Of Windsor and Maidenhead Charity of the Year for the last two years running! If you want to get involved, drop them an email to admin@ebwomensaid.org.uk.

Obesity is big news today. Latest NHS figures say that obesity surgery (that's gastric bands and bypasses) has increased tenfold in the past decade. It doesn't surprise me. It's because (as NICE stated a couple of years ago) obesity surgery works. And, what's more, it's cost effective.

Now I know lots of people will want to take a high moral, judgmental tone on this subject. I can hear them already: "why don't THOSE people just eat less and exercise more?" But obesity is SO much more complex than that. I have met many men and women whose lives are almost completely wrecked by their inability to control their weight. Whose fault is it?

I just don't think we can moralise. Perhaps it is their fault - but only as much as a drinker, a smoker or even an obsessive sportsman suffers from disease or injury brought about by their lifestyle. Perhaps it was my fault that I put on weight and then, after a decade of obsessive dieting and exercise, ended up with a body that just wouldn't respond whatever I did. But while the experts and media debate this issue over the next few days, I'd just put in a plea for a little human compassion.

MOST of the people who're grossly overweight are very unhappy about it. Many of them face a shortened life. Many are suffering right now from all of the awful things that obesity can cause or exacerbate - that's an increased risk of cancer, diabetes, stroke or heart disease.

To anyone who feels morally superior, I'd say, watch out: Sooner or later every single one of us is going to either be affected ourselves, or have a beloved member of the family who's suffering. Then you'll learn it's not a laughing matter - it's a product of our times, our crazy Western lifestyle.

Obesity surgery is OBVIOUSLY not the long term solution. We've all got to change the way we live and yes, that does include taking more personal responsibility. Meanwhile, could we all try being nicer to each other too?

Amazing! A study suggests that one in six of us British women love shopping to the point of it being an addiction - and many of us are totting up thousands of pounds in debt, on our credit cards.

I remember recently talking to the famous anthropologist and author of The Naked Ape, Desmond Morris, about this. He says it's entirely normal and natural for us humans to love shopping - because we animals are programmed to feel better if we are securely surrounded by the things we need in life. Rather like a squirrel with a huge hoard of acorns, we feel happier if we have lots of "stuff". I suppose the only thing that's different between us and them is our values! Nowadays we love to buy things we can't afford!

I used to love popping to New York for the weekend, particularly to do a bit of Christmas shopping! If you think that's extravagant, then how about Emma, from Caversham, who spoke to me this morning about how she loves to buy cushions - some for the summer months, and other for the winter decor! Or Mary, from Reading, who pops to Barcelona to buy boots!

I was shocked to read that many kids nowadays never go out and get good and dirty, puddle jumping, climbing trees, skimming ponds and mucking about with creepy crawlies. A recent survey showed that many kids thought that cows actually hibernate in the winter and that cod are freshwater fish and can be found in rivers!

It's something that has already concerned local members of the Reading and District Natural History Society. Together with the guys at Basildon Park, they've come up with a programme of bug-based activities for youngsters - despite what could be horrible weather! As a kid, I used to love going out into the fields, building dens, though I never did like bugs, I knew how to spot a butterfly from a moth and I kept a menagerie of guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits and tadpole-come-frogs! It's a great pity our kids nowadays don't seem to have the time for that sort of fun!

If you want to find out more about what's available at Basildon Park for your youngsters - go to www.rdnhs.org.uk or www.nationaltrust.org.uk.

That's what my son was asking yesterday. He's very excited, you see, because he's been doing work experience in a hospital, and had to change into scrubs for the whole day in an operating theatre where he could witness operations. There I was, presenting my radio programme and my phone blipped with an incoming text.

"Having a great time!" he texted. "Just done a gall bladder, a hernia, and now with the surgical team - we're all having lunch together, sitting here in our scrubs!"

I remember witnessing my first operation and getting changed into those scrubs. It's weird because they are hardly the most glamorous fashion, but everyone looks so good in them. Why? Is it just because we associate scrubs with all of those famous TV medical sitcoms and dramas?

It's GCSE day today, and I'm back at the microphone now waiting for one of my other sons to text me with his results. No news yet. Let's hope it's good!

Have you seen the BBC TV programme, "Secret Britain" about the hidden corners and secret gems of British countryside. Well, today I was asking about hidden gems of Berkshire. Just a few ideas of places well worth visiting:

• Combe Gibbet, near Newbury, an absolutely beautiful spot but with a gloomy past. There's a replica gibbet there now. The original was put up in 1676 to hang an adulterous and murderous couple! So a beauty spot with a moral then!
• Another caller recommended walks along The Devils' Highway, a partly paved highway cutting through the Berkshire woodland to the south of Bracknell and following a Roman Route
• Of course, the Roman ruins at Silchester.
• Also, just over the border into Oxfordshire, the picturesque village of Ewelme
• Lily Hill in Bracknell

Just a few ideas if you fancy an afternoon out in the last remnants of the summer sunshine!

It's what we like to tell our kids, isn't it? Try and get yourself a job where you'll be paid for doing what you love anyway.

Today I met two guys who are doing just that - in very different ways. First, former Olympic champion skier Graham Bell, who's from Henley. Once his professional skiing career was waning, he was lucky enough to be taken on as presenter of Ski Sunday, and now spends his life talking about his sport - and being paid for it!

It was great also to meet a man who has a job you might not even know exists - Leigh Took, whose business is illusion! He came into the studio bearing one of the model heads which he has created for a movie.

As a young artist from Caversham, near Reading, he was taken on in the "matte" department at Pinewood Studios at 18, and has been working in the Big Movie Business ever since. His company now produces matte paintings (that's where the artist actually paints onto glass through which the camera shoots) and all sorts of special effects, including the most breathtaking "miniatures". For instance - the exterior of the Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, where the Da Vinci Code plot draws to a close. The real chapel has all sorts of ugly corrugated iron and building work going on, so the movie producers asked Leigh to provide a totally authentic version of the chapel, but with a rather more ancient look. So the exteriors you see in the movie are actually Leigh's creation - and not the real thing at all.

And now I find I can't relax. How crazy is that?

I rang a friend, who's a GP, and said "how can I relax? I'm all tense, yet I've been looking forward to relaxing - so why can't I?"

"Get digging," she said. "That'll give you new focus, and will help you unwind!"

So now I'm planting a whole new flowerbed where a garden shed used to be. This had better work, or I'll be exhausted, tense and very muddy to no avail.

While I'm away, Henry Kelly is at the helm:

David Morris, director of Berkshire Cricket, joined me in the studio this morning. Cricket's a subject close to my heart, and we had much to celebrate this morning, David and I, with England notching up a splendid victory yesterday against Pakistan in the first test. It had been a good weekend for Berkshire's team too - and it was fascinating hearing from David just how the funding of our minor counties team works.

One major area of controversy in cricket finances is the question of television rights. Should international cricket be restored onto the list of the "crown jewels", meaning that you don't need a subscription to satellite or cable TV to watch live coverage? David certainly seemed in no doubt - if the money from the subscription broadcasters came to an end, local cricket teams would be in real trouble because of the lack of funds.