Melanie Reid



Profile:
Full name: Melanie Reid

Area of interest:

Journals/Organisation: The Times

Email: [mailto:melanie.reid@thetimes.co.uk melanie.reid@thetimes.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/profile/Melanie-Reid

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Biography:
About: An award-winning columnist at The Herald in Glasgow before joining The Times and reporting and commentating from Scotland. Since she broke her neck and back in April in an accident, she writes a weekly column on the experience called the Spinal Column

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Email: [mailto:melanie.reid@thetimes.co.uk melanie.reid@thetimes.co.uk]

Website: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/profile/Melanie-Reid

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Regularity: weekly

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Articles:

 * Ignore those noisy few who oppose assisted dying - Notebook - 11th March 2014
 * Scotland is shamed by playground posturing - Notebook - 25th February 2014
 * Hurt Locker on ice – the feistiest winter sport - Notebook - 11th February 2014
 * I water-jet my patio . . . and think of Ukrainians - Notebook - 28th January 2014
 * Let the NHS make some cash from the worried well - Notebook - 14th January 2014
 * Here’s what you’ll miss by escaping Hogmanay - The Scottish referendum means this could be the United Kingdom’s last new year together - 31st December 2013
 * Vettriano’s crude art belongs on a mouse mat - Notebook - 17th December 2013
 * Raised up by not-so-lucky Jim’s force of gravitas - Notebook - 3rd December 2013
 * Watch out, there’s a very ingenious thief about - Notebook - 19th November 2013
 * Careering down the past roads not taken - What line of work would you choose if you had your time again? - 5th November 2013
 * A spray of WD-40 and anything may happen - It won’t cure arthritis, but it’s amazing what it does to squirrels - 24th October 2013
 * The plots thicken: why swap the storylines? - Notebook - 10th October 2013
 * Nasty cats — and other things not to talk about - Notebook - 26th September 2013
 * It ain’t what you say, it’s the way that you say it - Notebook: my struggle with pronunciations - 23rd August 2013
 * Andy and I know about the people that matter - Notebook: it’s amazing what you discover when you live through a personal catastrophe - 8th August 2013
 * Yes or no: are you in the anti-English tribe? - The Scottish referendum is not about economics or oil. It’s about a stirring of the heart - 25th October 2012
 * The cream of warriors from a very select tribe - Perhaps we should make a Paralympic pact before we start. Let’s agree, here and now, not to talk of “heroes” and how “inspiring” they are, for in the ten days to come these words will become wearisome clichés - 29th August 2012
 * Why did I let this happen to me? - The Times columnist Melanie Reid broke her neck and back earlier this month. Here, from a hospital bed, she confronts her future . . . - 24th April 2011
 * Reid: one year on'' - The Times columnist broke her neck 12 months ago. Here Melanie says goodbye to the spinal injury unit that’s been her home ever since - 9th April 2011
 * pneumonia, wheelchair . . . then?'' - Almost a month ago, I broke my neck in a riding accident, leaving me almost immobile. This how I am fighting back - 1st May 2010
 * did I let this happen to me?'' - The Times columnist Melanie Reid broke her neck and back earlier this month. Here, from a hospital bed, she confronts her future... - 24th April 2010
 * law will stop people wanting to get high'' - Selling small amounts of drugs in clubs is not shocking. It’s a responsible idea - 1st April 2010
 * meddling and show some horse sense'' - Whether it’s smoking at home or my riding club, they always pick the wrong targets - 25th March 2010
 * tribe of lost souls should not be on our conscience'' - In asylum policy emotion must never replace hard facts - 11th March 2010
 * have not yet faced the real Jon Venables problem'' - The authorities showed admirable courage. So must we - 4th March 2010
 * the principle. Pay the Chandlers’ ransom now'' - It would be humane, and would cost peanuts. if not for this, what is taxpayers’ money for - 25th February 2010
 * all thrilled by Mossad the movie'' - Of course we should condemn extrajudicial murder, but I still can’t help admiring Israel’s nerve - 18th February 2010
 * your initiative? Far too dangerous'' - A tragic suicide is a grim reminder of what can happen when ‘rules culture’ gets out of hand - 11th February 2010
 * Cleo Laine has given us a lesson in life and death'' - This was the best possible tribute to Sir John Dankworth - 9th February 2010
 * in three of us is going to join Terry Pratchett in mental disintegration'' - His common sense and dignity has changed for good the debate about assisted dying - 4th February 2010
 * paperwork can wait: everybody wins with adoption'' - We must not allow agencies to block the natural human urge to rescue Haiti’s orphans and bring them to the West - 21st January 2010
 * Robinson is not a sinner. She’s a heroine'' - The First Minister’s wife has been pilloried. But for breaking out of suffocating Presbyterianism she should be canonised - 14th January 2010
 * brings out the inner Tory in all of us'' - Resilience, resourcefulness ... words banned from the left-wing lexicon are now on unlikely lips - 7th January 2010
 * charges criminalise us for being human'' - Of course it’s not fair to be penalised for going slightly over your limit. Being caught out for something trivial infuriates us - 23rd December 2009
 * prisoners off drugs? Don’t be so silly'' - By pushing methadone to inmates, the State has become the dealer-in-chief in Britain’s jails - 10th December 2009
 * & safety can damage your reasoning'' - The safety culture is like censorship. Fear of breaking the rules stop us assessing real risks - 3rd December 2009
 * still wriggling to avoid the flak on Iraq'' - By the time Chilcot reports, we’ll have moved on – and that’s the intention. But we should never forget the postwar failures - 23rd November 2009
 * to pillory disabled Brown'' - No one deserves the vindictiveness being directed towards an accident-prone Prime Minister - 11th November 2009
 * sozzled victims of modern hypocrisy'' - Philip Laing and Sarah Lyons were silly, but they didn’t deserve utter humiliation. The drinks industry is more to blame - 5th November 2009
 * brass are failing our Top Guns'' - The tragic Puma helicopter crash shows how easy it is to buy into a pervasive Hollywood myth - 28th October 2009
 * Edward Erin the cad most men secretly admire?'' - The doctor who poisoned his mistress is more than just a throwback to unenlightened times - 21st October 2009
 * couldn’t pay £41,000 back if I worked till I was 90'' - I bet ministers bump along the bottom too - 15th October 2009
 * is bit. Serves Lady Scotland right'' - Petty rules have been tripping up millions of law-abiding people for years. Now they can snigger - 23rd September 2009
 * last we can count the cost of doing nothing'' - We know that childhood misery has its price. But now even the bean-counters can see the case for change is irresistible - 17th September 2009
 * weeks of rain is a disaster for the North and West'' - The weather on the rainy, rainy banks of Loch Lomond is a sign of worse to come - 10th September 2009
 * reject the Baby P’s who survive'' - Our system for helping neglected children is too short-term, too wishy-washy and too cheapskate - 4th September 2009
 * should not have to fear the world outside'' - The cases of Jaycee Lee Dugard and Laura Dekker will only reinforce the view that we should lock up our daughters - 29th August 2009
 * to rape: is that what we’re fighting for?'' - The Afghan President’s collusion with conservatives is pragmatism over ideology, but we may have to live with it for now - 18th August 2009
 * the sell-by date: just eat and enjoy'' - The food industry’s appetite for sales, shrink wraps, and life on the beach - 11th August 2009
 * rode to glory ... and now I can prove it'' - Of all the new service industries, nothing can beat vanity sports photography - 4th August 2009
 * have the scallops. Oh, did you hear about those fishermen?'' - The price paid for the shellfish in restaurants is astronomical. But the men who risk death to bring them in are paid a pittance - 23rd July 2009
 * small step back to where we started'' - The Apollo missions were supposed to reveal the truth about the Moon. In fact, they taught us about the Earth – and ourselves - 20th July 2009
 * the frolics comes the awful truth'' - Truth be told, can anyone face another single word about 18-year-old boys dying in Afghanistan? - 14th July 2009
 * the children out: it’s their only hope'' - If we let students stay at home, we are guaranteeing the end of the human race within a few generations - 9th July 2009
 * victim, tomorrow's feral brat'' - We emote for the Baby Ps of this world, but if they grow up and go to school, we ostracise them - 25th June 2009
 * lack of vitamin D linked to swine flu?'' - Scotland has a disproportionately high number of swine flu cases. There could be a simple reason - 18th June 2009
 * flu is not entertainment'' - We all scoffed. Now the signs are that it's not going away - 4th June 2009
 * needs more than a festival'' - The national identity is a fragile mixture of decency, fairness, humour - and grievance. It will not be easy to nurture it - 26th May 2009
 * life and soul of the drinking classes'' - Pubs are precious - warts, absentee husbands and all. But unstoppable forces are killing them - 16th May 2009
 * on earth are we banning a mouthy DJ?'' - The people on this exclusion list are as much of a threat as athlete's foot - 7th May 2009
 * Boyle redeems us from superficiality'' - The ugly duckling didn't need to become a swan - 18th April 2009
 * me hospital over home birth any day'' - Women who think they can have a baby without 21st-century medicine are spoilt and complacent - 16th April 2009
 * have never needed God more'' - A&E departments are a war zone. There could not be a worse time to get rid of their chaplains - 9th April 2009
 * sure-hoofed way to control the mobs'' - If humans are so clever, why do we rely on the least aggressive of animals to do our patrolling? - 2nd April 2009
 * just blame the police for not catching rapists'' - We should look at ourselves for our failure to respect women - 28th March 2009
 * us from state-regulated grannies'' - If grandparents are paid for childminding, the bureaucrats will inevitably want to regulate them - 26th March 2009
 * big case of death by empty words'' - The job of a hospital trust is not to produce impenetrable words, but clean sheets and treatment - 19th March 2009
 * stoked our Massereene fury'' - Public anger in support of the Armed Forces shows that our attitude to terrorism has moved on - 12th March 2009
 * are the real addicts?'' - The case of a novelist's son and the tragedy of a baby expose our moral confusion over drugs - 5th March 2009
 * dour old Dundee be the new Paris?'' - Don't scoff at plans for a new V&A on the Tay - 26th February 2009
 * the ones caught in the rat trap'' - Take heed, all ye who evangelise about recycling. These rodents are cleverer than us - 24th February 2009
 * private death: a public issue'' - Dementia is a filthy disease: I want the right to decide for myself when I have had enough - 19th February 2009
 * It's a racing cert this horse will be a winner - Like all great public art the white steed of Ebbsfleet has the power to stir our souls - 12th February 2009
 * Start smoking at 70? Yes - and take drugs, eat chips... - Three cheers for Gwyneth Paltrow and her plans for advancing age - 5th February 2009
 * Money can't buy peace or reconciliation - It will take more than £12,000 payments to bring the two factions in Northern Ireland together - 29th January 2009
 * Closing the peaks is the height of cheek - The woolly-hat brigade preach open access, but resent it if others want to share the countryside - 10th January 2009
 * Rugby players: vulnerable out on their own - Sex and the oval-ball game will never mix - 8th January 2009
 * Close encounter with planet Jobcentre - Jobless executives be warned: humiliation and incomprehension await you in the State's embrace - 30th December 2008



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