With all the planning, pomp, and ceremony, one trusts the royals didn’t overlook that key ingredient of any funeral - the gathering at the end. And nor should we, as a nation, when we mark a National Day of Mourning for Queen Elizabeth II tomorrow. How will you mark the day tomorrow? And have you planned your own wake yet, or do you intend to? If so, what music would you play, and what... read more>

Here’s another dreaded acronym to add to the alphabet soup of trends, and what’s worse, you may suffer from the condition. It’s called ‘FOGO’, or Fear Of Growing Old. According to a national survey by CareSide, a home care provider, we are in the grips of anxiety and worse when asked to rate the various impacts of ageing. The leading frights are cognitive and physical decline, a loss of i... read more>

Private health insurance enjoys its own complexities, which are not helped by some confusion about the round of annual premium increases. Thanks to the COVID fallout, most of the usual April 1 hikes in policy prices are now being staggered through dates in October and November. The existing system whereby the health funds propose an average increase, the government then bargains a lower f... read more>

For those over 50, you may have a good lifetime’s worth of memories about our Queen, whether you are a monarchist, republican or neither. And like it or not, after a respectful period (is there such a thing?), we shall have to revisit the issue of just who should be our head of state. In the meantime, anyone who got within cooee of Her Majesty has been sharing their memories, most... read more>

I should have gotten a photo of her pearly whites while I had a chance, to illustrate better the results of Thailand's dental tourism industry. But her smile said it all. Go overseas for a month-long holiday, fly business, stay in a nice hotel, and have all your teeth fixed. And it still cost less than her local dentist. I was checking in this week at Bangkok airport to return home, four ... read more>