Lifestyle - Friday, March 27, 2026

Advice columnist Carolyn Hax answers your questions about the strange train we call life.

The popular fitness trend is all over social media, and curious, I tried a few classes – they left me totally out of air I have spent years in and out of the gym, trying the latest fitness trends. Consequently, my social media feed often populates with shirtless, sweaty men promising to transform my workouts. Then it started. First, it was the occasional video of athletes grinding through a series of herculean tasks: pushing plate-laden sleds, collapsing over rowing machines, sprinting laps and throwing weighted balls at a wall inside of what looked like an aircraft hangar. That trickle became an avalanche, and I became curious. Continue reading...

From alcohol-free fizz to sips as dirty and spicy as they come – quench your seasonal thirst with these twisted classics From alcohol-free kir royal at the top to punchy pours toward the bottom, we have all your spring sips covered. Continue reading...

How to cut down on the mess when cooking meat? We answered this reader question.

Show up, speak up … and just be nice. Here is one anonymous server’s advice for a happy meal Hospitality is in a right state at the moment, what with the seemingly never-ending shitshow of rising rents and rates, extortionate VAT, higher staffing, produce and utility costs, and all those other well-documented socioeconomic pressures (don’t mention the Bre*it word, please). So the last thing those of us who work in this beleaguered industry need right now is to be kicked in the proverbials by the very people we rely on perhaps more than anyone. And, yes, by that I mean you , our lovely customers. So here is some advice on how to avoid infuriating your serving staff. Turn up … Pre-Covid, most restaurants didn’t have the balls to take card details or charge for late cancellations and no-shows, but that’s all changed now (thank God). If you buy a ticket to the football or a gig, say, you’ll be out of pocket if you can’t be arsed to turn up. Why should restaurants be any different? What’s more, even if we have charged you a cancellation fee, remember that we’ve still lost out on drink sales and service charge. As told to Bob Granleese Continue reading...

Hop to it. The post The Easter Desserts Everyone Will Be Talking About This Year appeared first on Camille Styles .

Meet the influencers encouraging us to stop buying new Anna Kilpatrick doesn’t have a bedroom. Or even a bed. The a 52-year-old content creator from East Sussex sleeps on a wide shelf in her hallway so that her two children, 21 and 18, can have their own rooms. And yet, she says, she has “enough”. She doesn’t hanker after a bigger house or shinier car. “Having fewer things is freedom,” she says. Kilpatrick, who shares such ideas with her 104K Instagram followers ( @not.needing.new ), is part of a small but growing community of “enough-luencers”. The concept is similar to deinfluencing – where content creators discourage followers from buying into trends – but is also about celebrating already having enough, and, crucially, feeling happier for it. In her new book, Not Needing New: A Practical Guide to Finding the Joy of Enough, Kilpatrick lists the benefits of living with less: “An increased sense of calm, less anxiety through clutter, free time away from maintaining the home, a healthier bank balance and reduced debt, children who are learning how to manage delayed gratification.” Continue reading...

Prepare for bouclé jackets, quilted chain-link bags galore and an outfit formula that is proving to be consumer catnip Just six months after Matthieu Blazy unveiled his debut collection for Chanel, and a week after it landed in stores, excitement over the new designer has reached fever pitch. There have been queues outside shops, grapples at the tills and dozens of social media posts bragging about purchases. Now, Blazy’s Chanel effect is coming for the high street. Prepare for bouclé jackets and quilted chain-link bags galore. “It is a good sign that it has become immediately a reference point for the high street,” says Mario Ortelli, a managing partner at the luxury advisory firm Ortelli & Co. “When a new product and new creative direction is successful it is copied by the high street. If not, it means it is not relevant or is only relevant for a niche set of consumers.” Continue reading...

Common Sense Media also reviews “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” and “Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special.”

Merlin, a miniature Vietnamese potbellied pig, was recognized by Guinness World Records for his large Instagram following