Helen Coffey

“TikTok’s viral cucumber salad recipe sends couple to hospital.” Could any headline more aptly sum up the skills vacuum that haunts an entire generation when it comes to cooking? The recipe in question involved slicing up a cucumber and adding some flavour by way of sauce and spice — to even call it “cooking” would be somewhat of a stretch — and the influencer couple in question ended up in hospital because the man used a mandoline to do the slicing. Suffice to say he wasn’t as careful as he should have been. (Fear not, the pair were back to making social media videos the second they’d returned from A&E to reattach the tip of his finger.)

The retailer has been forced to apologise for its ‘suggestive’ T-shirts – but it’s part of a much more pernicious problem of sexism on the high street, writes Helen Coffey

The retailer has been forced to apologise for its ‘suggestive’ T-shirts for girls – but it’s part of a wider landscape of sexism when it comes to kids’ clothes, writes Helen Coffey

Writer and director Bexy Cameron was raised in the infamous Children of God cult before escaping at just 15. She tells Helen Coffey about her stranger-than-fiction childhood, the struggles of starting over and how she discovered who she was in the real world

Ever feel overwhelmed by ostensibly small tasks to the point where they hang over you for months at a time? You’re not alone. Helen Coffey asks the experts how we can break free of the debilitating procrastination cycle when it comes to our personal lives

There’s a story that has haunted me for years. Seven years, to be precise — because, much like the bad luck that comes from breaking a mirror, that’s the amount of time it takes for your credit record to be scrubbed clean of late payments (or “delinquencies”, as they are rather extravagantly known). This story doesn’t involve me being profligate or bad with money. It involves me being defeated by my one true nemesis: life admin. When I was in my late twenties, I moved out of a shared flat. All of the utility bills were paid out of a bank account in my name. When I left, I asked my old housemates to “sort it out”. Part of me knew, deep down, that I should take matters into my own hands rather than trust three random women I’d met through Spareroom.co.uk: cancel all the direct debits; shut down the now defunct account. But whenever I thought about it, my head felt hot and fuzzy. I’d need to find letters and reference numbers, I’d have to call up and sit on hold listening to terrible music or fill in online forms. Writing it down now, these things sound like the most minor of irritants. Back then, they felt like the most major of stumbling blocks.

Ever feel overwhelmed by ostensibly small tasks to the point where they hang over you for months at a time? You’re not alone. Helen Coffey asks the experts how we can break free of the debilitating procrastination cycle when it comes to our personal lives

Nearly half of us leave a doctor's appointment without having discussed all our health concerns. It's no wonder when we're given 10 minutes and made to feel guilty for being there in the first place, writes

Nearly half of us leave a doctor’s appointment without having discussed all our health concerns. It’s no wonder when we’re given 10 minutes and made to feel guilty for being there in the first place, writes Helen Coffey

National pride has taken a nosedive over the last decade. But with Brexit, Covid cronyism and unsavoury royal revelations, is it any wonder, asks Helen Coffey