business 
It was 2016, and I’d been a zookeeper for seven years. I lived with my partner and two stepchildren in a Victorian terrace house in Bristol. We’d met when her kids were four and eight, so I had not experienced the early baby stages, the sleepless nights, nappies and bottle-feeding. But that was about to … Read more
While studying in Glasgow, my daughter lived in a rented flat with a prepayment electricity meter. Shortly after she moved out in the summer of 2022 she was contacted by ScottishPower about a £1,000 debt. Given it was a pay-as-you-go meter, we questioned how this was possible. But instead of investigating, the debt was passed … Read more
‘Come forth into the light of things,” implored William Wordsworth in his 1798 poem The Tables Turned, extolling the virtues of a good old-fashioned walk in nature. Treading through his homeland of the Lake District more than two centuries later, on a radiant early spring day, sunbeams casting through the bare branches to anoint the … Read more
My wife and I, both women in our 60s, have been together for more than 20 years. We stopped having sex about 13 years ago, due to a combination of getting a dog (who sleeps with us) and her going through the menopause. I had a bit of a lull in my own libido when … Read more
I would like to be able to start this story with a stellar anecdote about how exactly my life imploded. “I was walking down Sunset Boulevard and Harry Styles ran me down in a Ferrari.” “I was dancing on a podium in Ibiza when a falling speaker semi- decapitated me.” In reality, it was much … Read more
Plan ahead Preparing meals in advance and portioning out meat, fruit and vegetables to be frozen can save money, avoid waste and cut the time you spend cooking. Some foods freeze particularly well, says Lisa Marley, a chef. “Soups, stews, casseroles, and baked goods are great because they maintain their flavour and texture after freezing.” … Read more
There’s a lot to love about shopping for secondhand clothes. It will satisfy retail cravings but comes with less environmental guilt, offering an antidote to the overproduction of fast fashion, and it can be kinder on your bank account. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an … Read more
NASA will prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars, President Trump’s nominee to lead the space agency will tell a Senate committee on Wednesday. The nominee is Jared Isaacman, the chief executive of the payment processing company Shift4 Payments, who is a close associate of Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX. As someone who has led … Read more
In March, the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr claimed that beef tallow, an animal fat, is healthier than its plant-based alternative, seed oils. Kennedy said the US wants food companies to “switch traditional ingredients for beef tallow”. Some, like Steak ’n Shake and Sweetgreen, have already done so. Beef tallow, also known as “beef … Read more
How can I turn leftover cooked potatoes – mashed, roasted, boiled – into dinner?This sounds like a job for queen of spuds Poppy O’Toole, whose latest book just so happens to be all about the tuber. We all know that mashed potatoes can cause heated debate, with smooth and buttery making some folk purr, while … Read more