When my mum was still working full-time, she was insanely busy. Her job, in communications for the Met Police, was demanding. She’d wake at 5.15am and fire off emails on her BlackBerry before breakfast, only to get home after dark. Often, she was on-call in the evenings or at weekends, responding to big stories in real time.
In her final months of employment, after years of her frantic job playing an outsized role in our lives, we’d marvel at all the free time she’d have once she retired. How on Earth would she fill her days, we wondered. I could sense her trepidation at the prospect of oceans of free time stretching out before her.
We needn’t have worried. Now, securing time in my 70-something mother’s schedule is akin to getting a table at a fashionable London eatery. And, while I know she’ll always show up in an emergency, when it comes to more routine visits, she doesn’t always have time to see me or her grandson – the three-year-old she adores with quasi-religious fervour.
Because there are multiple dance classes a week, including ballet and contemporary. For a while, there was flamenco, musical theatre, and now she’s considering tap. There’s Pilates and a regular swim. Then there are local council meetings, where she is the lone leftie causing trouble. Her 80-year-old friend Angela has invited her to art club, and she’s always booked in to see films – sometimes with post-show talks – at the local independent cinema.
How to be more grateful for daily life in five easy steps
The world feels like a difficult place at the moment, and it can feel very hard sometimes to find things to be thankful for; when we are overwhelmed, we have less capacity to notice and reflect on the good things. Yet, ironically, proactively cultivating gratitude is one of the things that can actually help us feel less stressed.
NHS GP dR RADHA
The science
Research has shown that feeling or expressing thanks can actually alter our brain.
- The balance of neurotransmitters change; more serotonin and dopamine (feel good chemicals) are produced.
- This can be long lasting if we make gratitude a regular habit.
- We also get a decrease in our cortisol (stress hormone) levels which helps lower anxiety.
- Being grateful can strengthen the nerve pathways which triggers positive emotion.
How can we build gratitude?
Change your words
Instead of seeing something as a problem, try to see the opportunities within it.
Our brains are very receptive and what we read or write can alter our emotional system.
Express it
This will not only make you feel good, but you will also get a positive response from others.
How can we build gratitude?
Notice more
Throughout your day, try to notice all the things that are going well; has someone opened a door for you, or smiled?
The basics
By being thankful for the small things every day, we are far more likely to be and stay healthy so that we can enjoy them.
What to do
Gratitude can lead to feelings of optimism, lower our blood pressure, and improve sleep quality.
- Write down what potential good aspects there are to the things you don’t feel like doing, or even what could be worse about it.
- Spend a few minutes writing down three things that you are looking forward to that day, or the good things that have happened to you that day.
- Say thank you to yourself for the things you have achieved, or managed to get through and changed that day.
Sales of battery
electric vehicles hit a record high last year.
Starts at £22,995 for the smaller battery
Available with either a 40kWh battery or a larger 52kWh pack, that offers almost 255 miles, the latest, retro-inspired Renault 5 is both a joy to behold and a hoot to drive.
The interior has been lavished with a level of detail that’s typically reserved for more expensive cars.
4 min read
A champion of EV efficiency
It offers a remarkable 491 mile range on a single charge from the 85kWh battery.
It is a technological masterclass inside with the ability to option screens that span the entire width of the dashboard, including an optional display for the front passenger.
Priced from £37,400
2 min read
It’s a lot of money to part with, but this is arguably all the car you will ever need.
The £89,000 Macan is a premium SUV that somehow manages to blend Porsche’s reputation for dynamics and sporty driving with everyday practicality.
The 95kWh batteries can go from 10 to 80 per cent in as little as 21 minutes from the fastest public charging outlets.
With the business class-style six seat configuration costing a staggering £76,995, it is by far the most expensive Kia ever made, but it backs up its financial demands with a suite of genuinely useful and impressive onboard technology.
It’s fast, goes a long way between stops and charges relatively quickly but the interior is bland, the onboard technology is infuriating and the experience is devoid of emotion.
All of its gadgetry can’t disguise the fact that performance is weak, even for a typically zippy EV, the ride is fussy at slower speeds and it’s not in the least bit enjoyable to drive on a country road.
- While good value (prices start at £17,935) for the 200-mile max range, there are more interesting options from Hyundai, Citroen and Renault for similar money.
- It attempts to wow with tech, much of which hinders, rather than helps.
- There’s no tangible benefit over mounting your phone to the dash.
- Simply an average driving experience, adequate range and slow charging speeds.
2 min read
The kitchen gadgets under £25
Victorinox paring knife
It’s comfortable to hold, with a point sharp enough for scoring pastry.
ProCook cast iron pan
For unbeatable searing and heat-retention, cast iron is the top choice.
Tesco chopping board
Priced at just £22, I’ve yet to find another board that matches it for sheer value and quality.
The kitchen gadgets under £25
Pyrex jug
It is the perfect vessel for blending smooth sauces, melting butter, or warming stock. It won’t stain like plastic and the red measurements never fade.
Salter scales
“I’ve had my slim little set of Salter Disc Scales for over a decade, and I’m delighted to see they are still made to exactly the same reliable design today.”
Microplane grater
It uses photo-etched stainless steel teeth that stay razor-sharp for a decade, something the lookalike copycats simply can’t match.
Braun hand-held blender
It’s an essential for everything from making velvety soup to getting the lumps out of white sauce.
Bodum cafetiere
As well as delivering great results, cafetieres are easy to clean and there’s no ongoing filter paper costs or pod recycling to deal with.
5 min read
The kitchen gadgets under £25
Oxo peeler
What truly sets it apart is the chunky, rubberised handle that absorbs pressure and stays completely non-slip, even if your hands are wet. It is inexpensive and incredibly durable.
Falcon pie dish
Made by fusing porcelain onto heavy-gauge steel for smooth durability, it is dishwasher, freezer, hob, air-fryer and oven-safe.
The golden rules for a happy, secure relationship
Psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr Amir Levine, author of bestselling book , explains why we behave the way we do in love.
Golden rules for happy relationships
Start with your own behaviours
The foundation of a secure, connected life is being what I call CARRP: that means being consistent, available, responsive, reliable and predictable. All of these qualities can be enacted in small gestures every day.
Express your needs
People need consistency and connection to feel safe. This is not, ‘You hurt my feelings by never replying to me’, it’s more ‘this is the kind of contact that helps me feel secure’.
Golden rules for happy relationships
The appendix ‘inflammation’ rule
If a relationship repeatedly inflames your nervous system, you need to disengage and deprioritise it.
Lean on community
You don’t need hundreds of friends. You need people and places that regularly remind you that you belong.
Stop blaming childhood
Humans are much more complicated than: ‘this happened to you, therefore you are doomed to be anxious’.
Reach for a
secure script
When something unsettles you in a relationship, your first reaction is not always the most accurate one.
If you’re anxious, your brain may jump very quickly to: ‘this is the beginning of the end’. If you’re avoidant, your brain may say: ‘this person wants too much from me, I need to get away’. So one very practical thing you can always do is pause and ask: ‘What would a secure person do here?’
Loneliness elsewhere
When people talk about loneliness, they often assume it means you don’t have enough people in your life. But you can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely if those relationships leave you feeling excluded, ignored or disconnected.
What to do
- Build a community that works for your temperament and gives you regular, reliable moments of connection.
- You can still be kind to people while not treating them as someone who belongs in your inner circle.
- Explain what you need. Sometimes people simply don’t realise how you are experiencing them.
- Check in with people: does this person actually feel that I’m reliable? Do they experience me as predictable? That’s the only way that you can start to become more secure.
Do some foods leave
you feeling hungry rather than satiated? Experts say there are…
Foods that leave you hungrier
A bowl of cereal and glass of orange juice
More refined cereals are digested quickly, and fruit juice, whilst one of your five-a-day, contains less fibre than whole fruit. This might mean you find yourself hungry again within 1-2 hours of eating this breakfast.
Swap the orange juice for a whole orange, the cereal for oats and milk or serve it with Greek yoghurt or a boiled egg. This would increase the fibre and protein content; two nutrients strongly linked with fullness.
Foods that leave you hungrier
These pastries are made primarily from refined flour and butter, and are relatively low in protein and fibre.
Toast and jam
Shop-bought packs can contain a lot of white rice, which is digested quickly, and the protein content is often modest.
Foods that leave you hungrier
Vegetable soup
On its own, it is often very low in protein and calories, so hunger can return quickly.
Unless it’s loaded with veggies, it’s probably pretty low in fibre.
Liquids are generally less filling as they require little chewing which may not trigger satiety signals.
Foods that leave you hungrier
Snack bars
They are ideal for a quick pick-me-up, but if reducing hunger is what you’re after, it’d be better to swap it out.
Low-fat yoghurt
A full-fat plain Greek yoghurt with berries and seeds tends to be much more filling due to the protein, fat and fibre.
On an empty stomach, it can actually increase your appetite.
What to eat instead
Instead of thinking about avoiding foods, think about what you can add to them.
- Add beans, lentils or shredded chicken to your vegetable soup and pasta.
- Thicken your smoothies with Greek yoghurt, chia seeds and oats.
- Apple slices with peanut butter, yogurt with berries and hummus with oat biscuits are better snack options than a pre-made snack bar.
- Have alcohol alongside a balanced meal containing protein and fibre.
How to age well
without pain
Will Harlow, a physiotherapist
for the over-50s and author of Independence for Life, shares
the key signs you’re ageing
badly – and what to do about it.
How to know
Ageing well is maintaining the ability to do what you want you want for as long as you want without needing help. Everyone is talking about longevity but what’s the point in living longer if the last decade is painful and you’re [totally] reliant on people?”
The signs to look out for
- The most obvious early warning sign of bad ageing is pain says Harlow.
- Another is losing confidence in doing daily tasks, which can quickly lead to a lack of independence.
- One call Harlow often receives is people calling after having a fall and struggling to get up.
4 min read
How to age without pain
Not just stopping
When people retire, they often put their feet up and stop. Your body really is use it or lose it.
Throughout our entire lives, Harlow says we need between seven and nine hours of sleep.
Social isolation
The lack of connection can increase the risk of premature death by
as much as 29 per cent.
Strength training
It really is the proxy for
overall independence.
The more muscle mass you have, the less chance of heart disease, diabetes, falls and even anxiety, depression and dementia.
The brain can be linked to muscle mass too, Harlow says. It’s not just about being able to lift things. It gives you more energy, better sleep and you’ll look and feel better.
How to age without pain
Daily habits
Do short bursts of exercise, between 30 and 60 seconds, in otherwise dead time during the day.
Stretch in bed
Take joints through a full range of motion for five minutes to loosen it before getting up.
Don’t crash diet
How to age without pain
Harlow advises 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight to stop muscle loss alongside resistance training.
Don’t wait
Harlow finds that many patients put off making a change to their lifestyle until their lives are consumed by pain.
For most people, it’s about reducing the number of times per week you’re exercising, not reducing intensity.
The three ageing tests to do
- Lie completely flat on the floor and get back up to a standing position using any technique. This should take less than 10 seconds.
See how many times you can sit on the chair and stand back up again in 30 seconds. Men should be aiming for more than 14 times and women 12.
The single-leg stand, which involves standing on one leg and balancing for 10 seconds. Everyone should be able to do that and for those under 65, Harlow asks them to do it with their eyes closed.
Despite the job market hiring fewer entry-level roles, employers are still looking for grads…
But you should be prepared to keep an open mind.
We’ve compiled the sectors hiring graduate roles, what degree is required, and what they pay.
The degrees to choose for a career
Hiring in the UK could
finally be on the up
47%
of employers offered entry-level
positions from July.
That is up nearly 15 per cent from the same period last year.
700,000
But graduate unemployment rose to six per cent in 2025 and 700,000 jobless graduates were claiming benefits.
Finance and insurance
- Around 42 per cent of UK finance and insurance employers say they will be open to graduate roles this summer.
- Business loan company Portman Finance Group has taken on 50 graduates over the past four years.
Portman graduates start on £36,000 for the two-year programme and the education you need to apply is a minimum “ABB” of A-levels, and a 2:1 or above university degree. But not in a specific subject.
Trade and logistics
What makes it particularly rewarding is that there’s always something to learn.
Nearly half (47 per cent) of trade and logistics companies will be giving graduates a go this year.
Salaries start at £30,000 with an uncapped bonus, rising to £50,000 plus a company car as a senior account partner.
Technology and IT
More than half (52 per cent) of UK tech and IT firms are actively looking for graduates.
Successful entry-level candidates can earn a basic salary of up to £35,000, with the opportunity to triple that within their first three years of working.
4 min read
Public sector, health
and social services
46 per cent of public sector, health and social services organisations are also ready to take graduates, according to a survey by Manpower.
- For example, Police Now runs a graduate programme into policing. They recruit graduates from any degree field, as long as they achieve a 2:2 or above. Starting salaries range from £31,164 to £42,210 depending on location and rising each year.
Can we treat guests without blowing our budget?
According to Waitrose, a dinner party revival is underway led by younger people trying to reduce the cost of getting together.
Always have bread
People will feast on the
ELLA RISBRIDGER, AUTHOR OF THE KITCHEN BOOK – GOOD FOOD FOR EVERY DAY
bread, and then need less fish/steak/expensive whatever. All small plates restaurants know this: this is why the first thing on the menu is always artisan bread and butter.
Use vegetables as centrepieces
Add pantry items
Graham’s recipes include a braised cabbage with a preserved lemon sauce, a roast cauliflower with saffron, and harrisa roast carrots with mango labneh.
How to host on a budget
Improve the everyday
Guests will always appreciate a stellar interpretation of the ordinary. Think lasagna or curry.
Cooking dinner for your guests is spoiling them – you’re being generous with your time, your effort, and your home. So don’t feel the need to go overboard elsewhere.
Ask for help
Ask friends to bring a contribution, be it a nibble or a pudding.
Big platter energy
[Presentation] can be the key to elevating something . Spaghetti and tomato sauce suddenly looks like a feast when tumbled on a lovely big plate, dressed with olive oil and parmesan and placed in the middle of the table.
Food writer and editor Eleanor Steafel
How to host on a budget
Taco party
Have one expensive filling, like shredded chicken, and two cheaper options, like refried beans, says Ella Risbridger.
Shop-bought ice cream is so easily zhuzhed up with the help of handy toppings, says Eleanor Steafel.
There are trips to meet friends at Wisley Gardens or the nearest big town to have a wander around Anthropologie. And don’t forget: she needs to paint the front door, get the duvet dry-cleaned, clear out the garage, get home to feed the cat (even though her neighbours regularly offer) and watch PMQs. My mum might no longer be organising press briefings at New Scotland Yard, meeting the mayor at City Hall or fielding calls from journalists at 10pm, but somehow she seems just as busy.
I ask a friend, Natalie*, 41 from Norwich, with two daughters under six, if any of this rings a bell. “YES!” she shrieks, seemingly elated not to be alone in this predicament. “And it drives me wild! My mum spent years badgering me to have kids, telling me to hurry up and get on with it, and now they’re here, she’s too busy to see them!”
Natalie’s parents, a former CEO and schoolteacher, have a holiday home in Menorca where they are spending more and more time. The worst thing, Natalie says, is that she moved her family to East Sussex from London to be closer to them. “I’m pretty sure we saw them more when we were in London,” she says, rolling her eyes. “They’d be coming to town to see a show or an exhibition or do some shopping, and then sort of tag us on to the trip.”
The expectation that we have more time when we retire, says Dr Carole Easton OBE, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, may be misplaced. “Contrary to the stereotype that we start to slow down as we age,” she says, “many people tell us that in their sixties, seventies and beyond, they are as busy as ever, maybe even more so.”
“My parents really take advantage of all the seniors’ discounts around,” Tom, 39 from Somerset, and dad to two-year-old Teddy, tells me at one nursery pick-up. “I also get the feeling they’re making up for lost time. I was one of four, so they never had time for themselves. They’re also way more social now. They often go for tea and cake with friends in the afternoons. I’d always imagined they’d help with pick-up and be a bit more hands-on, but they’ve made it clear that they don’t mind being asked once in a while, but that’s it. They’ve done their stint.”
Tom isn’t alone, but there are plenty of grandparents who do pick up the childcare slack. Around 50 per cent of UK grandparents look after their grandchildren throughout the year, with one in three doing so during school holidays.
But for many of the millennial parents I speak to, memories of how their own grandparents spent their time seem to differ wildly from what they see their parents doing today. Lily, 36, from London, says: “My granny and grandad were always around. Christmas and birthdays and the big stuff, but also Saturday afternoons. If they weren’t with us, they were at home. Grandad would be in the shed or the garden, and granny was always knitting one of us kids something. At least, that’s how I remember it. I guess you don’t imagine your grandparents having fun without you when you’re seven.”
Easton suggests there are a host of reasons why grandparents today are busier than we might expect. One, she says, is work. “Over the course of the last 20 years, we have seen a huge explosion in the number of people working beyond 65.” Around 25 per cent of grandparents who look after grandchildren are still working.
For some, she points out, this is a choice, because they are seeking “social connections”, “purpose” or “just loving what they do”. But for others, it is a necessity. Recent research from the Centre for Ageing Better found that nearly one in three people in their sixties are now living in financially precarious circumstances. “Increases to the state pension age and the rise in the cost of living are driving many older people to remain or even return to the workplace beyond state pension age.”
Fascinatingly, Dr Giorgio Di Gessa of UCL’s epidemiology and public health department found: “The extent and nature of grandparental care is also closely linked to grandparents’ socio-economic status. For example, grandparents with fewer financial resources tended to offer childcare more regularly than their wealthier counterparts.”
“Socio-economic disparities also shape the nature of caregiving tasks,” he says. “Less affluent grandparents were more likely to engage in hands-on activities, such as cooking meals and taking their grandchildren to and from school”, particularly grandmothers, he says. “In contrast, grandparents with more education were more likely to help with homework frequently.”
People between 65 and 74 are also the most probable of any age group to volunteer, says Easton. Jenny* 33 from London, told me her mum volunteers at the local charity shop. “She loves it. She loves chatting to the customers, seeing what they buy. Sometimes it means she’s not around at the weekends, but I don’t mind too much because I think the connection is really good for her.”
Mia, 39, is based in Oxfordshire. Her dad volunteers as a gardener in the cathedral gardens where he lives. “It often means he can’t come to the park on a Sunday morning. I try not to complain, but I actually get a bit jealous when I see other kids kicking a ball around with their grandad.”
It might be easy to assume that because people are living for longer, older people are healthier than ever and therefore able to do more. But this isn’t the case. In fact, a major study from UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies and the University of Oxford, published in the Journals of Gerontology in 2024, which looked at health data collected from more than 100,000 people across Europe, the UK and America between 2004 and 2018 found the opposite. It said “people in their fifties, sixties and seventies were more likely to have serious health problems than people who were born before or during the Second World War when they reached that age”. The research blamed this “generational shift” on changes in nutrition and a decline in physical activity, which, they suggest, may be related to changes in the types of work we do. This means that even for those less busy grandparents, ill health makes taking on an abundance of childcare even more taxing.
For those who are healthy and financially secure, their absence can be a bit difficult to swallow – especially when parents had nudged and nagged about wanting to become grandparents. As “me-me-me-millennials”, as my mum likes to call us, are my peers simply surprised that, despite being well into our thirties and beyond, we’re no longer the centre of our parents’ universe? Is this a purely millennial response to not being looked after for ever?
Perhaps another way to look at it is the boomers’ tendency to live the lives they want. After all, they were the generation of social mobility, homeownership, savings and pensions. Many have the economic freedom to holiday or play golf each week in a way younger generations could only dream of. It is, in some ways, yet another luxury of being born a boomer. They played the game while it still worked. And now they’re cashing in.
Keiron*, 42, from Frome, says his parents are a case in point. “My mum and dad are nuts about my kids and my niece and nephew. They spoil them rotten when they see them, but they certainly haven’t put their lives on hold to be grandparents… They are the best advert for saving for your retirement I’ve ever seen,” he says. “They really are living their best life. They love their grandkids, but man, I think they might love a cruise around the Med more.”
Growing up watching my mum work so hard, I certainly don’t feel entitled to ask for her time. I take a genuine pleasure in watching her do all the things a demanding career got in the way of. I’d much rather she was at the cinema with a glass of wine at 74 with a newly replaced knee, than running around after my toddler. We made the decision to move two and a half hours away from her. I thought that proved to her – and me – my independence. Four years into parenthood, I’ll concede I might not make the same decision again today.
But I do understand the frustration of some of my peers. Life is far more expensive now. Parenting styles have become more intense – we’re expected to be far more involved, and that becomes trickier with busy jobs or multiple children. And, after all, we’re millennials. Perhaps we expect them to help look after our babies because, in many ways, they are still looking after us. Despite this dreadful economy, I don’t think grandparents’ time is something millennials are inherently entitled to. We’re just bloody lucky if we can get it.