As a young freedom loving teenager trying to push the boundaries in a boarding school I was constantly told by tough but very caring nuns, “One’s own freedom ends where another person’s freedom begins”.

My freedom obsessed teenage brain did not understand the aphorism and only when I became a parent did I finally begin to understand.

I was free to work, express myself, had the power to choose, but I was not free because I was responsible for a little baby who had the freedom to do with me whatever he wanted. To add insult to injury that little lad showed no responsibility on either end.

Ever since a Buddhist Richard Gere pecked at the hands and face of a Hindu Shilpa Shetty, wannabe culture vultures around India have come out strong with demonstrations and burnt effigies of both.

One political party has also called for Gere’s arrest on the grounds that he has insulted the culture of the country.

Public displays of affection may be frowned upon in India but nowhere in the Indian Penal Code is there a law against it.

After decades of bemoaning the demise of the extended family, more and more parents are now faced with the prospect of their young adult children moving back home.

Although young people today earn more money than generations past, the constant rise in living costs means that they are earning less and finding it harder and harder to make ends meet.

In the UK the percentage of young adults forced to return home has gone up by a whopping eight per cent simply because house prices have gone up 204 per cent.

Has anyone ever considered the time, energy and cash that goes into weddings these days?

Well as a parent of two young eligible children I am hoping I would not have to fork out the humongous amounts of money mothers and fathers around the world are actually spending on their broods.

There are people around the world that opt for simple weddings and those that celebrate with full blown opulence and I keep wondering how much is too much to spend on a day that’s supposed to come just once in a lifetime if you are lucky.