13 DECEMBER 2008, Page 71

Dear Mary

Q. I am godmother to a dear eight-year-old boy whose parents are separated. Every so often I try to see the little chap by inviting him to lunch in a smart restaurant for a treat. However the last two times that I have done this his father has trumped me by coming too and insisting on paying for the lunch, in fact settling it with the maître d’ behind my back. How can I get around this difficulty, Mary, since the boy’s birthday looms and once again I have arranged to take him to his favourite restaurant?

S.L.B., Barnes