Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. So guys, how are you doing? Are you fiiiiiiiine or are you hurtling towards an inevitable pre-holiday collapse? Are you no longer able to reply to anything? Does every communication feel as if it is landing at 5:30pm on a Friday? Do you keep dropping things or bumping into things? Are you boring yourself every time you open...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. THIS WEEK we’re all about the backhanded compliment… “You’re ageing gracefully”. Translation: your entire face is falling off and, oddly, you don't seem to mind. “It’s very you”. Translation: No one but you would be stupid enough to wear that. “I love how discerning you are”. Translation: God you’re a pain in the arse...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. THIS WEEK…Are you at the end of your tether? Do you keep making idle threats such as “Don’t make me say it again” or “I swear I will kill you if you…”? Do you keep setting boundaries (because we are so mentally healthy) and then watching as the boundary crumbles? Are you going to need a bigger boundary? Then this is the...

We are delighted Hugo Rifkind found some space for us during this busy election time… because in between skewering politicians and offering searing commentary in both his Times column and radio show, Hugo Rifkind has written a novel, called Rabbits, which is out now. It’s been variously described as everything from Saltburn with kilts, Trainspotting meets The Secret History – it’s set in the 90s in Scotland and it’s really excellent, so order it now for your holiday. Sorry to be bossy. We...

Here at The Midult we’re slightly obsessed with Clover Stroud and her beautiful, brutal (brutiful?) books. So we are thrilled to say she’s back on the podcast to talk about her latest, The Giant on The Skyline, which is about home, belonging and learning to let go. Clover’s writing is full of ghosts, memories, life and death, and we talk about all these big things, as well as what it’s like to uproot your family and move from Wiltshire to Washington, at the tender age of 48. Adventure or...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we have decided to let go of hot girl summer and are celebrating OLD GIRL SUMMER. As in, wear a bikini or don’t, old girl. As in, be gentle with yourself. As in, who cares if your leg hair is making friends with the leg hair of the person next door to you on the commute. As in, you have never actually been...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we’re all about BIG CRONE ENERGY…Have we entered our crone era? Maybe…wisdom, inner knowing, intuition, perspective and a generally disagreeable manner? Let’s reclaim the crone… PS: The book Emilie was talking about is A History of Women in 101 Objects by Annabelle Hirsch Learn more about your ad choices....

Katherine Ormerod is a writer, journalist, content creator and influencer. If you’ve encountered her sharp bob and soigné style, it won’t surprise you that her home is also super slick. But it might surprise you to know that Katherine is a renter, and she has been decorating her rental homes with more zeal than we have come to expect even from owners. We’re talking DIY, upholstery, shelving, all with such elan that she’s written a book on it, Your Not Forever Home, out now. But it’s not just...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we talk all the tiny, micro-traumas we experience that leave us feeling all wonky. You know, like when someone points a phone at you mid-Facetime. Or a ball lands at your feet in the park and you are clearly expected to kick it, or throw it or…sorry just passed out there for a second…or the doorbell...

OK Annabel is still OOO, so Emilie has roped in a friend of the pod, the marvellous Esther Coren to help. Esther has her own podcast, Giles Coren Has No Idea and a Substack called The Spike and she also gives excellent book recommendations. Given we’re all feeling mad, bad and dangerous to know (not in a swashbuckling-Byronic-way but in a teetering on The-Brink-kind-of-way) perhaps books can soothe us tiny bit: little umbrellas for the mind. We talk about The Paleo Life by Clare Foges (out...

Who doesn’t love a solution story? The tale of a grown-up woman who had a problem and thought, ‘You know what? I am not going to wait for some f****r to fix this – I am just going to do it myself’? This week we have two such stories from the podvault – first up is Sahar Hashemi who smashed through many a ceiling and is still busy opening lots of doors for women: she founded Coffee Republic - three years before Starbucks landed on our shores; for the past couple of years, she’s been putting...

You will have heard of Hadley Freeman, The Sunday Times columnist who writes about feminism, the arts, politics and, she says, anything else that takes her fancy. She is also the author of several acclaimed books – including Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia, just out in paperback. It’s a searing record of her own illness, illuminating the dark corners of this most brutal of mental health disorders, with her deft blend of forensic detail and humour. Please note we talk frankly about...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we talk about all the terrible things that happen to our faces and bodies in pictures: one huge eye bulging next to a normal-sized one; extra leg/hand/foot (who does that belong to?!?), limbs that look like hams - is it because we’re terrible people? Also we’re announcing a change. Sorry. We hate change....

Are you near burn out? Do you find yourself having the same arguments over and over again? Have you had therapy and still find yourself stuck down the same emotional cul-de-sac? In other words, what are you missing? Well, this week we are thrilled to welcome psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell back to the podcast. She’s written another banger of a book, What Am I Missing?, about our blind spots and how they hold us back. We talk about whether we are Rocks, Gladiators, Hustlers or Bridges;...

Happy Good Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This podshot is all about the anti-bucket list: things we plan never to do again. Are we all moving from our “Yes please!” era to our “Are you f***ing joking?” era? Hell, yes. Ouzo (just hearing the word makes us gag a little), organised fun, bikini waxes, segways and more… Learn more about your ad choices....

"When you talk about women like me, there comes a whole host of other things: 'what religion is she? What caste is she? Does she eat pork? Why is she holding champagne? Why is she wearing those clothes?' Then come death threats. And if you're not wearing a headscarf, if you're not talking about religion, you're in no man's land. They say 'you're Asian and you're acting mainstream, what the heck's that about?'" This week on the podcast, the indomitable Saira Khan on the reality of being an...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. Anyway, needless to say, 2024 is kicking our arses…So what does fun even look like, these days? Sitting in the car outside the house? Going home to get ugly? Rubbing our cracked heels together like decrepit crickets? Sending everyone masses of love… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ok guys, time to talk about sex. Are we doing it right/enough? Is the sex we’re having good/interesting/naughty enough? Are we good/interesting/naughty enough? And what to do when it feels as though it’s all gone wrong. THE PRESSURE. So we roped in a psychosexual therapist, and not just any psychosexual therapist: Kate Moyle is also the host of The Sexual Wellness Sessions Podcast and she’s written a book called The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered. We discuss...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we are asking: are you a kitchen criminal? Do you gouge the butter rather than scrape? Do you try to shove the rubbish down in to the bin again and again in order to avoid taking it out? Do you put the milk bottle back in the fridge with a pointlessly minuscule amount left in it? Time to confess… Learn more...

You’ve heard of the glass ceiling, of course. You may have bumped your head on it - or even smashed through it. But have you heard of the glass cliff? This is the phenomenon where female leaders are much more likely to be given the opportunity to step into leadership roles within businesses that are already in a prolonged period of poor performance. And therefore, set up for organisational failure. Well, the wondrous Sophie Williams (author of Anti-Racist Ally and Millennial Black) is the...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. Recently we asked for your best advice - in just four words. As usual you were amazing: “Arrange your alibi first”, said @samanthaddv, “I charge for that” said @duckettlist, “Try not to worry” said @laura_bradley…Tune in for more...    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Annabel was talking to a friend the other day who - sounding improbably zen - confessed that she had given up complaining. Not coffee, not booze, not sugar. But complaining. And we could immediately see the point: imagine not relying on all the negativity and panic and self-doubt for conversation? Imagine…So move over manifesting, we’re sharing this hot tip, because we are bottomlessly kind. So kind that we scream at other drivers when we’re in our cars, to keep them safe and alert on the...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This episode we are all about conversational responses for February. Mostly “No”. But also “Gosh” - for when a response is required but you don’t know what to say. And maybe “I don’t care”. Because, let’s face it…  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is a member of the DDC – the Dead Dad Club. Just like us. Sadly, Cariad Lloyd has been a member since she was 15, when her father died suddenly. After years of floundering, she took her grief and turned it into a beautiful living thing – by talking about it on her award-winning podcast Griefcast and writing about it in her wonderful book You Are Not Alone, out in paperback on the 1st February. She talks to people about their experience of grief and death and in doing so,...