Your birthday is an event that comes once (or, if you’re the Queen, twice) a year. Other than being a blatant reminder that you’re getting older, and are thus another year closer to death, it’s also a good excuse to spoil yourself with some much needed treats. However, if splashing out isn’t your thing, it’s also…
Smiles cheaper – the secret to white teeth…on a budget
I’ve always been an avid drinker of tea. Green tea, red tea, camomile – you can’t beat a soothing cup of something hot. It’s one of life’s few simple pleasures. When I got my braces at the age of seventeen, I was cautioned against this habit; while the benefits of drinking green tea are plenty,…
Why you should join a union
In the United Kingdom, trade union membership is falling, it’s down from 25% in 2014, to just 23.5% in 2016 – making up just 6.2 million members. It’s at the lowest that it’s ever been since its peek in 1995 which saw over 13 million people signed up for collective representation. Yet, in a climate of…
Our NHS is a modern miracle – and we shouldn’t need “Call the Midwife” to remind us
Recently I’ve discovered a new show that I can binge on. It’s not really new, but it’s new to me – Call the Midwife, based on books of the same name by Jennifer Worth, a midwife who began her career in the 1950s. Reflecting true events that happened in the period, this drama opens up a…
Are you running indoors? You’re wasting money! (And other savings tips).
Mid-January is the time of slowly diminishing New Year’s Resolutions. It’s a scientific fact that changing behaviours in any significant way goes against human nature. However, even the smallest of changes can make a big impact, on both your health and your wallet. Here’s some suggestions. Breakfast Let me just start by stating the obvious,…
Who is social housing for?
For many people nowadays, the mention of social housing, or ‘council houses’ as they’re more commonly known, conjures up images of people living in destitute. The common stereotypes are of the single teenage mum, or of Channel 4’s infamous series ‘Benefits Street’….of housing to be avoided unless one is in absolute dire need. However, the…
Automation – are the robots taking over?
The elephant sits in the room, smugly observing the issue of automation – the process of taking jobs from humans and giving them to robots – while torrents of working class people seem oblivious, insisting instead on blaming Polish immigrants for their diminishing employment prospects. Immigration was one of the key issues leading up to…
Why you can’t live on the National Living Wage
In an age of spiralling rents, soaring food costs, and out of control energy prices, living is increasingly expensive. In 1999, Tony Blair’s government introduced the minimum wage– all workers over the age of 22 had to receive no less than £3.60 an hour for their labour. At the time, this was a significant step…
Things I’ve learned from selling on Etsy
I’ve finally done it. I’ve finally hit 150 sales on Etsy. I set up my shop – The Little Ragdoll Cat – in 2014, but only really started giving it the attention that it needed in 2015. I am aware that in this time frame some shops have racked up hundreds of thousands of sales, and yet…
Making the most of my TEFL qualification
In February, I finally completed my TEFL qualification. I only just managed to finish it in time – before getting married and flying off to Japan to spend a couple of weeks on honeymoon with my husband. In all honesty, I was scared that I’d messed it up, but I ended up getting a distinction…