“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never break me”; we’ve all heard the familiar nursery rhyme designed to cheer up child victims of verbal bullying by reminding them that at least they weren’t battered with rocks. In fact, many people would agree that physical actions have more severe consequences than words, […]
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Treat Your Shelf: Well, Well, Wellness
You probably bought yourself a recipe book in January, using the Waterstones voucher from your aunt, to support your New Year’s resolution to take a break from those 3am Subways, and chances are it was either Deliciously Ella (495,191 books sold as of Jan 2017) or Lean in 15 (over 1.1 million books sold as […]
Listen Close: The Weeknd – Starboy
“Look what you’ve done / I’m a motherfuckin’ Starboy” – The Weeknd That is the confident refrain of The Weeknd’s recent single ‘Starboy’. As the title track to the artist’s November release, (which marked a significant change in his musical direction), it’s lyrics stand out as illustrative and delicately composed. Between each gasping “ha-ha-ha” of the chorus, […]
Liked That? Try This: The xx – I See You
Liked That? Try This is a fortnightly column: I pick a trending album and recommend three others based on their shared musical ideas, aesthetics or approaches. This week’s album choice is The xx’s ‘I See You’, released on 13th January and perhaps the first major release event of 2017. Marking a shift toward the pulsing […]
The Rugby Review: Aviva Premiership Round 9
As England make it 3/3 for their Autumn series, we take a look at how the Aviva Premiership panned out in round 9. Newcastle earned only their second away win of the season as they grabbed a 16-22 victory away in Northampton. After starting brightly, a red card to Saints’ Kieran Brookes for a no-arms […]
Let’s get avocontrol: Dark chocolate and orange zest cookies
These fragrant and indulgent cookies are tastiest paired with candied chocolate orange dippers. Rather than setting yourself that tricky and unnecessary technical challenge of homemade ja ffa cakes, here you can have the same flavour combination packed into a gooey cookie. They will keep in an air tight container for 3 days – so from a […]
Feminist Friday: the gendered language barrier
In the globalised, 21st century world, traditional language barriers have all but lost their significance and digital advancements have made communication easier than ever. So now we can have a dialogue, it’s time to break down the repressive lexical and semantic walls erected by our ancestors that form the gendered language barrier and to make […]
Let’s get avocontrol: Ramen week
Japanese cuisine is fantastic for its freshness and speed. In restaurants like the insanely successful Wagamama, you will receive your meal as soon as it’s completed to ensure supreme flavour; that’s why you’re usually the unlucky one, glaring in envy at your companion scoffing down their yaki soba. Ramens are messy, playful, and they sparkle […]
A whole new world: The Arctic Circle
Music is another language. By listening to the radio you can learn to speak melody, just like you can learn French by listening to conversation in Parisian cafés. If you listen to enough pop music you can memorise a catchy tune before you have heard it resolve, because you begin to recognise certain patterns of […]
Dear Dr. Grammar
Dear Dr. Grammar, I am puzzled by the apostrophe. When do I use “it’s”, and when do I use “its”? And, more widely, what are the rules on using apostrophes and extra s-es with plural possessives? It’s all so confusing! – Mr. A.P. O’Strophe Ah, the apostrophe! That sassy upwardly mobile comma, not quite as […]