We meet Annabel Karmel, the celebrity cook who leaves children hungry for more May 14, 2018 Annabel Karmel comes bounding into the room like a bundle of sunshine. With her yellow dress and immaculate makeup, she seems a world apart from the drab Bloomsbury bar where we meet. For millions of parents, Karmel is a household name, with major supermarkets stocking her baby and toddler food. It was her first book, [...]
Sorry HR, but the only way to ‘engage’ at work is to like your job February 21, 2018 Employee engagement is taking itself very seriously these days. It has its theorists and practitioners, its own Wikipedia page and an annoyingly persistent PR machine. According to this discipline's teachings, there exist fail-proof methodologies that can transform your average office worker – the one who browses Facebook and Mail Online when no one is watching [...]
Where’s the beef? Meat substitutes are suddenly big business: we try the UK’s first plant-based ‘bleeding burger’ and ask if meat will one day be a thing of the past March 8, 2018 In the mockumentary Carnage, Simon Amstel imagines a future in which eating meat is as socially unacceptable as cannibalism. Groups of elderly people sit in therapy sessions trying to come to terms with the atrocities they committed against the animal kingdom, with the narrator quipping “‘Meat-free Monday’ now sounds about as appealing as ‘ethnic cleansing-free [...]
Our resident chef Mark Hix on the versatility of an old favourite: ricotta cheese February 6, 2018 Ricotta is one of those great, versatile cheeses, ideal for both sweet and savoury dishes and appropriate at any time of the year. It’s actually a byproduct of rennet-coagulated cheesemaking, so it’s also environmentally sound. My fondest memory of ricotta – and believe me, there have been many fond memories – came about 20 years [...]
Wine over matter: TV wine expert Amelia Singer on working with Jamie Oliver and binge-drinking Brits June 25, 2018 “I wasn’t going to start with this statement, but hey why not – I’m all about cross-dressing when it comes to wine,” says Amelia Singer, with a glint in her eye. What she means is that wine is best served with life’s other great enhancers – like art, music, and food. That might sound obvious [...]
The table of two is a restaurateur’s worst nightmare. Our resident chef Mark Hix wants Valentine’s Day diners to team up February 13, 2018 Today, in case you needed a last minute reminder, is Valentine’s Day, the one day of the year on which we are bound by law to exchange flowers, chocolates and those little bears holding love hearts with insufferably twee phrases embroidered on them. Perhaps like me you try to avoid the whole ordeal. Or perhaps, [...]
Fitness advice: Why building a “cheat day” into your regime could be bad news for your waistline September 12, 2017 If you’re one of the millions of people trying unsuccessfully to lose fat, your problem could boil down to two little words: cheat day. A “cheat day”, or “cheat meal” as it’s sometimes called, is where people on a training program allow themselves a period where they can eat whatever they want. Being healthy [...]
Transferwise now lets you transfer money just by talking to a Facebook Messenger chatbot February 21, 2017 Forget simply messaging friends, now you can use Facebook Messenger to transfer money with the latest chatbot wanting to take care of your finances. London fintech unicorn Transferwise is bringing its online money transfer service to the messaging app, allowing users in the UK to send money to friends or family in the rest of Europe, [...]
The risks of pension drawdown – and how to help combat them March 1, 2018 Pension investors have two main options at retirement: Continue investing and take out money from their pot as and when needed (also known as pension drawdown), or buy an annuity that guarantees a regular income for life. This is a complex issue facing retirees, and any decision to use drawdown must be carefully considered. Drawdown [...]
Uber loses workers’ rights appeal: Here’s how employment experts have reacted November 10, 2017 Uber has lost an appeal against a tribunal ruling that it must give its drivers employment rights. The ride-hailing app went to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) to challenge an earlier ruling by the Employment Tribunal which said Uber drivers are entitled to basic workers’ rights. The EAT rejected Uber’s argument that it is merely [...]