Lifestyle

By Charlotte Hope, Lifestyle Editor @TLE_Lifestyle  I went to South East Asia when I was eighteen, on a trailblazing gap year through Thailand, Australia and Singapore, a route no youth enjoying a year out before university had ever taken before. Something I rarely tell people when I extol the virtues of finding myself in Thailand was that I actually never indulged in a Thai massage - the look of complete horror on the few people who I’ve shared this with,...

By Charlotte Hope, Lifestyle Editor @TLE_Lifestyle The life of the typical Londoner is notoriously busy, so busy in fact, that even the simplest tasks can seem like an impossible feat. That last minute business proposal you’ve been called in to draft means that the ominous and ever expanding pile of shirts on your kitchen table will have to wait for another day. And thanks to a night out entertaining clients, that pre-planned trip to the shops to re-supply the contents...

By Jasmine Stephens, Family Editor Screwed. Katherine (not her real name) sat down in a meeting room on her first day in the office after having a baby and was astonished to see that her back to work interview was being conducted by the person who had been covering her maternity leave. 'She sat down opposite me and slid a piece of paper over the table. At the top she had written her name next to the word "manager" and...

By Jasmine Stephens, Family Editor The World Health Organisation regards childhood obesity as one of the biggest global public health challenges of this century. The latest figures from the National Child Measurement programme show that over 33% of 10-11 year olds and 22% of 4-5 year olds are either obese or overweight. Public Health England has reported that in 5-7 year olds, 76% of boys and 77% of girls do not meet the government’s own physical activity recommendations. Stark figures. Barely...

By Jasmine Stephens, Family Editor Do they have elephants there? Will the baboons trash our car? Is it going to be like ‘Jurassic Park’? Are we nearly there yet??!! The kids were asleep in the back of the car and my husband was sick of my questions before we got off the M62. I’d managed to reach the ripe old age of 35 without ever visiting a safari park, but my husband was quite the veteran, having gone once with...

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent   On Friday evening I was sat at home awaiting my girlfriend’s return after a hard day at the office when my phone buzzed with the message: “Get the wine and nipples ready”. I promptly removed my top and poured her a glass of Malbec, only to be left red faced by her following message: “NIBBLES! I meant nibbles”. Autocorrect thy cruel mistress. But apparently I’m not alone. New research has revealed 70 per cent of Brits...

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent  A new survey has revealed money worries are the main thing keeping Brits awake at night with as many as nine in ten admitting they’re plagued with sleepless nights, mostly due to fretting over finances. The research of 2,000 adults found money worries topped a myriad of reasons Brits can’t get to sleep, with pressures at work, ill-health and mulling over family matters also a top cause of insomnia. Sunday was found to be the worst...

By Jasmine Stephens, Family Editor Every January my New Year’s resolution is to find a way to get fitter, but by March I’ve already conveniently forgotten the new trainers stashed in the porch. I like to think I am healthy enough to run for the bus, but the truth is I haven’t done any organised exercise since I left school in 1997 and was no longer forced to run around a muddy field while a sadistic PE teacher shouted words...

By Jasmine Stephens, Family Editor  The day you become a parent changes you forever. You cross the Rubicon, you leap into the breach, there’s no turning back. Your washing machine and kettle yearn for the simpler times of a bygone era. But nowhere is the paradigm shift more palpable than the bi-annual event that is the changing of the clocks. In the rose-tinted, good old days of pre-kids, I used to worry about getting to work on time the day...