Had a meeting of my real life book club (not to be confused with my lovely online blog book club) at home last night. Little Bingo was the star of the show, and a perfect host, moving graciously from lap to lap and sharing out his favours with a wisdom and discretion which was astonishing …
Went to see a great play the other day, Pitmen Painters, at the tiny little Duchess Theatre hiding behind the skirts of Covent Garden, just off the Strand. I’m ashamed to say I had never heard of this group of painters before, who all came from the same colliery and took up art almost on …
This weekend, with rumour and accusation swirling around one of our most senior politicians, I’ve been thinking about the differences between our approach to public life and the French way. In France, very strict privacy and libel laws would not allow papers to make free, as they have over the past couple of days, with …
I’m enjoying the Tesco Real Food Cook-Off show on Channel 5, shown on Tuesdays at 7.30pm – not least because lovely Tesco have asked me to try out some of the recipes at home. Somewhere, somehow, they may have got the idea that I am not the world’s most patient – or talented – chef …
One of my favourite ideas in the Harry Potter series was the pensieve, where you could syphon off thoughts and leave them swirling mysteriously in a rather beautiful stone bowl. In the novels, these were memories of significant events which helped Harry lurch on towards the final battle with his nemesis when the plot had …
I’m not sure what I think about the Amanda Knox affair. She didn’t come over well in the lead-up to the original trial, and all the ‘Foxy Knoxy’ stuff certainly blackened her name. Then, when she started dressing like a nun in the witness box, she seemed shamelessly manipulative. The trouble is that we still …
I’ve always been a hopeless romantic. As a child, in all my favourite stories, the princess glided away to a happy ending with her prince. In my teens, I graduated to Jilly Cooper’s jolly super romances. At university, I discovered the guilty pleasures of Mills and Boon as a way to take the mind off …
Had a fabulous time with the people from Kelloggs on Tuesday – not least because they treated us to the most marvellous spa treatments at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hyde Park Corner, but I won’t go on about how amazing my facial was lest you go green and explode with envy, I know I …
I’ve just finished reading Sophie Kinsella’s latest lovely book, Mini Shopaholic – what? It’s research for my novels, honestly – and the result has been that I’ve suddenly reassessed my own spending habits. The book’s heroine, Becky, is a rampant spender, who literally starts to twitch when she passes an outlet store. She has to …
I always check my junk email folder in case I have won a £10 million lottery prize and unaccountably forgotten to claim it. Today, I found something there which was even more unlikely. ‘Pinetastic Furniture wants to be your friend on Facebook!’ shrilled the email. Well, no it doesn’t. Pinetastic Furniture does not want to …