G2

‘It’s refreshing and fun to be nasty about yourself’

I live to declutter – and I won’t let my husband get in the way

Older doesn’t always mean wiser. Jo Whiley has spoken about a home hack she picked up from Dame Judi Dench, and I’m opposed to it with every fibre of my being. Whiley is in a new phase – her four children are grownup – so she recently began the most...

‘When are you going to pay me back?!’

I was abused as a child and thought I had healed. Then I began to drink

I sent myself a letter and realised what’s missing in modern life

Last January, I received a letter. Most of my post was predictably boring – a statement from the water company, my credit card bill, the occasional update about my pension contributions – but this letter was different. The envelope felt heavier than...

Frank Ocean songs

See the full list of 20 at theguardian.com/music 10 White Ferrari (2016) White Ferrari is far from the usual driving anthem; rather, it evokes someone lost in thoughts and memories as they motor along. It’s daring – there is no chorus, the...

Nice while it lasted …

My stammer made life a misery – then a song gave me back my voice

For most of my life, I had one goal: don’t get found out. I was a covert stammerer (or stutterer). Nobody realised I had a speech disability, because whenever I felt I was going to get stuck on a word, I switched it or stayed silent. You’d never catch...

Rejoice, serfs, for the King of the North is touring his domain

Andy Burnham is going on a “listening tour”, travelling the country on a bus to find out what real people are concerned about. I’ve heard commentators rationalise the idea in various ways: apparently it underscores the difference between him and his...

‘I’ve sat at the very precipice of life’

River Phoenix’s best films

1 My Own Private Ihado (1991) The boldness of Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in playing sex workers should not be underestimated. But the narcoleptic hustler Mike, who turns tricks while searching for his mother, was no ordinary job for Phoenix. The...

They know what I like, but they won’t sell it to me

We live, as I’m sure someone’s chief growth officer has recently said, in a golden age for data capture. Jeff Bezos knows what I buy, read and watch; Mark Zuckerberg will be aware that I recently sold a dog transport box. I’ve been conditioned into...

‘I’ll always be that girl who’s rough around the edges’

Does Andy Burnham hate London? Does anyone care?

I’ve seen no evidence of Andy being anti-London,” the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, told the Evening Standard last week, which is quaint and adorable: evidence is so 2009. This is all about feels. Some feel that the prime minister disfavours the capital...

I learned to love my arms – after decades of hating and hiding them

Aren’t you hot in that?” was the question that plagued my summers as a teenager. I would never bare my arms; instead, I would cover up with a trusty black cardigan. Even T-shirts felt too revealing; too tight on the arms, too clinging to the body. I...

The best songs by the Kinks

1 Waterloo Sunset (1967) Critic Robert Christgau called Waterloo Sunset “the most beautiful song in the English language”: it’s among the greatest singles of the 60s, possibly one of the greatest pop songs of all time. On top of a beautiful melody,...

Buzz off !

I’d lost my libido – but it flooded back when I saw Richard Ashcroft on stage

When the world entered lockdown in 2020, I’d just moved into a new flat where, at the age of 56, I found myself living alone for the first time in my life. I’d been separated for nearly a decade from the father of my two kids – one of whom had already...

In the strange world of short-form video, no one can take a breath

It’s not the worst thing about social media, but something dreadful is happening in short-form videos. At first I thought my phone was on the blink. Then I assumed I was just unlucky, that this aberration was practised only by the creators of the very...

The age of extreme job anxiety is upon us

The personal experience of longterm unemployment is one people rarely share, for completely understandable reasons. There’s a bit of superstition that saying it out loud will bed it in. Even if they’re clearly in the grip of superstitions of their own...

Swoon with a view!

Robyn’s greatest songs

See the full list of 20 at theguardian.com/music 1 Dancing on My Own (2010) There’s a reason why Dancing on My Own is regularly listed as not just Robyn’s greatest song, but the best single of the 2010s full stop: it has a lightning-in-a-bottle...

Who cares who wins? I’m cheering for the World Cup referees

I’ve found another way of ruining sport for myself. I thought I’d explored every means of turning the stress dial up to 11, but now I’ve chanced on a new method. I must need the anxiety to feel alive. I go back a long way with this kind of thing. I’ve...

‘I thought of her as a volcano’

John Cusack films

1 Being John Malkovich (1999) John Cusack asked his agent for the “craziest, most unproduceable script you can find”, and the result was Spike Jonze’s feature-directing debut. Cusack, with the saddest hair imaginable, has a ball exploring his dark...

Alicia Keys’ greatest songs

1 If I Ain’t Got You (2003) Ostensibly a love song, but actually inspired by the death of Aaliyah and the 9/11 attacks that happened a few weeks after the singer’s passing, If I Ain’t Got You is Alicia Keys’ most popular song – over 1.5bn streams on...

I’m an only child, and so is my son. We are not weirdos!

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me ... must be a saying thought up by somebody extremely privileged. For everyone else, words wound, and there are certain groups that are seemingly, bafflingly, forever considered fair...

A WhatsApp message about a little-known sport made me briefly famous in Japan

It was December 2023 and I was searching in the attic for Christmas decorations when my phone pinged. I pulled it out of my pocket and found a WhatsApp message from my son who was backpacking in Australia. The message read, simply: “You might want to...

This World Cup is the perfect opportunity to tackle extremism

Whenever my kids and I are stationary in the same room, within five minutes they will have started talking about football. Every now and then, a name will float out that I recognise – Jude Bellingham, say – but most of the time it lacks the dramatic...

‘My life is about beauty’

The best songs about football

1 The Fall – Kicker Conspiracy (1983) Not just the best song about football, but one of the very best Fall songs: a memorable chorus hook over a massive riff, and rackety verses that refracted English football in the early 80s through the prism of...

My year with the robots

I became an uncle – and it helped me heal from childhood bullying

When I found out I had become an uncle, I was 22 and on a year abroad as part of a languages degree, living in Madrid. I’d spent much of my time there having raucous fun on the city’s gay scene, dancing till the early hours then sloping off with...

I devoured classic novels as a teenager. Can I relearn how to read them?

‘I felt I could smash my past up through sex’

‘Music was segregated until disco came out’

You have been an active contributor to an astounding canon of music. What was the essential ingredient that made it all happen? eamonmcc The first word that comes to mind is passion – for the music, for what I do. If you get to be the voice of a song...

I love baseball, but it’s a lonely, left-field passion in the UK

When you’re happy about something, it’s good to share it. And when you’re unhappy about something, it’s also good to share it. But if that something is the performance of your baseball team, and you live in the UK, you’ll have your work cut out finding...

Who gets the sofa?

Turned out nice again!

I couldn’t get anything done – until a kitchen timer pushed me into action

Long before I knew what a 9 to 5 was, I struggled to get things done. When I was a child, I avoided showers for as long as possible and put off brushing my waist-length hair. My mum ended up cutting it into a bob to help me manage it. During my...

Laurie Anderson songs

10 Flying at Night (2024) The best moments of Amelia, Laurie Anderson’s concept album about pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart, come when the songs delve into her internal world. Flying at Night is a case in point. The lyrics are ambiguous – “top speed...

Sorry about the yelling and swearing, but my corn’s playing up again

They really bloody hurt, I tell you. Corns, that is. Or rather, in my case, corn singular. One is enough, trust me. One is enough to have me wincing, limping, yelping, swearing. One is agony. One is plenty. My one is on the lateral side of my left...

I thought doctors had given me a death sentence – but that was 40 years ago

On 21 February 1986, I was diagnosed HIV positive. I was 22. It was the day of my sister’s 21st birthday. That afternoon, my life changed for ever. We had planned a surprise party later that night. My sister was seven months pregnant, and I had gone to...

Where do dogs belong?

I dedicated myself to saving soil – and a life of wild adventure began

Sousan Samadani was watching videos on YouTube one day when she came across a post about how the world’s soil was degrading so rapidly that it was in danger of extinction. The video – posted by the Save Soil movement – “was like a shock for me”,...

Cannes’ biggest controversies

1 Lars von Trier’s solidarity with Hitler (2011) What else could it possibly be? During a press conference for his own film Melancholia, Lars von Trier made a string of wilfully provocative announcements. “I understand Hitler” was the most clippable,...

When I want to feel loved, I just go to a hardware store

Let us all rise to acclaim the local shop, the little independent establishment that always seems to have exactly what you went in for. These places are not many in number, so we must be sure to celebrate those that remain with us. Their prices might –...

Slow down!

Almost anyone can be prime minister. But should they be?

In the late 1800s, the boxing and wrestling scene of east and southeast London was going through a transformation, and if you are interested in that, I recommend the work of the historian Sarah Elizabeth Cox. If, on the other hand, you are more...

‘Being offended isn’t the worst thing. Being poor is’

Lizzo’s best tracks

1 Good As Hell (2016) If you had to pinpoint a moment when Lizzo’s career shifted gear, it would be the release of this track from her EP Coconut Oil. Good As Hell amped up the pop aspects of her second album, Big Grrrl Small World, until they became...

The best filing system? Just sweep everything into the nearest bin

How I hate paperwork. Forms to fill, bills to pay, statements to file, receipts to keep, documents documenting things, proving things, explaining things. Keep them all. Up the pile rises until this tower of fear and confusion can no longer support...

Totally grounded?