Category: “Cycling”

I’m just back from the London Bikeathon, another 52 miles in the legs, and a dose of sunburn on the neck. But, as ever, it was a terrific way to spend the morning, with 5000 other cyclists raising money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago I [...]

Ten days ago I posted this blog about two young men from Northern Ireland setting out on a remarkable challenge to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. Jez Davison and Gareth Crockett had lost a close friend, John Erwin, to leukaemia and the Beldon Challenge was their way of trying to raise £10,000 in [...]

First of all, thanks for all the responses to yesterday’s blog asking for examples of frontline cuts to mental health services. Thanks also to Mark Brown, editor of One in Four, for sending me a brilliant description of why ‘the frontline’ is different in mental health services from other aspects of NHS care. He and [...]

Thanks for all the concerned tweets yesterday after I revealed I was being trained by a BMX stunt rider. It won’t surprise you to know that this was at the request of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, for reasons which will become clear in due course. But today, I want to highlight the efforts for the [...]

Just back from seeing West Ham sneak a 5-1 win over Burnley, allowing us to concentrate on the League while they concentrate on relegation. Depending on who goes up and who goes down, it could be the last time I visit Upton Park before West Ham move to the Olympic Stadium. Burnley fans were excellent [...]

I promise I am not coming over all girly, in a ‘does my bum look big in this?’ kind of way, but I am on the lookout for a few quickfire diet ideas. Having just stepped on the weighing scales – something I have avoided doing since sensing my heavier weight coming on and staying, [...]

A couple of nice surprises on Question Time last night. First, I was fearing real car crash telly with former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith appearing for the first time since she got caught up in the expenses scandal. But she handled herself well in difficult circumstances. So that was surprise numero uno. Second, it was [...]

Forgive the utter self-indulgence of this being my first blog in quite a while, and possibly the last for another little while as I rediscover proper holidays. There are all sorts of things I could have written about – Vladimir Putin’s latest strip-show, Silvio Berlusconi’s observation that he loves women – I think we kind [...]

I always, always, always wear a helmet when cycling. Always. Except yesterday. And guess which day it was that someone tweeted that they’d seen me out on the bike. Yesterday. Followed by someone who said they once saw me and Boris Johnson out cycling on the same day, though not together. Boris never wears a [...]

I was up north for a wedding yesterday, in one of the most beautiful parts of Britain. Hence the stunning backdrops to telly interviews I did on David Cameron, Andy Coulson and the News of the World phone hacking scandal. ‘Oh Heathcliffe, Heathcliffe,’ or variants on the theme, was the most common text message that [...]