I’m a journalist and copy-editor with a few decades’ experience under my belt. I started out as a rock writer on a regional listings magazine, at the tender age of 16, and I have been freelance since 2005.

As a widely published feature writer, I’ve written on technology, TV, sustainability/green issues, consumer/lifestyle, culture, media, business, food, finance, disability and social issues etc. I currently have a regular column at Screenjabber.com, previewing the TV. I’ve written for a very diverse range of publications in recent years – Screenjabber, Intelligent Sourcing, The Guardian, The Observer, Best, Big Issue North, Fabulous, Candis, New Consumer, Sweet, Your Home and Skin Two, to name just a few.

In April 2010, I co-founded Inside the M60, an independent news site for Manchester. Over the course of a year, I delivered a lot of scoops and helped give more established local media a run for their money. I returned to freelancing in May 2011.

I’ve also been a talking head on air discussing everything from welfare reform and business networking and epilepsy to regional news provision and my crying habits via MPs’ expenses and memories of my impossibly glamorous grandmother. I also review the papers and participate as a panel guest on radio chat shows.

  • Radio: Radio 5 Live (Victoria Derbyshire and Tony Livesey’s shows), BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio Merseyside, TalkSPORT (Late Show with Ian Collins), BBC Radio Lancashire and more…
  • TV: NewsWatch (BBC News), DM Digital TV

My first book, Epilepsy: The Essential Guide, was published in May 2009.

Some trivia
  • I failed an audition for The Tube in 1982, but finally made it onto BBC News 24 in April 2008.
  • I’m a one-finger typist and I never learned shorthand, but I’ve never missed a deadline.
  • I’ve twice worked as a professional cook between journalism jobs.
  • In August 2010, I outed my alter ego, Wordsmith for Hire, after six long, anonymous years.
  • I spent 12 years abroad, in Paris and Amsterdam – an experience that has shaped my outlook and informed my work since I returned to the UK in 2004.
  • A southerner in chosen exile, I live Oop North in the Rainy City, which is my favourite place in the whole world. I lodge with my pedigree cat, Nelson, who has his own blog. We watch EastEnders together and fight over who gets which side of the bed.