Mail on Sunday

Just the Two of Us

Bonding isn't just important in babyhood. Older children need to feel special too, particularly if they have siblings. Which is why parents should take a leaf out of Cherie's book and spend quality time with each child individually Report Maureen Rice Illustrations Marc Arundale

Desire Brings Pleasure to Our Lives. It Should Be Celebrated, Not Discouraged

A Cambridge University professor has decided that lust needs an image makeover. For too long (thank you, St Augustine; thank you, Puritans) it's been seen as a sin to desire sex, and a deadly one at that. But philosopher Simon Blackburn says lust is nothing to be ashamed of let's celebrate it. 'Feeling sexual desire towards attractive people is a pleasurable experience and should be enjoyed,' says the professor, married 35 years. 'It is a healthy, normal, good thing.' Hooray, Professor Black...

Let's Get Intimate

Farmer John Bourne, 62, and his wife Jules, 55, have been married for 35 years and have three sons. Jules I was about 16 and often stayed with my aunt in Cheshire; John lived locally and we went riding together.

Rural Britannia

A former religious college in a Lincolnshire village is the perfect showcase for Amanda Meade's relaxed, country-style interiors. And as well as this unusual shop, she has applied her inspiration throughout her newly restored home nearby

How Can I Ease the Misery of Diverticulitis?

Q Just over two years ago, at the age of 39, I was diagnosed with diverticulitis, which came on without any warning. I had a colostomy, though that was reversed six months later. I changed to healthier eating habits but I still suffer from irregular bowel movement, stomach cramps and bloating. I'm sick of trying different medications. What advice can you give me to try to ease the problem? I work in transport and find it difficult to maintain a high fluid intake due to lack of toilet faciliti...

Fact or Fiction

How does your garden grow? HELIGAN: A PORTRAIT OF THE LOST GARDENS by Tom Petherick and Melanie Eclare (Weidenfeld Nicolson, Pounds 20) When Tim 'Eden Project' Smit and his team discovered the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, their scramble to restore them to their pre-Second World War beauty captured the nation's imagination.

Bookworm ; Books

What's your all-time favourite book? I like Victorian blockbusters, and the four that I've reread the most are War and Peace, The Ambassadors, Nana and Fathers and Sons. War and Peace has an undeservedly daunting reputation, but it's wonderful. It's long, but so what?

Poems for Life

This poem is one of my favourites. I think of it every time I find myself peering through the windows of my daughter's nursery school after I have dropped her off. In theory I am there to make sure that she is settling in, but in reality it is to postpone the moment of parting. I know exactly what the poet means when he says at the end of the poem (which he wrote for his son), 'selfhood begins with a walking away, And love is proved in the letting go.'

Married Life ; I Have Resolved to Do Something About My Bodily Demise. And Squeaky Is Going to Join Me On My Regime

I am a little bit worried that I have let myself go to seed somewhat, now that I am all paired up and cosy. There was a time when I did pilates classes two evenings a week, a three-hour dance class on a Saturday morning, and went running every morning (it is little wonder I never had time for dates). At home, as well as several pairs of leg warmers in rotation, I had dumbbells, a step machine and a sit-up machine. I have done ashtanga yoga, step classes and spinning classes so arduous I would...