Today's letter contains some of the nicest remedies I've ever had the joy to come across... Eating ice cream, tucking into apple pie, enjoying a biscuit... they all get a mention here today. All that's missing to make this letter perfect is proof that watching the 'Wales Grand Slam 2005 Year of the Dragon' DVD repeatedly can improve your health. I know whenever I watch it (twice since I got it for Christmas) I feel less stress, my heart rate i ..

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If you've been stressed with all that Christmas shopping this year... then here's something that might make you feel better. Remember I told you that story about my late grandmother waving at her own reflection in a department store mirror? Well, there's an even more bizarre story I've been saving up. I tell it only to ease the burden of your stress in the last two shopping days before Christmas... -------------------------------------- An aw ..

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When you think of the word 'cyanide', what images do you conjure up? Is it an Agatha Christie villain creeping through a mansion with a vial of poison, hoping to knock off a rich heiress? Is it the notorious Nazi, Herman Goering, slipping that fatal pill into his mouth to escape hanging at Nuremberg? Or do you think of the humble apricot? If you've thought of cyanide only as history's most famous poison... then you might be in for a surprise. ..

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Can things get any worse...? Last week I discovered I had Emerging Grey Hair Disorder and was suffering from Ageing... This week I discover I'm turning into a snake. All right, I'm exaggerating but my holiday tan is fading and my skin is finally starting to peel. I feel like that scientist from The Fly. Except his kids didn't go 'Urrgggggh... DAD!' every time they saw him. Still, I guess I just have to accept it. There's really not much yo ..

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I don't know if this is a sign of things to come... But I've been staring blankly at the screen for the past hour trying to get today's letter started. Lara's even hoovered round me like I'm a piece of old furniture. 'Maybe you should just take me to the junk shop down the road,' I said, 'You might get a fiver for me.' 'Yes,' she agreed, 'but that's only because you have £4.50 in your pocket.' Anyway, to kickstart my brain, I've just followe ..

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In The Good Life Letter, I often like to take a stroll off the beaten track of conventional thought. I mean, if you wanted me to advise 8 glasses of water and bed rest for every ailment, you could just pick up the health pages of your daily tabloid, couldn't you? There'd be no need for me or my strange facts! So I hope you don't mind me taking you on a brief journey into a subject that makes sceptical scientists weep. And yet many people beli ..

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I read an article in the papers this week that both excited and annoyed me... I guess that's an improvement on my usual reaction to most newspaper articles, which usually involves cursing, ranting to Lara about it, then pouring a glass of red wine to help calm me down. But still, it just about summed up what's wrong with the medical system in this country. So what got me so riled that only a glass of VosneRomanee could help...? -------------- ..

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At a wedding last year, I realised that my extended family were deliberately poisoning themselves. It was the morning after the reception, and we were gathered at my aunt Patricia's house, nursing hangovers and cups of coffee. As I slipped half a teaspoon of brown sugar into my cup, I was shocked to see that few were interested in my ancient method of sweetening a drink. Almost everyone over the age of 40 dug into their pockets or handbags...a ..

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Every week I get hundreds of emails from you... But I can only write two Good Life Letters each week to deal with the questions! It's an impossible task... As you know, I can't promise to answer emails directly. If I attempted this, I'd NEVER leave my computer and become a huge blob of flesh with feeble stick arms to type with. I'd look like a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Although I try to answer as many queries as possible in my letters, I've been am ..

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It's funny isn't it...? If a chicken falls down dead, it makes headlines all over the world. But if a 'study' of 30 million people shows that many of them are under threat from big business, everything goes quiet. Take this point in question... Recently a cat was found dead in northern Germany with the H5N1 bird flu virus. Experts believe the cat probably contracted the disease by eating infected birds. Okay, that's not very nice. But u ..

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