Pardon the English

Stacey Collins

I feel we should start a campaign to keep Susan Ma in The Apprentice until the final episode just for the entertainment factor she brings to the show. Her priceless comments ‘Do the French like to drive?’ or ‘Are the French fond of their children?’ are questions that I am sure will go down in Apprentice history. I mean, what was she expecting as a reply? ‘No, no, they tend to walk across a country that is 2.7 times the size of the United Kingdom’ or ‘Absolutely not! They despise children and have even been known to eat them’. As Karren Brady said, Susan’s comments really were ‘beyond stupid’ (but nevertheless highly amusing).

Another contestant that will go down in Apprentice history for all the right reasons is the impressive Helen

Thinking about round two

By Baby Blogger Kate Richards

Ben's now crawling very efficiently and really starting to look like a little boy rather than a baby. Surprisingly, I'm already thinking of baby number two! But a cursory glance at parenting websites shows me that this stage is notorious for triggering broodiness.

However, I'm trying to keep things in perspective and stay rational. For a start, it takes quite a lot of work (rocking) for Ben to sleep, both at night and daytime naps. This could be awkward and uncomfortable when pregnant, and almost impossible with a small baby.

The future of sleep

Stacey Collins

Ever get that feeling of dissatisfaction three seconds after you wake up from a dream and realise you haven’t just bought Jimmy Choos and are not actually fluent in Spanish and Latin but have been mumbling to your cat in fluent gaga? Well, in a recent Travelodge study, award-winning futurologist Ian Pearson has predicted that by the year of 2030, if we get past the apocalyptic end that is 2012 that is, hotel rooms will be able to offer all of this to us… in our sleep.

It only seems like yesterday that I was in awe of my Nokia 3310 which back then epitomised the latest technological advancement.

Breast is best this week!

Laura Johnson

It's Breast-Feeding Awareness Week and events are taking place around Britain to help mums to choose the natural way to feed their children.

One English city has won international recognition for being a baby friendly place. It's Bristol and this Sunday is definitely going to be interesting there.

Jim's leadership skills certainly not premium

Stacey Collins

Last week’s Apprentice premium magazine task frustrated me. I felt like I wanted to interrupt the programme, go up to Susan Ma, give her a microphone and tell her to make her opinion heard.

Whilst I understand that having Jim ‘blagger’ as your project manager must induce ‘mouse syndrome’ in which you feel you aren’t confident enough to voice your views assertively, surely if it is Lord Sugar one is trying to impress, Jim’s opinion shouldn’t matter.

Finding gold among the garbage

Stacey Collins

I think the thing I shall miss the most about Edna Agbarha are those gloves and the excuse they gave her to delve into her uncomfortable and un-sassy alter ego Edna Agbarha Darlinnnnng. All she needed to complete her outfit was a whip and a bit of leather.

It did come as some surprise that five time winner Edna was sent home over pessimist martyr Zoe. Her whiney voice and permanent ‘child who didn’t get the lollipop’ facial expressions are beginning to grate upon her fellow team mates including Susan who said she never wants to work with her again.

Why women skip smear tests

Laura Johnson
Young British women are skipping testing to prevent cervical cancer simply because they are too busy, according to a new study.

Older women, on the other hand, find the procedure embarrassing and fear it may be painful, acccording to Cancer Research UK analysts.

The findings come from detailed interviews conducted with some 46 women who did not attend cervical cancer screening.

The big baby review

By Baby Blogger Kate Richards
Wow, doesn't time fly! I've just had a letter from the health visitors inviting Ben to his eight to 12 month review. These "bigger baby" reviews seem to happen any time from six to 12 months, or even not at all, in different parts of the country depending on funding. Ben will be nine and a half months when it happens.

So I've done some research and discovered that he will be weighed and checked against a "normal" weight chart.

How eating like a baby could help you lose weight

Stacey Collins

It may not feel like it but it is actually summer here in Britain. Apparently, this is what a heat wave looks like (rain is pouring down as I type). If anything, this should give you more of an incentive to get on First Choice to book those two weeks in the Caribbean, buy lots of bikinis and find that much sought after motivation to trim down in time.

As with most people, the internet is the first course of information for dieting regimes. The media constantly bombard us with images of the before and after (even when the after picture is blatantly someone else), fitness routines and celebrity dieting tips. And the latest celebrity diet trend which has been followed by the likes of Lady Gaga, Cheryl Cole and Jennifer Aniston is… the baby-food diet.

Anything but beautiful

Stacey Collins

You know that thing in films when a character says ‘Ah, I’m so confident that everything will go to plan’ or ‘Darling, don’t worry, what could possibly go wrong?’ chancing fate and inviting trouble? Well, I don’t think the contestants from last week’s episode of The Apprentice had ever seen everything go catastrophically wrong for these overconfident characters.

Forget hot shell massages and fake tans, ‘I’ve had three years’ experience in a skincare company that I created myself’ aka Susan Ma definitely provided some stunning entertainment for the episode Beauty Treatment. Her self-assured proclamations that her expertise in the beauty field meant that she was able to shift lots of products to customers was in fact an implicit suggestion to the audience that everything would go wrong which true to the film storylines, did.