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: Children should get to know the food on their plate

One in four kids under the age of 16 thinks that bacon comes from sheep. To be blunt, most young people seem to have no idea where food comes from and how to cook it. It's just something they stuff in their mouths at too-frequent intervals, and the more sugary and fatty the better. No wonder they're turning out to be a generation of indolent, blubbery fatties. And the Government seems powerless to do much about it.

Recently by Janet Street-Porter

Editor-At-Large: Who's cashing in on fine art? The banks, of course

Sunday, 7 February 2010

The world's most expensive artwork, sold at auction last week for £65m, is by a sculptor who is considered rather unfashionable. He is certainly not ranked by critics as one of the half- dozen most important artists of the 20th century. Even more puzzling, the work is not unique, but is number two of an edition of six. Why did Giacometti's bleak stick figure of a man walking hit the jackpot?

Editor-At-Large: A 999 call is a call for help. Pity the police don't know

Sunday, 31 January 2010

If you're being harassed or threatened by your neighbours, I hope you don't live in Leicestershire. Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her mentally disabled daughter after enduring a decade of abuse from anti-social youths, made 33 unavailing complaints to Leicester police. Joanne Butler, who suffered from mental problems and depression, called 999 twice as she was being battered to death by a neighbour in 2006. Leicester police were too busy to attend, and her body was later found in her burnt-out flat.

Editor-At-Large: Only a price rise will stop Britain's booze culture

Sunday, 24 January 2010

Why are politicians so feeble about tackling alcohol abuse? Last week the Tories and Labour presented their big plans to deal with the crisis that's costing the NHS millions, and turning our city centres into horrible places you avoid at all costs. The Chief Constable of Nottingham, Julia Hodson, knows the reality only too well. After spending a night touring pubs, bars and an accident and emergency department in Nottingham, she called for an end to the sale of cheap booze, and said binge drinking was depriving young women of their dignity.

Editor-At-Large: My best birthday present – grown-up women on TV

Sunday, 27 December 2009

It's my birthday today, and what better way to spend it than by celebrating the return to our television screens of the older woman? Moira Stewart, and Arlene Phillips got the heave-ho earlier this year, and, until recently, the entire BBC News department only employed one female presenter in her fifties: Maxine Mawhinney. Thousands of viewers complained when Alesha Dixon proved a lightweight replacement on Strictly – eventually Darcey Bussell was airlifted in to add some gravitas. Arlene was given a new dance show to host and, acknowledging the public mood, Mark Thompson ordered executives to sign up more mature women. Julia Somerville, Fiona Armstrong and Zeinab Badawi – all over 50 – are said to be on the verge of signing new contracts to present the news. Hoorah!

Editor-At-Large: Cowell to rescue British politics? Give me a break

Sunday, 20 December 2009

Is there no end to the pompous self-importance of Simon Cowell? Basking in the knowledge that The X Factor final attracted 19 million viewers, he tells us he'd like to turn his attention to staging a series of "bear-pit", prime-time shows about politics in the run-up to the next election.

Editor-At-Large: Forget class. It's your perks that define your status

Sunday, 13 December 2009

It's time to redefine class. In modern Britain your social position has little to do with what your dad did for a living or where you went to school. As our opinion poll shows, voters are not as obsessed as Gordon Brown is with David Cameron's time at Eton – they don't think it makes a difference to his ability to run the country. In fact, the class system is just as rigid as ever, but these days it has subtly changed.

Editor-At-Large: If kids can't read or count, how do they get a job?

Sunday, 29 November 2009

Who's right? Last week, Ofsted, the body which monitors standards in education, delivered a blistering report which claimed that around a third of our schools are substandard, with lessons that did not "inspire, challenge and extend" pupils. Employers would seem to agree – the boss of Marks and Spencer echoed remarks made by Sir Terry Leahy of Tesco, who recently described educational standards as "woeful". Sir Stuart Rose told the CBI conference that school leavers "were not fit for work" – they "can't do reading, can't do arithmetic and can't do writing". The minister for schools, on the other hand, says kids are "better equipped than ever" for the world of work.

Editor-At-Large: The internet is no place to fight a general election

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Has the level of political debate really come to this? The next prime minister will probably be elected on the basis of the biscuit he nibbles. Winning an election is about cleverly targeting undecided voters, and you can guess what group the spin doctors have in their sights this time. In 1992 the Tories wooed the "pebbledash people" who'd bought their own council houses under Maggie Thatcher. In 1997 Tony Blair's team was obsessed with middle-class voters they tagged Mondeo Man and Worcester Woman. This time around it's mums.

Editor-At-Large: Nurses are not heroines. They are professionals

Sunday, 15 November 2009

There's been plenty of hand-wringing over the news that from 2013 all new nurses will have to spend three years studying for a degree to qualify. At present the majority train for two or three years and are awarded a diploma. Critics claim these higher standards mean that trainee nurses will spend time sitting in lectures when they could be learning practical skills on the job, and widespread concern has been expressed that the profession will attract the wrong kind of applicants, more concerned with their careers than carrying out menial tasks.

Editor-At-Large: What a bunch of whingers, and the women are worst

Sunday, 8 November 2009

They still don't get it, do they? MPs and their lucky relatives on the public payroll insist they're a special case. Thousands of families are facing a bleak Christmas with factories closing, shops going bust and factories operating on short time. But MPs live and breathe in a bubble where hardship is something they quantify differently from the rest of the country.

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