Selena Gomez’s ‘Rare Beauty’ to raise $100 million for mental health initiatives
The singer's highly anticipated celebrity beauty and skincare brand has launched a fund connecting under-represented communities with mental health services. Long criticised for its perpetuation of problematic body image standards, the beauty industry remains in the early stages of addressing its complicity. From the get-go it’s been the small, independent...
Current in People
How the vapid #challengeaccepted trend shone a light on Turkish femicide
In an interesting reversal of the typical watering down of social media, celebs recently found their attempts at self-promotion co-opted by something actually important. There was a lot of confusion on Instagram recently after a spate of women began posting black and white selfies tagged ‘#challengeaccepted’. The now familiar...
The art exhibition striving to destigmatise sex work
'Absence of Evidence' is the collaborative outdoor photography project striving to raise awareness about the conditions of sex work while building a safer future for women involved in prostitution. A collaborative outdoor photography project between artist duo Henry/Bragg and a group of former sex workers known as ‘Untold Stories’ is...
Does cancel culture exist or are the powerful playing victim?
Is Gen Z’s desire for change inadvertently ushering in an age of cancel culture, or are the rich and privileged using the concept to shield themselves from scrutiny? Rife with hypocrisies from both sides of the fence, cancel culture has been one of 2020’s hottest topics. Those being criticised for...
The climate refugee crisis is at our doorstep
The largest shift in human demographics since people first descended from Africa is currently underway, and we’re not acting like it. The World Bank estimated in 2019 that by 2050, there could be as many as 300 million people displaced due to climate change. To put that in perspective,...
Meet Lavinya Stennett: 23 years old and tackling Britain’s racial education
At only 23-years-old, Lavinya Stennett is the CEO of The Black Curriculum, a new initiative that’s fighting to improve teaching of Black British history and culture. If you grew up in the UK like I did, then you might feel that your formal education on Black British history was...
Coronavirus causes huge growth in demand for trustworthy news
Questionable news sites have seen a drop in clicks while more traditional outlets have enjoyed fresh popularity, though whether it lasts after the pandemic remains to be seen. The Economist has published new figures that show many of us flocked to mainstream news websites from early March onward at the height of the Coronavirus panic, suggesting that demand for less legitimate sites slows down in moments of crisis. These figures...
UK condemns China for treatment of Uighur minority
The UK is finally calling a spade a spade when it comes to blatant Chinese human rights abuses against its ethnic Muslim minority. The UK, which has long been flirting with both US and Chinese national interests in the current conflict between the two, has hinted that it will be taking a firmer stance against China after its crackdown on Hong Kong and its treatment of the Uighur ethnic...
‘Queer Eye’ shows that empowerment can come from looking fierce
As the rigid structures formed by the 20th century gender wars melt away, the Fab 5 are embodying something Gen Z has long suspected: putting effort into your appearance is woke. The fifth season of Netflix’s Queer Eye started streaming last week, coinciding in the UK with the beginning of the BBC’s You Are What You Wear. The premise of the latter show sees a cohort of diverse stylists...
Lebanon set to become the world’s next failed state
‘We are heading for the future collapse of everything’ - financial analyst Henri Chaoul. Lebanon’s economy has shut down. Its population, which includes a large minority of Syrian refugees, is rioting in the streets, and looting diapers and cereal. Its political elites are systematically shutting down negotiations for aid packages with the IMF, unwilling to consider the reforms attached to them. What was once considered a bastion of stability...
