HomeBlogs & ViewsBirmingham Mail ColumnistsMaureen Messent

Don't come to me for flood hand-out

HERE we go again as the flood waters subside. Read

Keeping them in school to 18 is sheer nonsense

NOW our worst fears are confirmed. Britain's rowdy classroom failures are the most badly behaved in Europe. Read

Job bias case pushes gay rights too far

I'M RIGHT up there with the gay and lesbian lobby currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Homosexual Reform Act. Read

Cameron misses the boat

ARE we to detect a death wish in David Cameron's decision to turn his back on England's flood- stricken families in favour of a visit to Rwanda? Read

Bride should be told killer's secret

JON Venables was 10 when he linked up with Robert Thompson, 11, to kidnap and murder little Jamie Bulger in a crime that shook us. The notion of children as killers stopped us in our tracks. Read

Why would you say no?

OF COURSE Liam Donaldson, the government's chief medical officer, is right in his bid to bring in a law that will make us all automatic organ donors after death unless we say otherwise. Read

So tasteless

SELFRIDGES in London is selling a diamond- encrusted cutlery set for £200,000. Harrods is offering a gold and diamond-studded cooking pan for £100,000. Read

Don't let our history become a thing of the past

FOURTEEN hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Henry VIII died of a surfeit of lampreys. Oliver Cromwell sprouted a big wart on his chin. Read

Why Brum needs a Boris

OF course the naughty, droll and mop-headed Tory MP Boris Johnson must be London's next mayor. Read

A likely story from drug charge girls

SORRY, but I don't believe the yarn spun by those two 16-year-old British students languishing in an Accra jail. Read

Floods are not the wrath of God

THEY stand beside piles of ruined furniture in their flooded gardens. They point out tide marks on walls to explain how high raged the torrents that have wrecked their homes. Read

Charlie's innocent nicotine fix

THE affable and laid back Charles Kennedy, former Lib Dem leader and now sober alcoholic, opened a train window to smoke a cigarette. Read

Big E for men about the house

I DISLIKE the notion of house-husbands. Any bloke that'd become a Mary Ann for his higher-earning wife is a wimp in my book. Read

Sex change con's cheeky law case

BURGLAR and transsexual Clive Watson, aged 39, says his human rights are being violated by the refusal of HMP Dovegate, Staffordshire, to allow him out for sex change treatment. Read

Face it, Charles - Diana hasn't gone away yet

THE crowd turned up at Wembley, the music was great - if you like that sort of thing - and what would have been Diana's 46th birthday was celebrated with gusto and affection. Read

Killing fields left their mark

THIS newspaper sent me to Somalia in the early 90s where, for 10 days, I reported on famine deaths. Read

Needy, vulgar, desperate 'Girls'

I'M PUZZLED that the Spice Girls are reuniting for a tour to prove, as they say, that girl power still matters. Read

PM can't be scared to tell the truth

HERE we go again... Read

A decent man hounded out by his own people

BRITAIN'S first Muslim MP, Mohammed Sarwar, has resigned his Glasgow Govan seat after threats received by him and his family for bringing a trio of Pakistani murderers to book. Read

Cash in hand confession

IT WAS an offer to test a saint. Read