We've been together five years but she is against us marrying because of his race and religion. My dad will be even worse. I am a 25-year-old European girl. I came to the UK to study and at university I met my partner, who also came to study from abroad. He is South Asian and Muslim, whereas I am Christian. We have been together for over five years without my parents' knowledge because I knew th..
I've been working in various roles for a large organisation for some years since graduating. I am a project manager earning a decent salary in my late 20s. I sometimes enjoy the job and it has good prospects, but there is a lot of politics and it is sometimes extremely stressful. For the past two years I've had a feeling that it's not quite the right job for me. Recently I was required to learn ..
I will be 60 next year and, like a lot of women of my generation, I don't look or "feel" my age. I have been working in the education sector for 10 years, mostly as a school librarian. Like many people who work in a school I feel undervalued and overworked for the salary I receive. I would love a change of direction, the opportunity to go back to the student travel industry - an area I worked in..
A man is wondering whether to move to Sweden to be with his lover, who has a husband and children. The dilemma This summer I met a woman in Sweden who is married, with young children. We have been in constant contact and have met up in secret. She and I had the best sex of our lives. She and her husband have agreed to separate after they sell their home next spring and she says she wants me to b..
We haven't talked since I told him I don't want to know about his botched romances, but I'd like to be in touch again. How do I tell my father in a way he will understand that I don't want to know the details of his love life? We haven't spoken for two years because, as he puts, if I don't want to hear his truth, then he doesn't want to hear mine. When I was 11, he left our family and had a stri..
I learned basic programming for my current job as a project manager, and want to switch career. But I need advice I've been working in carious roles for a large organization for the past 10 years since graduating. I'm currently a project manager earning a decent salary, and I'm in my late 20s. I sometimes enjoy the job and it has good prospects, but there is a lot of politics and it sometimes ge..
A young teen who is more academic than social feels feels isolated. Mariella Frostrup urges to her to put her fluctuating hormones and feelings into context The dilemmaI'm a 13-year-old girl who is overweight. I've started to feel very uncomfortable and lonely in my own skin. All my friends have boyfriends and are living a wonderful life. I'm very close to one girl, but whenever I try to discuss..
I keep in touch and visit her abroad, but she suffer from anxiety and takes offence at my efforts to help. My daughter moved from Vancouver to Britain some years ago to go to university; eventually marrying another student. She found stable employment and recently gave birth to her first child. I love her very much, and the geographic distance has been difficult for me to bear, although we talk ..
I'm on maternity leave from my job at a medium-sized company in a specific digital sector. Where I live there is a thriving but small digital hub with only a couple of other similar businesses that my job title directly transfers to. After a run of employees leaving, it transpires that my work has set up agreements with local businesses so they will not employ our staff. This was all rumor, but ..
Due to a maternity leave extending to a permanent leave - ie, the person is never coming back - I have ended up covering a higher grade job for around six years. I have only just discovered that, as per the company's policy, I should initially have been temporarily promoted to the position until such time that the person I was covering for was scheduled to return to work, and then made permanent..
She left her husband and children to be with my father. How do I ask her about my half-siblings? My mother was 18 when she married her first husband. She got married to get away from her parents, who were loving, but rather strict and old-fashioned (this was in the 1960s). While married to her first husband, she had three children. They were still very young when she met my father and left her f..
A teenage who forgot to send a proper thank-you note has caused a rift with her wealthy step-grandmother. Mariella Frostrup commiserates The dilemma My 15-year-old daughter is trying to recover from bulimia. Her self-esteem has been low for years, but one thing that's working is having her own horse. My father's new partner paid for it - she is a wealthy widow and we are on the breadline. Enclos..
My company has offered me support with my all-consuming workload, but I feel like I've failed - and I can't afford to walk out I'm in my mind 20s and I graduated with a 2:1 in English and creative writing three years ago. Though my dream career is to be a writer, my initial intention had been to go into teaching as a more sustainable path, but it didn't work out and I was then unemployed during ..
Should I tell him how I feel? I can't talk to anyone I know. I am in my early 60s, long married. We are not the greatest love match but have come this far. We have areas of tension but always back off from saying what we really feel. Our sex life, never great, is now non-existent. We don't do much together but rub along and pursue our different interests. We have grown-up kids. The problem is, I..
How do I respond to the naysayers about enjoying my minimum-wage job? I am in my early 30s working full-tilme and making just above minimum wage in the hospitality industry. I think I am articulate and professional. My family feels I am squandering my talents and intellect in a "dead-end job". I explain that I am thankful just to have university degrees and only get part-time hours at their fast..