Julia Hartley-Brewer

Making cuts to NHS spending will mean tough choices for politicians and our doctors; it may well mean tough choices for us patients too.

Playing cards isn't just a game, it's a lesson in life.

Many young Muslim women in Britain live, by Western standards, remarkably controlled lives, unable to choose what they wear, where they go, who they are friends with and even who they marry.

The prospect of voluntarily travelling to a war zone with your young children is not one which most British women would ever even consider.

For most of us, it is impossible to comprehend why anyone living in a safe country such as Britain would want to put themselves and their families into harm's way.

If George Osborne wants to end 'unfairness' then he shouldn't scrap a grant that enables every young person to have the same opportunity to go to a top university - whether they grew up on a country estate or a council estate.

Maintenance grants aren't a hand-out, they're an investment in bright young people from the poorest homes to get the qualifications they need to make a better life for themselves. And that's something any Government should be proud to spend taxpayers' money on.

Winning a place at a top university should be decided solely by a student's hard work and ability, not by what they can afford or how much debt they are willing to take on.

Getting a university education shouldn't be like buying a car, where money talks, so the rich get to buy a brand new shiny Ferrari and the poorest have to make do with an old banger than can barely make it to the end of the road.

The unpalatable truth is that many people don't feel it's worth their while to live long and healthily.

The honest, simple truth is that, by and large, rich people take better care of their health than poor people do because they have better, happier lives and they want to keep on having those better lives for as long as possible.

We are often told that health inequalities are about money, that poor people cannot afford to live healthy lifestyles, but that is far too simplistic.

As a middle-class woman living in the South-east of England, I have a better chance of living a long life than almost anyone else in the country.

Some of my most vivid childhood memories involve cards: loud, energetic, often brutally competitive games of racing demon, played at high speed and in a fug of shouting and laughter; endless rummy tournaments; learning newfangled varieties of poker. It didn't matter what the game was, if it involved a pack of cards, we played it.

What seems cruel and heartless to one is common sense for another.

Our beloved NHS, created in 1948 to care for us from the cradle to the grave, has become a bottomless money pit. And it's all our fault.

There is nothing unnatural about grieving for the loss of your unborn child.

The best way to cope with miscarriage is for men and women to talk - to their partners, to their friends, to a counsellor.

While it is couples who 'are going to have a baby,' miscarriages only happen to women. Yet the emotional trauma of the overwhelming sense of loss and grief affects both parents.

If ever there was a sign that normal life really is about to resume, it is the annual trip to buy new school shoes.

Politicians don't decide how much people buy from or sell to us: customers do. And they won't give two hoots whether we are in the E.U. or out of it.

My husband and I lost four babies to miscarriage. I could not have got through the pain of losing those pregnancies without my husband to comfort me - and for me to be there to comfort him.

Taking offence is now our national pastime and metaphors are merely the latest offensive weapon identified by social justice warriors as being so menacing that they must be censored for our own good.

Babies need fathers as well as mothers.

Feeling under the weather is just part of everyday life.

School teaches us more than merely the three Rs. It teaches us about life: how to get along with other people, follow rules and prepare for the world of work and adult responsibilities.

Whatever age we die, we will cost the NHS money. It's the dying, not the ageing, that racks up the medical bills. So why not hope to live as long as possible?

Indeed, the whole point of the NHS was to enable Britons to live until a ripe old age.

Yes, the cost of care homes is a huge expense, but only a minority of elderly Brits ever spend a single night in a care home.

I hold no candle for any political party, but I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in growing weary of the incessant 'evil Tories' propaganda broadcast 24 hours a day on every panel show. As a Brexiteer, the only way to escape the non-stop refrain of 'Leave voters are all stupid and racist' is to reach for the 'off' button.

The 'HIGNFY' line-up often consists of four male comedians and one lone female TV presenter who barely says a word. Lo and behold, everyone wonders why the men are funnier than the woman! If your actual job is to make people laugh, then you'll probably be more amusing than someone who reads a teleprompter for a living.

Indeed, there's nothing remotely comfortable about having to be funny in front of a 300-strong live studio audience to record a television show that is broadcast to millions, where you are required not only to know about the news but to be entertaining about it too.

If you think women aren't able to cope on TV comedy panel shows, then have I got news for you: you're wrong.

If we want to live in a sterile world, where men and women never speak or touch in the workplace or require every interaction to be authorised in advance in triplicate, then fine. That's not the world most of us want to live in.

It's perfectly clear that 99 per cent of people know the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.

While I understand we might like to expect that our political representatives will be role models rather than reprobates, that doesn't mean we should expect them all to be perfect all the time.

Clearly, men shouldn't go around making unsolicited passes at women in the workplace.

Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought that you went to work to get paid, and if you actually enjoyed what you did for a living, as I'm lucky to do, then that was a bonus. I didn't expect to get a street parade, complete with marching band and majorettes, just for turning up on time.

While many parents feel understandably aggrieved at the higher cost of hotels and flights the moment school holidays start, I'm afraid that's just the laws of supply and demand in a free market economy.

As much as I cherish our family holidays, I've never taken my daughter out of school for a vacation because, the last time I looked, the right to a term-time break in the sun was not one of the fundamental entitlements listed on the U.N. Charter of Human Rights.

Every parent thinks they're the most qualified person to decide what is best for their child.

The truth is that a willingness to queue is no longer the mark of a true Englishman or woman. It's what you do when all else fails. Queueing is for wimps.

While we like to think queueing is unique to British culture, the truth is that we are mere amateurs. The old Soviet Union turned into a way of life. Literally.

The British etiquette for queueing behaviour has long been established: mutter, shake your head but stay quiet.

A queue doesn't necessarily imply order and good manners among our fellow men. Usually it's just down to poor organisation, under-staffing and hopeless service - and the long-suffering customer having no choice.

Without Emma Thompson, 'Love Actually' would have had no soul. And without her, 'Love Actually 2' will have no heart.

Love Actually' is the most Marmite of all British films. Does it make you want to cry, or be copiously sick with disgust?

Playing cards crosses borders without any language barriers. I have played card games with Cambodian villagers, in bars in Cuba, on dive boats in the Indian Ocean and on safari in South Africa.

Card games are one of the best ways to teach basic maths skills. From adding up and multiplying to understanding probability, there is no better maths tool.

Courage shows itself in many different ways. A soldier heading off to war, a freedom fighter giving their life, or even a nurse braving a deadly virus as she heads to work in a hospital ward every day. Sometimes, though, courage does not require the ultimate sacrifice.