Alcohol’s allure was powerful when we were growing up and those born after us consume far less. Now booze is falling out of fashion, is it time to assess old habits?My first job in journalism was editing a free magazine called Rasp. In 1995, we ran a c…
Food shortages? Gas prices? Wake me up when it’s all over, please | Zoe Williams
My husband spends his life trying to brief me on things I should anxiously engage with. But I can’t worry about a dearth of Christmas turkeys so far in advanceI tend not to worry about things until they have happened. This is somewhere between a policy…
Trauma, trust and triumph: psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk on how to recover from our deepest pain
His 2014 book, The Body Keeps the Score, has become a huge pandemic hit, topping bestseller lists this summer and becoming a meme on social media. What does it tell us about the world we live in?When Dr Bessel van der Kolk published The Body Keeps the …
Boris Johnson squeezes working people in national insurance hike
The PM repeats his line ‘But a global pandemic wasn’t in our manifesto, either’ as he announces tax risesThe prime minister, once again, had to level with us. Flanked by his chancellor and health secretary, he kicked off with some truth bombs. NHS wait…
My kids are at war over how often to wash. The only thing they agree on? I’m disgusting
This summer, a mighty row on cleanliness broke out online, after Ashton Kutcher said he washed his crotch and armpits daily ‘and nothing else ever’. These arguments have now, inevitably, reached my bathroomIt was the last full day of a summer holiday t…
Fit in my 40s: phew, a group bike ride that lets me catch up | Zoe Williams
With my brother-in-law’s group, nobody seemed to care how little I’d helped on the headwindI’ve done enough group cycling in my life to say this with authority: it’s impossible for someone at my level, which is to say competent but not a grafter. Cycli…
Fit in my 40s: Hit the beach to swim? Forget that! Swap the noodles for shuttlecocks
It turns out my kids have got really good at badmintonI should preface this by saying that the best, most obvious exercise to do on a beach holiday is to swim in the sea. It has all the muscular wonders of a pool, with the additional benefit of usually…
Teenagers have taken up smoking in droves – and forgotten the lessons of the past | Zoe Williams
Young people don’t remember the 1980s at all, and the hard-won knowledge we gained from our nicotine habits. Primarily, that it really doesn’t help beat stressWe are as far away from 1980 now as we were then from 1939. I know that because I read it on …
What exactly do Ian Botham and John Cleese offer ‘global Britain’?
The ex-cricketer and lapsed comedian have found new work in politics and TV respectively, but they are trading off old successes and even older opinionsIt’s easy to find out when Ian Botham last played cricket, because there is Wisden, but it’s hard to…
Work your muscles and rethink your diet: how fitness can help you through the menopause
From the right way to exercise, to what to eat and drink and the case for HRT, experts explain how women can prepare for midlife changes to their bodiesSometimes your body notices things before your mind does: you might think you’re so far away from th…