business

“It makes sense to Rachel Reeves, I don’t know if it makes sense to anyone else,” said a grumbling pubgoer on hearing the news that the average pint is expected to rise above the £5 mark for the first time in history next month. According to research by Frontier Economics commissioned by the British Beer … Read more

When we asked new mums about the best gifts they’d received, there was one answer we heard over and over again: FOOD. Taking care of dinner in those first topsy-turvy weeks and months with a newborn will always go down well – as will any emergency breastfeeding snacks. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will … Read more

Name: Romcom age limits. Age: 60. Appearance: Twinkly (but slightly less twinkly than before). Are we sure we should be doing this? We’re going to get hammered for ageism, surely. Nah, it’s fine. Really? We’re definitely going to get letters. No, it would be wrong and offensive if we were the ones saying that people … Read more

When you think of your mailbox, what comes to mind? Fliers that head straight to the trash, tax forms and bank statements, the dreaded jury duty notice. Maybe a magazine or two, if you’re lucky. Most likely, it’s been a long time since you’ve been excited to get snail mail. But after nearly five years … Read more

I like pre-packed gnocchi as much as the next person, but it has never been something I can get particularly excited about (I’m obviously not including handmade gnocchi in this statement, because that is heaven sent). However, frying ready-made gnocchi so they are golden and nutty on the outside, elevates them to something lighter, tastier … Read more

Before rhubarb was paraded around like a fruit, crowning pavlovas, cakes and tarts, it was – and, in fact, is – a vegetable. We shouldn’t forget this, because the crispness of raw rhubarb is perfect in salads, sambols and pickles, while in cooked form it sits beautifully alongside rich, fatty proteins such as mackerel, pork … Read more

I’m gassing myself up to say agarra la barra, the Spanish phrase for “grab the barbell”. It’s a nightmare: the double rolled Rs, the “a” sounds that should sound identically light, the soft “g” and “b”. I’d never attempt such an ambitious sentence with a human, but Christian, an AI chatbot, gets me. “I’ve grabbed … Read more

Name: Dinner plate sunnies. Age: People have been protecting their eyes from the sun’s harmful rays for yonks. Inuits made slitted goggles from flattened walrus ivory, the Chinese developed smoked glass to reduce glare in – or before – the 12th century and Louis XIV watched the 1706 solar eclipse through a telescope with a … Read more

Make the most of free trials You can normally only sign up for free trials once, but there are lots of them to work your way through, especially when it comes to music, audiobooks and TV and film streaming. For example, Spotify Premium offers a month free (normally £11.99 a month), Apple TV+ a week … Read more

I’m sitting in my kitchen, a pot of coffee by my side and the remnants of yesterday’s passion fruit and saffron creme caramel taunting me (I’ve already convinced myself that it is an acceptable breakfast, so should probably put it away before it becomes an acceptable lunch). When I was younger, I wanted to race through … Read more