Columnists

Case no. 2: Charles and the Juggernaut Dear Dr Toby I am driving down a dark, dimly-lit city street.  I get the feeling I am going the wrong way, but the road is too narrow and the walls too high to turn myself around. Eventually I see an opening in the wall up ahead. I manoeuvre myself in to it and turn the car around, facing the direction I feel I want to be heading in...

By Karen Fenessey I THINK that in this day and age, when a woman as exemplary as Madonna wants to adopt an impoverished child, we should just be damned grateful.

Case No. 1: 'Tom and the rope bridge' Dear Dr Toby, I had a dream that I was crossing a rope bridge up high in the clouds and then I met an old school friend halfway...

Dispatches from Poppy SpaldingTHURSDAY, MUMBAI: This week finds me 'slumming' it in Mumbai, India. After watching the totally amazing foreign film Slumdog Millionaire last week, I simply had to get over here and join in all the slum-based fun.

By Karen FenesseyI THINK this recession thing is really going to people's heads. I've been keenly following Paxman's wonderful series on the Victorians, and I can reliably inform you that they didn't have nervous breakdowns just because it was taking longer than expected to sell their flats.

TO all those people who might be asking, what the bloody hell does she know about rugby, I'd like to say this: I bloody loves rugby, and secondly, see, I bloody loves my Gavin, so if you want to make something of it you can meet me, Angharad and the rest of the valley girls round the back of the Prince of Wales for a bloody good scrap, isn't it.

Dispatches from Poppy SpaldingWEDNESDAY: ULAN BATORTHERE comes a point in every backpacker's journey where they just lose the plot and do something totally outrageous. For me, this happened in the airport last week when I just said 'To Hell with everything!' and jumped on a flight to the renowned cannibal stomping ground of Mongolia!

Weekend sport with Charlie ReevesTHE Premier League is the hardest in the world. Don't believe what you hear from the frog lickers, the pasta suckers and whatever the hell Spanish people are eating these days. English teams run harder, in more directions and with fewer reasons than any other nation of footballers.

By Karen FenesseyI DON'T understand people who complain about the snow. When it's perilous outside, I voraciously leap upon the opportunity to stay indoors and challenge my mind. It's precisely the attitude which spawned the likes of Russia's Dostoevsky and Scotland's John 'Logie' Baird. However, for some, heavy snowfall leads to voracious leaping of a far less noble nature and I'm ashamed to admit that one of these people is related to me.

Dispatches from Poppy Spalding MONDAY: TOKYO This week, I'm in Tokyo: home of sushi, tiny things and my all-time favourite movie: Bill Murray's Lost in Translation. This movie has never been more relevant, not just to me but to the entire world, most of whom don't understand Japanese. My experiences here have taught me we have so much to learn from Bill, and also from Buddha.