Latest Stories from Flo
Why is it so triggering when celebrities lose weight?
With the advent of diet drugs like Ozempic, plus size stars are increasingly losing weight – and gaining haters. To see a plus-size woman on a red carpet was, for a time, rather revolutionary. I hesitate to use that word for fear it sounds gouache and trite, but I'll admit it rings true. Sadly. Any body that wasn’t slim signalled that a long-standing aesthetic order was being, if not dismantled, at...
AI is reportedly set to disproportionately impact women
Artificial intelligence is coming for your job – and according to a new report, it’s coming faster if you’re a woman. For technology designed to eliminate benign work, artificial intelligence is proving remarkably efficient at replicating workplace inequality. Not that it will surprise any woman under the sun, but a new report from the UN’s International Labour Organisation has confirmed women are set to bear the brunt of AI-driven job...
Does Brockwell Park battle prove festivals are another form of gentrification?
When London’s green sanctuaries become private playgrounds, who truly holds the key to public space? Last month, Brockwell Park underwent its annual transformation from local haven to festival fortress. Surrounded by temporary fencing and housing a swathe of stages and food vans, tens of thousands prepared to descend on the park over a series of weekends. The beloved patch of greenery has been home to a run of music events for...
Is London about to legalise cannabis?
A new report backed by the Mayor of London calls for some cannabis possession to be decriminalised in the capital. Sadiq Khan is supporting calls for the partial decriminalisation of cannabis in the UK capital, following a study by the independent London Drugs Commission (LDC). According to reports by the LDC, the global policing of drug usage – particularly cannabis, which remains the most contentious substance when it comes to international...
Are small plates a scam?
I can’t help but wonder whether London’s most fashionable way to eat is leaving us full of regret and not much else. In London’s ever-expanding constellation of small plates restaurants, you’re not really here to eat. You’re here to experience. To share. To marvel at the micro greens. To spend £48 on what amounts, practically speaking, to a deconstructed sandwich served on artisan crockery. The rise of small plates in London...
Why are we still so hung up on feminine muscles?
Women are building strength for themselves, but a culture still rooted in fear of female power isn’t ready to let go of patriarchal body ideals. The female body has long been asked to shrink. That demand was both physical and philosophical. As a culture we’ve prized quietness and smallness in women, with the latter becoming somewhat of a shorthand for virtue – i.e, the less space you occupied, the more...
Why are we conflating our jobs with our identities?
All work leaves no room for self. So how do we separate our careers from our lives? If you took away your Slack status, your email signature, or your LinkedIn profile, how would you define yourself? In other words, do you know who you are without your career? Whenever I meet someone new, the details of my job tend to crop up in the first few minutes. And likewise, if I’m...
Half of British women turn to therapy and martial arts over safety fears
A demand for self-defence is the product of cultural self-blame. If you’re a woman, you’ve probably walked alone with your keys between your fingers at least once. Your heart rate has quickened when you hear someone approaching from behind after dark. You’ve pretended to take a phone call when heading home at night. These small rituals may sound overblown to a cisgender man, but they’ve become an unwelcome mainstay of womanhood....
Opinion – Do we really need another biopic?
From the Beatles to Anthony Bourdain, nobody is safe from the biopic treatment. It’s the symptom of a creative industry high on nostalgia and low on imagination. It was only a matter of time before Hollywood came for Anthony Bourdain. The man who made a career of evading easy categorisation (chef, anti-celebrity, philosopher of the palate) has now been posthumously slotted into what is arguably the most reductive genre:...
Does labour’s school uniform reform miss the mark?
A new government bill claims to cut costs on UK school uniforms, but critics argue it’s a superficial fix to a deeply stratified system. Keir Starmer’s labour government has announced plans to make school uniforms more affordable. Under the new Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, most state schools in England will be required to cap the number of compulsory branded uniform items to three, with secondary schools allowed a...
