There’s millions of voices out there on the internet, what’s the point of adding another one? To launch a blog you need the inner confidence that your views and/or the details of your daily life are bound to be interesting just because they’re yours. I’ve always been much better at responding to invitations to share what I think (eg from publishers or event organisers) than at thrusting my views forward. And it’s not like I’ve been bombarded with cries of 'Annie, Annie, do us a blog!'. On the...

I was back in school invigilating recently. Watching a group of 25 sitting GCSE English. Mostly boys, mostly students whose names I know from their behaviour in previous exams.1  This time, nearly all of them are concentrating. One of the delights of being an invigilator is seeing students who’ve messed about in one set of exams working hard the next time. I love seeing people learn, and grow, and mature, whatever their age - which is also why I my coaching. I enjoy invigilating at...

A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder: How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place
by Eric Abrahamson and David H Freedman  Weidenfeld & Nicolson London 2006

Look at the front of women’s magazines or the TV schedules, and we quickly come across experts who’ll tell us how to declutter and bring order to our messy lives by buying boxes and gadgets, or paying them to teach us how to be neat. But what’s wrong with a bit of...