Precious Bane is a novel written by Mary Webb in the early 20th century. Webb was famous for her novels of rural life mainly set on the border of Wales and Shropshire, where she lived much of her life. This book is the story of Prue Sarn, a girl who is... (read more)

Cold Comfort Farm is a comic novel written in the 1930s by Stella Gibbons. It is the story of a 19 year old girl called Flora Poste, who after her parents die goes... (read more)

Some people manage to learn to type fast and accurately with little or no help, but most of us need some training to do it well. Even people who have grown up using a keyboard, and so type very fast, can do it much better if they take a course. This is... (read more)

Many people believe this, and there is some truth in it, but much less than is often supposed. What is true is that children, whose brains are still growing, do learn languages and all kinds of new things much more quickly than adults. However, once you... (read more)

There is really only one answer to this question - the best way to learn a language is to practise it. You need to speak,... (read more)

It's now almost summer, so we were hoping to have no more floods for a while, but lately the rain seems to have come back. It is nowhere near as bad as it was in February and March 2014, which was some of the worst flooding in years especially in the... (read more)

As a lot of people choose to spend time with their families on bank holidays, it's probably a good idea to cook something like the traditional Sunday roast, even if you are actually making it on Monday. For this time of year lamb is a good choice - spring... (read more)

If you haven't made any plans yet, you may well find that a lot of hotels and other accommodation are booked up. This is the spring bank holiday, and often is even busier than the... (read more)

The full results for this won't be ready until Sunday 25 May. However, voting closed on the evening of Thursday 22 May and exit polls usually give a good indication of election results. Judging by these UKIp (the United Kingdom Independence Party) will... (read more)

Rubik's cube is 50 years old this week. IT is a kind of three dimensional puzzle, invented in 1974 by the Hungarian architect and sculptor Professor Erno Rubik. He first called it the... (read more)

We usually say this to mean that someone is complaining or making a fuss before there is a real problem, so that when there really is a problem nobody will believe him or her or want to help. The saying comes from the Aesop's fable of the boy... (read more)

A fable is a story, often about animals, usually with some special meaning or moral that we should be able to learn a lesson from. Probably the most famous examples are Aesop's Fables. Aesop was a Greek slave in the 5th or 6th century BC, and is supposed... (read more)

Nigel Farage is the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party. This party was founded in 1993 with the main aim of getting Britain out of the European Union or at least weakening its ties to the EU. However, it is also associated with other right-wing... (read more)

The 2014 Euro elections will be held on Thursday 22 May. Usually there is a rather low turnout for these, and especially in the UK where many people tend to think that it's not very important who your Member of European Parliament (MEP) is. This idea... (read more)

Some of the really big ones have kitchens almost like you would find at home, so in that case the answer is yes. However, even in the smaller vehicles, or in caravans which are quite similar inside, it's perfectly possible to cook a proper meal even if... (read more)

The obvious advantage is that you have your own little house. You also get this with a caravan - plus you have a car - but of course caravans are more difficult to travel around with, and to manage when you get to a site. You can use a motorhome... (read more)

That depends very much on what you are using it for. If we suppose that you are thinking about holidays, rather than travelling around for work, say, you still need to think about what kind of holiday you want. Briefly, a caravan is good if you know more... (read more)

First, it is advisable to get a really good photograph of yourself - just head and shoulders, but a nice photo and preferably a smiling one. Then you need to pay attention to the headline which identifies your job title/career area. This has to be short... (read more)

You can join LinkedIn for free, though you have to pay if you want a premium account, which puts you in touch with more people, job offers etc. Once you have joined - you can do this just by putting 'LinkedIn' in a search engine and then you will be taken... (read more)

LinkedIn is a professional social media network. It works in a similar way to Facebook in that you have a profile and you decide how much of your profile you want to show to other people, and someone who is looking for you might put your name in a search... (read more)