The Mother Next Door

The coiffured banker's wife puts the children to bed, then sits alone in her mansion waiting for a husband who'll be home late again. Her fingers are painted and her handbag Dior, but she risks more than a broken nail if she questions his absence.

She must have the perfect life, thinks the new mum who sits sobbing in the dark, desperately searching the internet for an answer to why her baby won't stop crying. She tries to comfort him, but he seems to sense her anguish and the misinterpreted rejection cuts deeper into her fraying inner strength.

Christmas Gift Guide for Grown-ups

I love Christmas. I love it even more now I'm an adult and can enjoy the indulgent delights of booze-soaked Christmas puddings and warming sips of mulled wine. And there's the food too, of course: spiced, fruit cakes, citrus, sweet treats and deliciously steamy puddings covered in custard or a dollop of cool, whipped cream. That's why for this year's Christmas gift guide, I've chosen to feature the kind of food and drink I'd love to find in my own stocking on Christmas morning. The kid's Christmas lists can wait - this is all about us.

Mummy's quick guide to keeping chickens

We first decided to keep chickens because, quite frankly, I was a bit bored. You might ask why I didn't get a dog or do some grown-up colouring or something. Well, my parents have kept them for nigh on thirty years so it wasn't completely doolally for me to decide to do it.

If you're thinking about keeping chickens, there are plenty of websites that give you in depth how-to advice on the A-Z of chickens. I'm just going to give you a few pointers that I've picked up in the six years we've kept ours, and over the lifetime my parents have kept theirs.

1. Decide what you want them for

Get pretty ones if you want pretty ones, but my family and I have tended to prefer the Warren Hybrids or Light Sussex for their excellent laying credentials.