no disrespect to ms sarpong, but that’s not a sentence i thought i’d be writing this week.

today i’ve been researching her pet project, politics and the city, for something i’m writing for popgadget (coming soon!) and i came across her blog.

i was gratified by what june had written about knife crime, which is the most sensible and real thing i’ve read of all the many (many!) things i’ve read and heard on the subject recently.

she says:

“When I hear both David Cameron and Gordon Brown talk about tougher sentencing for knife crimes, I can’t help but wonder why neither of them are focusing sufficiently on what we can do to ensure these young people don’t carry knives and, more importantly, don’t use them.

It seems to me there is an erosion of the moral compass of these knife-wielding youngsters which, at it’s core, stems from an immense lack of self-esteem. This has desensitised them from caring about their own lives and therefore they do not value the lives of others.

We live in a society of instant gratification, which teaches its young to act on impulse. It’s imperative that we create a framework where disenfranchised youth realise that crime and violence are not the only options and that there are serious consequences to harming or indeed taking another life.

We need a much more effective state education system which not only demands excellence from its pupils but also focuses on their emotional wellbeing. This is a problem that we must tackle together as a nation - irrespective of race, class or region.”

fistula fundraising: the final tally! (sorry, you might have to squint)

thanks so much to everyone who contributed! *mwah*

together, we have helped at least one woman with this devastating condition. yay! (i thought mother’s day was an appropriate day to share the news).

if you missed it, or are itching to give to another great cause, may i recommend this one? (you get a free e-book!)

TV presenter jeremy beadle has just died aged 59, from pneumonia following his treatment for cancer.

although i wasn’t a huge fan of his programmes, he seemed like a nice man, and as this article reveals, is estimated to have raised £100 million for charity. how brilliant is that?

i think it’s (past) time we had a fistula fundraising update, don’t you? (if you don’t know what i’m talking about, please click here).

the aim was to raise £150, enough for a fistula repair operation for one woman, by my birthday, january 27th. we haven’t made that total yet (and we may not make it, i have to be honest) but we have still done pretty well, and i’m really impressed that with minimal prodding, a group of us has already raised £72.50.

that’s enough for a preventative caesarean and a set of surgical instruments for fistula repair, or hospital transport for 14 women or food for 29 fistula patients for a week. in other words, it’s blooming fantastic!

however, this campaign can always use more cash and if you want to boost the total, you still have time. you can give your £2.50/$5 via paypal - my email is dianewhatdoyoudo@googlemail.com - or contact me if you’d prefer to send a cheque). if you can add a few pence/cents extra to cover paypal fees, i’ll love you for it, as so far i’ve been covering them from my own pocket.

you have until midnight (any time zone!) on the 27th when i’ll wrap things up for good. (i’ll send the donation sometime the following week if everything’s cleared).

as the 27th is my birthday (have i mentioned that?) i’d consider it a wonderful gift if you’d donate.

shame on me. shame!

using my always brilliant trend predictor skillz, i declared that i would never partake of video podcasts.

the fun of podcasts, i self-righteously asserted, was that you could listen to them with your eyes closed. it was radio reborn, not (sneery sneer) amateur tv.

one woman changed my mind.

that woman, ladies and gentlemen, is cali lewis.

» more…

if there’s one thing that makes a person feel less depressed about their own troubles, it’s getting involved in something really worthwhile. (true fact!)

and when i read about something really terrible yesterday, i knew i had to do something.

what i read about is fistulas. funny word, funny thing. except not funny at all, of course.

imagine you’re giving birth (men, i know this won’t be easy, but imagine anyway). the birth is difficult, causing strain on both baby and mother. in the UK, you can have a caesarean lickety-split, and there you go - healthy mother and child. in the developing world, you just have to keep on pushing, perhaps for up to 10 DAYS - at the end of which the child will either be dead or very disabled, the mother in terrible pain and left with one or more fistula - which will leak urine, faeces, or both, for the rest of her life, leading to her being ostracised by her community, even her family.

at first, i thought i’d give $5 (£2.50-ish) to the UN’s family population fund campaign to end fistula - that’s enough to provide a week’s food to a recovering patient, and no skin off my nose. but then i thought, what if i could raise MORE? if i could find fifty-nine other people who would also give $5* then we’d have $300, enough to pay for one woman’s operation, including food and aftercare. we could give a small amount of cash each, and change a woman’s life.

are you up for it?

i hope at least some of you are - if so, carry on over the page for the donation details. (i *heart* you).

» more…