Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

The crushing, pitiful, and frequently just plain risible pathos of an unsuccessful actor/performer's life is well charted.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

I spent my entire childhood living abroad because of my father's occupation, so we were on long-haul flights all the time.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

I'm the co-chair of the PTA at my kids' school, Ashmount Primary, in north Islington, London.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

Success, in whatever form it takes, is a tricky thing - once you've achieved your goal, then what? Where do you aim?

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

I don't subscribe to the 'Doctor Who' magazine and we've only got the normal amount of 'Doctor Who' fridge magnets.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

In the 20 long, hungry years between my late teens and late 30s I bought in to virtually every new diet and/or exercise regime that hoved into view, particularly at this most vulnerable time for those of us prone to poor body image - a new year.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

My theory is that one needs to be loved completely, unconditionally, and unfettered by parental disapproval, if one is to get happily through life which, after all, presents its own hurdles.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

Statistically, if you have ever dieted you are extremely likely not only to regain any weight you lose, but to go on to gain even more. Dieting makes you fat.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

If, however, you have richer pursuits in mind and know that no woman should be judged by how she looks - that everything she brings to the party is more important than the size of her arse - then refuse to be sucked into the never ending whirligig of self-doubting, self-hating madness that is stop-start dieting and crazy new exercise regimes.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

Look, I want what's good for everybody. I want to promote good state education for all. I want to raise standards for all kids, irrespective of race and class but why can't they all just do what I say when I know I'm right?

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

My parents both had Oxford degrees, they read important books, spoke foreign languages, drank real coffee and went to museums for pleasure. People like that don't have fat kids: they were cut out to be winners and winners don't have children who are overweight.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

When popularity is your only goal, doing well in class is going to feature very low, if at all, on your priority list.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

I have never done a package tour in my life. It appeals in a way, but then I remind myself that you can't control the other people with you, which could turn out to be ghastly.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

If I'm hunting down gifts, I like to buy locally.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

I wish my parents hadn't made me feel that how I looked was linked to how much they loved me. But I do also see how hard it must be to see your child pile on the pounds and trust they'll find their own way back to a healthy weight.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

When not eating, I like shopping; although I'm afraid I've become a bit of a cliche.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

I can't write about my greatest mistakes because I've slept with most of them.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

My dad was a diplomat and after living in America, where I was born, he was posted to Cairo.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

Both Plockton and the Isle of Muck in north-west Scotland are incredibly beautiful. Sadly, Plockton has been discovered by tourists because it's where they shot Hamish Macbeth.

Arabella Weir
Arabella Weir

Despotism isn't nearly as bad as it's cracked up to be.