From the DailyMail.co.uk, “Stephen Port’s drug dealer was today found guilty of murdering a man almost 30 years his senior he met on Grindr in a case with chilling similarities to the serial killer’s own crimes”
A man in his late twenties was hopsitalised after an attack which police are calling a homophobic hate crime, just a week after Pride in London.
The victim was allegedly verbally abused and then assaulted at around 3 AM in the morning on Camberwell Road in South London in what police have described as a hate crime.
The 29-year-old victim was taken to hospital for treatment to a head injury. This has been assessed as not life-changing or life-threatening, and the man has been discharged from hospital.
A 19-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of GBH. He has since been released under investigation.
The incident is being investigated as a homophobic hate crime due to comments made prior to the assault. Enquiries into the circumstances continue.
Detectives from the Safeguarding Unit based at Brixton are investigating. Anyone with information or footage is asked to call 101 quoting CAD 1376/14Jul or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The Bank of England have announced that Code Breaker and gay scientist, Alan Turing is to be the new face of the £50 note.
Introducing the face of the new £50 note – the father of computer science, Alan Turing.” Find out more https://t.co/pO7eu9nfHT #Turing50 #ThinkScience pic.twitter.com/RLmXD0QUQY
— Bank of England (@bankofengland) July 15, 2019
Today, the Bank of England announced that WWII hero Alan Turing will be the face of the new £50 note at an event in Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry.
Former Manchester MP and gay rights campaigner John Leech led a nearly decade-long campaign to pardon Alan Turing, gaining immense public support from legendary physicists such as Stephen Hawking.
During the campaign, Leech submitted several bills to Parliament describing Turing’s long-held conviction as “utterly disgusting and ultimately just embarrassing”.
After his campaign proved successful, Leech turned to secure pardons for the 75,000+ other men and women convicted of the same outdated crime in what is now nicknamed the Alan Turing Law.
Welcoming today’s news, Turing pardon architect John Leech said, “It is almost impossible to put into words the difference that Alan Turing made to society, but perhaps the most poignant example is that his work is estimated to have shortened the war by four years and saved up to 21 million lives.
“And yet the way he was treated afterwards remains a national embarrassment and an example of society at its absolute worst.
“I’m absolutely delighted that Turing will be the face of the new £50 note and I hope it will go some way to acknowledging his unprecedented contribution to society and science.
“It is a fitting and welcome tribute to a true Manchester hero.
“But more importantly I hope it will serve as a stark and rightfully painful reminder of what we lost in Turing, and what we risk when we allow that kind of hateful ideology to win.”
49 years after it originally debuted, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is back and is as good as ever!
Now playing at the fabulous (and best venue in London) The Palladium, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat boasts a cast that is first rate and leaves the audience wanting more. The show, based on the ‘Coat of many colours’ story of Joseph from the Bible’s Book of Genesis, begins with Joseph (Jac Yarrow) being given a colourful coat by his dad. He’s then sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and then climbs back to the top. The show is considered a camp classic and this version puts it over the top!
Sheridan Smith is very good as the narrator – she guides us through the show effortlessly, and cheekily – it looks like she is having as good a time as we are. Jason Donovan makes an all too very brief appearance as the Pharaoh (with an excellent Elvis Presley-like imitation), in his gold harness-style outfit dutifully displaying most of his upper torso and legs – Jason has still got it. Yarrow, making his West End debut, is absolute perfection as the main character Joseph. Currently training at the Arts Educational School, Yarrow is the strongest voice in the show, and his rendition of ‘Close Every Door’ right before the end of the first half literally brings down the house. It’s a stunning West End debut by someone so young and very talented (he is only 21). And Donovan, who played Joseph in a 1991 version (also at the Palladium, has come full circle and weathered it very very well.
The show does not rely on razzle-dazzle sets and special effects – it’s all about the actors and talent on stage – and they more than deliver. The sets are effortlessly perfect, and the cast of children, most of them playing adult characters (a few with fake beards) make the show charming and enduring. But the show, on the technical side on the night I saw it, had sound problems. The audience could not quite understand Donovans’ lyrics, while, in a show that is mostly sung and not spoken, makes a big impact on the storytelling for those of us seeing it for the first time. But’s it a minor quibble – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (written by a very young Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice) is lively and fun and should continue to bring this to audiences to come, probably for the next 49 years.
Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat plays at The Palladium until September 2019, book tickets here
But take this list with a grain of salt, it’s not been confirmed, but it looks so good.
According to the Twitter user, DragRaceUK_ the following queens are set to take part in the first ever RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, which is due to stream on BBC 3 later this year.
The list that has been released contains 14 names and contains alternates and reserves according to the Twitter account, which isn’t a verified account.
Even if just some of this group of queens are in the final 10, it’s sure to be an epic, epic debut season for the UK. The only problem is that it’s on BBC 3 and you will require a TV license to watch the show and there are no plans at this time to stream the show onto Netflix, the orginal home in the UK for Drag Race.
https://twitter.com/DragRaceUK_/status/1118121763819409408
In 2018, I happened upon this Tweet during Trans Awareness week and it got me thinking…
“Also on twitter, stop assuming people’s pronouns based on their profile pic and your binary stereotypes.
“Read their profile. Check their pronouns. Don’t assume.
“And while you’re there, put your own pronouns in your profile.
“Normalise that shit ✨#TransAwarenessWeek
— Thal (@thalestral) November 12, 2018
Let me tell you about my own gender expression before we go on. I don’t think of myself as a “man” because I don’t really fit into what society expects of men. When I was a child all I wanted to do was be called a girl, wear high heels, my mum’s dresses and sing Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown’ on repeat.
I was a Grade A queer/trans kid. As an adult I couldn’t admit that to anyone outside my immediate family. I was so shamed by this behaviour – and bullied mercilessly at school when I chose to wear the white, patterned “girls’” socks instead of the regulation grey socks for boys.
Nowadays, I dress in typically masculine clothes, I have a boyfriend, I have short hair and people assume that I’m a man and a gay one at that. I respec the privileges that, for the most part, that assumed identity affords me. But, it never really feels right when someone refers to me in that way.
That said, I don’t mind if people use the pronouns him/his or he when they refer to me.
Although it does jar me if someone calls me a man.
Weird? Right?
I also don’t mind it if I’m referred to with female pronouns.
I’m pretty relaxed about the pronouns that are used to describe me.
But for some, words really matter. So here’s some advice to help us all become better allies to our non-binary, gender non-conforming siblings.
It seems that we’ve all got our lives set to transmit only. We need more receiving in our lives. So when someone is telling you something about them, listen.
Someone once wisely told me, “Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups” – and they were completely right. How often have you assumed something about a situation only to find that nothing was as you imagined? Pretty often, right?
Your assumptions are based on your own life experience. It doesn’t take into account other people’s experience. So leave your assumptions at the door and again, open your mind.
If a person tells you what their preferred pronoun is, accept it don’t fight it. It’s what they’ve asked you to call them. The decision is effectively out of your hands. It’s the same as when someone tells you their name. You accept it and it becomes part of their identity. Well, pronouns are the same.
Some non-binary, gender fluid and gender non-conforming folks use a number of different pronouns. Some popular ones are: Zim/Zer and Ze, they/them and theirs or even thon, which was actually added to the dictionary in 1964. They as a singular pronoun has been used for centuries.It’s not particularly new, it’s not trend based, it’s just getting a lot of media attention at the moment.
Blue for boys, Pink for girls… gender stereotyping is all so the 1950s and really doesn’t work for today’s society. No one likes living in a predefined box and we don’t live in a black and white world. There’s a whole rainbow out there.
Gender norms and stereotypes, when adhered to, just keeps society attached to a patriarchal system that’s almost impossible to climb and doesn’t work for all of us, particularly LGBT+ people. So lets bin it shall we?
Normalise the conversation surrounding pronouns. Write your preferred pronouns in your social media profiles. As @thalestral says on Twitter, “normalise that shit”.
Also on twitter, stop assuming people’s pronouns based on their profile pic and your binary stereotypes.
Read their profile. Check their pronouns. Don’t assume.
And while you’re there, put your own pronouns in your profile.
Normalise that shit ✨#TransAwarenessWeek
— Thal (@thalestral) November 12, 2018
Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating that slightly but you get the gist. Another giveaway was probably stealing my sister’s dolls and then crying when she wouldn’t let us take it in turns to push the doll’s pram.
But I’ve digressed here. Gone off the beaten track. Pardon the pun. Where was I? Oh yes, I’d just made the slightly untrue statement that I wasn’t always gay. What is more truthful to say, is that I wasn’t always out to the world.
And I did that old trick that I’m sure all gay boys are guilty of, especially from my era of the 1980s and 1990s. I pretended that I was bisexual because, to me, it made it seem less scary than saying, ‘Hey I’m a fully fledged 100% penis loving homosexual!’
So in my quest to prove I wasn’t a fully fledged homo and only a Bi, I decided that I would have to try a girl out for size.
I used to steal copies of The Daily Sport from the local newsagent. I was a paperboy in my youth you know. I don’t for the life of me know why I stole The Daily Sport.
Well, I do actually. I was still pretending not to be a pouf. So I thought stealing a paper that had tits in it made me look like a hard man to the boys on my estate. But all I was really doing was trying to impress the boys because I was fantasising about them!
I’ve kissed quite a few girls in my time, I’ll have you know. It was easy to stick your tongue down their throats. I just pretended it was our postman who I fancied or my P.E. teacher. My P.E. teacher, OH MY DAYS, I can still remember his face now.
He was a beautiful man. And he was the reason I could never stand up straight in a pair of shorts during my school years. Every time I saw him, I got a stonking great hard on and had to do my best impression of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame to hide it.
After a while though, the girls I were kissing weren’t just happy with a snog anymore. We were 16 now and they wanted something other than my tongue inside them. ‘Oh god’, I thought. ‘What was I do?’, I may have kissed them. But never had I felt a hard-on as a result.
My first attempt at sexual intercourse was with a girl called Tina. I remember it like it was yesterday. I’d sprinkled rose petals all over the bed in my attempt to make it romantic. Yes, I know.
Rose petals.
Sheer cheese.
I’d watched too many episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful during the 1990s.
And, not surprisingly, it also had an ending like a melodramatic soap opera. We kissed. She got naked on the bed. And then I whipped my clothes off and whapped a condom on.
Yes, I managed to get hard! I thank the Lord for my vivid imagination. Because that was not Tina on the bed. It was Tinhead from Brookside.
Just as I was about to make my MARK, (yes, pun intended), Tinhead, sorry I mean Tina, grabbed my arm and pushed me off.
“I’m sorry! I can’t do it with you. I’m a lesbian!” Oh, the irony.
My next attempt at proving my bisexuality was with a girl called Hayley. We went camping together. My first time with a girl, under the stars, in a tent, out in a field. I thought this would be so romantic.
“As I toasted a marshmallow over the campfire for her, I felt her hand caress my thigh. I was nearly as soft and gooey as the marshmallow but along came my vivid imagination once more.
“And, as if by magic, Hayley was Hunter from Gladiators“.
Mini Mark was poised, raised and ready for action. I felt Hayley undo my flies. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. If a girl touches my penis, I’ll be scarred for life, I told myself.
To stop her wandering hands, and to take her attention away from my penis, I got two fingers and put them up her skirt. I heard her groan, but meanwhile, I was trying to stop myself from gagging.
I felt like I was prodding a raw fillet steak and to this day, I always have to have my meat well cooked. My bisexual days were over.
100% Gay man had been erected. Pun intended.
According to new research by the British Social Attitudes survey (BSA) the acceptance of gay relationships amongst the population of the UK has stalled and even slightly declinced over previous findings.
Previously, 68% of people thought that same-sex relationships were acceptable, however the latest findings have seen a slight decreased to 66 per cent, suggesting that 34% of people in the UK do not think that homosexual relationships are acceptable.
The BSA survey, which has been conducted since 1980, warned that the country has “reached a point of plateau” according to a spokesperson for the organisation.
Some 66% of those polled in 2018 said same-sex relations were “not wrong at all”, down from 68% the previous year.
The survey covers a wide variety of societial questions, covering many subjects. Of the nearly 3,000 people polled, 74% said sex before marriage were “not wrong at all”, down from 75% over the previous years, revealing that perhaps the UK is becoming a little more conservative on issues of sexuality.
Leading LGBT+ rights activist, Peter Tatchell, called the findings, “concerning”, saying that there had been no “significant increase in support recorded over the past few years”.
Diamonds Aren’t For Everyone.
What Have We Got?
Here we have the new DS 7 Crossback. The Avantgarde company from Citroen.
It’s a largish SUV vehicle aimed at the upper ends of the SUV market. It’s an ever-growing market where luxury and comfort speak for themselves. Can it take on the big premium brands?
What I’m trying to say is, does this diamond encrusted DS 7 have the range?
Driving
Overall it is a bit of a disappointment. The 225bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine mated to the 8-speed automatic doesn’t encourage vigorous driving. From the looks of the DS7, that at first seems a shame.
That feeling soon evaporates when you drive it in a more conservative way. This Ultra Prestige spec model wasn’t fitted with the new adaptive road assist system that analyses the road and adapts the ride accordingly. I’ve heard mixed reviews about that. On this model, then, we have standard springs and shocks and it all works well.
At night time when the powerful adaptive headlights highlight imperfections in the road, nothing seems to be transmitted back into the cabin. And if it was, the majority of the time it was a muted “thud”
Inside
Here is where the DS7 Crossback stands out. The quality game has been upped quite a lot. Soft touch plastics and rubber where it matters, washable hard plastic where it doesn’t. And then there is the DS’s signature interior layout with stylised switches in the centre console and around the cockpit.
And this signature is in diamonds. Everything is pretty much diamond shape. It’s a love it or hate it experience but for me, I rather like it, especially the front door armrests that illuminate at night with diamonds. It blends itself into the digital display on the fascia panel.
It doesn’t all work though. The speedometer bar and incredibly difficult to read at a glance. It is a bit form over function. Thankfully there are always clear digital display readouts.
Living with it
Sadly I feel the DS7 will be overlooked because it’s French and that is your problem. As the SUV market grows and grows, it will soon start to get more competitive and quality, which from some manufacturers, isn’t up to their hatchback offerings. Here in the DS7 Crossback, the game is high. There is a return to French and quirky style. It’s a welcome return.
DS has been striving for an air of opulence in their products and finally, they have got it. It connected well as a comfortable drivers car, making the driving experience a pleasurable one that was relaxing. It has space for five and the fixtures are above the norm.
Verdict
The late Joan Rivers said “I don’t work out. If God had wanted us to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor”, DS has bent over backwards to give us a quality product for not a lot of money. You’d be fooling yourself not to bend over and take a closer look.
Love
Quality feel
Price
Different
Loathe
Steering wheel pads set to high
Front wheel tramp from a standstill
Poor rear door architecture
The Lowdown
Car – DS7 Crossback Ultra Prestige
Price – £46,260 (as tested)
MPG – 40.4 – 36.2 mpg (WLTP combined)
Power – 225bhp @ 5,500 rpm
0-62mph – 8.3 seconds
Top Speed – 141 mph
Co2 – 125 (g/km)
Around 15,400 new cases of malignant melanoma are diagnosed in the UK each year; that’s around 42 new cases diagnosed every day. Yet 86% of these could have been prevented.
So here are five ways you can protect your skin this Pride season
Applying sunscreen to your skin before you go outside during the summer months and on cloudy days (UV rays get through clouds) helps reduce the risk of skin damage. Sunscreens are useful for protecting our skin from the sun’s rays, but will not protect us completely from sun damage on their own. Use them together with shade or clothing to avoiding sunburn.If you have fair skin or if you burn very easily, you will need the highest level of protection. Even if your skin tends to tan rather than burn, it’s still important to take care in the sun and use sunscreen.If you have naturally brown or black skin, the extra melanin pigment in the skin cells may provide a bit more protection against harm from UV rays but sun protection is still necessary.
When choosing sunscreen, you should:
Midday hours are when the sun is at its hottest and highest in the sky. Find shade under trees, umbrellas, canopies or move indoors. A simple way to find out when the sun’s rays are at their strongest is to look at your shadow – if it’s shorter than your height, this means that the sun’s UV rays are strong and you need to be particularly careful.
When there’s no shade around, cover exposed areas, such as your arms or legs (close-weave clothes offer the most protection against UV rays) and wear a wide-brimmed hat to protect your head.
Overexposure to UV rays can damage the eyes too. Too much UV can lead to cataracts and rare types of eye cancer.
When choosing sunglasses look for the following:
Sunbeds are a risk factor as it exposes the skin to high levels of radiation. Ongoing concern about the use of sunbeds has led to the use of them being banned by law to anyone aged under-18 in the UK. If you’re keen to have a tan, the safest way to achieve it is to use fake tan.
For more information on staying safe in the sun, please visit AXA PPP healthcare.
Carry on reading below, to hear about Tom’s experience getting a pedicure. Missed the other instalments of this series? Click here to find out about Tom’s previous adventures, where he tried intimate waxing, a dermalux facial and tinting/threading.
With summer well and truly here, along with a few comments from the girls in my office. This week I decided to jump into the world of pedicures and get my feet ‘summer ready’. To be fair, it really needed to happen, they weren’t looking cute! Now if you’re like me one of the reasons I don’t usually get pedicures, is because of the way they are typically marketed as a women’s beauty treatment. Well, newsflash to the world, men have feet too and let’s face it, fellas, all our feet could probably use a bit more TLC. This is where Aldwyn & Sons come in. A men’s pedicure and manicure parlour based in London, that not only will leave you feeling fabulous but give you vibes of Victorian gentleman’s club decadence on the journey.
A pedicure is simply the maintenance and general upkeep of your feet. It’s not to be confused as a treatment for foot conditions but as a preventive measure of them. For the treatment of any foot conditions, please consult your chiropodist. Your pedicurist will not be able to help in these situations. Generally, a pedicure will involve the removal of hard skin, the clipping/shaping of nails and maintenance of the nail bed/cuticle. Nothing inherently ‘girly’ about it, eh?
So first of all, I would just like to say thank you to Aldwyn & Sons for helping with this feature. I genuinely couldn’t recommend them enough if you are in London definitely give them a visit. By the end of this feature, it’ll be clear why you should. They truly go above and beyond.
When entering Aldwyn & Sons, you are greeted by the aroma of fresh coffee (one of my favourite things) and a very helpful barista, that will guide you to the treatment room. Now I know this sounds a bit bizarre, but this is because the parlour is located at a hub of male grooming. You have Sharps the barbers on-site and their artisan coffee shop, in case you need that extra pick me up. All in all, I could be quite content spending my entire day here.
Once you get to the treatment room though, you’ll be greeted by the very dapper Aldwyn, and he will get you settled in for the pedicure. Offering you your choice of hot drink from the coffee shop, as he prepares the foot bath to soak your feet and take all your cares away. Especially great after the morning run, I’d just done!
As you sit there, letting your feet soak and enjoying your caffeinated beverage of choice. One thing you instantly notice is the relaxing aesthetic of the treatment room. It truly does remind me of a Victorian gentleman’s club, and I’m more than ok with that. It’s masculine and refined but without the toxic stereotypes of masculinity today. A place men can go, feel relaxed and enjoy the experience of taking care of themselves.
After your feet have been thoroughly soaked, Aldwyn will go on to start clipping your nails and shaping them. The advantage of this is the control this gives over the direction of nail growth. Especially useful in the avoidance of ingrown toenails, which trust me, are best to be avoided!
Following this, he will go on to add cuticle remover to soften your cuticles and then proceed to push them back, clip them and tidy up your nail bed. By doing this, we avoid any build up of bacteria and ensure healthy nail regrowth. To finish this step of the manicure, Aldwyn went on to apply cuticle oil to my nail beds before letting my feet soak some more. This process conditions the cuticles and nail bed. Leaving a perfect canvas for nail regrowth in the future.
Once my nails had been suitably pampered, it was then time to focus on removing the hard skin on my feet. Which were now in a prime position to have the hard skin removed, following the foot bath. To do this, Aldwyn used a foot file and gently removed the top layers of hard skin, following up with a foot scrub and moisturiser combo to condition and soften the feet. He explained to me during this step that it is never a good idea to entirely remove all hard skin from our feet. As it acts as a protective barrier, during our day to day lives. Instead, it’s best to manage the hard skin, removing only the top layers and in doing so, maintaining the overall appearance of our feet.
The next and final step of the pedicure was probably the most relaxing thing I’d done this year. It was time for the foot massage, and honestly, this man is magic with his hands! Based upon the reflexology points in your feet, you will honestly just melt into your chair at this point. Definitely take the extra time and go for ‘The Modern Footman’ treatment, you won’t be disappointed.
With this final step done, my feet were now ‘summer ready’, and I have to be honest, they felt pretty damn amazing. So it’s definitely a part of my grooming routine, that I’m going to upkeep in the future.
As usual, I think it’s essential to advise you of any of after-care for the treatments I try out, and in this case, there really isn’t any. Just make sure to keep on top of the moisturiser and nail care in between appointments, to keep your feet looking fresh all summer long!
As always we can’t speak for every clinician in the country, but for Aldwyn and his team, the pricing is as follows:
The Modern Footman: £50.00
A pedicure consisting of nail and cuticle work, foot filing, exfoliation and moisturising, followed by a foot massage.
The Quick March: £40.00
A pedicure consisting of nail and cuticle work, foot filing, exfoliation and moisturising.
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