9 d. ago It’s been a big, beautiful week of bad news for Trump. But don’t expect it to stick | Zoe Williams

Elon Musk is tapping out, and a court has stepped in on tariffs. But the wheels coming off doesn’t mean the bus is stoppingNothing is going according to plan for the Trump administration. The big, beautiful bill, originally vaunted to save the US taxpayer at least $2tn, so far, according to projections, delivers savings in the region of $9.4bn. Elon Musk has exited government, saying he wasn’t in favour of the bill, which could be big, or beautiful, but in this case, not both. Musk’s government contract ran for only 120 days, so it would have been up at the end of this week anyway.Just to try to lasso those words back to an observable reality where they might mean something, the bill isn’t all that big; there are some very vindictive moves around Medicaid entitlement, intended to fund tax cuts elsewhere, that will have seismically bad outcomes for vulnerable individuals without necessarily burning a hole in anyone else’s pocket. Tips and overtime are exempted from tax, but probably ...

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1 week ago Dr Zoe Williams on how to prepare for menopause in your 30s and 40s

The TV doctor wants women to be aware of what’s coming, and feel empowered

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1 week ago Think you know a lot about Dickens? Then who’s this Herbert character? | Zoe Williams

This minor figure from Great Expectations has sown panic at the GCSEs. Be honest: have you even heard of him?It’s unwise to drill too deeply into the exact questions that come up in a GCSE paper. You can’t get a proper sense of proportion when: you most likely don’t know the answer the examiners are looking for, or anything about the subject; your kid can’t remember what they wrote anyway; and someone on TikTok has the mark scheme. But do they really? Or is it more TikTok nonsense? You’ll either get sucked into the catastrophe-vortex, or you fall into the trap of minimising, looking over your metaphorical half-moon glasses and going, “I’m sure it’ll be fine, darling,” like an Edwardian dad.All parents and teachers know this, which is what made last week so very unusual. The English paper set by one of the main examining boards has a character question that encourages pupils to engage deeply with someone in the key text. It might not be the main character, but usually it will be one ...

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1 week ago Dr Zoe Williams: How I’m preparing my body for menopause – and why our 30s and 40s is the perfect time

The TV doctor wants women to be aware of what’s coming, but feel empowered.

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1 week ago Are millennials really substituting dogs for children? Obviously not – as any dog owner would know | Zoe Williams

Take it from me: far from being fungible objects of love, canines and kids are the opposite of each other in so many waysSometimes, when surprising new findings are published, you can’t help but wonder why they asked that particular question, even as your interest is piqued by the answers. Last week, European Psychologist published a review of recent advances in pet research, and wrote: “Given the two trends of more dogs being viewed as family members and a decline in the number of children, an important question arises: are people choosing dogs as a substitute for children?”The authors concluded: well, sometimes. One study found that 16% of dog owners actively thought of their dogs as children; another commented on the frequency with which owners referred to themselves as “pet parents”, their best friends as “fur babies”. However, they also cautioned that, “contrary to popular belief, only a small minority of dog owners actually treat their pets like human children. In most cases, ...

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2 w. ago I finally managed to impress the gen Z of my household – by admitting I skived out of an open day | Zoe Williams

Back in 1990, my sister and I pretended we were looking at universities when we were, in fact, roaming around shopping malls. This astounded my teensWhen you book your kid on a university open day, places tend to have a pretty strict specification: no more than one guest. Me and the middle teen kicked this around a bit, planning her trip to Bristol. Her friends could book their own place; it definitely wasn’t a cocktail party; so what kind of guest, exactly, did they have in mind? “They mean a parent. Didn’t you go with your parents?” Oh boy, no, we did not.My sister and I used to tell our mum that one of us had to go to, say, Newcastle, and the other one should go too, in case she got lost. Then we’d trouser the train fare – even in 1990, it was a lot – and spend the day in the Arndale centre in Wandsworth. Sometimes we went to the cinema. We never did anything lavish, like go out for lunch. We spent an awesome amount of time and a not negligible amount of money in the Body Shop. C...

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3 w. ago After 35 years, the Menendez brothers have a chance for parole. Was that the Netflix effect? | Zoe Williams

It is hard to prove the judicial impact of two shows inspired by the notorious double murder case. But undoubtedly, they heightened public scrutinyWhen the true-crime documentary Menendez Brothers: Misjudged? aired in 2022 on Discovery+, its impact was not immediate, except on TikTok, where – chicken and egg-style – it was hard to determine whether people were talking about the case because of the show or because a general cultural osmosis had brought the topic to the fore.Erik and Lyle killed their parents in 1989, when they were 18 and 21. They alleged a childhood of sexual, psychological and physical abuse by their father, which their mother knew about but didn’t act on. The judge disallowed what was called the “abuse excuse” at the time, and the prosecution successfully landed the argument that they had murdered their parents for their inheritance, resulting in whole-life sentences without the possibility of parole. Continue reading...

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3 w. ago The toxic debate about obesity rages on. But at least we know if Mounjaro or Wegovy is better for weight loss | Zoe Williams

I was recently asked to explain the media’s attitude to weight loss drugs. And the more I tried, the more sheepish I became‘Why you might be given the ‘second-best’ weight-loss drug”, ran the i’s coverage of the most recent research findings: Mounjaro is officially more effective than Wegovy. And there are plenty of perfectly sensible reasons. Wegovy, which produces an average weight loss of 14%, might suit you fine. It’s the only drug approved for reducing the risk of a major cardiovascular event because it’s been on the market for longer. Mounjaro, reducing weight by 20%, might end up on top in the long run. The media often takes a scandalised tone about pharmacological innovation: whether it’s the NHS trying to palm you off with second best, or big pharma selling snake oil, someone is always out to get you. “This seems OK; let’s see how it goes” is a peculiarly difficult editorial line to take.I was part of a panel discussion last week at “Ozempic Nation”, part of the British Lib...

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