‘I want to do everything I can to head off dementia’: why demand for the shingles vaccine is soaring
Could a drug intended to prevent painful rashes also protect our brains as we get older? The signs are promising – but not conclusive. Yet that’s enough to be driving a boom in shingles jabsWhen Jenny, a 50-year-old marketing and branding professional…
Readers reply: Why are national anthems almost always orchestral?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsThis week’s question: Why is a child saying ‘Na-na, na-na-na!’ so annoying?Why are…
I’ve seen what Amazon thinks about me – and it revealed a depressing truth | Emma Beddington
From ‘has flat buttocks’ to ‘likes brunettes with muscles’, the retailer’s About You pages offer some remarkable insights into customers’ lives and tastes. Naturally, I rushed to check out mine …There’s been a disturbing development in the surveillance…
Gareth Malone looks back: ‘After the Christmas No 1, I was meeting Simon Cowell, having tea with Gary Barlow and dinner with Andrew Lloyd Webber’
The choir leader and presenter on not fitting in at his all-boys grammar, how synthesisers changed everything, and his ‘dithering’ start on TVBorn in London in 1975, Gareth Malone is a choirmaster and broadcaster. He began his career running youth and…
‘Halloweenmas’: how the spooky one-nighter turned into a month-long spectacular
Welcome to Halloweenmas, weeks of themed fun and gifts – from costume parties to decorating trees – without the stress, rules or cost of ChristmasThe tree is up, the wreath is hanging on the front door and you’ve just opened your advent calendar. All…
The hill I will die on: Pumpkin-spiced latte is a con. It’s time to put an end to Big Autumn | Chloë Hamilton
The aesthetic of crisp mornings and roaring fireplaces has created a personality driven by social media. Let’s just admit the reality: mud, drizzle and shorter daysIt’s getting earlier every year, that first meme about golden leaves and pumpkin-spiced…
My partner’s obnoxious conduct at our sons’ football matches is putting me off him | Annalisa Barbieri
His behaviour is certainly inappropriate, but take a quiet moment to try to find out where the anger is coming fromMy partner and I have been together for 25 years and we have two sons, aged 14 and 16. Both are football crazy and have played since they…
A dating app that lets random strangers match users? Sign me up! | Polly Hudson
On Rivet, volunteers get to choose who they think are the most suitable suitors. For an interfering busybody like me, this is a match made in heavenSometimes it’s extremely hard to mind your own business. However, we all know that ideally we should, and…
‘A proud loaf with a deep, caramel crust’: the best (and worst) supermarket sliced wholemeal bread, tasted and rated
Our wholegrain hero sorts the wheat from the chaff in the search for a simple pleasure: a satisfying sandwich loaf• The best supermarket sourdoughI’ve broken my strict, like-for-like approach this week in the interests of just finding a really good…
Squeezy olive oil bottles, Meghan’s pot filler tap and the rise of ‘cheffy’ kit in home kitchens
Social media ‘chefluencers’ and open restaurant kitchens have made chefs more visible and inspired aspirational gadget-buyingThe Duchess of Sussex is no ordinary home cook, but when Meghan appeared on Instagram this week at a hob presided over by a…