Issue 1350

10 Aug 2020
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About this issue: Overview

Don’t go compare We may be beset by social media insecurities and a pandemic but the lesson Matt Haig wants to emphasise is that things do get better. The author turned mental health advocate tells Saskia Murphy about parallel universes, aliens learning to love humanity – and how to take a relaxed approach to home schooling.

A woman’s problem Kath Sansom’s long campaign for women’s health was vindicated last month when a government review criticised the use of vaginal mesh, pregnancy tests and an epilepsy drug. But it’s taken its toll on her, finds Saskia Murphy.

Artificial highs What use are higher wages for a breadwinner if they’re not shared equally with their families? Historian Emma Griffin has trawled through hundreds of autobiographies from the Victorian age to find lessons for the modern economy.

Plus News, arts and entertainment, columnist Roger Ratcliffe on being paid to eat, Harry Potter actor Jeremy Isaacs’s letter to his younger self, crossword, Sudoku and more.