Top Lifestyle News
Houseplant hacks: should you water plants less in winter?
Don’t water based on the month or the season – be led by what the plant is actually doingThe problem Cutting back on watering for winter has become so ingrained that people start rationing by the calendar, giving plants just a fraction of the water they had in summer, because the season changed.The hack The advice to reduce is because, as light levels drop, most houseplants slow their growth, use less water and dry out more slowly, so watering as you did in summer risks waterlogging the roots and causing rot. Continue reading...
The pest I’ll never forget: I turned the toaster upside down. A mouse fell out
We tried humane traps, wire wool, hardcore cleaning regimes. Nothing worked. In the end, I wondered if the mice in our house were the real residents, while we were the intrudersSome of the happiest years of my 20s were spent in a house-share in east London. Four of us were crammed into a three-bedroom terrace where the dining room had been turned into a bedroom. My housemates were my closest friends. We were young women with the kind of intense-bordering-on-codependent dynamic that becomes unsustainable later in life, when you have long-term partners, pets and children. We lived together, we went out together, in the summer we took our Argos tent to festivals together. We stayed up late discussing love-life and work dilemmas, often crowding round a phone to draft text messages.We were also not particularly clean, which meant our cluttered, chaotic house was the ideal home for mice. At first we told ourselves it was just one mouse we saw running along next to the skirting board or darting behind a sofa. But a quick scan of the internet confirmed our fears that it’s never just one – mice are social creatures, and they were likely in a nest-share similar to our house-share. A female mouse gives birth to a litter of five to eight mice and can be pregnant up to 10 times a year. We read forum posts that claimed mice were doubly incontinent (something I’ve since learned is fake news), and our horror began to grow. Continue reading...
Thomasina Miers’ recipes for turmeric chicken and cardamom apple tart
A rich and sweet chicken main and a punchy tart to round off the mealDespite the back-to-school, back-to-work vibes of September, I also think it’s a time of celebration. There’s the feeling of new things, with apples, corn, walnuts, squash and mushrooms appearing at the markets, and my garden has finally emerged from its drought-induced slumber, as if coming out of a trance – it is greener, more alive, reawakening. There’s still the odd bit of warm weather in which to play, too, so light up the grill, get creative in the kitchen and dance like it’s June again. Continue reading...
‘It’s such a joy to ride:’ this cargo e-bike makes errands and commuting a breeze
This pricey ebike is a gamechanger for going around town, getting groceries and hauling cargo with ease – without paying for gasThe best bike lights and bike locks in the USSign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better thingsParking a car in an urban area can be stressful. Spaces are often hard to find, traffic congestion is a pain and it just takes extra time.An electric bike changes that paradigm – you can roll up on the curb, lock your bike, and walk to your destination. Recently, I tested the Lectric XPedition2, an electric cargo bike that not only made grocery shopping easier but helped me explore my city stress-free. Continue reading...
Three simple vegetarian spring pasta recipes from Julia Busuttil Nishimura
The cookbook author shares a trio of lighter pasta recipes for the warmer months ahead(Pictured above) Continue reading...
Sanjana Modha’s quick and easy recipe for baked beans butter masala | Quick and easy
Transform two tins of baked beans into this creamy curryMasala baked beans, tadka baked beans, curried baked beans, spicy baked beans; all avatars of spice-laced baked beans are a mainstay of British Asian kitchens. We were raised on this stuff – use as a toastie filler, to smother jacket potatoes, or scoop them up with roti. Enter baked beans butter masala. With a sharp sweetness, a versatile tin of baked beans already has all the foundations required to build a brilliant butter masala, so all we’re doing is dressing them up. I like to think of it as though the beans are donning a frock made of all the good stuff: butter, cream and spices.This recipe is an edited extract from Modern Masala, by Sanjana Modha, published by Quadrille at £25. To order a copy for £22.50, go to guardianbookshop.com. Continue reading...
Sep 27, 2026
Does GLP-1 use result in significant hair loss?
Bob Mackie obituary
American fashion designer and costumier who clothed glamorous showbiz celebrities, especially CherMost costume designers are novelists, supplying character, back stories, social placement and history, done in cloth. Bob Mackie was also a genius cartoonist, assembling details into an image, memorable on sight, that could hold anything from a small 1960s television screen to a concert arena.Mackie, who has died aged 87, was master of the showbiz sartorial aesthetic that evolved on stage and in films to entertain in itself as well as project performers. Continue reading...
‘I miss old Google’: readers tell us how they search the internet in the age of AI
A feature called AI Overviews has been a profound change, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shiftingGoogle has put artificial intelligence at the front and center of its search bar. The most-visited site on the internet still shows the same list of links to users, but they have to scroll past a summarized response from an AI chatbot, a feature Google calls AI Overviews. The change to what was once the gateway to the rest of the internet has been profound, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shifting.“AI is driving the most significant upgrade of the Google Search experience ever,” wrote Liz Reid, Google’s vice-president of search, last August. In May, the company said more AI is coming. Continue reading...
Something in your eye? Here’s how to get it out – without making it worse
It’s natural to want to soothe eye irritation, but mishandling could lead to more problems, experts warn. We asked them for advice on how to deal with it properlyIt may feel like a gritty, annoying sensation, or a sharp pain. Either way, you may have the same problem: something is stuck in your eye and needs to come out.Addressing the situation incorrectly can lead to bigger issues such as infection, scarring, an ulcer or corneal scratches, which are abrasions on the clear covering of your eye. Ignoring the dilemma can lead to similar consequences. Continue reading...
Why you should quit and not look back: ‘Saying yes to everything is saying no to what matters’
In her new book, The Case for Quitting: The Surprising Benefits of Opting Out, Lindsay Crouse discusses the costs and traps of never giving up – and how she set herself freeLindsay Crouse used to define herself as not a quitter.She went to Harvard University, where she learned to become even more high-achieving and ambitious, then landed an assistant job at the New York Times and worked her way up to become an opinion writer and producer. On the weekends, Crouse ran marathons and did endurance sports, clocking new personal bests throughout her thirties. Continue reading...
Halle Berry, Alix Earle, Cardi B, and More Celebs Step Out for Create & Cultivate 2026
Halle Berry, Alix Earle, and Cardi B attend Create & Cultivate, the world's largest festival for women in business.
Get tested and talk to your partner: how to have safer sex after age 50
At 51, I want many more years of a healthy, happy sex life. So I decided to compile my own guideWhen I got divorced after 28 years of monogamy, I was excited to be having sex again, but had concerns. I was 48, and the last time I’d been single was in the 90s; terrified of pregnancy and hyperconscious of HIV/Aids, I hadn’t considered condomless intercourse an option back then.Now, at 51, I’ve been wondering how important barrier protection is for me. Though I haven’t hit menopause, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says that “by 45 getting pregnant naturally is unlikely”, and HIV/Aids prevention and treatment have improved significantly in the last three decades. Continue reading...
Sep 29, 2026
M&S links up with Sephora to lure younger shoppers
Sep 29, 2026