Amy Fleming
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Writer/editor for the Guardian, as well as FT, 1843, BBC Science Focus, The Independent, Newsweek... Right now: working on Guardian Culture desk & two books
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Articles by Amy Fleming
What’s a wedding without a dirtbike doughnut? Hark1karan’s best photograph
‘Their mother offered me tea and snacks’ … the family on their bikes. Photograph: © Hark1karan As a Londoner with Punjabi roots, I’d say one of the best places to experience Punjabi culture is Southall, in west London, which has one of the UK’s largest Punjabi communities. This was taken there back in March 2021, when I was looking for people to feature in my short documentary, Zimmers of Southall.
The rave secret: why middle-aged women are larging it – and seeing big health benefits
It's 4am and I'm in a club – the first time I've done this in years. I'm 51 and in my sandwich era, meaning I've got teenage and elderly loved ones on my mind – a situation that generally calls for early nights. But when you're responsibilities-maxxing, sometimes you need the opposite. A blowout. A huge, transcendent, resetting release. A rave. I don't know what took me so long to get around to it. Misplaced parental guilt? Internalised ageism? Exhaustion?
The rave secret: why middle-aged women are larging it – and seeing big health benefits
‘There’s something about it being completely separate from parenting and work that feels really special.’ Photograph: Posed by models; Dan Dalton/Getty Images It’s 4am and I’m in a club – the first time I’ve done this in years. I’m 51 and in my sandwich era, meaning I’ve got teenage and elderly loved ones on my mind – a situation that generally calls for early nights. But when you’re responsibilities-maxxing, sometimes you need the opposite. A blowout. A huge, transcendent, resetting release. A rave.
My holiday from hell: I expected a glamorous week on a catamaran – but spent the whole time hoping not to die
‘I wanted to beg our captain to let us just hug the coast the entire holiday’ … Amy Fleming enjoys a moment of calm on her trip. Composite: Guardian Design; Courtesy of Amy Fleming It started so well. A catamaran full of loved ones floating into the azure, taking pics, feeling glam, anticipating the sun sinking over the yardarm. I’d been reunited with my sister and family, who live in Australia, for the first time in three years, after Covid.
My holiday from hell: I expected a glamorous week on a catamaran – but spent the whole time hoping not to die
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German war hero Annika at her farm for struggling veterans: Jan Kraus’s best photograph
Annika Schröder's story is an amazing one. She was in the military here in Germany for almost 20 years. She joined when she was young, adventurous and needed to earn money – they let her do fun things like jump out of an aeroplane and drive a tank. But then she got deployed to Afghanistan, and within a month her unit got sent on a rescue mission, which is now infamous as the Good Friday Battle – the biggest German military battle since the second world war.
Twins in a spin at the great British seaside: Sophie Green’s best photograph
‘The ride was moving at such a fast pace, I was nervous I wasn’t going to get it in focus’ … Sophie Green, Fair Ride Twins, Weston-super-Mare Beach. Photograph: Sophie Green/Courtesy Martin Parr Foundation Our British seaside has such a distinctive look: the bingo halls, the buckets and spades and pinwheels, and all the amazing colours of the funfairs. I find them the most amazing environments. I love that visually super-charged, maximalist style. The seaside is nostalgic to all of us.
I stopped checking the weather forecast – and got a series of wonderful surprises
Mixed messages … Amy Fleming taking her chances in Brockwell Park, London. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian When I heard on the radio that more than half of British people would consider cancelling an outing if they saw a 40% chance of rain all day on their weather app, I felt seen. I, too, am a slave to my app. Not that I would ever make a decision based on one whole-day percentage. I pore over three-hourly breakdowns for chances of rain versus minutes of sunshine.
A woman with a bull costume exuding masculine energy: Marisol Mendez’s best photograph
‘She uses her body as a tool’ … Marisol Mendez, Bull 2019. Photograph: Marisol Mendez Paul McCartney famously says that he got the melody for Yesterday in a dream. I used to think that was artistic licence, but then it happened to me with this image. I had a dream about a half woman-half animal, standing alone in the middle of a field, with trees surrounding her. I was working on a series of images, called Madre, about the depiction of womanhood.
‘The mouth is a gateway into your body’: the fascinating, frightening links between our gums and our health
Isn’t it weird that dentistry and medicine have been kept largely separate? Why should our mouths be treated differently from the rest of our bodies? Going to the dentist often feels like more of a lifestyle and cosmetic add-on, especially for adults in the UK. And, even if you can find an NHS dentist, the service is not free at the point of use like medical doctors are.
The emotional security secret: how to get healthier, happier and have stronger relationships
Amir Levine. Photograph: Shira H. Weiss Amir Levine has been quietly working towards a second book for 16 years. When Attached, which he co-wrote with Rachel Heller, was published in 2010, it brought the categories for how we behave in relationships – AKA attachment styles – into the public consciousness.
A ruined building, five Ghanaians and an elegant horse: Ron Timehin’s best photograph
‘We tried a few poses, but I think this one really sings’ … from the series The Labadi Community by Ron Timehin. Photograph: Ron Timehin This was taken at Labadi, a popular tourist resort in Accra, the capital of Ghana. You don’t often see this side of it. People go there for the golden sand and nightlife but they don’t really integrate with the community who live there. I wanted to show how they fish – in traditional canoes – how they rest, how they play.
Carnival celebrations at a Hungarian retirement home: János Bődey’s best photograph
When I saw these two elderly ladies dressed as bride and groom in a retirement home in Páty, near Budapest, my first thought was to wonder why they had chosen those particular costumes. I took their picture in the home’s lounge and afterwards we had a long conversation. I asked them about their lives, what they believed was the secret to a long life, and how to preserve a love of life in old age. They both emphasised a long and happy marriage.
‘At first, she couldn’t come off the oxygen long enough’: the film that gives Marianne Faithfull one final thrilling performance
‘It was incredibly fortifying for her to meet this army of younger Mariannes’ ... Faithfull in 1973. Photograph: David Redfern/Redferns When Marianne Faithfull died early in 2025, at the age of 78, she left the world one final musical performance. It comes at the end of a new film, Broken English, celebrating her six-decade career. It is a deeply moving scene, almost guaranteed to leave you in tears.
‘I box to exorcise the badness’: Sue Webster on boozy spats, her thrilling new work – and having a baby at 52
Nailing it … Webster with a work called Crime Scene. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian Sue Webster is reminiscing about boozy 90s art openings. A hazy memory of Damien Hirst riding Leigh Bowery’s shoulders is surfacing, and a terrible fight with Jake Chapman at Charles Saatchi’s gallery. “It was a verbal thing but he was probably about to punch me.
The spikiness secret: can acupressure mats help with pain, stress and insomnia?
‘It does feel as if I’m doing more than merely lying down and relaxing on a mattress’ … Amy Fleming tries out an acupressure mat.Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian (Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian) Ever since Keith, 39, from Kansas, was in a car accident in 2023, he has lived with “pretty much constant mid-back and shoulder pain”. Over-the-counter treatments didn’t touch the sides and he didn’t want to resort to opiates.
The secrets of the body clock: how to tune into your natural rhythms - and have a better day
‘The role of light and dark is critical to reset your clock.’Illustration: Spencer Wilson/The Guardian It’s easy to hate clocks. Their unstoppable forward churn wakes us up and shames us for running late. They are a constant reminder that every enjoyable moment, just like life itself, is ephemeral. But even if we rounded up all our time-telling devices and buried them deep in the earth, we could never escape clocks. Because we are one.
Melanie and Janet behind the beauty store counter: Victor Wedderburn’s best photograph
Melanie and Janet in their shop Shade on Lumb Lane, Bradford, c.1984-1985. Photograph: Victor Wedderburn This picture was taken in our beauty shop in Bradford, called Shade. Janet (right) was a friend of my then wife Melanie (left). I’d spent a good two years taking photos and I enjoyed it, not that I thought my work was good enough to be shown in an art gallery.
‘It sounds like witchcraft’: can light therapy really give you better skin, cleaner teeth, stronger joints?
A woman undergoes LED light therapy to rejuvenate and enhance skin texture. Photograph: Vladyslav Stepanov/Alamy Light therapy is certainly having a moment. You can now buy glowing gadgets for everything from skin conditions and wrinkles to sore muscles and gum disease, the latest being a toothbrush enhanced with tiny red LEDs, described by its makers as “a breakthrough in at-home oral care”. Globally, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035.
Lightning strikes seen from a storm-chaser’s window: Hank Schyma’s best photograph
‘I fancy myself as an artist but Mother Nature does all the work’ … lightning over an Arizona car park. Photograph: Hank Schyma There’s a lot of luck involved when you’re chasing monsoon storms in Arizona during July or August. This was taken on a very frustrating day when I kept missing everything. When I thought it was all over, I called it a night. I was taking a shower when I heard the rumbling and I rushed to the window.
‘The most spontaneous person I’ve ever met’: Guardian writers remember Diane Keaton
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‘Contrary, complicated, funny’ … Diane Keaton in 2003. Photograph: Zuma Press/Zuma Press/Alamy ‘I can’t imagine crying about the death of any other actor’ The first person I texted about Diane Keaton’s death was my mum. Our love of her films is pretty much the only cultural taste I inherited from her. I was about 10 when she first let me watch a VHS off the grown-up shelf. She picked Baby Boom.
By Laura Snapes Verified, Emma Brockes Verified, Catherine Bray, Priya Elan Verified, Richard Lawson, Amy Fleming, Leslie Felperin, Andrew Pulver Verified, Charlotte O'Sullivan Verified, Catherine Shoard Verified
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The truth about vitamin pills: should midlife women start taking supplements - and if so, which ones?
Composite: Guardian Design; Getty Images I used to proudly eschew health supplements. Doctors always told me that if you eat a healthy diet, you’d only be flushing money down the loo. Studies showed that people who popped multivitamins didn’t live any longer, with some even dying a little younger – a 4% higher mortality risk according to one just last year.
A Navajo man cries out for water on a pinnacle in Utah: Elliot Ross’s best photograph
‘At first it was just sounds, then he spoke’ … an image from the Question of Balance project. Photograph: Elliot Ross Tim is one of the people I have been following for the last couple of years on a project investigating a water supply divided along racial lines in the US south-west. He is Diné, which is what the Navajo call themselves; it means “the people” in the Navajo language.
Ryan Weideman’s best photograph
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Allen Ginsberg in the back of my cab: Ryan Weideman’s best photograph
‘He was pretty intense’ … Ryan Weideman with Allen Ginsberg. Photograph: Ryan Widerman I drove a cab in New York for three decades. Riding around, I would meet poets, drag queens and other people who were inspiring. It made me feel good. I started taking their portraits, sometimes with me in the picture. I had several cameras and would often have my strobe hooked on to my visor with a rubber band.
My favourite childhood outfit: ‘I wore Dad’s suede jacket until bits of it dangled into my tea’
‘My mum relined it for me – and papered my bedroom wall too.’ Composite: Guardian Design; courtesy of Amy Fleming/Getty Images I loved Dad’s old suede jacket. He’d had it for as long as I could remember, an artefact from his more rock’n’roll days, and it had been worn into buttery softness. When the lining finally disintegrated, and the suede thinned to imminent oblivion, he decided to retire it. But I couldn’t bear to see it go. I tried it on and felt great – like a chip off the old block.
A super-friendly 1950s-style diner, empty because of Covid: Leah Frances’s best photograph
‘It feels like the past and the present are somehow taking place at the same time’ … from the series Lunch Poems by Leah Frances. Photograph: /Leah Frances When I moved to Brooklyn in 2005, I noticed people building restaurants and bars that looked like 1950s diner-style restaurants, with soda fountains and lunch counters. I’m from Canada and I don’t think there’s a period that Canadians look back on with such nostalgia.
The truth about cholesterol: 12 things you need to know – from eggs to weight to statins
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The truth about cholesterol: 12 things you need to know – from eggs to weight to statins
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All in the mind? The surprising truth about brain rot
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All in the mind? The surprising truth about brain rot
‘Humans have always been distractible.’Composite: Guardian Design; Archive Holdings Inc./Getty Images Andrew Przybylski, a professor of human behaviour and technology at Oxford University, is a busy man. It’s only midday and already he has attended meetings on “Skype, Teams, in person and now FaceTime audio”. He appears to be switching seamlessly between these platforms, showing no signs of mental impairment. “The erosion of my brain is a function of time and small children,” he says.
‘Jean-Paul Sartre hid at her house!’ The forgotten brilliance of Hélène de Beauvoir, sister of Simone
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‘Jean-Paul Sartre hid at her house!’ The forgotten brilliance of Hélène de Beauvoir, sister of Simone
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From stiff necks to ‘lazy glutes’: why these unloved muscles could prevent injury – and how to train yours
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novelist Emma Healey on the dark side of self-control
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novelist Emma Healey on the dark side of self-control
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‘I knew I was overexercising and not eating enough’: novelist Emma Healey on the dark side of self-control
‘All the messaging is: “Get out and move more and make sure you’re not eating too much”’ … Emma Healey.Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian Emma Healey’s two previous novels explored themes vivid in her own life. The protagonist of her bestselling debut, Elizabeth Is Missing, for which Healey won the 2014 Costa first novel award, is Maud, who has dementia but is forced to turn detective in the hunt for her missing friend.
Tracking my heart rate left me feeling like a frustrated failure
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could understanding it help prevent dementia?
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The brain microbiome: could understanding it help prevent dementia?
Could the brain have a microbiome, in the same way that the gut has?Illustration: Maxime Sudol/The Guardian Nine years ago, Nikki Schultek, an active and healthy woman in her early 30s, experienced a sudden cascade of debilitating and agonising symptoms – including cognitive and breathing problems and heart arrhythmia – and was investigated for multiple sclerosis. But three brain scans and numerous X-rays later, there was still no diagnosis or treatment plan.
Only 3% of UK 12-year-olds don’t have a smartphone. Here is how four of them feel about it
Nothing has been able to stop smartphones taking over our lives and those of our children. But the inevitable backlash is in full flow. It’s not only about family arguments over screen-time restrictions, or the often futile efforts of parents to minimise exposure to adult, radicalising or consumerist content.
would women be healthier and happier if they menstruated for ever?
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The end of menopause: would women be healthier and happier if they menstruated for ever?
Illustration: Michelle Mildenberg Lara at Heart/The Guardian Judy Blume’s novel about early female puberty, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, depicts a group of 12-year-old girls eagerly willing their first periods to arrive, impatient to be in on the unfathomable mystery of monthly bleeds. Little do they know that the mysteries surrounding their ovaries and wombs will only ever deepen, in ways unique to each of them.
experts on their wellbeing dos and don’ts
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The happy microbiome: how to nourish all of yours
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‘Only to love art’: The gallery that Miro, Giacometti and Braque thought of as a second home
June 14, 2024 at 10:00 PM Maeght Foundation’s ‘Le Labyrinthe Miró’ (© Successió Miró/Adagp, Paris, 2024) On a sun-drenched hilltop above the medieval village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence in the south of France, there’s a space where you can see works by the great 20th-century modern artists like Chagall, Giacometti, Miró, Kandinsky, Calder and Braque outside of monolithic national galleries, in their natural habitat. Here sits the Maeght Foundation, which many of the artists helped to create.
I used to be a musical contrarian – now I’ve become an unlikely Swiftie
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I used to be a musical contrarian – now I’ve become an unlikely Swiftie
Microsoft Cares About Your Privacy Microsoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
I used to be a musical contrarian - now I’ve become an unlikely Swiftie
May 30, 2024 at 10:00 PM ‘I respect how Swift has charted her journey to rising above and calling out all that grin-and-bear-it, good-girl bull’ (James Gourley/Shutterstock) I have a big fat confession to make. After a lifetime of eschewing the mainstream, I’ve become an unlikely Swiftie, and I have my 11-year-old daughter to thank for it.
‘Don’t push into pain!’ How to rescue your knees from everything from torn ligaments to injured tendons
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