Janet Street-Porter

A former editor of The Independent on Sunday, Janet Street-Porter is now the paper’s editor-at-large. As a journalist and broadcaster she has had an innovative and groundbreaking career in television, creating programmes for the BBC, Channel 4 and LWT, for which she has won a Bafta and the Prix Italia. She is also vice president of the Rambler’s Association.

Editor-At-Large: Let me put the wonder back into Woolies

My first job was in Woolworths, Shepherd's Bush, west London. In spite of studying for loads of exams at school, I had to sit through a formal interview and pass the in-house intelligence test before I could sign on as a Saturday girl. My best piece of advice from a fellow worker: look busy at all times, especially when the supervisor walks in your direction.

Recently by Janet Street-Porter

Janet Street-Porter: This is nothing compared to the 1940s

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Christmas has come early for some citizens, according to the Chancellor. Now he's unveiled measures designed to stimulate the economy and get us spending again, one thing's clear – we're still not happy. Critics say he's foolhardy, that he's discriminating against the haves. We've become a nation of moaners. OK, high-street sales are slumping, and Marks and Spencer are contemplating another stupendous one-day sale. John Lewis is feeling the pinch, and organic vegetables are shunned as too costly.

Editor-At-Large: We are a nation of puritans now, not shopkeepers

Sunday, 23 November 2008

"Bloodbath on the high street", screamed a newspaper headline last week. It was not a horror film opening nationwide, but the day Woolworths – facing bankruptcy – was offered for sale for £1 and Marks and Spencer tried to woo back customers by offering 20 per cent off a range of merchandise. At this rate, should we expect every high street to consist of boarded-up shop fronts by the New Year? Yes, people have less money to spend, but some sections of the media seem determined to ramp up the current financial difficulties to the point where the once pleasurable act of spending is cast as the eleventh deadly sin.

Janet Street-Porter: Who can say now that mother always knows best?

Wednesday, 19 November 2008

What damage do you have to inflict on a child – and for how long – to be deemed an unfit mother?

Janet Street-Porter: Time to shake our civil servants from their feather beds

Sunday, 16 November 2008

Twenty thousand people received their P45s last week and the predicted figure for unemployment is two million by Christmas. You can bet that virtually none will be public servants.

Janet Street-Porter: I fear 'Healthy Towns' are just another fad

Wednesday, 12 November 2008

I broke my ankle at the start of the summer, and am trying to lose the weight I gained. My doctor in Yorkshire said I was "obese". This chap is what I'd call morbidly thin. Addicted to running, he spends lunchtime pounding over the moors, generally in pouring rain. He's definitely in the minority among the locals. There's nothing I don't know about losing weight – it's just a case of mind over matter. And so it is for the majority of us.

Editor-At-Large: Where can we find Britain's Barack Obama?

Sunday, 9 November 2008

It's hard not to feel energised by the euphoria surrounding Barack Obama's win. But what is the likelihood of anyone on this side of the Atlantic rekindling our interest in British politics? Zero, I would say. Commentators talked about the "Brown bounce" after Labour unexpectedly won a by-election in Scotland last week, but most of us remain profoundly turned off by politicians and the platitudes they spout. To be blunt, there are very few MPs and even fewer cabinet ministers who are able to connect with ordinary men and women in the way Obama does.

Janet Street-Porter: Two dinosaurs, two outdated world-views

Wednesday, 5 November 2008

Like quite a few people, I can't stomach Jeremy Clarkson. He makes my flesh creep. But there's an easy way not to let him ruin my day – I don't buy the newspaper he writes for and when his name graces a television programme, I reach for the remote. When his best-selling books are piled up at WHSmith, I just walk right past them. You can watch Clarkson mouthing off about prostitutes and lorry drivers on the BBC's iPlayer if you missed it last Sunday, but truly, life's too short.

Editor-At-Large: The BBC is the biggest joke of all. Bring back Brand

Sunday, 2 November 2008

The BBC is taking a firmer line on taste and decency, according to the trustees. If so, it can kiss goodbye to retaining its audience, because, whether the middle-class gentry likes it or not, everyday life in Britain is pretty vulgar – just as it always was. We're the nation of bawdy hits such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Fielding's Tom Jones, Joe Orton's farces, Shakespeare's smutty romps. We haven't got more foul-mouthed or crude: we always have been. From Max Wall to Bernard Manning to Harry Enfield – British humour at its best is filthy and tasteless.

Men like Russell Brand thrive in the macho culture

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Janet Street-Porter: Fines, sackings and investigations can't alter the culture of the airwaves

Editor-At-Large: Sex on the beat – indecency gets a slap on the wrist

Sunday, 19 October 2008

We know the police are fed up with the amount of paperwork the job now entails, but they seem to have a pretty weird idea of how they should be spending their time. At a time when we're increasingly concerned about anti-social behaviour, new guidelines being given to senior officers seem to imply that they should ignore some indecency offences.

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