The Chelsea Frock Show: the best looks
It was once just for Sloane Rangers and Home Counties green-finger-philes, but these days the Chelsea Flower Show is as much of a fashion as flora and fauna showcase — if you know where to look.
Weed through the thick hedgerows of floral midis and denim jackets and this vibrant corner of SW3 can prove fertile ground for wearable, on-point summer trends. Yes, frocks are still very much the uniform — but which styles are right for now take root here. On opening day there were plenty of equally easy alternatives, too: trouser suits, co-ords and elegant linens.
The most exclusive accessory? A posh pooch. Only certain VIPs were allowed to bring their furry best friends to visit Monty Don's hound-centric garden this morning, and
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The Sun
32 minutes ago
- The Sun
I was thrilled to get Aldi's reformer pilates machine that's £1.7k cheaper – but one annoying issue has me returning it
SHOPPERS raced to snap up Aldi's reformer pilates machine, which was £1.75k cheaper than the original version. However, one pilates fan has shared why she has already returned the bargain £149.99 device to the supermarket. 6 6 6 Eimear Hanlon uploaded a video showing her wheeling the machine into her local Aldi, with the caption: 'It's return time.' The TikToker, who posts under @eimearohanlon, explained why she wasn't satisfied with the product, which arrived in stores a week ago. She explained that hers was a 'lil faulty', saying: 'I am a pilates instructor, bought it to try and see what it was like as it could've been a great alternative to those who don't have 6K. 'The rubber kept coming off the wheels, back to the mat I go.' Many people were quick to chime in and say it wasn't the first time they had seen people posting about it. One wrote: 'Seen so many videos saying theirs broke.' However, others said they were desperate to buy one for themselves. One person who managed to get hold of one has revealed their 'honest' review after assembling it and doing their first workout. Toni Jeffrey uploaded a video captioned 'is it worth the hype' and broke down its features one-by-one. On her @toni_jeffrey account, she gave the machine a solid seven out of 10 and said it was a good reformer machine for someone like her who 'hasn't got a scoobys' but wants to 'improve flexibility.' Shocking moment chaos erupts in Aldi store as shoppers fight over viral £150 Pilates machine She said she was 'happy' with her purchase as it has 'all the basic features' and is 'definitely value for money', with the machine setting her back £149.99. Some shoppers who missed out in their store were left fuming to spot the machines being resold for £500 on eBay - and others got in fights to secure one in store. However, Toni was honest about the pros and cons of her new workout device. One of the negatives was that she nearly trapped her fingers three times while adjusting the resistance. 6 6 She also didn't love the strap length adjusters, calling them 'annoying' as you have to one at a time and one of hers was 'slightly longer than the other.' She was also concerned about the quality of the material, saying she thought 'wear and tears would be visible after a while.' She added: 'The fabric isn't the best (you're getting what you paid for I suppose, it's doing the job.' However, she liked the 'comfortable straps', the fact it was 'easy to assemble' and that the foot bar is 'extremely sturdy.' She also praised the length for her being 5ft 7, but said if you are really tall you may struggle. 6 Overall, she was happy with her purchase but advised that if you are a serious pilates girl that you save for a better alternative. With the original reformer pilates machine costing £1899.99, it is no wonder that shoppers raced to buy Aldi's £149.99 version last weekend. Aldi's purse-friendly machine arrived in stores a week ago and has adaptable resistance levels with five resistance bands and adjustable height settings. As with all Aldi Specialbuys, once they're gone, they're gone, so head to stores quickly if you want to grab them. The 5 best exercises to lose weight By Lucy Gornall, personal trainer and health journalist EXERCISE can be intimidating and hard to devote yourself to. So how do you find the right workout for you? As a PT and fitness journalist, I've tried everything. I've taken part in endless fitness competitions, marathons and I maintain a regime of runs, strength training and Pilates. Fitness is so entrenched in my life, I stick to it even at Christmas! The key is finding an activity you love that can become a habit. My top five forms of exercise, especially if you're trying to lose weight, are: Walking Running Pilates High-intensity interval training (HIIT) Strength training
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Fun, flirty and far too short: why did Ncuti Gatwa leave Doctor Who so soon?
At the weekend, Doctor Who attempted to pull off the holy grail of a surprise regeneration, with Billie Piper appearing to step into the shoes of the departing 15th Doctor Ncuti Gatwa in a move that, unless you are constantly online in the fandom rumour mills, would have come as a shock. Gatwa's exit gives him one of the shortest ever tenures in a role that has been a fixture of British television for more than six decades. Fresh from making waves in Sex Education, 32-year-old Gatwa is young and beautiful in a way that the Doctor has not always been. His incarnation of the Time Lord delivered scenes it is hard to imagine most of the other actors inhabiting – whether that was him clubbing, pulling off a 1960s dance number, using a glitter-canon to fly through space, or saying 'babes' a lot. The first Black man to lead the show, his era of Doctor Who sensitively explored him visiting periods of Earth's history where his skin colour would have an impact, such as the south of the US in the segregation era in Lux where he was not welcome, and Lagos in Nigeria during playwright Inua Ellams' The Story and the Engine, where he said he felt he very much was. The show was also uncompromising about this Doctor being queer, almost instantly falling for Jonathan Groff's character in Bridgerton tribute Rogue in a way that the unrequited love of Mandip Gill's Yaz for Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor only awkwardly tiptoed around. But perhaps the thing that most characterised Gatwa's Doctor was his open displays of emotion – showing on screen that he was not afraid to cry. However, the device was probably overused. Seeing the self-styled 'last of the Time Lords' cry over the death of a character we have barely met, as happened with Sasha 55 in The Robot Revolution, was meant to show the audience she was important to him, but it felt as if the frequent tears cheapened the other times we have seen the character weep. Part of the Doctor's character is that they need to sometimes feel dangerous to the audience. This is to make it clear that while they may appear human and enjoy the company of humans, they are also close to being an omnipotent immortal being, who usually chooses to use those powers for good, but not always. His howl of despair at the racist society in Dot and Bubble not wanting to be saved by him was raw, and we also got to see those kinds of scenes from Gatwa in The Interstellar Song Contest. Despite having the lightness of internet viral sensation Dugga Doo in it, it was a dark story from Juno Dawson with a message about genocide and terrorism that featured scenes of the Doctor torturing Kid (Freddie Fox). The show sometimes feels stuck between a rock and a hard place in the modern era. It has to compete in a streaming environment where grownup fans also watch shows such as Andor or The Last of Us and compare it directly with those. The BBC though is also still trying to make a show whose primary purpose is to be broadcast on Saturday evening on BBC One for a communal multigenerational family audience gathered around the TV. And that is an audience that is increasingly vanishing in houses with multiple screens and multiple viewing options. Gatwa's era also seemed to be riding two slightly conflicting horses. Russell T Davies returned as showrunner with the nostalgia rush of having David Tennant and Catherine Tate back in the Tardis for three 60th anniversary specials, then promised a softish reboot with the aim of picking up new audiences and starting afresh as 'Season one' with a new Disney+ international distribution deal. But he also opted to bring back companions from the 1960s and 1980s, and have the return of niche villains and enemies that necessitated flashbacks to episodes from the 1970s, which didn't exactly scream 'accessible'. The eight episode series length is also causing pacing issues. If you accept that the first and final two episodes make up the bulk of the series arc, then you only have five episodes to play with. Once you have done a couple of experimental 'bottle' episodes, and one Doctor-lite episode, there really isn't much time to get to know a Doctor and their companion simply hanging out having adventures in time and space. And a single misfiring episode – last year's finale Empire of Death was widely regarded in fandom as not having stuck the landing – is an eighth of the season. Two misfiring episodes is a quarter of the season. There is no room in the present format for mid-tier Doctor Who stories. It always feels as if it is too soon to say goodbye to an incarnation of a Doctor, but we only got 19 episodes with Gatwa, and of those he shared The Giggle – and his clothes – with Tennant, and in three of them (73 Yards, Dot and Bubble, Lucky Day) he barely appeared at all. He also becomes the first Doctor since Paul McGann – whose main appearance was the one-off TV movie in 1996 – not to face the Daleks, the most iconic Doctor Who monster of all. Gatwa's Doctor was fun, flirty and full of joy, but it is difficult not to conclude that we hadn't seen enough of him in the role, and now we never will.
Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Is this the worst bottomless brunch in the country? Woman blasts £50-a-head breakfast restaurant for serving 'freezing food' on 'dirty plates' and 'failing to provide meal for a Coeliac'
A woman has slammed a Liverpool restaurant for serving 'the worst bottomless brunch ever', complaining of 'freezing' food, 'dirty plates', and the failure to provide a gluten-free meal. Katie G, took to TikTok to share her 'terrible' experience dining at Liberté, a rooftop restaurant based in Liverpool. She claimed she and her friends were treated 'rudely' by managers, who failed to apologise after a gluten-free meal they had ordered never arrived. Katie said she and a group of friends had recently booked to visit the rooftop restaurant, each paying £50 each to enjoy limitless boozy cocktails. But the group but were left horrified after the non gluten-free options arrived 'freezing' on 'dirty' plates, describing the response from staff as 'appalling'. The Liverpool-based venue offers 90-minute bottomless brunch bookings that include bottomless cocktails and platters of tapas style dishes. However, once the group were seated and the drinks started flowing, Jess's gluten-free meal failed to turn up and, despite asking several members of staff for it, never arrived. Sharing the story on social media, Katie has since amassed more than three million views on the video, with thousands of outraged viewers taking to the comments to express their views, including one who called it 'discrimination' against people with Coeliac disease. Liberté did not respond to request for comment. Detailing the ordeal in a TikTok video, Katie said: 'I had quite literally the worst bottomless brunch ever', adding that she was 'not usually one to complain about things', but had been left no choice after the 'terrible' experience. 'I've worked in hospitality so I know how things can go wrong,' she said. Upon arriving at the venue, the group were asked by the server if anyone had an allergies which they needed to take into account, to which they explained that their friend, Jess, was Coeliac. The server then informed the kitchen of the request and 'it seemed like everything was fine'. But things quickly went pear-shaped when the first dishes of non gluten-free sharing platter arrived on 'dirty plates', which the group asked to exchange for clean ones. However, when the served returned with new plates, they were also 'dirty'. Katie said the food that did arrive was 'freezing cold'. 'It wasn't even a bit cold, it was freezing. It had obviously been sat in the back for ages before they served,' she said. Katie said she initially hesitated to complain about the cold food and dirty plates, saying she hadn't wanted to have to wait even longer for their meals to arrive. As the group tucked into their food, Jess, who had ordered the gluten-free, waited for a further half an hour before nudging the server to ask where her food was. Meanwhile, the rest of the restaurant were in full party mode, as saxophonists and musicians began performing, encouraging the customers to get up and dance. Katie and her friends asked an additional two servers when the gluten-free main would be arriving and were told it would be 'one minute' on each occasion. But as the 90-minute brunch slot came to a close, it was clear the meal wasn't leaving the kitchen. 'They were bringing out plastic cups for us to put our alcohol in and Jess still doesn't have her food,' Katie explained. 'At this point we were so angry because we weren't going to get up and start enjoying ourselves and leave Jess at the table waiting for her food because three members of staff had told us food was on its way. 'The whole point of a bottomless brunch is that you have food,' she fumed, adding that Jess had even decided to stop drinking in the fears that she would get 'absolutely paralytic' on an empty stomach. Having not received one of the meals, the group requested a refund from one of the servers, but were only handed a £15 in cash as compensation for the missing food. 'We said we couldn't accept that and the manager eventually comes over but he's putting up a fight, he's saying that's all we can give you. 'He had such an attitude - he was so rude and there was no apology.' But the steadfast group made it 'clear we were not going to move' until they were issued a refund. Eventually, the manager arrived at their table with £50 in cash. She claimed he then 'chucked the money and just walked away'. They continued to wait at their table for the meal to arrive, but were swiftly informed the gluten-free option had been 'chucked out' since they had asked for a refund. 'It felt like Jess was being punished for asking for a refund for food that she didn't get. It was absurd.' Katie said the group were 'not satisfied with the service or that apology'. Sharing the story on social media, Katie has since amassed more than 3 million views on the video, with thousands of outraged viewers taking to the comments to express their views, including one who called it 'discrimination' against people with Coeliac disease 'An apology goes a long way but we didn't get any of it.' Even after speaking to another manager, who Katie described as 'rude and arrogant', they were still dissatisfied with the response and claimed he was 'not apologetic at all'. 'When we were telling him all the things that had gone wrong he was just smirking, I couldn't believe it,' she said. Eventually, after speaking to a subsequent two managers, the group managed to attain a refund for each of them. 'But it was such hard work, they didn't was to refund any of us. It was just appalling,' she complained. 'If you're gluten-free, you're not being fed,' she said. Since uploading the video two days ago, Liberté have turned the comments off on their TikTok account. The restaurant, which claims to offer 'breathtaking views of the waterfront and panoramic cityscape of Liverpool', has a rating of just 3.3 stars on Google reviews. Reviews on TripAdvisor paint a similar picture with several complaining of finding 'hairs' in 'cheap food', with several other reviews cite having had their allergen requirements 'ignored'. Writing on the review website, one patron called it the 'worst brunch I have ever been to'. They described 'broken furniture', male customers seated 'with their tops off' and said they were served 'food poisoning on a plate'. Attaching a picture, the customer shared a glimpse of the cuisine, showing a pale looking slice of chicken on white bread. 'None of us wanted to eat it due to the way it looked and not knowing what it was,' they wrote, adding that the portion sizes were 'appalling'. Another referred to their experience at the venue as a 'scam', urging others to avoid. Their review read: 'Do not go here they reheat food from others table and serve, hair in the food, cheap food quality and drinks, the staff do not care and will quite literally walk away anytime you show dissatisfaction of food or service.' A third reviewer wrote: 'Dirty cutlery, poor service, managers were incredibly rude, not very good when it comes to allergies as my coworkers food was contaminated.' A fourth detailed other food related concerns, describing 'undercooked' cauliflower, prawns and 'soggy' chips. Meanwhile, countless diners urged potential patrons to 'avoid like the plague' with complaints ranging from 'rude staff' to accusations of 'contamination'. Commenters of Katie's video were quick to express their views of the establishment, with one accusing it of 'discrimination' against people with Coeliac disease. 'This is actually discrimination. Coeliac disease is a protected characteristic under The Equality Act. I'd go to the Local Authority Trading Standards to be honest,' one viewer wrote. 'They've had the audacity to turn off their comments liberty Liverpool do better,' another wrote. 'I actually used to work there and pretty much everyone who books it has a terrible experience... you only have to read the trip advisor reviews. It's notorious for terrible service and food. I worked on reception and the amount of weekly complaints were unbelievable!'
