The world turns and as I write the first Weekend Read of the year, I do so with the hope that as the weeks and months unfold we will all be in a better place in the fullness of time. 

As the global situation on the pandemic takes a harsher grip, I welcome you to the Weekend Read knowing that the trauma has deepened and we have to address this as best we can. 

As I welcome you to the Weekend Read, I think the best thing I can say here is that with each passing day we are a step closer to lighter days and, I hope, lighter moments.

At the end of the last Weekend Read, I wrote that my resolve is strengthened by your love and support in all that we are and all that we do.  So as I welcome you to another Weekend Read, perhaps we can take a moment to bathe in the collective energy that we create together.

Little story: when my formerly dotty and very neurotic horse (Arab cross thoroughbred, an inflammable combination) had to travel in a horsebox, which he loathed, we used to dab lavender oil under his nostrils. He didn't become a Dobbin but he did become much calmer.

Albeit one of the strangest years most of us have lived through, somehow or other we reach December and I’m not quite sure how that has happened.

As we continue to dress ourselves up in front of your very eyes, I hereby announce that all the editorial features are back on our site, and we are still standing. In full transparency, I will continue to walk you through some of the changes we are making and why we are making certain decisions. For me, one of the most important things is to retain the values that are so important for each of us.

If there was one thing that I absolutely knew, it would be that when we put our new site live last week there would be issues, there always are.

Filmmaker Emma*, 55, a mother of two and recent grandmother, gave this account of her experience with an online CBT programme recommended by her GP to help manage her feelings of anxiety and depression

Well here we are, and as you may have seen, we put our new site live on Thursday.

Well, here we are and as the world continues to turn inside out and upside down, it is all we can do to stay as close as we are to each other as we have done for most of this year.  I am infinitely

Try as we might, there aren’t many reasons to embrace winter this year.