🗞️ So what happened last week?

⚖️ New justice reforms have been proposed, and everything is on the table

🎅 Putting our squabbles aside to focus on the meaning of Christmas

🇬🇧 No squabble required

🍸️ License to Stall. Wondering when your next dose of 007 is coming? Us too. And it looks like we’ll be waiting awhile. Barbara Broccoli, who has creative control (and must’ve been teased growing up), is at a stalemate with Amazon, who owns distribution rights after it bought MGM in 2021. Broccoli distrusts Amazon’s algorithmic reliance and called them “f**king idiots.”

🃏 Betting my juice box on 23 Red. Roblox, an online game popular with kids 12yo and younger, is under scrutiny. Illegal online casinos set up shop in the online world, and some children became addicted. The Gambling Commission has finally stepped in and blocked the casinos in the UK, but parents should stay vigilant.

💷 No pay-out for Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality). Caught out by the changes to pension age, they have been campaigning for compensation. Unfortunately, they lost their fight, as the gov’t simply stated they can’t afford the payout.

🌎️ The rest of the world… according to us

🇩🇪 Das ist nicht gut. Germany had a rough week. Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence, putting the gov’t into a turmoil until new elections in Feb. And then in a tragic incident in Madgeburg, a man drove his car into a crowded Christmas Market killing multiple people, injuring hundreds. Motives are still unknown.

⚽️ Go… o… (wait for it) o…a…l…! Americans will be viewing the Women’s World Cup on Netflix in 2027 and 2031. FIFA agreed to give the streaming giant exclusive rights in the U.S., but people are raising eyebrows after the disastrous live stream of the Tyson vs Paul boxing match that was riddled with pixelation and buffering issues.

🇫🇷 “Shame must change sides.” These inspiring words from Gisèle Pelicot speaks volumes of her courage, which were spoken during the rape trial that rocked a nation. Her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, was found guilty of drugging and raping his wife for over a decade, while inviting at least 51 others to participate and who have also been convicted. Dominique was sentenced to the maximum 20 years. Gisèle, vous inspirez l'admiration.

🍎 Healthier habits, happier you

💉 No butts, the NHS means it! It doesn’t matter how cheap or all-inclusive the offer is. The NHS is warning you not to get “too good to be true” deals on Brazilian Butt Lifts (BBL). It has the highest death rate of all cosmetic procedures as the fat injected into the buttocks can lead to fatal complications. Sorry, Sir Mix-A-Lot!

😬 No “clap” at the gym. We’re here to tell you, despite trending rumours… for heaven’s sake, you can’t catch an STI from someone not wiping the equipment. Didn’t we already stamp out this “false news” in the 80s or 90s? Not wiping down the treadmill is gross, but it won’t cause a trip to the GP. The clue is in the name, people!

🧦 The odd sock

🐵 Monkey-ing about? Robbie Williams life story has been turned into a film. It’s life through his eyes dealing with family, drug addiction, relationships, and bandmates. Oh btw, he’s played by a chimp. And no, the ‘why’ never comes up in the film. 🤔

🟥 UNO! The geeks have been enjoying a renaissance in recent years - great sci-fi movies, great video games, and now, a resurgence in table top gaming (think board games, card games, dice or tile games), and in particular the comeback of game piece figurines. Better get painting! 🖌️ 

⭐️ Recommendations by Meridyth

Revolut, one of the more successful neobanks, has received its fair share of side-eye (Alister: They aren’t a full UK bank yet, they still have limitations…). Scammers have been targeting Revolut’s customers, posing as employees and tricking them into giving up account information, only to have thousands siphoned away. And customers are left helpless, because Revolut doesn’t have a dedicated phone line to report these issues right away and refuse to take accountability.

So why am I even recommending Revolut? Well, it’s not to put money into their account, that’s for sure. But the perks with their Metal plan are far too generous to not take advantage!

For just £14.99/month for Revolut Metal, I get a standard digital subscription to the FT, which costs £39/month. That alone is worth it for me and why I signed up. But as a Metal subscriber, you also get 10 ClassPass credits per month (equal to about 2-3 classes), a limited Masterclass membership, free Perplexity Pro (ChatGPT rival), Picsart (photo retouching), Headspace (meditation app), Uber One (but you need to use Revolut for payment) and other a bunch of other perks.

And before you ask… no, we are in no way paid for this recommendation.

🤣 What do you meme? 

What is a “raw milkmaid dress”???

There is a trend in conservative circles and on TikTok where women are extolling the virtues of being a Tradwife (aka traditional wife) and embracing traditional gender roles. So a conservative magazine Evie jumped on the bandwagon to launch their "raw milkmaid dress” touting its “100% feminine energy.”

The problem is… their conservative readers are complaining about how much cleavage is being shown on the women models. And non-conservative readers are relishing in the controversy! (Alister: You’ve just given me my Christmas conversation starter 🤣)

While I don’t have a problem with the cleavage - ‘you do you’ is my motto, my issue is with the name “raw milkmaid dress.” Why you need to include the word “raw” is absolutely lost on me. It just makes it weird. 🥴 

Whew, you made it!

2 more days until Christmas! We hope you’ve made Santa’s good list and join us again next week when we close out the year with another squabble!

Alister & Meridyth