Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at You

The Royal Kennel Club, which runs Crufts, is going to admit mongrels for the first time in its 150-year history. Crufts will become a ‘year-round community’, available to all dog owners, whatever kind of dog they have. Its new online platform will launch in February 2026. Jannine Edgar, chief executive of the RKC explains: “While...

Following the recent announcement in the Budget, the Bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, the Church of England’s lead bishop for child poverty issues, has said: “I warmly welcome the Government’s decision to remove the two-child limit from next April. This will make a profoundly positive difference to hundreds of thousands of children and their families....

London’s first coffee house opened in 1652, using beans imported from modern-day Yemen. Although many in Cromwell’s Britain had doubts about this new drink, others welcomed its reviving effects – and asked for another cup. Nearly 400 years on, coffee drinking in Britain is a vast industry. We drink 98 million cups of it every...

Do your New Year Resolutions include the forlorn hope that you will be better at remembering people’s names in 2026? Many of us – and not only those of the older generation – have difficulty remembering names. It’s not just TV personalities and so on, but people we meet in the street. We know exactly...

If you are struggling with money as the New Year begins, you are not alone. Too many of us are using our credit cards as almost permanent extensions of our bank account, instead of as highly expensive loans. So, this year, think about how just small changes could help you. For example, simply deciding to...

Pensioners who eat at home alone are more likely to suffer from poor nutrition and health. So says new research. It has found strong links between dining solo and diets of poor quality, with fewer fruit, veg and meat. This can lead to weight loss and frailty. Researchers at Flinders University in Australia are instead highlighting...

The supermarket chain Tesco has reported a surge in demand for brightly coloured vegetables, from rainbow carrots to pink onions. The trend follows calls from nutritionists for people to ‘eat the rainbow’ of fruits and vegetables, so that they get the whole range of vitamins and minerals. Demand for rainbow carrots and pink onions is...

The legal hazards of life in winter Your Countdown to Christmas – 20 ideas Those Christmas cards… If you are sending a present to someone overseas How much do you spend on Christmas gifts? Have you heard of the ‘five-gift rule’ for Christmas? Elderly and depressed this winter?  Go to church. How to care for...

 Lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding…(Psalm 148:8) We are promised a hard Winter this year. The abundance of nuts and berries is supposed to be a sign of bad weather. Whether that is true or not is another question. Supposing we do get ice, snow and more frost. Early one cold...

Plan your budget – don’t let Christmas ‘fever’ make you reckless. Be careful you don’t go over any overdraft with your bank – the penalties are expensive! Also, really and truly, beware using credit cards if you can’t pay them off quickly Practical details: Make sure you have in a good stock of coal and...

We send an estimated 900 million to 1 billion Christmas cards in the UK each year. Royal Mail delivers around 150 million. On average, each person in the UK sends and receives about 17 cards. This year the final Royal Mail Christmas posting dates are as follows: Wednesday, December 17th:  2nd Class and 2nd Class...

How about choosing from among the top ten ‘curated list’ of items seen as quintessentially British?  They are: Fine English Tea (No list of British gifts could start anywhere else); quality biscuit; posh marmalade, fine bone china, cashmere scarf or shawl; gin; and traditional British sweets.