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We are looking after three cats. One is very old and grouchy and has very sensitive skin, the other is very young and energetic – both of the cats have a really strange meow and it’s quite loud. The other cat is just an outdoor cat who keeps himself to himself.

Well, last night I had an encounter with a neighbour who seemed concerned/upset. She asked me why my cats were walking up and down the street. I am in work all day and they tend to stay outside. Most of the time they stay in the garden but other times they roam around.

Before I could answer, she said “are they spayed?”. I said that all three cats were spayed and she even suggested that one of them sounded in distress because of the way she meows. I told her it’s just the way she meows and she started telling me a story about a cat getting pregnant.

She told me a dramatic story about how a little girl had approached her with concerns about the cat. They had kept her in their garage overnight and that she was approaching builders in a nearby street.

Now these cats are fed twice a day, every day. We keep them in most of the evening and put them outside during the daytime. We have them regularly checked up.

What was this woman’s problem?

I frequently encounter situations where coworkers stop speaking to me very suddenly. It's becoming quite upsetting for me, because I have moved jobs three times as a consequence of this and although I am perfectly aware that the issue is predominantly my own, I don't know why this happens.

I don't think I talk too much, I smile a lot, I chatty but not too chatty and I get on with my work. I'm a little introverted but not to a massive degree.. I don't usually mention this but I am gay.

Also I will be resigning my new job tomorrow. Any tips on how to do this without upsetting anyone? I just don't like the role or the people.

i'm 16. my mum aksed my gran 2 move in and she a b*tch. i hd to move rooms & go in the attic while gran has my room. i want to cry i'm so upset. she gets tken places in the car while i have 2 get the piggin bus she just sits there watching tv and i have to get her tea bcos she "too old"..bullsh*t!

i wish she would just f*ck off. not my problem she's lonely - i'm not being mean, but she needs to get ova gramps and move on. instead ive got to give up my room and climb a ladder every time i wanna go to bed. why doesn't she? she's so selfish.

i wanna cry every nite - i'm rilly depressed.

how can i confront my mom?

I seriously need help.My GP is useless. I have changed GP's and that GP was useless. I have been used as a guinea pig, been on **** loads of tablets for years and nothing has worked. I have just been a guinea pig. I feel I am going to have a panic attack, my nerves are burning and the Doctors don't care. I really need help and i've tried psychotherapy, counselling, going private.

I'm only 29 and i'm scared all the time and of people. Everybody stays away from me, my manager is concerned about my presence in the office because I am so shaky and I can't smile. I think i'm going to lose my job. Everybody stays away from me and some people get angry at me.

I have been to several GP's and exhausted all avenues.

Help me!!

I work in an open plan office with 10 individuals on my team. I get on pretty well with the majority of my colleagues. My manager is frequently away and asks the most senior member of the team to deputize for her in her absence. This colleague is pleasant enough but very frustrating to work with. My Manager is very specific that if there is any concerns or any changes that need to be authorized to go to her. Michelle is quite sociable to the team until there are work related matter whereupon she becomes very introverted, assertive of her own position, passive and blameful. For example on Thursday, I noticed an error with some formula on an excel spreadsheet and alerted Michelle. I advised her the error was down to a formula miscalculation and asked her to correct it as I wasn't authorized to do so myself.. She advised me she would look at this error at lunch and rectify it. On my return, it was still not rectified. At close of buisness, I asked her if she'd had time to sort out the error whereupon she immediately retorted no, that she had forgotten and would look it tomorrow as she was "up to her eyes". The next morning, she completely forgot anything I had said to her and advised another colleague that she had noticed an issue with the formula and said to the advisor "I have found out what's wrong with formula" as if i'd never told her. In the meantime, an additional error had occurred as a result of her taking such a great deal of time looking into a very simply problem.

I know she had a stroke, but we don't hear anything about her anymore. It's like she's disappeared off the face of the earth.

I think i'm giving off bad signs to people which is not at all surprising seeing as though I have anxiety. The problem is, there tends to be ONE person in my immediate group whether it be school or at work who HATE me. I'm not exaggerating either..

In my last job, I had to leave because there was THIS person who basically hounded me out. Got very belligerent, very hostile, refused to share information or include in work related matters and unfortunately, the manner himself also colluded with her.

It was great when I finally left but unfortunately a similar situation has happened in my current role. Once again everyone is lovely but there's this one prized *****. She is HORRIBLE.. absolutely detests me so i'm worried this is becoming a bit of a running theme but I honestly don't know what i'm doing wrong.

These people don't just dislike me, they DETEST me.

What can I do?

I should note that I have been caring for an elderly lady for about ten years. She recently passed away and I was extremely surprised to find out that I was the sole beneficiary of her will. Don't get me wrong, we were very close by the end but she has Family.

As you can imagine, the Family are not very pleased about this at all. The daughter is what you would best describe as "rough" and she is always here arguing with me and telling me that "i'm glad her Mother's dead" and it would be the kindest thing to "hand the house over to the Family". I am verbally abused on an almost weekly basis, but I don't want to get the police involved as obviously this poor woman is grieving and is probably extremely shocked and confused.

She keep harping on about a life insurance policy and asking me where it is. I haven't the faintest idea but the son seems to think that I know where it is but that i'm refusing to hand it over. They claim they want the life insurance policy to pay for funeral costs and a memorial but I genuinely have no idea where it is.I'm happy to pay for the funeral, i've told them this as it's the least I can do but the response I frequently get is "it's not your money".

How should I deal with this extremely uncomfortable situation?

Sadly it looks like we have some really inconsiderate neighbours. They have only just moved in and recently left a huge sofa in the alley next to their house. As this actually was in their side of the alley I realize there is a little we can do as unfortunately just being unsightly is not illegal in the UK. Then they put their rubbish (again) on their side of the alley that blew onto ours including dirty diapers and bags bits of their back gate. The rubbish although on their side of the alley is piled up - you can see it from the street. Then to my horror we were just leaving this morning and they had parked their motorbike on OUR side of the alley and it's still there now having been left there all day.

What can we do?

She lost contact with her Grand-daughter because her daughter died in 2001. Not sure how just lost touch I guess because she was so young and there was no common link keeping them together. Problem is she has asked me to contact her as she is on Facebook and my Aunty is not good at computers and despite initiating and maintaining contact (with difficulty!) – my Aunty has said she can’t bring herself to write or send anything. I have told her that that’s going to go down like a lead balloon but she says it’s just so difficult to think about her daughter and her death. Her Grand-daughter is expecting and hoping for a letter and things that were promised. She said that she’s finding this distressing and is depressed.

What do I do? Her Grand-daughter is waiting for a reply and a letter.. I can’t go back and say “I’m so sorry but she’s just too upset to deal with this right now”.

My Aunty lost a daughter in tragic circumstances two years. She was the Mother of a little boy. I have managed to make contact with that little boy by chance and at first he was a bit annoyed that I contacted him because my Aunty hasn't seen him in years. Well anyway he now wants to initiate contactt but my Aunty keeps banging on about moving. She says things like "can you tell him i'm moving?", "i'll send some things when i've moved".

I really feel that if I go back to her Grand-son and tell him this he'll be like "yeah whatever, so much for she cares about me!".

What can I do?

I was the victim of a drunken prank where someone pushed my car into the middle of the road.

The police turned up at my door at 3AM on a Sunday morning to advise me. By the way I should note I had been drinking in the house that evening but I wasn't drunk, slurring my words or in any way aggressive. In fact when they knocked the door I had been sleeping for about five hours and had my last drink at 10PM. I had not been to the pub.

Anyway after clarifying how the car had got in the road and even explaining that I hadn't used the car all day, they asked if I could move the car,to which my partner responded "i'll move it as you've been drinking!". The police officer immediately quipped "you've been drinking?". I said "yes" and he said "something doesn't ring true here!". I didn't know how to respond and he repeated "something doesn't ring true about this!".

What an odd thing to do. The lights were clearly out when they knocked as they needed to use a torch to see the number on their house. The car was locked, the handbreak was on and I was very sober when they arrived (probably didn't have any alcohol in my system) and I volunteered the information that I had been drinking that evening so they knew that I would not move the car as I didn't want to drive having been drinking the previous evening.

Why would he react like this? Especially when he was at my door at 3AM in the morning.

I left a job because people were constantly moaning that I was doing things wrong - I have never experienced that level of criticism before.

I found a nice job (not amazing but okay!) where a similar thing is happening. I am having a hard time dealing with this because I am apparently making mistakes constantly. For example no matter how many times I check something there is always a miniscule mistake or something is missing despite consciously saving things so that it doesn't go missing. I will objectively send an email, only to find that the email hasn't been sent. Someone will ask me if I have done something and it will transpire that I haven't!

I repeat I consciously check and double check but for some reason I am still making these errors.

I am wondering whether i'm having memory problems.

I am not assertive. In work people tend to forget i'm there half the time. If I mention that I need help, I will get the response "sure i'll be there now!" and i'll be there waiting and nobody comes back. I am set complex tasks and receive very little help because people simply forget I am there. This saddens me of course because I can't help being this way but I have an anxiety disorder which is what cements me to this way of thinking.

Can you give me some assertive examples of things I can do to help me be more assertive?

I think political correctness has encouraged a society of stupid people.

Instead of saying "this is very dangerous", some people would use the term "take extreme caution". This is not the same and could lead to the very thing that you are raising awareness about in the first place. When I say "this is very dangerous!" - I am alerting you to danger. When I say "take extreme caution!" I am saying there is potentially danger but I don't know so be careful. "Danger" and "caution" are two separate words and indicates two separate elements of risk. One is highly dangerous, one is mildly problematic. Again "danger" and "problem" are NOT the same. Danger is the highest level of risk whereas caution and problem are NOT.

Why are people so blinded by Political Correctness? If I say "Illegal immigrant" I mean it.. I do NOT mean "unspecified citizen". "Illegal immigrant" is the description of someone who has immigrated to this country illegal. "Unspecified citizen" means a citizen who is unidentified!

scenario?

According to the Act

(2) His Majesty, His issue, if any, and the descendants of that issue, shall not after His Majesty’s abdication have any right, title or interest in or to the succession to the Throne, and section one of the M1Act of Settlement shall be construed accordingly

(3)The M2Royal Marriages Act 1772 shall not apply to His Majesty after His abdication nor to the issue, if any, of His Majesty or the descendants of that issue.

So say for example he had had a son (let's call him George) and George had married his first cousin Elizabeth. According to this act, George and his descendants would not have "any right, title or interest in or to the succession to the Throne". Nor would they be bound by the Royal Marriages Act meaning their first child (Charles) could have married a Catholic called Sharon (a chav from a council Estate).

I have been auto-enrolled onto a pension scheme in work. I had an email advising me that they couldn't find me registered at my current address on the electoral role and that I would need to supply a copy of my bank statements. I replied advising that I had recently moved but that I still had access to the old address and that I was still paying the utilities there. He replied saying simply "sorry for the delay.. if you get these to me that would be great!". I replied advising "Would I still need to supply the documentation you’ve asked for as you shouldn’t find any problems with my name flagging up at my old address?". He then called me saying "don't worry about it being your old address - could you just send me the statements as we need it for money laundering purposes!".

My point is.. he didn't need proof until it flagged up that I wasn't living at my current address. Why couldn't he just apply the same procedure to my old address without documentation? As I explained I still have access to that property and all mail is re-directed from the old house to me anyway!

Why are some men so chauvanistic? I work with someone who makes me so angry.

1. When responding to someone's question about not having to bring food in tomorrow he retorts "yes Mrs Ingleby (his wife) won't have to make my lunch tomorrow".

2. I have had to repeat several times that I do not enjoy sport but keep being hounded with questions such as "did you watch the game last night?" and "what did you think of the game last night?".

3. When responding to a question about what tipple I enjoy and responding "lager", he responds "but you're a woman - don't women like wine!".

4. He constantly makes reference to "taking the boys" somewhere. He also has daughters but never mentions them.

The Queen Mother only acquired this title because she was the Queen's Mother and a former Queen Consort but what if the Queen had pre-deceased her. She would no longer have been the Mother of a reigning Monarch.

I once heared that she could have possibly been styled HM The Dowager Queen Mother but that sounds like an oxymoron to me sounding like HM The Dowager Queen, The Queen Mother. I also read that HM The Queen Grandmother would have been more appropriate.

I have often wondered whether it is possible to have a Royal Family in a republic. Say for example the Queen was not the Head of State but was simply a ceremonial Ambassador who only attended public functions on behalf of the nation but wasn't required to do anything else. Like a traditional go between but not a Head of State or politician. Kind of like a referee I suppose.

For example if a crisis occurred, they could host a state banquet hosted by the Queen or send the Queen on a diplomatic mission abroad but after the day is over "the Queen" simply goes home like everyone else (Palaces only being used for official and state functions). The Monarchy itself only really becoming a firm.