After several people close to me died I became obsessed with fitness and gripped by panic attacks. But then a ska cover taught me life doesn’t have to be serious all the time
My anxious disposition means I think about death a lot. But a cluster of people I loved dying in 2023, and most of them unexpectedly and within a few months of each other, was enough to shake my nervous system up pretty significantly. Five funerals is too many. The first was my nan: she was the family matriarch. The oldest person in the family, so there was a level of acceptance among the sadness. But soon after it was her son, and then her granddaughter (my cousin). The latter two were shocks, completely upending my nervous system, one compounding the other. From there, two more followed. Death was all around. It wasn’t just a part of life by that point – it was something to expect soon and often.
At first I seemed fine. Despite concerned friends and partners asking if I was hiding anything, I didn’t think I was. But soon I retreated from fun, becoming very fixated on things like my resting heart rate and body fat percentage. I skipped social events for high-intensity interval training sessions followed by the sauna followed by meditation – not a bad thing, but not a balance, either. I cut out caffeine, including dark chocolate. When I didn’t stick to my new routine, I would have a panic attack, which I’d assume was a heart attack, which would lead to more frequent episodes of panic.
It’s four decades since the travel writer last ventured on to the slopes. A resort in the Tirol is the perfect place to rediscover the joys of skiing
‘You’re mad!” Caroline the greengrocer said cheerfully when I told her I was going skiing. A reasonable reaction since not so long ago I was shopping on crutches following a hip replacement. My sister’s friends were more concerned: “How old are you? 80? I don’t think this is a good idea. You’ll fall and break something.” My brother, Andrew, 86, decided it was better not to tell anyone.
For at least two decades I’d had a half-buried wish to experience one more ski trip. A final fix of blue sky, frosty air and the exhilaration that comes with finding yourself still intact at the bottom of a snow-covered slope. I was never much good, and hadn’t skied for decades, but that wasn’t the point. At 83, I needed to see if I could still do it. And if I could do it, how about inviting my sister, Kate, one-third of our Old Crones group who encourage each other to do parkrun each week? Then I remembered that, as teenagers, Andrew had joined me on my first ski holiday. That was 67 years ago, but Andrew used to be quite good, so I invited him too. My friend Penny, who is so absurdly young (67, so she says) that she doesn’t really count, was also allowed to come and try her luck with the oldies and practise her German. We all made an effort to get as fit as possible, but none of us had skied for at least 40 years.
BPA, a synthetic chemical used in production of plastics, found in baby products made by three big European brands
A chemical linked to impaired sexual development, obesity and cancer has been found in baby dummies manufactured by three big European brands.
Dummies made by the Dutch multinational Philips, the Swiss oral health specialists Curaprox and the French toy brand Sophie la Girafe were found to contain bisphenol A (BPA), according to laboratory testing by dTest, a Czech consumer organisation. Philips said they had carried out subsequent testing and found no BPA, while Sophie la Girafe said the amount found was insignificant.
Counterinsurgency approaches have splintered in west Africa at the same time as terror threats have shifted southward
Among the thousands of refugees who have fled Mali since a jihadist uprising began more than a decade ago, one group is bound together by a grim commonality: their husbands are presumed dead or captured.
From Viscri and Zalapatak to the 92 Club, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz
1 Which seabird has the longest migration of any animal? 2 Who owns properties in the Romanian villages of Viscri and Zalanpatak? 3 What crime against orthography was pioneered by Buck Dharma’s band? 4 The xenomorph is the antagonist in which film series? 5 Which organ contains the islets of Langerhans? 6 Which ITN newscaster coined the term “body fascism” in 1980? 7 How do you join the 92 Club? 8 Which two Shakespeare plays are chiefly set in Turkey? What links:
9 Lúcio Costa; Georges-Eugène Haussmann; Jane Jacobs; Robert Moses? 10 Mikaela Shiffrin (101) and Ingemar Stenmark (86)? 11 1951 Oscar-winning song; Dali’s 1954 self-portrait; Glass Onion; The Da Vinci Code; L.H.O.O.Q.? 12 Grose Bochse; Faule Grete; Mons Meg; Pumhart von Steyr; Tsar Pushka? 13 Kenny; Beric Dondarrion; Buffy Summers; Phil Coulson? 14 Pluot; Rangpur; tangelo; ugli; yuzu? 15 X (Sn); XXV (Ag); L (Au); LX (C); LXX (Pt)?
Like I said, don’t mention the little urn, no one else is. Nothing to see here.
As I namecheck Simon he sends me a lovely missive from the Hagley Oval. Well, lovely apart from the bit about the possibility of precipitation.
Kia Ora from lovely Christchurch. Such a lovely city to visit - everything’s wonderfully walkable, easily navigable and, at least until you get to the edge of town, completely flat (and those hills are also wonderfully walkable). It’s a sellout at Hagley Oval tonight and the grass banks that ring the ground are looking pretty full already, with half an hour until the start. It’s a beautiful ground but completely exposed and as such irredeemably useless in the event of rain - talking of which, there hasn’t been so much of a drop since England arrived here on Wednesday, but forecasts suggest that run - and, in cricketing terms, the runs - will end at around 9pm this evening. We’ll wait and see on that, it’s a near-perfect early evening as I type.”
Retired cranberry bogs are being turned to what they once were: wetlands. “It’s definitely become harder to grow in Massachusetts," cranberry grower, Jarrod Rhodes tells FOX.
Nearly a year after the 2024 election, which was seen as a reckoning for Democrats, the party is still trying to make sense of where they have gone wrong in recent years.
LOS ANGELES — Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is worth the price of admission, which ain’t cheap, by the way. And he’s certainly worth the $2M they’re paying him this year — and probably worth a hundred times that — in a historically deferred deal for instant amazement and thrills. Fairly, the unprecedented two-way performance Ohtani...
The Texas Powerball ticketholder who split the $1.78 billion jackpot in September revealed they selected the numbers by accident — but are "blessed" to share the life-changing money with their community.
Normalisation of far-right stances likely to affect success of such parties at ballot boxes across Europe, say researchers
Mainstream parties are increasingly allowing the far right to set the agenda, researchers in Germany have found, describing it as a shortcoming that had unwittingly helped the far right by legitimising their ideas and disseminating them more widely.
The findings, published in the European Journal of Political Research, were based on an automated text analysis of 520,408 articles from six German newspapers over the span of more than two decades.
Swap in, swap out and, above all, enjoy this punchy, filling and thrifty dish
No-waste cooking comes in many forms. It doesn’t have to mean cooking banana peel. To me, it means finishing a bag of potatoes before they grow eyes, and making the most of that last awkward bit of cabbage. Even finding a cheeky new way with the sauces and condiments already in the fridge. Using ingredients you’ve already got to make a new recipe is, in my opinion, the most “no waste” of them all. So here’s permission from me to make substitutes – herb for herb, veg for veg, or anything you’ve already got – to make this recipe work for you.
Sally Carson’s Crooked Cross was written and set during the rise of nazism. It shows both how extremism takes hold, and the moral certainty needed to resist it
A few days ago I asked an American acquaintance – as one does these days – where he sees “it”, by which I meant the political situation, heading. He took a breath. “In my opinion, the US is in a very similar position to Germany in 1933-4,” he said. “And we have to ask, could 1936, 1937, 1938 have been avoided? That’s the point we are at. You can try to say fascism couldn’t happen in the US. But I think the jury’s out.”
His words seemed especially resonant to me because I had just finished reading a remarkable novel precisely to do with Germany in 1933-4, a book written in the former year and published in the latter. Forgotten for decades, Sally Carson’s Bavaria-set Crooked Cross was republished in April by Persephone Books, which specialises in reviving neglected works. Since then, it has been a surprise hit, a word-of-mouth jaw-dropper, passed from hand to hand.
The gig is at a literary festival, which makes me anxious. I’m never at ease among people who don’t suffer fools gladly
Many months ago the band I’m in was invited to play a gig at a literary festival in Greece. The date slotted nicely into our international tour schedule, between Brighton and Plymouth. But it butted up against my already booked holiday; I would have to fly home, spend 36 hours repacking and then fly straight to Greece. Mind you, I’m not complaining.
“It sounds like you’re complaining,” my wife says as we negotiate the duty free chicane at Gatwick. It is 4.30am, and the airport is rammed.
Sally Wainwright brings us a superb drama about women of a certain age forming a punk band, and Nina Conti’s monkey makes for an unlikely movie star. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews
Waymo plans London robotaxis as early as 2026, but the history shows hype, hesitation and a few missed turns
The age-old question from the back of the car feels just as pertinent as a new era of autonomy threatens to dawn: are we nearly there yet? For Britons, long-promised fully driverless cars, the answer is as ever – yes, nearly. But not quite.
A landmark moment on the journey to autonomous driving is, again, just around the corner. This week, Waymo, which successfully runs robotaxis in San Francisco and four other US cities, announced it was bringing its cars to London.
The Met’s elite SO15 unit alleged a parliamentary researcher helped his friend create 34 reports for a shadowy front
For Christopher Cash it was а job he adored. The young parliamentary researcher, then in his late 20s, was a China specialist working successively for two influential backbenchers, Tom Tugendhat and Alicia Kearns. He had a parliamentary pass and was plugged into Westminster’s gossip network during 2022, a year of Conservative turmoil in Westminster, three prime ministers and future policy uncertainty.
At the same time, Cash was in close contact with a friend, Christopher Berry, a teacher based in Hangzhou, eastern China, where the Britons had first met five years earlier. They discussed politics constantly, using an encrypted app. At one point, on 18 July, Berry allegedly told him he had met a senior Chinese Communist party leader (though he now denies meeting anybody of that rank). In a reply the next day, Cash said: “You’re in spy territory now.”
Laid up with the flu? Suffering with a sore throat? From chicken bhuna to fire honey, this food should get you back on your feet
Hydrate with teas
For Dr Ricardo José, consultant in respiratory medicine, hydration is key: “It’s about taking frequent sips throughout the day to keep the mucous membranes moist.” Immunologist Dr Jenna Macciochi agrees, saying: “I often stir a spoonful of raw honey – nature’s soothing antimicrobial – into a cup of thyme tea (thyme steeped in water), which helps ease irritation and supports respiratory health. I also love marshmallow root tea, which is great for the mucous membranes.”
Shohei Ohtani's historic three-homer, 10-strikeout performance sent the Los Angeles Dodgers back to the World Series with a sweep of Milwaukee in the NLCS.
There has been plenty of talk about whether or not the Dodgers' loaded team — with a nearly $400 million payroll — is a detriment to the game of baseball.
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