False eyelashes, hair extensions and nail acrylics – the fun additions to a beauty regime that are in reality, maybe not the best things to be gluing to our bodies. Nonetheless, advancements within the beauty industry mean that things have come on leaps and bounds, and within reason we can carry on doing all of the above while protecting our natural assets.

Post the WAH Nails boom circa 2012 the UK went mad for nail art. All of a sudden a bare nail just wouldn't cut it. And if our Physics lessons at school taught us anything, it's that a larger surface area = more possibilities for your nail art and so the trend for nail extensions ensued. Problem is they're not without downsides; glues, gels and electric drills – well they don't exactly spell out healthy nail beds now, do they? After months and sometimes even years of infills and extensions, your nails can be left looking and feeling damaged and weak.

We spoke to Izabelle Bellamy who filed her way through the ranks at WAH Nails and is now the resident technician at East London' s Stunt Dolly salon about how to resuscitate nails that have passed over to the other side.

Izzy explained that "acrylic nail extensions shouldn't really damage your nails, provided the correct preparation, maintenance (every 2-3 weeks), aftercare, and removal procedures are followed. The real damage is caused by heavy-handed nail technicians. Be weary of over-filing and drilling, this will cause weak, peeling and painful nails. You should always visit a qualified and insured nail tech. Over time the acrylic begins to lose adhesion to the nail, lifting and if air pockets start to be common this should be a warning sign. Acrylics should be removed and replaced every 6-12 months, although a person's daily routine and home care plus how often they have infills does determine time too."

Okay, so obviously those are all wise rules to follow, but Izzy accepts we can't always chose our nail technician and well, life sometimes just gets in the way of perfect nails. Here's Izzy's top tips and products for nails that really need some TLC, post-acrylics.

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Welcome to Money Diaries, where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We're asking a cross-section of women how they spend their hard-earned cash during a seven-day period — and we're tracking every last penny.

This week, a 21-year-old Recruitment Consultant living in North Devon on how she juggles a love of shopping, eating out and socialising with a £19k salary.

Industry: Recruitment Consultant

Age: 21

Location: North Devon

Salary: £19k per annum + commission

Monthly pay check: Last month I took home £1892 before tax, but this varies month on month due to my commission structure. After tax, it was £1539.68.

No. of housemates: Just 1 – I live with my boyfriend, but my mortgage is just in my name. He contributes towards food and bills.

Monthly expenses

Mortgage: £222.18 (as part of a shared ownership scheme).

Ground Rent: £16.00

Service Charge: £56.10

TV license and Broadband: £29.52

Council Tax: £71.00 a month

Utilities: My gas, water and electric amount to about £70 a month.

Transportation: I’m lucky enough that I can walk to work.

Phone Bill: iPhone 6, £34.79 a month

Total: £499.56

Day One

11.30am: Snack on a bag of crisps brought from home – a pack of eight costs £2 – this will keep me going until lunch.

1pm: Mega busy today as Monday is when we run payroll plus all our other daily jobs. Run to Boots and get a £3.29 meal deal to scoff at my desk. I treat myself to a smoked salmon rice dish, a tub of fruit and flavoured water. I then pop to Wilko to pick up a Glade refill for my air freshener at home. They have an offer for a twin pack at £5.50 so I opt for this (yep, I love buying in bulk.)

I generally tend to have four to five cups of tea throughout the day. Milk and tea bags etc. are free, as they are provided by work.

6pm: Didn’t have time for my usual Sunday food shop so I pop to Lidl with my partner after work and pick up £26.05 in groceries for dinners and lunches for the week. For the things I can’t pick up in Lidl, we go to Tesco afterwards, where my partner pays (we take it in turns), which comes to £41.20

8pm: For dinner we have two portions of lasagne that I had frozen down from the last lasagne I made – it’s late so I can't be fussed to cook. Defrosted and reheated these and had them with some garlic bread and salad that we bought food shopping.

Daily Total: £34.84

Day Two

1pm: Forgot to make myself lunch the night before so pick up another Boots meal deal for £3.29 (life saver!) Today I opt for a pesto chicken wrap, graze snack box and flavoured water again.

6.00pm: Marinate my chicken in Nando’s Peri Peri sauce while I pop out with a friend to walk her dog.

7.30pm: I cook a gorgeous Peri Peri chicken, refried beans and rice dish. All things that I bought in our main food shop the night before. I always do a meal plan on a Sunday that I try my best to stick to and get all my food in one go.

8pm: After we’ve eaten we sit down and watch NetFlix. My boyfriend pays a monthly subscription of £5 a month.

Daily Total: £3.29

Day Three

12pm: After a lovely morning driving round visiting clients I pop to Costa and meet my boyfriend for a coffee cooler at lunch which costs me £3.35.

1pm: Pop to Morrisons as I realise I forgot to eat and pick up a pack of four Dairy Lee Dunkers on offer for £1. Have one in the car to keep me going. Fill up my car with £40.05 of petrol. All the miles I’ve done for work I can claim back on expenses – I did a total of 45 miles that I claim back at £0.40p from work, so that's £36.25.

3pm: Finally make it back to the office and sit down and have my ham salad roll I made the night before but forgot about. While I eat I have a browse on ASOS and spend £65 on two dresses for Goodwood, where I’m going at the end of July. I’m an avid shopper so paid £9.95 a few months back to get free next day delivery for a year – yippee!

6pm: I get 2 for 1 cinema tickets on Wednesdays because I got my car insurance through Compare The Market. It costs just £6.90 for two tickets! I pay, and my boyfriend spends £10.80 on our popcorn and drinks.

8.30pm: I stick a pizza on when we get in as it’s too late to cook properly. It's one that I picked up from Tesco earlier in the week on our food shop.

Daily Total: £134.55

Actual total (minus the things I’ll claim back on expenses) = £98.30

Day Four

8.30am: Am out all day today with a colleague doing more visits and drops with existing/ potential clients. We pop to Co-Op and I get a bottle of water and coffee for £2.65. She drives.

1pm: Stop off for some lunch. We go halves on some £10 chilli beef nachos, and I get a diet coke, £2.35.

4pm: Have a well-deserved cup of tea when I get back to the office. One of my colleagues recommends a teeth whitening kit, so I order the mouth guard and whitening gel for £26.99.

6pm: Get home and go for a walk with my boyfriend as it's nice weather.

7.30pm: I made jacket potatoes with cottage cheese and salad that I bought earlier in the week, and prepare my lunch for the next day: sandwiches, Dairy Lee Dunker and fruit. Then we chill out and watch Netflix.

Daily Total: £36.99

Day Five

1pm: I have my lunch – the one that I made the night before. Then I pop into town and spend £49.78 on a small summer bag, some shoes and a top.

1.45pm: Pop to Wilkinson’s and get some furniture polish and antiseptic wipes for £1.50. Pick up some sweets as well for 60p.

Again about 4-5 cups of tea throughout the day provided by work.

6.30pm: I make sausage pasta with tomato sauce and broccoli for dinner. We have a chilled night watching films and don’t do too much as we’ve had a long week.

Daily Total: £54.83

Day Six

12pm: It’s raining, so I spend the day tidying, doing washing, and clearing out my overflowing wardrobe of clothes.

3pm: I'm not really hungry but I know I’m going out later so I have some noodles and Quorn chicken and a cup of tea.

7pm: Meet some friends for drinks at a cocktail bar in town. I have two strawberry daiquiris, £7.95 each.

9pm: We head to another bar and stay there for the rest of the evening. I have four gin and tonics at £8 each, then head home for the night at about 1am.

Daily Total: £47.90

Day Seven

3pm: Pop out for a walk with my boyfriend to get out of the house for an hour or so. Pick up some milk for 69p and sweets for £2.00 from the shop on the way back.

5pm: Finish bagging up my clothes that I’m chucking out to take to the North Devon hospice in the morning.

5.30pm: Clean my bathroom!

7pm: Feeling a bit peckish so order a pizza to be delivered. I pay £11.40.

8pm: Log into my friend's SKYGO and watch a film on there.

Daily Total: £14.09

This article has been amended to reflect income before and after tax.

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Blame it on the mermaid movement, but we (and the rest of Instagram) can’t get enough of super-long — we’re talking way past your waist — hair. The latest Rapunzel-like figure to entrance us with her ultra-long locks? Sara Beygi, better known as "Madame Kush," an Orange County, CA, communications student and aspiring rapper, as Vogue reports.

Yes, her hair is gorgeous and enviously long. But our obsession with Madame Kush is more than a case of wanting what we can’t have. The 19-year-old is also inspiring us to crawl out from our hair rut with images of her hair styled in the dopest looks.

From a whip-it-good braid swiped straight from Beyoncé’s onstage style to a teased pony with an edgy take on face-framing wispies, Beygi’s vibe thoroughly modernises fairy-tale hair and we’re taking serious style notes. Check out some of Beygi’s best — and most inventive — styles, ahead. (Hair choker, anyone?). Then, brace yourself for one of most epic hair flips in the game.

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Your eyes lock from across the room, and the attraction is instant. You later discover the object of your affection is part of your extended friendship group but they've not been in town for a while because they've taken time off their 9-5 job as a human rights lawyer to finish an MA in English Literature and Philosophy. They love Japanese cinema and are vegetarian, just like you. They are excellent with parents. They are bi-lingual and hilarious. They're a triathlete. You begin dating. Sound like a bad script? That's because it's entirely fictional.

This, here, above, does not happen. Yes it's an exaggeration, but IRL meetings that naturally flourish into relationships are a rare occurrence in modern life. No matter how many films, second-hand accounts and mythologies you've had forced down your gizzard as a woman growing up in Western society, moments like this tend to be reserved for the silver screen (or the straight-to-Netflix films) because this is just not realistic in 2016.

Take the first moment. You've seen someone from across the bar that you fancy. You slyly ask your friend, "Who's that with the full head of hair and lovely jeans on?" Now you know you don't have to risk anything by going and talking to him because, whatever else happens, you have his name. And that means you can look them up on social media. You'll establish who your "mutuals" are. You'll pass judgement on his profile pictures and things will go from there. Sound more like real life? That's because now it's closer to the reality of dating for most of us.

One inescapable side-effect of mobile love has been the increasing frequency and rapidity at which near-strangers suddenly enter our peripheral vision and penetrate our thoughts

Of course, there are anomalies, and we're being rather cynical here, but as much as your mobile device has aided your quest for love (in that you have a pool of eligible men and women in your pocket at all times) it's also complicated things an awful lot.

The ways in which social media and mobiles have impacted our love lives are myriad, complex and, well, too broad to discuss in one place. According to The Telegraph, Tinder alone had 50million active users in 2014. One inescapable side-effect of mobile love has been the increasing frequency and rapidity at which near-strangers suddenly enter our peripheral vision and penetrate our thoughts.

Apps like Tinder, Happn and Bumble, and even bog standard social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, mean we have access to the new demi-stranger's every move. The risks attached to viewing someone from a distance is that things can become blurred; it's easy to imagine a white picket fence and a few kids in the background if you squint, maybe a hot sex-filled holiday in the middle distance if you tilt your head, and almost certainly a drink or three in near sight.

Kimberley Wilson, Chartered Counselling Psychologist refers to this as "projection". "The rise of the internet presents a very new challenge for the mind. While the interface – your phone or laptop – is physical [i.e. it can be touched] the internet and everything in it is intangible and in some senses, dream-like. In this way the internet presents a perfect screen for projection.

"Projection is a very early defence mechanism that has its roots in an infant’s need to keep ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in clear and separate categories until, with maturity, he/she comes to understand that these things often overlap into shades of grey. Projection is the unconscious process of attributing to others characteristics or traits that actually relate to the self rather than the other person. A simple example of this is when an unfaithful person in a relationship begins to suspect their partner of cheating, without any evidence. In this scenario they are projecting their own guilty feelings onto their innocent partner."

Essentially, we can easily imbue people we discern as attractive with other qualities we might admire, just as we do with characters in books and films; beyond sexual attraction, it's easy to romanticise. You can see how one might add a lust for travel excitement and spontaneity to a simple holiday picture. As Kimbereley puts it: "Typically the less that we know about another person, the more we are able to project on them, because there is less evidence or reality to interfere with the story we are creating in our own minds."

Maybe they've clicked attending on an event that would suggest a shared love of the same music. Of course, at a very sanitised level this is merely day-dreaming, a pastime lots of us indulge in when we meet someone who takes our fancy.

Kimberley stressed that there are potentially damaging side-effects to this kind of thinking, however. "There is a risk of reality distortion or ‘wilful blindness’, where we turn a blind eye to the things we do not want to see."

"The risk with any kind of fantasy is that it distances us from reality, with real emotional implications. We can all relate to the genuine feeling of disappointment of, say, a cancelled holiday. This feeling is related to the experience of loss."

In the absence of any ‘faults’ to balance out this perfected picture, it is easy to see how we might become infatuated with a ‘flawless’ person

"We become attached to the idea of the holiday, build expectations around it, anticipate what it will be like, what we will do, the fun we will have. It is the same with relationships. It doesn’t take very much for us to start imaging what a relationship will feel like, how happy and loved we will be and, without the counterbalance of reality, it is very easy to become attached to these fantasises and forget that the relationship we are experiencing is, for the most part, all in our heads."

I asked Kimberley about how dating apps might worsen a situation. "Dating apps allow us to choose our best photos, spend time creating a witty, funny biography and persona. In this way (creating ideal online versions of ourselves) we can collude in the projection; both people tacitly agreeing to this impossible version of reality. In the absence of any ‘faults’ to balance out this perfected picture, it is easy to see how we might become infatuated with a ‘flawless’ person."

But what do we do if we perceive the feelings we're experiencing to be profound and real? Kimberely suggested watching out for any moments where you might begin to be "distracted for long periods of time by thoughts and fantasies about the other person" or, if you find yourself compromising commitments or other relationships.

Kimberley's final advice, if you are struggling to negotiate your feelings, is to "confide in friends", respect the other person's right to not want to communicate with you (and if they indicate as much, desist from communication) and, finally, to be brave and "ask the other person for their honest feeling about where things are going" to avoid heartache.

If you would like to talk to a professional about anything concerning your mental health, head to Monument Health.

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If you’ve ever used a food-tracking app – or waited while a mate tediously “logs” their calories – you’ll know how easy it is to lie about the extra doughnut or cocktail (OK, three) you consumed last night.

Well, you’re not alone – it seems we’re a nation in denial. Britons are under-reporting how many calories they’re eating, in some cases by up to 50%, according to a new study. This has potentially misled policymakers trying to curb obesity, the BBC reported.

Many national surveys say the average adult consumes roughly 2,000 calories, but new research, by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), points to scientific and economic data showing it could actually be closer to 3,000 calories.

Counting Calories: A new report on the problems with official statistics on calorie intake, & how they can be solved https://t.co/Kqw7hYgUAx

— Behavioural Insights (@B_I_Tweets) August 8, 2016

The researchers wanted to find out why obesity levels in the UK had been rising, despite official statistics showing calorie intake has declined in recent decades.

They said the discrepancy could be caused by people under-reporting what they’re eating. There are many possible reasons for this including: snacks and meals outside the home being difficult to track, people being more likely to lie about their eating habits if they want to lose weight, and fewer people taking part in the surveys overall.

Self-reported surveys have a tendency to be inaccurate, and statisticians working for the government say they'll change the way they collect calorie data, the BBC reported.

The researchers concluded that policymakers trying to cut obesity should focus on encouraging people to reduce their calorie consumption, rather than promoting exercise.

Lead researcher Michael Hallsworth, director of health at the BIT, said: "Anyone who has been on a treadmill will know what it feels like to look down and see you have burned far fewer calories than you expected,” the BBC reported.

"Physical activity is good for your health and heart but reducing calories is a more effective strategy to combat obesity."

In 2014, 58% of women and 65% of men in England were overweight or obese, according to figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

The UK is known as the “fat man of Europe” for its obesity rate, which has more than trebled in the last 30 years. Perhaps it's time for the junk food industry to take some responsibility.

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2016 has already been a year jam-packed with astronomical record-breakers, from NASA's arrival in Jupiter's orbit to the appearance of the rare Strawberry Moon. Now, everyone is buzzing about another event that's set to occur this week: the Perseid meteor outburst.

You might have heard of or even seen the Perseid meteor shower before, since it's an annual August occurrence. However, this year, NASA predicts that a rare Perseid meteor outburst could occur for the first time since 2009.

Perseid meteors, so named because they come from the direction of the Perseus constellation, are pieces of a comet called Swift-Tuttle. The meteor shower happens when Earth comes into contact with the 16-mile-wide comet 's tail. An outburst occurs every so often when the Earth travels through the middle of that debris, as opposed to just at its edge, NASA says. (And if you're wondering, there's virtually no chance that we'll ever have an Armageddon -style impact with the comet — just these meteor showers.)

An outburst is a much more intense meteor shower, where there are hundreds of meteors flashing through the sky each hour. According to EarthSky, the number of meteors this year is estimated to be double that of past years. So it's definitely something you'll want to see.

The ideal time to see the most meteors will be between midnight and early morning on August 12, NASA says, but it's still worth it to stargaze earlier this week and in the nights following, since you could see additional action.

You can also check out NASA's live stream of the outburst at 10 p.m. on August 12. Whether you're outdoors or inside, get ready for what is sure to be an incredible show.

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No-makeup makeup. It’s a paradox, right? Unless you’re blessed with an enviably pre-filtered face, then you’ll need to work hard to look like you just #wokeuplikethis. And without a directional oxblood lip/nu-goth eye/glittered brow to distract the eye (and yes, you’ll be wearing all of these by this Christmas) perfect skin really is the thing. Oh, and a satiny eyelid, a glossy (but not too glossy) nude lip, and brows that are just groomed enough.

Layering is your first lesson – rather than a foundation that’ll cover all your flaws but leave you looking dead inside, you need a bare skin-effect base that uses optical illusion (usually in the form of fine-ground minerals) to bounce light away from the skin, both creating instant glow and tricking the eye away from anything you’re trying to disguise. If needed, you can sandwich this between a radiance boosting primer and some colour correcting trickery, but again, layer lightly. Beyond that, keep textures sheer and sheeny and blend, blend, then blend again. Here’s what you’ll need to achieve the look…

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Doyin Richards is a fatherhood author, public speaker, and founder of daddydoinwork.com. The views expressed here are his own.

A few years ago, I was thrust into the spotlight because a photo of me brushing my older daughter's hair while holding my younger daughter went viral. It sparked all sorts of controversy: Many praised me for being the kind of dad all men should be, others accused me of being a "deadbeat," and some wondered why a guy was getting attention for just doing what he's supposed to do as a dad.

The latter was my opinion on all of this. I didn't want the spotlight to only shine on me — so I used it to shine a light on all dads who step up for their kids. It was my way of saying, "Hey, I'm not the only guy doing this. There are millions of men just like me ."

But, as Donald Trump's campaign rolls on, and I read more and more of his own statements about how he's raised his kids, I can't help but wonder: Is he one of them?

Being a rich guy who believes your only fatherhood responsibility is providing money doesn’t make you a great dad. It makes you a walking ATM.

First of all, call me crazy, but I’m one of those people who believe America is already great. If you disagree with that, how far back do we have to go to make “America great again,” exactly? Back when Blacks were enslaved? When the Japanese were placed in internment camps? When women couldn’t vote? When the LGBTQ community couldn’t get legally married?

I could go on about the ridiculously long laundry list of reasons why I believe Trump is completely unfit to be the most powerful individual in America. But let’s talk about an underreported topic.

Writing about men who raise children is my fast lane. Trump certainly has experience in the fatherhood department. He has five kids with three different women. And on a side note — could you imagine what it would be like if Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama had five kids with three different spouses? The narrative would be a lot different from the non-narrative Trump benefits from, but we won’t go there.

As the “dad guy” in the room, I find myself picturing Trump as a father. On the surface, his four adult kids seem to be quite successful today, and they all publicly profess their love for their old man, so does any of it really matter?

Um, yeah. He’s in the running to be our president, and with that comes the understanding that millions of people will look up to him — including impressionable young men and women who will become parents someday.

So, how did Trump feel about fatherhood when his kids were babies?

Trump certainly has experience in the fatherhood department. He has five kids with three different women.

In various radio interviews uncovered from BuzzFeed starting in 2005, Trump equated men who change diapers and engage in hands-on parenting as acting “like the wife.” He also said that he just would “supply funds” while his third wife Melania did the rest.

During a recent Virginia rally, he lost his cool when a baby cried in the audience, and asked the mum to leave. Isn’t the first lesson in Running For Office 101 to kiss and take photos with babies, not to throw them out of the building if they fuss when you’re talking? Seriously, do you even do “decent human,” bro?

I hate to break it to you, but in the modern universe, dads change nappies; we style hair; we sing lullabies to our kids; we comfort our kids in the middle of the night; we know how to handle crying babies; we have tea parties with our daughters; and we do whatever the hell they need us to do.

Being a rich guy who believes your only fatherhood responsibility is providing money doesn’t make you a great dad. It makes you a walking ATM. And here’s another thing — babies and toddlers don’t give a damn about your “funds.” They only care about being loved, comforted, fed, and entertained. When they looked to you to do that, did you step up like a man should? Probably not, because in your prehistoric world, that’s acting “like the wife.”

I’m speaking for many men when I say that there is nothing manlier than being a great dad. Hell, you could watch The Godfather on repeat while drinking moonshine in a bathtub filled with gasoline and you wouldn’t be more of a man than a dad who braids his daughter’s hair. In fact, if a man chooses to have children, it will be the most important job he will ever have — including being president of the United States. Just ask President Obama.

When it’s your time to die, what do you think your kids will say about you? Will they reflect on the times you took them to the playground? Helped them with homework? Or taught them how to ride a bike? Because when we’re on the other side of the grass, those bonding moments are things dads are remembered for — not our money or business acumen. And guess what? The only currency needed for those activities are love and time.

I have no clue what will happen in November, but I find myself wondering, I n what universe does it make sense to elect a man who has offended pretty much everyone under the sun — including men who take fatherhood seriously and the people who love them?

So, Mr. Trump, instead of worrying about fixing this great country, maybe you should start by trying to fix the broken man in your gold-plated mirror first.

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I first met the journalist and author Ece Temelkuran in Istanbul's Cihangir – a district filled with coffee shops, trendy bars and boutiques. It is a far cry from the devastated city we have seen on TV screens in recent weeks. Here, over beers, she talked to me about her country's psyche almost as if the place were a person – a person conflicted in their politics, consumed by their religion and with deteriorating mental health.

This is, in a way, what Ece's new book does. Titled Turkey, The Insane and The Melancholy, it is a look at the country's history, using relics such as photos of politicians and nationalistic slogans as launching pads to ask, 'What does it mean to be Turkish anyway?' In doing so, the book tells a story that runs from the start of the Ottoman Empire through to the Gezi Park protests of 2013, where protesters staged a mass sit-in to demonstrate (mostly) against Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan 's authoritarian brand of leadership.

Since the events of Gezi – where more than 8,000 injuries were recorded – things have hardly calmed down in Turkey. In the last year alone, there have been 14 bombings in the country, which many view as the gateway between the Middle East and Europe. Some of these attacks are thought to have been engineered by ISIS, in a retaliation towards Turkey's alignment with allied forces fighting ISIS in Syria. Others have been attributed to the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, who have long been angered by Turkey's denial of rights to Kurdish citizens.

Then, less than a month ago, on the 15th of July, a military coup took place in Istanbul. Armed forces sieged broadcast buildings and took hostages. Erdoğan, still President, managed to quash the uprising, with the number of people killed during the struggle reported at around 300. The subsequent fallout has been intense; Turks thought to be associated with suspected coup organiser, a Muslim cleric called Fethullah Gülen, have either been incarcerated, lost their jobs, or disappeared. Amnesty International have reported human rights breaches spanning torture to execution, which the government have denied.

Meanwhile, amidst the chaos, Ece Temelkuran occupies a dubious position. A critic of both Erdoğan and Gülen, she sits in neither one camp nor the other, but fears getting caught in the ongoing crossfire between the two parties. Below, she talked to Refinery29 from Istanbul about her opinions on the state of Turkey and how the rest of the world might try to make sense of last month’s uprising.

After the bombing at Ataturk Airport on the 29th of June you wrote an article for the New York Times about how people in Istanbul seemed to be indifferent. I was shocked. What has it been like after the coup?

The problem when answering this question is there is not only one Turkey in Turkey. If you’re a person affiliated with the Fethullah Gülen movement [the people suspected of being behind the coup] you are living in a horror story, if you are a supporter of AKP [Erdogan's party] then you are celebrating on the streets. If you are a person who criticised them both, for instance like me, well, it feels like you're standing still, praying not to become a target for a stray bullet.

Right now feels like sitting and waiting for yet another delicate political climate to pass. In Turkey we've become masters at this – masters of adaptation. In order to keep their sanity, Turkish people have developed improved skills of indifference. You have to. Not only because of the frequent terror attacks of the last year but also the regular shifts in the political climate. It’s like living in a bumper car.

I was surprised reading your book by just how many coups there have been in Turkey in the last century. Is there a sense in your country of history repeating itself?

Of course – it’s a vicious cycle of Revanchist politics in Turkey. The story from the very beginning has been one where whoever pulls the strings builds a system through which they can vanish their political rivals, and you end up with a polarised society; one's victory is another's tragedy. The repetition of this through history is stupefying. It’s why I called my recent novel about the 1980 coup Cycle: Time of Mute Swans. The polarisation, the divisiveness of the political power, the complications of international politics were so similar then to today's situation.

I guess the international image of Turkey is getting a bit like it’s "one of those crazy countries where anything can happen." That’s the saddest thing about this repetition of history.

Why do so many people think America/ the CIA is behind the recent coup?

Because the last one was supported by the U.S., for starters. We heard the voice of Paul Henze, the [former] CIA Turkey Chief of the time telling U.S. President Carter that "Our boys did it." For many people, it is hard to imagine that a NATO ally, with a delicate geography like Turkey, could manage a coup attempt on its own, so to speak. Mostly because it is a gigantic party of power games over here, with the Kurds, Russia and Syria all trying to get a foot in. Moreover, Fethullah Gülen, the man allegedly responsible for the coup attempt, is based in Pennsylvania.

In my opinion, it is first class political stupidity to think that the U.S. is the almighty evil power plotting coups here and there across the planet, but there are reasons for people to believe so. Or maybe it is useful popularism not to talk about the real reasons of such an incident. The U.S. is distant enough you see. It’s easier to blame them than turn the lens onto the state of Turkey itself.

Young people and dissidents are planning their next move. Would you consider leaving Turkey before the political climate gets any worse?

The idea of leaving the country is spreading among those people who have the luxury to do such a thing and especially young people. It is not only because they are dissidents but when your main job becomes surviving physically and emotionally, one may start thinking about other options. Imagine bringing up your baby in a country where a bomb explodes here and there constantly.

A humongous motion of sweeping humans from South to North is taking place. First it was Iraq, then Syria and now it is probable that the people in Turkey will try to go North. It is as if history is the most careless and clumsy engineer in this region and it does not care for the people who really believed in their countries. I don't believe that the dream of Turkey being a secular, stable and democratic country within the Middle East is a lost cause, but I cannot help but see that the dream now requires more determination then ever.

You have always been outspoken about the government – you have even been fired from publications for it. How do you protect yourself now?

Yes, it is true I lost my job as a journalist because of the critical articles I wrote. It was in 2012. I was in Tunisia writing my second novel already, Women Who Blow on Knots. The worst part wasn't getting fired, the worst thing was how the AKP trolls treated me afterwards. I cannot remember how many porno accounts they opened online in my name. But I have been outspoken not only about the government but also about the Gülen movement. Oh those articles they wrote in Gülen papers about me, saying that I should be imprisoned right away... it was magic that I survived it. Anyways, afterwards I decided to go back to literature and I did. I thought I had better things to do than getting into a fight with organised and mobilised ignorance. Now I mostly write articles in English, and only write literature in my mother tongue. I guess a woman should be like a phoenix in a part of the world where justice is so rare.

What are your hopes for Turkey in the coming weeks?

Maybe because of the things that I have been through I am not a big fan of the word hope. I am more into the word determination. My determination at the moment is to tell the story of Turkey from those people's point of view who have been dismissed. My mother was imprisoned when she was a Leftist student in the 1971 coup and my father, as a young lawyer, rescued her from the hands of generals. This is the family I was born into. These are decent people, and the story of people like them has not been told. These are people who believed that there could have been a Turkey without political Islam, one with equal and dignified citizens. They dreamed of a country that could break away from the vicious cycle I have been talking about. Generations paid for this dream like in Iran, Iraq, Syria or Lebanon or even in Afghanistan. It is almost like Persepolis – over and over again. My dream right now is just to tell this story.

@ETemelkuran

Turkey, The Insane and the Melancholy is now available on Zed Books here.

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When Watched may be author Leopoldine Core's first book of stories, but she's already made a name for herself in another literary genre. Core took home the prestigious Whiting Award for her poetry collection Veronica Bench only last year. Suffice to say: She's set the bar high for this project.

Luckily, When Watched — a beautiful collection of character studies, each its own glittering gem — falls nowhere near short of expectations. In this new release, Core demonstrates her keen talent for truly seeing people: their insecurities, hidden histories, defence mechanisms. Her lyricism is matched by her obvious acuity for dialogue, which she uses as a tool to dig toward motivation.

There's an intimacy to her writing, and to the stories she's chosen to tell, one of which we selected to excerpt below. "Smiling" is a short piece that perfectly encapsulates that moment when you tumble into love, followed by the knowledge of what is newly at stake.

They are lying in bed naked, she with her head on his lap. And he is gently raking her scalp with his fingernails, which she likes very much. Possibly she likes it even more than sex.

“Tell me what you were like,” he says. She smiles and looks up at him.

“I mean when you were little,” he says. “I loved rolling down hills,” she says.

“Oh yeah,” he says, remembering all the hills of his life, high and green and endless. “It was like the first drug,” he says. “It felt so dangerous.”

“I know!” she says, her eyes growing wide. “There were rocks and shit. It was so exhilarating. It was like sex.”

She sits up and they look hard at each other. It is not a penetrating look, though both mean for it to be. Their eyes search each other scientifically, drinking up the exquisite surface detail by detail. Her eyes, his mouth, her nose, his shoulders.

“What were you like?” she asks.

“I liked bobbing for apples,” he says and grins.

“Oh you did not.”

“I swear. I was really good at it.” “How could you be good at it?” “I was really brave.”

“I could never get them in my mouth,” she says, reanimating the struggle in her mind.

“You have to let them come to you,” he explains.

This sends her into gales of laughter. Even when she has stopped, the laughter plays around her eyes.

He touches her face. “I’ve never liked someone this much,” he says. “Because I think you’re funny. Yeah that’s it.”

“No really. What is it about me?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s your hair.”

She shoves him, laughing hard. “Shut up!”

“It’s really good hair.”

“Come on. I was asking seriously.”

“God. I don’t know. It’s your face. Your heart. Your ass.”

She stares. What he has said feels perfect. She kisses his nose and lies on her back smiling, tits splayed. They are quiet awhile. “God,” she says, stretching. “I’ll never get tired of being in bed.”

“I know,” he says. “I’ve never seen such a dedicated person.” To this she laughs and laughs. He joins in, pleased with himself.

“All you do is mock me,” she says. “That’s what flirting is,” he says.

“I know,” she says. “It’s a violent act.” She thinks of all the people who flirt with her on a regular basis. They all show their teeth when they smile, she thinks. Now he is smiling, showing his teeth. She is too. Smiling is powerful, she thinks and rolls onto her stomach.

“God,” he says. “You have a really great back.” He runs his hand over it. This is the first time he has looked closely at this part of her body. They have known each other for only 12 days. She looks over one shoulder, beaming. “I do?”

“Oh it’s perfect.” He kisses her spine and she rolls onto her back again, a greedy smile on her face.

He curls beside her, laying his head sidelong on her arm, so that his lips are pressed against one breast. “It keeps wanting to pop in my mouth,” he says of the breast.

“It doesn’t want anything,” she says.

“Well it’s right where my mouth is,” he says. “So when I talk it gets in.” He laughs wildly, letting the tit in. “It maketh it hard to talk,” he says.

“Why don’t you move?” she laughs.

“Is that what we’re doing? Dating?” he says, smirking slightly. “This is quite a date.”

“I don’t know, I kind of like it.” He raises his head, and they make out then stare at each other.

“What are you thinking about?” she asks.

“This.” She thinks he might make a joke but he doesn’t. She sits up and pulls a sheet over them. By the bed there’s a small stack of books. The one on top has an ugly fish on the cover. Over the fish big block letters spell, "world’s weirdest animals." She picks up the book. Under it, there’s another picture book.

“You read a lot of silly books, you know that?” she says. “Well you just read The Metamorphosis over and over,” he says. She stares at him.

“You said you read it every year,” he says. “Didn’t you say that?”

“So. You wish you could do the same thing over and over,” she says challengingly, a smile building. It is a playful smile but she means what she said. She thinks it takes guts to do the same thing many times. And an imagination.

“Say that again,” he says.

“You wish you could do the same thing over and over.”

“Say that again.”

“You wish you could do the same thing over and over.”

“Say that again.”

“Oh shut up.” She gives him a little shove. They laugh and laugh, then settle back into silence. She opens World’s Weirdest Animals and reads.

“Jesus,” she says. “What?”

“Ants of the subfamily Formicinae kidnap the eggs and pupae of other ant species, take them home, and raise them as slaves,” she reads aloud. “They spend the rest of their lives doing the foraging, cleaning, and babysitting for their masters.” She turns to him with a look of deliberate horror.

He grins. “That’s pretty fucked up.”

“It’s just such a human thing to do,” she says. “Right,” he says. “Humans are way worse though.”

“Yeah.” She stares into space. “The capacity to organise is endless and that becomes cruel.” He nods.

She puts the book down and he picks it up. “My mum buys these books for me,” he says. “Every year for Christmas.”

“Oh,” she says. “Do you ever buy books?”

“No. I don’t really like to read,” he says without embarrassment, putting the book back on the floor.

It mildly shocks her, his ease in admitting this, his confidence. “I love you,” she says.

"Because I don’t read?”

“Yeah that’s it.” She kisses him squarely on the mouth. “I mean it. I fucking love you. I’m so glad...”

“What?”

“I don’t know. I’m glad we’re dating.”

“Is that what we’re doing? Dating?” he says, smirking slightly. “This is quite a date.”

She shoves him, laughing embarrassedly, then climbs on top of him. “You’re so goddamn funny.”

“It’s all fear,” he says, feeling her bum with one hand. “It started in high school.” She watches his face as he remembers.

“They were all laughing at me anyway so I thought I might as well take control of it,” he says.

“That’s smart.”

He grins. “I was always making the mums laugh.”

“I’m sure you were very charming.”

“I was. You’re laughing!” “I’m not laughing.”

“But you’re smiling.”

“I am,” she says, the smile spreading to show her teeth. Then she throws herself down next to him, wanting to see what he sees: the ceiling, mostly.

“It seems like you like being naked,” he says. “I do,” she says. “I like how simple it is.”

He rests his hand on her stomach and a foreverish feeling flashes between them. She tries to imagine loving him less and she can’t. Then she tries to picture herself as an old woman in a rocking chair. She can’t. And she can’t imagine dying because that would mean the love was gone too.

She wraps her leg around him. She takes a whiff. Who could die like this?

From When Watched: Stories by Leopoldine Core , to be published on August 9th by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2016 by Leopoldine Core.

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On the evening of October 13, 2015, Diana Sacayán, a prominent Argentine transgender activist, was found dead in her bedroom with multiple stab wounds. Sacayán was heavily involved in the transgender rights movement in Argentina, having successfully pushed for a law establishing transgender employment quotas in the provincial government of Buenos Aires.

But while Sacayán’s case received extended media coverage and generated massive outrage among the Argentine LGBTQ community, advocates say justice has yet to be served. A trial date has not been set, although two suspects were arrested, according to the Argentine public prosecutor's office.

And Sacayán is far from alone. According to Transgender Europe 's Trans Murder Monitoring Project, as of 2015, more than 1,700 transgender people have been murdered around the world since 2008 — the majority of them in Latin America.

We live in a very sexist and patriarchal society, so we live surrounded by violence.

Of the 1,700 trans people killed worldwide, the group found that 80% were murdered in Central and South America. Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, and Guatemala all ranked among the top 10 countries with the highest rates of trans murders. For its part, the U.S. ranked third: In 2015 alone, at least 21 transgender people were victims of fatal violence, more than any other year on record, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

Argentina, where Sacayán was killed, was ranked 11th. According to trans activists, one of the reasons for high homicide rates across Latin America lies in the machismo culture that is embedded in the region.

"The cases of transgender homicides in Latin America are extremely violent. We live in a very sexist and patriarchal society, so we live surrounded by violence," said Florencia Guimaraes Garcia, a transgender woman and president of Argentina’s Association for the Fight of Transvestite and Transsexual Identity, at a recent protest in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Transgender communities in Argentina face constant discrimination, institutional violence, and sexual harassment, according to Guimaraes Garcia, who worked as a sex worker for several years. She said that after finally being able to get off the streets, she is currently completing her university studies. These are challenges that are shared by other transgender women and men around the region.

A recent survey conducted by the Association of Transvestite Transsexual and Transgender Communities of Argentina showed that 95% of the transgender individuals surveyed had done sex work in the past. Of these, 70% were still involved in sex work at the time of the survey, with 74 of the women saying that they started this work after being kicked out of their homes and excluded by their families.

Daniela Mercado is a transgender activist who said she was able to leave sex work, complete a university degree, and find a job as a human resources assistant at an office. She attributes much of what she was able to accomplish to the Gender Identity Law passed by the government of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2012.

[Argentine] law allows transgender citizens to change their gender on their birth certificates and national ID cards without any required psychological or physical diagnoses — the first of its kind in the world.

The law allows transgender citizens to change their gender on their birth certificates and national ID cards without any required psychological or physical diagnoses — the first of its kind in the world.

In addition, the law guarantees free access to gender-affirming procedures, such as hormonal treatments or surgeries, as part of public and private healthcare plans. In 2015, the World Health Organisation referred to Argentina’s Gender Identity Law as a key example of supportive legislation for transgender communities around the world.

Fundación Huésped, a nonprofit advocacy organization, estimates that in the two years after the Gender Identity Law was approved, physical abuse and sexual violence by the police to transgender communities decreased by 10%. In addition, while more than half of the transgender community in Argentina avoided going to health centers before the law was passed, this number decreased to only 5.3% by 2014, the foundation claims.

"Thanks to the Gender Identity Law, we are now able to report cases of violence against us, we are able to defend ourselves, even though others might find it hard to believe that those are rights of the transgender communities that they will now have to respect," Mercado told Refinery29.

Still, she acknowledges that the fight is far from over.

"In spite of the law, it’s still very hard for many transgender women to leave prostitution. They’ve grown up with so much violence that many of them find it hard to believe that there is a world for them beyond that," Mercado said.

But even with all of the challenges that transgender communities face in Latin America, Romina Pereyra, a lesbian activist who supports the transgender rights movement, believes that strength can arise from the fear that trans communities face daily.

"One of our leaders used to say that revolution arises from all the love that was denied to us, and all the love that surrounded us," Pereyra told Refinery29. "Many of us were denied love, were treated with hate, but that hate brought us together to support each other and build our community. That hate helped us find sisters and brothers facing the same struggles, and that’s the most extraordinary thing of being a gender activist."

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So far this Olympics, Katinka Hosszu broke the world record in the 400-meter individual medley. Shooter Corey Cogdell won her second bronze medal. Katie Ledecky broke her own world record in the 400-meter freestyle. The headlines write themselves, right? Well, not if you're concerned with the real stars of these stories — these athletes' husbands (and the male athletes they may or may not resemble).

Sadly, this seems to be the opinion of the commentators and sports writers charged with covering these amazing accomplishments by female Olympians.

Last Saturday night, for example, Hosszu had a momentous victory, with her husband and coach Shane Tusup cheering from the sidelines. We got a pretty cute GIF out of this moment, and we'd never want to rag on a supportive significant other, but NBC commentator Dan Hicks took this visual as a cue to suggest that Hosszu's husband had more to do with her win than Hosszu herself. After her win, the cameras cut to Tusup as Hicks reportedly said he was "the guy responsible."

As Jezebel reports, Hosszu has dealt with people crediting her husband-cum-coach with her successes for some time now and that "[i]t’s true that Tusup is tied closely to Hosszu’s success — not only as her coach, but as her main pillar of emotional support." That said, it doesn't excuse Hicks' comments and it certainly doesn't answer this question: When was the last time a man's accomplishment was credited to his wife?

"There's the man responsible for turning his wife into an entirely new swimmer..." REALLY, NBC?

— Charlotte Wilder (@TheWilderThings) August 7, 2016

Hicks later told the Associated Press that "with live TV, there are often times you look back and wished you had said things differently."

Cogdell's mistreatment following her win on Sunday is a bit simpler and much more blatant. The Chicago Tribune framed her victory around her husband, Bears lineman Mitch Unrein. This could be chalked up to Unrein playing for a Chicago team, but the man wasn't even in Rio when Cogdell won her medal. We could name a million ways to frame the story that accurately describes both her accomplishments as well as her relevance to Chicago-based readers, specifically. For example: "Corey Cogdell-Unrein, Olympian With Deep Chicago Connection, Wins Bronze" could have worked. As one Twitter user pointed out, they didn't even include Cogdell's name.

Y'all need to stop. What's wrong with you? She has a name. Her husband has nothing to do with this https://t.co/Beoh1XfhDH

— Lexi Alexander (@Lexialex) August 7, 2016

This headline also would have been accurate.

Husband of Olympic medal winner Corey Cogdell plays football for the Chicago Bears #FixedIt #Sexism https://t.co/HPlYjH4CYD

— It's All Bad (@SaltPotatoes) August 8, 2016

Of course, you don't need to be a current Olympian to deal with this kind of media treatment — just ask the Magnificent 7. When it comes to female athletes, apparently it's not what you've done, but whom you're married to that's worth discussing.

That brings us finally to Katie Ledecky. You know, probably the greatest swimmer — no, the greatest athlete — we'll see in a couple lifetimes. She broke a record she set herself last night, with comments like those from 2012 Olympian Connor Jaeger, who said she "swims like a man," hanging over her head. In a refreshing turn of events, NBC commentator Rowdy Gaines took this opportunity to clarify that "she doesn't swim like a man, she swims like Katie Ledecky." Let's hope everyone's taking notes on Gaines' response — this is how we should be talking about female athletes.

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Most bath bombs can be used to make your water smell good or nourish your skin. But the effect of Bella Muerte Clothing's "black as your soul bathbomb " is far darker — literally. The product will turn your bathwater black.

According to Bella Muerte's website, it's made of sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, cornstarch, fragrant oil, witchhazel, and colouring. And, it seems, a healthy dose of angst and disillusionment.

The bath bomb is sold out right now, perhaps because 1.6 million people have watched a video of Instagram user Emma Louiisee placing it into a tub while "Heaven And Hell" by Black Sabbath very appropriately plays in the background.

(For unclear reasons, she's since edited the caption to say "I no longer support Hex Bomb and do not recommend them at all. Please spend your money else where with businesses who actually respect their customers.")

✖**CREDIT ME AS THIS IS MY VIDEO** Black Soul bath bomb will always fascinate me.💀Song is Heaven And Hell by Black Sabbath✖ @hex_bomb EDIT: i no longer support Hex Bomb and do not reccommend them at all. Please spend your money else where with businesses who actually respect their customers. #hexbomb #bathbombs #gothic #allblackeverything #black #gothgirls #gothicbathbombs #spooky #nugoth #alternative #alternativegirls #altgirls #grunge #grungegirls #blacksabbath #heavenandhell #bathtime #metalgirls #classics #classicrock #creepy #gothgoth #video #wow #stunning

A video posted by ✖EMMA LOUIISEE✖ (@toxicbitchcraft) on Jun 4, 2016 at 4:03am PDT

If your soul isn't quite that dark, Bella Muerte also sells a "red Bathory bloodbath bathbomb " and a "hell fury bathbomb." However, they're currently all sold out. Apparently, bath products for metalheads are in high demand.

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Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, Liz Taylor in a knotted yellow gingham shirt, Audrey Hepburn in gingham peddle-pushers, Alexa Chung and Daisy Lowe suited in the stuff 85% of the time. We think you'll agree, that's a stylish line up.

There were several key #tbt gingham moments that persuaded us it was potentially as chic, if not cooler, than leopard print. With summer finally acting its age, it's gingham's time to shine. To find out how best to tackle the stuff in 2016, we of course went straight to our Instagram favourites to get some tips on how to style out matching the tablecloth at brunch with swagger...

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When Camilla Nielsen told her family she was pregnant again, they were worried. Really worried. Nielsen has muscular dystrophy, an inherited disease that progressively weakens her muscles. Her first pregnancy had been physically gruelling and this time she was expecting twins.

Italian photographer Claudia Gori ’s documentary project "My Name is Camilla and I Love My Life" takes us inside 33-year-old Nielsen’s world five months after her daughters Esther and Agnes were born in 2014. “I put a call-out through the Danish Muscular Dystrophy Association. I originally wanted to do something about sexuality but it was hard to find a couple,” Gori told Refinery29.

“When I met Camilla, I knew immediately that hers was the story I wanted to tell.”

In the pictures ahead, we see the everyday struggles of early motherhood, made all the more demanding by Nielsen’s condition. Unable to lift her children on her own, she needs constant support. But despite the challenges, the mood of the photographs is gentle and uplifting. She might be much more exhausted than the average sleep-deprived mum but, as Nielsen feeds, bathes and soothes her children, you can feel the tenderness between them.

Diagnosed with her disability aged three, Nielsen used a wheelchair at primary school but trained herself to manage without it through intensive physiotherapy. After university, she went to work as a nutritionist in a health centre in Randers, Denmark, where she lives with her boyfriend Jesper, their elder daughter Ella, three, and the baby twins. She’d always wanted to be a mother.

“When I show this work to people, most of them are impressed with Camilla’s bravery but some say, I don’t understand why she put her children at risk,” said Gori. Because Muscular Dystrophy is a genetic condition, there’s a chance that it could have passed on to the girls. “Of course she hoped that everything would be alright, that the children would turn out to be healthy. But if not, then they’d have a life like her – and her life is beautiful.”

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“I enjoy drinking and don’t want to waste valuable calories on food. I’d rather have multiple rum and cokes than lunch," one 25-year-old woman told Refinery29 on the condition of anonymity.

“I often skip meals and I know it’s unhealthy not to eat before drinking, but I don't have a fast metabolism and am trying to slim down. Skipping meals allows me to enjoy myself more when I’m out with friends."

Many of us will openly admit to – or even joke about – eating extra fruit and veg or going on a long jog in an attempt to “undo” the excesses of a big night.

But far fewer will go on the record as saying they've restricted the calories they’ve consumed through food to “spend” them on alcohol instead.

Media outlets call this worrying behaviour "drunkorexia" – a medical-sounding term that isn't actually recognised by the NHS, at least not on its website. Years of media coverage has created a moral panic around the subject.

This means that instead of changing our ways or seeking help for a dangerous habit with very real health ramifications, many of us don't want to admit to doing something that's so taboo.

While the habit is nothing new – the Daily Mail, for example, wrote about it as a new trend as far back as 2008 – people are still doing it. Diet and fitness trackers make it easier than ever to track our calorie intake, while at the same time we all know that YOLO. There's huge pressure to show we're living a party lifestyle on social media – and for many of us that means binge drinking.

According to new research, as many as 40% of 25–34 year-olds and 39% of 18–24 year-olds skip meals to save the calories for drinking.

Benenden's National Health Report 2016, which questioned 3,000 men and women on health issues, found an almost equal proportion of men and women engage in "drunkorexic" behaviour: 19% of women compared to 17% of men.

However, there was a stark age gap. Skipping food to save calories for alcohol is virtually unheard of among older generations. Fewer than 10% of over 55s and just 12% of 45–54 year-olds said they’d ever eaten less so they could drink more, the research found.

The report also found that when young people do choose to eat healthily, 41% admitted to doing it to lose weight (compared to just 17% of over 55s who said the same thing), rather than their overall well-being.

Speaking to many young people, it's clear the main attraction of "carrying over" calories to a night out is that it allows them to enjoy Instagram-worthy moments with friends while maintaining their weight.

One 28-year old man told Refinery29 that as long as he's getting nutrients from somewhere, he doesn't see a problem with cutting out meals in favour of alcohol. “If I know I’m going out on a big one, I’ll eat more strictly during the day. I’ll focus on getting as much protein in my meals as possible for the fewest calories, so I’ll eat things like chicken and turkey breasts to keep me full.

"I then make sure I dance enough to burn off the excess calories. I don’t do it that often – probably once a week – so I wouldn’t say it’s particularly dangerous.”

While skipping meals before drinking may seem a logical way to keep your weight down, it won’t necessarily mean you end up consuming fewer calories in total, the Benenden report said.

Many people are unaware of just how calorific alcohol is, and that alcohol consumption can lead you to eat more than usual. Alcohol has a high energy value of seven calories per gram, second only to fat – “the most energy dense macronutrient” – at nine calories per gram, the report said.

Elaine Hindal, chief executive of alcohol education charity Drinkaware, said: "While it’s good to be aware of the calories you’re drinking, what can seem like a harmless tactic can turn into a dangerous obsession," the Daily Mail reported.

"Skipping meals can cause acute alcohol poisoning, leading to confusion, vomiting and passing out.

She continued: "Doing this regularly can put you at risk of chronic health harms like liver, heart disease and some types of cancer."

"If you are watching your weight, it is best to cut back on alcohol rather than food. Alcohol is full of empty calories, which have no nutritional value."

The recent news that some of us underestimate the number of calories we consume by up to 50% suggests that perhaps the answer lies in becoming more "mindful" when it comes to food.

We need to develop a greater awareness of what we're eating on a daily basis, rather than skipping meals altogether. It all comes back to one word: balance.

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Their countries are still at war with each other, but that didn't stop Olympic gymnasts Lee Eun-ju of South Korea and Hong Un-jong of North Korea from posing for a quick selfie at the Rio Games.

The heart-warming photo, taken during the training period before the start of the competition, has been hailed as a symbol of unity during a tense period in North and South Korean relations.

The photo has done the rounds on social media, with many people saying it represents the spirit of the Olympics.

Gymnasts from North & South Korea take a selfie together. This is why we do the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/Id44OuehN3

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) August 5, 2016

"This is why we do the Olympics," tweeted political scientist Ian Bremmer alongside the image. His sentiment has since been retweeted more than 19,000 times.

The power of the Olympic Culture. https://t.co/cZ4XuvKk0x #GoldinUS @Olympics @NBCOlympics

— Heather Neisworth (@heathgirl) August 8, 2016

However, some people questioned whether Hong, 27, is allowed to socialise with "the enemy", and whether she would be punished when she returns home to North Korea.

That's awesome. I really do hope the NK athlete doesn't get into trouble for this. https://t.co/0mB7VNrI2U

— Osaka Jack (@OsakaJack) August 8, 2016

The Rio Games is 17-year-old Lee's first Olympics, while Hong won gold in vault at the 2008 Beijing Games, becoming North Korea's first gymnast to win a medal at the Olympics.

People have highlighted the contrast between the gymnasts' level of diplomacy and the behaviour of the Lebanese Olympic Team, who allegedly refused to ride on the same bus with Israeli athletes, the BBC reported.

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Giving birth is probably one of the most raw and unfiltered experiences most women will ever go through. You can take your makeup bag to hospital and even apply a full face of slap during labour, but you can't hide the guttural screams, or the blood, unidentified discharge and 8lb human flying out of your vagina.

The intimacy of the experience means deciding who gets to be present during childbirth can get political.

While some women no longer have a relationship with the baby's father, others just don't want him there, instead asking a friend or family member to attend their labour.

According to new research, just under a quarter (24%) of British expectant mothers are planning on having their best friend with them during childbirth, instead of the child’s father; 19% said they’d asked their mums to be in the room for their grandchild’s birth.

The survey, by Voucher Codes Pro, questioned 1,756 pregnant women aged over 18 about their planned birth and personal situation.

Even women who aren't pregnant have considered inviting their BFF to witness the pivotal moment. "I'd love to have my best friend by my side when giving birth. I think about it a lot," one 26-year-old woman told Refinery29.

"She'd be a calming presence and there's just something more biologically in tune with the birthing process about having a woman who's known you your whole life stand by you. I know she'll be with me throughout the entirety of my pregnancy. As much as I'd like my partner there to share it, I'd want her to be there too."

More than two thirds (67%) said the presence of the father during childbirth isn't necessary, and more than a fifth (22%) weren't planning on having the father present during their own labour.

The reasons behind this were personal and varied, the most common being the woman wasn't "on good terms" with the father (31%).

A quarter said they didn't want their partner to find them unattractive after the birth, while others said the father is "squeamish/scared of blood", or that they would just prefer someone else to be there (fair enough).

But this won't be the right decision for everyone. 90% of expectant fathers are present during the birth of their child, the BBC reported. And people are apparently increasingly getting the whole family involved with the labour.

Just this week, Jools Oliver, wife of celebrity chef Jamie, allowed the couple's eldest daughters, age 14 and 13, to watch the birth of their fifth child. They were even allowed to cut the umbilical cord in what was a "very emotional" moment. Inviting siblings in to the room is a "growing craze", according to the BBC.

And then this just happened guys !! IT'S A BABY BOY !! 😀 Everyone in the Oliver family is very surprised and beyond happy. He arrived safely, mum / @joolsoliver was really really amazing, unbelievably composed, natural birth and my two eldest Girls got to come in at the very end as the baby was born which was amazing to witness very very emotional. 8 lbs ( that's 16 packs of butter for you bakers out there) anyway were all hitting the hay it's been a long day big love... bless a little baby boy Woop Woop !!!! And love to all you mums out there how amazing you are it blows my mind .... Big love jamie o p.s no baby names yet .......😜😎👍🏻😛🙂

A photo posted by Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) on Aug 7, 2016 at 4:47pm PDT

The moral of the story is: do what you want. And don't let the politics of pregnancy and childbirth get you down.

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Last week, on Friday morning, protesters blocked off the M4 leading to Heathrow. They were from the UK branch of the Black Lives Matter movement, and their aim was to highlight the issues facing black communities in the UK. With posters reading in bold white letters against a black background "THIS IS A CRISIS", they wanted to make the statement that racism is very much alive and well in this country, embedded within our institutions and in the micro-aggressions that black people like myself experience on a daily basis. The protest was disruptive, stopping traffic until authorities intervened and attracting national media attention. Other Black Lives Matter protests took place around the UK across the weekend, in Nottingham, London and Manchester.

Road completely blocked pic.twitter.com/Ib03kxzHWm

— William Davies (@WilwithoneL) August 5, 2016

While racism in America is, currently, more visible – with stories of police brutality making headlines almost weekly – racism in Britain can be just as deadly. 29-year-old Mark Duggan was shot dead by police in Tottenham in 2011, an event which (in part) sparked the London riots. And what's changed since then? Just last month, 18-year-old Mzee Mohammed died in police custody in Liverpool. As research from the campaign group Inquest demonstrates, a disproportionate number of black or minority ethnic people die in police custody in the UK compared to white people. Perhaps what is more worrying is the fact that there have been zero convictions.

Racism pervades within our prison system. Black people, especially young black men, are 37 times more likely to be stopped and searched compared to their white counterparts, according to national statistics. Black people are 44 times more likely to be detained under the Mental Heath Act (according to the Mental Health Foundation), and less likely to receive talking therapies (according to the charity Mind.) Black people are also three times more likely to be arrested (Institute of Race Relations) and twice as likely to die in police custody (IPCC).

It is not confined to black men, either. Sarah Reed was found dead in her cell on 11th January 2016 in Holloway prison. In November 2012, she was beaten up by police officer James Kiddie after she was reportedly caught shoplifting. The act was caught on CCTV cameras. Officer Kiddie was convicted of common assault for his brutality, but only sentenced to a meagre 150 hours of community service. In October 2015, Sarah Reed was charged with grievous bodily harm with intent. Reed's mother told the Guardian that her daughter had claimed she was simply defending herself from sexual assault.

Around me, racism is very real. Whether that is witnessing a stop-and-search or being at an airport and my friend being taken away to be searched simply because of her name. Through and through, I see how the public and state target certain ethnic groups. And it is painful to watch when innocent people are stereotyped, humiliated and discriminated against by institutions that were designed to help them feel safe.

In London, I became black in a way that I had never been when I was in Nigeria

As a black woman in Britain, I know I am much less likely to be shot by the police than if I lived in the U.S., but I still experience everyday racism, whether that’s at school, on the street, in the workplace or by the state. I moved to Britain in 2011. I was 13, naïve and expecting a tolerant society. I didn’t know that by virtue of being black, I would have to move through the world in a very different way. In London, I became black in a way that I had never been when I was in Nigeria. In London, I learnt that being black meant feeling different and experiencing discrimination. This became my new reality.

In the wake of Brexit, a statistic quickly circulated stating that hate crimes in the UK had risen by 57% in four days. For me, this felt like more than a statistic. A few days after the vote, I remember being at King’s Cross Station, waiting in a queue to get my train ticket to go and see a play in Leeds. Beside me was a white woman, and even though I made no indication of pushing in or walking in front of her, she shouted: “I’m next in the queue! Or do they not have queues where you come from?” I decided to leave it; it was early, I was tired, and it felt at the time like an insignificant account of racism.

For too long, people of colour in the UK have been left to deal with the effects of minor-to-grave incidents of racism on their own. But the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK is inspiring, because finally, people are pushing back and demanding that this country, and this government, look at the pervasive ways that racism affects our daily lives.

This summer marks five years since Mark Duggan's death. It also marks the five-year anniversary of my move to London, a place that I sometimes call home. And what is a home? Somewhere that you feel safe, but being a black woman, I know that this might always exist as a paradox.

Seeing the Black Lives Matter movement make headlines here in the UK empowers me to sit up and demand more. It gives me hope that if we keep saying black lives matter, eventually someone will listen.

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Raf Simons barely waited a beat after the most eagerly anticipated (and predicted) headline of the season to drop even more exciting news. While getting used to his shiny new title at Calvin Klein, the designer unveiled the latest chapter of his ongoing collaboration with Adidas. The minimalist branding, comprised of a distinct, perforated "R," has been a street-style phenomenon for seasons now. We have a hunch that Simons' latest crop will get a lot of spotlight come September, thanks to its blatant '90s vibes.

The standout shoe from Simons' long collaboration with Adidas is arguably the Stan Smith, reimagined in pastels, metallics, and not-so-practical double-closures. That style isn't going anywhere, but for fall '16, it's getting more company with the introduction of even more silhouettes: the Stan Smith Comfort and the Matrix Spirit. The former is a Stan Smith style trimmed with Velcro straps in lieu of laces, while the latter is an archival trainers from 1984 — a basketball-inspired shape fashioned out of canvas.

Clearly not even Simons, ever the arbiter of cool, is impervious to the nostalgic influences we've been seeing industry-wide for some time now. Some considered his last retro-inspired kicks, which were reinventions of Adidas' Ozweego 2 and slide sandal, revealed in Milan earlier this summer, a welcome antidote to Steph Curry's controversial "dad shoes." Now, the spillover continues, evidenced by the highly saturated colour combinations and Velcro straps on this latest crop of styles. Maybe Simons is prepping for his new role at Calvin Klein by digging through the archives — or maybe he enjoys a good #TBTOOTD like the rest of us.

Per usual, acquiring a Raf piece doesn't come cheap: These trainers will cost upwards of £225 a pair. At least you can still count on Calvin Klein Underwear as a means of scoring Simons' designs on a budget.

As for Simons' favourite from the lineup? Vogue reports that the designer opted for a pair of black Spirit Matrix low-tops at his spring '17 menswear show.

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