Politics
Foods To Avoid Eating Before Anal Sex
If anal sex is on the menu tonight, you might be worried about what you ate beforehand. After all, if letting one rip embarrasses you in yoga class, then getting intimate with a partner can feel even more anxiety-inducing.
Maybe you’re wondering whether that chili and beans for dinner was a terrible idea before a roll in the hay.
And while certain foods can make things a little less comfortable – like, say, chili and beans – experts say there’s also a huge misconception around the idea of being “perfectly prepared” for anal sex.
“There’s this idea that you can be perfectly clean for anal play, but the anus is where poop exits the body,” Javay Frye-Nekrasova, a sex educator at We-Vibe, tells HuffPost. “Mess is to be expected, regardless of how you prepare, because we are human, and that’s life. And that’s OK!”
She adds, “Trust me, even as a sex educator I still have instances where the realities of a booty happen.”
In other words, you don’t need to obsessively restrict food or try to achieve some impossible standard of being ready “back there”.
“The rectum, the part of the body involved in most anal play, is not a storage chamber. For most people, most of the time, it’s actually empty,” Dr. Jenni Skyler, a sex therapist, says. “Stool is stored higher up, in the colon, and only moves down when your body is preparing to have a bowel movement.”
LSOphoto via Getty Images
“This is good news,” she continues. “It means that with reasonable preparation, anal play is far less messy than most people fear.”
Still, certain foods can increase bloating, gas, digestive urgency or discomfort, which can make people feel less relaxed and confident during anal play.
Here are the foods experts say are best to avoid before anal sex – and a few suggestions of what to eat instead.
Very spicy foods
According to Skyler, spicy foods can irritate the digestive tract and speed up digestion, which may lead to looser or more unpredictable bowel movements.
“Spicy foods are not fully broken down during digestion,” she says. “They irritate the digestive tract on the way in and out.”
Registered dietitian Kristen Kuminski adds that capsaicin – the compound responsible for heat in spicy foods – “passes through the digestive tract and causes irritation on the way out.”
If you already know spicy foods tend to upset your stomach, experts say the hours before anal play probably aren’t the time to test your limits with hot wings or extra chili oil.
Greasy or fried foods
Heavy, oily foods can sit heavily in the stomach and may contribute to bloating, sluggishness and loose stool.
“Being ‘stuffed’ – pun intended – only makes it more uncomfortable,” Frye-Nekrasova says.
Skyler adds that greasy foods are harder to digest overall, which can make people feel “sluggish and bloated – the opposite of relaxed.”
Gas-causing foods
Beans, lentils, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and onions are all healthy foods, but they can also increase gas production.
Kuminski says high-fibre foods eaten in large amounts right before anal sex are some of the biggest offenders when it comes to bloating and digestive discomfort.
Skyler stresses that passing gas is completely normal and nothing to be ashamed of, especially when it happens in the bedroom. But if someone is already anxious about anal sex, feeling bloated or gassy can make it harder to relax and stay present.
“These foods are great,” she says. “Just maybe not at lunch on the day of.”
Dairy (if you’re sensitive to it)
Even mild lactose intolerance can trigger bloating, gas or digestive upset.
“If you know dairy sometimes disagrees with you, the hours before anal play are a good time to skip the cheese plate and the ice cream,” Skyler says.
Kuminski notes that even mild lactose sensitivity can lead to “bloating and urgency that is badly timed”.
Artificial sweeteners
Sugar alcohols like sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol and mannitol – commonly found in sugar-free gum, protein bars and “diet” snacks – are well known for causing bloating and digestive distress.
“This one surprises people,” Skyler says, noting they can sometimes trigger loose stool “quite dramatically”.
Excess alcohol
Sure, that bottle of wine at dinner might have loosened your inhibitions, but that’s not the only thing it loosened. Alcohol can irritate the digestive tract, while also loosening stool and contributing to dehydration.
But Skyler says there’s another concern, too: drinking heavily can make it harder for people to stay aware of discomfort or pain during anal sex.
“In large amounts we struggle to be present and can override our pain receptors,” she says.
Kuminski similarly notes that alcohol “loosens inhibitions but also loosens gut motility,” which can create unpredictable bowel behaviour.
Huge meals before sex
Even if you haven’t eaten any of the foods above, experts say timing still matters. “A huge meal eaten right before play can trigger the urge for a bowel movement at an inconvenient time,” Skyler says.
Kuminski recommends giving yourself three to four hours after a meal before anal play, adding that “timing matters as much as what you eat.”
So what should you eat?
Experts generally recommend sticking to foods that support predictable digestion and well-formed bowel movements.
- soluble fibre
- lean proteins
- cooked vegetables
- bananas
- lots of water
Kuminski also suggests low-fibre, easy-to-digest foods in the hours beforehand, including:
- white rice
- eggs
- plain chicken
- bananas
“It’s basically the same logic as eating before a long run or race where you don’t want any GI surprises,” she explains.
But Frye-Nekrasova says people shouldn’t become obsessive or restrictive around food before sex.
Instead, she recommends simply paying attention to your own digestion and giving yourself enough time between eating and anal play.
“A good rule of thumb I follow is to try to stop eating at least three hours before planned anal play,” she says. “Just to give my body enough time to digest food so I can have a bowel movement beforehand.”
Artem Peretiatko via Getty Images
She adds that everyone’s digestion works differently, so there’s no perfect formula.
“If you are more regular with your digestion and bowel movements, shorter timeframes could absolutely work for you,” she says.
Rather than stressing over eating “perfectly,” Frye-Nekrasova suggests planning ahead in realistic ways – especially on date nights involving heavier meals.
“If you’re going to dinner and it’s going to be something heavier, then planning an activity afterward to give yourself enough time to digest the food before sex would be a good move,” she says.
Most importantly, she stresses that relaxation and communication matter more than perfection.
“Bodies are weird,” Frye-Nekrasova says. “I know that being told to relax doesn’t actually help anyone relax, but I do want to say it because being relaxed helps our bodies function in the typical, expected way (aka digestion and bowel movements) a lot easier than if we are stressed.”
Frye-Nekrasova adds, “And stressing about being perfectly prepared is actually the opposite of what helps people relax.”
Iran’s Football Federation (IFF) has accused the US of “vindictive behavior” after it denied visas to 14 officials and backroom staff from Iran’s World Cup team.
Hedayat Mombeini, Iran Football Federation’s secretary-general, and Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, its vice president, are among the staff who do not have visas. The country’s first game is in Los Angeles on June 16.
The US, Mexico and Canada are jointly hosting the tournament, which starts on June 11.
Iran had already moved its training camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico, just across the US border. This was because of problems processing visas.
The IFF said the visa denials have:
effectively denied the Iranian national team the opportunity for a level playing field and a competition free from discrimination.
Previously, Tom Barrack, the US Ambassador to Turkïye, congratulated his embassy staff for processing the Iranian team’s visas. In response, the Iranian Embassy in Ankara said:
You cannot whitewash conduct that violates FIFA regulations and breaches the United States’ host obligations merely by praising yourselves.
This represents the worst possible form of politically biased interference in sport.
Iran’s football federation added to those remarks:
The US government, continuing its hostile actions against the national team … made a non-sporting and completely political decision to refuse visas for key managerial and administrative members of the Iranian national football team.
No other teams or their officials have been denied visas. However, fans from Haiti, Côte d’Ivoire, Iran, and Senegal are all banned from entering the US due to Trump’s travel bans.
Journalists barred
The International Sports Press Association (AIPS) has written to FIFA. It claims that the US has denied visas to “many” Iranian and African journalists to cover the World Cup.
Gianni Merlo, president of AIPS, wrote:
There are many cases: Iranian colleagues, African colleagues, some of whom have been given single entries, so if their team goes to play in Canada or Mexico and they follow it, they can no longer return to the States. The cases are countless and, I repeat, unacceptable. Politicians always say that sport unites and builds bridges between young people in countries in conflict, but in this case, we are going in the opposite direction.
Detaining players
Now, Iran’s squad has been notified that they must enter and leave US soil on the same day of their matches.
However, after US border agents detained an Iraqi player for over seven hours, this raises serious questions.
ICE held and searched the phone of Aymen Hussein, Iraq’s World Cup striker, at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
Hussein — the man who scored the goal that secured Iraq’s qualification for the tournament — was finally allowed in. However, the team’s photographer, Talal Salah, was barred from entering the US after being detained and questioned for more than 10 hours.
In a statement since entering the US, Hussein questioned:
Why is America hosting the World Cup if it is so hostile to foreign nationals?
If Iranian players are held for questioning when they enter the US, it could dramatically impact their ability to get games on time — if at all.
The Iranian squad has three group matches in the United States, in Los Angeles and Seattle.
World cup chaos
The World Cup has already seen more chaos than most previous tournaments, and it hasn’t even started yet.
The Japanese team had to move to a new training venue after players complained that the pitches were unsuitable for play.
In England’s pre-tournament friendly, fans noticed the names of players shown on the big screen were all muddled. Hilariously, according to the screen, Marcus Stones, Djed Bellingham, and Jarrell Rashford were all in England’s starting 11.
Aside from the blatant racism involved in travel bans and revoking visas, all of this goes to show that the US under Trump is completely unable to even facilitate a world-renowned sporting event.
Trump’s America is a global laughing stock, and the World Cup will only make that more obvious.
Featured image via FRANCE 24 English/Youtube
By HG
President Donald Trump dipped into his arsenal of insults as he grew increasingly frustrated with “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker doing her job as a journalist before he eventually stormed out of an interview that aired on Sunday. (Watch in the clip below.)
Trump’s crash-out arrived minutes after Welker asked him about the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponisation” fund, a concept that the administration says its “not moving forward” despite the president not ruling out the idea of January 6 rioters getting taxpayer-funded payouts.
After expressing his openness to paying those who attacked police officers during the Capitol riot, he dropped several false, baseless claims regarding the attack, including one about FBI agents “ushering” people into the building and those who pled guilty to assaulting cops.
Welker challenged the president’s fog of falsehoods on multiple occasions, later taking on his talk of “rigged” primary elections that took place in California, evidence of which is about as present as the dodo bird.
“Let me tell you, it’s four days, and they aren’t even close to coming up
with the—,” Trump started.
“That’s how they count the votes in California,” Welker interjected.
“Do you know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating on the election,” Trump continued.
“There’s… What? Do you have evidence to support that?” the host asked.
“It’s — all I have to do is look. All I have to do is look,” Trump replied.
“But that’s not evidence,” Welker reminded the president.
Trump went on to accuse California election officials of being “crooked” before attacking Welker, adding, “Just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked.”
“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” Trump told Welker.
He continued his tantrum about the “crooked” media, a rambling set to the tune of rain hitting the metal roof of a farm building in Wisconsin, the site of the interview.
“You’re a one-sided crooked network. Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time,” he said as he tossed his microphone to the ground and made a dismissive hand gesture toward Welker.
“Mr. President, let’s ― please, I travelled all the way to Wisconsin,” she pleaded.
“I’ve sat in the rain with you,” said the president, pointing to the roof.
“I know. I travelled all the way—,” she replied.
“I sat in the rain with you for an hour,” repeated Trump as he looked directly at Welker. “On and off in the rain, and I’ve given you enough time. You ought to straighten out your press, because you know what? A country can never be great with a dishonest press.”
He then signalled for his team to leave, got up from his seat and proceeded to walk off camera.
After the interviewed aired, Welker said she spoke with the president Saturday and the two acknowledged the “complications” posed by the rain during the interview. Trump has agreed to sit down for another interview, per Welker.
Israeli soldiers shot and murdered a seven-month-old baby in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron, West Bank, on Friday, June 5.
Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was in his mother’s arms when Israeli soldiers killed him. The IOF opened fire on a car which was carrying the infant and his family. They shot despite the car having complied with an order to stop, injuring both his parents.
Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was critically injured and evacuated in critical condition to a hospital. He later died from his injuries. Fahd’s 11-year-old son and mother were also in the car.
Abu Haikal’s wife is still in critical condition, with shrapnel close to her heart.
According to Fahd Abu Haikal, Sam’s father, a bullet passed through his hand and struck his son, Sam, who his mother was holding in the back seat. The family had been driving through Hebron when IOF soldiers signalled the vehicle to stop.
Abu Haikal told Haaretz:
The soldier signalled me to stop. I brought the car to a complete halt and raised my hands on the steering wheel. Immediately afterwards, they opened fire on the vehicle. The soldier was about 10 metres away from me. He saw me, he saw my wife and the children.
The windows were not tinted, it was broad daylight and everything was clear. You can’t say he didn’t see that it was a family. I stopped as I was instructed to, and then they simply shot at the car.
There was no clear checkpoint, just soldiers standing in the street. I stopped when I was asked to, and then the shooting started.
This was after the IOF claimed that troops:
perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them and one of the soldiers responded with single shots toward the vehicle.
‘Single shots’ is a funny way of saying open fire, or multiple rounds. But I guess Israel will do anything to avoid accountability.
West Bank and Gaza — A pattern
As of September 2025, Israel had murdered over 20,000 children in Gaza, or two percent of all children in Gaza. That is the equivalent of at least one Palestinian child every hour over nearly 23 months of genocide.
Of these, at least 1,009 were under the age of one, and half of these were born and then killed during the genocide. Israel had injured an additional 42,011 children and left 21,000 permanently disabled, as of September. Thousands more are presumed to be under the rubble.
This shows a pattern. Israel deliberately carpet bombs civilian areas and targets children.
Israel is doing exactly the same in Lebanon. In the first 25 days of the ‘ceasefire‘ that definitely isn’t a ceasefire, Israel killed or injured more than four children per day. This brings the total number of children that Israel has killed in Lebanon since March 2 to 199.
In July 2024, UNICEF reported that Israel had killed 143 Palestinian children in the West Bank since October 2023. That’s one child every two days. Additionally, Israel has injured more than 440 Palestinian children with live ammunition.
The West Bank has seen an increase in large, militarised law enforcement operations over the past few years. Of course, this is illegal under international law, and the IOF has no right to be in the West Bank.
Where’s the morality?
Israel and its terrorist army have no morality and no conscience. It bombs hospitals, murders and maims babies, and carpet bombs whole cities under the guise of ‘defeating terrorists’. We all know it’s real M.O — a Greater Israel, and to make that happen, it has to ethnically cleanse every single Palestinian from their native land.
No doubt Israel will tell us that a seven-month-old was the mastermind behind October 7. Or it was antisemitic.
But one thing is clear — anyone who supports Israel supports babies being murdered in cold blood.
Feature image October 7News/Youtube
By HG
On 30 May, Reform UK posted a grim AI slop post which depicted refugees holding ‘Vote Andy‘ banners. Now, the party has been forced to take down the post following a legal challenge from the creator of the banner image:
Stanley Chow: "My work has been used without permission to share a message that I fundamentally disagree with" pic.twitter.com/76wuglQq8K
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 6, 2026
NEW: Nigel Farage has deleted a post using Andy Burnham's portrait after the artist launched legal action for using it to push "anti-immigration" messaging
Stanley Chow VS Reform
Stanley Chow is the artist who created the now-familiar cartoon of a dour-looking Burnham with a red background. Chow is a Mancunian and a second-generation immigrant, and has said that Reform’s AI monstrosity “misrepresents what the image stands for and what I believe in”.
He added:
For me, this is straightforward – my work has been used without permission to share a message that I fundamentally disagree with. To see my portrait, created to represent something positive about Manchester and Andy’s vision for the city, being used without my permission to push agendas, including an anti-immigration message, is fundamentally unfair and wrong.
Chow sent a letter to Reform HQ requesting at least £5,000 in damages and an apology. Reform claimed in response that their post was fair use, and that the party has:
removed the posts in good faith and without any admission of liability on our part
Reform also claimed the legal action was “politically motivated”. Given that Reform is a political party, it can argue any action against itself is ‘politically motivated’. In other words, its spokespeople shouldn’t get away with using it as a get-out-jail-free card.
Dehumanisation
Regardless of whether the post ends up being legally sound or not, it was clearly disgusting. The people who travel by small boats to the UK are human beings who face tremendous risks. Turning them into a sick joke like this demonstrates that Farage & .co put very little value on human life.
If you think they don’t have a similarly low opinion of British lives, by the way, you’re going to be in for a shock should they ever take power.
Featured image via Carl Court (Getty Images)
By Willem Moore
A headteacher once wrote in Dame Judi Dench’s school report: “Judi would be a very good pupil if she lived in this world.” Meanwhile, Sir Stephen Fry fared worse: “He has glaring faults and they have certainly glared at us this term.”
And it seems this level of brutal honesty is sorely missed among some of those teachers penning today’s school reports.
In an eye-opening r/TeachingUK post, one educator shared that “every year it quite annoys me how we aren’t allowed to just flat out tell the truth about a child in the report, everything has to be reworded as a positive as not to offend anyone”.
“For example, the child in my Y4 class who throws chairs and calls me a stupid c*** every day is now being described as ‘working towards making more positive choices in the school day’,” they noted.
“I remember getting my school report back (I was mostly a good kid) which explained how I spent most of the time chatting and not listening, and my mum went mad, best believe I sat and listened as to not get another report like that.”
While they caveated that some school reports in the 1990s did go “a bit far”, the teacher suggested “everything has to be worded positively” in modern-day school reports. And many seemed to be in agreement.
“Yeah it’s gone too far the other way,” said one commenter. “There’s a difference between saying a kid is rude and cruel vs saying they have been acting rude and cruel, and we should be able to say the latter.”
Another chimed in: “It’s daft. I think there’s a lot of reasons honesty should be allowed in reports. One of them being that we are seeing many cases of undiagnosed SEN [special educational needs] such as ADHD, ASD etc where school reports can be a vital piece of info.”
Some suggested that because reports used to be handwritten, teachers “got to be brief, and absolutely brutal”.
“I’ve seen ones that boiled down to ‘John has no aptitude for science and should not continue’. That was it; no euphemisms, no niceties, just absolute honesty,” shared a teacher.
“We were discussing today that we should be allowed to rank the child in parental discussions about behaviour. If that child is the number 1 problem in class you should absolutely be able to call them out on it and make it crystal clear to parents that their child is the worst; not this ‘well other kids in the class…’, ‘boys will be boys…’ excuse-making you get, the cold hard reality that your child is the worst kid in the class.”
But there were a handful of respondents who disagreed that school reports decades ago were not so different to those of today.
“Nah, I’ve read my old school reports from the 90s and they were full of the same old banalities that we use today,” said one educator.
“There’s this false nostalgia for the days of honest school reports, whatever that means. The biggest difference between the reports I received as a child and the reports I write now as a teacher is that the former were handwritten! Can you imagine going back to that?”
Another teacher said that there’s more contact between schools and parents nowadays, meaning serious issues are usually raised before report season, “whereas for some in the 90s, the report and parents evening were nearly the only contact they had with school”.
They ended: “In my view, the long, detailed school report itself is a bit of an anachronism now because of this change in the home-school dynamic.”
There’s been growing discontent with school reports for some time, both from teachers and parents. Back in 2015, The Guardian reported how both parties were increasingly unhappy with “robotic” school reports.
At the time, a deputy headteacher revealed in an op-ed how “many teachers no longer feel that they can tell parents what they really think about their children”.
We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about the fact that cloves and capers are both technically flower buds, while figs are technically inverted flowers.
(Don’t even get me started on their horrific historic relationship with wasps).
So, what about vanilla, which comes in a pod? I’ve never quite been sure whether it counts as a fruit, a vegetable, bean, or something else – never mind how it’s actually grown.
Where does vanilla come from?
Vanilla beans are not actually beans – they’re really the unripe fruit of an orchid. So, vanilla itself is a fruit.
The pods grow on the climbing plant of the flower’s vine. This long, thin fruit can grow up to 20cm long and can take up to nine months to mature.
They aren’t harvested when they’re fully ripe, though; vanilla is usually picked when its base turns golden-green.
These fruits barely have any smell when they’re picked. The famous vanilla scent comes from enzymatic reactions in the fruit as it’s cured.
Traditionally, the pods were steamed and cured in the sun for about 10 days before five to six months of drying. This process leads to tiny crystals called vanillin – responsible for that sweet smell and taste – forming on the surface of some pods.
The higher the grade of vanilla, the more of these crystals it may have.
Something similar happens to capers; when they’re cured and/or salted, they release mustard oil and rutin. That leads to their signature tang and the little white spots you sometimes see on their skin.
Why is vanilla so expensive?
The vanilla orchid is hand-pollinated, even to this day.
While they can be pollinated by insects, too, only one tiny species of bee is designed for the task. These don’t live in all the countries that produce vanilla, either.
And it’s not like the bees (or hand-pollinators) have got a huge window to do their jobs, either. Vanilla flowers tend to stay open for just six to eight hours at a time and usually only do so once a year.
Hand pollination is “an extremely tricky process done with a slim toothpick,” Kew Gardens explained.
After that’s done, you have to wait almost a year for a usable fruit.
The long curing process, along with “the practice of manual pollination, makes vanilla one of the most expensive spices (after saffron),” spice and extract company McCormick’s Science Institute said.
Is there fake vanilla?
Yes, lots of it. In fact, I’m now convinced I’ve never eaten real vanilla in my life.
Imitation vanilla is a far cheaper, though arguably less delicious, version of the flavour made from manufactured extracts.
Less than 1% of the world’s vanilla flavour (vanillin) comes from vanilla orchids, Scientific American said.
Other ways to achieve a similar taste involve guaiacol, a fragrant liquid made by distilling wood-tar creosote or tree resin. That’s responsible for about 85% of the world’s vanilla flavour.
And manufacturers use lignin for the rest, a substance found in things like cow manure and wood pulp.
So, Kew Gardens explained, “much of the ‘vanilla essence’ commonly used today is actually made from wood pulp or coal tar”.
When our daughter was preschool-aged, Princess Ariel dolls littered every room. Our once tranquil interior – a blend of coastal and cottage design – looked like an ill-kept aquarium full of plastic ornaments but no actual fish.
Our child dressed the part, too: Whether headed for the playground or grocery store, her tiny toes poked out beneath a sparkling green fishtail.
As a former clinical social worker, I knew imaginative play served an important role in child development, but I worried about the degree of fantasy we were helping her cultivate. I was also exhausted. While she twirled in a red wig, I was miscast in the role of Prince Eric. My throat ached from forcing a deep voice each day.
One evening, I found rose petals scattered around plastic doll furniture and knew a wedding ceremony was imminent, but I couldn’t bear another moment of make-believe. I begged my husband, Tomer, to take over.
“No way,” our daughter said. “Daddy’s no good at dolls. Mommy’s the best.”
It was a contest I wanted to lose, but never did. Tomer insisted he lacked creativity, but I suspected he was feigning incompetence to gain more personal time. When would I reclaim an adult life? His career was thriving, but I’d traded mine for full-time parenting.
Tomer tried to help out, but when left alone with our kid, he took her shopping for more toys. It was a strategy he employed to avoid actual playtime.
“I can’t sit on the floor,” he said. “It hurts my back.”
One morning, I found scissors beside a life-size styling head and followed a trail of synthetic hair into the bathroom, where red clumps clogged the toilet.
As I plunged the bowl, guilt churned my stomach. After all, I depended on their shopping sprees to catch a break. Determined to change course, I insisted Tomer try something new – maybe an art project – while seated comfortably at the table.
Later that afternoon, laughter echoed from the dining room. Were they crafting? Yes. It seemed a miracle until I looked up and saw toilet paper, probably three rolls of it, dangling from the chandelier.
“It’s a coral reef,” they explained.
Tomer winked. “I did the parts she couldn’t reach.”
Our daughter jumped around. “I did the rest all by myself.”
The “rest” amounted to stacked paper cups and piled pillows. A roll of alluminum foil covered our wood flooring to achieve water’s reflective quality. In the middle of the table was a silver-plated fork.
She beamed. “That’s Ariel’s hairbrush.”
I frowned. “That’s fancy cutlery.”
“That we never used,” Tomer said.
What could I say? The man had done as I’d asked. I went to bed feeling a mix of hope and dread.
By morning, the coral reef had grown. Paper cups climbed the stairs; alluminum foil lined the banister. I could’ve cleaned up or made them do it, but I lacked energy, so the reef kept expanding.
Photo Courtesy Of Jen Gilman Porat
Whatever our daughter didn’t own, she created from found materials. For a mermaid carnival, she sprinkled sugar on lint gathered from the clothes dryer and called it cotton candy. I couldn’t help but feel proud of her resourcefulness; moreover, since the mess was homemade, I thought things were improving.
Then, Disney released a new movie. Tomer took our daughter to see it, and when they returned, she ran straight to the chandelier and ripped off the toilet paper. As Scott Tissue drifted down, our kid shouted, “Let it snow!”
By nightfall, a new cast of characters moved in. For every Queen Elsa, there was also a Princess Anna. A single snowman named Olaf seemed to reproduce despite having no mate. Ariel’s ocean turned to ice, but our daughter still invited mermaids to every “Frozen”-themed event.
When I complained about the new purchases, Tomer pushed back. “It makes me happy to see her happy, and nothing makes her happier than another doll.”
But there was one night that Tomer seemed to share my concern. He came home hungry, peered into the refrigerator, and found nothing but dolls, apple juice and faux food.
“Olaf is hosting an ice cream social,” I explained.
“This is out of control,” he said.
“But look at her creativity.” I pointed at the bottom shelf, where she’d placed a sea monster molded from Play-Doh and green Jell-O.
Tomer sighed and ordered a pizza.
Our marriage dynamic resembled a seesaw. When one of us overindulged, the other would try and contain the madness. Then, we’d swap places all over again. Meanwhile, we never conquered the clutter, and I worried the mess amounted to worse than aesthetic harm.
“What if she ends up caring more about material possessions than human relationships?”
“She’s not going to care about toys forever,” Tomer said.
Photo Courtesy Of Jen Gilman Porat
Time proved him right. In late 2019, our daughter stopped playing. It seemed sudden and felt sad. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, and we got stuck at home with all those abandoned toys. Like everyone else, we ran low on toilet paper, too. Oftentimes, I caught myself gazing at the chandelier, longing for the backup supply that had once draped down.
Another month into lockdown, I learned through Facebook that a local family’s home had caught fire. Everyone survived, but they’d lost all their possessions.
Our daughter made an announcement. “Those kids need toys, and my toys need kids. I want to give everything away.”
Together, we moved her playthings outside the front door. Our daughter used ribbon to tie makeshift masks over every miniature mouth. She hid lollipops and Post-it notes inside Queen Elsa’s ice castle. “Enjoy! Stay safe!” Tears leaked from my eyes as she kissed each Olaf goodbye.
We watched from the window as a truck pulled into the driveway. Out popped the parents and their three kids. They ran toward the mountain of toys, and what had seemed like too much for one child instantly transformed into the perfect amount to share.
Our daughter grinned. “Look. They’re so happy.”
Her empathy exposed my foolishness. I’d wasted precious years worried that our daughter’s attachment to toys amounted to selfishness, but our daughter had always demonstrated kindness in all of her imagined scenarios. No doll was ever bullied or left out. I’d been focused on the cluttered surface and missed the deeper level where our child had been developing interpersonal skills and moral character all along.
Regret overwhelmed me. I wanted to go back, but of course, time kept moving forward.
Photo Courtesy Of Jen Gilman Porat
More recently, our daughter celebrated her Sweet 16. Before we started decorating, she insisted on removing the final traces of the coral reef: three plush mermaids were still hanging from the chandelier. They’d watched over our holiday meals for longer than a decade.
Today, the mermaid trio sits in my office. Maybe a future grandchild will spark generosity, but for now, they’re all mine. A source of inspiration whenever I’m facing a new challenge, I notice the pastel plushies decorating my bookshelf and am reminded to search for deeper meaning in whatever seems to be taking up too much time and space.
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Veteran news presenter Jon Snow has disclosed that he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
The 78-year-old shared during a new interview with the Daily Mail that he was told he had the disease, which is the most common form of dementia, four years ago.
He explained that he wanted to go public with his condition to raise awareness around Alzheimer’s, saying: “If I don’t speak out, who will?”
Jon will dive deeper into living with Alzheimer’s in a new film, Jon Snow: A Last Big Story, which will air on Channel 4 on Saturday 20 June.
Having stepped down from Channel 4 News in 2021, after more than 30 years with the broadcaster, he came out of retirement for his latest project, which saw him investigating the aftermath of a mining disaster in Zambia.
In the film, Jon is heard saying: “At the beginning I wanted to hide [my diagnosis], there’s so much prejudice. Any sort of hint of mental decay, you’re sort of dead.
“There are moments when it pops up but it’s not an all day every day condition, and that’s what I cling onto.”
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Jon’s wife, Dr Precious Lunga, said: “Life doesn’t end with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, but it changes dramatically. You can have Alzheimer’s and still be a valuable member of society but you need support to navigate it.”
The Bafta Fellowship recipient began his career in journalism at LBC in the 1970s, before he moved to ITN, serving as its Washington correspondent and diplomatic editor.
In 1989, he then made the jump to Channel 4 News, where he remained until the early 2020s.
The CEO of Alzheimer’s Society, Michelle Dyson, said: “Jon’s decision to talk publicly about his dementia diagnosis is a real act of courage and his story will resonate with so many.
“His support for Alzheimer’s Society will help spark a national conversation about dementia that we so desperately need. Despite being the UK’s biggest killer, dementia is still not treated with the same urgency as other major health conditions like cancer.
“Alongside his wife Precious, Jon is shining a light on the need for faster, fairer access to diagnosis. An early diagnosis can unlock vital support, help families plan ahead and potentially open the door to participation in clinical trials.
“Yet too many people across the country are still waiting far too long for a diagnosis. We look forward to working with Jon, whose long-standing commitment to speaking out against injustice will help ensure the harsh realities of dementia cannot be ignored by the UK Government and the NHS.”
On 2 June, Nigel Farage gave a speech in which he called on Britons to react with “pure, cold rage”. He said this in response to the conviction of Sikh murderer Vickrum Digwa, and to a recording of how the police treated his victim Henry Nowak. On the same day that Farage made his speech, a white riot erupted in Southampton; since then, Sikhs have face increased harassment.
Clearly, Farage is banking on more Britons than not buying into his violent rhetoric. According to a new poll, however, things aren’t going how he planned:
Kemi Badenoch received the most positive ratings for her response to the Henry Nowak case (+12 after rounding). Yet perhaps most striking is how many voters remain undecided or don't know. pic.twitter.com/3ACVaCBT91
— Opinium (@OpiniumResearch) June 6, 2026
Latest Opinium @ObserverUK poll
Nigel Farage received the lowest (-6).
Farage — Incitement
After the initial backlash, Farage warned that the white riots we saw in Southampton were “just the beginning”. Obviously, those who thought Farage incited the riots saw this as a threat, and with clear reason. His argument for it being “just the beginning” was this:
large numbers of young white males think the police are prejudiced against them.
Oh, do they?
And why do they think that?
Is it because you’re telling them that, despite all evidence pointing to the opposite being true?
The police officers who handcuffed the stabbed Nowak committed the grossest of gross misconduct, but suggesting this one incident completely invalidates decades of evidence on racist policing is willful incitement.
Farage’s cynical reasons for riling up the far right are obvious. In the Makerfield by-election, Reform UK is facing a challenge from its right – specifically from Restore Britain. Reform politicians are trying to neutralise this challenge by presenting themselves as even more far-right than their rival.
Response
In the Opinium poll, more people than not disapprove of Keir Starmer’s response too. Starmer’s response was fairly measured, but it’s predictable that the public would react negatively, because he’s a polarising figure.
Zack Polanski also attracted more disapproval than approval, albeit with a significantly lower levels for each. This is likely because Polanski didn’t make an obvious play for political capital, and with good reason. After all, this is what the father of Henry Nowak said following the conviction of Digwa:
Henry Nowak’s father said the following earlier:
“We want to use Henry’s heartbreaking story to make change for the better. We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to help make our streets safer for everyone.“
These…
— Simon Harris (@SimonHarrisMBD) June 1, 2026
The fact that Farage ignored these words no doubt added to the negative response against him.
The only politician above to attract more approval than disapproval was Kemi Badenoch. As we reported, though, Badenoch was every bit as dishonest as Farage; she was simply less violent with her rhetoric.
Specifically, we took issue with Badenoch saying she’s tired of people arguing about ‘whether Black or white lives matter more’:
Of course, this was never the message of the Black Lives Matter movement. Badenoch is suggesting otherwise because she — like Farage — is a liar and an opportunist.
The Black Lives Matter movement sprung up in response to racist policing in the US. These police officers were responsible for a disproportionate number of Black deaths, giving the impression that Black lives were less important than white lives in the eye of the American state. The slogan, then, was created to state that Black people’s lives do matter – not that they matter more than anyone else’s.
The fact that Badenoch was able to make this case without being corrected shows how effective the anti-Black propaganda has been since the 2020 BLM marches. And make no mistake; it’s precisely this sort of propaganda which has driven voters towards Reform UK.
As Opinium also notes, the majority of voters ticked ‘neither’ or ‘don’t know’. This suggests many simply aren’t tuned into the culture wars which are raging every day on social media.
Polarising
According to one poll, Reform and Restore currently occupy the second and third places in the Makerfield by-election. Obviously it’s grim that so many Britons are willing to offer their support to the far-right. At the same time, the people who don’t support Reform really don’t support Reform. Farage’s big challenge, then, isn’t going to be any one party; it’s going to be tactical voting.
We’ve become accustomed to thinking Reform is doing ‘well’ despite appealing to fewer than a third of all voters:
Via @findoutnowUK, 4 June (+/- vs 27 May) pic.twitter.com/ME032l3BiA
— Stats for Lefties
POLL | Reform lead by 10pts
Ref: 27% (+2)
Grn: 17% (-2)
Con: 17% (-1)
Lab: 15% (-1)
Lib: 11% (-1)
(@LeftieStats) June 5, 2026
Many of the 70%+ who can’t stand Reform are going to be working to keep the party out. And the more Farage doubles down on white supremacy, the truer that will be.
Featured image via Ryan Jenkinson (Getty Images) / Finnbarr Webster (Getty Images)
By Willem Moore
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Jacob Rees-Mogg has argued that the Tories should step down for Reform UK in the Makerfield by-election. The problem with his argument is that Reform seemingly wants to replace the Tories, and so any attempt to work with them will just benefit Farage:
Jacob Rees Mogg says the right needs to work together, and a vote for Restore in Makerfield will lead to Burnham winning (who he describes as a hard left semi-Corbynista!) pic.twitter.com/SctCXo1iRA
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) June 7, 2026
Reform, Restore, replace
In the clip above, Kuenssberg puts the following to Rees-Mogg:
Nigel Farage had a big fallout with a man called Rupert Lowe, who was a reform MP, and he set up [Restore Britain]. Do you think there’s a risk that Reform might lose because of that fallout and the right splits?
Kuenssberg was referencing the fact that Restore could be the difference between Reform or Labour winning the Makerfield by-election:
Via @Survation, 1 June (+/- vs 22 May) pic.twitter.com/IXTHwUTabh — Stats for Lefties
POLL | Burnham expands lead in Makerfield:
Lab: 49% (+6) Ref: 39% (-1)
Res: 8% (+1) Grn: 2% (-1) Lib: 1% (-3) Con: 1% (-1)
(@LeftieStats) June 5, 2026
The right split isn’t happening because of a personal beef between two men; it’s happening because of the growing contradictions between Reform UK’s rhetoric and its actions.
As an example of this, take Zia Yusuf. Yusuf is one of Reform’s most prominent politicians, and he’s constantly arguing that white people are the most oppressed group in the UK:
Structural anti-white racism is embedded in British policing pic.twitter.com/kGAiu5PDnT
— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) June 3, 2026
If you’re a far-right voter who buys into this, why would you vote for the party with Zia Yusuf and Suella Braverman in it? Why wouldn’t you vote for the all-white Restore Britain, which is more obviously following through on Reform’s propaganda?
If you are that sort of voter, no doubt you’ve been trained to believe every prominent Black or Muslim person in the UK got where they are at the expense of a more qualified white person. Yusuf has literally made the argument himself:
The NHS will shortly be more than 50% staffed by ethnic minorities.
So the army of DEI officers on princely salaries – presumably their sole focus is to hire more white people?
What am I missing?
We need a return to merit based hiring, and anything other than that must be made… — Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) January 29, 2025
How did Yusuf not understand how easily this would be turned against him?
Reform politicians have also argued that the sight of Black and Asian people on the TV should make a person apoplectic:
Sarah Pochin MP: “It drives me mad seeing adverts full of black and Asian people.”
Caller Stuart in London asks the Reform MP if her party will do anything about the 'representation of demographics in TV adverts'.@petercardwell | @SarahForRuncorn pic.twitter.com/RivnW1tusj
— Talk (@TalkTV) October 25, 2025
Reform think they can create an environment in which voters are hopping mad at the sight of prominent non-white people, but also that they’ll gleefully vote for Yusuf and Braverman.
Restore have realised this isn’t wholly the case.
And this is why the British far-right has split.
Delusional
Back to the interview, Rees-Mogg responded:
Well, I keep on banging on that the right should come together. We need to work out how we can cooperate to win elections like this. There’s a by-election in Aberdeen South going on at the same time. What I suggested is the Tories should help reform in Makerfield in return for reform helping us in Aberdeen South. That If we could win both of those, that would be very positive for the small C Conservatives in British politics.
And I think Restore, Restore vote is a wasted vote. I mean, it is not helping anybody.
First things first, Reform UK clearly aren’t “small C Conservatives”. We’re talking about a party which threatened to build detention centres in the constituencies of those who refused to vote Reform; not a party which is looking to rein-in the deficit a bit.
Secondly, Rees-Mogg is off his penny farthing if he thinks this idea is going to benefit the Tories. The reason Reform is doing well is because the party has done to the Tories what Restore is now doing to Reform. Successive Tory prime ministers talked a big game on being anti-migration while simultaneously increasing migration. This created space for a party to their right to call out the contradictions and to capitalise on them.
While the Tories are greatly diminished, the reason they’ve retained any sort of vote share is because not every Tory vibes with the uncouth Farage or the army of shitheads who worship him. Should the Tories start validating Reform by entering into electoral pacts, they’d be at risk of losing what voters they have left.
In other words, Rees-Mogg is either considerably less intelligent than his education might suggest, or he’s working to promote Farage’s interests. And there are other signs that he is indeed Farage’s man:
Just Jacob Rees-Mogg making excuses for Nigel Farage's words which led to rioting in Southampton after the death of Henry Nowak pic.twitter.com/Kvym4Th2g5
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) June 7, 2026
Divide and divide again
It’s worth noting that the contradictions which have become glaringly apparent in the Tories and Reform aren’t unique to them. Restore is also facing criticism for failing to follow through on its promise of ‘blood and soil’ white supremacy – specifically for working with the Pakistani-born Ben Habib:
I love it when nazis have a meltdown.
They're kicking off because Rupert Lowe invited Ben Habib to campaign with him https://t.co/qntI6ZxMvB
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) June 6, 2026
Reactionary right-wing politics are just that – a reaction to whatever’s happening. And in their cynical attempts to rile up voters, all of these parties are at risk of collapsing in on themselves.
The duty of anyone who actually cares about this country is to help ensure the collapse happens sooner rather than later.
Featured image via Ian Forsyth (Getty Images) / Alishia Abodunde (Getty Images) / Ryan Jenkinson (Getty Images)
By Willem Moore
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