Liz Hodgkinson

The world is, apparently, excited and thrilled that Samantha Cameron has had a fourth baby, delivered by Caesarean section at Truro Hospital. It is a girl, weighing just over six pounds (amazing how they revert to old weights at these times)  and David Cameron is on record as saying he is a very proud dad.

Cue gushing from such as Sarah Brown (‘lovely announcement of the new Downing Street baby’) and congratulations from both the powerful and the powerless.  But let’s unpick all this for a moment. Firstly, should a responsible world leader be setting an example by having four children? Isn’t two more than enough in today’s world where there are not going to be enough jobs for...

Harold Evans: My Paper Chase This is a big book but somehow I had read it all before or at least, knew about it: the train-driver father, the working-class background, the start in provincial journalism, the rise to editor of The Sunday Times in its heyday and the many campaigns the paper instigated, (cue retelling for the 1000th time, of the thalidomide story) and the love affair with Tina Brown, as he pursued her on his motorbike.   Hasn’t it all been written about before in his Good Times, Bad Times?

Lisa St Aubin de Teran: Memory Maps. This books revisits familiar St Aubin de Teran territory – the hacienda in South America, the derelict palace in Umbria, the three...

Have we forgotten about feminism? Or do we imagine the fight is long over? Certainly there have been many gains for women in the past 40 years or so. We have access to effective contraception, equal education and we have long been able to secure our own mortgages and bank loans and set up our own businesses. In fact, in the secular world, the gains have been spectacular.

But in the religious world, women are still seen as secondary. I can’t believe the fight that is going on to ‘allow’ women to be bishops, especially now that most (as it seems to me) urban and rural vicars are now female.  What difference does the gender make? After all, bishops dress up in female clothes and always have...

I want to get a forum going about health in old age. First of all, I wonder whether I'm unusual in that, at 66, I seem to be completely healthy and take no pills or medication at all, not even vitamins or minerals.
I never go to the doctor - haven't been for about 20 years - and I refuse all the check-ups that are offered by the NHS. My own health regime is simple and works for me. For over 30 years now I have been vegetarian and although I've been told that I may be deficient in protein, I'm not quite sure how such a deficiency would manifest itself. Certainly there don't seem to be any obvious deficiencies: I don't suffer from undue tiredness and have plenty of energy for my daily tasks,...

My inbox – don’t know about anybody else’s – is currently littered with ads to buy distressed properties, currently on offer all over the world: Bahamas, France, Italy, Greece,Spain, US, Bulgaria, UK.

The prices sound tempting enough. Many Florida properties are on sale for what seem like very small five-figure sums, such as $45,000. They are often described as rent-ready and in immaculate condition.

But am I tempted, and should you be? No! Why would you want a ‘distressed’ property and why is it distressed anyway?  The term does not refer to the condition of the property, but the fact that it has been repossessed or foreclosed by the bank. Very often, these sales are released back onto...

If you have some spare cash or are considering downsizing, is now a good time to invest in property?

Fears about capital gains and VAT rises, plus the continuing uncertainty of the property market, has understandably made people very jittery about risking large sums of money on bricks and mortar investments, both in the UK and abroad.

At the same time, the internet is littered with apparently wonderful bargains: Buy a Caribbean hideaway for just £1 down; come to our free distressed property seminar; make a guaranteed 20% profit every year, are examples of the kind of offers and promises you now see.

My advice is: take no notice of any of them and do your own research. Never, ever rely...