Naming a book is in some ways a bit like naming a baby. There is no copyright on book titles, so rather like a child’s name, you can copy whatever name takes your fancy. It also has to suit your baby or book, and reflect a bit of its character, or cont …

Whenever people ask me where I come from, I say England. This is of course not strictly true, but the truth would take far too long, and when people ask you where you’re from, as is the case when they ask you how you are, they don’t really want to know …

Yes, I know I have been annoying you all by smugly describing my life as a lady of leisure and telling you all how I was planning not to work until at least September BUT….I have a job. In fact I have a dream job. I am editorial director of (and part …

I meant to post this ages ago. One night during dinner we asked Leo to describe in one word what he thought of us all. Here are the results: Mormor (my mother) – never ageing Nirosa (our housemaid) – kind Olivia (sister) – trouble Bea (sister) – capric …

The other night I went to see Madonna. I of course remember her from ‘Holiday’ days, and that brilliant film (or at least I thought it was brilliant at the time) ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’. So for days before the concert I listened to all her old hits …

I have been writing a column for Good Housekeeping magazine here since December last year. Here is the first one. This will be our fourth Christmas in Abu Dhabi, and I’m determined to get it right. Last year we were almost there, but I fear the pink tr …

OK I promise I won’t go on about the AMAZING Champions League victory on Saturday, I realise most of my readers are not obsessive Chelsea fans. But today is George Best’s birthday, so it would be rude not to mention football at all. Even those of you w …

I have always wondered what it would be like not to work. I have literally not stopped since university. I never had maternity leave (I was making calls from my hospital bed) and although I worked from home for a long time in France, I had at least thr …

When people ask me where I’m from, I just say England. I’m not English of course, I’m half-Swedish, half-Italian, living in Abu Dhabi and with a house in France. But no one really wants to know all that. Added to which, England is where I feel most at …

Exactly a week ago today I was made redundant. I was called up to an office in the HR department (never a good sign) and “let go” along with two of my colleagues. We were told they were closing the magazine as a result of a focus group investigation in …