Life after (a dear one's) death

The sister of cyclist Clifford Micallef, who died in a hit-and-run accident on the Coast Road in summer, hopes his death will not have been in vain.

"I want it to serve as prevention to avoid other innocent victims," says Nadya Muscat. She believes police spot checks should be increased and severe penalties imposed - "so steep as to deter any one from ever considering driving recklessly".

In an interview in Pink, as part of a profile on life after death, Ms Muscat says she harbours no anger for the driver who did not stop, knowing it "won't bring Cliff back. I only feel sorrow and loss, and am upset that my brother is gone in a way that could have been avoided".

Pink, which is distributed with The Times tomorrow, is celebrating its fifth anniversary. The issue opens up with a three-page fold-out cover and spills into a balance of in-depth and light-hearted features that should arouse a variety of emotions, offering positive insight into issues that would rather be forgotten.

How are teenagers impacted by the loss of a parent? Would you manage to fulfil your partner's request to open a bottle of wine at his funeral, make a toast and pour it on the coffin? And is it harder for husbands to cope without wives? The answers come from the horse's mouth - real people, who have lived through life-changing experiences, emerging in one piece.

One diabetic chronicles her life as a sufferer of the "national illness" in part of a health focus highlighting the hardship of having to inject herself in public places. Despite recent efforts to increase awareness, stigma is still attached to diabetes, and some families even request that newsletters on the subject are not delivered to their doorsteps so nobody finds out that a member is diabetic.

Pink also tracks down women who got married at extreme ages, walking down the aisle at 60 and 16, while the all-invasive Facebook infiltrates the magazine, with a humorous but enlightening look at the stereotypical relationship of females with the social networking phenomenon.

As an innovative anniversary addition, Pink creates a section of stylish social pages, keeping an eye out on who's still socialising in the conventional - not virtual - sense of the word. The hippest events make it on to Pink@TheParty, which continues to complement the magazine's strong fashion element.

Published by Allied Newspapers Ltd and printed by Progress Press Ltd, Pink's executive editor is Fiona Galea Debono. The magazine is produced by MediaMaker and designed by Helen Cassar Torreggiani and Joseph Schembri.