
For years it’s been predicted that the market for male ‘support garments’ will take off … but it hasn’t quite happened. Now M&S is trying again
There is a moment – just seconds into getting dressed – when I think I might panic. The hem of my stretchy top has got rolled up round my ribs before my head has popped out of the neck hole, and with my hands still stuck in the sleeves, I cannot reach round to pull it down. I wriggle helplessly for a minute, but the situation doesn’t improve; the band of rolled-up fabric is taut across my chest, immovable. That’s when I feel the first tingle of rising alarm – so familiar from early childhood – that comes of being trapped in your clothes.
I am trying, for the first time, to put on an item of shapewear for men – an ordinary-looking, highly elasticated long-sleeved workout top that will, I hope, give me the instant slim profile of someone who goes to the gym regularly, instead of not since the pandemic started.
Continue reading...Whether it’s nightclubs banning phones or a drop in online dating, there are signs that we’re rediscovering the joy of being in the moment
It’s only a small rectangular sticker, but it symbolises a joyous sense of resistance. Some of Berlin’s most renowned clubs have long insisted that the camera lenses on their clientele’s phones must be covered up using this simple method, to ensure that everyone is present in the moment and people can let go without fear of their image suddenly appearing on some online platform. As one DJ puts it, “Do you really want to be in someone’s picture in your jockstrap?”
Venues in London, Manchester and New York now enforce the same rules. Last week brought news of the return of Sankeys, the famous Mancunian club that closed nearly a decade ago, and is reopening in a 500-capacity space in the heart of the city. The aim, it seems, is to fly in the face of the massed closures of such venues, and revive the idea that our metropolises should host the kind of nights that stretch into the following morning. But there is another basic principle at work: phones will reportedly either be stickered or forbidden. “People need to stop taking pictures and start dancing to the beat,” said one of the club’s original founders.
John Harris is a Guardian columnist. His book Maybe I’m Amazed: A Story of Love and Connection in Ten Songs is available from the Guardian bookshop
Continue reading...In his joyous new comedy Finding Father Christmas, the star is on a mission to prove Santa really exists – and he’s got Stephen Fry to help him! He talks magic, trampoline mayhem and finally getting behind the wheel of a car
It’s time for a father to have an awkward conversation with his teenage son. No, not that one. This is far worse – Chris is 16 and still believes in Father Christmas. He needs to know the truth: all the presents, the fake snow on the roof, the soot in the grate, it was all his dad. “You’re Father Christmas?” says Chris, astonished. “You bring joy and happiness to billions of children all over the world?”
In Finding Father Christmas, Channel 4’s funny and moving comedy, Chris, played by Lenny Rush, bunks off school and sets out on a mission with his older cousin Holly (Ele McKenzie) to prove to his sceptic dad that Santa is real. Poring over a photograph taken at a celebrity party, Chris thinks he has identified four people who may have secret links to Santa – Stephen Fry, mathematician Prof Hannah Fry, the space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock and SAS: Who Dares Wins star Jason Fox. Finally, he follows clues to a secret secure facility in Milton Keynes and breaks in with the help of a mini trampoline and the magic of television (a bungee cord). “It was terrifying, but so much fun,” says Rush of the stunt. “I feel like if I was offered [to do it] and I said no, I’d kick myself on the way home. I wanted to give it a go and I’m happy I did. But there was an element of fear.”
Continue reading...As the exam regulator consults about introducing onscreen exams amid complaints of hand fatigue, a young aspiring journalist goes head-to-head with a self-professed expert
This week it was reported that students could soon be sitting their end-of-year exams on laptops after pupils complained of hand fatigue, saying their muscles “are not strong enough”.
With Ofqual preparing to launch a public consultation on the introduction of onscreen exams, we decided to conduct a test of our own, pitting the Guardian columnist Zoe Williams, a seasoned hack of the pen-and-paper generation, against George Francis Lee, our gen-Z journalist in training.
Continue reading...An author and a tech coach had a heated debate about refugees, loud phones in public spaces, and our reliance on cars. Did they part with a smile?
Andy, 62, Stevenage
Occupation Agile coach in technology
Continue reading...Her delivery might be stilted – but Truss’ new YouTube show has grand ambitions: a ‘Trump revolution’ in Britain with the help of an influential US conservative ecosystem
Liz Truss, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, began the first edition of her YouTube show with a vow to unmask “the evil-doers” attempting to bring down Britain, the US and Europe. She would, she explained, reveal how an “international network of leftists work to subvert democracy and the will of the people”.
Despite her bleak monologue, Truss pointed to hope from across the Atlantic. “We’re going to look at the Trump revolution and see how this can be achieved in Britain,” she said. “We’ll be talking to the leading lights of the Maga movement.”
Continue reading...One gunman was also killed and another wounded; two police officers among the injured taken to hospital
It has been a horrifying night for so many in Bondi, around Australia and the globe. Guardian Australia photographers were at the scene on Sunday evening.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked by reporters on Sunday whether Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state in September and some ministers’ criticism of the Israeli government may have led to a rise in anti-Semitism in the country.
Continue reading...Eyewitnesses describe acts of bravery from bystanders and police officers after gunmen opened fire on people enjoying a warm summer evening
The killing went on so long, those fleeing had time to scream “they’re re-loading” as they scrambled for any place of safety they could find.
Those who could not were pitilessly gunned down.
Continue reading...In Australia, there were 1,654 anti-Jewish incidents in the year to September – three times higher than any annual total before the war in Gaza
Shortly after the mass shooting targeting Australia’s Jewish community on Sunday, Rabbi Levi Wolff of Central Sydney Synagogue told reporters that “the inevitable has happened now”.
Wolff was speaking in Bondi, close to where two men armed with powerful rifles or shotguns had just attacked an event celebrating Hanukah, the Jewish religious festival. At least 12 were killed, including one alleged gunman, and dozens were injured in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in almost three decades.
Continue reading...Video shows the man rushing one of the alleged gunmen who shot dozens of people on Sunday evening in Australia
A bystander tackled and wrestled a gun from one of the two alleged gunman during the Bondi beach mass shooting in which at least 12 people were killed, footage shows.
Video of the scene shows the alleged gunman standing on a footpath between a grassy area and parking lot holding a long-barrelled weapon and firing into the distance.
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