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Old or young, fat or thin, body-positive or body-embarrassed, man or woman, everyone with money seems to be on a weight-loss drug: Wegovy, Mounjaro or Ozempic (which although a diabetes drug, is so often used off label for weight loss that there have been supply shortages). In the past couple of weeks alone, two freewheeling 60+ titans of journalism – my Spectator colleague Julie Burchill and my Telegraph colleague Allison Pearson – have written about how Mounjaro has curbed their hedonism (the former) and unhealthy, ancient patterns around cake (the latter). If these life-loving ladies have taken the plunge, I thought, maybe similarly life-loving 42-year-old me should be considering it?

‘I love serial killers,’ explained Megan, 29, from Kent. ‘People think I’m weird; my sister thinks I’m going to kill someone.’ She travelled to London for the weekend for CrimeCon, a convention dedicated to true-crime lovers. Here, for the eye-watering price of £700 for the two days, strangers can come together to meet the survivors of the UK’s most disturbing crimes, delve into unsolved cases with psychologists, criminologists, police detectives, and speak to victims’ families. At 9 a.m., within 30 seconds of arriving, I was in a talk on blood spatter analysis. People in hazmat suits stood in front of a 10 ft photographic banner depicting a kitchen covered in

Across vineyards in England and Wales, secateurs are being sharpened and buckets are at the ready as owners prepare for harvest. October is usually the month commercial vines give up their fruit before being whisked away to the winemaker–cum–alchemist who turns the juice into wine. As a former vineyard owner (I sold up in January) harvest was always a nervy time of year, enough to drive you to drink. It represents nine months of pruning, de-leafing, weeding, replacing vines, and chemical spraying (yes, pesticides), all assisted by the right amount of rain and sun at the right times. By October, the grapes have, hopefully, the optimum balance of acid and

These days, it’s fashionable to get deliveries of vegetable boxes. Some do it through devotion to the dour idol of seasonality; the true worshipper knows they are buying a challenge. Many great recipes are created to deal with gluts and shortages. Digby Anderson, in his wonderful Spectator food column, pointed out that every good kitchen runs on the solera system. Cooking with what one has, rather than going out and getting what one wants, provides some useful lessons. Foraging for mushrooms is the best lesson of all. The result is both a challenge and, if you’re lucky, a glut too. Beneath every fallen leaf or umbral shadow lies possibility; one