I'm always excited to be in London. Londoners are interested in reading and in relationships, which makes it a great place for authors and social researchers who focus on families (ahem). And for a New Yorker, there's the extra benefit that London feels familiar, yet different. The building height restrictions in most of town, plus the horizontal sprawl (versus the density and upward lift of Manhattan) make it feel inviting, homey and manageable. Yet London is as diverse and cosmopolitan a metropole as you will find anywhere in the world, rivaling Our Town when it comes to incredible restaurants, theater, cafe culture, fashion innovation and self-important hustle and bustle. Currently there's a show about 80's fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum that I loooooved. It's called Club to Catwalk and it immerses you in the 80s London club and fashion scene in a way that's both informative and very emotional, if you experienced it the first time around.

A recent report about binge drinking has alcohol in the news here in London. Basically, over half a million people have been admitted "to hospital" as an emergency due to overdrinking since 2010, and it's putting a strain on the NHS. A surprising portion of admissions — over 120,000 — were men and women in their forties. No one is surprised that English people enjoy drinking, but the demographic breakdown suggests many of them are parents of school-aged children. Perhaps like Manhattanites, Londoners with young children drink in part to offset the stress of raising little kids in a big, expensive town. I love Louise Mensch's article on mummies who drink in London.

I went to the BBC Studio and spoke about holiday gift giving and gift exchange — the view from anthropology. Have a listen to Bernie Keith and I chatting on the show — I come in at 1 hour 21 mins on the December 10th show I am told by the nice peeps at BBC. Don't ask me why they were playing "Don't Cry Out Loud" for the lead-in. I have no idea. But I loved talking to the host and his other guest about why we give gifts and how to do it in a way that satisfies our historic and pre-historic needs and desires.