Home
Photo Gallery
Evening Standard articles
Rachel's articles
Sunday Times Articles
Penguin UK
Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Spectator
Contact
|
|
RACHEL'S ARTICLES |
MUMMY DIARIES - 14-5 HUH, MR PRESIDENT - 'How's your father?" "Ha ha," I answer. "He's fine, thanks. Took it on the chin."
Then I give a short, but pithy speech about how well my father, the former prospective Conservative candidate for Teignbridge, had performed in a constituency held by the Lib-Dems in the yellow stronghold of the South-West . . . in an election where the overall swing was to the Lib-Dems . . . with tactical voting benefiting the Lib-Dems . . . and where there was also a strong UKIP showing stealing Tory votes. more
CAN TWO BECOME ONE - Do families who live in the city really need two cars? Rachel Johnson thought it was time her household tried to cope with just one - so she handed over two sets of keys and took delivery of a six-seater Fiat Multipla. Was the experiment enough to change her mind?
A couple of years ago, when my father hit the big six-oh, his first four children conferred over what to give him. Emails were sent between London, Paris and Washington DC. Then a peculiar thing happened. more
I NEED A LIFESTYLE MANAGEMENT GURU - 'Have you ever considered seeking professional help?" the very soignée blonde woman inquired, gently.
Before us, there were platters of cupcakes, iced in pastel colours, and steaming cafetières of strong coffee. We were not eating the cupcakes, but sipping zero-cal coffee out of thick-rimmed Wedgwood cups.
It is 11am, and this is the press launch for my corporate-wife friend Helen's book, Home UK. more
NANNY ENVY - They're younger, better with children and attractive to husbands - Rachel Johnson is no stranger to nanny envy (she's employed 22 of them)
Previously, on Desperate Housewives... In case you haven't caught it yet, each instalment of the hit Channel 4 show opens with these four words and a short sequence recapping on the last episode's quota of murder, addiction and adultery on Wisteria Lane.
Rachel Johnson and her nanny
Last week, the producers tossed a fiery new ingredient into this already toxic suburban stew: nanny envy. more
GRUESOME TWOSOMES - 40-something male WLTM DT reader, GSOH, for TLC
(Filed: 15/02/2005)
Don't despair if you didn't receive any Valentine's cards yesterday – there's now a dating service to suit every demographic sub-group. As our lonely hearts page celebrates its 10th anniversary, Rachel Johnson talks to some Kindred Spirits who found love through the Telegraph
At the beginning of Sideways, the irresistible road movie about middle-aged men and Californian wine, the upbeat Jack tells his moping friend, Miles: "Look, buddy. more
ALPHA MEN, GAMMA GIRLS - When modern man marries beneath him, he gets a nanny, a nurse or a secretary for free. That's one way of looking at it, says Rachel Johnson
Was the entire feminist movement a cruel hoax? asked the New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd last week. Wow. Apropos what? Germaine Greer on Big Brother? Botox coffee mornings? Desperate Housewives? Over to you, Maureen. more
IGNORANCE IS BLISS - Several weeks back, the boys both came home for Christmas with holiday quizzes. Ludo is at my lovely, cuddly, old prep school in Sussex and Oliver is at a London boys' school that is also lovely, but moves things along at a fairly cracking pace.
Ludo's quiz kicked off with "Which animal are [sic] the Government trying to make it illegal to hunt?" As the children shouted out "Duh!" more
THE MUMMY DIARIES LINK TO THE TELEGRAPH - Rachel Johnson, columnist and mother of three young children, writes about life's little disasters for The Daily Telegraph. Here is a selection of her columns, The Mummy Diaries. more
XMAS - SEASON OF DISPLAY PARENTING - thought I'd done Advent calendars properly this year, till I saw Sam. Oliver had his, courtesy of his godmother, Emma, on December 1. My mother kindly gave the children one featuring a snow-covered cottage and gobbling turkeys. Then Oliver saw the Chelsea FC calendar, so he also had to have that.
Then Milly - no flies on Milly - worked out that both boys had got chocolate calendars and she hadn't, so we had to trail around Tesco, M & S, etc, in search of one and hit lucky at Clinton in the middle of last week, and very heart-warming it is, too. more
GIFTS OF LEARNING - Antonia, my New York friend, came around in order to borrow a girlie costume for her son's pantomime. Her boys are at one of the most academically exclusive London prep schools, so their Christmas show no doubt combines Moulin Rouge-style production values with a score composed by the boys themselves.
Before we went up to inspect Milly's wardrobe, I gave Antonia a nice cup of "morning coffee" in the kitchen, where I had assembled all the many presents that have to be delivered or sent before Christmas. more
STOLEN CAR - Rachel Johnson ruefully reorganises family transport after her car is stolen
So, we are down to one car, which is fine. I would say that, though. One of our longest standing disagreements (rows would be too strong a word) concerns cars. I think that as a green, London-based family we should have at most one car and that it should run, preferably, on leaf-mulch.
My husband thinks we should own two cars. more
PROMOTING THE BOOK - So here I am, sitting alone in the green room, waiting to do my half-hour turn on Radio 2's Johnnie Walker show. There is a water cooler, but no cups, and no newspapers to riffle prior to my going live to the nation.
There are cubby-holes marked with the names of presenters, a roll call of some of the biggest names in radio: Jeremy Vine, Sally Traffic, Steve Wright, Jonathan Woss, Terry Wogan . . . I wonder what's in their cubby-holes and why there are no cups.
Because I am here to plug a book, I feel a little antsy. more
FOOD FUSS - Barbara, my au pair, is away, so I have had to make some labour-saving adjustments to the school run/daily routine. I have tried to focus my efforts on the morning, which is the most difficult time, because I am trying to get children to two different schools, in two different parts of London, by 8.15am.
But there is no doubt that my brave attempt to impose my sensible friend Fiona's one-bowl-of-cereal-per-child breakfast regime has met with limited success. The problem is Oliver. more
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN - Right. I've decided I am going to be brave and tell you all about half-term.
All the friends I've so far told, you see, have either heard me out in chilly silence through gritted teeth or have clapped their hands over their ears and chanted, "I'm not interested, I'm not in-ter-ested," and cannot even pretend to admire my white stripe of a watch-strap mark on my wrist.
We went to Jamaica. I've said it. And - thanks for asking - we had a lovely, lovely time, staying in a beach hotel called Beaches with two other families. more
LIFE AS A SERIAL OFFENDER -  It's a strange existence, that's for sure. When yet another hamster disappears down the floorboards, I think, wa-hey.
When my spluttering Land Rover breaks down at midnight in the middle of an Exmoor river in spate, miles from civilisation, I think, yippee. more
| |
[ << Previous Articles ]
|
|
