Mary Claire Haver talks armpit fat, hormone replacement therapy and the 10,000 women asking her for advice

If you are a woman born in the 70s who has Googled “menopause” on an iPhone, you probably know who Mary Claire Haver is. Ever since the physician pivoted from focusing on her Houston area OB-GYN practice to menopause care in 2021, the fast-talking Texan has been flooding social media with advice about navigating the maladies of midlife .

With a following of 4 million across a handful of platforms, she has tackled menopause from seemingly every angle, including supplements, sleep, nutrition, exercise (she’s been going through a weighted vest phase) and, of course, hormone replacement therapy, commonly called HRT – though Haver prefers to say “MHT” (menopausal hormone therapy).

There’s more to looking after your internal microbiome than stuffing down the 4Ks. Here are some cheap, readily available alternatives

Kimchi, kefir, kombucha, ’kraut. Mention the words “gut health” to anyone these days and the “4 Ks” will spring to mind. Yet there are other ways to support your gut microbiome, many of which are cheaper and more readily available.

Sometimes they are better for you, too. “Many of those flavoured kombuchas and kefirs you find in the shops – they might have something notionally good, like fibre and culture, but these ingredients are often there simply to allow health claims to be put on products which are high in sugar and engineered to drive excess consumption,” says Chris van Tulleken, doctor and author of Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop? “You can’t have food that’s good and bad.”

Horseshoe or high-waisted? White or indigo? Perfect denims are your go-to staple, but finding the right fit, style and colour is tricky. Here, fashion experts and trendsetters have all the answers

Chioma Nnadi , head of editorial content, British Vogue
Skinny jeans had such a chokehold on fashion in the 2010s, so it’s hard to imagine a full-on revival so soon. I was actually quite surprised to see them turn up at some of the big shows this season: Prada, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton. It might be that our obsession with indie sleaze is finally taking hold in a bigger way and then, of course, you have zeitgeisty cultural moments that have put them back in the conversation, like the Amy Winehouse biopic. Personally I’ve never found them to be particularly flattering, at least not on me. So I’ll be steering clear this time around. @chiomannadi

Charlotte Jones, John Hunter, Geoff Smith and Sally Bates all agree that it teaches financial responsibility and treats them as grownups

Covid brought three of our adult children back home, and we had to invent a major home renovation project to persuade them to step out into the wide world. Like some of Sue Elliott-Nicholls’s interviewees ( My two adult kids have had to move back home. Should I be charging them rent – and if so, how much?, 4 May ), I love them dearly, and feel grateful for the extra time we had as a family, but didn’t think twice about asking them to contribute to the household –financially and for chores.

Between four adults (three in Bristol and one in London), our children pay more than £4,400 a month in housing costs. There is likely to be no house-buying for them unless we sell up and downsize, and hand on our baby-boomer equity – or they land incredibly high salaries. Some more research on the likelihood of the latter would be gratefully received, as we have a lot of travel in mind for our retirement and could do with the cash.
Charlotte Jones
Compton Dundon, Somerset

Could I, at 57 years old, learn something new? I wasn’t young, but wasn’t old either – so it was the perfect leap to take

A few months ago, I asked myself what seemed at the time a simple question: could I, at 57 years old, learn something new? It had been a long time since I had set my mind to a set of really immersive new skills.

I had been mulling a certain skill for a while. It wasn’t completely foreign, yet would still require some large neural resets and challenges – some good old psychological disequilibrium.

All designers who have gone through carbon audit are eligible for consideration for green award

A green medal for sustainability is to be introduced at the Chelsea flower show, rewarding gardens with the lowest carbon impact.

Landscape designers are reporting that clients are commissioning them to make their gardens more wildlife-rich and eco-friendly, and that nature-friendly gardening is becoming increasingly important.

Fruitful exchanges require input from two people. Listen carefully to what others are saying and use feelings, rather than facts, to connect

How do you do conversation? I don’t understand how it works. I can only ever communicate factual information such as “A coffee and a croissant, please.”

Other people seem to rattle on about anything and everything, constantly jumping from one topic to another, but I can never follow. If I ever feel that I have something to contribute and try to join in they simply ignore me or change the subject. If I try to initiate a conversation, for example by complimenting someone on their obviously expensive camera, they will initially respond but after about 60 seconds turn away as soon as they realise that I am “trying to make conversation ”.

From a velomobile to inline skating and audiobooks, six people reveal how travelling to work is no chore

The pandemic opened the eyes of many to the benefits of running or cycling to work – or “ active commutes ” – and some have kept up the habit.

No longer content with long drives or boring train rides, commuters have been seeking ways to make their journeys more productive and enjoyable.

Courage of celebrities called into question as key fashion event passed devoid of political statement

As pro-Palestinian protests unfolded blocks away and Israel carried out airstrikes on Rafah, the Met Gala, which took place in New York on Monday evening, unfolded devoid of political statement.

Attenders wore dramatic dresses made of sand or tens of thousands of crystals, had teams of helpers lug heavy trains and wore suits akin to three-seater sofas . Yet any sartorial statement about what was happening beyond the red carpet was absent. The nearby chants of protesters did nothing to pierce the vacuum.