RAW TALK. • 3rd May 2024

How the London Marathon restored my faith in humanity

The United Kingdom is the second ‘most miserable’ place to live on the planet, according to a new study. And boy does it feel like it. Gone are the heydays of the 2012 Olympics, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the 2011 royal wedding. Instead, we are still grappling with the repercussions of the pandemic, the unrelenting cost-of-living crisis and great political uncertainty. Here in London, people reckon the capital is dying because it is hostile, expensive and depressing. You only have to switch

RAW TALK. • 19th April 2024

An ode to the Notes app

Flipping through someone’s notes on their phone is the most intimate and intrusive thing you can do. To commit this act would feel illicit in much the same way that reading someone’s diary would because reading someone’s notes gives you unparalleled insight into their behind-the-scenes. From their payday wishlists, ambitious life goals, post-meeting considerations and ratings of people they have slept with, there lies bare the phone owner’s most unfiltered thoughts. As well as the measurements f

RAW TALK. • 12th April 2024

Shifting towards a plant-based diet is not necessarily better for your skin

On 21st July 2023, I rolled out of bed, I went to the bathroom and I cried. Not because my plans to sit in a beer garden all day long would have to be cancelled yet again due to another rainy day in the wettest summer since 2006, but because of my reflection in the bathroom mirror.

Until last year, I had never had more than the odd pimple on my face. But that summer and for the five months that followed, my face was unbearably sore and itchy. Puss-filled whiteheads and deep, inflamed cysts domi

RAW TALK. • 5th April 2024

Why we all need little luxuries in our lives

I had to make a very important decision at the end of last month. Should I buy my favourite Clipper Snore & Peace nighttime tea and not be able to afford public transport for the day, meaning I’d have to walk an hour and a half in the wind and rain to meet my Granny? Or should I take the bus there and back and be dry, but be missing the most essential part of my evening routine that night? I chose the nighttime tea. Why? Because this little luxury is my comfort blanket, and without it, I’d feel

RAW TALK. • 31st March 2024

The Season

It’s official. British Summer Time is here. And so return the moans about the weather, the tinkle-tinkle of ice cream vans, awkward tan lines, hayfever sniffles, strawberries and cream, bustling pub gardens and the Season. The English social season.

According to The British School of Excellence, the Season is the name given to several social and sporting events that take place during spring and summer. This calendar of prestigious events typically attracts royalty, celebrities and high society

RAW TALK. • 22nd March 2024

The Comparison Game

I’m sorry I didn’t send out my newsletter last week, I was too busy playing the comparison game. And I lost, catastrophically.

I’m embarrassed to admit that recently, I’ve sat on my phone for hours a day fixating on what other people are doing. My screen time has gone through the roof. But being unemployed and stuck at home makes it hard to break away from these bad habits. Lately, even when I’m walking down the street or hanging out with my friends, I have often caught myself thinking, ‘Why ha

RAW TALK. • 8th March 2024

It's 2024. Do we really want Bridget Jones back?

Eight years ago, Bridget Jones was my idol. As I leant up against the back of a shed at a GCSE summer party in my leopard fur coat, ripped fishnets and leather mini-skirt, a Marlboro Gold in hand, and swigging Chardonnay straight from the bottle whilst flirting with a few boys, I couldn’t help but think, “God, Bridget would be proud.”

Looking back, she probably wasn’t the best idol to have.

But for many girls of a similar age to me, Bridget Jones undoubtedly left her mark. I only had to type “

RAW TALK. • 1st March 2024

Welcome to Raw Talk.

I guess I’m lucky. I’ve never really struggled with talking to people. On my first day at nursery, I waved my mother goodbye without a single tear in my eye, as I couldn’t wait to chat (more like scream) to all the other kids. At school, I overheard a girl in the year above me saying, “She’d be pretty if she didn’t talk so much.” Once at a dingy old pub in Old Town, Edinburgh, a seasoned gentleman approached me and quipped, “You can talk for Britain, love.” And yes, admittedly, after a few glass