Category Archives: Life and style

LadBaby bows out of Christmas No 1 race after five consecutive chart-toppers

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Record-breaking run comes to an end after raising over £1m for food bank charity The Trussell Trust

After beating the Beatles’ record for the most UK Christmas No 1s and raising well over £1m for charity, YouTube star LadBaby is bowing out of this year’s race for the festive top spot.

Mark Hoyle, with his wife Roxanne and their two sons in support, has reached No 1 at Christmas every year since 2018, with a series of songs featuring punning reworks – chiefly centred on sausage rolls – of classic rock songs.

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How M&S regained its place as UK’s top womenswear retailer

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Four years after it fell out of the FTSE 100 the high street brand is again boasting strong sales

Fours years after it fell out of the FTSE 100, M&S has turned around its fortunes to become the UK’s best retailer for women’s wear.

In May, strong sales figures were driven not only by bog-standard basics such as underwear and T-shirts, but by more fashion-forward categories, too. Now, sales of women’s party wear are up 49%, and knitwear up 23% in October compared with last year.

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A dirt jumping accident left 17-year-old Fletcher Crowley a paraplegic. He’s determined to ‘prove everyone wrong’

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Just nine weeks after breaking his back during a horror bike accident, this Sydney teen is ready to show the world what he can do

Fletcher Crowley is in many ways like any other 17-year-old boy growing up on Sydney’s northern beaches.

He loves hanging out with his mates, cracking jokes, riding bikes and being outdoors. He’s just started year 12. He’s close with his mum and dad, who he says are “so chill” – although he was still nervous about them finding out he had a tattoo.

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AI Pictionary and a ‘robo-dog’ make UK shops’ hottest Christmas toy lists

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Retailers hope new version of top-selling board game plus Dog-E will help fuel festive sales recovery

A new version of Pictionary that pits artist against artificial intelligence and a pet “robo-dog” with a wagging tail are among the toys destined to appear on Christmas lists this year as retailers pray for better sales during the key festive trading period.

With the cost of living crisis looming large over another year’s celebrations, the Toy Retailers Association’s annual DreamToys list of the 20 “hottest” gifts includes a dozen that are under £50. Among them is Pictionary vs AI (£24), a new version of the classic board game that pitches (terrible) human sketches against the might of AI processing power.

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DRC offers free maternity care to cut death rate among mothers and babies

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Healthcare workers say clinics are being overwhelmed by women seeking help, amid lack of staff and facilities to back programme

Pregnant women across the Democratic Republic of the Congo are to be offered free healthcare in an effort to cut the country’s high rates of maternal and neonatal deaths.

Women in 13 out of 26 regions in the country will, by the end of the year, be entitled to free services during pregnancy and for one month after childbirth. Babies will receive free healthcare for their first 28 days under the scheme, which the government plans to extend to the rest of DRC – although there is no timetable for that yet.

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‘Dogs should eat as well as humans’: high-end canine cucina opens in Rome

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Fiuto restaurant offers poké-style bowls to attract Italy’s growing number of dog owners

In the kitchen of a restaurant in the north of Rome, chef Luca Grammatico delicately blends nuggets of chicken and courgette with pureed potato.

He then reaches for a fancy bowl, positions the mix inside and uses a shaper to fashion a food tower before garnishing it with courgette sauce. Grammatico’s next task is to create a biscuit, shaped like a bear, for a guest celebrating her birthday.

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Women losing out as couples try to divorce ‘on the cheap’

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Financial security of women in England and Wales put at risk by failure to seek professional advice

Women are losing out on fair divorce settlements because couples are trying to divorce “on the cheap”.

Research has found that most couples have so few assets that the vast majority try to save money by sorting out key arrangements themselves, including agreeing housing, pensions and ongoing maintenance.

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Young Europeans more likely to quit driving and have fewer children to save planet

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Exclusive: Poll shows young people willing to make big lifestyle changes but baulk at smaller gestures

They are willing to have smaller families, stop using cars and – albeit in smaller numbers – go vegan for the planet, but abandoning single-use plastics and growing a few more plants could be a step too far.

Across Europe, according to a seven-country survey, it seems young people are more willing than older generations to make big lifestyle changes that would help combat the climate crisis – but are less convinced by smaller gestures.

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‘Hallelujah!’: enigmatic Phoebe Philo announces fashionably late return

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Despite being nowhere to be seen over a month of fashion shows, designer was name on everyone’s lips

The most talked about designer of this season did not have a fashion show at all. She was nowhere to be seen over a month of shows in New York, London, Paris or Milan. Yet despite not having made a single coat, dress or shirt for six years, and never once posting on Instagram, Phoebe Philo was the name on everyone’s lips on every front row.

Finally, on the last weekend of Paris fashion week, Philo made a fashionably late entrance, announcing that she would make her long-awaited return on 30 October.

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‘Demand interestingness’: Thomas Heatherwick rails against boring buildings

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Designer says soulless structures make people stressed and lonely as he launches book and campaign

Boring, soulless buildings are making people stressed and lonely, according to Thomas Heatherwick, the British designer behind the 2012 Olympic cauldron.

The designer is embarking on a crusade to persuade architects and developers to create buildings that inspire feelings of joy and stimulation.

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Stella McCartney’s plans for remote Scottish home stir controversy

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Local council receives more than 50 objections to scheme, many on environmental grounds

Plans for an “unashamedly contemporary” house for the fashion designer Stella McCartney in a remote Scottish coastal area have received dozens of objections on environmental grounds.

In a planning application, McCartney’s architects insist the glass-fronted home near Roshven on the west coast would enhance the landscape and “retain the wild nature of the site”.

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Climate crisis is ‘not gender neutral’: UN calls for more policy focus on women

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Only a third of countries with climate crisis plans include access to sexual, maternal and newborn health services, UNFPA report finds

Only a third of countries include sexual and reproductive health in their national plans to tackle the climate crisis, the UN has warned.

Of the 119 countries that have published plans, only 38 include access to contraception, maternal and newborn health services and just 15 make any reference to violence against women, according to a report published by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and Queen Mary University of London on Tuesday.

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Birkenstock set to float on stock market with valuation of nearly $10bn

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German sandal maker has come a long way from its founding in 1774 as a maker of orthopaedic shoes to going public on the NY stock exchange

Birkenstock, the resurgent German sandal maker once beloved by healthcare workers, is set to be valued at up to €9.2bn ($9.7bn) when it floats on the stock market this month.

Around 32.2 million ordinary shares will be put on the New York Stock Exchange in an initial public offering. On Monday, the company priced its shares at $44 to $49 each, which could see the company raise up to $1.58bn.

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Private jet service for rich dog owners condemned by climate campaigners

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UK-based charter firm launches ‘ludicrous’ £8,166 Dubai-London route for clients who want to fly with pets

Environmentalists have condemned a “ludicrous” private jet service that transports wealthy people’s dogs, which this week ran its first flight from Dubai to London.

For £8,166, one way, customers were able to sit with their dogs on their laps and sip champagne as they travelled from Al Maktoum international airport to Farnborough in a Gulfstream IV-SP jet.

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Pakistan welcomes fast-fashion brand Boohoo despite poor staff safety claims

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Call to set up role comes as report alleges retailer uses factories that violate minimum-wage requirements and workers’ rights

Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, has reportedly asked the British fast-fashion brand Boohoo to increase its presence in the country, despite claims that it has failed to tackle poor conditions at its suppliers’ factories there.

In a meeting with Kakar this week, Mahmud Kamani, chairman of Boohoo Group, expressed an interest in establishing long-term buying linkages with Pakistan, according to Radio Pakistan.

Kakar pointed out Pakistan’s pro-investment policies and facilities, and invited Boohoo to open franchises in the country, which is in economic turmoil, with a record inflation rate of 36.4%.

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Giorgio Armani channels ‘countless light vibrations’ for Milan show

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Designer revisits his lifelong interest in science, with iridescent silks and undulating 3D layers

Giorgio Armani may be the world’s most recognisable designer, but as the 89-year-old wrote in his autobiography, his childhood ambition was to be a physician.

While that particular goal eluded him, at his fashion show in Milan on Sunday afternoon he revisited his lifelong interest in science, citing his inspiration for his new collection as “vibrations”.

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Sainsbury’s launches bridal collection with £22 Tu wedding dress

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The supermarket hopes its new range will see cash-conscious brides stepping from one aisle to another

Milk, bread, eggs … wedding dress? Brides-to-be can usually be found browsing in chic boutiques or stuffy department stores but now Sainsbury’s is hoping it can persuade them to hit the supermarket aisle instead as they go in pursuit of the perfect wedding dress.

This week its mass market fashion brand, Tu clothing, launched its first bridal collection.

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People born by egg or sperm donor in UK will be able to find out biological origins

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Changes to anonymity law mean people can apply to discover donor’s name, date of birth and address

Dozens of young adults born via sperm or egg donation will be able to find out their biological origins in the coming weeks, with the first just days away from being able to apply to find out more information about their donor, health officials have said.

Changes to the donor anonymity law will mean that most donor-conceived young adults born after a certain date will be able to discover the people whose donations led to their conception.

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Burberry shows off killer trenchcoat and blue strawberries at London show

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Prints symbolising British summertime appear on fashion week catwalk alongside modernised version of brand’s staple product

The scene before the biggest show of London fashion week was quintessentially British: an orderly queue for tea, coffee and eccles cake. Britishness, along with trenchcoats and checked scarves, is what Burberry stands for. This is surely the only catwalk show where Hollywood action hero Jason Statham, acclaimed choreographer Wayne MacGregor and Arsenal striker Bukayo Saka can be found rubbing shoulders in the front row.

The first look on to the catwalk was a trenchcoat. The trench is a Burberry staple – but this had a notably slimmer cut, an elegant dropped-waist silhouette, and was black rather than beige. There were more trenchcoats to follow: some sleeveless, some leather, all of them sleek and minimal.

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Vogue World to donate £2m to London-based arts organisations

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National Theatre and Royal Ballet among 21 groups to receive grants from new fund

Vogue World will donate £2m to London-based arts organisations through a newly established fund, Condé Nast has announced.

The star-studded event at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Thursday night was masterminded by the Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, and the Bafta- and Olivier-winning director Stephen Daldry. Its aim was to celebrate London’s heritage as a cultural powerhouse and to raise money for the UK’s cash-strapped performing arts scene.

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