Women From England

"[D]o your best wherever it is, and keep up your good name."

"To my dear and honoured Mother, whose life, no less than her pen, has been devoted to the welfare of others, this little book is affectionately dedicated."

"[A] bad-tempered man will never make a good-tempered horse."

"Oh! if people knew what a comfort to horses a light hand is."

"It is good people who make good places."

"Dusty sings around her material, creating music that's evocative rather than overwhelming ... Dusty is not searching – she just shows up, and she, and we, are better for it."

"Now, when you pass my way I guess I'll smile and say To think that boy was mine Once upon a time"

"...If I had to pick one artist who, song after song, always touched something deep inside me, it would be Dusty. I loved her work from the moment I heard I Only Want to Be with You in 1963, her first major hit. The sound was different from anything I had heard before - it made a visceral connection."

"Irishness is a state of mind rather than a geographic thing. I’m not English. My name is O’Brien and I’m glad it is. I’ve got nothing against the English and I’m glad I was born here. But I’m glad my mother came from Kerry and I’m glad my name is Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien and I can weep at Riverdance on TV, and it makes me laugh."

"It was that I felt that I'd done as much as I could do there [in England]. I didn't know what direction I could go, apart from across the sea."

"The magic of my situation with Johnny Franz was that he allowed me the freedom to follow my enthusiasm. He’d sit in the control room while I’d go out and scowl at the musicians. It was very difficult for them because they’d never heard this stuff before. I’m asking somebody with a stand-up bass to play Motown bass-lines, and it was a shock. The ones who thought I was a cow I didn’t work with again. The ones who wanted to learn with me, they had the greatest time. Johnny had played piano for Anne Shelton, and had perfect pitch. Bless his heart, he’d sit there and read Popular Mechanics. But he had good ears, he’d suddenly look up from Popular Mechanics and go, E flat! I never took the producer’s credit for two reasons. For one, he deserved it and I was grateful. And then there was the calculating part of me that that thought it looked too slick for me to produce and sing. Because women didn’t do that. And there remains in the British audience, though less so, that attitude of ‘Don’t get too slick on us. Don’t be too smart or we won’t love you.’ And I wanted to be loved."

"I was ready to work; what I couldn't was the right producer. I had considered various people like the people who do Randy Newman and talked to Ted Templeman who was doing Carly Simon at that time. Again, availability. I wasn't at the right place and right time. They were busy. And the thought of Roy was very strange, I mean, it was a bizarre combination. But I didn't know; I think a lot of people don't know what a very broad musical background he does have; He started out at Decca in the classical department and sort of regressed through Frank Chacksfield and Mantovani, passed through that into pop music and really got into heavy stuff; into rock. But I didn't know he had that background and it was nice. He has incredibly good judgments."

"I didn't invent an image. It just sorta grew on me, like a fungus or whatever it is. It was an extension of me. Well: I did say at seventeen, "I'm going to invent Dusty Springfield", but it was an extension of Mary O'Brien, convent schoolgirl. And I think that's what [Sheena]'s probably got, and there are too many people flashing around, saying "You gotta develop an image, kid!" I think that you know, singing and songs are the things that are the most important thing. An image comes when you present yourself to the public. And the public really kind of accepts you or they don't accept you. Trying to invent something that's not natural to you will be a disaster."

"Many other people say I'm bent, and I've heard it so many times that I've almost learned to accept it ... I know I'm perfectly as capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy. More and more people feel that way and I don't see why I shouldn't."

"Things have changed, sound systems now work - on occasion. Various things are made easier in some ways for the artists. All the things I used to want to do and get right, and became known as being difficult cause I wanted them... they are now part of a parcel of a tour, and it will be a delight to work under that system."

"I'm glad to see that royality isn't confined to the box."

"...when, oh, when I see your face, yeah And, oh, when I'm in your warm embrace I know for sure our love is something special"

"People resent change, I think in some ways, but they forget that they've changed too. I think most of us changed for the better rather than the worst."

"In the summer of 2011, just after I'd finished my second year of university, I was diagnosed with a relatively rare illness called Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS. It's a very strange illness and even now my closest family and friends can't quite get their heads around it. The syndrome effectively breaks down your autonomic nervous system: the system that controls everything that is meant to happen automatically in the body—your heartbeat, digestion, circulation, immune system etc. As you can imagine this had a pretty devastating effect on my life—I literally couldn't walk down the street, I slept for sixteen hours a day, was in chronic pain, had blackouts, never-ending heart palpitations, unbearable stomach issues, constant headaches and the list goes on. It was anything but fun and I was bedridden 95 percent of the time."

"After a lot of Googling I came across some incredibly inspirational people, in particular Kris Carr, who overnight changed my life. She had changed her diet to manage her cancer and had written a wonderful book all about it, so I ordered the book and immediately realized that if she could come back from that, I could absolutely come back from where I was. So, overnight I started a whole-foods, plant-based diet and gave up all meat, dairy, sugar, gluten, anything processed and all chemicals and additives. As you can imagine it was a really difficult change for someone who had never eaten fruit or vegetables before, let alone quinoa, buckwheat and chia seeds! I'll never forget the looks on my family's faces when I told them I was becoming a gluten-free vegan—I don't think I've ever seen people so surprised and confused."

"When life gives you Monday, dip it in glitter and sparkle all day."

"My healthy eating adventure had really worked and in less than two years I was off all the medication I should have been on for life. It felt like a miracle: my symptoms had all but disappeared and my self-esteem was rebuilt, all thanks to the goodness of plants. It was amazing. I felt free and truly like myself again. The decision to change my diet really was single-handedly the best thing I've ever done. It allowed me to take control of my illness and get my life back, which was so empowering."

"This is modern, progressive politics reflecting our society."

"I am proud to be a GMB member and a former officer. I strive to ensure that my contributions continue to aid the historic constructive working relations between the Labour party and the trade union movement. The Warwick agreement, which was referred to in our manifesto, is another historic agreement which only the Labour party could achieve."

"I am proud to represent the Labour party, which has pledged to end the equal pay gap. My constituency has more women living in it than men—52 per cent.—and equal pay has a direct effect on economic stability and business prosperity, and a direct correlation with child poverty. If we are serious about tackling those issues, the gap must be closed, and soon. I am confident that I will be working hard with my Government to ensure that that will be achieved."

"I promised the youth that they would have a voice through me. We must encourage our youth, listen to them and help them to resolve youth issues. After all, they are our future. Guess what—not all youth are yobs, and not all yobs are youth. Furthermore, youths are victims of antisocial behaviour, more than any other group in our society. I will campaign and lobby extremely hard for my constituents in Brent, South to further their concerns and to put forward the case for social justice in Brent, South, the UK and worldwide."

"We must finally see an end to cruel and inhumane conversion therapies, which have been allowed to spread fear and hatred in our society for far too long."

"There was one incident when I wore plain fishnets to parliament. I received so many overly sexual, misogynistic comments that I took the tights off and threw them in the bin and never wore fishnets again. I spoke to a more senior female MP. She told me to ignore it saying, ‘it’s all banter’. She told equivalent stories women MPs have been through. There were lots of stories of MPs looking up their skirt. The parliamentary environment needs to change."

"The good thing is now post-Me Too movement, we are not putting up with it. Some of the men have not moved forward. They still think it is acceptable to be sexist and misogynistic. When I was a whip, an MP was talking about me having a real whip in the tea room in parliament. It happened more than once. It became very uncomfortable and embarrassing for me. Parliament was designed for men only and there is still that prevailing attitude that this is a man’s place and the women are just window dressing and there is that entitlement to belittle women."

"I believe that Brent, South is a shining example of integration at its best. Brent, South deserves a chance to prosper, a chance to benefit from opportunities and a chance for my constituents to live independently."

"I am proud to represent the Labour party, which established the minimum wage, which some Opposition parties could not find time to support."

"After your death people will write of your love affairs, but I shall say nothing, because I will remember how proud you were."

"The problem with the EU is that it spends money like it is going out of fashion, when actually it’s the Euro which is going out of fashion right now, with so many countries now questioning its membership."

"[T]he European Union is happy to suck money from member states like a giant leech, with absolutely no respect for how it is spent. Whenever more transparency is called for, they simply hide behind smoke and mirrors and fancy words, and completely ignore common sense. They show a total lack of respect to the citizens of the European Union."

"Clear and decisive leadership is crucial and we shall deliver it. It is urgent that we work on projecting our party firmly and decisively with the purpose of securing our nation’s interests through Brexit and beyond."

"The result sends a clear message to the powers at Westminster that people have become completely disenfranchised with their politics, and that the politicians have become completely detached from the issues which really concern the working man and woman. I have always believed that Britain is big enough and strong enough to stand on its own two feet, and to truly thrive when freed from the shackles of EU bureaucracy. Now we have the opportunity to prove it. June 23 will go down in history as our Independence Day – and for me, it's very emotional."

"I joined UKIP in 2003, when it was a party hardly anyone had heard of, but it was the start of an upward trend as we grew in importance and professionalism. In recent time I have watched the chaotic infighting and seen the growing frustration of members who feel their voices are once again being ignored as we embark on a new future for the United Kingdom. And it's this future I want to help shape by leading the party which had such a significant impact on the political scene in this country, under the leadership of Nigel Farage. My message is clear: I'm offering a real alternative to the other options of EDL-lite or diet Labour."

"I expect better from Catholic bishops. They need to understand that Ukip and the Catholic Church have so much in common. I cannot think of anyone who is a bishop or a priest who would not have the same values for people as we do."

"I am delighted to be named the first UKIP spokesman for Women and Equalities. These important issues need to be promoted without patronising tokenism, virtue-signalling and political correctness."

"Our nation is becoming a totalitarian state and unless we rise up to defend our rights, they will be lost forever."

"We are more likely to love our work when we see it as play."

"You can't expect that what you've become a master in will keep you valuable throughout the whole of your career, and you want to add to that the fact that most people are now going to be working into their 70s. Being a generalist is, in my view, very unwise. Your major competitor is Wikipedia or Google."

"One-third of our children will live to 100-years-old. That will make a huge difference in how we think about careers. Longevity will be one of the most important issues we face. It will affect everyone and organisations are extremely ill-prepared."

"Each of us needs three things, three types of network. We need a ‘posse’ prepared to ride out with us, so that when things get really tough you can e-mail them in the middle of the night to say, ‘Oh shit!’ and they get it, they know what you mean. I have about four people in my posse... You also need what I call the ‘big ideas’ crowd – people who live in different worlds from you. And I think we also need what I call a ‘regenerative community’: a physical place – because much of what we do now is virtual – a real place with real people who know you, who love you. My feeling is that the regenerative community is the bit that we’ve got most wrong right now, because the big default of the future is that we’re lonely. We live on our own in cities, and we’re lonely."

"Two of the most widely adopted models of human resource management are the hard and soft versions. These are based on opposing views of human nature and managerial control strategies. The hard model is based on notions of tight strategic control, and an economic model of man according to Theory X, while the soft model is based on control through commitment and Theory Y. We argue that because these assumptions are so divergent, they cannot both properly be incorporated within a single model of human resource management."

"An unhysterical look at the future of employment. We are now facing a revolution in the way we work. A substantial schism in the past which is so great that the work we do will change – possibly so that in two decades our working lives will have been so REWORKED that they are unrecognisable.This is not just about the impact that a low carbon enonomy will have on the way we work. It is also about how the nexus of technology and globalisation will work together with demographic and societal changes to fundamentally transform much of what we take for granted about work"

"Work is a defining, all-consuming part of our lives. Now, more than ever, the speed at which the nature of work is changing is having an extraordinary impact on working lives everywhere."

"She cherished every moment … I remember so much about her but most of all I will remember that she met the world with love and both love for her children, love in her family and also love for people she didn’t know. She just approached things with a spirit, she wasn’t perfect at all you know, but she just wanted to make the world a better place, to contribute, and we love her very much."

"I think she was very worried that the language was coarsening, that people were being driven to take more extreme positions, that people didn’t work with each other as individuals and on issues; it was all much too tribal and unthinking. And she was particularly worried – we talked about this regularly – particularly worried about the direction of, not just in the UK but globally, the direction of politics at the moment, particularly around creating division and playing on people’s worst fears rather than their best instincts. So we talked about that a lot and it was something that worried her."

"She was a politician and she had very strong political views and I believe she was killed because of those views. I think she died because of them, and she would want to stand up for those in death as much as she did in life."