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When people learn that my job as a sexual wellbeing specialist involves reviewing vibrators for the Filter – as their official Vibe Rater, if you will – they assume I’ve got it easy. That my work, in every conceivable way, must be a pleasure. But I get my hands dirty, probing everything from sustainability to … Read more

An easy weeknight stir-fry that comes together in just 10 minutes. I love the subtle, mouth-numbing effect of Sichuan peppercorns, but be aware that more is not more when you’re adding them to a dish – a half-teaspoon is all you need, otherwise you’ll get the culinary equivalent of a bowl of clove oil for … Read more

I have lied to people. Last year I read twice the amount of self-help books than I logged on Goodreads. The number would raise serious concern and some of the titles would, too. I say I’m a culture journalist, but I couldn’t share my Spotify Wrapped because my most listened-to music was healing ambient tracks … Read more

I contacted you a year ago after you wrote about teachers not receiving their pensions because of assumptions that they were dead. I had received six letters essentially informing me that my payments would be stopped unless I confirmed that I was still alive. Recently the payments did stop, only this time I had not received … Read more

I put in months of hard sleep to test Simba’s flagship “bed-in-a-box” mattress, and for the most part, I found it so comfortable that I told everyone it was the best mattress I’d ever reviewed. It ultimately lost that crown to the Otty Original Hybrid but, goodness me, it gave me some glorious sleep along … Read more

My lunch companion is a living institution. Self-taught cook, traveller, recipe collector, historian and anthropologist Claudia Roden has reshaped how we think about food, its cultural heritage and social meaning. It’s not just celebrated chefs such as Yotam Ottolenghi and Moro’s Samantha Clark who pay tribute to her pioneering work. The historian Simon Schama once observed … Read more

The question My daughter is now 34 years old, but she wants to be a teenager again, because she feels that she missed out on the fun she should have had back then. She hates the way she looks, because she thinks she looks older than 16. She wants cosmetic surgery and orthodontics to look … Read more

‘Healing the gut” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot. Some people use it to refer to improving gut microbiome health – balancing the microorganisms in the digestive system that, when off kilter, can leave us with digestion and immune problems. Others link it to “leaky gut syndrome”, a condition associated with intestinal … Read more

High cholesterol can cause heart problems and strokes – but levels can creep up without showing any symptoms. This is why, if you’re over 40, you should be getting your cholesterol checked every five years. It’s a simple enough concept, but, like alcohol and other things that could be slowly, invisibly damaging our bodies, cholesterol … Read more

Lie-in or early start? I’m a horrible sleeper – I spend very little time in the bedroom – and I’ll read until the rest of the world wakes up. On an ideal Sunday morning I’d go for a walk with binoculars. I like bird-watching. Favourite bird? The house sparrow. They’re in decline, so they’re more … Read more