There is something stubborn and oddly deliberate about people who keep living alone or make their own choices well into their seventies eighties and beyond. It is not a single habit. It is a life that accrues certain small bets and refusals. I have watched neighbours friends and relatives who refused to tidy their ambitions … Read more
She lives in a narrow flat above a British high street. The curtains are thin and let the grey light in. Her kettle is never switched off in winter and a single teacup sits on the table with a ring of years around its base. At 104 she lives alone and her life is neither … Read more
People have always wanted control over the precise moment their hair stops announcing their age. In the last few years a quiet movement has spread through kitchen sinks and bathroom mirrors in towns from Brighton to Glasgow. It looks domestic and a little stubborn. It smells of brews and dried leaves. It is not a … Read more
I wish the internet loved nuance as much as it loves before and after photos. The headline question is irresistible. Two pantry staples suddenly promise to turn back pigment loss and gift you youth in a mason jar. It sounds nice and it feels intimate to try. But does onion juice and curry leaves tea … Read more
There is something sly and almost invisible happening in hair salons across Britain. It is not the loud, immediate chemistry of boxed dye or the blunt confession of a whole-head colour. It is a smaller, more deliberate set of choices that answer a single tired question: how do I stop my roots from shouting without … Read more
I have been writing about homes and energy for years and lately something subtle has changed in the way experts talk about heating advice. It used to be a list of absolute rules. Now the language is softer, conditional, sometimes contradictory, and oddly more honest. People are being encouraged to think of temperature as an … Read more
There is something petty and infuriating about cranking the thermostat and still sitting there shivering. You have the radiators working the kettle on the hob and yet your fingers are numb and your ankles ache with cold. This is not just you being dramatic. Turning the heating up but still feeling cold is a real … Read more
Something has shifted in the way people think about home warmth. Heating experts are rethinking ideal winter temperatures and the conversation is no longer just about comfort or bills. It is about how we live, what systems we trust, and how much nuance the word comfortable can hold. I want to be honest up front … Read more
For decades 19°C was the little moral compass stuck on our radiators the way hymn sheets once sat on pews. It told us how to behave in winter and reassured us that thrift and decency could be expressed in degrees. Lately the number has started to feel brittle and oddly prescriptive. Houses are different now. … Read more
I know how silly that sounds. Yet there I was two weeks into a cold damp British spring and for the first time since I moved into this flat the lounge smelled like someone had actually cared about it. Not that blasted sickly lemon of supermarket floor cleaners but a steady clean note that lingered … Read more