26/10/2009 by admin.

It’s nearly 3 years since my Mum died, from lung cancer, on Boxing Day, 2006. We all still miss her terribly and I think about her a lot - especially her encouragement to me in much of my teens (ok that IS now ancient history!), when self-doubt seemed to be my default mode of operation.

She told me repeatedly: ‘You can do anything, if you put your mind to it.’ I dismissed it at first as just one of those platitudes that parents offer to cheer up moody kids! But as I got older I watched her try new things herself, stretch herself intellectually and continually strive to acquire new skills and knowledge. This role model has been one of the most amazing gifts that a parent could have given their child.

In her later years, when she wasn’t as mobile as she once was, she decided to teach herself how to use a computer and became an avid ’silver surfer’. She began our family history research, conducting much of it online! To exemplify her philosophy I wrote her a poem (I’m not a poet as you will see when you read it). But Mum’s you-can-do-it approach, which is summarised in my clumsy verse, has helped me so much and I thought that perhaps it might help someone else.

TO MY MUM
(Mothering Sunday, 2000)
Almost all of my friends’ mums, to occupy their leisure time,
Turn their hands to knitting, sewing, baking – that’s the paradigm.
It’s the kind of thing that ladies seem to want to do for fun,
When their children long have left the former family mans-i-on.

This may help to ease the gentle passing of the hours of light.
But I wonder, do they do it just to prove that they’re polite?
No such dross for my mum, she’s a budding expert with I.T.!
Taught herself to speak computer – gone and made a family tree!!

When the needlework and sweaters of the other Mums are junk,
My mum’s family tree will still be sprouting branches from its trunk.
So you see I’m proud of Mum - no ordinary parent, she.
Loves a major project challenge: GENEALOGY (and me!).

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30/09/2009 by admin.

For years TVs were monstrosities with dubious sound and picture quality. But in the last few years the price of great-quality LCD or even plasma TVs has plummeted, so that now we can get sound and pictures of a quality we’ve just not had before.

Watching films is now a truly exciting experience at home. But what of TV programmes themselves?

Unfortunately, since the number of TV channels expanded some years back in the UK, supposedly to ‘increase choice’, I can look through all my Freeview channels and, most times, find virtually nothing I want to watch. Yes, for those families whose daily tube ritual means that they automatically turn on the TV and - as their ritual has gone for most of the days of their lives, they will watch something - the process is then to choose from the fairly poor choice of programmes.

There was a time when we complained bitterly about having endless repeats of TV. Now there are entire channels set up for it! And if you are one of us hardy souls who find the soaps, well, soapy, and prefer our own, far more interesting daily realities to the so-called reality shows - with their tedious, contrived content about god-knows-which virtually unknown ‘celebrity’ - the choice is negligible. Then, if vampires or emergency services hold little appeal, you have a real problem! You’ve worked hard to earn enough to afford great technology to watch TV on but there’s now nothing on you want to watch. TV technology and programme making have somehow walked right past each other and have failed to meet!

We subscribed briefly to Sky and before that to the old On-Digital service. We stopped it because once again there was just too much content that we didn’t want to watch. And as we clearly already get unwatchable programmes on Freeview, why on earth would I want to pay to get even more programmes I don’t want to watch?

If I’ve painted a very bleak picture, there is at least a tiny light shining in the distance. Dramas like Heroes were truly absorbing, (though much too long). While I enjoyed the ones I saw, I wasn’t prepared to give that much of my life to it! Spooks was also very nicely done and every so often we’ve had the odd gems from superb story-tellers and programme makers like Stephen Poliakoff or Mike Leigh, which are mercifully short but always compelling.

So, programme makers, what’s it to be? Are you going to continue to fob people off with ersatz entertainment in the UK, as you’ve been doing increasingly for more than 10 years? If so, I for one will be spending even less time watching. However, if you choose to make some more intelligent, well-crafted programmes, I will be your greatest advocate.

The problem you’ve created with poor content is that the nightly TV-viewing rituals which almost every family now has, are beginning to break down, as your falling viewing figures and advertising revenues reveal. Your choice: will you let it continue its decline or will you find a way to rebuild the art of quality programme-making that we know we can do in the UK and let it occupy more than a tiny per cent of the viewing schedule?

Truthfully I will be happy with or without a TV because I have lots of other things I am happy to do instead when I’m not working. If I choose to leave my TV off or even sell it, only the TV stations and programme makers will lose out.

Now I’ve increased your choice!

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25/05/2009 by admin.

A few years back, my Mum, at the age of about 75, phoned me to tell me: “I want a website.” After my initial shock she explained that that the research she’d been conducting into the Martin family history had got to the point where she wanted to share it with the world, in the hope that someone may offer some new leads to fill in some of the remaining gaps.I looked at some of the easy-to-use template sites but none of them really offered the facilities Mum needed.

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25/05/2009 by admin.

I’ve always wanted to say: “Let me introduce you to my tailor”. Silly, I know, but there it is. Well, a couple of years ago, when I began a new phase in my career which involved high visibility - presentations, conferences, working with international music artists, etc - I really wanted to look the part so I hatched a plan.

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