The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

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The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

Continue reading...

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

A bereaved young customer was baffled by the wildly fluctuating balances the energy supplier claimed on a family’s account When my mother died of cancer, my aunt adopted me. She, too, died of cancer in 2024.

At 26, I am now alone and struggling to deal with enormous, nonsensical energy bills from E.ON Next. In 2022, I discovered my aunt had been paying massive ly inflated bills for the flat I shared with her, so I had the account closed and a new one set up in my name.

An E.ON agent took meter readings, a smart meter was installed, and a final bill sent showing the account was more than £6,000 in credit. E.ON wouldn’t let me have it in cash, so the credit was transferred to the new account and used to pay the bills for the next two years.

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

Jammy leeks, savoury sweet chawanmushi and toasted sesame seeds make this flaky pastry dish feel decadent and special This savoury custard tart celebrates some of my favourite flavours (and dishes): jammy miso leeks, savoury-sweet chawanmushi (a Japanese steamed custard flavoured with dashi) and toasty sesame seeds, all enveloped in flaky pastry. It feels decadent, so it’s best served with a simple fennel salad, zingy with apple cider vinegar and mustard.

It’s excellent eaten while still warm from the oven (be patient!), but even better as leftovers, because I have a soft spot for cold eggy tarts. Ferment: Simple Ferments and Pickles, and How to Eat Them, by Kenji Morimoto, is published by Pan Macmillan at £22.

To order a copy for £19.80, visit the guardianbookshop.com Continue reading...

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

The cinema chain didn’t warn me clearly when I went to see Avatar: Fire and Ash that I needed to register my number plate I parked at Cineworld in Chichester to watch the new film Avatar: Fire and Ash. It is more than three hours long and, when I returned to my car, I’d received a penalty charge notice (PCN) for overstaying.

I’d watched the previous two Avatar films there without a problem. Continue reading...

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

As a study says a pet death can hurt as much as that of a relative, three people describe their emotions Grief over the death of a pet could be as chronic as that for a human family member, according to research . The study, published in the academic journal PLOS One, suggests grieving pet owners can suffer from prolonged grief disorder (PGD).

PGD is a mental health condition that can last months or even years, and often involves intense longing and despair, and problems socialising and going about daily tasks. Currently, only those grieving the loss of a person can be diagnosed.

Continue reading...

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

Forget draughty bunk rooms and awkward social encounters, hostels now provide home comforts and a sense of community private rentals will never match ‘Penguins? In Snowdonia?” I asked incredulously.

“That’s right!” came the enthusiastic reply from our newest hostel companion. We were standing in the large kitchen of The Rocks hostel in Capel Curig, a village in the north-east of Eryri national park (Snowdonia), chatting amiably while waiting for our teas to brew.

“Head up Moel Siabod to the lake, and that’s where the penguins are. You’ll see a sign warning about feeding them,” he said.

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

The Glory was a haven for outlandish self-expression and the early stomping ground for many of the UK’s most infamous drag queens. It made me ready for life In a packed pub, revellers chat, sip lager and look at their phones.

Suddenly a side door crashes open, and in walks drag sensation John Sizzle, dressed as a hair-raisingly accurate Diana, Princess of Wales. She saunters demurely to a halo, fashioned from tinsel and coat hangers and stuck to the wall, stands under it, and starts lip-syncing to Beyoncé’s Halo.

The crowd erupts. Continue reading...

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

For three weeks, I wore stickers on my skin supposed to address all sorts of conditions. Are they a panacea, problem or performance?

This morning, I woke up feeling a little groggy. My go-to remedy is usually a coffee and cold-water face plunge, followed by a compulsive phone scroll.

But today called for something more, so I unpeeled a small, yellow “energy” patch the size of a walnut, popped it on to my upper arm and hoped for the best. The patch (£12 for 30) contains – so the packaging says – vitamins B5, B3 and a “microdose” of caffeine.

The Guardian - Fashion • Jan. 20, 2026, 10:47 a.m.

New menswear director Leo Dell’Orco appears to have ditched the ‘greige’ while embracing the brand’s history What exactly Giorgio Armani looks like without its eponymous founder at the helm has been the burning question in the fashion industry since the designer’s death in September . In Milan on Monday afternoon, it got its answer as the designer’s collaborator and right-hand man of four decades, Leo Dell’Orco, made his debut at the Italian fashion house where he will oversee menswear for the foreseeable future.

It was the first Armani collection in which the late designer had no involvement. Continue reading...

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