Waiting for the general election has been a bit like waiting for Christmas. The hype keeps building but the big day never seems to arrive. Rather than greetings cards, however, ‘vote for me’ flyers have been piling up on the door mat. And instead of wall-to-wall seasonal specials, television viewing has been nonstop politics. Come May 7th, few of us will expect to be unwrapping gifts and digging into turkey, however. But taking a visit to the polling station could be just the thing for leaving you feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Read more
Category: Stuff
Romance is more than a feeling – it’s a matter of health
Dim the lights, uncork the wine and light the candles – Valentine’s Day is here! For all you love fools out there, the flowers will have been ordered days ago while your surprise Eurostar ticket to Paris is already safely tucked under your pillow. The strange intoxicating power of love can change our perspective on life and can make us do many strange things – like buying roses at £5 a stem or even saying you’ll never look at another man or woman again. But as you gaze, heart-a-flutter, into the eyes of your beloved this weekend, remember that love is more than a feeling – it’s a matter of health. Read more
The health benefits of generosity – it really is better to give than receive
Christmas is a time for giving. This week, we will give more to charity than at any other time of the year. For, all the fundraising carol singers, shopping-bag-packing Brownies, and charity tin-shakers make it hard for even the stingiest of scrooges to keep their wallets buckled shut. But a couple of weeks ago, I witnessed thousands of acts of kindness that would make Father Christmas proud.
Every year, the ‘Operation Christmas Child’ initiative invites members of the public to fill empty shoeboxes with Christmas presents to send to countries in the developing world. Individually wrapped and purposed for a boy or a girl, boxes are shipped to underprivileged youngsters in Africa, Eastern Europe and worn-torn countries such as Iraq. The appeal has been running for over twenty years and for many children, that solitary shoebox of gifts will be the only thing they receive this Christmas. Read more
It’s ‘mo’ joke – moustache month is here!
Moustaches are a bit like flares, perms and tie-dye t-shirts – they only come into fashion once a generation. Now I don’t care what the fashionistas tell me, or how many glossy fashion mags feature models sporting ‘hipster moustaches’ – moustaches are anything but hip. Surely the last person who looked cool with a tash was Freddie Mercury. And that was when he was wearing skin-tight white Lycra. Read more
Cycle helmets: they’re not as safe as you think
Bradley Wiggins has a lot to answer for. Not only has he single handedly shown the world that a man with facial hair can win cycling races, but he has also helped inspire a generation of fluorescent Lycra wearing cyclists – the likes of which now fill the UK’s roads.
In 2012 – the year of his Tour de France fame – Bradley Wiggins stirred controversy when he publicly backed a law that would make bicycle helmets compulsory for all cyclists. At the time, a London cyclist had just been killed in a bus collision – but even that wasn’t enough to stop the wheels coming off Sir Wiggins’ well intentioned campaign. Most people think, like Bradley, that wearing a bicycle helmet is a no-brainer. The truth, however, is rather more twisty-turvy. Read more
What is Ebola? Why is it scary? A really simple answer
“Ebola Virus outbreak” is a headline that produces terror. Well, it should… but I’m not sure that it does. There’s been an outbreak of Ebola in Guinea and Liberia in West Africa, but how many of us actually know what Ebola is – let alone why it is so scary? A quick poll of friends showed that they didn’t know what it was either (i.e. “flesh eating bug”).
So let us find out what Ebola is, and whether we should be scared about it: Read more
Dr Stu’s science of bisuit dunking
Go on, admit it: you love doing it. Every morning at 11 O’clock, tens of thousands of people prise open the biscuit tin to get ready to do some dunking. It’s a worldwide tea break curiosity that has existed to since the dawn of the sweet baked treat. In America, they do it with doughnuts, while South Africans like to use rusks.
In a tonight’s BBC4 documentary, Nigel Slater’s Great British Biscuit, I explain some of the science of biscuit dunking. Here, more of the mysteries of the dunk are unwrapped… Read more
Does hot weather make you act like an idiot?
At the height of summer, tempers fray: drivers honk their horns and couples bicker in the car park. It’s a hot day and I’m in a rage because the person in front of me has decided to walk at a pace that would embarrass a very slow snail. With a mobility impairment.
‘GET OUT OF MY WAY! Can’t you see I’m in a rush?’
Mercifully, I refrain from shouting at the slow walking woman (with child) in the middle of the street. Thank goodness for good ol’ British self-control.
Along with men’s eye-wateringly white legs (revealed for the first time this year), odd things happen when the mercury rises up the scale. But can you really blame the weather for being an irrational grump? Or do you just need a vacation? Read more
More Money makes you Bad at Work: The Myth of Performance-Related Pay.
Motivated by money? I confess I am. Well ok, not always: there are plenty of things that will trump a stack of greenbacks. However, few of us would object to a kindly benefactor plopping a million quid into our current account. Even for the least materially-minded, it would be difficult to ignore such an offer: an abundance of wealth brings great opportunities to do great things for a great many people. Just ask Bill Gates.
But would money make you work harder? Politicians have a thing for ‘performance-related pay’ – especially when it means cutting the salaries of civil servants. If you listen to the UK Chancellor and his sidekick (Education Secretary, Michael Gove) then getting paid more for doing a good job is “empowering”, “rewarding” and will “drive up quality” (read the words of what he is proposing for teachers). It’s a simple equation: more money = harder work. Who could argue with such a logical conclusion? Well, money may make you try harder, but what you do will be lousy. Read more
Online reviews and movie critics are fantastic – so why do we ignore them?
The carpet is sticky and the smell of hotdogs mingles with sweet popcorn. The trailers are rolling. Even though person’s knee from the seat behind jabs into my back, I don’t care. The summer blockbuster is about to start and I’ve heard great things about it…
But two hours, a bursting bladder and numb bottom later, I leave disappointed.
Everyone hates wasting time and money watching cinematic drivel. If I (or a friend) were to recommend a film to you, would you go and watch it? With dozens of online review websites, no longer must we ‘take a punt’ on a movie. So, it would be safe to assume that all this information makes us better at picking good movies. Oddly enough, it doesn’t. Like a flock of sheep, we ignore good advice. Like lambs to the… Read more