Cosmetic surgery should not be taken lightly. Ask the family of Denise Hendry.

IN London last week, I spotted posters on the underground encouraging people to “Get ready for summer with cosmetic surgery”. Since when did a major operation suddenly seem on a par with buying a new bikini or getting your legs waxed? It makes surgery seem simple and easy, something to be undertaken on little more than a whim.

Tell that to the family of Denise Hendry.

Denise, wife of footballer Colin and mother of four children, died last week after the latest attempt at corrective surgery following disastrous cosmetic surgery some years ago.

While doing a tummy tuck op, the surgeon perforated Mrs Hendry’s small intestine and colon nine times.

She suffered blood poisoning, kidney failure, a heart attack and a collapsed lung and years of more surgery to try to put her right again.

Following the latest corrective surgery, the 43-year-old spent 11 weeks in a coma until her life support system was switched off.

Cosmetic surgery is becoming almost routine. Get your highlights done in one lunch hour, Botox the next and book the boob job for the weekend. People in the UK are the most likely in Europe to opt for the knife. This year we are expected to spend £1.2bn on surgical improvements.

Are we uglier? Vainer? More insecure than the rest of the world?

Or just dafter?

For success is not guaranteed and there has been a corresponding rise in operations going wrong and in subsequent negligence claims.

So when you’re getting ready for summer, buy a bikini or a sun hat, get an instant tan or a pedicure.

But if you’re thinking of cosmetic surgery, think of Denise Hendry.

And think again.

Epidural epidemic

PAIN in labour is a “rite of passage” and “purposeful and useful” says an expert in midwifery.

How did you guess he was a man?

Dr Denis Walsh, associate professor in midwifery at Nottingham University, has attacked the “epidural epidemic” in this country, saying: “A large number of women want to avoid pain but more should be prepared to withstand it.”

Right girls. I’m taking volunteers.

Some to hold Dr Walsh down and others to do some very intimate surgery, without anaesthetic of course.

Then we’ll see how good he thinks pain is....

Tragedy in Cornwall

IN SEPARATE incidents, two teenagers celebrating the end of their GCSEs on holiday in Cornwall, fell to their deaths from the cliffs after an evening’s drinking.

It sounds so wholesome, doesn’t it – camping in Cornwall?

You think of them suntanned and healthy, diving in and out of the waves, playing on the beach, cooking over the campfire, sleeping under the stars in a 21st Century version of the Famous Five.

Forget it.

Most 16,17 and 18-year-olds let loose after their exams, away from home where no one knows them, will make the most of their freedom to drink themselves stupid.

I’d like to tell you that your child is too sensible to do this, but I can’t.

However lovely and sensible your teenager may be at home, once they get to the other side of the country with a gang of their mates, they will probably be no better or worse than the rest of them. Alcohol will certainly be taken and probably in excess.

We have to let them go sometime and 16 is as good an age as any. But don’t kid yourself over their potential for daftness – and if your teenagers are planning a trip, make the most of the next few days to try to hammer some sense into their skulls.

Pensioners driven to drink

AND it’s not just the young who are daft with drink. In recent years there has been a 75 per cent rise in pensioners with alcohol problems admitted to hospital.

They are drinking more because they are depressed, sometimes through bereavement, but often simply because they have retired and have lost the structure of their days.

New legislation could mean that people will no longer have to retire at 65, which could ease the drink problem.

On the other hand, they’ll now have more money to spend on booze – and might need it even more to face yet another day at work.

Pains from Spain

MONACO is like a make-believe state. It is beautiful, quiet, expensive and immaculately clean. So when the peace was broken by raucous singing and the horribly familiar sound of someone vomiting violently while his mates cheered, I knew, with a sinking heart, before I saw the England shirts what nationality they must be.

The same on the wonderfully efficient train that goes from the centre of Amsterdam to the airport. The loud, foul-mouthed group, sprawling and shouting, with no thought for anyone else, had, of course to be English.

And bearing in mind the very well publicised way we behave in the hotspots of Greece or the Mediterranean, it’s no surprise to hear that the Brits are considered the worst tourists in Europe.

On the other hand, last week I checked into a London hotel behind a large family group of Spaniards. They were loud, arrogant, rude and had no consideration for anyone else.

Teenagers played their music loudly and shouted across the foyer while small children ran riot and mother and grandmother berated the reception clerk.

Brits can be pretty objectionable abroad, but that doesn’t mean every other nationality is perfect.

ASSERTIVE, Alpha women get paid four per cent more than their passive sisters, says new research.

So don’t just sit there moaning – ask for a pay rise now.

BACKCHAT: 'Proper' pancakes

Dear Sharon,
MY son once bought some pancake mix, which was basically flour and dried egg to which he then had to add milk and whisk. I pointed out that he might just as well have used flour and added the egg as he was adding the milk as well.

He seemed to think that this wouldn’t make “proper pancakes”, even though it was the way I had always made pancakes for him with no complaints.

Sue Castle, Darlington.

Dear Sharon,
I’M sure a lot of people buy a lot of food ready made because they don’t realise how easy it is to make, mince pies for instance.

Two Christmases ago I taught my granddaughters, who were ten and 12, how to make pastry and since then they have made all the mince pies for the family.

They are much cheaper and nicer than the ones in the shop. They love cooking and every time they come, I try to show them another recipe.

I know families are very busy these days, but if mothers haven’t got time, there’s a job for grandmothers.

Jean Ferguson, Darlington.