This was the conversation on the way to school today. Olivia: “Mummy, I don’t want to tell you this but I have to tell you something.” I assumed Bea had eaten my lip gloss or Leo had been wearing my bras. But it was worse. “We want to go home to France …

After almost four months of constant sunshine the children and I were amazed this morning when we walked out of the house and got soaked. At first I assumed someone was washing the terrace, which would be an odd thing to do at 7.30 in the morning, but …

It was reminiscent of the moment my handbag was stolen at Geneva airport. While we were staying at Atlantis I logged on to my blog. In the manner of Oscar Wilde I often read my own words when I am looking for something entertaining. In fact no one laug …

We have just got back from the weekend at Atlantis; the new Dubai hotel on the Palm. I am writing a piece for the Mail on it so won’t go into too much detail here but thought these snaps of us at Dolphin Bay would be a good opportunity to test your pic …

Friends — I know this election of ours has almost felt like an election of yours but I suspect you believed more in your minds what we have felt in our hearts, that a rejection of change would have hastened America’s demise. But that hasn’t happened a …

A couple of nights ago I sat next to a young man at a drinks party who had escaped from Iran aged 14 in the back of a van. This was in 1987. So while I was going to dinner parties at university and making vital decisions like what to wear, he was riski …

What do you thing your average Abu Dhabian does of a weekend? A spot of swimming in the warm sea? A trip to the desert? Some camel racing perhaps? No, we go to Carrefour. For reasons too tedious to explain, I have been to two Carrefours today and you w …

My step-daughter Julia was here last week for half term. She is fourteen and I thought that she was old enough to come along with me for a manicure and a pedicure. We eased into our comfy chairs feeling jolly pleased with ourselves. Then I spotted her. …

One of the side-effects of moving to Abu Dhabi, apart from learning to pole dance and belly dance, is meeting interesting people and going to glittering events. It is true that in Gabian the most glittering event was watching Italy beat France in the f …

This morning a woman was shot on her way to work in Kabul by a fundamentalist who sped past her on a motorbike. Her crime? It could have been as mundane as being female and having a job. As it turned out she was a western aid worker whom they accused o …