The real thing: my battle to beat a 27-year Diet Coke addiction

I have been obsessed with the sugar-free soda since I was four, spending £500 a year on up to seven cans a day. This is what happened when I tried to quit

I have given up on all pleasures. My leisure pursuit? Scratching my toe until it bleeds

While some people are hate-dressing – wearing all their worst outfits – this approach has gradually spread through my entire life, writes Emma Beddington

Pregnant women going for scans alone told they cannot film baby

Exclusive: NHS urged to act after survey finds some women wrongly warned taking photos is illegal

Lockdown cabin fever? 56 tried, tested and terrific ways to beat the boredom

Shaun Ryder keeps chickens, while Mel Giedroyc organises chutney tastings. These small, affordable suggestions won’t end lockdown misery – but they might help

Rachel Clarke: ‘NHS staff are burning with frustration and grief at this second wave’

The palliative care doctor and author on a year of Covid in UK hospitals and her hopes for the vaccine

How to help your children make the most of their screen time

Child development experts on how best to reap the benefits of being online while staying healthy

I was fearful of my daughter’s Down syndrome diagnosis. I had much to learn and more to unlearn

As noninvasive prenatal screening becomes more common in Australia, Elizabeth Callinan wonders what it would have been like to get a high-chance result

Finding meaning in the life of a loved one who dies is part of grief

We’ve all lost so much through the pandemic, but by making sense of it we can look forward

I thrived on the tension and drama of British politics. Then I had a heart attack

I lived for the nerve-shredding rollercoaster of Westminster. But the stress got under my skin, and into my blood

Tim Dowling: I missed the dry January deadline. Wine it is, then

‘I noticed you’ve just decided to press on,’ says my wife. ‘I’ll probably give up for February instead,’ I say. ‘It’s shorter.’