Here at HTSI, we like to ask the big questions. Top of my mind today: how on earth does one fine-dine in the Antarctic? In an entertaining piece for us in one of our non-print weeks (we return next weekend, Saturday 25), Chris Schalkx explores the practicalities and oddities of trying to conjure a Michelin-worthy meal at -25°C.

First of all: seared seal blubber and braised penguin beak are not on the menu. Instead, the team at the White Desert luxury camps in Antarctica explain how they recreate the best flavours from around the world on icy terrain. It’s nice to note that fresh ingredients are kept in “faux-fur insulated boxes” (very The Revenant), while “glacier ice, melted and double-filtered, provides the drinking water”. Wine sadly struggles to shine in Antarctica – for one thing, the continent’s extreme dryness inhibits our taste receptors. Personally, I think they should just all glug very dry vodka Martinis. Surely they don’t even freeze.

If you are continuing with your 2025 health kick, we have some more ideas to galvanise or guilt-trip you into action. Rhodri Marsden has reviewed five brand new fitness gadgets and some are fun – even luxurious. The oak-and-leather-clad Alvica reLounge massage chair, for instance, offers electrical nerve stimulation, soft LED lighting and 55 different possible treatments. As a fan of massages, I find this suspiciously indulgent: there should always be an element, if only initially, of fear. But then perhaps, if you have forked out £35,000 for this chair, it should at least be obliging in return.

Could this be the year you perfect your handstand? Handstand classes – or “hand-balancing”, for those in the know – is the latest exercise craze for those seeking equilibrium both physically and mentally. Nathalie Fraser tries out a chic class in Paris. Quite frankly it sounds exposing, infantilising and embarrassing, and I’m sure I’ll have signed up by Easter.

Finally, you are probably aware that vinyl is still going strong, supported by music fans who demand more than tinny-sounding mp3s. Tim Auld has asked FT writers and editors where they love to get their discs, and the result is a treasure trove of troves, whether in Porthmadog, Kraków or Paris. It’s the names that speak to me, though, from The Thing to Sounds of the Universe, passing by Ooh Aah Records. Hark, anyone? Jazzhole? They’re truly melodies in themselves.

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OTHER THINGS TO LOOK AT THIS WEEK

The LA fires: ways to make a difference Hot meals and hotel discounts for evacuees, first-responder donations, and charities sheltering animals Meet the interior designers reaching for the stars Heads up: the latest lighting trend is for all things celestial

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