Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2025 i Saga Magazine

Our July picks…

also available as audiobook THE SATISFACTION CAFÉ Kathy Wang Welcome to sunny California, and to the café where tea and sympathy await – a dream project for Joan Liang. From her childhood in Taiwan to Palo Alto, through two marriages and motherhood, Joan has had tough times, she understands the need to belong. Peopled by a rich mix of flawed humanity, this novel joins her on her life odyssey. Satisfaction guaranteed. MEET ME AT THE SEASIDE COTTAGES Jenny Colgan Audiologist Janey Carter's Highland cottage is a little small to contain her stroppy daughter, Essie, home from Edinburgh after losing her high-flying job. They're both scratchy. Janey's husband left. But the power of community, friendship and fresh challenges work their magic. And for both mother and daughter, love is in the…

Before I say anything, I should just clarify: ‘Children, I love you all dearly.’ I am, of course, talking about my own. But some things need to be said – and shared. Bearing that in mind… welcome to my ‘boomerang years’. And, yes, as an Australian I should have seen it coming. But even as someone who had boomerang lessons at school (I kid you not), I didn't see this on the horizon. Incidentally, what's the quickest way to clear a crowded school playing field? Teach someone how to throw a boomerang. For some of us, this confounded aboriginal weapon never came back. Unlike children. The so-called boomerang years can be a headache for modern parents. Kids have a tendency to hijack everything – your favourite room, your best chair,…

Nectarine and burrata salad with candied almonds There are few better ways to serve burrata than on top of nectarines and rocket. With basil for extra freshness and toasted flaked almonds for a bit of crunch, this is the perfect summer salad. Serves 6 YOU WILL NEED • 25g butter • 100g caster sugar • 100g flaked almonds, toasted • 6 large nectarines, halved and stoned • 100g rocket • 1 small bunch of basil, leaves picked • 3 burrata • 50ml thick balsamic vinegar • extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling • freshly ground black pepper METHOD 1 Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Heat a small pan over a medium heat, add the butter and sugar and when it reaches a deep caramel colour, add the flaked…

If you're unlucky enough to lose your mobile phone or have it stolen, you won't just suffer near cataclysmic inconvenience, you'll also realise that quality smartphones are extraordinarily expensive. My iPhone would cost more than £1,600 to replace – £400 more than the MacBook laptop that I use all day, every day, as the main tool of my trade. Yet while I wouldn't wave my laptop around in the street for fear of breaking it, losing it or having some little oik on a moped whizzing by and nicking it, I brandish my precious phone in public places every day. ‘Brand new, laughably cheap smartphones from tiny Chinese brands with strange names are, well, fine’ All over the world, phone thefts are soaring in cities, holiday resorts and on public…

Pension payments Tens of thousands of women (and some men) who claimed child benefit for a child under 16 between 1978 and 2010 could have been paid too little state pension. If they currently get a reduced pension, then it is possible the government owes them a share of an estimated £1 billion underpaid because it did not count what is called ‘home responsibilities protection’ for years when they claimed child benefit. The government wrote to 370,000 people it thought may be entitled but barely one in ten responded, so it is now looking for others who may qualify. Check at gov.uk – search ‘home responsibilities protection’, click on ‘Eligibility’ and scroll down to ‘Check if you're eligible’. It is worth doing as the average payment made so far has…

PODCAST Half-Life THE HISTORY PODCAST, BBC SOUNDS When novelist and journalist Joe Dunthorne decided to research his family history, he was certain it would centre on his Jewish family's escape from Nazi Germany. He interviewed his grandmother about her memories but felt disappointed by their prosaic conversation. It was only after reading an unpublished 1,800-page memoir written by his great-grandfather that the penny dropped. He had been asking his grandmother the wrong questions and not listening properly when she tried to tell him the truth. His family history was far more disturbing than anything he had imagined. His ongoing quest takes him to see American relatives who believe translating the enormous German memoir killed their own father. And later he travels to a Turkish weapons factory where he begins to…

*We welcome your letters, but reserve the right to edit them. Please include your name, address, and email address Don't bank on it Regarding Saga Voices (May), I spent 40-plus years working for a bank. The death knell of bank branches was the reliance on computers. In our area we have a very good banking hub run by the local Post Office (an ex-bank employee). Recent events in Spain and Portugal should be salutary lessons on the over-reliance on computers and online technology. The problem with online banking is the risk of fraud and the habit of keeping passwords with devices. All I can say is, ‘Don't’. Charles Penfold Ulverston, Cumbria Money matters! My wife and I recently experienced a power outage in Spain that lasted 11 hours and affected…

1 Whose album Two Virgins was impounded by US customs in 1968 because its cover featured the two musicians full-frontal nude on the cover? 2 Sir Ephraim Mirvis has held which position in British public life since 2013? His immediate predecessor was the late Dr Jonathan Sacks. 3 So far, 45 people have served 47 US presidencies. Who is the only one to have named his child after an Elvis Costello song? 4 Who rowed for Cambridge in the 1980 Boat Race and only took up acting when a bout of glandular fever forced him to give up the sport? 5 All penguins are native to the southern hemisphere. One species lives near the equator in a group of islands after which it takes its name. What name? 6 In…

I'd love to be ‘matutinal’. This medieval word describes someone who rises early and is immediately bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. As it is, I am entirely in agreement with the writer Glen Cook, who has declared that ‘morning is wonderful. The only drawback is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day’. Recently I have been collecting words that describe the joys of waking early, and they have inspired in me a new determination to embrace the small hours. I thought that this month I might share them with you in the hope of doing the same. Unless, that is, you are already a dawn convert and not, like me, a little ‘crumpsy’ first thing – tired, irritable, and more than a little creased. It turns out there is…

Hello everyone. As I write this, I'm sitting on the terrace of my honeymoon hotel in the Andalusian hills on a trip celebrating 25 years of ‘never a cross word’. At 35, I was a relatively elderly bride – I can stil see the look of sheer relief on my mother's face on my engagement – and remember laughing with my new, annoyingly slightly younger, husband that I would have a bus pass if we made it to our silver wedding anniversary. It seemed a lifetime away, just like it seemed a lifetime away when an older work colleague advised me to put what seemed like a vast amount of cash into the company pension scheme. ‘I know you are only 30 now, Louise, but trust me, you'll thank me…

Glasses. How I hate that word. It bounced around my childhood home endlessly as my mother whinged to me and my father about the essential piece of equipment only she needed. ‘Alvin, where are my glasses?’ He'd patiently point out they were on the top of her head. ‘I can't see a thing through these glasses.’ ‘Give them here, love. I'll clean them for you.’ ‘Jen, are you sitting on my glasses?’ ‘No, Mum, I'm not. I think I'd have felt them if I was. I'll have a look in the bathroom for you.’ And, sure enough, there by the sink were her glasses, left behind after she'd washed her face. Same old stories, day after day, and I could never understand why she constantly misplaced them – she was…

Sir Michael Palin has been on his own for two years but says his late wife Helen is still with him every day. ‘We spent so much time together in this place, just the two of us, that she is always here,’ says the distinguished writer and traveller, sitting in the kitchen of the home in Gospel Oak, north London, which the couple shared for half a century. ‘Her pictures are everywhere, the chairs we used to sit in, the books she used to read, that sort of thing. They have become reassuring.’ That has changed since the awful weeks after Helen died from kidney failure in May 2023. ‘I'm really rather pleased to be able to say this now, because at one time I thought those traces of her…

At a time when we hear about ageism in the workplace, it's refreshing to discover there is a career that prizes life experience – and is positively booming for older people. Celebrants conduct weddings and funerals and they're already big business in Australia and the US. Now, numbers are increasing here, too – and it's those in later life who are signing up. ‘We estimate there were about 4,000 people in the UK doing the job a few years ago but it's closer to 5,000 now,’ says Anne Barber, founder of Civil Ceremonies, which trains celebrants. ‘Over 60% of our learners are 55-plus. We get lots of ex-teachers, nurses and social workers, or people who are fed up with corporate life. ‘We don't have an upper age limit; we train…

One of the most fascinating aspects of reporting international affairs is observing the evolution of political philosophy. As journalists we are at times a little too hasty in pinning political labels on leaders – left wing or right wing – then we are horrified when they deviate from their stated views. But to their constituents whose lives are affected by what their leaders do, it is nothing short of an outright betrayal. President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua is a case that comes to mind. I spent some time there in the 1980s, when the country was in the grip of political upheaval. Nicaraguans had struggled to survive under the yoke of what they saw as a brutal dictatorship, and the US-backed right-wing regime was overthrown in 1979. The country was…

Every party host needs those guests who give more than they demand – arriving on time, mingling easily and bursting with life. Gardens are the same, but if yours feels like a party that's more dozing than dazzling, add sparkle to your guest list with clematis – the free-flowering, perennial climber that, with the right welcome, will keep on giving. The clematis family serves up flowers in every season, offering colour, scent and height even in shade, while giving food for pollinators. While some can cover the biggest eyesore in the garden, others grow happily in pots. And unlike roses, they don't hog the spotlight but give their best in combination with other plants. They'll buddy up brilliantly with roses, evergreens and flowering shrubs to extend interest once others have…

When I was 14 years old, I fell hopelessly in love for the first time. But it's fair to say this relationship was a little one-sided – because the object of my affections was a pot of bronzing powder. Ultraglow was the first ever such powder to be widely available in the UK and the minute it hit the shelves back in the early 80s, I rushed to my local chemist to put a ring on it. Ever since I could remember, my mother had always complimented me on my ‘beautiful, Celtic pale skin’. I had zero idea what Celtic meant, but pale? Who wanted to look pale? George Michael wasn't pale. The glamorous ladies on Dallas who sported tousled manes and told adulterous husbands, ‘You messed with the wrong…

There's an eerie, melancholy sound: a high-pitched wailing that carries on the breeze as we rock in the swell. Some have described it as the lament of lost souls, which feels fitting, given that we're opposite an abandoned island. But a closer look reveals dozens of grey seals hauled out on the beach. The voices are pups trying to locate their mums. I'm off the coast of Kerry, southwest Ireland, on a boat tour. The island in question is Great Blasket, the largest of the Blasket Islands, finally vacated in 1954 when life just became too tough and the inhabitants upped sticks for America. Today, the stone cottages stand empty. But things are looking up for the Blaskets. They are part of the new Kerry Seas National Park (Páirc Náisiúnta…

TURNING 50 50 Cent rapper Hannah Waterman actor Jill Halfpenny actor, right Konnie Huq TV presenter Liz Truss former Prime Minister Tracey Crouch politician TURNING 60 David Miliband politician Dame J K Rowling writer Jeremy Kyle broadcaster Jo Whiley TV/radio presenter Matthew Wright TV presenter, above right Slash musician (Guns N’ Roses) TURNING 70 Iman model, right Monty Don gardener Willem Dafoe actor TURNING 80 Dean Koontz writer Debbie Harry singer (Blondie) Dame Helen Mirren actor, right John Lodge singer (The Moody Blues) Kim Carnes singer Virginia Wade tennis player TURNING 90 Julian Pettifer broadcaster, below…

£100 letter Naga Munchetty's experience (June) of suffering from severe abdominal pain raises a serious concern about the deterioration of the NHS portal [the way patients are dealt with when they contact an NHS service] since 2005. The fact her pain was sudden, severe and worsened by movement should have raised the possibility of peritonitis. She required hospitalisation. Instead, by phone she was advised by a paramedic with an algorithm to take paracetamol. This was inappropriate and dangerous. Since 2005, 24/7 care has been taken out of the hands of general practice, and many such calls for help are similarly triaged, causing needless suffering, or worse. General practice is now focused on routinely collecting NHS data for the monitoring of chronic illnesses, but is there any such monitoring of emergencies?…

More puzzles! There are loads more puzzles on the Saga Magazine app. Download from your app store today! £250 prize PRIZE CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 1 944 David Lean film starring Celia Johnson and John Mills (4,5,5) 8 A sian location of the 1988 Summer Olympics (5) 9 Character killed by Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (8) 11 Rat‑like marsupial with a long tapering snout (9) 12 Reeded orchestral instrument that plays the tuning‑up note (4) 15 Rare nocturnal Madagascan primate (3‑3) 17 Northern Ireland town between Derry and Omagh (8) 19 Language of people from Tartu and Tallinn (8) 20 E arly Greek city famed for its austere way of life (6) 22 Baby possum or kangaroo (4) 23 Director of 1949 film The Third Man (5,4) 27 Bedtime beverage owned by Unilever (8) 28 Ancient mythology of Scandinavia (5) 29…

Alan Davies World According To…, p129 Best known for the BBC's QI and Jonathan Creek, the actor and stand-up comic, 59, is about to go on tour for the first time in a decade to ‘blow away the creative cobwebs’. James Martin Recipes, p62 The chef has starred on countless TV cookery shows and currently hosts James Martin's Saturday Morning on ITV1. He's written over 20 cookbooks, with his latest offering 100 recipes for cheese lovers. Tessa Hilton Brain training, p80 While the former national newspaper editor loves cooking Ottolenghi recipes – the multiplicity of ingredients a brain workout of its own – her all-time foodie obsession is porridge. Mike Unwin Butterflies & Kerry, p26 & p93 The nature expert's piece on the Scilly Isles for Saga won Best UK…

It's your birthday this month. How do you feel about edging closer to your seventies? I can't quite believe it's coming – for me or my contemporaries. We've all been students and working and having fun together and then suddenly here we are. I don't quite know how to take it, to be honest – going into 60 was big enough. For me, that was like jumping through a ring of fire: you run towards it, close your eyes, jump and then you're through. I expect it will be the same for 70! What have you enjoyed about getting older? What I call ‘repowering’ – reconnecting with who you were in your teens or twenties, having fun and living life to the full. Hitting 60, I realised I still had…

A sunny morning in early May, and I'm watching a holly blue butterfly fluttering like windblown blossom around my small urban garden. It's more purposeful than any blossom, though, slowing down as it inspects the ivy on the wall, then zooming over into the neighbour's yard. This is one of the first butterflies to emerge in spring – always, to me, a sign that summer is on the way. And this year in particular its appearance prompts a sigh of relief. ‘The UK is in a butterfly emergency,’ says Dr Richard Fox, head of science at Butterfly Conservation, a charity dedicated to the protection of the UK's butterflies and moths. ‘Our data shows that around 81% of UK butterfly species have declined over the past 50 years, either in abundance…

BOOST… your tomato crop Getting the best harvest from outdoor cordon tomatoes is a race against the weather for these Mexican natives. Aim for quality over quantity by stopping the plant before it gets too tall and leafy, which wastes energy better diverted into fruit. Once the plant has formed four distinct flowering ‘trusses’ (sprays of flowers growing off the main stem), cut it back to one leafy stem above the highest truss. Feed weekly with a high-potash fertiliser and remove sideshoots. PRUNE… to produce more Wielding secateurs isn't just winter work, as cutting in summer can create more fruit and flowers. Wisteria throws out long, whippy stems after flowering, so control its size and encourage buds by cutting these back to four or five leaves from the main stem.…

During the 1880s, Irish soldier and journalist John Augustus O'Shea visited a sherry bodega near Cadiz. He noted that it was owned by none other than the Duke of Wellington. However, when it came to the wine, he was less impressed. Apparently, it was a ‘hell-glass of new spirit, violent assault liquefied’, and the sort of thing ‘over which the idiot of a connoisseur cunningly smacks his lips and rolls his moist eyes’. But O'Shea said, ‘if he were only told how much of it was real and how much artificial.’ Wine in those days could be more of a witch's brew. And this one was ‘charged with sulphuric acid gas… sweetened with cane-sugar… coloured with plastered must… fortified with brandy’ and, worst of all, flavoured with ‘garnacha dulce’. The…

It probably didn't do David Cameron any favours when in 2012 we learned that he thought the acronym LOL meant ‘lots of love’ – when in fact it stands for ‘laughing out loud’. But I was with him 100%. I had always assumed that LOL was an affectionate way of signing off a message, and I would hazard a guess that plenty of Saga Magazine readers thought the same thing. What's certain is that these acronyms have got way out of hand, another unwelcome example of generational division. I can master the likes of OMG (‘oh my God’) and FYI (‘for your information’), but only a Google search tells me what BRB (‘be right back’) or YOLO (‘you only live once’) mean. Then there's ROFL (‘rolling on the floor laughing’);…

Rewarding work Why didn't Anne Robinson suggest volunteering to the person who was seeking a purpose in life after retiring (June)? I volunteered as treasurer at my tennis club for 15 years, and when I gave that up, I became a volunteer with the local Coastwatch team – and it is brilliant. It gives me so much satisfaction to know that I'm doing something useful. And when I become too decrepit, I can just gracefully give it up and find something a bit less active to do instead. Volunteering is so rewarding. Tricia Smith Newlyn, Cornwall Help yourself Hobbies and pastimes may not be enough to find purpose in life after retirement. I retired 20-odd years ago and have found fulfilment, interest and new friends through volunteering. There are hundreds…