Holly Willoughby's alarming decision: quitting amid kidnap threats

It comes just as a documentary about the killing of Jill Dando hit Netflix. I will always remember the shock of hearing of her murder at the time. She was a very articulate and adored TV presenter who was bubbly and attractive with no enemies. Yet someone unknown to her decided cruelly to cut short her life. Worst is that her killer was never found and brought to justice. Perhaps Holly has done the right thing stepping down from such a high-profile job that makes her a potential target for obsessives and stalkers. All the same, it seems wrong that a woman’s career has been potentially cut short due to external, random yet serious threats from a stranger.

Hell on earth

Sometimes it’s hard to process the atrocities of war and acts of terrorism. We witness them second hand on our computer screens or TVs and from the comfort of our homes in a relatively safe environment in a distant land. Watching the horrific scenes that subsequently played out in Israel and the Gaza Strip following the attack by Hamas on Israel, left me feeling totally revulsed, shocked, profoundly sad and sick to the core because there are no winners or losers in this unholy and bloody mess.

We become inured to ongoing wars and in truth, the complicated history of Gaza and the perpetual strife between Israel and Palestine, leaves one exasperated and utterly demoralised. This isn’t a simple task of banging heads together or cleanly separating terrain. The situation appears impossibly complex and unsolvable unless mediators finally move in to help create real and lasting peace.

Hundreds of innocent mothers, babies, children and young people have been slaughtered in Israel by Hamas and now countless Palestinians are being killed in retaliation by Israeli strikes every day in Gaza. All we can do is watch helplessly as the tragedy unfolds, like a wailing Greek chorus sitting on the side-lines. I cannot bear to watch the tearful testimonies of women who survived the attack in Israel, nor the images of young children, students and grandmothers being frogmarched over the border into Gaza. And then there are the scenes of devastation in Gaza – Palestinian mothers weeping over dead children, men crying as they stumble through the rubble of their homes and the corpses of lifeless pets lie strewn in the mud. How can any of this make sense? As human beings have we not evolved at all and have we learnt nothing from history?

I hope that one day peace will come, and that this vicious and pointless conflict will eventually end – for good. Until then, my heart bleeds for those innocent civilians on both sides suffering unimaginable pain, grief and horror every day. We can but pray and hold them in our hearts.

Glitter King

Poor old Keir Starmer. Much as I felt for him when an intruder jumped on the stage and covered him in glitter, his horrified facial expressions did make me giggle. Actually, much as the nutter who assaulted him with glitter proved to be harmless, it was alarming that the security team didn’t act quickly. In fact, there was applause while the incident happened as though the audience was blissfully unaware. What if the intruder had had a weapon or was intent on harming him? You do have to wonder where his security team was and how on earth this man was allowed free access to the stage. Hopefully lessons will have been learnt before the next Labour party Conference.

Nature’s balm

When the world tilts heavily on its axis, and nothing seems to make sense anymore, the only way to alleviate the gloom is to take comfort in nature. There is always something beautiful to see in the simplest of natural settings from a park to woodland and sea and mountains. Despite a careworn and stress laden week, I found unexpected joy in the appearance of a young hedgehog who came snuffling into our orchard. He enjoyed some of our fallen fruit which I supplemented with cat kibble. Our new friend had a feast and now seems to have decided to hang out with us for a while. Our cats and peahen came to inspect the new arrival but left him in peace, maybe slightly unnerved by his spikey appearance. I do hope he hangs around. He has been a welcome distraction in the current madness.