One Christmas build-up tradition, however, has totally bypassed me - that of going up to town and doing a show.

Amsterdam has more than 150 canals and 1,250 bridges, but it never seems crowded, nor bent and bitter from fleecing the tourist.

It has been said that a pretty face is a passport. But it's not, it's a visa, and it runs out fast.

What sort of sap doesn't know by now that picture-perfect beauty is all done with smoke and mirrors anyway?

Families, generally, suck. And I say that as someone who, like my husband, had parents who proved the proverbial exception to the rule.

The freedom that women were supposed to have found in the Sixties largely boiled down to easy contraception and abortion; things to make life easier for men, in fact.

Here in Barcelona, it's the architects who built the buildings that made the city iconic who are the objects of admiration - not a bunch of half-witted monarchs.

The latest twist on the pampering concept is spa parties, where a group of friends take over an entire spa.

Gluttony and idleness are two of life's great joys, but they are not honourable.

My second husband believed I had such a fickle attitude to friendship that each Friday he would update the list of my 'Top Ten' friends in the manner of a Top Of The Pops chart countdown.

Make no mistake, most women are well aware that they've never had it so good; when they enter a spa or salon, it is purely a hair/nails thing, a prelude to an evening of guilt-free fun.

If we are to rise as real Sapiens, we must work towards spreading education among the masses.

I really find that with Judaism, it creates an amazing blueprint for family connectivity.

For an idea which, at first, does not seem absurd, there is no hope.

When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived.

The word 'retirement' is not in my vocabulary right now.

Universities charge outrageous prices instead of dipping into their own massive funding.

I can assuredly say that it's my life's mission to love all people.

I like anchovies, and I don't tell everybody about them. Almost every time, they don't even notice.

I'm beginning to appreciate the value of naps. Naps are wonderful, aren't they? Sometimes now I have to take a nap to get ready for bed.