Healthy Living

Smoke without fire: Will the 'e-fag' ever catch on?

One year after the smoking ban, Teri Judd (30-a-day) tests a new hi-tech alternative to cigarettes

Inside Healthy Living

Virginia Ironside's Dilemmas: Should I give up my stressful job for IVF treatment?

Wednesday, 9 July 2008

Dear Virginia,I've had four tries at IVF. I became pregnant with one, but soon miscarried. The other attempts didn't work. Each time, I stopped working, relaxed – and each time it failed. Now I am having my last try, but I'm starting a stressful job, one that I know I'd enjoy and be good at. Should I ask them if I can start a month later, giving myself a chance to relax (at the risk of getting off to a bad start), or should I just go ahead and hope for the best? Yours sincerely, Miriam

Virginia Ironside: Next week's dilemma

Monday, 30 June 2008

Dear Virginia, A couple of years ago I had an affair with one of my partner's friends. Unfortunately, I fell in love with her. Sadly, it went pear-shaped, I confided in the wrong people and this woman then told friends we'd never had an affair and that I was a liar. Luckily, my partner never found out. Now that I'm breaking up with my partner, should I reveal that her friend betrayed both of us? Part of me wants to forgive the woman I loved, and part of me wants to punish her. Yours sincerely, Hugh

Ethical gyms flex their muscles with £14.99 membership fee

Sunday, 29 June 2008

Bridges Ventures, the socially aware private equity firm backed by the Apax founder Sir Ronald Cohen and Tom Singh of retail chain New Look, will begin an assault on the UK fitness market tomorrow when 'The Gym' is launched, charging customers just £14.99 a month with no contract or joining fee. The group's first business, in Hounslow, west London, will be open 24 hours a day and has already secured 5,000 members, who have signed up at the discounted £9.99-a-month tariff.

Man bites frog: Sean Thomas samples some extreme cuisine

Thursday, 26 June 2008

Algae. I'm about to eat... algae. I don't know whether it's the unusual word, with its doubled vowels, or the definite mental associations with pond scum and dirty shower curtains, but "algae" isn't really something that immediately sounds appetising. Not like "pork chop", "peach Melba" or "all-day-breakfast sandwich". No, "algae" has an unsavoury ring to it – like "fungus", "amoeba" or "drool".

How to have a healthy holiday

Tuesday, 24 June 2008

Mosquitoes

Virginia Ironside's Dilemmas

Monday, 23 June 2008

While obviously I sympathise with your son feeling betrayed and angry about his girlfriend's feckless behaviour, I'm surprised his reaction has been quite as strong as it is. I'm wondering, to be honest, whether he hasn't been looking for an "out" to his marriage for a long time, and at last he's got an excuse to lay the blame at his girlfriend's door, without sharing any responsibility. And responsibility is something your son seems hell-bent on avoiding. How does he think his poor two-year-old is feeling back home? The child is an innocent party in all of this. Why has his daddy suddenly disappeared? Is it his fault?

Beach belle: Cheat your way to a bikini body

Sunday, 22 June 2008

Summer fashion is less about the clothes than the body inside them. While the trusty opaque tights and chunky knits of winter can be relied upon to conceal more than they reveal, the opposite is true of this season's diaphanous fabrics and thigh-skimming mini-dresses.

How our vegan diet made us ill

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

One morning over breakfast, Holly Paige looked at her daughter and realised things weren't right. Lizzie should have been flourishing. Instead, her cheeks were pinched, she was small for her age, and although she had skinny arms and legs, her belly was big and swollen. When Lizzie smiled, Paige suddenly noticed her upper front teeth were pitted with holes.

Veneers: The real cost of a Hollywood smile

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Question: what do you call a bad Harley Street dentist? Answer: a veneereologist – at least, that's the word at the respectable end of the burgeoning cosmetic dental industry.

Virginia Ironside's Dilemmas

Monday, 16 June 2008

A friend of mine who has scattered ashes in his time was able to tell me how big a sack containing one person's "cremains" (as they are now tastefully known) would be. He told me that his mother's ashes could be held comfortably in a large washing powder box. Knowing that, it seems to me even more sensible to divide your mother's ashes in two – or, indeed, three or four, if you wish.

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