If you've come across my website for the first time, you may be wondering why I haven't posted a blog since March 2025. Well, the reason is that, in the spring of last year, I decided to create a new Substack newsletter, Rewind & Reveal, where I started sharing episodes of my memoir Hit Girl: My Bizarre Double Life in the Pop World of the Eighties. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I wrote the … [Read more...] about Why I’ve been absent from this blog
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Who wins when words go to war?
Five years ago, as we entered the first Covid lockdown, I wrote a blog (A new language for a new reality) about how quickly our language was evolving to adjust to a new paradigm, which included a lexicon of the new words that we had to start using in our everyday lives. Since then (and even before that), I've written here about how words have consequences. And it seems that the current US … [Read more...] about Who wins when words go to war?
Let’s be free, joyful and… weird?
I’ve known for a long time that words have consequences. I wrote a blog about it back in 2019, after yet another mass shooting in the US. I wrote another the day after the insurrection in Washington DC on 6th January 2021. And here we are, three months away from the next US election, and again I’m seeing evidence that words really matter. Before announcing that he was not running for … [Read more...] about Let’s be free, joyful and… weird?
Forty years ago, I was flying high on Virgin Atlantic’s maiden voyage
On 22nd June 1984, I was on my way to Gatwick Airport to board Virgin Atlantic’s very first flight, bound for Newark Airport in New York. Virgin Records founder Richard Branson had leased a Boeing 747 and launched an airline that aimed to put its customers first. But this maiden voyage wasn’t filled with paying customers – it was packed with musicians, celebrities and journalists who were all on a … [Read more...] about Forty years ago, I was flying high on Virgin Atlantic’s maiden voyage
Celebrating my ‘book wedding day’
On the morning of 13 March 2024, I received a text from my friend Robin, wishing me a ‘happy book wedding day’. Why? Because my official book launch party was happening that evening and he knew how important it was for me to celebrate this landmark event with my family and friends. To be honest, it took about as much time and energy to organise as my wedding did. There aren’t many occasions … [Read more...] about Celebrating my ‘book wedding day’
You wait for a podcast… and three come along at once…
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the rare experience of appearing on three different podcasts. The first was with my old friend Rachel Allan on her podcast 40 for Tea; the second was an interview with Dale Hurst on his podcast (recorded at the Bournemouth Writing Festival), The Dale Hurst Writing Show (yet to be released); and the third was with my new friend Amy Rowlinson on her podcast … [Read more...] about You wait for a podcast… and three come along at once…