This week’s issue celebrates the holidays, which for HTSI means curating our annual compendium of gifts. This year’s contributors draw on all sorts of different sectors, from gardening to gadgetry, to offer something that I hope will suit all tastes. I’m tickled by the choice of our longevity guinea pig, Alex Bilmes, who has decided that a 1960 Aston Martin DB4 saloon would help optimise a long, fruitful and happy life.

Having now compiled six Christmas gift guides of my own, I find my tastes becoming more maximal. Where once I was quite tweedy and monastic, each year sees me getting pinker and more frou-frou. After spending a good proportion of this year’s salary on re-upholstery, I’ve become obsessed with fabric. I also feel myself inevitably drifting towards things that are more antique and “bygone”. I guess one of the features of ageing, in my case certainly, is that you become nostalgic and more drawn to things that have been carved, forged, woven or stitched by hand.

A retro flavour is sprinkled throughout these pages – from the baubles that introduce our gift guides to the snow angel who models this season’s skiwear (she seems to have dropped straight out of the ’80s) and Daryl McCormack’s festive knits. The Nenagh-born actor can soon be seen in the third instalment of Knives Out, the whodunnit franchise that draws on the camp drama of Agatha Christie and the humour of The Pink Panther’s Inspector Jacques Clouseau. In an interview with Aoife Murray, he talks about his career trajectory, which will hit new highs with the upcoming adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. McCormack will play Mr Bingley, one of the novel’s more charming roles. Tall, versatile and extremely handsome, he shares many of Bingley’s attributes; a throwback to the leading men of yesteryear. 

For those looking for more controversial diversions, I point you towards our jellied fish. In an essay to accompany Chris Brooks’s 1970s-inspired shoot, Rosanna Dodds explores the resurgence of retro foods. Why are so many ’70s cookbooks and chefs going viral on social media? As observed by food historian Polly Russell, our nostalgia for prawn cocktail, devilled eggs and cheese cubes on sticks is “shorthand for a connection to the past”. Whether we actually want to consume the end product, however, remains moot. Our examination of some of these culinary “favourites” does at least showcase this season’s decidedly more appetising tableware. 

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THREE MORE STORIES TO READ THIS WEEK

Designer Ulla Johnson: ‘I live for Christmas’ The founder of the clothes brand loves Ruinart champagne, loathes minimalism and suffers from ‘extreme sentimentality’ The HTSI holiday gift guide 2025 We’ve got a present for every type – from gardeners to glamazons, and gluttons to ‘grannies’ Jamie Laing’s insider guide to Chelsea The presenter and confectioner relives a misspent youth in south-west London

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