He is a manager by day, and a male escort by night. And he is having quite a good laugh in the process. In tomorrow's edition, M magazine delves into the life of an American escort, currently residing in Malta.

Being an escort is not all about steamy romps and it can be quite a bit of fun, though interspersed with the odd dangerous liaison, the male escort tells M, out with The Times.

"Most of my clients have been mostly foreigners and Maltese couples in their late 20s to 30s. There's quite a swinger community so that's where I get into it. If we're on the same wavelength then it will go further than conversations," he says.

Overall, he feels that Malta is a safe place to operate on his own, though he has had a couple of bad experiences, especially when his client was not honest about her status.

The magazine tackles a number of Yuletide-related stories. The Memories section goes back to 1995 when the traditional MADC Christmas pantomime caused a different kind of drama - in the stalls. Pia Zammit questions Malta's sense of humour as she recalls the way certain members in the audience had taken exception to a joke about the water shortage in the Sliema area.

Psychiatrist Etienne Muscat writes about the causes of pain and distress during the Christmas season and what we can possibly do to overcome them. On the other hand, nutritionist Claire Copperstone gives a few tips on how to keep the calories at bay in these days of excess food and drink.

On the same festive note, Justin Camilleri provides some advice on those DVDs we should be rewatching this Christmas season and those that should be avoided like the plague.

Published by Allied Newspapers Ltd and produced by MediaMaker, M is edited by The Times journalist Herman Grech and is designed by Joseph Schembri and Ken Borg.