So it's alleged nigella took drugs with her kids?

[Bradsplit]

In the trial prosecution evidence. Aha.

You don't have to treat a nanny coldly to manage properly. You have to work really hard at getting the right nanny to begin with, and you have to be willing to fire someone who isn't working out after one month. Any longer and you get used to it and the nanny does too. Plus the children start to get used to the nanny.

In order to manage properly you have to have the mindset that you are personally responsible for the children and the household possessions, not the nanny, and you have to convey that to the staff. Even a simple technique like a periodic review that is conducted on schedule, in the study or in a formal reception room, and in the amount of time scheduled can go a long way to telling the nanny in a subtle way that you are the employer, that you take your role seriously and conduct yourself in a businesslike way, and that the nanny answers to you. You don't even have to complain to the nanny -- she could be great, and you could give very positive feedback. You just have to make it clear that you are observing.

Totally agree with mathanxiety's last post, especially about the firing!

There is a broad middle ground between member of the family and slave. I would manage them like any other employee at work. Then again, where I grew up, it is common to have domestic staff.

NL has arrived at court to give her evidence this morning.

Presumably she'll deny taking drugs but what if she said she did and allowed them to use the card because they were blackmailing her?

Wow! Nigella is in court and it is fascinating testimony.

Is someone tweeting? How do you know?

Links are coming up on Twitter. So far try www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/04/nigella-lawson-charles-saatchi-destroy

Ah yes, it is as most of us thought. Saatchi probably bullying her all summer and rumours of drug taken perhaps put about by his camp and the sisters stealing.

"Lawson also said she felt her natural generosity had been abused.

"I've always felt that if I have good fortune in my work I am happy to share that," she said, adding that she recalled – "rather ironically" – telling the sisters to treat themselves on her card after she bought herself a pair of £60 shoes after a stressful period of filming.

"Sixty pounds? What was that for them?' she said. "They must have been laughing at me.""

Asked for her impression of Lisa's younger sister, Lawson described Francesca Grillo, 35, as a "slight fantasist" who had told her children that she was an international lawyer.

"She would make strange claims and was detached in a way," said Lawson.

"Because I didn't love Francesca in the same way [as Lisa], her betrayal did not wound me in the same way.

She added that "a strange sense of entitlement" appeared to have "crept up on" Francesca Grillo.

Lawson also told Isleworth crown court that none of her employees was allowed to use their "work" credit cards for personal expenditure.

Asked by Carpenter whether the sisters had been allowed to use their cards for their own needs, she replied: "No. No one was."

I found that shoes story sad. It's humiliating.

Thanks mellow!

It is on Sky

Sky reporter says she said if I did not go back to him and clear his name, he would destoy me, he started spreading false allegations of drug use

and much more

I am not surprised whatsoever. He will not achieve what he wants anyway and he will not get her back. She is already much admired for claiming no money from him on the divorce. Had he any evidence of drug taking and he wanted to blacken NL he would have mentioned it in the witness box and he did not.

As for the shoes and offering the sisters a new paid, that just kindness.

We often offer used clothes etc to the housekeeper before they go to the charity shop. In fact she likes to take them sort them and then she donates what her family does not want to the charity shop. Entirely her choice and if she didn't want to that's fine too. It's done perfectly nicely. I like myself sorting through second hand clothes and using them.

All I've got is the bloody parliament programme.

Those sisters sound awful. She was really close to one if them as well. It must be heartbreaking.

"he will not get her back"

I agree. He saod he was "heartbroken", but from what she is saying, she is anything but. Her testimony is very powerful and seems heartfelt, hinest and ethical. She has made a great testimony by the sound of it.

I am an accountant and I have worked in a practice who deals with individuals (and companies) like the Saatchi/Lawsons (in the same industry). It is massively common to have poor separation between company and individual, in fact many barely seem to be aware that they and the company are not in fact the same entity. One of the issues for an accountant is separating out the personal expenditure and either putting it in as a benefit in kind and declaring it for tax or posting it to a directors loan account. If the directors loan account gets too high then that too is taxed but more commonly it will just get cleared annually with a declaration of a dividend.

I'd be surprised if the accountant had an engagement letter making him responsible for spotting which expenses are valid and which are fraudulent (I'm not even sure he'd know) and it is specifically the directors responsibility (stated quite clearly).

If the spending on the card increased dramatically then I would expect the accountant to at the very least query why its gone up so much. Otherwise if it crept up I can quite see how it wouldn't necessarily ring any alarm bells.

I'm not sure how big the company is but its probably below the threshold for an audit also so it wouldn't have been "audited" by the accountant just accounts prepared from the records they were given.

So Nigella is claiming that the three adults who were closest to her in her household over the past decade were all dodgy in one way or another and she was entirely blameless? That she loved Lisa but thought it OK to pay her a pittance despite over a decade of devotion?

We haven't heard the last of this.

She paid what she paid (maybe she didn't consider it to be a pittance) - if Lisa didn't like it there are apparently (according to you) plenty of similar jobs paying Euro 100,000. She could have voted with her feet if she didn't like it - its what I have done in the past. I didn't decide to steal what I thought I was worth.

You don't have to be perfect in this country to be entitled to not want people to steal from you. You just have to have not given them permission.

NIgella clearly says she didn;t give them permission (neither did Saatchi from memory), sisters say they did. The jury will look at the evidence. I'm hoping they won't be saying "Well she probably wasn't perfect so thats OK then"

It's usually the line manager, not the accountant's job to check expenses. It seems to me that was where it went wrong. Nobody was glancing at the statements each month and saying "can i just check...?"

Never mind internal staff, it would seem that saatchi would be a great target for any kind of fraud.

I think that the evidence so far points to terrible management practice.

I don't think we have even seen the start of the mud slinging never mind the end of it

*So Nigella is claiming that the three adults who were closest to her in her household over the past decade were all dodgy in one way or another and she was entirely blameless? hmm That she loved Lisa but thought it OK to pay her a pittance despite over a decade of devotion? hmm hmm

We haven't heard the last of this.*

But none of this is the point is it. Its a question of did they or didn't they steal. A recent similar case involved Adam Clayton of U2 and it was decided that stealing was stealing and that the wealth of one party and low pay of another wasn't to come into play.

For what its worth, I doubt she is perfect but I don't think she deserves this

They should have sorted it out behind closed doors really. I think her gliding into court nose in the air is embarrassing she looks ridiculous

no they shouldn't have sorted it out behind closed doors.

If they beleived that they were stolen from it should be dealt with openly and honestly. Good for her holding her head up high (or as you would say "nose in the air")