Opinion – Dating apps ruin the experience of falling in love
From selecting a potential partner based on vague information on a phone screen to the weighty implications of meeting within a platform designed to transform strangers into couples, have ‘dating apps’ taken the fun out of falling in love? If you met your significant other through close friends, family, or...
Current in Culture
Scientific data suggests pollution is making penises bigger
According to newly analysed data, the average male penis size has increased by 25 percent over the last three decades. Scientists say pollutants in what we eat, drink, and breathe are likely the cause of the rapid change. While it might not sound like the worst news at face value,...
Do accents still play a big role in our identity?
In an increasingly globalised world, people have progressively more puzzling accents. Do accents still play a role in how we identify ourselves and others? ‘I’ve definitely not been believed when I say I’m Norwegian,’ says Lea Dzifa Seeberg, who grew up in Oslo before moving to the UK a little...
Saudi Arabia is set to build another super skyscraper
The latest futuristic design coming out of Saudi Arabia is a 19 sq km structure to be based in Riyadh named The Mukaab. In recent months, Saudi Arabia’s abundance of oil money has sparked the design of some absolutely insane architectural projects. First was The Line, put forward by the design...
Spotify launches AI DJ for personalised playlists with virtual hosts
Everyone wants their go with the aux, and Spotify is no different. The ubiquitous music streamer has created an AI DJ feature capable of curating original playlists while providing intermittent commentary like a radio host. Let’s face it, AI is inevitably coming for all of our livelihoods - commercial or...
Glastonbury festival criticised after announcing all-male headliners
‘We’re trying our best,’ said organiser Emily Eavis as she unveiled the first 54 names on the 2023 line-up and called on the music industry to rectify its ‘pipeline’ problem. Without a doubt the most iconic festival in the world, Glastonbury’s annual line-up announcement traditionally marks a very exciting date...
Teens pay more attention to Andrew Tate than political leaders
A poll by an advocacy group ‘HOPE not hate’ has found that teenage boys in the UK know more about Andrew Tate than Rishi Sunak, the nation’s prime minister. What does this say about the power of social media? Andrew Tate has become a household name over the last few years. His unfiltered, macho-manic and highly misogynistic views have brought him to the centre of conversation in both the news and...
How discarded cocoa beans are turned into eco-friendly materials
Only half of every cocoa bean harvested is utilised to make food products, with the rest going to waste. A team of Italian-Ecuadorian designers saw this as an opportunity to generate a material that would transform the traditionally linear and wasteful commercial cocoa industry into a circular one. We’re suckers for design, innovation, and sustainability at Thred. Take an approach that combines all three and… well, we’re sold. That’s what the...
Opinion – Rihanna’s halftime show radiated women’s empowerment
In the lead-up to the Super Bowl halftime show, fan excitement grew with the possibility of hearing long-awaited new music from Rihanna. I’d argue that what we got was even better. It will come as a surprise to absolutely no one that I thought Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime performance was flawless. The Barbados-born icon, who has been on a musical hiatus for most of the last decade, finally re-emerged on one...
Opinion – Harry Styles’ win highlights complexities of privilege
After a career-pivoting and rather surprising ‘Album of the Year’ win sent fans into a frenzy for its ‘tone deaf’ claims of adversity. But is there a case for considering who Harry meant by ‘people like me’? Beyonce, Adele, Lizzo. Harry Styles was certainly up against some stiff competition for Album of the Year at the 2023 Grammys. But in a rather surprising twist, his album ‘Harry’s House’, a bubbly album...
