TESSA beamed down on me from the poster on the waiting room wall. "Semi-finalist, Slimmer Of The Year," it said.

With beautiful, shiny hair and gleaming teeth, she was leaping in the air. Tessa looked very pleased with herself. But there was something about the poster that disconcerted me. Probably the fact that Tessa is a dog.

Pictures of her and other successful canine slimmers are plastered over the noticeboard at our local vets' surgery, alongside details about their successful diets and exercise regimes. "Can you pinch an inch?" screams a headline in the surgery newsletter, alongside an article offering slimming advice for pampered pooches.

As a report this week reveals dog lovers in Britain are splashing out a staggering £73m a month on unnecessary extras, from manicures to designer gear and toys, for their pets, obesity has been named as the number one dog health problem. As a result, they are suffering increased levels of diabetes, joint disease and heart problems. We are spoiling dogs - literally - to death, while children die on the other side of the world because they don't have clean water to drink.

AT first, we thought we were being plagued by nuisance callers. Over the past few months we have answered the phone many times, only to be greeted by silence before the line goes dead. The caller, always either "international" or "withheld", is impossible to trace. We found friends were having the same problem. And not just those living locally. Now I have discovered the likely culprits are call centres which operate a computerised telephone system, where lists of numbers are dialled automatically. If there isn't an operator free to talk when you pick up the phone, you are, after a pause, cut off.

It is bad enough being interrupted throughout the evening by people trying to sell you phone systems or double-glazing. But how much more infuriating when you don't even have the pleasure of telling them to bog off.

I WILL miss the ITV series Life Begins, about an abandoned wife and mother, Maggie (Caroline Quentin), starting out on her own again as she approaches 40. Although critics slated it, it brilliantly, and humorously, captured the trials of everyday family life. My favourite line was when Maggie's new boyfriend arrived unexpectedly one evening: "We're about to have dinner, would you like to join us?" she said. "Lovely. What are we having?" he asked. "Spaghetti..." she paused, before adding "hoops."

I WAS delighted so many readers requested the recipe for the rich chocolate cake I mentioned recently. No matter what else is happening in the world, it is reassuring to know so many of us are still baking chocolate cakes.

Cake: 180g dark chocolate (70pc cocoa); 175g butter, softened; 125g unrefined sugar; 200g ground almonds; 4 eggs, separated.

Icing: 100g dark chocolate (70pc cocoa); 50g butter.

Heat oven to 150C/gas 2. Line a 25cm push-up-bottom cake tin with baking parchment. Melt chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Cream together butter and sugar. Add ground almonds, egg yolks and melted chocolate. Beat until evenly blended. Whisk egg whites until stiff, add to the mixture and fold in until evenly mixed using a large metal spoon. Pour into prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes. A light crust will form on top, the middle should be a little squishy. Cool a little before removing. For the icing, melt chocolate and butter, drizzle over cake and leave to set. Enjoy.

* From The French Kitchen, published by Doubleday.