lifestyle

Until I met my wife, I thought the only way to get up was with an alarm, followed by a swift swing of legs into the cold air, launching myself with force into the morning – an abnegation of anything subtle or sweet, like jumping into icy water. Then Ele came into my life and…

I thought I knew everything about Wicked when Cynthia Erivo walked into a meeting room in the Guardian’s London offices. She felt wildly incongruous, way too perfect and vivid for the neutral surrounds, like seeing a princess on an escalator, but I suspect she comes off like that in a lot of rooms. Last week,…

When Elon Musk’s arm shot out in a stiff arm salute at Donald Trump’s inaugural celebrations, startled viewers mostly drew the obvious comparison. But in the fired-up debate about Musk’s intent that followed, as the world’s richest man insisted he wasn’t trying to be a Nazi, speculation inevitably focused on whether his roots in apartheid-era…

Much is being said about Poland’s economy potentially overtaking Britain by 2030, but in some areas Poles are already ahead. They can produce a digital identity card or driving licence and use an array of public services using a mobile app, mObywatel. When accessing it for the first time, users have to verify their identity…

A winter’s evening and the kitchen is at its most hospitable. A glowing light from the glass door of the oven, the smell of something slow-cooked, softly spiced and deeply aromatic floats on the air, calling us to the table. A smell that seems both mysterious and strangely familiar. I can’t think of a place…