We were never allowed to use the word “nice” at school.  It was tantamount to using the word “lovely”, a lazy way of saying, well, “nice” things, when there was a whole world of adjectives out there just dying to be picked in its place.  ”Nice” was boring, when you could use, say “pleasant” or [...]

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I wrote an article that appeared in today’s Sunday Times Style section about Smile Train, an incredibly worthy charity that helps mend the cleft palates of kids worldwide.  I had the good fortune to be welcomed to the hospital in Oudomxay in Laos, (I should add, we were on holiday in Laos at the time [...]

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