Choice Magazine

We moved into our new-build house six years ago and it is now overdue for decorating. The exterior was done last autumn and the living room received a complete makeover earlier this year. Now it’s the turn of the kitchen, hall, stairs, bedroom and th

Editor Norman Wright Sub Editor/Writer Simon Evans Office Manager Caroline Kingdom Your Money and Your Rights Teri Harman Design Kirsty Craner, AT Graphics, Peterborough Publisher Clive Nicholls Manager Jayne Cureton e-mail: [email protected]

■ 4 orange skin halves (previously juiced)■ 200g ground almonds■ 200g caster sugar■ 5 eggs, beaten■ ¾ tsp baking powder■ Butter or oil for greasing■ 80g dark chocolate, melted and drizzled over the cake 1 Put the orange skin halves in a saucepan, cov

Write to Your views, Choice, 4 Milnyard Square, Orton Southgate, Peterborough PE2 6GX, or email us at: ([email protected]). (Views expressed are those of the individual correspondent and not necessarily those of the magazine) Just a note whic

Soothing, relaxing and stress reducing, these CDs from GAP MuSic and it’s sister label Tantajo Records are a great addition to any music collection. Checkout the GAP website: (www.gapmusic.co.uk) for more wonderful music for relaxation and wellbeing.

Email your poems to: ([email protected]) or post to Your Poetry, Choice, 4 Milnyard Square, Orton Southgate, Peterborough PE2 6GX Let’s start our Christmas card listI need to make sure no one is missedDon my specs and take a lookFlick the pag

OFFICIALLY IN the running for the title of UK City of Culture 2025, Southampton is wooing visitors looking for a short break with a major new contemporary art exhibition. Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature draws on Derek Jarman’s extraordinary legacy as a

UNHEALTHY LEVELS of cholesterol can lead to heart problems, such as heart disease or stroke, so it is important to take steps to lower it where possible, especially when it comes to diet. There are two main types of cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol (

Gail Willis is an exponent and teacher of Hatha Yoga. She brings Choice readers a new exercise every month. Gail, who is now a full-time yoga instructor in Kettering, Northamptonshire, has recruited her mother Janet Rogers to help demonstrate the exe

Nail it There’s everything you need to create long lasting colour with the Mylee Gel Perfect LED Manicure Kit including base and top coats plus foe fast acting LED light, £60, from (feelunique.com) or for natural nails, Lloyd’s Pharmacy Nail Kind Gif

COMPARING 2021 with the Seventies is currently a favourite topic for newspaper columnists (often written by journalists who don’t remember back that far!). Opinion is divided, but many commentators have declared today’s problems are not only reminisc

1 Are State pensions taxable? a Yes b No 2 Can you ‘inherit’ a State pension from a spouse on his or her death? a Yes b No c Depends 3 How many years’ National Insurance Contributions do you need for a full State pension? a 30 b 35 c 40 4 At what age

ANDREW MEGSON is executive chairman of My Pension Expert, the UK’s number one Advised Retirement Income Specialist. Founded in 2010, My Pension Expert specialises in providing independent advice to UK consumers about their pension plans, and arranges

FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY (fintech) has become a staple of Britons’ financial management, from digital banking to investment platforms. It’s impossible to ignore the exponential increase in fintech usage throughout the previous ten years alone. Indeed, fi

Q We are currently in the fortunate position of owning two houses, one of which we are in the process of selling. We are looking at using part of the proceeds to help our son and his girlfriend buy their first home, but are not sure what is the best

It was a terrible moment for the signalman half a mile north of Peterborough station as the magnificent streamlined A4 locomotive left the tracks and ploughed towards his box. The accident occurred on September 1,1955 as the 3.50pm King’s Cross to Le

Hello and welcome to my Craft Corner! Every month I share two new projects with Choice readers -one for those who enjoy hobbies such as papercrafting, upcycling and decoupage, and one for those who are fond of sewing and needlecraft, where I focus on

Morecambe and Wise At ITV Morecambe and Wise At Thames Morecambe and Wise: Xmas at ITV (Network) Although usually associated with the BBC, as a result of their Seventies Christmas shows, Morecambe and Wise spent large parts of their career with the I

IT MAY be the depths of winter but December is far from quiet in terms of bird life in our gardens. If you’ve kept your feeders topped up, a really cold snap could bring in lots of different species, keen to take on some quick and much-needed calorie

GET IN the festive spirit with The Official Christmas No 1 Singles Book, by Mike Mulligan (Bonnier, £12.99), which has the complete lowdown on every seasonal chart-topper from Al Martino’s 1952 Here In My Heart right up to LadBaby’s recent hits. Ther

Apple Music 55 tracks, 2hrs 52mins This playlist offers an alternative soundtrack to Christmas if you have tired of Bing Crosby, Noddy Holder and Bob Geldof’s choir of assorted pop stars. All the familiar carols and one or two not so well known perfo

BY HEATHER DHONDY Before reading on, cover the East and West hands on the deal below. LOVE ALL;DEALER WEST Playing pairs, West passes, North opens one diamond and South responds one heart. West now doubles, North rebids one notrump and South ends the

by Dominic Nolan Published by Headline Price £18.99 Pages 592 ISBN 9781472288851 In 1935, Soho is Sergeant Leon Geats’s patch. There’s not much he doesn’t know about the people inhabiting this infamous area of London, the working girls, the pimps, th

INDEPENDENT FASHION brand Belle-Modelle has launched its first BM branded womenswear collection for autu winter 2021, featurin brightly coloured and affordably priced cosy sweaters and scarves. Affordability and comfort have been key in the developme

With their gilded ceilings and glittering chandeliers, the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace provide a magnificent setting for many of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection. A Buckingham Palace Guided Tour, available until January 30, gives

Ever looked at a map and found yourself laughing about a curious place name? I do it all the time, and on a trip south, while my wife did the driving, I looked at a map of the area we were passing through. By the time we’d reached home, I’d scribbled

MONEY A bit tight for you in the run-up to Christmas? Well, if at this most expensive time of the year you’re feeling the pinch – and if you’re old-fashioned enough to feel uneasy about letting the credit card take the strain – here’s a word or two o

See how many of the following questions, testing your memory of people and events of the past, you can answer, and then find out how you did by checking over the page: 1 What do these three have in common – Sally Ride, Helen Sharman and Alexei Leonov

A major event in many a childhood was when dad (it was usually dad) went off to buy a second-hand car. He knew, and the family knew, that there was something about the forecourt that was reminiscent of the lion’s den. After kicking the tyres, asking

How’s your marriage? If it’s holding up, you’re defying the statistics. For the steady trend – for fewer people to marry, and for those who do to be older – is continuing, and the number of couples divorcing is increasing. When the last measure was t

... that in December 1978, 2000 uniformed policemen were drafted into London’s West End to foil any threat of bombing of shoppers by the IRA. In the last week before Christmas, troops with automatic weapons were patrolling at Heathrow Airport ... in