Rupert and I have just been to Albi, covering a murder trial. I won’t go into all the details here as am about to collapse after two days hard work but what it taught me is how much fun old-fashioned reporting can be. I started off thinking the man was …

As I sat reading my story in the Daily Telegraph this morning (see www.telegraph.co.uk) and seeing my book plugged at the end it occurred to me that humans are essentially dissatisfied creatures. “I have just realised how lucky we are,” I said to Ruper …

I woke up at 6am feeling terrible. Hardly surprising as I was drinking champagne at 2am. “We won,” I said to Rupert. “I want to read the French newspapers,” he said. “I want to marry Jonny Wilkinson,” I replied. “I do too,” said Rupert. Never has a han …

There is nothing quite like a note telling you it’s time for the school photo to send mothers into a tizzy. Planning for this event started several days ago with negotiations to get Olivia to agree to wear a brown and white dress. There are two reasons …

With his famous book, the Age of Reason, published in 1795 Thomas Paine confirmed a new age; the age of enlightenment. If Thomas Paine were to write a book today he would probably call it The Age of Stupidity. In it he would chart the relentless rise o …

When my husband asked me if I wanted to come to Marseille to see England versus Australia I thought two things. One, I’ll see Jonny Wilkinson in the flesh and two, it will be a fun day out, although we will lose. I first became interested in rugby at u …

“Keep it light-hearted,” the producer tells me. “We’ve got a big feature on breast cancer so this item needs to be funny.” The subject of my discussion on Woman’s Hour today is a new book written by a Dutch woman called Dutch women don’t get depressed. …

Bea is ill. She has a “baddie tummy” and I mean really bad. Poor little love has been writhing around in agony, her temperature soaring. But the most astounding effect of her illness has been on those around her. Her best friend and soul-mate Manon spe …

Some amazing news today. Apparently Brad Pitt has been house-hunting in the Languedoc. Unlike most of us who do our house-hunting on the internet, Brad has been flying over the region in a helicopter and when he spots a pad he likes the look of, he lan …

Here follows a conversation between my husband and my son as they lay in bed this morning chatting: “You’ve got very big arms and you’re very strong. Are you scared of anything?” “Mummy.” “Mummy’s not scary. She’s not a witch.” “What about her cloak an …