Jacqueline Wilson just turned 70 and to celebrate the writer’s big day, we’ve created the definitive ranking of her books.
Well, ten of the best at least. She has written a LOT of books.
All girls of the 90s and 00s will have grown up reading Wilson’s books, relating to her often imperfect characters and imagining ourselves in their shoes.
They deal honestly with topics… Read the full story
Back in the early 90s, at the tender age of 11, I decided to go vegetarian. My poor mum had no idea what to do with me, especially for Christmas. In fact, wherever you went in those days choice was limited and people were generally a bit baffled by you not wanting the turkey.
Thankfully the days of soggy nut roasts and mushrooms en croute are behind us, and there are many delicious vegetarian recipes out there that are more than fitting to crown your Christmas feast.
Here are 10 vegetarian Christmas recipes that will have the meat eaters clamouring for a piece too.
1. Baked onions with hazelnut sultana feta stuffing
These Irish parents are the best parents.
They’re also really, really sweary. You have been warned.
But then they were watching their son, who they’d sent off on a trip round the world, jump out of a plane.
HostelWorld, who posted the video on YouTube, explained: ‘We went to Bounce Hostel in Sydney to seek out travellers with an adventurous streak. Roger, originally from Ireland, whilst on a trip around the world, jumped (literally) at the chance to take part in a 14,000 foot skydive with a twist!
‘We all know it’s normal to call your parents whilst travelling, usually from the comfort of a hostel or café. But why not share your travel adventures… Read the full story
Cake: good. Drake: good. Plus, they rhyme. There’s only one thing to do. Put Drake on a cake.
Or cake on Drake, sure, but we’re not sure if he’d be up for that.
Baker and blogger Joy the Baker has just unveiled what she’s calling her new passion project: Drake on Cake.
It’s an Instagram account dedicated to what may be the greatest food and pop culture mashup the world has ever seen.
Yep. Incredible cakes, decorated with Drake lyrics.
These cakes are what you need after a long day running through the 6 with your woes.… Read the full story
Spending on gin passed £1 billion for the first time this year.
According to market researchers Mintel, who quizzed over 2,000 adults about their favourite tipple, Brits are expected to down 29 million litres of gin this year in total, with one third having drunk it within the past year.
We are officially a nation of gin lovers.
And it’s becoming more popular with the younger crowd. More than 40 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 had drunk gin in the past year, compared with just over a quarter of the over-45s.
Apparently, young drinkers see gin as ‘the most sophisticated’ white spirit.… Read the full story
There’s no doubt about it, the whole Christmas thing changes dramatically when children come along.
Yes, it becomes magical in a whole new way, but also potentially chaotic as you navigate shops, presents and dinners with little ones.
Oh and expensive, it also becomes a lot more expensive!
With all that in mind – here are 25 ways Christmas changes when you become a parent:
1. Forget getting hammered at the local on Christmas Eve with a festive curry on the way home – Christmas Eve is now all about preparation, preparation, preparation. With Prosecco, if you’re lucky.
2. Ah the days when you could spend two hours getting ready for the work Christmas party without… Read the full story
Being a kid is weird. You’re figuring out the way of the world. You do whatever you fancy, and your kids gently have to teach you general etiquette and life skills.
It’s inevitable that you’re going to do some wildly inappropriate stuff. If you’re lucky, it won’t be anything too disturbing, and there won’t be any photo evidence.
Sometimes it’s nice to chat about all the weird stuff we did in our early years – if only because we’re finally reassured that we’re not completely insane, and other people gave their own arms lovebites, too.
Sharing all their childhood strangeness are the people on Read the full story
It’s time for the office Christmas party and let’s face it – you are going to get drunk and embarrass yourself by trying to chat someone up.
So why not do it with style?
These Christmas themed chat up lines *might* be so bad that they’re good…
1. ‘Hey baby, wanna scrooge?’
2. ‘You can’t spell love without no-el’
Feeling the pun love on that one.
3. ‘Is that a candy cane in your pocket or are you just struggling with excite-mint?’
The pun game is strong.
4. ‘I wouldn’t mind finding you under my Christmas tree?’
5. ‘These aren’t sugar plums dancing around my head. Just thoughts of you.’
A classic play… Read the full story
Christmas is a time of joy, a time of happiness, a chance to spend time with loved ones.
Everyone is in a great mood, your social calendar is chock full of exciting plans and you cannot wait until that final day of work knowing you’re not due back in until early January.
Unless you work in a bar.
Imagine being wrongfully imprisoned for a crime you didn’t commit.
Then throw in an overwhelming smell of poorly made mulled wine, 100 idiots in festive jumpers and Slade on repeat and you’re just touching the surface of the seasonal toil of the usually… Read the full story
How would you sum up 2015? Now try doing it in just five words.
Last night, late night American game show @Midnight asked people to send in their reviews of 2015 in five words using the hashtag #2015in5words
From gun control, to The Dress and the rise of the Bieber, we reckon Twitter’s summed it up pretty perfectly.
2015: It’s been a strange year.
We all got offended.
Everyone says hello.
We all know that our laptops, phones, and glowing TV screens aren’t doing great things for our sleep.
Despite the knowledge that all that scary-sounding blue light makes it harder to fall asleep, disrupts our circadian rhythms, and makes our sleep lighter and less satisfying once we finally drift off, we just can’t stop scrolling, clicking, and watching in bed.
But it turns out that it’s not just our modern tech dependence that’s messing with our much-needed rest. It’s also the simple things – like our bedside lamp.
Standard light bulbs… Read the full story
If you’re throwing a Christmas party this year or serving canapés instead of a starter on Christmas Day then you want recipes that are really easy to make but the end result is so impressive that it looks like you’ve been slaving away for hours.
Here are three ridiculously easy canapés that take a little effort but are really simple to make and will have your guests showering you with compliments .
I am also of the belief that if a food item is smaller than the size of your hand then its calorie count is null and void. Yes,… Read the full story
Someone out there has thought: ‘You know what Monopoly could do with more of? Cats.’
Sure, in 2013 they replaced the classic iron piece with a silver-haired feline, but one cat to a whole board full of houses just doesn’t really cut it.
To rectify this hairy situation, that someone has created Cat-Opoly (£26.95), a whole board game filled with four-legged friends.
And we are thankful.
It works like this: instead of buying properties, you buy breeds which, like in Monopoly, get more expensive as you go round the board, starting with the Ocicat and ending in Persian.
Cat House on the Kings is a cat house that provides a no-cage, no-kill sanctuary for feral and abandoned cats and kittens for the State of California.
The facility primarily adopts cats but also helps out rescue dogs and other animals too.
It all began when founder Lynea Lattanzio wanted to move the to a quiet place on the river after a difficult divorce in 1981.
She settled on a six-acre plot in 1983 and was left wondering what a single woman with no children was doing living in such a big house.
There is no doubt that, when it comes to top capital cities of the world, London is up there with the best of them.
A hub of energy at any time of the year – but when Christmas comes around, a city that throws in that extra bit of sparkle every time.
Thinking of jumping ship this year for country walks or a trip abroad? Think again – 11 reasons why London is awesome at Christmas.
1. The build up
Which starts in October.
If you’re in London and not feeling in the mood for mince pies by Christmas, then there really is no helping you.
2. Christmas shopping
Christmas just isn’t Christmas without a good mince pie.
If you don’t have time to make your own (obviously the best choice), you’ll have to pop down to the shops to pick up a few boxes. No judgement if you pass them off as your own.
But how will you choose which mince pie to give to all the loved ones you’re tricking?
Don’t worry, we’ve done the hard work for you, and tried all the best mince pies on the market to find out which one should be crowned the best supermarket mince pie of 2015.
It was tough. But we made it through.
Our ultimate mince pie… Read the full story
When you don’t have kids, a snowman to pose next to, or impressive craft skills, sending out Christmas cards can get a little tricky.
Because a selfie with your laptop and a bucket of fried chicken doesn’t quite convey the spirit of Christmas.
One man has come up with a solution to this difficult conundrum. Rather than borrowing someone’s kids or doing the superb passive-aggressive single person option, Redditor tamagothecat went for something a little different.
Yep. He posed with his cat as though it were the baby Jesus.
When it comes to tattoos, our greatest fear is getting something you might regret in the future.
In most cases that means choosing a (now ex) partner’s name or a mistranslated Chinese symbol.
The wrong tattoo, however, can land you a serious hot water – and even sometimes in prison.
A German politician was recently charged over a tattoo of the Auschwitz death camp on his lower back.
Marcel Zech, a member of the far-right National Democratic Party, also has the words ‘Jedem das Seine’ – ‘to each his own’ – emblazoned below the… Read the full story
Like many animals we know and love, a dog’s inability to talk back at us means that we’re full of constant questions and wonderings. Like, why exactly do they wag their tails?
At least they’re more readable than cats anyway – they revel in their aura of mystery. So sly.
Here are seven things you’ve always wondered about dogs answered:
Think dogs wag their tails because they’re happy? Well, it’s half true but just a bit more complicated.
The movement is certainly linked to dogs’ moods. This… Read the full story
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