WHY are some women just so nasty to other women?
Karren Brady posted a photo of herself on Instagram, admitting that she’d had some aesthetic tinkering on her arms – and she got a barrel-load of abuse in return.
InstagramKarren Brady posted a photo of herself on Instagram, admitting that she’d had some aesthetic tinkering on her arms[/caption]
BBCKarren has been Lord Sugar’s aide on The Apprentice for 15 years[/caption]
Onlookers couldn’t grasp that one of Britain’s most successful businesswomen could have both brains and beauty.
So they attacked her for the way she looked, with many accusing her of using weight-loss jabs.
Others claimed she was “unrecognisable”. Which is ridiculous.
On close scrutiny any imbecile could see she had a full face of professional make-up, was posing carefully and . . . there was a filter on the photo.
Yes, she has certainly lost weight. She looks amazing. But, after knowing her for several years, I will let you into a little secret here.
Karren has brains, beauty and an absolute iron will when it comes to dieting.
This is a woman who, long before skinny jabs were invented, could shed loads of weight to get TV camera-ready before The Apprentice – thanks to a punishing, low-calorie diet not for the faint-hearted.
And now she’s added in gruelling gym routines because she wants to be a healthy grandmother.
If her critics had bothered to have a deep dive into her social media they’d have seen that for themselves.
There is only one word to sum up this entire drama. Jealousy.
A Bridget too far for Katharine
THERE was plenty of rejoicing on Thursday when GCSE results came in with grades higher than last year, even though these kids had their education hugely disrupted by Covid.
But away from the excitement there was a lot of sadness too, with so many children who had been forced to resit the compulsory maths and English exams failing them. Again.
PAEducation Secretary Bridget Phillipson is a woman who doesn’t always listen to the troops on the ground[/caption]
AlamyKatharine Birbalsingh — AKA Britain’s Strictest Headmistress[/caption]
How demotivating and humiliating it must have been for them knowing they still didn’t have the key qualifications to stay in apprenticeship schemes or on further education courses.
This resit system brought in a decade ago by former Education Secretary Michael Gove simply isn’t working.
The hope is, the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review, which makes its final recommendations in the autumn, will sort it all out.
But there’s one big snag.
It is being headed by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, and she is a woman who doesn’t always listen to the troops on the ground.
But she should.
And, if I was her, I would actually be employing, as my right-hand woman, Katharine Birbalsingh — a.k.a. Britain’s Strictest Headmistress.
She knows her stuff.
She could be just the winning ally that Bridget needs.
Katharine’s school, the Michaela Community in Wembley, may be in one of London’s most deprived boroughs, with kids from very disadvantaged backgrounds, but it doesn’t need any resits this year.
Every single pupil passed both English and maths with grade 4 (equivalent to a grade C) or above.
People are desperate to get their kids educated there.
If I lived nearby, I would be too.
The school has better grades than most private schools, even though a quarter qualify for free school meals.
Corridors are quiet, loo breaks are timed, pupils all eat the same lunch and they set the tables.
Katharine believes in uniforms — to prevent all kinds of chaos and to put kids into work mode — and that Shakespeare should be on the curriculum.
She believes mobiles are harmful and distracting. If a phone is seen or heard, it is confiscated.
The school, in old-fashioned terms, is strict, just like the head.
The problem is, though, that she and Bridget are at loggerheads.
It would appear they generally can’t stand each other.
The Education Secretary once asked the head to “lower her tone” in a meeting.
This head doesn’t mince her words about Bridget.
Holding Britain back
She has called her a Marxist, says she was patronising when they met and slates her for not bothering to visit her school because it’s a success and she prefers to visit those in trouble instead. Which is madness.
But you don’t have to like someone to appreciate their skills or the results they can get.
If I was Bridget I’d log on to Interflora, writing a grovelling card and asking for a bit of a helping hand, a few pointers, a few ideas, you know, from someone who does truly know.
Imagine the change these women could make if they teamed up together. What a force.
Those kids dreading the process of revising, sitting exams and potentially failing all over again in November will know the Government is doing all it can to find a solution to help them.
There are a lot of these children. The number of English and maths resits this year jumped by 12 per cent on last year.
Of those, more than 275,000 failed to scrape a pass again.
Bridget says that the two in five pupils who failed those subjects are holding Britain back. I agree. None of us want that.
The calls for reform include functional skills tests, instead.
Which sounds like a great plan. But what do I know? I’ve never been a teacher or a head, neither has Bridget.
But Katharine has and her knowledge could be invaluable.
Bridget must realise you’re never too old for a bit of education.
And realise that Katharine could be the woman to give her the lesson that could truly make a difference.
Keep it up, Emily, you sexy woman
ALL praise to Emily Atack – who is down to earth, with zero airs and graces.
She says she has been typecast her whole life – and has loved every single minute of playing a sexy woman.
InstagramEmily Atack has been typecast her whole life – and has loved every single minute of playing a sexy woman[/caption]
Emily adds that she’s going to do it for as long as she can.
Good on her. How refreshing.
She’s sexy – and she knows it.
A DOLL LOT OF GRIEF
IF you’ve been living under a mushroom you may have dodged the Labubu dolls craze.
Sadly, I haven’t.
GettyIf you’ve been living under a mushroom you may have dodged the Labubu dolls craze[/caption]
During a recent holiday to Majorca, my six-year-old nagged me for a blue one.
Tears all round when the first three mystery boxes revealed as pink, white and grey before, finally, we hit the jackpot with a blue Labubu.
Great marketing ploy if you’re a weak-willed parent who likes an easy life, like me.
Now experts have revealed that counterfeit Labubus are riddled with cancerous chemicals and have choking risks.
After worrying if my ten-euro bargain Labubus were knock-offs, I finally chucked them in the bin.
Now I need to play the secret unboxing game myself to find another blue one – before my son learns the truth. Some bargains are too good to be true.
AFTER ditching sweets, Happy Mondays star Bez says he has turned to having a GALLON of honey a month instead.
He even dollops it on orange slices (which sounds gross!).
SplashHappy Mondays star Bez says he has turned to having a GALLON of honey a month instead of sweets[/caption]
His mate Shaun Ryder has already lost his teeth to drugs.
If Bez doesn’t crack this addiction, his may go the same way.
SMELL A RAT
TOP tip, ladies. Be careful whose toiletries you borrow.
The tale of “spiteful” nurse Kate Atherton is a warning to us all.
She put hair-removal cream Veet in a bottle of conditioner because her girlfriend of four years had been using her toiletries.
How terrifying.
Kate pleaded guilty to administering a poison and was given community service.
I’m not surprised that her poor ex’s hair fell out. Anybody who has tried Veet knows the power it has.
But what does surprise me is that she didn’t actually realise something was amiss.
Because Veet absolutely stinks, too.
FAT DOG SHAME
SOUNDS like a new breakthrough, doesn’t it?
Dogs are about to be given fat jab-type implants to stop them being, well, fat.
GettyDogs are about to be given fat jab-type implants to stop them being, well, fat[/caption]
But I’d be embarrassed to ask for it. Surely pet obesity stinks of animal cruelty.
Unless you’re not fit to look after a pet or the pet itself is actually ill, there really is no excuse for them to be overweight because we humans control what they do and don’t eat – and what exercise they do and don’t have.
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