London baby banks issue plea for nappies amid shortage
It is appealing for donations of newborn nappies, size one nappies and baby wipes at its hubs.The charity said that it had provided 64% more packs of nappies in the first half of 2025 than in the same time period in 2024.
Renata Acioli, a baby bank manager at Little Village, said: "I meet families who are doing everything they can but still don't have enough in their pockets to cover the most essential items for their baby."It breaks my heart hearing stories of mums and dads having to resort to nappy and formula rationing."On average, a newborn uses about 10 nappies a day, meaning families typically go through about three packs a week.
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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Richard Bacon reveals he's now reliant on heartburn tablets and vitamin injections to cope with the fallout from his heavy drinking - and quit AA because it's 'boring'
Richard Bacon has opened up about his long-running struggle with alcohol addiction - admitting he's sleep-deprived and reliant on heartburn tablets and vitamin injections to cope with the fallout from heavy drinking. Richard was famously just 18 months into his dream job at Blue Peter when he was fired at the age of 22 after admitting he took cocaine in a London nightclub in 1997. He has since been open about his continuing addiction struggles, recently opening up in a candid podcast chat. The presenter, now 49, said that he struggles to take accountability after a doctor told him his addiction is a disease inherited from his alcoholic mother. 'I went to see an alcohol doctor not long ago,' he said in the chat. 'I'm not out of control or anything, but I do think I should drink less. It affects your sleep and I get bored of being tired. 'I don't get enough sleep because I drink too much. I enjoy drinking.' Speaking on The Perfect Day podcast with Jessica Knappett, he added: 'You know you drink too much when you have a lot of Rennie. You know you're middle aged and you drink too much and you're popping those things.' The father-of-two also confessed to a regular habit of having vitamin B12 injections to cope with the after-effects of drinking too much. 'A vitamin B12 injection in your bum is famously good for hangovers. It brings you back to life,' he said. 'At the end of last year and for the first few months of this year, I had one a week. I've got this doctor - he's a bit like Michael Jackson's doctor - he just gives me anything I ask for.' 'At one point I had eight prescriptions and there wasn't really much wrong with me. He's just like, 'you're a bit deficient in this, bit deficient in that. Bit of this, bit of that.' A lot of it's sort of vitamin based, but weirdly prescription based. But it did work… He's terrific.' Richard was sacked from children's TV programme Blue Peter in 1998 after admitting to taking cocaine. To this day he is the only presenter in the history of the show to have been sacked. 'I got a Blue Peter job at 21 and then lost it at 22 and it was a big scandal at the time,' Richard reflected. 'I suppose there's something about getting caught for taking drugs where you can just come back, can't you? It's not one of the worst ones. 'There are far worse ones that make you look like a malicious person. If you beat someone up, do something aggressively sexual, say something racist... those reveal something about you that people don't like. I think the desire to get drunk and get high is something people generally can get over.' Now a successful creator of TV formats and the man behind shows like This Is My House and I Literally Just Told You, Richard admits his lifestyle can still get in the way. 'What I find annoying about myself is if I have a night of not drinking, I'll go into the office - I work on ideas... and I'll just have so much energy, and I'll be better at it.' Despite still drinking regularly, he added he ditched Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) because he found the meetings 'boring'. 'I've gone through loads of periods of stopping, and I've done periods of AA. I admire AA. It's a strange combination of people telling the most dramatic stories you've ever heard that I find really boring. I'm not even joking.' He recalled one meeting in Chelsea with several famous faces in the room. 'This guy was telling this story - he'd come out of prison and he'd gone to prison because he'd got high and he'd stolen a car and he was chased by a police helicopter then he drove through a police barricade. And I remember just sitting there checking my watch going, 'boring!' 'Imagine someone you know telling you that story? But somehow it's just one dramatic story after another, and it became a bit numb to it.' Despite this, he praised the 'generosity' of long-term sober members who continue to attend meetings seemingly to help others. 'If I'd been sober for 15 years, I wouldn't still be going to AA, and listening to more stories,' he said. 'I think for some of them, they are fairly certain they won't drink again but they do want to help. So it's a very positive place. It just didn't work for me.' Richard, who said he was diagnosed with 'a particularly strong strain of ADHD' aged 42, recently consulted a specialist about why he drinks so much - and was told he inherited the destructive tendency. 'My mum's basically an alcoholic. My granddad died of alcoholism. He went, 'Well that's why, it's just genetics.' 'I said, some people think it's the result of childhood trauma or something you've been running away from or not dealt with. And he was like, 'Nah, it's just genetics. It's a disease.' 'So now I think I can just say to my wife: it's not my fault! It's grandad's fault. It's mum's fault.' He added: 'I drink and I enjoy it and I don't seem to get in trouble so it's fine. It's not so much that I'm worried about being dangerous. I just the calories and the sleep. That bit is annoying.' To slash calories in his drink, he said, he avoids beer and red wine and sticks to vodka - particularly in the form of a martini with a twist. 'When you go to a bar and order vodka and they go, what sort of vodka do you want? I think they all taste the same! It's so irrelevant.' The former Radio 5 Live and Capital FM host lives in north London with his wife Rebecca McFarlane and their two children, Arthur, 13, and Ivy, 11. He admits parenthood didn't quite sober him up the way people might expect. '[Rebecca] had always wanted to be a mum,' he explained. 'So it was a really wonderful thing, but I think she looks back with disappointment at me at that time because I was still going out and not pulling my weight and coming in late. 'I think those first few years, I didn't snap into what you're kind of required to do quickly enough. So there was too much of a burden on her.' He continued: 'I hadn't wanted to be a parent until I met her, and then we fell in love really intensely. And she would talk about kids a lot, and that made me think, oh, right, OK. 'I recently tried to imagine having another baby... I'm so pleased I'm out of that phase. Rebecca did the real work here, but it is definitely harder than people say. 'No one really says how hard it is. They're constantly relying on me to keep them alive. It's like, f***ing hell. When they're young - two, three, four - they're flat out annoying.'
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Is YOUR wife a secret narcissist? Expert reveals how symptoms differ in women - but are no less toxic
A narcissism expert has shared examples of how the personality disorder manifests in women, and the signs that there might be a female narcissist in your family. Psychotherapist Kathleen Saxton has spent years writing about narcissism, and in her forthcoming book, My Parent The Peacock, she digs deeper into how people with the personality disorder inflict pain and chaos on their loved ones. Writing in Stylist, she explained that while narcissism is usually seen as a male-centric condition, it affects women too—but how they behave is totally different to the actions you'd usually associate with a narc man. This, she says, is because 'its classic diagnostic criteria—grandiosity, need for admiration, lack of empathy—align with traditionally masculine behaviours'. Because of this, there's a lack in 'both clinical recognition and public understanding, and it means many female narcissists are left 'hidden in the shadows'. Dr Saxton writes that female narcissists often display behaviour which is seen as 'feminine', but is actually a smokescreen for manipulation and control. She said: 'For decades, narcissism has carried a distinctly masculine shadow. 'Popular culture often casts narcissists as dominant, arrogant, manipulative men – think Wall Street tycoons, cult leaders or domineering romantic partners. 'Now consider a female narcissist. She may appear self-sacrificing, constantly 'helping' or 'mothering' her partner in ways that undermine their autonomy. 'She may weaponise vulnerability, play the victim or use passive-aggression to control the relationship. 'These behaviours, while equally manipulative, are less often labelled as narcissistic because they conform to feminine stereotypes.' Dr Saxton added that stereotypically 'feminine' traits are usually looked at through a rose-tinted lens, giving women narcissists even more opportunity to act out unchecked. 'Culturally, we are conditioned to see women as nurturers, carers and emotional empaths—gentle by default and giving to a fault,' she said. 'Traits like neediness or emotionality are more likely to be excused or romanticised than recognised as controlling. 'But these stereotypes are not only misleading – they are dangerous. 'They obscure the reality that narcissism in women can be just as emotionally corrosive as it is in men, albeit through more covert means.' Dr Saxton was also keen to explain that when operating within a family dynamic, there is a stark difference between male and female narcissists, adding that both genders 'often cloak control in performative devotion, creating psychological confusion and trauma for their children'. While a narcissistic father often runs a household with an iron fist—'authoritarian to the point of cruelty or emotionally distant to the point of neglect'—a narcissistic mother demonstrates totally different behaviours. Dr Saxton said: 'She may control through guilt, enmeshment or martyrdom. 'She may claim to 'live for her children' while eroding their boundaries and identities in the name of love. 'She may compete with her daughter or infantilise her son. But society resists naming this abuse because it conflicts with idealised notions of motherhood.' It's estimated that around 1 in 20 people in the UK have a diagnosis of the mental disorder narcissistic personality disorder, but the number of people who display narcissistic traits remains unknown. According to the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, about 7.7 per cent of men versus 4.8 per cent of women in clinical care are diagnosed as having a narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissists can be can be manipulative, controlling, volatile and emotionally abusive, and they may withhold love and compassion from their partners or children. The unpleasant personality trait is characterised as a tendency to be self-centred, have a grandiose sense of self, lack of empathy and a need for admiration. Those who exhibit narcissistic tendencies are more likely to develop mental health problems, have relationship difficulties and struggle with substance abuse, studies show.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Tool could help improve your fitness in just 30 minutes
An early trial suggests a small device that stimulates a major nerve connecting the heart and brain could help improve fitness. The device, clipped to the outer ear, sends gentle electrical pulses to increase the activity of the vagus nerve, which regulates heart function. Wearing the stimulator for just 30 minutes a day for a week increased oxygen intake during exercise by 4 per cent in healthy volunteers. The study, led by researchers at University College London and Queen Mary University of London, involved 28 healthy volunteers and was published in the European Heart Journal. While larger trials are needed, researchers hope the device could one day be used to improve fitness, reduce inflammation, and potentially aid people with heart conditions.
