Three years ago I came into contact with Sarah Graham, TV director, drugs counsellor, and adviser to the Talk To Frank drug abuse website and phoneline, and to the Association of Chief Police Officers

She has been an amazing support for myself and my journey through Recovery — in my case a rather rocky road — but a road that she has successfully followed for many years now.

Beyond her courageous honesty regarding addiction, Sarah writes a moving account of her personal experience as an 'inter-sex woman', similar to the runner Caster Semenya whose sexual genetics have recently been the subject of heated debate.

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What separates 'Us' — the good guys — from 'Them', the baddies?  Fundamentally, very little, says the founder of The Forgiveness Project, Marina Cantacuzino

From the mass murderers of Auschwitz, to the Islamic extremists who flew their planes into the World Trade Center, the widespread belief is that those who do grave harm to others to fulfill their ideological purpose are fundamentally different from us. We use a special vocabulary for them: 'beasts', 'monsters', 'evil'. . .

An innovative UK launcher concept is to get 1m euros (£900,000) of investment from the European Space Agency.

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It’s interesting to observe how often the media reports one health alert telling us to avoid something, while a few days later, we hear that the food or activity to be avoided could also be good for our health, writes Louise Ellis.

Because your mother loves you...

And if you're really into moaning, here's a sample of the complaints dealt with by Thomas Cook Holidays during the season...

'On my holiday to Goa in India , I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food at all.'

How I love Switzerland, writes Julia Stephenson. Ten years ago, when I was writing my first novel and desperate to escape all distractions, I decamped to Geneva to finish it.

I rented a small eyrie in the Hotel At Home in the Paquis district (my garret was surprisingly cheap; it was only later I realised  this was because it was in the red-light district).

Despite this, the area was quiet and I worked diligently on my tome. I was happy in my garret. It was on the top floor of a tall building, and standing on a chair in my well-equipped kitchenette I had stunning views of Lake Geneva. I have happy memories of spinning my salad in a special Swiss salad spinner contraption, transfixed by the view.