Cars are complicated pieces of machinery so Ford have selected a Fiesta model with simplicity its main focus point.
And this model, the 3 door Fiesta Trend was a hit with the reviewers at the recent SMMT drive it day and I’ll tell you why.
Driving
I hadn’t read the spec sheet for this new Fiesta. At times I like to just jump in and go to see if it wows me. And I can say that it did.
The simplistic appeal to this Fiesta comes from its 1.1 litre 3 pot engine. Just when every little engine in a biggish car is fitted with a turbo, this little engine leaves that at home on the table.
Performance figures are amiable and with just 85PS of power from a free revving engine, it manages to trundle along quite nicely. With no turbo, throttle inputs are met with immediate action except when nearing its peak of performance or when there is a hill to climb.This will also be why there are only 5 gears.
With the chassis being very communicative, making it a fun car to drive, hustle it through the gears to keep the engine at its peak and it’ll reward you with a dash that is both driver licence safe and exciting.
Inside
From the drivers point of view, the Fiesta Trend has all that you could want in a nippy city car. The 8” touch screen was easy to use, reasonably quick to function at the touch of the finger and the graphics are easy on the eye.
Plastics feel good quality and the choice of seat fabrics is both sophisticated and business like. For such a base model, it would in this case, seem out of place. Trend is its name but Trend it does not set. I don’t think a little funk would go a miss in here with a smattering of colours to lift the well fitted cabin.
Living With It
Fords NCAP pack comes as standard. This gives you extras like lane keep assist, speed limiter and tyre pressure monitoring. The electronic stability programme also comes with hill assist. So it all stacks well in its favour as a reasonable specced car for the money.
Is being a 3 door a hindrance? Not really. The front seats fold forward enough to allow easy entrance and a 3 door hatch always looks sporty over the 5 door.
The Verdict
The Fiesta Trend was a bit of a runaway hit at the SMMT drive day. There were not many bad words to be said about it. It was universally liked. And you can see why. It’s well put together and for a small car of £15,995, you weren’t left feeling short changed.
The drive is both engaging and without sounding detrimental to Ford, so simple and uncomplicated, that it makes it a drivers car without it costing the earth.
Jaguar UK invited THEGAYUK to the Design Museum in Kensington for an exclusive “interactive exploration of designing an electric car” before opening it to the public.
In essence it was popping into Kensington and having a nosey around the new Jaguar i-Pace in both metal and clay forms. It also gave us a chance to interact with the design teams involved.
Sam Day Photo
Before the jollies commenced with the sweat and anguish of picking up a pencil and drawing a Jaguar, I got to look close up around the clay models. I’ve only ever seen them in books and often wondered if they clay was set. The answer is no. It pretty much stay soft for most of its life. And this gave me an opportunity to have a go with the sculpturing tools. If you do see an i-Pace with a gouge in the near side rear door, that will be my work and you can thank me when you see me.
Directors of designer, Alister Whelan (interiors) and Dominic Najafi (exteriors) were on hand giving out advice as we all sat down to draw an i-Pace. It’s safe to say that the last time I sat down to draw in a school like setting was during my GCSE art and that too was the last time I also picked up a pencil to sketch.
Apparently it’s not in the wrist but the arm. Alister and Dominic were able to tell who didn’t heed their advice and drew from the wrist. I tried. It’s harder than you’d think.
Add some shade, depth in details, swoop here, swish there and you have an i-Pace. Or in my case, a Toyota Prius.
We were then asked to draw a car close to us like a first car or a dream car. I chose a Seat Terra. It’s a van based on the Seat Terra and apart from the wheels, it lacks curves so I should be OK.
Sam Day Photo
It just so happened that it wasn’t that bad. We all had to put our scribblings up on a wall and have Alister and Dominic comment and see if they could identify the car. For my effort and the only van drawn, they scored me an 8 out of 10. They guessed it as some sort of Fiat derived product and I can’t really split hairs. It pretty much was.
Sadly I wasn’t able to stay for the interaction with the panel on discussions on how new technologies, sustainable materials and changing customer desires are impacting the future of car design. Judging by the press pack that arrived after the event, it was well attended.
Gaydio presenter Matt Crabb has an important message to anyone who doesn’t identify as LGBT+ but who is partying at a gay club/bar this Christmas / New Year after he was homophobically abused while working as a DJ at a venue in Manchester.
The message is simple, “you’re a guest” and to be an ally and respect the place and its staff.
The presenter was working as a DJ at an LGBT venue when he had his earphones ripped off and was homophobically abused and called a “f*ggot” by a customer, who also demanded that he stop playing “gay sh*t”.
Luckily the club’s management and security was on hand and acted swiftly, removing the bigot from the club.
“Just a reminder to some straight people this Christmas. You are guests in our #LGBT venues. We are not an attraction, we are not here for you to be rude too or disrespectful. Don’t climb on the stage when you’ve been told not to…
Don’t pull the headphones off the DJ when they are trying to work, don’t tell them to stop playing ‘gay shit’ and call them a faggot when they won’t play your request.
“I’ve had to deal with all the above in the last 48 hours, it’s not fun. Do… come and party with us
Be an ally and respectful, tip bar staff and compliment entertainers on doing a good job
Just a reminder to some straight people this Christmas. You are guests in our #LGBT venues. We are not an attraction, we are not here for you to be rude too or disrespectful.
Don’t climb on the stage when you’ve been told not to…
Speaking to THEGAYUK Matt Crabb said that after the incident “security were called and they removed instantly”
He went on to reveal that abuse like this is a common occurrence in gay bars across the country.
Matt told us “It happens a lot in venues at this time of year, I’ve spoken to over friends who DJ on the scene in London/Cardiff who have similar stories”.
However, the song crowned number one contains a homophobic slur. Every year a debate rages about whether the song should have the word “f*ggot” bleeped or silenced when it is broadcast publicly.
The song beat out Mariah’s ‘All I Want For Christmas’ and WHAM!’s ‘Last Christmas’, it also managed to top Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas“, which took the fourth spot.
In 2007, BBC’s Radio 1 in the UK, censored the offending word, but soon reinstated it after a public backlash.
Gerard Barnes, CEO of mental health treatment specialists Smart TMS gives THEGAYUK five tips on how to “safeguard” your mental wellbeing this holiday season.
Many people will expect you to be in great spirits at Christmas, but don’t necessarily take into account why you may appear to be down. For those of us who experience negative thoughts or feelings at Christmas, it can be hard to admit that at such a festive time of the year that you don’t share in the delight of the holidays. However, more people are struggling than you think. Making the decision to talk about your feelings and share them with those around you can improve your mood and make it easier to deal with the tough times – especially when you discover that many of the people around you may find themselves in the same position!
Be picky with social engagements – they are not obligations!
It’s extremely easy to get burnt out over Christmas and New Year. Between work parties, spending time with friends, the intensity of family gatherings and then the pressure of New Year, many people are sucked into giving away too much of their free time and ending up extremely tired, lethargic and blue. Make time for the people you care most about, but ensure that you take enough time for yourself to recover and relax.
The weather influences the way in which we behave every day – it dictates the food we eat, the clothes we decide to wear, and to some extent where we decide to go. However, for millions of people in the UK, the short, dark days around Christmas and New Year can have a disastrous impact on health and wellbeing, triggering the onset of a depression known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.
There are, however, plenty of ways to alleviate the symptoms of SAD. Getting regular exercise, eating a balanced diet and exposing yourself to as much sunlight as possible are of course extremely important, but you could also consider other options such as light boxes and dawn simulators to help regulate your circadian rhythms.
SAD is also closely linked with a lack of vitamin D which your body naturally produces when exposed to sunlight – given that sunlight is in fairly short supply in the UK at Christmas, it may be worth getting your vitamin levels checked – using vitamin D supplements could certainly help to resolve any deficit you may have.
Reduce alcohol consumption
http://gty.im/159602791
For the heavier drinkers, those trying to cut back, and people who perhaps have a poor relationship with alcohol, my suggestions for remaining sober and in control at Christmas are as follows:
Take your favourite non-alcoholic drinks to any parties or gatherings, for example soda water, ginger beers or lemonade. This will help you to blend in with a glass in your hand, you’ll feel less conspicuous, and will likely avoid being asked for a drink every few minutes
Plan activities that will get you out of a setting in which you would typically find a drink in your hand – for example, winter walks, going to the cinema, family activities at home, etc.
Be assertive: a lot of people will likely question you on your decision not to drink. Some will be genuinely interested; others may just enjoy poking fun. However, if you ensure you come prepared with a short but effective summary or spiel as to why you’re deciding not to drink, this will really help you to avoid peer pressure and take ownership of your decision.
It’s very easy to become inactive and sedentary at Christmas. The food, the presents and the time spent with close ones can compound with the often poor weather to make the prospect of exercise daunting. However, regular exercise can boost your self-esteem (especially for those who enjoy the chocolate at Christmas), and will also help you to sleep better and get the rest that so many of us look forward to in the run up to Christmas.
If you’re having difficulty during the fesitve season and have no one to talk to, you can reach out to Samaritans or the LGBT+ helpline, Switchboard
Sharron Davies is taking heat on social media after likening drag to blackface. The former athlete, taking to Twitter, asked if anyone else was fed up of drag shows before stating that drag was a “parody of a real woman” before likening it to the wholly unacceptable practice of blackface.
Her tweet quickly found Davies ratio’d as nearly 1600 people took to comment on the tweet, while the tweet received only 360 retweets.
The majority of the tweets were negative towards Davies’ comments, with many criticising her “stereotyping of women” and ‘narrow mindedness”.
The 57-year-old then reeled off a list of what “real women” do including, juggling kids, cooking wholesome food, doing the laundry and other house chores. She also included “holding down a job” dealing with period pains and “leaky boobs” from breastfeeding.
She finished her tweet by telling drag queens to stop with the stereotypes.
Michelle Visage, judge of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the only Drag show currently broadcasting on mainstream media in the UK (and even then it’s on the digital-only platform BBC 3) hit back at the MBE saying, “or you can see it for what drag actually is, a celebration and homage of all things feminine.
On its tenth anniversary, Meat Magazine will be printing its last editions in 2020. The magazine which has been in print for 10 years has been self-produced and funded by its photographer, Adrian Lourie.
In a statement from the company, Adrian wrote that the decision to end Meat‘s print run was a “tough call” and that he had been “overwhelmed” by the supportive messages he had received.
Challenging expectations from gay media
In 10 years the magazine produced 39 issues and has really challenged expectations for a gay pin-up magazine. The magazine featured models of all shapes, ages, sizes and ethnicities and was championed by its fanbase, which had grown substantially on Instagram.
Speaking to THEGAYUK in 2018 just after pictures had been removed by Instagram, Adrian said, “Meat‘s mission is to champion body positivity amongst gay men, in a community where many often feel sidelined by ‘stereotypical’ male beauty standards. The zine allows our followers and fans to celebrate and own their unique beauty, no matter their age, race, body shape or type.”
Unfortunately, Meat found itself deleted from Instagram several times after falling foul of the platform’s community guidelines.
Meat‘s first Instagram account had amassed over 15,000 fans when it was erased by the Facebook-owned company and the second account had 4000 fans.
Exciting ideas for 2020
Adrian wrote that there were “other projects and opportunities to explore” and that there were “exciting ideas” lined up for 2020.
A reader asks how he can still have sexy time with his man but make sure that they leave no trace for the inlaws to find.
DEAR UNC
This Christmas my partner and I are staying at his parents, of course, because we’re randy f**kers I want to make sure we can still have sex, even if it is just a fumble between the sheets. What can we do to make sure that the inlaws don’t find our cummy rags or tissues?
Gavin, Totteridge
Dear Gavin,
Have you ever heard of the Rich Man’s Wank? I implore you to employ the RMW technique this Christmas. It’s very simple.
When you have your fumble under the sheets, instead of cumming over yourself (which you then have to wipe down – leaving crusty evidence for the inlaws to find) use a condom.
Yes, sometimes it escapes us, but the humble condom has more than the two normal uses (sexually transmitted disease protection – and blow up balloons at prides), yes you can use it as a semen collector – which, let’s face it, is what its main function actually is.
When you’re done, tie a knot at the opening – come the morning, simply pocket that Jonny, complete with all your little swimmers and flush it (you’re not supposed to do that) so you can bin it in a wrap of tissues.
Rev Richard Coles confirmed the death of his civil partner, Rev. David Coles.
The Strictly Come Dancing star Rev Richard Coles has confirmed that his civil partner, Rev. David Coles has died.
Although the star didn’t disclose what caused his partner’s passing, he did confirm that he had been “ill for while”.
The couple, who are both priests lived to together in Northamptonshire.
Taking to Twitter the broadcaster wrote, “I’m very sorry to say that @RevDavidColes has died. He had been ill for a while. Thanks to the brilliant teams who looked after him at @KettGeneral
“Funeral details to follow.
“The Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended”.
“99.99999% loveliness, but some say that D is in hell”
The support for Rev Coles has been overwhelmingly supportive according to the priest.
He tweeted that he had received “99.99999% loveliness” from people however he revealed he had been subjected to abuse from a “small but lively” group of Christians who had told him that his departed partner was now “in hell”.
