Opinion

Jenny Logan writes about monitoring your cholesterol

Banter has a bad press. The word has become shorthand for sexist, unsubtle, humourless chat, usually between men with fixed views on ‘the football’, or politics or women.

Danny Donohue writes about the need for patience when getting fit.

Like a passenger trapped on a long-haul flight with a crying baby, I heard about The Cry (BBC1, Sundays, 9pm) before I saw it.

Steve Royle writes about planning next year's holidays

For a decade supposedly so full of peace and love, of a flowering of art and culture, the 1960s looks like a remarkably unpleasant 10 years – political assassinations, wars, riots, strikes. And Charles Manson.

There’s a line in the first Bridget Jones novel where she  casts aside the temptation of a  chauffeured limo  (albeit proffered by the pompous Mark Darcy)and anounces ‘I shall get one of my trains,’ before stomping off to board one of British Rail’s finest, no doubt.

Don Donohue writes about his relationship with cross training

I came to the unwelcome conclusion this week that I am very, very old. I realised the modern world is not for me, that I am confused by the new, and befuddled by the ‘now’ and the ‘on-trend’.

Executive chef at Stanley House Hotel and Spa, Steve Williams, shares his recipe for a wonderful white chocolate and orange delice.

Television drama seems to be going through a golden period at the moment – in the last couple of years we have had Line of Duty, Stranger Things, The Handmaid’s Tale, Peaky Blinders, Mindhunter, Fargo.

They say superheroes don’t wear capes, but in the newsroom they are long-suffering, generally wear jeans  and a sensible much-loved jumper but quietly keep the operation ticking over, even in times of crisis.

It’s difficult, when thinking about bodyguards, not to picture Whitney Houston testing your eardrums while bellowing Dolly Parton songs to a stony-faced Kevin Costner.