HomeBlogs & ViewsBirmingham Mail ColumnistsKarren Brady

Where is the respect for the elderly

IT IS quite possible that just around the corner from you an old person is being abused, or worse. Read

A hard life - for staff, not inmates

LIFE in some prisons is so cushy, inmates are ignoring chances to escape. Or so says a prison officers' leader. Read

Puppy love beats good intentions

BAD news for our King Charles Cavalier spaniel Buddy: he isn't going to be allowed to sleep on my daughter's bed any longer. Read

Tragic victims of our drug culture

THE deaths of TV presenter Mark Speight and his fiancee Natasha Collins are a Romeo and Juliet tragedy for the 21st century. Read

Power of freedom and democracy

IT IS fascinating to watch as Robert Mugabe wriggles and squirms in an attempt to escape the consequences of the result of the election in Zimbabwe. Read

Familiarity breeds a hefty penalty

WHAT one woman considers to be sexual harassment another might think of as flattery. We are not to be taken lightly or for granted, that's for sure. Read

Why we all don't envy Heather Mills

SO WHO wouldn't envy a woman made £24 million richer from her divorce? Read

Ooh Matron! One yank and I'm off!

THEY were straight out of the tradition of pantomime, musical hall, end-of-pier and saucy postcards, those Carry On films that filled the cinema with chuckles for more 20 years. Read

Kitten Kerry Katona turns out to be a TV turkey

KERRY Katona's first role in life was nothing really, a terribly unfortunate young woman with an overwhelming desire to be something more. Read

End iniquity of hospital parking

CHARGES for parking at NHS hospitals are iniquitous and should be swept away. Read

Time to put a cap on booze culture

NEW figures show that the 24-hour drinking laws are helping to shove the crime rate from late night to early morning. Read

Where there's a will there's a Wayne

IT ISN'T on the football field that Wayne Rooney is being tamed but rather, it appears to me, in the living room. Read

Rise and fall of a man who's too nice

ONLY rich men who know what they are doing or fools who don't lavish fortunes on football. Read

All that talent - and she sings as well

MADONNA is many things to many people but, for me, anyway, her greatest talent isn't in showbiz, it's in business. She's so good she even made conical bras commercial. Read

...And the rest will be history

ACROSS the Atlantic, there's a contest ten times more interesting than the Superbowl and a lot more unlikely than Charlie Wilson's War. Read

Leslie a winner but we lose out

LESLIE Ash may feel she is entitled to the £5 million compensation awarded to her for the near-fatal effects of catching a superbug during treatment at a London hospital. Read

Dangers of too much information

BIG Brother is watching you -that was the horror version of the state constantly monitoring its citizens, a system much favoured by Communist nations and now successfully updated for a TV series. Read

First lady hopeful is last to hide from view

CRIKEY, ooo-la-la, whatever next. Read

Rare chance for a little daydreaming

DESERT Island Discs is perhaps the only programme you dream of appearing on and then dream when you're on it. Read

It's time we had an English market

MONTHLY farmers' markets have been a big success in out-of-city centres like Moseley, Harborne and Kings Norton. Read