A tricky one when every other person seems to be shooting up these days — so let’s start with a cautionary tale. A couple of months ago, I had a gang of friends for lunch. Nice friends, fun friends, so I spent a fortune on beef fillet. Everyone arrived, wine was uncorked, we sat and ate. Everyone, that is, apart from a guest who pushed the beef around her plate as if she was playing a private game of chess with it.
‘Didn’t you realise? She’s on Ozempic,’ another pal told me later. Huh? This woman isn’t diabetic or remotely obese. She’s simply vain and, dare I say it, a tiny bit lazy — yet another Dorian Gray spending hundreds of pounds a month on a private supply to drop a few pounds before the summer.
Meanwhile, an exasperated New York friend says she’ll no longer go out for dinner with anyone using the drugs — which means she barely goes out at all, now. ‘Everyone’s on it and it’s so boring because they ignore whatever expensive piece of steak that’ve ordered and you still split the bill at the end. It’d be less irritating if they simply admitted they were taking it and didn’t order.’
These days, it’s de rigueur to quiz people about their dietary requirements before they come for dinner — any gluten issues? Dairy OK? Are you still on that peculiar diet where you only eat purple vegetables on alternate days of the week? ‘No wheat, dairy or added sugar, SORRY I HATE ME TOO,’ replied a neurotic friend recently, after I texted to check what she could eat in advance of a Tuesday evening kitchen supper.
So perhaps the solution is to add fat jabs to the lengthy list of possibilities. ‘And can I just check: are you taking Ozempic?’ That way, they can discretely confess, and you can duly dole out the sort of minuscule helping that wouldn’t satisfy an ant.
Alternatively, if you suspect someone’s taking it and they’re coming for dinner, don’t cook beef fillet. A bowl of pasta, perhaps, or something made largely from chickpeas.
-
A slick looking off-roader that's a far cry from its rustic rural roots — Volvo EX30 Cross CountryThe latest iteration of Volvo's Cross Country is flashy, fast and stylish. But is that what a Volvo Cross Country is supposed to be?
-
The golden retriever: The world’s most likeable dog almost didn’t exist at allThey’ve been popping up everywhere this week — on the Tube, at Christmas parties and in the news — so it feels like the perfect moment to talk about the dog breed we’re lucky to have.
-
‘I cannot bring myself to believe that Emily Brontë would be turning over in her grave at the idea of Jacob Elordi tightening breathless Barbie’s corset’: In defence of radical adaptationsA trailer for the upcoming adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights' has left half of Britain clutching their pearls. What's the fuss, questions Laura Kay, who argues in defence of radical adaptation of classic literature.
-
Mark Gatiss: ‘BBC Two turned down The League of Gentlemen six times’The actor and writer tells Lotte Brundle about his latest Christmas ghost story, discovering Benedict Cumberbatch — and his consuming passions.
-
A snob's guide: What to buy your dinner party hostYou've just been invited to dinner — or to stay for the whole weekend — but what do you give to your host to say thank you?
-
Jane Austen's greatest scoundrel: Being Mr Wickham, with Adrian LukisThe actor Adrian Lukis, who played the role of Mr Wickham in the iconic 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, joins the Country Life Podcast.
-
How a floating salad farm fuelled two record-breaking rowers across the Pacific OceanMiriam Payne and Jess Rowe grew cabbages and radishes on their small boat while rowing more than 8000 miles from Peru to Australia.
-
‘I 100% always knew that I was going to do something creative’: Petra Palumbo on her design house, love of Scotland and consuming passionsThe London ‘It Girl’ turned Scotland-based designer makes tiles with men’s torsos and Henry hoovers on them, has a pug called Raisin and is married to the 16th Lord Lovat Simon Fraser. She chats to Lotte Brundle.
-
The dogs of Country Life, with Agnes StampCountry Life's deputy features editor Agnes Stamp joins the Country Life Podcast to talk all things dogs.
-
Madonna, David Bowie, Elizabeth II and me — this is what it’s like to have your photograph taken by RankinThe world-renowned photographer has worked with everyone from acting royalty, to actual royalty. His next subject? Country Life’s wandering scribe, Lotte Brundle.
