Don’t listen to the pessimists, everything changed in 2016… and not in a bad way

AS one year draws to a close and a new, shiny chapter is peeping over the horizon, I’m struck by the feeling that everything we know and take for granted is changing.

Politically, it all came to a head with the Brexit vote.

Then we found ourselves with a female Prime Minister and across the pond the US voted Donald Trump in as president.

OMG! Get your head around that.

None of these changes were predicted by the polls and they will all create seismic changes for all of us.

Looking at our daily lives, everything seems to have changed beyond recognition since our parents’ day.

Take work, for example. It used to be a straight ladder to the top.

Now it’s more like a web, with people dotting around, moving here, there and everywhere with portfolio careers.

It’s safe to say there’s no such thing as a gold carriage clock any more.

Then there’s family life. Same-sex marriages are now the norm. And while it used to be that women got married, left work as soon as they became a Mrs and had children, now women are having babies later — or not at all.

One woman in six born in 1970 doesn’t have children, according to the Office for National Statistics, a figure that rises if you’ve had a university education or live in a city.

That’s 17 per cent, up from 12 per cent for the Baby Boomer generation.

I think that women having babies later is a good change.It means women are thinking about their careers and their choices and having kids when they feel ready.

I know some women don’t have kids because they don’t find the right man in time but some women choose not to have kids, which I know some people find hard to accept.

Let’s face it, those people are probably the ones who wrongly think there are jobs for boys, such as engineering, science and sport, and jobs for the girls, such as marketing, PR and admin.

The point is that all the things we’ve taken for granted have changed.

So what does all this mean for us as one year comes to an end and another starts?

Well, one thing is for sure, people don’t like change. And although change can be very scary, it’s important for us to acknowledge that like it or not, the world is changing.

It’s the younger generation forcing change, by pushing the bound-aries of normality.

And yes, that can make the rest of us feel like dinosaurs. Here we all are, going to work early, sitting at a desk or working in a factory for 12 hours while a whole new breed of entrepreneurs are making millions on Instagram or YouTube.

The top ten highest-paid YouTube stars this year made a collective £56million, with the top earner, Swedish gamer Felix Kjellberg, raking in £12million.

To be honest, I think this new breed have got the balance right — so many people are working for themselves and working to live, rather than the other way around, which feels more and more dated.

But making money on YouTube didn’t exist ten years ago. All of these things are challenging what is normal and the things we have taken for granted, such as getting married, having kids and retiring at 60.

My view on change is that the bottom line is, you have two choices.
You can turn your back on it, like the people who didn’t want to leave Europe and demanded another referendum after the majority of people spoke.

The other choice is to embrace it. I was one of the people who didn’t want to leave the EU.

But rather than resist it, I’m going with it because, as much as we might want to stick our fingers in our ears in opposition to change, it’s happening, so you’ve got to open up your heart to it.

Also, it’s important to remember that change is often a good thing.

We now have a female PM who wears leather trousers, for goodness sake.

But there are other things too. It used to be that the majority of FTSE 100 companies had no women on their boards. Now there is at least one woman on every FTSE 100 board.

There are also more women at university than men, which is probably something else we never thought we would see. See? Change is often good.

So looking both backwards and forwards at the same time, repeat after me: All change is good. Good.

Maxi-mum effort at Christmas

AH, Christmas. It can only mean one thing for us mums.

And that is a to-do list that consists of shopping, wrapping, cooking, cleaning, drinking, eating, entertaining. And repeat! On a daily loop, until Twelfth Night.

In short, we do bloody everything.

Last Christmas Day was blissful in our house because we went to a hotel for lunch. I woke up, had a glass of champagne, opened presents, spent time getting ready, had a lovely meal, then watched silly movies and ate Quality Street in the evening.

This year – obvs – I want to do exactly the same thing. But my kids have requested a traditional lunch at home.

Not that they will help do any cooking, unload the dishwasher or even make me a cup of tea, you understand. They will sit there with arms crossed at the table, waiting to be served.

I’ll be up at 6am to put the turkey in the oven and will be slaving away all day, peeling sprouts and potatoes.

The worst thing is they’ll just go out on Christmas night and leave me with the washing up

So spare a thought for your mum this Christmas. And if I happen to actually be your mum – I’m talking to you Sophia and Paulo – I just want to reiterate that I’m expecting some Yolke silk pyjamas under the tree this year.

My plan, once I’ve opened them, is to wear them all day. So woe betide my lovely family if they are not there!

Happy Christmas!

Why is wally Walli waving his willy?

FOR some genuinely unfathomable reason, David Walliams last week decided to expose himself not once but twice in the name of entertainment.

Firstly he appeared naked, save a couple of strategically placed iced buns covering his modesty, at the Royal Variety Show.

And there he was again naked on a paddle board with Alan Carr, recreating “that” photo of Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry.

(By the way, David makes a very ugly Katy but Alan looks the spit of Orlando!) Perhaps if he needed the publicity it might be easier to understand, but the man is a household name.

And looking at the pictures, as my best friend said: “It’s no wonder his wife left him – and it probably wasn’t because he left the toilet seat up.”

Ladies, follow the PM's lead and admit you're worth it

THE furore about Theresa May’s expensive leather trousers made me wonder why we women hide what things have cost.

“What, this old thing? I’ve had it for years,” we say, rather than admit we’ve actually spent money on ourselves.

Annoyingly, women have terrible guilt associated with buying themselves nice things and I think we should stop it.

If you’ve worked hard and saved up for something, then why shouldn’t you indulge yourself?

Ladies, you’re worth it!

The NHS needs to sort it's priorities out

I’M sorry, but is it any wonder that the NHS is in crisis?

On one hand it cannot fund much-needed cancer drugs but on the other it’s offering “three parent babies” (how on earth does that work?) from next year as part of NHS-funded IVF treatment.

The NHS is for the sick, so while having kids is great, it’s not life-threatening and it absolutely should not be funded by the NHS, which needs to get its priorities right.