Merope Mills is one of the most inspiring people I’ve had the chance to interview. Her young daughter, Martha, died at King’s College Hospital in London after developing sepsis. Her family’s concerns were not listened to.
In the face of that loss, Merope’s relentless years of campaigning resulted in Martha’s rule being rolled out across England hospitals last year. It’s a way for families to seek an urgent review if they are concerned about the care their loved ones receive.
On tonight’s @bbctheoneshow - two people who used Martha’s rule on behalf of family members met Merope for the first time. Proper special. And most crucially, many more people will now know about the existence & significance of Martha’s rule. Big love & thanks to Merope.💚
Meet our volunteers and trustees, part two ❤️
Our annual Christmas wrap day allows us to wrap 3500 presents for people living in poverty. This year we supported over 60 charities across the UK and Ireland by sending gifts for their beneficiaries.
None of this is possible without support from our friends, volunteers and trustees. Here’s what they had to say about the experience.
At Beauty Banks we believe in paying a gesture of kindness forward. If you wish to support our mission, it’s super easy to donate via text. Just text BEAUTY5 to donate £5, BEAUTY10 to donate £10 and so on, to 70490*. The maximum donation via text is £20, so if you’d like to give more, please donate online (/f/donate-to-beauty-banks). Thank you!
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Martha was such an enthusiastic reader and writer. She always had her head in a book to the point where sometimes I had to ask her to *stop* reading to do something else. After she died, the editors at the @lrb (where Paul works) and one her all-time favourite authors - the brilliant @katherine.rundell - had the very generous thought to set up a writing competition in her name with the @lrbbookshop . We’ve just had the third year of the prize which has now been judged by Kate Rundell, Phillip Pullman and, this year, the children’s Frank Cottrell-Boyce. What a lineup!
We have so many entries from budding 11-14 year-old writers and it’s a marathon to read them all and whittle them down but we end up with some really superb stories. I always find it quite moving being with the kids and their families who are so delighted to be shortlisted. And their parents are always so proud! They all are published in a beautifully designed booklet the bookshop sells and the three winners get £200 and a selection of books too. Being freakishly competitive Martha would’ve loved to enter and win it. Congrats to this year’s three winners Erioluwa Babatunde, Rosa Caughie and Nellie Rosenthal
The incomparable @greg_james has written a warm, funny, uplifting book (part memoir, part guide-to-living) that includes a really lovely short chapter on Martha, who was one of his biggest fans.
Scroll for a little taster including this fine advice:
“Use Martha as an inspiration to work out who you are and what makes you tick” 💯
I feel like I have a slightly fraught relationship with Instagram. When I first started using it we were living in California having the most lovely life. I would regularly post pictures of the winter sun, pacific beaches or our fantastic holidays - but I couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling I was slightly showing off. So I stopped posting and just lurked, enjoying the sneak peek I got into other people's lives.
Then, when my daughter Martha died, Instagram turned into the very worst place I could possibly be. Everyone else's lives seemed so bloody perfect. All those happy, whole families. All those children growing up and reaching big, important, milestones. It was all too much. So I deleted it from my phone and didn't look at it for about two years.
More recently, I've found myself back here, lurking again. I'll admit, I'm still suspicious of instagram (and most social media). And I'm quite sure that it would be better for my/our moods to be outside looking at trees rather than scrolling through photos and videos on here. Having said that, I occasionally find I want to post the odd thing about our journalism at @gdnsaturday or my campaign work for Martha's Rule and for safer, more equal healthcare. So this is me gently dipping a toe into the Instagram waters, and using this opportunity to say that my husband @paullaity has written a very long piece in the @londonreviewofbooks about accountability in medicine - ie. what happens *after* doctors make mistakes. It's called, appropriately, After Martha. Pick up a copy if you can - or link in stories today.
Went to Fleabag at Wyndham’s theatre and sat in a seat directly in front of Will Ferrell and had Daniel Kaluuya from Get Out in the seat to my right. Even though I bloody love him and that film I obviously spent the entire time pretending I didn’t know who he was. Is that the right call? Do celebs always want to be left alone? Or does everyone ultimately want to be told they’re amazing at their job, no matter who they are? Anyway, Fleabag was 💯and also Phoebe sent an emissary to ask Daniel backstage afterwards (I eavesdropped, whilst still playing it very cool, obvs)
Autumn colours from a Sunday lunch at the Bath Arms pub near Longleat. The pub and in fact the whole damn village is owned by the Marquess of Bath, the one that plastered images of the karma sutra over his stately home walls and had over seventy affairs during his marriage with women he called his ‘wifelets’. Hard to endorse the weirdness of British nobility and yet — the pub is so pretty and they make a mean Sunday roast.
Unorthodox but hilarious cricket match at @wildernesshq where play was repeatedly interrupted by naked people. At one point, streakers - which included a couple on a tandem, a forward-roll duo and an octogenarian naturist - were outnumbering runs. Not sure I’ve seen anything so brilliantly bonkers and British for ages.
So I might have complained two or three or four hundred times about leaving California. But the weather has been kind + hiking the Cornish coastal path has been amazing. No complaints. #ThisisEngland. #CouldbeCali #Lookatthatwater! #NofilterIpromise
