HomeBlogs & ViewsBirmingham Mail ColumnistsMaureen Messent

It can happen here - and it does

IF YOU had cupped a hand behind your ear in Britain this last week, you will have heard a nation congratulating itself that the horrors of the Austrian cellar weren't uncovered on our island. Read

But you are a clown, Ian

AS A sporting mercenary, footballer Ian Wright did well. Read

Our immigrants problem is not race but culture

IT MATTERS not a jot in the great scheme of things that council leaders in Bradford axed a children's march to celebrate St George's Day. Read

Spare us the sob stories

BRING out the tissues. Start up the waterworks. Another batch of wannabes is running a nice little line in emotional blackmail. Read

Clyde's a sight for sore eyes

THE happier story this week has been that of Clyde, the young Welsh cob, whose sight has been saved by a Birmingham Mail reader after she learned Clyde's owner couldn't afford a £2,500 eye operation. Read

These were no hapless victims

SEE our blame-free nation has advanced a few paces this week with the body of Midlands-born children's TV presenter, Mark Speight, found near Paddington Station. Read

Blind devotion beggars belief

WOMANKIND'S forgiveness of rotters is legendary - but one woman takes it to unbelievable lengths. Read

Lack of family in modern society

WE WERE amused when Blair's mouthpiece, Alistair Campbell, said "we don't do God" - but he stopped too short there. Read

Too blonde to know

I'M PUZZLED by that yarn of young Lady Kitty Spencer, Earl Spencer of Althorp's daughter. Read

A real chancer

MUSLIM Bushra Noah, 19, seeks £35,000 in damages from a London hairdressing salon owner who turned her down for a job because she wouldn't take off her headscarf. Read

Men giving birth is a step too far

NEWS that a "man" has already given birth in a British hospital and, in America, another "male" is pregnant revolts me. Read

Sugar's 'victims' get no more than their just deserts

WHAT a snivelling, lily-livered lot we'd be were we to take onboard the advice of Kidscape, the anti-bullying charity. Read

Home's no place for shy Shannon

LITTLE Shannon Matthews, once lost, now found, was clearly not a happy child. Read

Lead us not into temptation

THAT government edict by which cigarettes could be banned from display surely doesn't go far enough. Read

Theft is theft

I'M NOT pious, but I can't join in the mirth of the thieving classes in Hull who found a faulty cash machine in a supermarket. Read

You can't teach happiness, Les

HANG on a minute while I try to absorb this. Read

Haven for the victims of human brutality

FELINE faces, slit-eyed in the sunshine, peer from wool-lined wicker baskets. There are tiny chairs, also covered, and a ramp leading to the top tier of bunk beds to help old cats reach their favourite perches. Read

This is not poverty, it's inadequacy

AS PREDICTABLY as summer following spring, the chief executive of Barnardo's has been trumpeting his old tune again. Read

We all watched in silence as child was mistreated

HE WAS a tiny bundle of infant misery, his forehead corrugated, his eyes closed, and he was letting out little mewing noises of fright or protest. Read

Kids learn to varnish before they can walk

THE message has been clear this week: God help the parents of 2008 struggling to do their best for their progeny but, apparently, getting it wrong. Read