Houseplant of the week: devils ivy

 Posted on April 17, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  233 words  |  Christie Applegate

Houseplant of the weekHouseplantsA reliable cascade of green that tolerates partial shade – but place it up high to protect pets Why will I love it? Epipremnum aureum is known as devil’s ivy because it is almost impossible to kill, and it stays green even when kept in the dark. However, it is not actually an ivy. The heart-shaped leaves are bright green and variegated with white, yellow or light green streaks and blotches. [Read More]

Jury shown video of TV actor's daughter before drugs death at festival | UK news

 Posted on April 17, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  655 words  |  Brenda Moya

UK news This article is more than 4 years oldJury shown video of TV actor's daughter before drugs death at festivalThis article is more than 4 years oldLouella Fletcher-Michie seen calling for parents in footage shown at boyfriend’s trial Jurors have watched footage and listened to a recording of an actor’s daughter appearing to hallucinate after taking drugs at a music festival, before she collapsed and died. Louella Fletcher-Michie, the daughter of the Holby City actor John Michie, was seen shouting for her mother and father and apparently so confused she was trying to eat thorns and slap herself. [Read More]

Bert Newton, an instant hit who became Australias most enduring TV personality, dies aged 83 | Au

 Posted on April 16, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1190 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

Bert Newton in 2006 at Channel Nine studios in Melbourne. Photograph: Joe Castro/AAPBert Newton in 2006 at Channel Nine studios in Melbourne. Photograph: Joe Castro/AAPAustralian televisionObituaryBert Newton, an instant hit who became Australia’s most enduring TV personality, dies aged 83Obituary: Television host whose mild manner and mellifluous voice entertained the country’s audiences for 60 years is dead Once the youngest radio announcer in Melbourne, Bert Newton evolved to become the most enduring media personality in the country. [Read More]

Can you spot the 24 things that were a thing in 2023 in this Stephen Collins Christmas cartoon? | Li

 Posted on April 16, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  219 words  |  Christie Applegate

Illustrations: Stephen Collins/The GuardianIllustrations: Stephen Collins/The Guardian2023 Christmas puzzles specialLife and styleCan you spot the 24 things that were a thing in 2023 in this Stephen Collins Christmas cartoon?Ready, get set, start looking. Answers below (no cheating now!) Click here for a larger version of the puzzle It’s treemendously difficult … How did you do? 1 Nepo babies discourse! 2 Trump’s mugshot on the TV 3 Harry flogs his memoir [Read More]

Concrete: the most destructive material on Earth | Cities

 Posted on April 16, 2024  |  23 minutes  |  4807 words  |  Delta Gatti

Limestone quarries and cement factories are often sources of air pollution. Photograph: Zoonar GmbH/AlamyAfter water, concrete is the most widely used substance on the planet. But its benefits mask enormous dangers to the planet, to human health – and to culture itself A brief history of concrete: from 10,000BC to 3D printed houses Editor’s pick: best of 2019. We’re bringing back some of our favorite stories of the past year. [Read More]

My life in sex: the man who enjoys being spanked

 Posted on April 16, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  369 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

My life in sexSexI enjoy the loss of power when I am across my girfriend’s knee I have always fantasised about being spanked. Then one day, several years ago, my girlfriend gave me a few playful smacks on the bottom. I dared her to put me across her knee. She did and we both enjoyed it. Things carried on from there. After a few more spankings with her bare hand, we bought a wooden paddle from a sex shop. [Read More]

Plant of the week: Carolina allspice

 Posted on April 16, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  252 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

Plant of the weekGardening adviceAn aromatic, handsome shrub that produces an edible spiceWhat is it? It's a little bit country. Hailing from the Appalachian and Smoky mountains, this is a spice-producing bush to enjoy from your porch swing. Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus) is a lovely thing, a compact and handsome shrub (growing to 2.5m in height and 3m spread), with glossy leaves and small, deep red, waxy flowers. The leaves have buttery autumn colour. [Read More]

The Welkin review Maxine Peake leads Lucy Kirkwood's jury of matrons

 Posted on April 16, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  675 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

National TheatreReviewLyttelton, London Twelve bickering, bantering women must determine an accused murderer’s pregnancy claim in this admirable drama The Welkin is a courtroom drama that sets itself up as a winking feminist twist on Twelve Angry Men. Here, the courtroom is made up of bickering, bantering women who must decide the outcome of a heinous crime in 18th-century Suffolk. A child has been murdered and an openly unfaithful wife, Sally Poppy, is sentenced to hang on the testimony of her cuckolded husband. [Read More]

Arctic Monkeys: 'We want to get better rather than get bigger' | Arctic Monkeys

 Posted on April 15, 2024  |  15 minutes  |  3127 words  |  Christie Applegate

The ObserverArctic MonkeysInterviewArctic Monkeys: 'We want to get better rather than get bigger'Barbara EllenThe Arctic Monkeys' pitch-perfect songs about youth culture (girls, mates, chips, cabs, poseurs), Gordon Brown's namecheck and their huge internet popularity rocketed the Sheffield band to the top of the tree. Here, as they release their brilliant fourth album, they talk candidly about fame, politics and falling in loveIt's probably a good thing that when I interview the Arctic Monkeys I get to speak to their frontman, Alex Turner, three times. [Read More]

Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid by Thor Hanson review how nature is adapting to climate chan

 Posted on April 15, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  867 words  |  Brenda Moya

Book of the dayBooksReviewGlobal heating has spurred some peculiar changes in plants and animals from the Caribbean to the Rockies In June 1802, the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt ascended the inactive volcano Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador. As he climbed from tropical rainforest towards the snow-covered peak almost 21,000ft above sea level, he acquired a new vision of nature, interwoven with “a thousand threads”. It was like taking a journey from the equator to the poles: an entire world of diversity collapsed on to this single mountain, a “microcosm on one page”. [Read More]