Latest Stories from Flo
How should we honour the Lionesses?
There’s a stark contrast in the way we respond to female versus male sporting victory. It’s time we asked ourselves why. When England’s Lionesses clinched a historic back-to-back UEFA Women’s Euro title with their 2-1 victory over Spain on Sunday, celebrations erupted across the country. Fans flocked to Trafalgar Square, brands rushed to post congratulatory graphics, and news channels cleared their schedules to show the game live on not one, but...
Is this summer’s Love Island UK the most misogynistic yet?
The show’s male contestants have repeatedly bullied, belittled, and gaslit. On a show plagued by mental health crises and online abuse, how thin is the line between entertainment and intervention? I love staying in the loop. Maybe it’s the nature of my job, but keeping up with current affairs is a major part of my daily routine. That might mean reading the newspaper or listening to The Rest is Politics...
Opinion – the ‘baby bust’ panic tells us more than the numbers
Falling birthrates are reshaping the modern world. But the loudest voices framing it as a crisis reveal deeper anxieties about power, tradition, and who gets to inherit the future. It has become a familiar refrain: people aren’t having babies, and the world as we know it is on the brink. In the UK, the fertility rate dropped to 1.49 children per woman in 2022, from 1.55 in 2021. Besides the...
Football is being reinvented in the best possible way
Women’s football is not just changing the commercial landscape of sport. It’s redefining what football looks and feels like, from the pitch to the culture that surrounds it. For over a century, football has been dominated by the aesthetics of aggression: chest-pounding celebrations, tunnel brawls, and tabloid-fuelled egos. This cultural mythology – historically shaped by the men’s game – has leaned heavily on narratives of dominance, tribalism, and stoicism. But the...
Trump’s war on ‘Woke AI’ is a smokescreen for something bigger
The US President just signed an executive order that seeks to remove regulatory models for artificial intelligence. Just weeks ago, Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot ‘Grok’ stunned the internet by declaring itself ‘MechaHitler’ and parroting antisemitic conspiracies, racist policies, and sexual content so extreme that even Musk’s own platform, X, couldn’t ignore the damage. ‘We are aware,’ the company offered in a tepid post, vowing to rein in its rogue chatbot. But...
Was Senegal’s short-lived wig ban an attempt to police women’s bodies?
The ban has already been lifted after drawing widespread public criticism. Last week, Serigne Fall Guèye, director of the Grand Théâtre de Dakar, introduced a swift and surprising ban on wigs, weaves, hair extensions and skin-lightening products. The move was officially framed as part of a cultural revival – a means of returning to ‘pan-African values’ and reasserting a sense of African pride whilst preserving the theatre’s cultural heritage. But the...
Why Gen Z is ditching real friends for AI companions
Teens are turning to chatbots for comfort. It might sound dystopian, but in our increasingly isolated world it makes a lot of sense. It starts innocently enough. A 15-year-old girl downloads an AI chatbot app like Replika or Character.AI, just to see what all the TikTok buzz is about. Maybe she names it Max. Max is charming, always awake, never distracted. He remembers her favorite color, checks in after a...
The paradox of vintage fashion hauls
Gen Z may have an affinity for second-hand clothing, but that won’t change their longstanding love of overconsumption. When I was growing up in rural England, second-hand shopping meant reluctantly traipsing around a charity shop with my mum and hoping nobody from school spotted me. The clothes smelt like damp and usually had more than one dubious stain. Needless to say, it wasn’t the height of fashion. Things started to change...
Opinion – Brent’s tourist tax makes more sense than you’d think
Wembley’s three-million-strong crowds bring in noise, traffic, and little benefit to locals. Brent Council’s hotel levy is a smart and overdue response. Granted, Brent isn’t exactly the first place that springs to mind when you think of tourist taxes. It’s not central London and it’s certainly not the picturesque Cotswolds. But the borough does play host to something few other areas do – a global entertainment destination that pulls in millions...
Why Lamine Yamal is in trouble for his birthday party
The footballer is under investigation for reportedly hiring people with dwarfism for his 18th birthday party. The incident raises serious questions about disability discrimination in 2025. When Spain’s footballing prodigy Lamine Yamal turned 18 last week, he marked the milestone in the way many young men might dream of: a luxury villa in Barcelona, and an extensive guest list of family and friends. But there was one detail that turned...
