business

For a decade, Eric Schmidt ran Google as chief executive and as the “adult” in the room, mentoring the internet company’s young founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In 2011, Mr. Schmidt handed control of Google back to Mr. Page. He has not taken another C.E.O. job since. But on Monday, Mr. Schmidt told employees … Read more

Michael Sheen walks into a post office in Port Talbot and asks to withdraw £100,000. “That would be nice,” says the young woman behind the till. Then it dawns on her that he’s not joking. “Can I do £100,000?” she asks her colleague. She cannot. “I loved that so much. She was really funny,” says … Read more

Human sexuality is often likened to a fingerprint: our desires, fantasies and physical responses are as unique as the ridges on our fingers. In session, when I share this analogy with couples, they are relieved to know it’s actually normal to be different from their partner. While it’s true that no two people are the … Read more

Last week’s chicken too dry to finish off. A carrot so old it flops like a garden hose. Yoghurt – with a carton of mouldy blueberries – three weeks past its use. You might see trash; I see entree, dinner and dessert. There’s no such thing as food too old to eat. But those of … Read more

Believe me, I would love to write a drama about something other than the energy bills of strangers, but try as I might to find new inspiration, nothing creates tension, plot twists and psychodrama like the utilities sector. So here we go again … Act I The scene is London, where AH has discovered that his … Read more

Daisy Mumba didn’t think her train journey from Reading to Sheffield could get any worse. Seven months pregnant and unable to get to the seat she had booked because of the number of people onboard, she had to sit on the floor, constantly getting up and down to let other passengers past. But worse it … Read more

Slovenian Alps ‘There’s a magic to sleeping surrounded by Alpine peaks, nestled up against the stars’ In spring, when the snow starts to melt from the tops of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps in northern Slovenia, and the crocuses are coming into bloom, I like to head to Velika Planina. For two weeks in April, the whole … Read more

As I sat on the sofa with my sister, my gorgeous and affectionate new cat ambled between us, purring. That’s when I finally had a meltdown. Weeks of anxiety had come to a head and, exhausted, I told her I was considering whether I should give my new housemate back. Leo wasn’t the problem. With … Read more

Dance can be life-changing – it’s a lesson we learn every year on Strictly Come Dancing, but it bears repeating. Last year’s winner, comedian Chris McCausland, the show’s first blind celebrity, defied expectations and changed people’s attitude to his disability, while 80-year-old presenter Angela Rippon demonstrated in 2023 that age is no barrier to dancing. … Read more

The question I am a woman in my early 30s and about two years ago, I moved out of London and back home with my parents as I found the city soul-crushing: expenses and rent constantly going up and a sense of only surviving there, for which I saw no end in sight. I don’t … Read more