My almost 14-year-old is annoyed that I think his birthday is a bigger deal for me than it is for him. Still, it will always be my special dayI was casually telling my son, before his 14th birthday this week, why it was a bigger deal for me than it was…
Facebook pauses work on Instagram Kids after teen mental health concerns
Move follows WSJ revelations that Facebook-commissioned research showed Instagram could affect girls’ mental healthFacebook has halted work on its Instagram Kids project after revelations about the photo-sharing app’s impact on teen mental health.Insta…
Watch for changed behaviour, be empathic, know your limits: how to be a mental health first aider
It can be hard to spot the signs of mental ill-health in friends and colleagues, and harder still to raise the subject with them. This expert advice might make it easierYou may have a fairly good idea of what to do if someone breaks an arm, or even sto…
From minimalist to menocore! The 21 biggest style tribes of 2021
Can’t tell your angelcore from your mermaidcore? Struggling with the very concept of pastel goths? We’re here to helpOnce upon a time, fashion subcultures were simple: you could see skaters, ravers and goths all milling around your local branch of Wool…
How we met: ‘It was love at first sight – for me’
Frances, 70, and Rien, 68, met on a European exchange visit in 1972. Having brought up their family in England, they now live in the Dordogne, FranceWhen Frances finished school, she took a college course in cartography, the study of maps. By May 1972,…
Rhik Samadder tries … track cycling: ‘It’s like being overtaken by lorries on a motorway designed by Escher’
I am clamped into a razor-thin perineum-mashing machine with no brakes. What could possibly go wrong?This is hardly the place to admit it, but I hate cyclists. I never know if they are going to stop at traffic lights or plough through; they’re often ve…
The edit: Shoulder bags, 15 of the best in pictures
Timeless and savvy, this season’s new bags add polish to every outfit Continue reading…
‘I’m angry, I’m raging’: how Raye took on her record label – and won
After Polydor refused to release her album, the rising pop star spoke out. Now, newly independent, she’s ready for a fresh startTowards the end of June, while waiting to be interviewed on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, Raye found herself desperately trying…
Gardening can save the planet. How? Start with your soil | Alys Fowler
Sustainable gardening isn’t hard: nurture your soil, save your seeds … and compostThe dictionary has it wrong. Gardening isn’t about plants, it’s about everything else: the soil, the insects, the birds, mammals and reptiles, and how you sit in this wor…
A happy baby on a train: Dina Alfasi’s best phone picture
‘That the young girl in the foreground was a soldier with a gun on her knee is an integral part of that moment’Dina Alfasi has often said that her favourite place to shoot is on the train. It’s not only a mobile studio with, as she puts it, great natur…