ian russell's portfolio

My wife brought home this glossy magazine today. It was priced £2.50 on the cover but she didn't pay for it: it was thrust at her as she hurried past and, as she told me, it seemed easier to take it than not. Thumbing through it over a cup of tea, I saw why it was free: it was full of adverts. At a guess - I didn't actually count them! - I'd say about 60% of the magazine was advertising. At least that's what I thought. Reading several of the articles, it began to dawn on me that they were essentially adverts too, masquerading as journalism. I think it might work like this; a magazine is set up to approach people with lifestyle stuff to sell - oh, did I mention it was ''lifestyle''? Need I have? Then the journalist gets a freebie experien...

''It's life, Jim, but not as we know it''. Those immortal lines uttered by ''Bones'' McCoy on 60s sci-fi show, Star Trek. Those Trekkies amongst you will remember he was surgically rendering the wound of a giant silicon-based mole with masonry plaster - bish, bosh, sorted! It showed imagination on the part of the creators to cast a lump of animated rock as intelligent life. Since Roswell, most of us by now have that stereotypical green, lozenge-faced, lollipop creep with the large, black almond eyes firmly fixed in our psyche. Sure, before that artist's impression appeared in the press, ET came in all shapes and sizes, but common folk believe what they see in their papers and now we all know what to expect - old spooky head! Anyway,...

Measuring the pulse rate has long been an indicator of a person's well-being; it is now often one of the first things a health practitioner will check during a patient consultation. Now, according to results of a new study, simply measuring a woman's resting pulse rate can predict how likely she is to suffer a heart attack. The study on 129,000 post menopausal women with no history of heart problems, claims that those with the highest heart rates were found to be significantly more likely to suffer a heart attack than the women with the lowest rates. Responding to the study published in the BMJ, Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This shows that having a high heart rate is a ris...

Feeling physically unfit? Worried about a loss in mental acuity? See yourself as intellectual but want to hit out when things aren't going your way? Like sports? Like board games? Then why not take up Chess Boxing! Combination sports are all the rage these days and Chess Boxing is no exception. Devised by cartoonist, Enki Bilal in 1992, and fully realised in 2001, Chess Boxing combines the noble art of boxing with the ancient game of chess. Each bout is contested across eleven rounds, beginning with a round of chess, followed by a three minute round of boxing and so on. This is not a competition between boxer and grand chess master but between two contestants equally proficient in both fields. Sound good so far? My only questi...

Woken up to a bright, clear morning and I'm just about to take the dog for her Christmas constitutional but thought I'd just pop in and wish all you beautiful copperwotsits a very merry Christmas! I know I should have sent cards but there's far too many of you so, in lieu, I pass on this wonderful video link of an old standard to put you in the mood for goodwill and celebration - sing along! (Don't panic - it's not Slade). So without further ado - and be sure to don your finest headphones for this listening experience! - I wish you all, with love, Merry Christmas, Everybody! ~ Playing for change

Kimberley Jones has talked about the involvement of fear in states of transition; I welcome this because it does seem that fear - or, as I prefer, phobia; that irrational, superstitious, crippling, disproportionate neurosis - inevitably creeps in to ruin our day. And, it’s true, afterwards in hindsight we often wonder what the fuss was about. ‘’Should have done it sooner!’’ How many of us have said that? Fear has almost become a commodity; it’s traded, fear for fear; it’s used to sell other commodities, buy this or you’ll be poorer, eat this or you’ll die! Ironically, it’s even used to cure people of fear. ‘’Aren’t you worried right now? You should be, everyone else is! Now come with me and I’ll help you out’’. So what do we do...

A sorry incident befell me last weekend and put a dent in my allotment experience: I became the accidental victim of a genuine misunderstanding . Despite apologising and reasoning, the steward, for want of a better title, was irreconcilable; his manner hostile and his language accusatory to the last. I had no option but to let it go. I was offended and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I tried to dig some more but my heart wasn’t in it. There was only one thing for it; I had to walk the dog. Walking the dog is an excuse for profound meditation, mulling it over. Of course, you don’t actually need a dog but it helps to be seen muttering to something sensible rather than yourself, and a dog doesn’t interrupt or offer an opinion....

Yes, all of them! I thought I'd draw your attention to this succinct BBC article by John Sloman on economic growth; what's it for? and the meaning of GDP. It's a reasonable explanation, you can see that, and a graceful walk around to see what it looks like from the other side and, in conclusion, even the economist can't state for sure if it's necessary - it may be necessary but certainly not sufficient. We're going to hell in a shopping cart. ~ BBC Magazine: Why Do We Need Growth? Prof. John Sloman

I told you so! In a previous journal about wasted fruit left to rot or being chucked away in gardens all over our country, I mentioned there must be a scheme whereby sane people who don't mind their apples and pears having spots, or being funny shapes, and not coming double wrapped in plastic could make good use of all these unwanted autumnal windfalls. Well there is! And it's in Sheffield. It's a project called Abundance - what a perfect name - and I've provided a link to a website below - and what a superb looking website it is too. The Abundance group was featured last evening on the inspirational Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage. What especially intrigued me was the use of a small, manual apple press to make fresh jui...

Following up my previous journal on letters to yourself, I remembered too late that I should have suggested putting your thoughts and feelings, and hopes and aspirations, down in a letter to be opened by yourself sometime after 2012 – the magical year of transition, according to Mayan belief. ~ Now that I’ve happily set that troubling item down I now want to suggest to you the possibility of Guerrilla Postcarding: A means of spreading fun and delight around the world, all for the cost of a second class stamp. I’ve nursed this idea for a while, ever since I discovered a collection of postcards compiled by former Beatle, Ringo Starr, from a time when the Fab Four were on good terms and kept in touch with the other...