The Guardian

Working the web - Auctions

For all the bargain hunters out there: online auctions may provide the kick you're looking for, writes Heather Welford.

The evenings are getting longer, and the time for spring cleaning is approaching. Maybe you should kick off with that pile of Christmas gifts you're reluctant to share house room with, before moving on to the garage, bookshelves and wardrobe.

Working the web - Crime

Fans of the Krays and their sidekick Mad Frankie Fraser can sink their teeth into cyber gangland, writes Heather Welford.

What is going to happen when UK hard man Charles Bronson finally gets out of jail? Readers of his website can be reassured. He has a lot of "straight work" to keep him occupied: "I will be doing talks, book signings, parties, TV interviews, radio interviews", he tells Kevin M, who has emailed Charlie to ask if he will ever "go back to blagging"...

Why I love...

...the Geordie accent.

The news that foreign healthcare workers in the north-east have signed up for Geordie lessons at Newcastle College this term comes as a surprise. Are we really that hard to understand?

I concede that phrases such as "me heed's pure knackin', man" and "Aa wiz pallatic an' Aa fell doon" may present problems on those long and bloody Friday nights in A&E.

The Independent

The children who drive teachers out. By Heather Welford

First the good news; school exclusions are down. Next, the bad news: teachers wish they weren't because they have to cope with the results.

Teachers are tearing their hair out trying to deal with difficult, aggressive and disruptive pupils, yet the Government, concerned by the relentless rise in exclsusions, is pushing for, and getting, a significant number of reductions...

Andrea Badenoch by Heather Welford

Andrea Badenoch was a novelist who meshed the very English traditions of crime writing with an attention to style, plus carefully researched details of period, context and character....

The Sunday Post

New Statesman

Interview - Mike Campbell

His quango is no bureaucracy. It's lean and mean, and determined to get businesses the people they need. Mike Campbell interviewed by Heather Welford.

The skills gap has "bedevilled our economy for years", says Mike Campbell, director of strategy and research at the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA). "Employers and training and education providers have been shouting across fences at each other for ages."

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NHS Health Scotland

Breastfeeding - Getting off to a good start

Magazine for breastfeeding mothers, written and edited by Heather Welford. (Get the Adobe Acrobat reader here)

Clear Directions

Edited resource for local health campaigners.
(Get the Adobe Acrobat reader here)

Major series of physical activity leaflets for consumers

UK Department of Health

Good practice and innovation in breastfeeding

The Exchange

Editor of this bi-monthly bulletin for regeneration volunteers and professionals in the North.

Baby Express. Toddler Express

Editor of these month-by-month magazines for new parents, supported by the family policy unit of the Home Office and by the Children’s Foundation. Click here for more information.

Health Plus magazine

Junior Education

Lighter Life

Knitting

Post Plus (Sunday Post magazine)

Mslexia magazine

Feature: Taking the Plunge

You dream of jacking in the day job and becoming a full-time writer. But can you manage it financially? Are you prepared to beaver away alone, day in, day out? Heather Welford explores the realities of the writing life, to help you decide for yourself if you're at the jumping off point.