JAMIE Oliver would have been proud of us. We let the children stay up late last week to watch Super Size Me, the entertaining film about a reporter who ate nothing but McDonald's meals for a month, in the belief it would put them off fast food for life.

It did. As I suspected, all those shots of morbidly obese Americans and talk of clogged arteries and diabetes soon had them begging for lettuce and celery. But I ended up actually feeling sorry for McDonald's.

I know it is fashionable to demonise this particular burger chain. Its golden arches have come to symbolise a multinational monster hell bent on global domination. It has been blamed for everything from rising obesity levels to single-handedly destroying our children's health. But we all know the problem is much more complex than that.

To be fair to McDonald's, it has changed. While burgers and chips are still on the menu, it is now one of the few places on the high street where I can take my two-year-old for a healthy snack - water, carrot sticks and a bag of fruit. Overweight youngsters are a problem. What we should be doing is stopping them watching so much TV and playing computer games, while encouraging them to walk and exercise more and eat healthily at home. But that demands a lot of effort - far easier to blame our obesity epidemic on a popular burger bar.

THE English Schools Football Association, in conjunction with its main sponsor, announced Wayne Rooney was "not a suitable role model" for children when it cancelled his appearance at an under-13s cup competition. And the sponsor involved? Coca Cola. The ESFA is rightly concerned about the behaviour of a 19-year-old footballer. But it obviously isn't worried about the damage it may be inflicting on the nation's youth by encouraging them to guzzle fizzy, caffeine-laden, sugary drinks.

I LOVE all the busy, retro patterned summer skirts that have come out with the sunny weather over the past few days. The only problem is, I keep seeing visions of my childhood bedroom and bathroom wallpapers and curtains walking down the street. Only the other day, I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of my granny's swirly living room carpet, not to mention the patterned Formica table top from my best friend's kitchen.

IT has been both a pleasure and a privilege to be able to spout off about whatever happens to be on my mind in this column every week.

Over the past eight years, I have shared with you the joy of giving birth, the sadness of losing my father and my feelings about everything from the Omagh bombing and the September 11 tragedy to the latest plot in Coronation Street. I also had the opportunity, through this column, to campaign for belated recognition for the vital and dangerous work carried out by the Aycliffe Angel munitions workers during the war - and was delighted to see these brave women eventually receive the honour they so richly deserved.

Now it is time to pass on to someone else, while I move over to the Mum At Large column on the opposite page. I have appreciated all your correspondence and hope you will join me over on the other side next Thursday.

* Don't miss Helen Cannam in this column next week and Ruth Campbell as Mum At Large next Thursday.