With a diplomat father, for whom foreign postings were a fact of life, my siblings and I were expected to attend boarding schools in Britain.

If there's one thing I know, it's this - everybody thinks somebody else is having a better life.

My parents both had Oxford degrees, they read important books, spoke foreign languages, drank real coffee and went to museums for pleasure. People like that don't have fat kids: they were cut out to be winners and winners don't have children who are overweight.

I have never done a package tour in my life. It appeals in a way, but then I remind myself that you can't control the other people with you, which could turn out to be ghastly.

Sending your child off to school for the first time in their life is terrifying.

Success, in whatever form it takes, is a tricky thing - once you've achieved your goal, then what? Where do you aim?

When popularity is your only goal, doing well in class is going to feature very low, if at all, on your priority list.