Latest Stories from Flo
ICE murder of a young mother points to a dangerous pattern
Agents shot and killed Renee Nicole Good whilst she was driving in her SUV. Her death marks a chapter in US history marred by inevitable violence. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were carrying out an immigration operation in Minnesota this week, when 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good refused to get out of her car. The mother of three had only recently moved to the city from Colorado, and was going about her...
A definitive guide to surviving January
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t involve resolutions. It’s that time of year again: the start of a new one. A fresh twelve months lie before us, promising nothing except the unexpected. If there’s one thing I’ve learned after twenty-nine Januarys, it’s that you can make plans all you like. The universe will still find a way to laugh. Which makes the annual ritual of New Year’s resolutions feel particularly absurd. Perhaps to...
Brigitte Bardot and the complexity of mourning celebrity
The French movie star’s death sparked sadness and scorn, as her right-wing politics mark a complicated legacy. You might now Brigitte Bardot for her blonde bombshell looks – with voluminous golden hair so infamous that she arguably cemented ‘French Girl Chic’ into modern parlance. Even if you haven’t watched any of her films, which include And God Created Woman and La Parisienne, images of Bardot in a plunging bikini are ingrained in...
How are Venezuelans reacting to president Maduro’s capture?
The dramatic seizure of Venezuela’s president has raised a lot of questions, but how are people feeling on the ground? When we witness something unprecedented, like the US capture of Nicolás Maduro (Venezuela’s president since 2013), it’s easy to get swept up in the media whirlwind. Algorithms and headlines shrink years of socio-political unrest into sizeable portions, and social media spotlights the polarised opinions of those with little to no...
Podcasts are now eligible for Golden Globes
And as the inaugural nominations are announced, liberals are winning. I can’t say I was surprised when the Golden Globes announced the addition of podcasts to their awards roster. This year, my Spotify wrapped was comprised largely of podcasts (apparently I spent thousands of hours listening to the dulcet tones of The Rest is Politics) and I’m not alone in my love for long-form listening. According to The Economist, more...
2025 was the year of yearning
We couldn’t stop longing for what it didn’t have After a decade defined by hustle and optimisation, 2025 turned toward something softer and unresolved. The year of yearning. From breakout show ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ to Charli XCX’s viral hit ‘party 4 u’, the past 12 months of romance have been all about reaching out and never touching. But why has this childhood sense of longing had such a...
‘Heated Rivalry’ is reigniting dangerous debates about queer storytelling
The surprise hit for HBO Max has just been renewed for a second season – but its success highlights the age-old question of who gets to tell queer stories. Heated Rivalry, a show based on Rachel Reid’s novel about two ice hockey players who fall in love, was only meant to air on Canadian streaming service Crave. The explicit sex scenes and niche plotting weren’t likely to draw in huge numbers...
How capitalism turned hobbies into personal brands
In an age obsessed with niche interests and self-optimization, community has become collateral damage. There was a time when hobbies were simply things we did. You ran because you liked running. We watched films because we liked them. We read books because we fancied reading books. These activities stitched meaning into the fabric of daily life. But today, there’s a relentless insistence that leisure needs to justify itself in order to...
Gen Z are reading more than you’d think
Despite AI fearmongering and negative social media narratives, Gen Z might be reading more than you’d think – albeit in untraditional ways. If you’re searching for stats on Gen Z reading habits, the results are often confusing. One report suggests young people are giving up on books – deeming them a ‘waste of time’. Another, published in the same year, states reading has never been more in vogue. Amongst all the...
Should we all be working less in December?
It’s time to embrace a slower pace – at least until January. December is a funny month. Things are usually amping up in your personal life and winding down in your professional one – and this imbalance strikes up a range of issues. It can be hard to focus; you might feel overwhelmed; niggling feelings of not doing enough start to creep in. The minute an advent calendar appears, I start to...
