Lifestyle Barometer: your guide to what’s hot and what’s not this week from Christmas music to Kendall Jenner
From trips to the cinema to the women’s vote and whisky, this is our guide to what’s hot and what’s not
Going up:
The cinema
New research from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing has revealed that regular trips to the cinema could help guard against depression in old age.
Published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the study used data on more than 2,000 adults over 50 and found that people who attended exhibitions, watched films, and/or went to the theatre once a month or more were 48 per cent less likely to develop depression as a result.
Those who engaged with cultural activities every few months also benefited from a 32 per cent lower risk.
Even after the results were adjusted to take into consideration other factors that may affect someone’s propensity for depression (age, gender, health and exercise), the researchers found that cultural activities still offered significant benefits to someone’s mental wellbeing.
“Generally speaking, people know the benefits of eating their five-a-day and of exercise for their physical and mental health, but there is very little awareness that cultural activities also have similar benefits,” commented lead author Dr Daisy Fancourt of University College London.
100 years of women’s vote
A statue of Emmeline Pankhurst has been unveiled in her home city of Manchester to mark 100 years since British women first voted in a general election.
The statue’s unveiling was described by organisers as the grand finale of a year celebrating the centenary of some women getting the vote in the UK.
Helen Pankhurst, Emmeline’s great granddaughter, organised for people to gather from across Greater Manchester at two special meeting points to march towards St Peter’s Square in the city centre where the statue is located.
A feminist art organisation also unveiled a series of murals across London of accomplished women throughout history to celebrate the event.
Scarlett Curtis, author of Feminists Don’t Wear Pink, teamed up with art initiative Herstory to bring the campaign to life.
The murals feature renowned figures, with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Queen Elizabeth I, activist Gloria Steinem and suffragette leader Pankhurst seen in the artworks. They are painted in black and white with a sole pink garment.
Kendall Jenner
Kendall Jenner has been named the highest-paid model of 2018 by Forbes in its annual list.
It’s the second year in a row the reality TV star-turned-model has topped the list, having earned $22.5m (£17.9m) in the 12 months prior to June this year, which is the period used by the financial magazine to determine its ranking.
The 23-year-old’s earnings are close to double that of Karlie Kloss, who comes in at second place in Forbes’ list, banking $13m.
Kloss is followed by Chrissy Teigen and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who tie in third place with $11.5m each.
Gisele Bündchen, who was the highest-paid model between 2002 and 2016 until she was overthrown by Jenner, comes in at joint fifth place this year with British model Cara Delevingne, both earning $10m each.
The list also included model sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid, Joan Smalls and Doutzen Kroes.
Obama Claus
Former president Barack Obama spent Wednesday afternoon visiting the Children’s National Hospital in northwest Washington, DC where he delivered presents to young patients while wearing a Santa hat.
According to a release by the Office of president Barack Obama, the 44th president “greeted individual patients in their rooms and stopped by several playrooms”.
He also handed out Christmas gifts to each of the children including jigsaw puzzles, Hot Wheels, remote-control cars and glitter nail polish. He even broke his “no selfie” rule to pose with excited fans.
Footage shared by the hospital on Twitter shows an excitable crowd singing carols and cheering for Obama as he makes his way down the hallway wearing a classic Santa hat and grey jumper while carrying a giant red sack covered in snowflakes.
Vogue Mexico
Vogue Mexico won praise this week after featuring Yalitza Aparicio on the front cover of its January 2019 issue.
The 26-year-old recently made her acting debut in Netflix film Roma – a black and white movie set in early 1970s Mexico that has been praised by critics as one of the films of the year.
In the image, Aparicio can be seen sitting in a vintage chair, dressed in a monochrome lace dress from Dior’s latest collection and gazing at the camera.
“In tiu’n ntav’i,” the cover reads in Mixtec language, “A Star Is Born”.
It is thought that this is one of the first times that Vogue Mexico has chosen to feature an indigenous woman on its cover.
Speaking in a short video for the publication, Aparicio said: “Certain stereotypes are being broken: that only people with a certain profile can be actresses or be on the cover of magazines.
“Other faces are now being recognised. It is something that makes me so happy and proud of my roots.”
Going down:
Christmas songs
A psychologist has said that listening to too much festive music could be bad for your mental health.
According to Linda Blair, listening to “Santa Claus is coming to town” on repeat might have a negative effect on your brain and stop you from being able to focus.
“People working in the shops at Christmas have to tune out Christmas music because if they don’t, it really does stop you from being able to focus on anything else,” she told Sky News.
“You’re simply spending all of your energy trying not to hear what you’re hearing.”
Body shaming
Tess Holliday has finally addressed the backlash she faced over her Cosmopolitan cover in a candid new interview.
The size 26 model was criticised online after gracing the cover, with many, including Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, shaming her for her weight and accusing the magazine of promoting an “unhealthy body image”.
However, in a new interview with Amanda Knox for Broadly’s The Scarlet Letter Reports video series, Holliday explains how she’s become accustomed to such comments.
“I can never celebrate a success in my career without it being picked apart because of my size or ‘my health’,” she says.
Holliday added that she does sometimes “crumble” as a result of the hurtful remarks but says thinking of all she has achieved thus far keeps her motivated.
“I have created a life for myself that I only thought was literally a dream,” she says.
“At the end of the day, I’m not doing this for people who don’t get what I’m doing.
“I’m doing this for the folks that need to see some kind of representation or maybe feel a little less alone.”
Delivery drivers
Delivery drivers are using missed delivery notes to avoid dropping off packages over the busy festive period, a new survey has found.
Research conducted by consumer group Which? has confirmed that 9 per cent of people were given missed delivery notes last Christmas, when no attempt was made by the driver in the first place.
Of the 2,095 people surveyed during last year’s festive period, more than half – 58 per cent – had experienced some sort of issue with online deliveries.
Even when the packages did get delivered, many were often found in strange places.
The research found that 7 per cent of people reported finding their parcels in an outside bin, 4 per cent said it had been chucked over a hedge or fence and 13 per cent reported that it had been left with a neighbour without their consent.
Forever 21
Despite the conversations that Black Panther has sparked about the importance of representation in Hollywood, high street retailer Forever 21 has provoked criticism after releasing an item of knitwear inspired by the film being modelled by a white man on its website.
Designed with a depiction of the film’s superhero on its front, the top also has the slogan “Wakanda Forever” emblazoned across it, in reference to the fictional Sub-Saharan African nation
The choice to have a white man model the garment has angered scores of people online.
“How tone deaf do you have to be to choose this model for that sweater? Do better white people!” one person wrote.
Following the backlash, the photo of the white man modelling the top has since been removed from the site.
In response to the controversy, the retailer issued an apology, stating that it never intended to cause offence and has deleted a tweet promoting the top.
“Forever 21 takes feedback on our products and marketing extremely seriously,” the company said in a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter.
“We celebrate all superheroes with many different models of various ethnicities and apologise if the photo in question was offensive in anyway.”
Scotch whisky
More than a third of vintage Scotch whiskies tested at a specialist laboratory centre have been found to be “modern fakes”, according to a new investigation.
Tests undertaken at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (Suerc) in East Kilbride, Scotland confirmed that 21 out of 55 bottles of rare Scotch whisky were either fake or not distilled in the year declared.
The fake bottles could have been worth about £635,000 if proven real, claim specialists.
Professor Gordon Cook, head of the Suerc Radiocarbon Laboratory, said: “It is disappointing to see the large percentage of vintage whiskies that turn out to be fake.”
As a result of the findings, Rare Whisky 101 has estimated that approximately £41m worth of rare whisky currently in the secondary market, and in existing collections, is fake.
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