Reader's Digest UK July 2022

It seems across the world, countries are being rocked by care home scandals, and the fallout from these often-shocking revelations has many of us a little apprehensive for the day we may find ourselves in an assistedliving facility. For one group of elderly women in London, the idea of living in a traditional care facility—and particularly living in one where they rely upon men—was simply out of the question. On p54, we meet the women who founded, and now live in, New Ground, the only senior women’s cohousing project in the UK. The community of 25 flats and shared spaces is run by its residents under principles of mutual aid, active participation and social inclusion. Now that’s real social change in action. If you’re surprised to see Liam Gallagher gracing the cover…

We pay £50 for Letter of the Month and £30 for all others LETTER OF THE MONTH I felt so inspired reading about Holly Ford, the “Call Box Cake Maker”, in your “Community Power” feature from the May issue. Who doesn’t feel the nostalgic tug of the red phone box? Or feel suffused with a gentle warmth each time they come upon one? Phone boxes are so quintessentially English, conjuring grassy verges, pretty villages and long stretches of open road. They remind us of times gone by, when life was slower and simpler, when community spirit and general decency prevailed. They are statues that represent a time and place and method of communication which once existed. They’re monuments to a past that is just beyond our grasp, reminding us of just how quickly…

AT MY HOUSE, I’ll have you know, barbecue season begins in late March, thank you very much, and is extinguished only in early November. And, actually (to use a meaty metaphor), I prefer the shoulder season. When I offer my guests kebabs at Easter time, they are pleasantly surprised, and typically delighted, to serenade the holiday with cubes of grilled meat (lamb, usually. Rabbit feels a bit on the nose). When Halloween hits, I wheel out my toasted marshmallows, and it’s a joyous festive treat! But midsummer barbecues? I can feel my stress levels rising just thinking about them… Olly Mann presents Four Thought for BBC Radio 4, and the podcasts The Modern Mann, The Week Unwrapped and The Retrospectors For one thing, barbecuing in the summer attracts spectators. I am a…

TO AVOID FILLING this article with asterisks to denote swear words, it will help if you assume that every fifth or sixth word from Liam Gallagher’s mouth during the hour I spent with him began with an F. Only the US singer Kelis has come close for potty-mouthed prolixity in my two decades of interviewing music stars. In other respects, though, Gallagher has mellowed. At a restaurant near his home in Highgate, north London, the former (and, definitely maybe, future) Oasis frontman sips a cappuccino with no sugar. He may just be back from a sun break he describes as such a heavy “seven-day bender” that he needs another holiday, but the days of dedicated, 24/7 hedonism are over. The star once synonymous with chaos and carnage reaches his half-century in…

ONE OF MY FONDEST CHILDHOOD MEMORIES was when my cousin Rob very kindly gave me his 24-inch bike—I was around eight or nine. It was my pride and joy and I really looked after it, although I fell off loads of times. I shouldn’t really still be here because I would do stupid things like going downhill with no hands and one time I ended up in hospital with a concussion. DAD WAS AN ENGINEER FOR THE DAILY MAIL and I loved visiting him in the machine rooms in Fleet Street. Mum was a housewife for a long time, then when we kids got older she worked for Islington Area Health. They were very much post-war parents who instilled in us the idea of “you can achieve anything you want” and…

Summer is here, which means we’re making the most of barbecues, picnics, and other outdoor fun. That’s all good, but it also means we’re at increased risk of mishaps. When it comes to treating injuries, the strategies our parents used may no longer be the right things to do. In some cases, folk tales have been debunked; in others, doctors have found better treatments. “As we learn new things from science, the guidelines change—and that’s happening with first aid. We now have better evidence of what works,” says Dr Sean McGann, a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians and a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. If your first-aid techniques aren’t on target, you could end up exacerbating an injury. In a study published…