My son was home the other day with his girlfriend and for some reason he felt the urge to get out the old family album. I do like seeing pics of the kids when they were young. But seeing my old self can causes me a pinch of sadness. On those pages are the images of a happy dad cradling his bundles of joy; clear skinned, flat bellied and with a full head of hair. Twenty-five years ago I was…
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Have you ever heard of a ‘Karen’? It’s a derogatory term dished out to middle-class women who are excessively demanding. The kind that become visibly enraged by poor service… Who are relentlessly pushy in all situations… Who demand to speak to the manager… And whose behaviour goes way beyond what is deemed appropriate in public situations. Some people say that the term ‘Karen’ is sexist, and smacks of women being expected to behave in a constrained way (for example, wind…
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Something really nasty has been going around town this February. People are dropping like flies with the flu. Or, as some suggest, it could be a new strain of respiratory infection, possibly a mutant Covid spin-off. Whatever it is, it arrived in the Collins household. I am rarely bedridden – but I was wiped out for three days. Lara got it even worse and has been out of action for eight days now – she even had to go to…
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This is quite shocking… But there are 10 million people in this country who can no longer get free earwax removal from the NHS. This is, according to the RNID, a hearing loss charity. They complain that free earwax removal services have been withdrawn across England since 2019. So now people have to pay… And with the cost of living so high, many of those people can’t go for private treatment. Instead, they are turning to what the RNID called…
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When I was a young man, fresh out of University, I had to look for a proper job. I got one quite quickly… So I bought some smart clothes and turned up at the office on a Monday morning after a heavy weekend of rugby and pints with the lads. By lunchtime I was knackered… By teatime I thought I was going to faint… As I crashed on to the sofa in my cramped little flat that night, totally…
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I have become aware of a strange phenomenon of ageing – I fall asleep readily in front of the TV. Over the last few years it has started to become embarrassing, not least because I used to tell my own parents off for doing the same thing. Just the other night I was avidly watching a Netflix film. …and next thing I know I am waking up, the film has finished and Lara is on her way to bed with…
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