Bec and Real Estate Millionaire Danny Getting All The Air Time On Married At First Sight Australia

MAFSAU has already aired in Auz so if you are watching in the UK be careful to avoid the spoilers

Holly HY

2026-04-07T09:32:00.0000000 2026-04-08T16:57:52.2300000

No spoilers here but I did make the mistake of reading some Australian press and discovering Brooke and Chris left the show before the episode aired in the UK. I found out Brook was pregnant with her ex whilst still hopeful for a reconciliation which did spoiler things a bit. I’ve been careful to avoid Australian commentary on the show since as I am in now and enjoying watching how things develop and unfold.

Many people love the dinner party episodes the best, when the fallouts usually happen. My favourites are the commitment ceremony episodes. I like the therapy elements, the questions, the reframing of behaviour and showing how we are not always aware of our own behaviour and the impact it has on others. This week I did find myself looking for the red hot water bottles on set too, (after Chris and Brooks dramatic departure last week) wondering if they’d decided to put the heating on instead on the set.

I really like reading other people’s take on the action so please add your comments as well as adding my point of view into the mix.

After last night’s commitment ceremony they are dropping like flies on Married at first Sight Australia. So much so producers changed the format for new couple Steff and Tyson, Juliette and Joel and Sam and Chris. The ways things were looking with the new matches I think they were afraid there would be no cast left if these matches were allowed to vote stay or leave the experiment too.

Much of the ceremony was not the usual tellings off from the experts but more gentle persuasion to stay put as Mel and Luke and Julia And Grayson left the process.

Mel Schilling did eloquently tackle ex military man Tyson in his quest for a “submissive” partner. Explaining to him “language is important” I found it very touching she is still making an impact on ‘manosphere’ culture and this kind of misogynistic thinking in such a brilliantly firm yet non combative way. She was so good he actually listened to her, a woman, shock horror. I found myself shouting Go Mel from the sofa.

The desire for love compounded by the desire to be on TV usually keeps people in the format but more couples, Mel and Luke and Julia and Grayson decided MAFS Australia is not for them. We are only a month in and already Chris and Brooke and Rebecca and Steve have left too. I do get the feeling this might be the last seasons for the format as the cast are exposed more and more as ambitious influencers or business people looking more for the elevated profile and exposure a show like MAFS can bring than actually finding a long term partner. I think when characters like Tyson are cast over all the other possible applicants, promoting “Traditional” values, and expert John Aiken is telling him someone like him is virtually impossible to match because virtually no woman would tolerate his nonsense, controversy is more important to show producers than successful matching.

The last couple on the couch this commitment ceremony were Bec, account manager and former real estate professional and real estate tycoon Danny, (his Victoria based property company turned over $9.8 million dollars) the stars of the show for all the wrong reasons. Producers always hold back the best till last. Bec has been at the centre of the action for two weeks now amidst the controversial admission from Gia on camera Danny said she was his type on the outside which understandably for someone like Bec terrified of rejection sent her into a tail spin.

Bec continues to back Danny’s version of events on camera, even when grilled by the experts and then Gia added fuel to the drama alleging Bec had said off camera she believes her but can’t say that because then she has to leave, something she doesn’t want to do.

The experts drilled down asking Bec two questions, did she believe he didn’t say it, one and two does she believe the statement, Danny prefers Gia’s look on the outside. She struggled to answer pausing and reflecting before sticking with her man, “ride or die.”

When the experts told Danny they thought he looked miserable in response to Becs saying she believed they were better than ever, the wheels came off. The camera cut to whispers from the other couples “he’s scared of her” they said as Danny just kept denying he’d said he preferred Gia’s look and doubled down prefacing it with apology saying he didn’t go for girls with tattoos.

Producers did indeed save the best car crash TV, and of course set Bec up particularly, cutting to her when other couples, Gia and Scott and Alissa and David especially were on the couch expressing genuine happiness in their matches and how things were progressing.

We don’t really appreciate I think how much of what we are feeling shows on our faces and Married at First Sight really captures this sometimes cruelly at the expense of the cast members.

The format is an in depth look into the human psychology of people on the quest for love but one thing is for sure, if you don’t tell the truth and think you can fool the experts or audience watch out because the camera doesn’t lie.

It’s sad for Bec. If she had the self confidence to say just because you went for that look on the outside, you’ve been single for 4 years so it clearly wasn’t working for and you are in the experiment because of that matched with me. If she could just tell herself, The experts think I am a better match for you so I am going with that, she’d be able to deal with the throwaway comment which Danny probably didn’t say the way Gia interpreted it in reality.

It will be interesting to see how this story line develops’ It’s the addictive nature of this format. I am not sure Danny will be able to take much more. He’s going to have to admit exactly what he said, drunk or not, because on Married At First Sight this situation just isn’t going away.

For Enchanted Wood Aficionados The Magic Faraway Tree Movie 2026 Is A Let Down

If you are big fan of the books you’ll probably be disappointed

Holly HY

2026-04-03T19:20:00.0000000 2026-04-03T19:53:48.0300000

When I saw The Magic Faraway Tree was being released this holiday in the UK I couldn’t believe it.

It was like being thrown back in time reminded of the very first book I remember reading, well actually being read to me. Yep I was very young and the experience of the adventure story The Enchanted Wood, the prequel to The Magic Faraway Tree published in 1939 was so exciting and I never forgot it. I ended up rereading it many times and of course the other books in the series by Enid Blyton, The Magic Faraway Tree, 1943, The Folk of The Faraway Tree, 1946 and Up The Faraway Tree 1951 sat on my book shelf until I left home.

My advice as an early watcher is stick to the books. Like a lot of film adaptations from much loved books whether for kids or adults this one doesn’t catapult you back into the world so genuinely loved reintroducing you to old friends, more like takes you to visit somewhere moved and redecorated pretending to be that magical place but not fooling anyone.

They’ve even changed the kids names. Fanny has become Fran played by Billie Gadsdon, Joe remains the oldest sibling played by Phoenix Laroche, and Bessie has been also modernised to Beth, Delilah Bennett-Cardy.

Claire Fou as Polly Thompson the kids Mum and Jennifer Saunders are the most convincing of the cast but Moon Face, Silky and Dame Washalot, who I am sure was just Mrs Washalot in the books weren’t the characters I remembered. Silky a little vain and sensitive, Moonface jolly, overbearing, a bit of a worrier but also on hand with helpful knowledge and information and the nasty pixies didn’t really get as much action in the film as I remembered from the books, where they were mischievous and a bit threatening. In the film they were diluted. Hardly appear and when they do they are more comedic. They lose their menace making the film “safer and duller” according to Times film critic Kevin Maher.

For me The Magic Faraway Tree adaptation fails both as a faithful tribute and a modern reimagining. It’s muddled and a bit lifeless and lack lustre missing the mark of capturing the essence of the book’s simple magic. It’s a fragmented, overly complicated story. The writer, Simon Farnaby, well known for Paddington and Wonka, has turned the narrative into disjointed skits with for me weak humour and underdeveloped characters. The iconic figures lack charm, and the sense of wonder conjured in this timeless sorry is largely absent. The modern family framing is bit clumsy and distracting, would have been better sticking to a more old fashioned approach. I think trying to bring it up to date misses the spirit of Blyton entirely.

James Perse Shop In Brompton Cross Brings Back Friendly Warm Service In Their Boutique Experience

Shopping in store can be so nice quick service yet slow not rushed luxury experience I wonder...

Holly HY

2026-04-01T13:16:00.0000000 2026-04-01T15:04:39.7730000

As a big James Perse clothing fan struggling to find a particular basic cotton elastane vest I love online when I saw the James Perse store on Walton St, Brompton Cross Village in between Chelsea and Knightsbridge, London and there was loads of parking conveniently directly outside I immediately screeched to a halt and was drawn into the lovely intimate boutique where I met Agnes from Lithuania ready and waiting to help me in my quest.

Within a few minutes she had found the illusive item in stock in my size and swiftly departed up stairs to find it.

There is something unbeatable about the experience shopping in a proper shop. A place where you immediately feel comfortable, not watched, left alone to browse and not remotely uncomfortable. Knowing help is at hand if you need it. I sometimes dread entering a small space feeling immediately under pressure but not here. The atmosphere was very relaxed. I didn’t try on in this case as I was buying something I already have a few of but I am sure if I had had time to peruse the stock, really enjoy the experience and have a bit of a proper shop Agnes would have been the perfect person on hand to help. Way better than buying a load of things online you cannot see and touch, let alone try on, end up making a load of mistakes and having to send everything back.

My experience in James Perse was great. I found out James Perse himself is very hands on with the brand, Agnes told me she had already met him a few times and he was very involved with the store design too which embodied California lifestyle in this store. it was good to hear her speak highly of the company and tell me she enjoyed working there. As I entered I was greeted by a surf board and the Cali vibes were definitely felt in the airy feeling, muted tones, hard wood floors and open garden courtyard at the back of the shop.

The whole design is complimented by comfortable simple Scandinavian style furniture and black and white beach scenes.

The whole experience in James Perse was a pleasure and I would recommend anyone interested in quiet luxury basics, ethically produced to pay this shop a visit.

At a time when fashion is going through so much transition, the amount of stock being produced is diminishing as brands struggle to navigate a changing market it is great to see a brand like James Perse still delivering for customers who love and are loyal to this brand.

Thanks to you Agnes who made me want to return to this particular James Perse shop in London.

The Daily Mail and Freelance Journalist Matthew Barbour Publish A Great Story

Getting Your Story In a Newspaper Promotes What you Do With a Great Angle

Holly HY

2026-03-30T09:20:00.0000000 2026-04-03T08:19:51.2370000

Well done to my friend and sister in law Shirley, founder and CEO of Poopsnoop, (our very own better looking Elon Musk) for this amazing piece in the Daily Mail about her, her story and new book Waterfall Down, which I have already had the privilege to read and can say without a doubt it’s a gripping, moving and thought provoking memoir I’d highly recommend to anyone.

“I'm 70 but everyone assumes I'm decades younger. My anti-ageing secret isn't Botox, jabs or exercise. Instead, I made one simple lifestyle tweak everyone can do. I promise you've not read this before.”

When I tell people I’m 70, their reaction is almost always the same: shocked disbelief. Strangers often assume I’m in my 50s, if not younger.

And no wonder. By this stage of life, most of us expect a face full of lines, sagginess around the jaw and eyes, a dulled complexion and hair that has thinned or lost some of its vitality.

But age hasn’t done that to me.

When I look in the mirror, I see skin that is still smooth and virtually line-free with a natural glow I assumed would have faded by now.

Meanwhile, my long blonde hair, which I feel no need to cut short, complements a face I’m happy to say looks fresh and youthful.

I never imagined this is what 70 would look like for me. So I’m hardly surprised when people ask the same question I’ve been hearing for years now: what’s my secret?

Naturally, they expect me to reveal a complicated skincare routine and various cosmetic tweakments, complemented perhaps by a punishing fitness regime all designed to keep me eternally youthful.

But the truth is, I’ve never had Botox or any sort of cosmetic surgery. I don’t even take health supplements, and have never followed a strict exercise programme.

If anything, the secret to the way I look lies in what I choose to leave out, rather than what I’ve added in.

Over the past 25 years, I have stripped away the elements of my life that were draining my energy and clouding my mind. I no longer drink alcohol and I stopped eating meat and dairy many years ago.

And, perhaps more surprisingly, I haven’t had a sexual relationship in more than 20 years – a choice that runs completely counter to what we’re told about health and ageing.

We’re led to believe that a healthy sex life is essential for wellbeing and longevity; that intimacy keeps us youthful and connected.

But that ignores how relationships often come with an undercurrent of emotional strain: the compromise, the constant consideration of someone else’s needs and the effort it takes to keep things on an even keel.

It was only when I stepped away from all that I realised how much energy romantic connections had been taking from me.

Far from diminishing my life, living celibately has left me calmer, more balanced and, I believe, has played a significant role in why I now look younger at 70 than I did when I was a high-flying businesswoman in my 40s.

Just as importantly, I’ve also stepped back from the relentless pressure to achieve, impress and constantly push for more.

I discovered the power of this way of living only after losing almost everything I once thought mattered.

I grew up on a council estate, and having undiagnosed dyslexia meant I struggled at school.

But what I lacked in conventional academic confidence, I made up for in instinct. I became highly attuned to people, noticing shifts in tone, mood and body language that others often missed.

This helped me build a career in the City of London, where I transformed myself into a successful businesswoman.

By my 30s, I’d become a self-made millionaire, moving in a world where expensive restaurants and late nights mixing in influential circles were part of my everyday life.

On the surface, it looked like the ultimate success story, and for a long time I believed I’d got what I’d always wanted.

Yet somewhere beneath the excitement, a quiet unease began to creep in. I had a nagging sense that something about the life I was living didn’t truly belong to me.

The wealth, the lifestyle and the social status I’d worked so hard for began to feel like something I was wearing, rather than a way of life that genuinely reflected who I was.

Eventually, my work took me to Los Angeles, where I imagined an even more glamorous chapter was about to unfold.

Instead, everything began to unravel, and with astonishing speed. Business ventures collapsed, relationships fell apart and the financial security I’d started to take for granted disappeared almost overnight.

One moment I was living a life that looked enviable from the outside. The next I was selling my jewellery and personal possessions simply to get by.

It was a brutal lesson in how quickly success can evaporate.

But what shook me most was when my mother died while I was still in America. I was in such a precarious financial position by then that I couldn’t even afford the flight home to attend her funeral.

The reality of that forced me to confront a truth I’d been avoiding for years: that the money, status and impressive surroundings I’d strived so hard for meant nothing compared with being disconnected from the people who mattered most at such a terrible time.

Then, when I eventually did return to the UK, my body delivered the most dramatic wake-up call of all. An undiagnosed fibroid weighing eight pounds triggered a catastrophic medical crisis that caused my heart to stop.

I came frighteningly close to dying – an experience that changed the way I looked at my life forever as I was forced to confront my own mortality.

During my recovery, I began to reflect deeply on the life I’d been living and the constant pressure I had placed on myself to succeed; how I’d focused my efforts on how well I impressed other people and the extent of my material accumulations.

For years, my body had been in a near-constant state of strain – always switched on, rushing from one demand to the next, juggling pressure, expectations and emotional ups and downs, rarely given the chance to properly rest and heal.

That realisation shifted something in me, and I began instinctively rebuilding my life in a different way.

I stopped drinking alcohol, something that quickly improved my sleep and left me with far more consistent energy day to day.

I moved towards a plant-based diet and eventually became fully vegan, filling my meals with vegetables, fruit and fresh foods, which made me feel lighter and noticeably improved my skin.

I started drinking far more water than I ever had before, something so simple yet powerful, helping to hydrate my skin from within and support overall cellular health.

Meanwhile, I began waking early and splashing my face with icy water, which stimulates circulation, reduces puffiness and leaves my skin feeling firmer than any expensive anti-ageing cream I could buy.

All this became a way of life as I realised the foundations of youthful skin aren’t found in jars and bottles, but in how we live, what we consume and how much stress we carry.

But perhaps most significant of all was making the decision to stop pursuing romantic relationships.

For decades I had believed, like so many women do, that fulfilment would come from finding the right partner. Relationships had always been exciting and passionate, but they also brought emotional demands, expectations and a level of stress it had never really occurred to me to question.

After my near-death experience, I began to see just how much of my energy had been tied up in all that. Instead of feeling supported by romantic partners, I often felt stretched, constantly balancing my own needs with someone else’s.

Choosing celibacy wasn’t about rejecting men or following any religious path. It was simply the result of discovering that my life felt calmer, clearer and more balanced when I focused my energy inward rather than constantly seeking validation through relationships.

Over time, that decision created a profound sense of freedom that I had never experienced before.

None of these changes were dramatic or instant, but gradual adjustments that built up over time, and with them came a steady shift in how I both looked and felt.

As the stress lifted and my daily habits improved, I began to notice real changes. My complexion became clearer, my energy more consistent, and I felt truly comfortable in my own skin.

Friends began to look at me more closely and commented that I seemed fresher, more relaxed, as though I had somehow softened rather than aged.

Today, having turned 70, the biggest shock comes from strangers who can’t quite believe I’m old enough to have had that milestone birthday.

What fascinates me about the way all these changes seem to have culminated is how this sense of youthfulness seems to come not only from the way I look but from how I feel.

I sleep more deeply, my mind feels clearer and I have the energy to pursue creative projects that once would have seemed impossible.

Most rewarding has been writing books that explore how the mind works, how our thoughts shape our behaviour, and how much of what we believe about ourselves isn’t actually true.

Drawing on my own experiences, I focus on helping people recognise the patterns that keep them stuck and learn how to step back from them. It’s something that would have felt unimaginable to the younger version of me who struggled at school with undiagnosed dyslexia.

At 70, I feel more at ease with myself than I ever did at 40. I’m not chasing approval, comparing myself with others or rushing through life in a state of anxiety.

Ageing, I have realised, isn’t something we defeat through miracle creams or medical interventions. It’s more about the choices we make every day about how we live, what we consume and where we place our emotional energy.

For me, the most powerful transformation began when I stopped trying to live a life that looked impressive from the outside and started building one that felt peaceful on the inside.

And perhaps that is why, as I enter my eighth decade, I look and feel more youthful and vibrant now than I did when I was genuinely so much younger.

Shirley’s new book, Waterfall Down, is available on Amazon (£12.99)

As told to Matthew Barbour

Nordstrom Marks and Spencers collaboration is the most hair brained scheme of all for UK Retailer

GIllian Anderson leads the charge as Chief Compliments Officer With Dreams Beds and L’Oreal...

Holly HY

2026-03-29T17:06:00.0000000 2026-03-29T18:08:49.1030000

I literally cannot believe it Marks and Spencer’s going stateside launching a collaboration with Nordstrom. Image credit The Industry Fashion @Theindustryfashion on Instagram

As of the 29th March Marks and Spencer’s is stocked in 30 Nordstrom stores from LA to New York City and also available on the Nordstrom website which is a bit of joke considering so many pieces on the Marks and Spencer’s website are marketed on celebrities and then permanently out of stock, so much so I stopped even looking at Marks and Spencer’s clothes about 10 years ago.

According to the Industry of Fashion more than 60 pieces from M&S most loved collections, per Una, and M&S collection are included in the Nordstrom range.

I went into Marks and Spencer’s in desperation a few weeks ago, to try and find some simple decent quality basics. The last time I tried shopping in Marks and Spencer’s was about 12 years ago when I briefly bought into a “Made In Great Britain” campaign to buy British made clothes, supporting local (after moving production out of the UK in 1999) and then discovered the collection was very limited, only available in London and mostly hype.

12 years later the clothes have gone even further down hill. I was surprised at the low prices around £10 for a plain white cotton long sleeve T shirt, around £6 cheaper than the equivalent from say the Gap but the quality was grim. It reminded me of the fabric my grandmas dusters were made of, the type of cotton that would not retain its shape and would be ready to be a duster after a couple of washes. A cut too short in the body, unflattering and I genuinely wondered who was buying and wearing these type of mass produced garments.

When I saw the headline about the partnership between UK High St Giant and American premium fashion juggernaut Nordstrom with their newly appointed ambassador X Files actress and designer fashionista Gillian Anderson with the job title “Chief Compliments Officer” I did think who is more desperate.

I lived in the US for 20 years and whilst I longed for European fashion trips, even the fashion capitals have their own unique conservative styles but demand better quality than Marks and Spencer’s are delivering present day.

I used to shop in Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack all the time and unless standards have gone through the floor in the last few years these clothes are just not going to cut it across the pond. Marks and Spencer’s would have been better sticking with Target where they got Percy Pig into in 2022 but maybe Victoria Beckham beat them to it with high design, highly celeb marketed cheap mass produced clothing.

The kaiser chiefs predicted a Riot, I predict a flop even with the gorgeous Gillian Anderson stepping into fashion icon Twiggy’s shoes; I wonder if she’s given up selling beds for Dreams to get the gig. The campaign cost $4.8 million although Anderson’s fee for the “Love Your Bed” campaign was not disclosed.

I think Nordstrom customers are going to take one look at the Marks and Spencer’s offering and think ewww.

Only time will tell but I think this is a wider global reflection on where fashion has ended up, after worker exploitation, mass over production, designer houses struggling to stay afloat and customers in America moving towards dressing in quiet luxury, secondhand couture and lifestyle athleisure. Even beautiful British brand Burberry have resorted to hiring “Inside The Manosphere” star and Islam convert Sneako to walk the runway 2021 craving his young male audience on social media, not thinking about alienating their long term customers abandoning the brand. On a side note I saw them attempt a high st pop up takeover of a newsagents in London, Shreeji News, Chiltern Street, Marylebone and thought immediately the newsagent customers may be curious but can’t afford Burberry so it must be just another desperate stunt for press. Except they cannot get people into store on New Bond St so not sure a newsagent in Marylebone is going to work better.

Getting stock on shelves must be impossible for Nordstrom if this crazy collaboration/partnership with M&S has come to fruition. And if the clothes sell it will be because there’s literally nothing else for Americans to buy when it comes to mid price range fashion as the economy struggles amidst rising prices. All I can see is the blind leading the blind.

It makes me think of the George Bernard Shaw quote “England and America are two countries separated by a common language” They certainly have a completely different style language.

As I write this Gillian Anderson comes on the TV selling excellence age perfect by L’Oréal Paris.

It kind of reminds me of Peter Crouch, one TV ad break was 5 or six different ads for different brands all staring Peter. A car, a washing powder, a gambling company, TNT sports and family favourite Bovril, all merged together like a Peter Crouch mini infomercial for him. The products he’s marketing blending into the background becoming invisible to the audience.

Over exposure makes me wonder who’s the bigger idiot, the brands or us the audience for buying it.

“Chief Compliments officer” for over exposed “face of” Gillian Anderson, Marks and Spencer’s? Which marketing “genius” came up with that?

Crosta Mollica Food Brand Practically Perfect Fiorentina Pizza Ready Made Food warning you’ll be addicted

OMG If you haven’t tried the food from Crosta Mollica You are missing a trick

Holly HY

2026-03-24T09:20:00.0000000 2026-03-24T18:30:02.5130000

Pizza lovers, Italian food lovers, Italian movie lovers, Italy lovers in general, listen up. I cannot think of a brand that has hooked me in so completely if I owned a food brand I would want it to be just like this one.

Crosta & Mollica have conjured lifestyle and imagination, a story of style in the marketing and imagery in a way I can’t really remember any brand food ever doing before. It makes me think of the Margin Call quote, I paraphrase, if you want to be successful be the smartest or the first.

Even the packaging is a treat, a testament to the art direction and creative team, the back of the box as inviting to regard as the front displaying the food they are selling.

Meals on the go, ready meals, super market fast food, not easy to shift the publics mindset and imagination but with creative campaigns and beautiful photography Crosta Mollica have done for ready made pizza what Peter Mayle did for Provence.

Imagination is a powerful thing. In the past when I thought about frozen pizza I imagined tasteless pieces of cardboard with not enough topping in packs of six or eight emerging from months spent in the freezer, covered in white dust, a desperate last resort because you hadn’t been to the shops and then a root around, extra cheese, vegetables, tomatoes, anything to put on top to try and make the base a little more appetising.

Enter stage left Crosta Mollica, we started on the two in a pack margaritas which are truly stupendous, the best frozen pizza you’ve ever eaten, so good you won’t care about the price in the knowledge it’s cheaper and better than takeaway in most small towns and cities outside London, of course there are exceptions. But finding crispy base that tastes like it’s been made in a proper pizza oven even in a restaurant can be challenging.

Then we moved onto the larger sized Florentine, combining the flavours of mushroom, garlic, spinach in such an amazing way eating it makes you want to book a trip to Italy and sit on the water at somewhere like O magazin in Portofino. This food inspires travel for sure. I even love how their Instagram feed is curated and love to see all the amazing lifestyle shots, the fashion, the relaxed lifestyle, it’s so stylish and right up my street.

I cannot think of a brand image that has got me hooked like this. Crosta Mollica is so special. They tell stories with their absolutely delicious supermarket food in a way that is modern, fresh and authentic. I absolutely love this brand.

There’s a film maker on Instagram who shoots marketing campaigns for brands like Gant @rj.bruni I always love it when these posts pop up, so creative and imaginative. For me this would be an advertising marketing match made in heaven. Crosta Mollica, the next time you want to hire a film maker maybe check this guy out.

Not Vegan I know. This food is that guilty pleasure for anyone working on a plant based diet. Pizza is the one food I have struggled to abandon. Maybe Crosta & Mollica are the only people capable of rising to the challenge of making a delicious plant based pizza.

Married At First Sight Australia 2026 Is More Brutal Than Ever As Producers End Game Is Blatant

MAFSAU Buckle Up Its Going to Be A Bumpy Ride

Holly HY

2026-03-18T15:41:00.0000000 2026-03-19T12:54:58.1470000

Married At First Sight Australia is back for another season. The producers at Endermol Shine Australia Tara McWilliams and John Walsh, McWilliams especially dubbed as “The Puppetmaster” for the show’s intense drama and explosive narrative.

I am in, I am watching, already committed to the series, this year more brutal, even with the format more exposed for what it is than ever before, we keep watching. I’ve discussed what is happening this season already with friends and the consensus seems to be we don’t really want to see producers making fools of people “on purpose” which appears to be happening even this early on and yet we cannot resist tuning in to see what happens next. Hoping I think contestants, participants wise up to what is happening and get a grip, not easy when egos, desire and public humiliation on a global scale are at stake.

When producers are trying this hard with a format that has enough jeopardy on it’s own, two strangers meeting for the first time at a commitment ceremony and then trying to make things work in a honeymoon and then living together setting filmed over 3 months. Is it really necessary to draw threats of death to participants, Bec said she would “kill” Gia if she stole her partner; in a vulnerable situation already. TV executives are very clever and a lot goes on behind the scenes to ensure explosive content like this is captured in the moment. I have already seen 3 or 4 news headlines alluding to the threat, obviously not real said in the heat of the moment. Its the stuff newspapers like the Mirror and The Sun in the UK absolutely eat up.

We are only up to the first dinner party and already the story line is unfolding in a way participants will certainly cringe at once they see the edit.

The early victims of this brutal TV format where willing participants commit to an experiment of being matched by experts John Aiken, Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla because their previous attempts at finding partners and lasting love have failed, are clearly Bec matched with Stephen and Gia matched with Scott.

And it’s the women who are having problems with one another after not getting along initially when the ladies were all introduced at the Hens night before the “weddings” commenced, creating the headlines for the show not the matchmaking itself.

The format purely for entertainment purposes proves that married at first sight rarely works out, Chris paired with model Brooke points out sceptically in his vows if it works they will be the 0.00001% of couples in the shows history to be successful at finding love and yet the applicants (they say 10’s of thousands) a number even I question continue to flood in to take part.

The lure of celebrity/raised profile I think is the main draw these days or perhaps the frustration and lack of success with dating apps single people longing for connection or the ROM COM fairytale in Mel’s case paired with Luke are enduring the world over.

After telling confessing to older voice of reason Rebecca paired with Steve, her partner Danny fancied Gia (believing her more his type) and when asked by Rebecca (matched with silver fox Steve not Stephen) what she might do if something sparked between them and saying she’d kill her, Bec was later asked by producers in a VT about this.

She flatly refused to answer saying she would not be drawn into talking about this and when reminded she had opened up to Rebecca about this on camera she replied it is very easy to forget you are micced up and on camera showing exactly how producers manage to weave the controversial and often embarrassing exposure of the participants.

Mel paired with farmer Luke (late to the ceremony and downhill from there) is definitely going to get her comeuppance when she has to face the experts. She has left Luke high and dry, second guessing himself because she cannot get over he is not her usual type physically and hasn’t fitted her knight in shinning armour romantic comedy fairytale expectation. Mel was very specific when she asked for Bradley Cooper. Yeah I don’t think she actually meant the real Bradley Cooper, just a look a like.

Wouldn’t be surprised if she was cast and paired in anticipation of the impending shut down slash melt down.

Like the recent winners of love island all stars 2026 Sammy and Kieran who 50 K richer lasted all of three days outside the villa I think we the audience have to accept if you manage to get cast in one of these relationship shows and have your wits about you sufficiently producers don’t get the opportunity to make a complete fool of you there is money to be made.

The adorable Jamie and Dave from last years married at first sight Australia, not together but still making money out of their failure as a couple to sell the Monzu investment app. There’s big money and endorsement deals in just being cast on a show like MAFSAU. Many contestants sign sponsorship deals during or immediately after filming when their popularity is highest. These contracts often require them to appear together in promotional material for a set period, regardless of their current relationship status.

Yep, these shows are selling the dream yet it’s a dog eat dog advertising brand influencing machine. Enter at your peril then buckle up. The ride this year is looking like it’s going to be more car crash headline grabbing TV than ever before.

If you are all in like me, don’t look online because you will likely just have it reinforced how fake the whole thing actually is and even the couple you think may have a shot, for me Chris and Brook, (brook now pregnant and engaged to her ex apparently) in the end are just like everyone else, in it for the crack, the fame, the profile, and the money.

I’ll be still watching but not imagining the fairytale coming true but seeing how smart the participants are against producers looking to make fools of the lot of them.

“Waterfall Down” A Memoir By Shirley Yanez Launches 6th March

Available Now On Amazon £11.99

Holly HY

2026-02-27T15:01:00.0000000 2026-03-08T16:06:05.8570000

Waterfall Down by Shirley Yanez

Some memoirs tell a story; Waterfall Down dismantles one

Available to order now on Amazon

Shirley Yanez’s lyrical, unflinching account of her life is not simply a chronicle of ascent and collapse, but a forensic examination of identity itself—how it is constructed, performed, traded, and ultimately stripped bare. Written with startling honesty and poetic clarity, 

Waterfall Down  traces the arc of a woman who rose from poverty into the rarefied air of wealth, celebrity, and influence, only to discover that proximity to power is not the same thing as possessing it.

What makes this memoir exceptional is not the access—though the access is extraordinary. Yanez moves through a world most readers only glimpse through headlines: private clubs pulsing with decadence, rooms thick with money and influence, and encounters with figures who shaped cultural and political narratives. Yet the glamour is never romanticized. Instead, it is rendered as a kind of elaborate theatre—dazzling, seductive, and quietly hollow.

What the critics say;

"with the perspective of someone who lived both inside the illusion and beyond it. Her voice carries the rare authority of someone who has been both invisible and hyper-visible, dismissed and desired, powerless and powerful"

She exposes,

"with surgical precision, the psychological cost of reinvention and the fragile scaffolding upon which status rests"

The memoir’s most devastating and transformative passages occur not at the height of excess, but in the aftermath of collapse. When the structures that once defined her fall away—money, access, identity itself—what remains is not defeat, but awakening. Her descent into homelessness in East Compton is not framed as an ending, but as a confrontation with truth. It is here, stripped of illusion, that the narrative achieves its greatest emotional and philosophical depth.

Yanez’s prose both intimate and unsparing, there is no self-pity, only observation. No attempt to soften the reality of loss, only a determination to understand it. Her writing carries the rhythm of someone who has lived fully and paid attention, who understands that transformation is rarely graceful, and almost never voluntary.

What elevates Waterfall Down beyond memoir into something more enduring is its thematic universality. This is not just a story about wealth, or celebrity, or downfall. It is about the human hunger to belong, to escape origin, to construct a self that feels safe in the world—and the inevitable reckoning when that construction proves unsustainable.

In the end, Waterfall Down available NOW on Amazon  is not a story about losing everything. It is a story about discovering what cannot be lost.

It is rare to encounter a memoir this honest, this elegant, and this quietly devastating. Shirley Yanez has written a work of remarkable courage and clarity --- one that lingers long after the final page, like the echo of a life fully examined.

Racial Controversy And Tourettes Take Over At The Baftas

When What John Davidson Had to Say Afterwards was barely Mentioned

Holly HY

2026-02-24T08:52:00.0000000 2026-02-27T14:04:33.4430000

It’s a such a shame when so many other Highlights Of The BAFTA’s 2026 touched me.

What was an incredible show, the best since 2020 and yet all that was missed mired instead in unnecessary controversy about one racial slur from a guest with Tourette’s. John Davidson has Tourettes, isn’t that the point of making the movie I swear. To bring about understanding and compassion for the sufferers. It’s actually a bit of a joke that the inspirational words of all the speech makers, the winners at the show, the message forgiveness and tolerance didn't quite match up when feelings get hurt or egos get pricked, apologies demanded from stars. Particularly when it comes to the baying media as a whole. (And the audience members at the BAFTA’s who frankly should know better regardless of skin colour.)

Actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the time announcing the award for Best Visual Effects at the start of the show when Tourette sufferer and subject of the movie I swear John Davidson shouted the N word from the audience. The actors shocked, of course, carried on in true Hollywood style. Alan Cummings apologised during the show. Both the BBC and BAFTA have since apologised for how the incident, (which I didn’t even notice) was handled and for not editing out the slur despite the time delay in the broadcast. It was lame considering they managed to edit out the Free Palestine bit of Akinola Davies Jr.’s speech, director of My Fathers Shadow but hey that’s the BBC, political, not always fair and picks and chooses. It’s a tough one and could have been handled with more sensitivity although Jamie Foxx’s comment on Instagram fanning the flames with a comment like “he meant that shit” doesn’t help either. He should know better.

Davidson, who left the show early when he realised his involuntary tics were causing distress made clear it was an involuntary symptom of his neurological condition, expressed sincere regret that it caused harm or was misinterpreted, and emphasised that it did not reflect his beliefs or intentions in any way.

He said he was “deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning.” He stressed that his outbursts, including the offensive word, were involuntary vocal tics caused by his Tourette syndrome, and not a reflection of his personal beliefs.

It’s a shame the media told only one story, afterwards, the controversial one; without empathy for John Davidson (it’s the Elephant Man all over again 150 years later) or Black people or people of colour around the world about a show that supposedly celebrated difference in all its forms. I’m with the Lady, Lakshmipriya Devi, the director of the Manipuri-language film Boong, who spoke about compassion and suffering in her home in India and around the world.

I will try and give you all a more broader picture of the whole experience.

Aside from this: What a show full of laughter led by the irrepressible impresario Alan Cummings.

An impresario is described as someone who organizes, presents, or curates entertainment — often shaping creative projects behind the scenes as well as performing in them.

Cumming is not just an actor, host, and comedian; he has also produced and developed stage projects, curated cabaret and solo shows

Hosted and shaped television formats namely The Traitors US) and been deeply involved in theatre production, including work associated with venues club cumming. I am a fan.

His costume changes throughout the BAFTAs, prior to the award for best costumes and his hilarious snack hand outs, to mainly the high profile American guests not only makes Impressario defensible but an even stylish — description.

For me he was the perfect host, the funniest show since Rebel Wilson hosted in 2020, side splitting but perhaps the gags a little too risky for the Brits. 2023 we saw Richard E Grant assisted by Alison Hammond and when we thought it couldn’t get any worse Dr who’s David Tennant took the reigns for the following two years. Alan Cummings was hilarious, considered and compassionate in equal measure and produced the best show in some years for me.

It was good to see William and Kate back at the BAFTAs together, 2020 they attended together and 2023 but Kate hasn’t been seen on the red carpet since then. William attended alone, 2024 and 2025. Also fantastic to see her rewearing a Gucci gown she wore at the 100 Women in Finance gala dinner at the Victoria and Albert Museum in February of 2019. Twice in 7 years I know, not the best sustainability credibility and cost per wear but hey, it wasn’t new.

As usual the show highlighted about 10 films, 6 or 7 fought it out for the BAFTA it most categories. Best Director and best film, the big award, last of the night went to One Battle After Another winner Paul Thomas Anderson with numerous posthumous mentions going to Assistant director and producer Adam Somner who died November 2024 after working on the film for 11 months of production.

the acting talent in the film Leonardo Di Caprio, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti, Teyana Taylor and Benecio del Toro were all nominated in their appropriate categories. The only winner Sean Penn for best supporting who wasn’t actually there, Gillian Anderson accepted on his behalf.

Robert Aramayo pipped Leonardo Di Caprio, to best leading man for I swear, he also scooped the EE rising star award, Jessie Buckley for Agnes Hathaway in Hamnet beat out Teyana Taylor for leading lady, and Sinners scooped the BAFTA’s for best supporting actress and original screenplay Wunmi Mosako and Ryan Cooglar.

The hair and make up BAFTA’s put Frankenstein on the map but everyone else, big names Emma Stone, Kate Hudson, Timothee Chalamet, Rose Byrne, Hugh Jackman, Carey Mulligan, Ethan Hawke and Michael B. Jordan all had to be happy with a nomination.

Dame Donna Langley scooped the coveted BAFTA Fellowship award presented by Prince William BAFTA President since 2010 for her work as the Chief Content Officer at NBC Universal in the USA. The tributes and congratulations were numerous but none so hilarious than Dame Emma Thompson in her kitchen with no make up on looking like Boris Johnson, her words not mine. Dame Langley’s acceptance speech was powerful and filled me with hope for change with women like her in decision making roles at the highest levels of the film industry. Her speech centred around being different and remembering all the people who opened doors along the way for her and why it’s so important to continue doing the same for others.

The saddest part of the show was as usual In Memory of which began with Diane Keaton and ended with Robert Redford with more talent in the middle than I think I’ve ever seen die in one year. The moving segment was crafted to a beautiful original version of “The Way we were” performed by Jessie Ware. It was pure magic.

K Pop demon hunters performed their hit single Golden mid show which if you haven’t heard the track download it immediately. It was a fabulous electric performance celebrating diversity, creativity and pure talent. The embodiment of the BAFTA’s ceremony and all the organisation stands for.

Despite being a massive lover of watching movies, why I watch the show, I usually think blah, another us and them big money production except this year I found myself actually being not just entertained but educated and inspired too.

It wasn’t the same old, same old winners which was refreshing and it seems like this year we are actually celebrating some pretty fantastic films worth going to see which doesn’t make you feel so bad about the marketing if the motive to get bums on seats in the movie theatres is pure and when you get there it’s actually to watch a blinking good film.

The films on my list to watch are;

My fathers shadow

Pillion

Bugonia

Sinners

sentimental value

One battle after another

Marty supreme

Hamnet

Frankenstein

And I swear

Thanks Unsplash for Alessia C_jpg image

David Lloyd Health Club In Narborough, Leicestershire swimming with sharks takes on a new meaning

Read all the fine print before joining, if you don’t like it, getting out of your commitment...

Holly HY

2026-02-11T17:09:00.0000000 2026-02-24T08:52:17.5400000

When you decide to join a new health club it’s a big decision, a big investment and you do so with excitement and positivity at least I did. In my case I paid £141 joining fee with a monthly commitment of £82 per month for an off peak membership, restricted hours after 2pm at weekends and from 11am - 4pm during the week. For me I wanted to work out during the quieter club times.

I had a really good impression of David Lloyd clubs, I been a member at Hampton, Twickenham a few years ago which had been a great experience so when my friend said she wanted to join David Lloyd in Narborough and asked if I was up for it I said sure let’s do it.

We joined on Saturday and by Tuesday, having experienced the club for three days, we knew it wasn’t for us. We had read we had a 2 week get out clause, a cooling off period and could have carried on going for the whole of the trial period, that’s not us though so we immediately went on the app, sent the necessary messages to the sales team, explaining the experience, our reasons for cancelling and politely asking for the refund, expecting to receive it with alacrity.

What happened during the three days isn’t important, personal preferences and expectations are different for everyone, my problem was I’d been a member at a different David Lloyd club and very simply this one just wasn’t like the other one in any way.

What I think people should know is what happened when we tried to cancel the memberships with 5 or 6 very solid reasons. Reasons and feedback that any good business you’d expect to accept humbly and apologise.

Not so within the David Lloyd sales team who argued the fact, didn’t accept our very valid reasons for opting out and an unpleasant pushy conversation ended with us being told we were being charged for PT sessions where the personal trainer hadn’t turned up.

It took an insistence of speaking to Kristine, the club manager at David Lloyd Narborough to get the refund processed, not in it’s entirety, the cooling off period didn’t mean money back in full, we discovered after the fact. We were each charged pro rata for the three days we attended when more things went wrong than right.

The most shocking part of the dialogue with the sales person assigned to keep us onboard whatever it took was when we told him in a final bid to recover our money and cancel the memberships after only 3 days, other club members were complaining about ongoing problems at the club, his reply was “Well they are still sitting in the Jacuzzi.”

I don’t want to give any company, this one owned by TDR Capital a leading European private equity firm based in London and St Helier Jersey, whose staff has such little regard and contempt for their customers, my business.

We suggested more focus on better business and less focus on advertising and aggressively signing people up would make for greater long term success, and happy club members would create a better ambiance for new members should things go wrong.

We did get our money back eventually but it was a fight we didn’t want or expect.

This rant isn’t to stop people joining David Lloyd Narborough or any David Lloyd club, like I said I loved being a member in Hampton just a cautionary tale and warning if you are new and not 100% sure it’s for you. Don’t take a class (if you can book one) and don’t take advantage of a free PT session unless you are ready to pay over the odds should you cool off within the two weeks and wish to opt out of your commitment for whatever reason.

Update 24th February:

After 3 or 4 further follow up phone calls a refund agreed and processed on 11th February, and said to with me in 3-5 business days arrived one day shy of two weeks later.

Golden Hill A Mystery, A Literary Triumph, a Book That Takes You On A Journey, A Rollercoaster Ride Of A Read

This book by Francis Spurford Is Colourful, Historical, Challenging and Truly Memorable

Holly HY

2026-02-07T16:13:00.0000000 2026-02-07T17:20:41.0630000

On Golden Hill

Golden Hill by Francis Spufford

I loved this book and ever since I finished it I’ve been thinking about when I will start reading it again. except you can see from the state of it I really need a new copy. I do have a Kindle and I could download it but I am a little old fashioned and like holding a book in my hand.

Set in New York in 1746, a small town on the tip of Manhattan Island.

One rainy evening in November, a handsome young stranger fresh off the boat pitches up at a counting-house door in Golden Hill Street: this is Mr. Smith, amiable, charming, yet strangely determined to keep suspicion simmering. For in his pocket, he has what seems to be an order for a thousand pounds, a huge amount, and he won't explain why, or where he comes from, or what he can be planning to do in the colonies that requires so much money.

Rich in language and historical perception, yet compulsively readable, Golden Hill has a colourful cast of characters and  a plot that twists. A puzzle at its heart that doesn't let go until the very end.

It took two holidays to finish but I loved it. It's a story of against all the odds courage, woven with matters of the heart, loyalty, friendship, greed and lots of creative thinking to get you out of a crisis. Lots of colourful characters to dig your teeth into none more so than Mr. Smith who I imagined to be much older than his 20 or 21 years back in 1746.

The author had me believing he had infact been there at the time as he narrates the tale with delicate detail to smell, taste, describing the environment as lucidly as the fabulous, fantastic, characters, too numerous to mention and at times difficult to keep track of who is who.

I don't like romance novels, or crime particularly and whilst this book has a little of both it is also witty, gutsy and very real. 

The downside for me  it is a tough text and quite academic. I remember reading Umberto Eco years ago and struggling a bit with the complex language and this was a bit like that, not so difficult but I did have to look up a few words.

Public and UK PM Keir Starmer Call For Andrew Mountbatten Windsor To Face Questions In The US

Do you think it’s time Andrew Mountbatten Windsor Is Treated Like Everyone Else?

Holly HY

2026-02-01T12:17:00.0000000 2026-02-01T17:11:53.6530000

Image Credit Hector Gonzalez, Unsplash. Buckingham Palace.

I am normally Switzerland when it comes to a political or controversial argument, not that I sit on the fence. I usually keep my opinion to myself. But in this case I have been so outraged and incensed by the corruption in our society like many others I felt the need to speak out and have my say. I have been careful not to project vengeful accusation and lynch mob mentality into my thoughts as I write them.

I like many others was horrified, alarmed, disgusted by the images released yesterday of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor looming over the young woman lying motionless on the floor.

The questions the images raise for me are numerous whilst other people in the room behind him one person with their legs up in the air are relaxing.

“Is she OK?” first and foremost

“What is he doing?”

“Is he assisting her?”

“Why are there towels in the image, it’s not a spa it’s a sitting room?”

And the most important question of all,

“Why is this scene being photographed?”

I am not writing in defense of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, Virginia Guiffre is already dead and the ex Prince, guilty or not, in the eyes of the law, he in my mind is complicit in her death.

I read some truly disturbing criminal allegations from comedian and social and political commentator D.L. Hughley (which I won’t repeat) as he is not a journalist or associated with any accredited media who in the past has apologized at least once for his opinion being completely, baseless, factless and without truth. The recent assumptions on his Instagram feed which has 3.1 million followers were so horrific this compelled me to look deeper into the evidence released by the American government. 3.5 million files apparently with a further 2.5 million still to be released and also check out the comedian’s credentials as a credible source of information.

There is no doubt in my mind Andrew must now comply with the American authorities request to give evidence to clear this up, own his part in it and take the penalty deemed fit if he has indeed done anything criminal. Unless he willingly complies to finally tell the truth, which of course will take great courage on his part, the story is never going away.

I also think it is important to hear from King Charles, more than simply stripping his brother of his titles and privileges and moving him from his home at Royal Lodge.

I’ve just heard the PM (prime minister) Sir Keir Starmer say it’s time for Andrew Mountbatten Windsor to answer questions as another victim, whose lawyers were in talks with the ex Prince’s legal team until he was stripped of his HRH and dukedoms titles, has alleged she too was trafficked to Andrew and spent time inside Buckingham Palace.

I find it very difficult to believe the Royal Household in the wider sense weren’t privy to exactly what’s been going on and it begs the question how many senior royals have been complicit in this highly egregious behaviour. It is almost worse that no one has intervened and he, Andrew was allowed to carry on unchecked for such a long time.

I dread to think how many other lives have been ruined and how many young women have either been silenced, killed themselves or simply disappeared.

The Royal Family are known for saying nothing when things get out of hand but a slap on the wrist and then ignoring this is not the answer. It’s time for some brutal truth and if they can’t face it then maybe it’s time for an end to the power and privilege held by the monarchy.

These women are not just play things, they are human beings and everyone must be accountable for their choices annd actions even when protected at the highest level. I thought the point of the monarchy was to lead by example not just do what the bloody hell you like because you can get away with blue murder.

TNT Sports Package Vs The Listening Experience BBC Sounds Djokovic Vs Sinner Semi Final Australian Open

Sports Commentators Make The Experience Fantastic Thanks Gigi Salmon, Annabel Croft and Clare...

Holly HY

2026-01-31T09:07:00.0000000 2026-01-31T09:35:22.5200000

I bet Carlos Alcaraz didn’t expect that.

Novak Djokovic fans around the world are rejoicing after his epic win, possibly one of his greatest triumphs in the semi final match up with reigning champion Jannik Sinner in Melbourne Park at the Australian Open. The crowd were on fire as Djokovic broke Sinners serve is the fifth game of the fifth set and then went on to win the match 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. It is the first time he has defeated Jannik Sinner in the last 6 meetings and will go on on Sunday 1st Feb, 2026 to challenge for his 11th Australian Open Title as his opponent attempts the Golden Slam, winning all four Grand Slam Titles in one year.

The TV subscription with TNT sports discovery plus to watch matches like this is £30 per month, I looked online today for the final of the Australian open and it costs on special offer £25.49 for a Eurosports package but this does not include the “premium experience” basically the tennis so you have to pay the full £30.99 for 30 days.

You can cancel immediately once the event you want to see is over to incur no further charges but how many under 18’s are denied the chance to watch at these prices let alone the adults.

Thanks goodness for BBC sounds who provide live match commentary for free. Many would say it’s just not the same for sports where the visual is such a big part of the experience however when you listen to a fantastic commentator the excitement can be just as thrilling when you train yourself to create the visual in your mind.

The two ladies commentating (it says online) were Clare McDonnell and Gigi Salmon who cover the tennis for BBC sounds, to me it sounded like Annabel Croft was in the mix too anyway they are so good, fast, descriptive and truly do allow you create the action in your head. I couldn’t find the exact line up credits for this particular match however these voices represent the core BBC Sounds/Australian Open audio team — so the commentary on Djokovic vs Sinner would most likely have featured Gigi Salmon and Russell Fuller calling play, with expert insight from Annabel Croft, Pat Cash, and possibly David Law among others.

It was an amazing match I thoroughly enjoyed thanks to the BBC commentators. It’s a different experience for sure, and would I prefer to watch on TV of course but I grew up listening to cricket on the radio, in the car, a sport I don’t even follow or enjoy, and then horse racing and basketball when TV wasn’t an option so maybe that gave me the training to follow a match from live commentary alone.

It does feel a little bit old fashioned when technology is so advanced to still be huddled around the wireless, well actually with AirPods and an iPhone but you know what I mean.

If the £30.99 charge is out of reach for you and you can’t get value to justify the charge because you don’t want to watch every match of the tournament I really do recommend downloading the BBC sounds app and tuning in for the big match up.

It takes a bit of time to train your brain to the new format, you have to visualise the match yourself but once you get the hang of it, it can be as uplifting and exciting as watching on screen. And when the person you are rooting for pulls off the unthinkable well then the joy is exactly the same as watching on TV or for those lucky enough being right there courtside.

Personally I think the TV companies are missing a trick. If they offered an option for just one match and charged a one time more reasonable fee of day £10 come semi finals and finals day they’d have a lot more subscribers.

I think for many, especially kids £30.99 if you only want to watch a final is just too high.

10 Best Places To Stay In Marrakech and Tangiers Morocco For Art, Interiors, Peace, Ocean and Food

10 best places to stay in Marrakech & Tangier (2026 low‑season rates)

Holly HY

2026-01-13T13:23:00.0000000 2026-01-13T17:23:01.1370000

Photo by Raúl Mermans García on Unsplash, Photo by Charlotte Mary Rose on Unsplash, Photo by Matthew Stephenson on Unsplash, Photo by Zacharie on Unsplash, Photo by Abdou Faiz on Unsplash

A trip to Morocco has long been on my bucket list. I’ve been to Tenerife and Lanzorote, Canary Islands, of which there are 7, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro, a few times and enjoyed the North African climate in the winter months but never made it a little further east to North Africa.

The draw of the exotic, east meets west at first tantalised me in tales by John Lennon of quiet rockstar rebellion and The Rolling Stones, of the hashish in the dessert imagery amidst coiled colourful shisha, ornate mosaic, the tapestries of life woven into carpets and rugs, and the promise of warm waters and never ending sunsets. North African architecture has always appealed to me, where the constant hum of air conditioning is absent replaced by the whistle of crickets and every ancient building centres around open air courtyards and cool brickwork in shades of terracotta. These images have always held allure. I was reminded of my wish to visit when Marrakech was comically included in The Absolutely Fabulous episode "Morocco," which aired as part of Series 2 in 1994. Good lord that long ago, hilarious and memorable in equal measure. I’ve heard friends share stories of the magnificent shopping and frenetic souqs that exist within a maze of ancient alleys, easy to get lost in, where that prices start high and the bargaining is ferocious.

When I read in 2023 Jasper Conran had purchased and converted the home of Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Berges, Villa Mabrouka, meaning House of Luck into a 12 suite boutique hotel in Tangiers and then later discovered the Jardin Majorelle had been opened by the Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts and Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech. A Museum by Berge to remember and preserve for Marrakech, YSL’s long attachment to the city, it finally caused me to look deeper into the options of where best to stay and begin my plan to visit. Here’s what I found out based on what I am looking for which is proximity to the water, spa facilities, peace and quiet, great food, and beautiful authentic vibrant colourful interiors. I have listed them from expensive to best value properties. Between January and March if you avoid major festivals and Eid celebrations the prices are the best value throughout the year. This is not a recommendation, it’s my shortlist. I hope it helps you plan your next adventure to Morocco. For anyone who doesn’t have the layout of the country, Tangiers is top left on the coast with a short boat ride to Gibraltar on main land Spain. Çasablanca is about 2 hours South down the coast by car and then Marrakech is 3 hours drive inland south east. I am contemplating the drive myself.

10 best places to stay in Marrakech and Tangier for art, interiors, peace, ocean and food

Rates note: The nightly prices below are indicative estimates for stays in January–March 2026, based on recent published low‑season tariffs and typical trends. Best to check with the hotels directly for live pricing, offers and inclusions.

1) Royal Mansour Marrakech – Marrakech

- Why go: The ultimate Moroccan craft showcase. Each private riad is a jewel box of zellige, carved cedar and tadelakt; dining and service are world‑class.

- Property type: Grand palace hotel (private‑riad resort).

- Spa: Yes – vast, destination spa with hammams, pool and specialist treatments.

- Ocean proximity: Inland; approx. 2.5–3 hours’ drive to the Atlantic at Essaouira.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £1,700–£3,200.

2) Amanjena – Marrakech (Palmeraie)

- Why go: Tranquil, sand‑pink pavilions and mirror‑like pools inspired by Moorish geometry; discreet service, serene dining.

- Property type: Luxury resort.

- Spa: Yes – Aman Spa with hammam, yoga and treatments.

- Ocean proximity: Inland; around 3 hours’ drive to the Atlantic.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £1,050–£2,000.

3) The Oberoi, Marrakech – Marrakech (Palmeraie)

- Why go: Grand arches, faultless gardens and high‑gloss interiors; calm, spacious villas and refined Moroccan/Indian cuisine.

- Property type: Luxury resort (villas and suites).

- Spa: Yes – comprehensive spa with hammam and indoor pool.

- Ocean proximity: Inland; approx. 3 hours’ drive to the Atlantic.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £850–£1,600.

4) La Mamounia – Marrakech (Medina edge)

- Why go: An Art Deco icon reimagined; glamorous bars, top‑tier restaurants and epic gardens for peaceful strolls.

- Property type: Landmark grand hotel.

- Spa: Yes – one of the city’s best, with hammam and pools.

- Ocean proximity: Inland; approx. 2.5–3 hours to the Atlantic.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £750–£1,300.

5) Villa Mabrouka – Tangier (Kasbah) - this the place that appeals to me the most.

- Why go: Jasper Conran’s coastal gem in lush clifftop gardens; Yves Saint Laurent heritage, exquisite taste, sea‑breeze tranquillity and elegant menus.

- Property type: Design‑led boutique hotel (historic villa).

- Spa: No large spa; typically offers treatment rooms/therapists by arrangement.

- Ocean proximity: Sea views over the Strait; c. 15–20 minutes’ walk to the city beach; short drive to Cap Spartel and Atlantic coves.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £620–£1,050.

6) El Fenn – Marrakech (Medina) [often miswritten “Le Fenn”] I’ll probably end up here, it looks absolutely beautiful, much more affordable and there’s a spa. The sacrifice, the ocean.

- Why go: Playful contemporary art and bold colour palettes across a sprawling riad; buzzy rooftop for sunset suppers.

- Property type: Large boutique riad.

- Spa: Yes – boutique spa with hammam and treatments.

- Ocean proximity: Inland; approx. 2.5–3 hours to the Atlantic.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £380–£820.

7) L’Hôtel Marrakech – Marrakech (Medina)

- Why go: Jasper Conran’s five‑suite love letter to Moroccan craftsmanship; candlelit dinners and quiet courtyards for pure calm.

- Property type: Intimate boutique riad (only a handful of suites).

- Spa: No full spa; massages/hammam can be arranged nearby.

- Ocean proximity: Inland; approx. 3 hours to the Atlantic.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £330–£580.

8) Fairmont Tazi Palace Tangier – Tangier (hills above the city)

- Why go: Restored palace wrapped in forested calm; polished restaurants, big‑ticket spa and panoramic terraces.

- Property type: Large luxury hotel/resort.

- Spa: Yes – expansive Fairmont spa with hammam, indoor/outdoor pools.

- Ocean proximity: 10–15 minutes’ drive to beaches and the Corniche; easy access to Cap Spartel/Atlantic.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £300–£560.

9) Nord Pinus Tanger – Tangier (Kasbah)

- Why go: Romantic, antiques‑filled townhouse with knockout Strait views; intimate dining heavy on market‑fresh seafood.

- Property type: Boutique guesthouse/hotel.

- Spa: No dedicated spa; partner hammams and therapists can be arranged.

- Ocean proximity: Clifftop above the port; c. 10–15 minutes’ walk to the city beach; short drive to Atlantic beaches.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £180–£320.

10) The Riad (Hotel Riad) – Tangier (Medina)

- Why go: A calm, design‑aware riad tucked in the old town; friendly service and easy access to cafés and galleries.

- Property type: Small boutique riad hotel.

- Spa: No; staff can arrange hammams/massages nearby.

- Ocean proximity: About 10–15 minutes’ walk to the seafront and marina.

- Estimated Jan–Mar 2026 nightly rate: £110–£200.

How to choose quickly

- For a splurge on craft and privacy: Royal Mansour or The Oberoi.

- For serene design energy with great food: Amanjena, La Mamounia or Villa Mabrouka.

- For art‑forward boutique charm: El Fenn or L’Hôtel Marrakech.

- For ocean air and full wellness facilities: Fairmont Tazi Palace.

- For characterful, good‑value Tangier stays with sea views: Nord Pinus Tanger or The Riad.

Practical tips

- Low season in both cities is excellent for peace and value; weekends, festivals and events can push rates up.

- Many riads are intimate; book early for specific rooms/suites.

- Expect local city taxes payable on arrival. Check whether breakfast, spa access and transfers are included in your rate.

Your Mind Made That Up

NEW Book For Teenagers and Parents Tackling Anxiety and The Comparison Culture

Holly HY

2026-01-10T15:00:00.0000000 2026-01-10T15:50:45.8570000

Today, teens inherit anxiety before they ever get a chance to dream.

Click Here "Your Mind Made That Up" By Shirley Yanez. Cost £4 available on Amazon Kindle 

As a common-sense Life Coach armed with seven decades of mistakes, triumphs, and "what-was-I-thinking" moments, I spend my days now helping anyone willing to do the work untangle the spaghetti mess in their minds - including a lot of teens and young adults.

These teens are told to get good grades, earn degrees, land "good" jobs, and somehow build a perfect life - all while running a race they don't even fully understand. By the time they finally pause to ask "Wait... why am I doing this?" they're already exhausted... and probably scrolling through TikTok for answers.

Most Gen Z teens I know are doing everything "right" and still feel like they're failing at life. Digital life rewired their brains fast. They grew up online - comparing themselves to strangers, performing for likes, and absorbing more information in a day than past generations did in a year.

Scroll culture serves beauty standards, success stories, tragedies, and trauma in under 30 seconds. They know everything... and feel nothing - because feeling everything all at once is way too much.

They're the most connected generation in history, yet somehow the loneliest.

DMs replaced deep conversations

Likes replaced real validation

Zoom replaced physical presence

They're reachable 24/7 - but rarely truly seen

My new book  Your Mind Made That Up  pulls back the curtain on life behind the screen. It helps teens and young adults understand why anxiety and burnout feel unavoidable, why their minds feel overloaded, and how to survive (and maybe even thrive) in a world that never stops demanding more.

These days, growing up feels like starring in someone else's highlight reel - because social media never stops showing everyone else's "perfect" life while you're over here wondering why your toast always burns. Hyper-connectivity sounds great until you realize it's mostly scrolling past people you barely know, leaving real-life connection on the back burner and a "third place" to belong... well, non-existent.

And just when you think you can hide, cyberbullying reminds you that the internet never clocks out. Meanwhile, the news is a nonstop anxiety buffet - from climate chaos to political drama - making teens feel like they're juggling stress, comparison, and existential dread all at once. Growing up in 2026: it's a full-time job with zero breaks.

If you've ever felt tired just trying to keep up - with school, social life, expectations, or the internet itself - this book is for you.

Honest, humorous, raw, and urgently needed: a roadmap for navigating an age of inherited anxiety.

This book doesn't just explain the problem. It helps teens understand what's happening inside their minds, manage the pressure around them, and begin reclaiming connection, clarity, and calm in a world that never stops scrolling.

For Parents (Yes, Really)

This book is also for parents who love their kids deeply - but feel like they're living with a stranger who speaks in shrugs, silence, or one-word answers. If conversations turn into eye-rolls, shutdowns, or "I'm fine" (spoiler: they're not), you're not failing. You're parenting in a digital world no one trained you for.

 Your Mind Made That Up   helps parents understand the pressure shaping today's teens, decode what's actually happening beneath the screen, and reconnect without constant conflict. A translation guide for modern adolescence - because "just put your phone down" stopped working years ago.

Roy Fox Lichtenstein 1923 - 1997 an American Modern Art Icon - Whaam at Tate Modern London

Roy Lichtenstein’s Whaam! at Tate Modern: Pop Art Icon Explained

Holly HY

2026-01-04T09:36:00.0000000 2026-01-04T11:31:53.0170000

Over 10 years ago Tate Modern presented a retrospective of one of the great American pop art artists of the twentieth century.

Lichtenstein: A Retrospective was the first full-scale retrospective of this important artist in over twenty years. Co-organised by The Art Institute of Chicago and Tate Modern, this momentous show brought together 125 of his most definitive paintings and sculptures. They are the type of paintings so familiar in our modern culture you recognise them even if you don’t remember the artists name, I am a fan and sometimes I struggle to bring it to the front of my memory when I see his work, so completely unique and distinguishable from other modern artists.

I didn’t realise when I visited Tate modern, an image I’ve had at home, purchased years ago, a print, Whaam, was part of the Tate’s permanent collection and I was shocked to see it as I wondered around the rooms taking everything in.

Although you do have to pay for special exhibitions, if you went to see the Roy (Fox) Lichtenstein retrospective back in 2013 you’d have paid between £16 and £20 entry, there was a two for one deal in the Sunday Times at the time, going in today to see Whaam didn’t cost a penny as Entry to Tate Modern's main collection is free for everyone, though members of the museum, worth considering if you live close by and like to go a lot, get free special exhibition entry without booking. FYI if you want to purchase anything on your visit, coffee shop, gift shop the gallery is cashless, accepting only card/contactless payments.

The scale of restored Whaam is probably the most striking. It’s massive and you can really see the dot and line work jump off the canvas, inspired by comic strips and advertisements, the artist used his techniques to tell a story of commercialism, and consumerism and cross the chasm between art and media printing and imagery. But he wasn’t limited to just comic strips, he also painted landscapes and still life with the same recognisable dots and line work. And was inspired by other artists too as he mimicked the styles of Pablo Picasso, Matisse and Mondrian.

Whamm is part of Tate Moderns collection so you can go and see it anytime, although they do move things around so probably worth checking it’s on display before heading off to avoid disappointment if this work is on your must see list. Roy Lichtenstein’s work came to prominence in the 1960’s, has come to auction multiple times over the last 3 decades and the record price for a piece of Lichtenstein’s work at auction is 95,365,000 USD for Nurse, sold at Christie's New York in 2015.

He died in 1997 aged 73 in his beloved New York City. His widow Dorothy an American Philanthropist passed away in 2024 aged 84 after serving as the President of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and dedicating her life after his death to preserving her husband’s legacy. There are approximately 4500 recognised works worldwide, many of which are now owned by Whitney Museum of American Art. Hopeless, my other print is housed at, Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland.

Roy Lichtenstein’s Whaam! at Tate Modern: Pop Art Icon Explained

Roy Lichtenstein’s name is synonymous with Pop Art’s audacious, high-contrast raid on mass culture. Born in New York in 1923 and active across five decades, he translated the vernacular of comics, advertising and industrial printing into the cool, monumental language of museum painting. Among the most recognisable of his works is Whaam! (1963), the print I purchased, in reality a two-panel depiction of mid-air combat that has become a centrepiece of Tate Modern’s collection and a touchstone for how we understand Pop’s blend of wit, critique and technical precision that spans over 4 metres.

From New York to Pop

Lichtenstein studied at Ohio State University and served in the US Army during the Second World War, experiences that shaped both his sensibility and his disciplined working methods. In the 1950s he gravitated through styles—American Scene painting, then a strain of abstraction inflected by Cubism and Abstract Expressionism—before a decisive shift around 1961. With works like Look Mickey and Girl with Ball, he began reworking comic strips and adverts, not as throwaway jokes but as rigorous compositions. His signature devices—hand-painted Ben-Day dots, heavy black outlines, flat zones of primary colour, cropped frames and speech bubbles—arrived fully formed, pitched between pastiche and phenomenally sharp design.

Whaam!: a comic-book explosion at mural scale

Painted in 1963, Whaam! is among the first and most ambitious of Lichtenstein’s comic-derived canvases. Across two panels measuring roughly 172.7 cm by 406.4 cm in total, a sleek American fighter jet fires a rocket that slices across the yellow sky. On the right, an enemy plane erupts in a stylised blast, punctuated by a blazing “WHAAM!” in red capitals. A speech bubble delivers the laconic line: “I pressed the fire control… and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky…”

Lichtenstein based the composition on a panel drawn by Irv Novick for DC Comics’ All-American Men of War (1962), a series then popular with teenage readers. Yet what he produced is no mere enlargement. He cropped, simplified and recalibrated the scene’s dynamics, redesigning the vectors of force and the balance of colour so that the energy reads at a glance, even from across a large room. The result is both faithful to the source and distinctly Lichtenstein: the drama is amplified, the emotion cooled, the printing language turned into painting.

Technique: mechanical finish, human control

The “mechanical” look of Lichtenstein’s canvases was painstakingly handmade. He typically began by projecting a source image onto canvas, tracing and re-drawing to refine contours and composition. Areas of colour were masked and painted with remarkable flatness; dots were applied via stencils to emulate the Ben-Day screens used in mid-century commercial printing. In Whaam! the dots modulate tone in the sky and the planes’ fuselages, giving the eye a field to graze while keeping surface incident to a minimum. This suppression of the brushstroke—an overt refusal of Abstract Expressionism’s emotive flourish—was central to his project. The painting’s “machine” is a fiction, but it is a disciplined, persuasive one.

Violence, irony and the 1960s

Whaam! embodies a paradox: a picture of violent destruction rendered with immaculate detachment. When it debuted, viewers read it through the lens of the Cold War and the escalating conflict in South-East Asia. Some critics accused Lichtenstein of glamorising warfare; others saw a critique of a culture that packages heroism and mayhem for easy consumption. Lichtenstein himself was more circumspect, insisting his interest lay in formal language—how a mass image is constructed and how it can be transformed—rather than in the politics of the scene. Still, the work’s ambiguity is part of its lasting power. It leaves space for viewers to interrogate their own appetite for spectacle.

Appropriation and authorship

Lichtenstein’s reliance on comic sources has long stirred debate. The artists whose panels he reworked—often uncredited illustrators working under tight deadlines—rarely received acknowledgement at the time. This has prompted overdue attention to the craft of mid-century comics and to questions of artistic authorship. Lichtenstein did not copy; he redesigned. But his success, and the relative anonymity of his sources, pose ethical and historical questions we continue to ask of appropriation art. Whaam! sits at the centre of that conversation, a landmark of Pop that also exposes the power dynamics of culture-making.

From New York to London: Whaam! at Tate

The Tate acquired Whaam! in 1966 with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery, a bold move that signalled Britain’s serious engagement with Pop Art as it unfolded on both sides of the Atlantic. Its arrival in London coincided with a flourishing of British Pop—from Richard Hamilton to Pauline Boty and Peter Blake—artists similarly interrogating media, consumerism and post-war imagery. Installed at Tate Modern today, Whaam! regularly draws crowds. Seen at its true scale, the work’s conceptual gambit becomes visceral: a flimsy comic panel transformed into a grand, 4‑metre-wide history painting for the jet age.

Stand before it and the composition clarifies itself. The left canvas carries the “cause”: the pilot, the missile’s trajectory, the propulsive diagonals. The right canvas is the “effect”: the blaze, the typographic boom, the enemy plane’s disintegrating geometry. The seam between the two panels is part of the rhythm, a pause between beats that heightens the snap of impact. And then there are the dots—so often reproduced at postcard size—that surprise with their scale, spacing and slight irregularity. Lichtenstein’s coolness is never cold; it is a choreography of attention.

Beyond comics: a modernist among moderns

Lichtenstein is sometimes pigeonholed as the comic-book painter, but his practice was broader and more historically alert. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he produced series that riffed on the brushstroke, on mirrors and reflections, on Art Deco and German Expressionism, and on the very grammar of painting. He reinterpreted Monet’s haystacks and cathedrals as fields of dots and stripes, translated Picasso and Matisse through his graphic idiom, and later explored Chinese landscapes in a serene, synthetic manner. Across these bodies of work he remained a modernist formalist at heart, testing how images are built, how signs acquire feeling, and how a painting can be both an object and a commentary on looking.

Legacy and influence

By the time of his death in 1997, Lichtenstein had reshaped the possibilities of painting. He expanded the canvas’s subject matter to embrace the low and the mass-produced without relinquishing rigour. Designers, advertisers and painters alike have mined his clarity of line and his command of visual punch. At the same time, artists engaged with appropriation, from the Pictures Generation to contemporary remix culture, owe something to his strategic borrowing and his insistence that context changes meaning.

Why Whaam! still matters and not just to me.

In an age saturated with images, Whaam! remains uncannily current. It is a case study in how a picture can be at once seductive and critical, immediate and reflective. Its subject is not only an aerial dogfight but also the speed at which images become clichés and the ease with which spectacle can eclipse consequence. That Lichtenstein can summon these complexities with a handful of colours, a few perfectly weighted lines and an onomatopoeic blast is testament to his acuity.

For London audiences, Whaam! offers more than a transatlantic import; it is a mirror held up to the shared visual culture of the post-war West—its bravado, its anxieties and its appetite for the new. Encountered at Tate Modern, it confirms Roy Lichtenstein as a modern art icon and Pop Art’s most eloquent advocate for the strange poetry of the mass-produced image.

Sexy Beast Released 25 Years Ago. Still A Classic Still A Fantastic Fast Moving Exciting Gripping Bank Heist Watch

Some Films disappear into obscurity, some like Sexy Beast you’ll keep watching over and over again

Holly HY

2025-12-28T11:36:00.0000000 2025-12-28T12:57:19.2500000

Sexy Beast a 20th century fox film, released in 2000 is a black comedy crime film written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto and directed by Jonathon Glazer, other films to his credit include, Birth 2004, Under The Skin, 2013 and acclaimed holocaust film THE zone of Interest 2023. He also has done extensive work directing iconic music videos for Radiohead and Massive Attack.

I’ve read quite a few movie tribute reviews in the last few days, Christmas is a time when we all have a bit more time on our hands to catch up on films we’ve never seen like for me the hilarious Youtha Joyce and Brian Murphy in The George and Mildred Film 1980, I have a special affinity to these characters, George and Mildred, The Man About the House prequel and subsequent movie, I shared with my Grandmother when I was ‘too young’ and not allowed to watch so to catch this over the holidays, something I’ve never seen before, was magic.

Sexy Beast is the complete opposite to a light funny film you catch and let go like a butterfly or a fish, it’s a keeper, one that stays with you. When I first saw it at release 25 years ago, I watched it maybe 10 times, and certain lines became part of regular conversation for some years afterwards like ‘It’s hot” watch and you’ll understand.

The film stars Ray Winstone a British acting giant, alongside Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, who was nominated for best supporting actor in 2002 academy awards, pipped at the post by Jim Broadbent for his role in Iris, a good film but to my mind he was robbed.

Sexy beast is probably Kingleys most memorable role where he expertly plays a psycho criminal Don Logan who travels to Spain to recruit Gal Dove, ex con going straight played magnificently by Winstone. The two together are movie magic. These precision actors deftly manage the quick fire dialogue and the close up shooting completely intensifies the action. In contrast, the director, Glazer exploits the humour of the stereotypical East London gangster in the costumes and the subtle styling of the film. Spanish hacienda, Sun Sea and Sangria, Gal living it up with his ex porn star wife, Deedee played by Amanda Redman, the classic foursome hanging out with their friends, Abigail’s party style Jacqui and H wearing open neck shirts, gold chains, off the shoulder cheesecloth frocks and wedged espadrilles, all super corny, cigars, cocktails, lots of sunbathing, over sun tanned skin, the imagined ‘we’ve made it life” in the sun of a retired gangster in a 35mm nutshell takes the viewer straight into the action, there in a blink of an eye.

But there’s trouble in paradise when ex associate Don Logan turns up to make sure Gal makes up the crew for a hit on a London UK security box vault, one last bank heist organised by Teddy Bass, a shady and very scary character played ruthlessly by Ian McShane with friends in high places, security vault owner Harry played by James Fox, with a weakness easily exploited.

Think Jason Stathan crime thriller, with a little Guy Richie wit, dark, complicated characters, an intricately woven backstory of criminal underworld and clever direction on the side. The script is comfortingly familiar when it comes to the plot but so highly original in writing and direction. There’s loads of close up conversation, it’s sinister and fast paced and so brilliantly acted it keeps you gripped and on high alert throughout. I thinks that’s why it’s a film you can watch over and over without ever getting bored. It’s a story we can all delve into. It tells the tale of How none of us can ever really escape our past how ever hard we may try to leave it all behind. Nothing is truer in Sexy Beast where the scariest of people cannot be feared or ran from they must be faced.

It feels like a short film, it probably isn’t, it’s very fast paced and builds cleverly to a scary climax. For first time watchers there are some out of nowhere scenes and shocking twists and turns in the last thirds of the film.

SEXY BEAST is what happens when you combine incredible British acting talent, it doesn’t get better than his epic cast, with a corny relatable simple story, quotable, memorable, clever, clever, writing, fast paced Guy Richie style direction and edge of your seat drama and unexpected twist.

What a movie. An absolute classic. Feels so independent, never before, never again, must watch. The only thing unexpected made by a massive studio, 20th Century Fox.

First came Facebook, then Instagram, moved over to TIKTOK, Maybe Medium or Reddit; NOW the Super App is on it’s way

Where do we go online when everything else isn’t working? Pinterest? Tripadvisor? Or Poopsnoop?

Holly HY

2025-11-15T12:32:00.0000000 2025-11-15T14:38:00.0200000

I am not an expert but, Katie Ramsey Head of Fin Tech Trade for His Majesty's government is predicting we'll see Super App communities emerging in the UK within 24 months, similar to platforms like WeChat and Carrot in South Korea where millions of users do everything from one app from banking, to e-commerce, to booking flights or an uber, to ordering a takeaway.

When you look at social media from your living room, communities like Her campus or Pop sugar, with 10s of thousands, sometimes millions of people following, do you feel like “that’s all great but what about me” “sitting here having just eaten half a packet of chocolate hobnobs looking into a world of perfect looking people like coach Mei and Shen on Instagram promoting Asian Pilates, a women girl who says she’s 53 but looks 27. I’d struggle to relate to this at 44 let alone 53, or my real age 60.

Then I think about the Danes banning social media for kids under 15. I asked a friend of mine what she’d do if she had to take the phones off her three kids, she said it would be impossible, they’d tell her they were breaking the law.

And I think that’s what’s wrong with social media, we watch from the sidelines, like watching a football match or a game of domino’s, it doesn’t matter what it is, but it’s not us participating, included in the action, unless maybe you are a teen on Snapchat dissing your mates. What's app groups for the post teenage crowd are much more voyeuristic than participation I have found although community groups on WhatsApp app can be useful for immediate cries for help from say a shoplifter or if you are suddenly in need of a cat carrier for an unexpected trip to vet with an animal you are looking after. 

When it comes to more widely used platforms like Facebook or Instagram, how many times have you shared a post for someone and received no thanks, posted a comment that’s never acknowledged or replied to.

And even better or more startling now, realising when you maybe do get a reply it’s not actually human but AI generated.

Recently I was so excited someone was actually engaging with me on social media I began a happy vibrant conversation and then saw the responses were coming thick and fast, within seconds and with spelling mistakes, the robot that initially conned me was now malfunctioning.

The crash was palpable.

And the realisation that the artist, sports personality, movie star you admire, adore, idolise, support by; watching everything they are in, liking every post/move they make, going to watch them play, or buying every record they make, doesn't see you at all. They are not your friend. They don't see your efforts and if they do, they certainly don't engage with you, you might be crazy, a stalker, someone who open that door and they'll never get rid of you. They just need you doing what you are doing to keep their engagement stats up and the money rolling in. Let's not forget social media is a business driven by all our free content and engagement.

A friend of mine told me there’s no happiness to be found in following from the outside, you have to be in the game, having the experience for yourself, I guess the difference between being courtside and watching on TV, no comparison and then again actually picking up a ball or a racket, jumping on a ski lift or getting out on an ice rink, whatever it is you like to do, riding the waves, riding in a speed boat or being pulled behind one, it’s the taking part that matters.

I have been very unsuccessful on social media, both as a poster and as a follower. I’ve failed in both regards, whether it be posting every day or watching, liking commenting everyday. It’s actually got me nowhere. I even resorted to buying followers at one point, I couldn’t build a following on my own, despite my best efforts but that didn’t work either. I discovered when you purchase followers the social media algorithms like you less.

I saw a report in the news this week about how TikTok account holders selling dangerous unapproved weightless injections were getting real weight loss influencers accounts shut down because they were warning followers about the dangers of the said fake weight loss injections not even approved for sale or use.

It made me think about how these platforms actually gain traction and the poor people, in this case desperate to lose weight are being peddled something that could potentially harm them, one user reported coughing up blood, and the money involved is so high they’ll stop at nothing, even threatening other users, to keep the racket going.

I joined Poopsnoop because regardless of who does or doesn’t read my content I know it’s only published when it’s been moderated and approved by a member of the community, that’s because when it’s published I get paid so it has to be deemed authentic, helpful and worth reading.

This platform is in its infancy, but unlike its predecessors Facebook, Instagram and TIKTOK, Poopsnoop (like Christian Laboutin famously said of his shoes) is not for everyone.

Poopsnoop is only looking for the very best content creators, the content creators who believe social media should be better, more fulfilling, more inclusive. Content creators who share, like and give back to the community. Content creators who recognise building a viable sustainable community is about being part of that community, participating, acknowledging, paying forward and giving back.

If like me you are sick of failing on your current platform and want to become human again online join this exclusive club of mavericks, ranters and ravers, happy to do the work, but wanting something, some reward, back in return. A community where no one care’s what you look like, just what you think about anything.

Whatever you want to write about, whatever story you want to tell, there’s someone here who’ll read it, give you feedback, and who knows you might just get it published and get paid.

Oma Sushi where the Vegan sushi rolls are best I’ve tasted

Oma Sushi traditional Japanese sushi restaurant and moderately priced take out

Holly HY

2025-10-29T13:10:00.0000000 2025-10-29T13:37:50.8130000

Oma sushi on O Farrell opposite the Hilton Hotel in the tenderloin district of San Francisco is a tale of two halves. Open Tuesday thru Thursday 11.30am-10.30pm and Friday thru Saturday 11.30am - 11.00pm and Sunday 11.30am-10.30pm, closed on Monday.

We dined at lunchtime on a Sunday and apart from three take out guests we were the only people in the restaurant which was surprising as the food was cooked to order and in the most part absolutely delicious. The stand out dish was the vegan sushi rolls which were made with precision and had a whole manner of delectable ingredients topped with fresh mango, washed down with a zero alcohol Asahi beer.

We also ordered the spinach salad which was interesting, served cold with a kind of chocolate flavoured sweet sauce I’d never tasted before and avocado and cucumber sushi which was fresh and very tasty.

The veggie spring rolls we ordered two portions of three rolls didn’t deliver the crispy treat we’d hoped for, the outer casing was thick and quite greasy and over powered the vegetable filling. For me it would be better with more crispy vegetables in a lighter casing.

All in all the service was friendly and quick and the food very satisfying. Even though we were the only diners, the energy is the restaurant was great, really good vibes.

The difficult bit was the number of homeless people wandering the streets outside. We sat by the window which made the social divide all the more apparent. We felt empathy for both the restaurant owner and staff working hard to create a wonderful experience for their patrons and the street walking people starving outside.

Looking for a solution we ordered a portion of beef teriyaki to go and asked it be split into two containers for the wanderers outside, the restaurant threw in a pork dish to add to the meal which showed us the kind of people they are, so would definitely return and support this lovely authentic Japanese place.

The bill was very reasonable at $70 for everything so definitely affordable and very satisfying with great vegetarian and vegan options, as I mentioned the vegan rolls were outstanding.

We had enough food to offer a meal to three people outside, two in wheel chairs and one on foot. It was extremely gratefully received. The restaurant provided, cutlery and napkins. Thanks Oma Sushi, hope to see you again on my next trip to San Francisco.

The Mason Cafe Diner So good you’ll want to return and soon

Experiencing everything from the neon signs, the nostalgic movie posters, the faster than...

Holly HY

2025-10-26T13:18:00.0000000 2025-10-26T14:11:48.3700000

OMG this spot in San Francisco close to Union Square is notable with a capital N. Special thanks to Geraldo our server, a true hospitality professional any food service business would love to hire.

Mason cafe diner is a shining example of why America is the service industry capital of the world, within moments of sitting down the welcome came, the menus arrived with aplomb, and less than minutes later a smiling server was at the table once more, pen poised taking our order, we blinked and our drinks arrived all in one go, everything perfect exactly as ordered.

If you are sick of everything the same Starbucks, Mason Cafe Diner is a 180 degree authentic American diner where the pancake stacks hit the ceiling and the waffles are large enough to feed four. The type of place you’d only experience in 3 D at the IMAX theatre these days, fabulousness gone by the wayside as large conglomerates swipe up expensive prime real estate, sucking the life and wonder experiences out of everyday essentials like breakfast.

Cafe Mason diner is a hive of activity where the servers clearly thrive on hard work and the patrons return day in day out. It’s not just a restaurant but a friendly hub where the staff are on first name terms with their regulars. We witnessed it first hand as visitors on the sidelines. Dining alone is normal, take a seat at the counter and be entertained or not by the funny waiters, cracking a joke or too or just by the energy and buzz of the place.

This is old school, everything done exceptionally and quick and a shining example of why the US have managed to make tipping almost so compulsory, the breakdown of percentage gratuity is detailed on the bill giving foreign visitors, who don’t know the ropes, a push in the right direction.

I heard stories of hard working waiters chasing patrons out of restaurants when I lived in Los Angeles asking "what was wrong with the service" when they failed to leave an appropriate tip. The food and the service at the Mason Cafe diner is so good make sure you do the right thing and reward the fantastic staff for their efforts before you leave.

This place is the kind of joint I hope we can go back to in the future, very special and memorable experience, so good I am going back tomorrow.

Contact us is the message on the Mason diner website

“Feel free to write, call and visit us.
We really love to communicate with our clients” shows the authentic energy of the place from the owners down.

320 Mason St, San Francisco
+1 (415) 544 0320

It’s a walk in place so just show up and you’ll be welcomed with open opens. The average cost for breakfast is a very reasonable 20 bucks per person plus tip.