Perimenopause and its big sister, menopause, can seem like the cruellest of jokes after a lifetime of hormone-related struggles. Ensemble‘s Rebecca Wadey felt overwhelmed and panicked, until she started talking, and listening, and realised she wasn’t the only one. 2020 has been a confusing mess. I pride myself on my ability to cope with stress, … Read more
If we started seeing it as a process of becoming more and more ourselves, would we find more value in ageing? For the first 15 years of my life, I desperately wanted to be older. Then came a period of about the same length during which I enjoyed being young. In my fourth decade, I’ve … Read more
Marion McLeod revels in the return of Olive Kitteridge, the compassionate curmudgeon who won Elizabeth Strout a Pulitzer Prize. It’s the year of the sequel: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, Toy Story 4, Rambo 5 … Do movies ever make it to double figures? Books and miniseries certainly do. Genre fiction spawns sequels: much-loved … Read more
For the ageing episode of On the Rag, Michèle A’Court decided to take herself along to a plastic surgeon to see what needed sprucing up. The results may shock you. I’m not as young as I used to be. I know this because a) I have a mirror and b) people mention it. It’s a … Read more
While ageing men are celebrated as sexy silver foxes, their female counterparts tend to slowly disappear from our screens – an example of how prejudices often leave older women sidelined. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Alex Casey talks to two women who are defying the expectations around old age. At 82 years … Read more
Ruby Porter’s debut novel, Attraction, is a lucid, layered story of three young women on a road trip across the North Island. It’s one of the best books we’ve read this year. Here, Ruby writes about her grandmother – who is not like the grandmother in her book – and Levin, and how the two … Read more
For their latest ageing episode, Hilary Barry joins the On the Rag team to talk wrinkle creams, menopause and why people still think she is Jeremy Wells’ mum. This month’s episode of On the Rag is all about ageing. Time ravages us all, of course, but there’s no denying that women bear the bigger burden … Read more