business

It’s a week until Easter and yes I am a little rosy cheeked at still going on about Easter eggs, but Terry’s has just launched an orange gooey egg to go head to head with Cadbury’s Creme Egg. This year sees a new addition to the Terry’s stable – a milk chocolate egg with orange … Read more

As the English son of Irish parents, my son is not above playing both sides of the national divide. Among his schoolfriends, he evokes his Irishness for the mild exoticism it provides to his multicultural classmates here in Walthamstow. When watching Ireland play football or rugby, however, he instantly becomes a diehard England fan. ‘You’re … Read more

Nobody spoke about being gay in Ireland. I come from a big Catholic family – six kids, millions of cousins – from a rural part of the country, and I didn’t think there was anyone like me. Although my parents and family have been unwavering in their support from the day I came out in … Read more

Lise, 48 Once, Patrick had really nice oral sex with someone and told me what she did, and suggested we try that About 15 years ago, I was volunteering abroad and had to share a tent one night with two men, and it was really quite sensual. They were very attractive and we had a … Read more

Dorian, 105-107 Talbot Road, London W11 2AT (020 3089 9556; dorianrestaurant.com). Small plates £19-£65; large plates £37-£145; desserts £8.50-£12; wine from £50 I’m going to tell you a story. This is a story about that which shall not be named. A word that is rarely dissected or discussed in polite society. Yes, occasionally it’s muttered … Read more

More and more of us are indulging in at-home self-care. We all leaned into it back in lockdown, and with today’s barrage of terrifying news, it’s unsurprising we still feel in need of extra TLC. The products and gadgets we’ve been trying have sent the value of the UK beauty industry soaring, growing by nearly … Read more

My father died in a car accident when I was seven. Whenever I missed him, I would look in the family photo album at this picture of when he had gone to Palau. He was an architect and had gone to source lumber for his work. It made me dream of going abroad someday and … Read more

Vinte Vinte Chocolate and Port Tasting Box, Douro, Portugal NV (from £22, amazon.co.uk; virginwines.co.uk; tanners-wines.co.uk) For those of us who treat Easter as a kind of secular spring-Christmas, featuring similarly liberal doses of chocolate and booze, recent movements in the trades have conspired to make next weekend more expensive than ever. Thanks to a run … Read more

One day in October 2024, Chris Swales, 54, a smoked-salmon producer with a confident demeanour and a stubbled jaw, stood at the gates of an industrial estate in east London staking out the units. There were teenagers loitering about, knackered cars, XL Bullies; everyone seemed to have more than one phone. It didn’t seem like … Read more

I mean, it sounds mad now. I know this even as I write, it sounds impossible, like a weird lie you tell kids to show them how good they have it, but listen: in the late 1990s and early 2000s when I worked in a fancy underwear shop, I had to wear heels that were … Read more