Rebuilding the Bridge
Saga Magazine, October 2009 Monica Porter recalls returning to Hungary – the country she fled with her parents as a four-year-old – with her young son I was four years old when my family escaped from Hungary, just after the 1956 Revolution
My Budapest
Jewish Chronicle, 18 September 2009 Budapest beyond the guidebooks. Writer Monica Porter offers a very personal view of the Hungarian capital Some people love Paris in the springtime. But I’ll take Budapest in the autumn, the perfect time to go. Especially this year:
Pigs Might Fly
Saga Magazine, May 2009 That was the cry that went up when Lord Brabazon, right, attempted the first flight in a UK-made aircraft 100 years ago. Monica Porter looks back at the momentous events that gave birth to powered flight in
Press Trips
Press Gazette, 16 May 2008 Seeing the world while the PR company picks up the bill
Hippy Trail
Daily Express, 8 May 2008 While her friends were seeking nirvana, MONICA PORTER was up to her eyes in nappies. Now a grandmother, she headed to Nepal to find out what the fuss had been about Few places sound as exotic and
Girl’s Best Friend
Daily Express, 15 November 2007 MONICA PORTER on how a woman's relationship with her dad can influence every aspect of her life When I was a little girl I would sometimes go into my father’s study and tell him stories, which I
How I got my Philby scoop
Press Gazette, 21 September 2007 It was winter 1997 and I was working on the features desk at the Daily Mail. I felt becalmed work-wise and knew that I needed a great story. A scoop, even. But how to find
Pros & Cons
Press Gazette, 2 August 2007 Steady income, generous expenses, lively office and free pens - you won't get any of these when you go freelance. So what's the attraction? Monica Porter, a freelance for seven years, reveals In the mid-Nineties, when I
Gap Year Daredevil
Daily Express, 19 July 2007 While her youngest boy travels the world seeking adventure, MONICA PORTER is back home pulling her hair out As a mum, I’ve always been a bit of a worrier. When my sons were in their teens and
Mothers-in-law
Daily Express, 24 May 2007 When her son married, MONICA PORTER entered in to a relationship fraught with potential faux pas. Q: What should you do if you miss your mother-in-law? A: Reload and try again. We all have our favourite mother-in-law jokes –
Rewriting History
Daily Express, 26 February 2007 MONICA PORTER's sons think that in the Sixties she was an anti-war, dope-smoking hippy - despite her efforts to tell the truth. I wonder whether our children ever really know us, or whether, instead, they cherish some
Biker Babe
Daily Express, 26 February 2006 Mother-of-two MONICA PORTER on her mid-life transformation, swapping the supermarket run for thrills on the open road I never would have believed it in my twenties and thirties, when I was trundling along in my lawyer husband’s
Food of Love
Daily Express, 1 September 2005 If your relationship is cooling down then head for the kitchen together to add some spice They say that the heart of every home is its kitchen, but only in recent years have I have come to
Auschwitz
FT Magazine - Financial Times, 16 October 2004 Auschwitz: Death Camps and Day-trippers Coach parties of tourists are turning Auschwitz-Birkenau into an undignified Holocaust theme park I went to Auschwitz for the first time last July. The visit was long overdue. Ever since,
Big Mistake
The Times, 30 April 2004 With family, says Monica Porter, more isn't always merrier So the extended family is set to make a comeback, according to research carried out by a major building society. It’s easy to see why. Grown-up children can’t
Dear God
Jewish Chronicle, 23 April 2004 The most fascinating aspect of the ongoing case of the Goldman Sachs PA who embezzled £4 million from her bosses is not that she got away with it for so long – despite her blatantly lavish
Why Gates are Good
Sunday Times, 4 April 2004 Gated communities: the scourge of society? No, just safe from vandals, says MONICA PORTER Three years ago my partner Nick and I moved into a small, newly-built gated community in north London, comprising five houses. I realise
Two Languages
The Guardian, 3 March 2004 Bringing up your children to be bilingual gives them all sorts of advantages, says Monica Porter, while (right) two parents show how it's done. For as long as I’ve been a parent – and my sons are
The Villa That Saved Lives
Sunday Times, 29 February 2004 I was born in 1952 and for the first four years of my life I lived in my mother’s villa in Budapest. An elegant, airy house nestling amongst the hills on the Buda side of the Danube,
The end of friendship?
The Times, 19 November 2003 Whenever I hear about a couple who are getting divorced, I wonder whether they’ve considered the distressing impact it will have on their social lives. Probably not. On the verge of a marital break-up, all you