In her fortnightly review of fitness and wellbeing activities, comedian Jennifer Wong finds that mastering the Chinese martial art is a matter of mind over navelGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailFor the first 15 minutes of my tai chi class, we remain entirely in one spot to warm up. From afar, it probably looks as though we’re standing with...

I bought it for just under £3,000, and it developed a fault just before the warranty expiredIn October I bought an electric Brompton bicycle for just under £3,000. Initially all was well but about three months before the two-year warranty expired, it started suffering intermittent power problems.It would work on the electric assist, and then wouldn’t....

1 May 1899: The Guardian’s weekly cycling column questions a police officer’s evidence in a speeding cyclist case and reassures riders that brake blocks cause little damage to rimsPerhaps the most audacious piece of evidence ever adduced by a police constable in proof of the speed of cyclists charged with furious driving was that sworn to by an officer...

He’s ashamed and embarrassed at his reaction – but he seems unable to get past it. And I am not going to changeMy partner does not like going down on me. He says it tastes quite bitter and that my pubic hair leaves an unpleasant sensation. Unlike some women, however, I am not willing to shave. I did when I was much younger, but I didn’t like it.This...

She switched to the service and has now been left without the internet or a working phoneIn January, BT somehow managed to convince my 75-year-old mother that it would be a good idea for her to switch her landline over to its new Digital Voice service. As far as I can see, she has been overcharged ever since.And then it got worse. After an engineer’s...

Genetics alone can mean a 21% greater risk of early death, research finds, but people can improve their chancesA healthy lifestyle may offset the impact of genetics by more than 60% and add another five years to your life, according to the first study of its kind.It is well established that some people are genetically predisposed to a shorter lifespan....