When I was producing on my own I was doing it in order to - in a very patriarchal entertainment industry let alone planet - very much hell-bent on trying to prove to myself if nothing else that I could do it as a woman.

My first job was in retail at the age of 14 and I have worked in the industry ever since.

Second to agriculture humbug is the biggest industry of our age.

I can't get my knickers in a twist about my age and ageing in an industry that caters to the ids of 14-year-olds.

There are signs that the age of petroleum has passed its zenith. Adjusted for inflation a barrel of crude oil now sells for three times its long-run average. The large western oil companies which cartellised the industry for much of the 20th century are now selling more oil than they find and are thus in the throes of liquidation.