The Queen Mother taught me how to sew beautifully. Published in the New Statesman.
I may have mentioned, in passing, that I was once seamstress to the Queen Mother. This is not exactly true, because it evokes an image of…
Yes, we do need to know. Published in The Guardian.
When I was pregnant, caesareans didn’t figure in my thinking. I neither considered nor planned for one: they were for celebrities or women on the verge…
Grin and bare it, The New Statesman
There used to be a time when we had the looks we were born with. This changed with the invention of something called plastic surgery and…
Diary. The New Statesman.
I like to start the week talking about breasts – and thus it was that I did. There we were Monday morning, ten women sitting around…
Know your cod and plaice. Published in The Guardian.
If there are three things guaranteed to induce white noise between your ears, it’s anything to do with the EU, fishing quotas and maps of the…
Twenty winks. It’s never big or clever to cut back on sleep. Published in The Guardian
The last time the world cried as one, at the last American elections, I remember George Bush saying he wasn’t getting much sleep. This despite the…
Child’s play for adults. Published in The Guardian.
It’s debatable when I actually became an adult. According to various criteria it probably wasn’t until I left home at the rather late age of 22…
Amo, amas, I love a lass, published in The Guardian.
At last, it seems as if the cavalry is coming. For years, the subjunctive has been in hiding in the barren hills of What Once Was:…
When breast is worst. Published in The Guardian
For 17 years I had been the owner of a fine pair of breasts that were, in Starbucks talk, grande. So when I became pregnant and…
A large scale disaster. Published in The Guardian
Fish are not photogenic; they will never be made into cuddly toys; they don’t try to be our friends like dolphins do. In a line-up, most…
Annalisa Barbieri 
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