Lifestyle Barometer: Your guide to what's hot and what's not this week from cocktails to Kim Kardashian
From inclusive Vogue covers to wonky flowers and lobster emojis, this is our guide to what’s hot and what’s not
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Blue badge scheme
This week the Department for Transport confirmed that as of 2019 people with “hidden disabilities” will be granted blue badge parking permits to enable them to park closer to their destination.
In addition to those with physical disabilities, the blue badge will be extended to people who cannot make a journey without “a risk of serious harm to health or safety”, including children.
Those who find journeys cause “considerable physical distress” or have difficulty with “both the physical act and the experience of walking” can also apply.
Supermarket gin
The popularity of gin is nothing new, however the news that you don’t have to spend a fortune on a bottle for it to taste any good is.
Regarded as the Michelin guide for booze, the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) has revealed that a bottle of budget gin from Aldi, priced at £9.99, has beaten more expensive varieties – including Heston Blumenthal’s Citrus Sherbet Lazy Gin, which costs £24.99 – to take home a silver medal.
In the gin category, own-brand versions from Morrisons and Spar, as well as best-known British brands Beefeater and Gordon’s also bagged silver medals while Bombay Sapphire took bronze.
The overall winner was Ki No Bi Kyoto Dry Gin from Japan, at £44.95 a bottle.
Vogue magazine
Both US and UK Vogue made headlines this week over the launch of each of their September issues.
According to reports, US Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has given Beyoncé “unprecedented control” over the September issue of the style bible, a move which has prompted the singer to hire the first black photographer, Tyler Mitchell, to shoot a cover in the publications 126 year history.
Across the pond, British Vogue’s September issue won praise for its colourful front page featuring pop star Rihanna, who was sporting pin-thin eyebrows, which hark back to a classic – and long-forgotten – Nineties beauty trend as seen on the likes of Gwen Stefani and Drew Barrymore.
Wonky flowers
Last year, Morrisons championed the sale of so called “wonky veg” – smaller or misshapen fruit and vegetables – and now it’s doing the same with flowers.
In an initiative to make its flowers more affordable for customers, while simultaneously reducing waste, the supermarket chain is introducing a new scheme that will see flowers which haven’t quite developed properly for £3 per bouquet rather than the usual £5.
Cocktails
Beer has become an important part of British culture but according to new research, more and more of us are ditching it in favour of fancy cocktails.
Researchers who surveyed 2,000 UK adults found that a fifth of drinkers are shunning pints of beer and wine in favour of more exotic spirit-based beverages such as mojitos, margaritas and martinis.
The survey, commissioned by Gordon’s, Baileys and Tanqueray also found that a quarter of participants identified cocktail-making as a skill they would like to master in the future.
Going down
Kim Kardashian
It hasn’t been a good week for Kim Kardashian. Firstly, the reality star came under fire for expressing joy at being called “anorexic” and “skinny” by her sisters in a series of videos posted on Instagram.
Her comments were highly criticised by body positivity activists and health experts, with many expressing concern that Kim’s posts could trigger eating disorders.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Kardashian also faced criticism after making a comment on Instagram that social media users labelled “homophobic”.
In response to a remark made by actor and model Tyson Beckford, who slammed her appearance in a photograph, she wrote: “Sis we all know why you don’t care for it,” a comment which many people have interpreted as a homophobic slur.
“Kim Kardashian, you’re questioning Tyson Beckford’s sexuality, like being ‘gay’ is something evil,” one person wrote on the post.
Period shame
A blogger has revealed how she lost followers after posting a picture calling for the normalisation of women staining their bedsheets with blood when on their periods.
Grace Victory shared a candid photo of herself lying on her side in her bed with a visible blood stain on the sheet asking her followers how it made them feel.
While many praised Victory for sharing the image, she later revealed that her follower count dropped by 150 as a result.
“2018 and people are still grossed out over period blood. We are still full of shame and embarrassment over something so so so natural,” she wrote.
“I knew it was bad but I didn’t realise it was THIS bad. Still inspired to create more conversations though.”
Transphobia
Despite being the most requested emoji for two years in a row, Unicode – the body that decides which ones appear on our keyboards – has failed to create an image for the transgender flag, instead introducing pointless symbols for soup, floppy disks and most recently lobsters.
In response, activist, nail artist and author Charlie Craggs has started the Claws Out For Trans campaign, which is encouraging people to sign its petition and use the lobster emoji as much as possible to show Unicode just how much the transgender flag emoji would be used if they created one.
The Conservative Party
In an attempt to win the youth vote, the Conservative Party has decided to capitalise on the popularity of ITV2’s Love Island by launching their very own range of personalised water bottles.
However, the bottles, which carried the slogan “Don’t let Corbyn mug you off”, didn’t go down well with people on social media who accused them of being out of touch.
“If the Tories want to be relatable they can start with not widening the class divide, not making higher education inaccessible, not making it impossible for us to buy houses, not slashing the NHS with cuts,” one person commented.
Twitter trolls
This week, former Gogglebox star Scarlett Moffatt hit out at trolls who criticised the way she looks on Twitter.
The 27-year-old posted a series of emotional tweets after appearing on Love Island spin-off show Aftersun to slam body shamers who she said “attacked” her over her appearance.
Moffatt said that she was “honestly ashamed of some people”, adding: “Hard to pretend I’m ok and be a good role model to others about how it’s ok to just be you when the comments from grown adults on here have resulted in me crying my eyes out! I hope you’re very proud of yourselves.”
Shortly after her initial posts, Moffatt followed up with one more tweet to remind people that it wasn’t just her who these types of insensitive comments hurt.
“I wanted and felt like I had to write that tweet to let you know at the end of the day I’m a 27-year-old girl with feelings and a family who get upset also when they see vile comments about my appearance,” she wrote.
“Something needs to change with our society!”
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