This week we talk to the brilliant columnist, satirist and broadcaster Hugo Rifkind about the rubbish new normal - from the threat of 'space weather' to Donald Trump sex dreams, via our old friend Brexit (remember him?) and our even older friend impostor syndrome.

P.S. This week’s episode is sponsored by the fun-fact-filled magazine, The Week Junior. You know how when you are a kid you think, 'I can’t wait to be an adult and then I will know everything'? Obviously, that didn’t pan out, but The Week Junior can help the young people in your life make sense of the world. The Week Junior is the current affairs magazine for 8-14 year olds. Its pages are packed with the latest news, animals, nature, science, books, sport, technology, films, recipes and puzzles to stimulate and inform those curious minds. It might even give you some help working out what the hell is going on! I’m Absolutely Fine! listeners can visit theweekjunior.co.uk/themidult to try their first 6 issues of The Week Junior absolutely FREE, with home delivery included.
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Episode 50: The rubbish new normal with Hugo Rifkind

Do you feel like a fully-functional human person? Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan of The Midult look at all the glamour and indignity of being a grown-up, while rummaging through the handbags, emotional knicker drawers and lives of some extraordinary people.

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Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

You will have heard of Hadley Freeman, The Sunday Times columnist who writes about feminism, the arts, politics and, she says, anything else that takes her fancy. She is also the author of several acclaimed books – including Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia, just out in paperback. It’s a searing record of her own illness, illuminating the dark corners of this most brutal of mental health disorders, with her deft blend of forensic detail and humour. Please note we talk frankly about this devastating illness. It sounds “oof” (take this as your trigger warning) but Hadley is so generous both in the book and on the podcast that it feels like a ray of light rather than a trauma wallow...
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Episode 192: Hadley Freeman

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we talk about all the terrible things that happen to our faces and bodies in pictures: one huge eye bulging next to a normal-sized one; extra leg/hand/foot (who does that belong to?!?), limbs that look like hams - is it because we’re terrible people? Also we’re announcing a change. Sorry. We hate change. But we have to change. Here’s the thing: For the past six years, we’ve been sending out our free newsletter. But if internet years were like dog years that would be (Jesus, MATHS now?) 42 years. It’s so nice to get things for free, isn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s no longer possible for us to do it for free, so we are going to have to change. And, by change, we mean charge. We’d love you to continue to sail with us on HMS Midulthood for this bumpy, occasionally nausea-inducing, disappointingly-hot-pirate-free voyage on Substack - you know we believe that, if we’re not in it together, we’re not in it at all. Link in bio… 
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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 19:

Are you near burn out? Do you find yourself having the same arguments over and over again? Have you had therapy and still find yourself stuck down the same emotional cul-de-sac? In other words, what are you missing? Well, this week we are thrilled to welcome psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell back to the podcast. She’s written another banger of a book, What Am I Missing?, about our blind spots and how they hold us back. We talk about whether we are Rocks, Gladiators, Hustlers or Bridges; about attachment styles and assumptions. Yikes…
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Episode 191: What Are You Missing? with Emma Reed Turrell

Happy Good Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This podshot is all about the anti-bucket list: things we plan never to do again. Are we all moving from our “Yes please!” era to our “Are you f***ing joking?” era? Hell, yes. Ouzo (just hearing the word makes us gag a little), organised fun, bikini waxes, segways and more…
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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 18:

"When you talk about women like me, there comes a whole host of other things: 'what religion is she? What caste is she? Does she eat pork? Why is she holding champagne? Why is she wearing those clothes?' Then come death threats. And if you're not wearing a headscarf, if you're not talking about religion, you're in no man's land. They say 'you're Asian and you're acting mainstream, what the heck's that about?'"
This week on the podcast, the indomitable Saira Khan on the reality of being an Asian woman in the UK and why, with her skincare line, Saira Skin, she’s finally found her tribe. Please note there are themes of sexual abuse in this podcast.
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Episode 50: The rubbish new normal with Hugo Rifkind

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