Dreading the rellies? Christmas can be a minefield when today’s modern – often blended – families are suddenly brought together. But you can survive them
Category: articles
Jane and Mike go forth: The Italian Job
‘No. 1 – The Italian job’ courtesy of the www.theisleofthanetnews.com They’re back! Popular Thanet columnists Jane Wenham-Jones and Mike Pearce reunite for a lunch date which
Happy Valentine’s Day!
This first appeared in Woman’s Weekly Fiction in 2010. Can’t say much has changed…. 🙂 Happy Valentine’s Day! You might think that someone who has
Jane remembers 2016
At midnight on 31st December I was travelling by car through the bottom of Broadstairs. In Ramsgate, minutes earlier, they’d been spilling out of pubs,
Just Jane: tribute to Carole Blake
In the absence of a Gazette column to post this week, I thought I’d share a Woman’s Weekly piece I wrote back in 2013. In
Plain Jane 281016: A fond farewell from Jane and Mike
Proud to see that in the final copy of the Isle of Thanet Gazette I appear in, I have made it onto the letters’ page
Plain Jane 211016: Who’s responsible for the idiotic 50mph Thanet Way limit?
Since writing this I have been told (by a usually-reliable source) that the Thanet Way is built on London clay and is “undulating”. So, if
Plain Jane 071016: No selling to someone’s mate who then makes a DIY killing
This might not be desperately interesting to those living outside Thanet but council sell-offs could affect wherever you are too. Especially if you’re ever unlucky
Plain Jane 230916: High heels are hardly well-suited for work
WELL DONE the TUC for voting to prohibit employers from forcing women to wear high heels at work. Heels may look terrific but in my
Plain Jane 160916: Corbyn comes to Ramsgate.
As I reach for my hard hat and flak jacket, here is my latest Gazette column… Whoever first said you only regret the things you
Plain Jane 190816: Council organises ‘how to wear scarves’ class
Poor old Northamptonshire County Council has come under fire for putting on a course entitled How to Tie a Scarf. The three-hour session – a
Plain Jane 290716: Expect gleeful Tories at ‘re-elect Corbyn’ meeting
Don’t ever let it be said there’s nothing to do in Thanet. For those wishing to be entertained, the excitement kicks off this evening (Friday
Plain Jane 150716: Brexit is going well…..
It’s going well so far, isn’t it? As I write, the big property funds have been forced to suspend trading, we’ve lost our triple-A credit
Plain Jane 010716: After the Vote
I woke up on Saturday morning feeling strangely unwell. I mentally ran through what I’d eaten the night before and counted up the glasses of
Plain Jane 170616: How we vote on Thursday will probably come down to instinct
So it’s finally here. After all the weeks of posturing, scare-mongering, claims and counter claims, the referendum is finally upon us. Come Thursday we can
Plain Jane 030616: Debt, water and the sugar tax
My latest Plain Jane column. The version that came out in print – and online – was mysteriously lacking my last sentence. Is it that dreadful
Plain Jane 200516: Eggs, Donald Trump, and the church on Google
I recently had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing Fay Weldon. The Grande Dame of contemporary women’s fiction-with-an-edge – with whom I spent an hour
Plain Jane 100516: I might give Channel Tunnel another chance
Friday Quiz Time and your starter for ten. Who knows what auspicious and momentous event took place on May 6th? Yes, well done, you at
Plain Jane 220416: I might give Wetherspoon another chance
Celebratory times! Manchester City make the last four in the Champions League, the Queen – longest serving British Monarch – hits 90 (Happy Birthday Your
Plain Jane 080416: Marrying a rock – not as mad as it sound
So Margate’s most famous daughter has married a rock. This is not the fond description of a nice solid chap, one who can be reliably
EASTER: Plain Jane brings your reasons to be cheerful – including beer and chocolate
In these difficult and joyless times of conflict, health scares, national obesity and George Osborne, may I take the rare opportunity to look on the bright
Plain Jane 110316: We don’t want a new town
“We’re almost there–” proclaims the latest shrink-wrapped brochure from Stone Hill Park, above a photo of children hopping, somewhat bizarrely, in sacks, through fields of
Plain Jane 260216: Should we, shouldn’t we? EU decide
So the referendum on membership of the EU is set for June 23 and we can now look forward to wall-to-wall media coverage of the
Plain Jane 290116: Election gaffe
Channel Four’s Michael Crick started it, the Electoral Commission is looking into it and now, according to Mr Crick’s blog, one Michael Barnbrook from Ramsgate,
Plain Jane 150116: Wine, sugar and health improvements
FAR be it from me to agree with Nigel Farage (unless he’s talking about Manston airport) but I can’t help feeling a certain sympathy with
Plain Jane 010116: And so 2015 is over
So 2015 is nearly over and I am struck by the people around me expressing gratitude. An “annus horribilis” as one beleaguered friend put it,
Plain Jane 041215: Manston, driving and, well, Manston again
I confess I have lost the plot when it comes to Manston. Much as I continue to grieve for the heady days of KLM and flights
Plain Jane 201115: Its vs it’s
Who knew? Our sewage systems are positively awash with precious metals. Analysts at Thames Water have discovered that when we wash our hands or clean
Plain Jane 231015: The power of reviewers
Intriguing news from giant online seller Amazon, who are planning to sue 1,100 “fake” reviewers in a bid to claim damages for their “manipulation and
Plain Jane 091015: Rehabilitation not squalor for those in prison
Oh Lord, I agree with Michael Gove. Prisons do need reforming and should not be, as Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons puts it, “places
Plain Jane 250915: A trip down memory lane
In a spirit of better late than never, we are posting this anyway even though half of it is now past its sell-by date. But
Plain Jane 310815: Watch where you walk
SO THERE went summer. I know it goes more quickly as you age and grow grumpy but this one really has sped past at an
Plain Jane 140815 – Bra-vellous project
If we live in a small world then Thanet is microscopic. Hold forth in the pub about the bloke from the garage and it will
Plain Jane 310715: Time for a brew
DEPRESSED by pub closures and the rise of alcopops? Good news is at hand. Sales of the cheap-booze-and-coloured-sugar drinks favoured by overgrown children are falling.
Plain Jane 170715: I can be as judgemental as the next person
My esteemed colleague, Mike don’t-get-me-started Pearce, has been on one of his jaunts. I don’t ask for details – they invariably involve pinball machines, model
Plain Jane 030715: Mike and Jane – Thrills at Dreamland
I didn’t see the rides at the opening of Dreamland. The wait was too long, the speeches too protracted and when the ribbon had finally
Plain Jane 190615: Eating your way through hotel breakfasts
SO FAR this year, what with speaking and interviewing and literary festivals and running off to bang my head against a different wall, I have
Plain Jane 050615: It’s tough to get a job if you don’t speak nonsense lingo
I HAVE been self-employed now for nigh-on 30 years and have long suspected this has rendered me utterly un-hireable to anyone in the usual (some
Plain Jane 220515 – A chilly reception
OH DEAR! It seems I haven’t got off to the best possible start with our new Kipper council. Let’s hope I don’t require a new
The one that enraged a Kipper….
This was my Isle of Thanet Gazette column, published 8/05/2015 that gave rise to the following on this week’s letter page. As I said on
Plain Jane 100415: Plain Jane meets the Tories and Manston Airport Independent Party
I interview the Tory hopefuls by adopting police tactics. Sir Roger Gale has been in politics for half a century and the MP for Thanet
Plain Jane 030415: Plain Jane meets the Labour and United Thanet candidates
Continuing our series in which Jane Wenham-Jones meets the candidates, this week: Labour… THERE is a framed cartoon by Giles on my writing-room wall that
Plain Jane meets the Liberal Democrats
I AM looking forward to meeting South Thanet’s Russ Timpson for two reasons. Firstly, the man has a sense of humour (not always a given
Plain Jane 130315: Meet the Candidates
A friend of mine once sat next to Nigel Farage on a plane. “He was very charismatic,” she said, clearly charmed even though her politics
Plain Jane 270215: Meet the Ukippers
“What a place to live!” wrote a friend from the Cotswolds, who’d been watching, aghast, the documentary Meet the Ukippers, aired last Sunday. I was at
Plain Jane 130215: Wearing bubble wrap and buying champagne
FRIDAY 13th. Time to don the bubble wrap and protective headgear, avoid ladders, leave plenty of time to catch the train, and for the chaps,
Plain Jane 310115: Saving the NHS is down to US
WITH under 100 days to go until the general election, the big issue, pundits tell us, will be the future of the NHS. It will
Plain Jane 160115: A look back at 2014
WELL, how’s yours been so far? My New Year greetings come late, after spending the opening hours of 2015 horizontal and groaning, in the clutches
Plain Jane 191214: The season to be jolly… and moany
OUR columnists Jane Wenham-Jones and Mike Pearce don’t need a certain supermarket to remind them that Christmas is for sharing. Every year, she gets out
Plain Jane 121214: Make a list
I DON’T know whether they teach this in journalism school – I am entirely self-taught (also known as untrained ) – but it is a
Plain Jane 281114 – 3D pregnancy scanning
I THINK I know this area pretty well, but from time to time I am surprised to discover somewhere in Thanet I had no idea
Plain Jane 191114: Every Lidl helps
MALE friends won’t believe me, but I don’t much like shopping. Not for me “a day out” at Bluewater, or an afternoon “just looking” at
Plain Jane 311014: Why prescribing Viagra to all men over 50 could save NHS
Plain Jane 311014: Why prescribing Viagra to all men over 50 could save NHS GREAT discoveries, it seems, arise from a split second of blinding
Plain Jane 171014 – It’s chocolate week
Somewhat after the event, but every day is chocolate day where I come from …. 🙂 Plain Jane – It’s National Home Security month, Dyspraxia
Plain Jane 050914: Of course Nigel Farage won the hustings, he’ll win the election too
Of course Nigel Farage was selected as our UKIP candidate for South Thanet. He was always going to be and I am surprised that those
Plain Jane 080814: From the art crowd to a new crowd and an old row
Margate is in the news again. Described as “the formerly gritty seaside town”, Margate has made its way onto yet another list, coming in at
Plain Jane 250714: Royalty, politics, tourism and how not to waste money
Originally published last week but I’ve been away teaching at the fabulous Chez Castillon… HAPPY Birthday Prince George and congratulations on being able to walk.
Plain Jane 090714: Three cheers for poo-lice
ANDY Murray lost the tennis; the Germans won the football (so far). Type two diabetes is on the rise, standards are falling. Rumour has it
Plain Jane 130614: Is Thanet really only known for the shipping forecast?
Plain Jane: Is Thanet really only known for the shipping forecast? As regular readers will know, I am an ardent proponent of this fair isle as the
Plain Jane 300514: My view on term-time holidays
RECENT figures have shown that 24,000 children each day are taken out of school for a family trip. If I still did the school-run, it
Plain Jane 160514: So here’s to you Iris, best of luck with Thanet council
So another shake-up for our beleaguered local government. In-fighting and power struggles down at Cecil Street are nothing new, of course, but I am genuinely sorry
Plain Jane 010514: 11 years of writing about Thanet, and I’m not done yet
I have been writing this column for an astonishing 11 years – ever since I bludgeoned the then editor Mike Pearce, into giving me
Plain Jane 180414: Family tree research just to get my passport
Plain Jane: Family tree research just to get my passport If I can give you one small piece of advice this week – along with
The joy of Chez Castillon
April 2012 – the first time… You never really know someone until you live with them. A truth universally acknowledged by generations of women who’ve
Plain Jane 200314: I don’t like to complain but…
YOU know me, dear readers, I don’t like to complain – a regular little Pollyanna here, we are – but things have been, how shall
Plain Jane 200214: Who is worthy of NHS treatment?
SIR Andrew Dillon, the pleasant-sounding head of Nice (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), is expressing doubts about taking “wider societal benefit” into
Plain Jane 230114: Time for council to do some good, for a change
I am naturally thrilled to hear that Thanet Council have been hitting their targets, with a bullseye for 44 out of 58 “key projects”. I
Plain Jane 090114: With five diaries, why do I keep missing things?
OK HANDS up – who’s fallen by the wayside already? You over there with the fag and the cream bun – weren’t you going to
Plain Jane 271213: My review of the people and places of 2013
Regular readers of this column (God help you) will know that my final offering of the year has historically been a round-up of my top
Mike and Jane: Christmas Time, Mistletoe and Whine…
My latest Isle of Thanet Gazette column – the annual joint offering with fellow columnist, my mate Mike 🙂
Plain Jane 221113: I like Laura Sandys, but…
I like Laura Sandys. While not a natural inhabitant of the same neck of the woods, politically, as our good MP for Thanet South, (to
Plain Jane 081113: Who says we can’t make our own entertainment?
WHO says we can’t make our own entertainment? This family, gathered round the kitchen table on a dark, windswept night, has just spent an enjoyable
How time flies… a big hand for Carole Blake!
How time flies… a big hand for Carole Blake! My small tribute to the Queen of Shoes and her Fifty Years in Publishing. It was
Doing NaNoWrimo??
I am not doing NaNoWriMo officially, but with a book to finish, another one to start, columns piling up, hundreds of emails to answer and
Plain Jane 251013: Why I’m welcoming Manston’s new owner Ann Gloag
SO MANSTON Airport has been sold for a pound. As the lovely Ed and I agreed, had we known it was going to be so
I couldn’t have put it better myself…
A lovely blog post here from the immensely talented Clare Mackintosh (watch out for her debut novel next year – it’s going to be astonishing)
Plain Jane 111013: Woe of Student Finance on deadline
I AM on a deadline or three. There’s a scarily half-done manuscript to deliver, and articles needed sooner. I have bills to pay, e-mails to
Plain Jane 270913: I flew to Manchester via Amsterdam and I’m not sorry
LAST week, much to the consternation of the local bloggers, I flew to Manchester. Via Amsterdam. Yes, I got on a plane at Manston, landed at Schipol,
Plain Jane 130913: Maturity has its reward, thank heavens
For those of you gagging to read my Isle of Thanet Gazette column without having to shell out 80p, here it is, hopefully better late
Plain Jane 280813: Everyone has a book in them…
THEY say everyone’s got a book in them and I say: Sometimes it should stay there! The explosion of ebooks and self-publishing has made everybody
Plain Jane 020813: My Top Parenting Tips
ALL together now, a great big ahhhhhh. I love a new-born baby (it’s the next 18 years that wears one down). And, together with the
Plain Jane: The heat is on, some tips for surviving the summer
SO THE heat is finally on – and has even reached Thanet – with temperatures predicted to soar into the thirties and stay there. Cue
Plain Jane in the Isle of Thanet Gazette from Friday 5th July
ONE of the things you learn as you get older is that whatever it was, it was always longer ago than you think. I was
Plain Jane in the Isle of Thanet Gazette from Friday 21st June
Bit late getting this up here as have been away to the Winchester Writer’s Conference where I had the enormous privilege of hearing Julian Fellowes speak!
Plain Jane, Isle of Thanet Gazette 07 June 2013: Council double-speak hides another waste of money
And now I AM on the new website… hurrah! But here is my latest Plain Jane for those who’ve got used to reading it here… And Happy
Plain Jane, Isle of Thanet Gazette, 24th May 2013: The Big Thanet Breakfast
The Isle of Thanet Gazette has a new website ( www.thanetgazette.co.uk) but it’s not yet sporting my latest column. So, for the strong-stomached, you saw it
Plain Jane: With beaches like ours, why are we still languishing in deprivation?
Plain Jane with Jane Wenham-Jones: With beaches like ours, why are we still languishing in deprivation? I BLAME my colleague Mike Pearce. I go to
Isle of Thanet Gazette: Plain Jane 260413
If Thanet councillors don’t want people to see them brawling, they should behave with dignity YEARS ago, when I was young and passionate, I joined
Plain Jane 12.04.13: Iain Duncan Smith could live on £53 a week – but that is not the point
Plain Jane 12.04.13: I am often asked to sign petitions and occasionally I do, but mostly I find them a pointless waste of time. And
Plain Jane in the Isle of Thanet Gazette
I can’t find this up on thisiskent.co.uk despite the invitation at the foot of the printed column – if you can, please do send me the
Plain Jane, Isle of Thanet Gazette, 15th March 2013: A heavy Pryce for us all to pay
Thought it was too good to be true. My Plain Jane column is up online but without my name on it. Again. But did write
RNA & Plain Jane 1st March 2013: The sartorial choices of the stay-at-home writer
Bit lax on the old blogging front lately but will catch up soon with the excitements of Richard and Judy at the book awards –
Plain Jane 15 Feb 2013: Lasagne? What’s the beef?
The trouble with writing a column five days in advance and then not getting round to posting it for three more is that by then
Today’s Plain Jane
Hello and Happy Friday. We have progress of sorts. My column in the Isle of Thanet Gazette is finally online (hurrah) but does not yet
Plain Jane. Isle of Thanet Gazette. Friday 18th January 2013
Eat crisps to beat the flab The problem with having written a weight-control book (one can hardly talk “diet” when tips involves chocolate) is that
My-Mate-Mike in the Isle of Thanet Gazette 28th December
Remember my excellent advice on coping when the old man is suddenly at home ALL BLOODY DAY? My esteemed fellow columnist on the Gazette, Mike
Plain Jane. Isle of Thanet Gazette. Friday December 21st 2012
This might not make entire sense to those not blessed with living on the Isle of Thanet but perhaps you would would wish for similar for
Plain Jane 14th December 2012: Coping with (his) retirement
As some of you may know, I write a fortnightly column – alternating with My-Mate-Mike (he who hovers just to the right of Genghis Khan and
Plain Jane: Playing the Party Season
As some of you may know, I write a fortnightly column – alternating with My-Mate-Mike (he who hovers just to the right of Genghis Khan and
Thank you Sarah Salway!
Very pleased to be featured on Sarah Salway’s website and thanks Sarah for the plug for Thursday’s event at Canterbury, Waterstones too. Also thank you Edith for
