Last month, my 84-year-old mother spotted a £47.56 charge from a company called On Top Up on her credit card bill that she did not recognise. When I looked into this, it emerged she had been unintentionally subscribed to a monthly mobile top-up service since September 2021 and had paid the firm just over £1,900. … Read more
In 1988, 712 people lived at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged, a Boston nursing home affectionately named “Hebrew rehab” by its residents and staff. The residents’ average age was 88, and three-quarters of them were women. Every resident had multiple medical conditions. Almost half required help to engage in the essential activities of … Read more
My boyfriend and I are in our late 50s. He never married and doesn’t have kids, while I am divorced with two grown-up children. We each have our own place near to each other but he very much wants us to move in together. I am reluctant and feel guilty about it because I, too, … Read more
Why is everyone talking about cottage cheese, and can you make anything that’s actually good with it?“I’ve never understood why cottage cheese has such a bad rep,” says Tommy Banks, chef/director of The Black Swan at Oldstead, Roots York and The Abbey Inn in North Yorkshire, who is a big fan of the white stuff. … Read more
I reach Ekeberg Park at sunset and walk along the muddy paths to find the viewpoint. The late winter sky is like a watercolour: soft blue and grey clouds layer together, with a sweeping gradient of yellow verging from tobacco stain to pale lemon above the distant, bruise-coloured hills. At the viewpoint, I look out … Read more
new video loaded: NASA Launches Powerful Space Telescope transcript Back transcript NASA Launches Powerful Space Telescope A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from California carrying the telescope, named SPHEREx, along with a suite of satellites called PUNCH. 3, 2, 1, ignition. Liftoff of the Falcon 9. Go SpaceX. Go SPHEREx, Go PUNCH. SPHEREx and PUNCH … Read more
‘Keeping my mom in my life fed an endless hope that she really had meant to love me.’ Photograph: Sarah Blesener for the Guardian The church, though aware of our abuser’s crimes, had kept Father Francis Melfe employed and in our lives throughout our childhoods. At Saint Patrick’s, where he was a priest, we were … Read more
As well as condiments, legumes, rice and pasta, I always have dried fruit in my pantry. While they’re great to nibble on, mixed with toasted nuts and seeds for a moreish trail mix, at this time of year, when pickings are sparse, they bring a concentrated, jammy decadence to savoury and sweet things alike. Raisins, … Read more
The other night, I got home from work feeling very tired. It was really cold and what I really wanted for dinner was a jacket potato. In fact, I wanted two. So I heated the oven, slathered my potatoes in oil and sea salt and cooked them for an hour and 20 minutes. I was so … Read more
Illustration: Sarah Mazzetti/The Guardian As employers crack down on hybrid work, insisting that the US corporate class head back to the office, gen Z reckons with a dilemma. How do you appear to look busy enough to appease an ever-present boss? Thirty years ago, Seinfeld’s George Costanza had a theory: “Always look annoyed.” That way, … Read more