Wales: Welsh Cakes

Read the following statements and tell me which you feel is the most credit-worthy.

1. Katherine Jenkins ran the London Marathon, finishing with a rather respectable time of 5.5 hours.
2. She raised £250,000 for her chosen charity.
3. She wore make-up and designer sunglasses whilst doing it.

I will accept either of the first two answers, but sadly for her and for society in general, the tabloid newspapers have tried to cheapen this by saying that the fact that she completed this achievement whilst wearing make-up shows more consideration for her own self-promotion rather than any concern for the event or for the charity. Basically, by wearing make-up, she is trying to draw the focus onto herself and away from other issues.

I find it really sad that this is what we’ve come to – that we cannot even support someone in an act like this without feeling the need to knock her for a totally superficial reason. Anyone who can run the London Marathon and raise that amount of money for a charity deserves praise, not to be knocked for her choice of clothes. I don’t feel that her wish to look good whilst running the marathon cheapens the result, frankly if she can run a marathon and still look good at the end to it, kudos to her – I know I couldn’t!

We celebrate so much mediocrity these days, celebrating people with little or no talent, and achievements which are barely worth the name. Let us not allow an actual achievement to be degraded through means like this. Katherine, these Welsh Cakes are for you.

Welsh Cakes

Ingredients:

225g/8oz self-raising flour, sieved

• 110g/4oz (preferably Welsh) salted butter
• 1 egg
• 1 handful of sultanas
• A splash of milk
• 85g/3oz caster sugar
• A splash of olive oil

Instructions:

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, dried fruit and the egg. Mix and shape into a ball, using small amount of milk if necessary. Roll out to about 5mm thick and use a round cutter to make 12 rounds, re rolling the trimmings if necessary.

Heat up a large frying pan and wipe a smear of olive oil around the pan. Place the cakes on the plan and cook for 2-3 minutes each side, until golden brown and crispy. Remove and sprinkle with caster sugar whilst still warm. Serve warm with butter.

Related articles

• Katherine Jenkins hits back at columnist who accused her of running the London Marathon in full make-up (walesonline.co.uk)
• Jan Moir On Receiving End Of Katherine Jenkins’ London Marathon Twitter Retaliation (contactmusic.com)
• In a spat with Jan Moir, Katherine Jenkins stays classy (newstatesman.com)
• I was not made up in marathon, says Katherine Jenkins (thetimes.co.uk)
• Katherine Jenkins: fighting the Daily Mail one tweet at a time (guardian.co.uk)