Latest Stories from Flo
How the UK plans to implement under-16s social media ban
Proposed strategies for age verification have been released ahead of new social media rules, which come into effect next spring. The UK’s social media ban aims to stop anyone under the age of 16 from accessing 10 of the main social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. The legislation comes into effect from next March, but implementing it effectively will pose its own challenges – as highlighted by...
‘Mogging’ is word of the year… but it has a dark history
Popularised by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, the Collins English Dictionary has crowned the term ‘mogging’ as word of the year. But what does it really mean? In the simplest terms, ‘mogging’ means to outshine someone or something. It’s an odd word, similar to ‘mugging’ and reminiscent of Judith Kerr’s beloved character ‘Mog the forgetful cat’ (if you know you know). But this unassuming phrase has won the hearts of Gen Z...
Are musicians really touring less?
Both Miley Cyrus and Charli XCX have defended their shorter concerts and limited dates after backlash. Does this reflect a changing social contract between performers and their audiences? In the last few years, a pop star’s success has come to be measured in miles. The bigger the album, the bigger the tour; the bigger the tour, the more convincing the evidence that an artist has made it. A world tour was...
Why are hotels trying to curb influencer culture?
A growing number of tourist spots are tackling content creators in the hopes of preserving the broader guest experience. But who will win? Taking photos of yourself has become a holiday rite of passage. We all love a pose before a sunset or a historic landmark, but influencer culture has reshaped tourism into something vastly different from what it looked like even ten years ago. Nowadays, every popular tourist space – be...
Should we be stockpiling water and food?
The government has issued new advice urging Britons to prepare for the impact of the climate crisis, technological dependency, and threats from a hostile state. No, we’re not bracing for another Covid lockdown. But the government’s new Be Ready campaign offers guidance similar to 2020. The new three-year initiative has instructed Britons to stockpile a three-day emergency kit with cash, water and food amid fears of food shortages and widespread disruption...
How inflammation became another wellness buzzword
It seems everyone and everything is inflamed, but is that really such a bad thing? From cortisol to caffeine, the wellness world loves a scapegoat for stress. It’s easy to blame life’s problems on some controllable symptom that can be stifled with the right pill or lavish morning routine. The latest buzzword to take charge of the health conversation is ‘inflammation’. To look at any wellness page is to feel as...
The victim of France’s latest cyber-attack? Fridges
A bizarre event saw thousands of supermarket fridges targeted and mountains of food wasted. But as cyber-attacks like these become more common, their destabilising power proves more insidious than silly. When supermarket staff arrived early on Sunday morning to stock shelves across France, they found food cooking in the freezers. Some chiller cabinets had risen from as low as -27C to well over 50C, and one shop in Normandy reported...
Britain’s new NHS trans policies reveal the cost of exclusion
New rules governing hospital wards promise to protect women’s privacy and dignity. But an internal assessment suggests that, for transgender patients, the consequences could be delays in treatment, discrimination and a growing reluctance to seek medical care. When we think of a hospital, we tend to imagine a place where our differences become secondary to our needs. We go there when we’re our most vulnerable and trust strangers with our...
India’s democracy faces an uncertain future, why?
Widespread protests against the B.J.P have led to lockdowns and arrests, as Modi’s government threatens to upend voter rights. Nahendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P) have courted an unprecedented backlash for the past several months. The Indian government is no stranger to public protest, but this most recent wave of demonstration stands apart for its cross-sectionality. In a nation with such a deeply entrenched caste-system, that these protests defy social and...
Opinion – we’re still justifying misogyny under the guise of ‘comedy’
Shane Gillis’ uninspired, unfunny SNL monologue proves sexist humour is still shaping our social norms. Forgive me for thinking that as a society we’d passed the point of giving men a platform to call women ‘whores’. Turns out we haven’t. Not only did Shane Gillis have free reign to do just that this weekend, he did so on live television, delivering an uninspired SNL monologue in which he mocked women...
