HomeViews & BlogsColumnistsValerie Hill

It’s not winning but taking part that matters

AT THIS time of year, most mums and dads will be camping out at their kids’ school. The demands of required parental support at sports day, prize- giving and the end of term play mean that most of us may as well take our beds and camp there. Read

Good taste never goes out of fashion

NOSTALGIA isn’t what it used to be, as the saying goes. And as Beatles Day came and went, passing me by in an insipid haze, I muse on what it is that makes us linger longer over lost decades. Read

It should be as plain as the ventilation facility on your visage, old chap

AS A bit of a Jane Austen-wallah, I am probably rather over-tuned to the nuance of speech, but realise I do have to force myself to make concessions to the 19th, 20th and now, heaven forbid, the 21st century. Read

Valerie Hill: More is less when you want to impress

EVERYONE knows that a woman’s place is in the wrong, whether it’s Joan Rivers being hauled off the Loose Women set for using expletives which weren’t deleted, or Ulrika Jonsson for flaunting her latest offspring in the celeb mags. Read

We have nothing to fear but fear itself

WE ALL have them, even if we’re frightened to admit to them. Fears, that is. As they say, tell us your phobias and we’ll tell you what you’re afraid of. Friday the 13th? Oh, don't be so irrational. Read

Changing times of the British sandal and sock brigade

ARE we British really the worst tourists in the world? What about those Americans who are under the possibly true impression that they rule the world? Read

Valerie Hill: Give kids a chance – most deserve it

OVER the last few weeks, we have read of some horrific crimes against innocent youngsters doing nothing more than going out and about enjoying themselves in their local area. Read

Our children’s future is now in the balance

DO WE need dads? It’s a thorny question given the huge change in the social and gender revolution. Read

Oxfam trades in its hand-me-down image

IT’S so much a part of British folk culture that the Oxfam look is shorthand for a complete lifestyle. Read

Idealism is wasted on the young

WHEN I was a feminist in short socks, I blithely pronounced to all who had an hour or ten to spare that I was ready to take on anybody, anything and conquer the world. Read

The great British battle-axe: Sharp and very good at her job

IS THE great British battle-axe yet another entity practically extinct in this land, which was once famous for being filled with independent-minded individuals and eccentrics? Read

Valerie Hill: End of a way of life

IF THE answer lies in the soil, what’s the question? Well, one that is worth asking is what is happening to community life in the countryside? Read

We have to give children freedom

TELL me, am I being a molly-coddling middle- class mother, stifling the youthful flowering of my sons? Read

Woofers and tweeters just don’t do it for me

APPARENTLY, not only are women from Venus and men from Mars, but their fundamental differences are reflected in the music they like. Read

Home sweet home – and clean laundry

HALF-TERM once again brings moans from my sons of “We’re bored”, and irritated retorts from me of “Only boring people are ever bored”. Read

Thong market hits rock bottom

I’VE always regarded thongs in the same way as red underwear. No women in a sane state of mind would actually buy them herself to wear. Read

Food really does grow on trees, you know

EATING food is no longer the norm in the Western World, according to a new book. Read

M&S getting slack in their supporting role

IN THIS age of rampant consumerism, I’m in a not very enviable position. One day, I’ll be able to tell my as yet unborn grandchildren that I can remember when Marks & Spencer never advertised its wares. Read

Sweet dreams are made of this

TO SLEEP, perchance to dream, has always been one of the goals in my life, as opposed to sleep perchance to be woken up by a child with a tummy ache or a snoring husband. Read

Another tradition – dying out post haste

TWO postal deliveries before lunchtime? It seems like a Utopian dream, yet it was a reality for most of the country’s households and businesses until a couple of years ago. Read