Latest news with #Eleanor
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Let's keep our cool and cut down on food waste
Not just to swing it open so we can plunge our faces in for a blast of blessed cool factor (or a sneaky spoonful of ice-cream from the freezer compartment). Fess up and hands up if, like me, you sometimes stash your lotions and potions in the fridge side by side with soup? And in heatwaves, post-sun, gel-based products feel oh-so-soothing when applied cold. Eleanor Martin, showroom manager at Home of Innovation, Dublin, agrees. 'I regularly hear of everything from aloe vera gel to toothpaste being kept chilled — it's a growing trend that really highlights how personal refrigeration needs have evolved,' she tells Home. Almost two-fifths of respondents to a survey carried out by Home of Innovation store non-food items like cosmetics alongside their casseroles. Yes, fridges are designed to keep our food fresh, but many of them are now doubling up as beauty cabinets. Hold on to your lash curlers, as this next stat is eye-opening enough in itself — 39% of Irish adults admit to sliding non-edibles such as eye masks, face cream, nail polish, and even toothpaste among their yoghurts. Refrigerating them can expand the lifespan of many cosmetics (maybe hold off on the foundation, though). So, surely not the worst crime? 'It's fascinating to see just how multifunctional fridges have become in modern homes. We're seeing more and more people using them not just for food, but for beauty and wellness too,' says Eleanor. But as temperatures soar, the chilling truth is we're all misusing the fridge. Because overall, the nationwide report, examining the fridge habits of 1,000 Irish adults, gives food for thought — literally. The research, carried out by BSH Ireland, Home of Innovation, reveals surprising statistics — including the fact the majority of people admit to wasting food every week, largely due to not knowing how to organise or stock their fridge correctly. Nearly half (45%) of those surveyed have discarded spoiled food due to confusion or misuse of their freezers. Seventy-one per cent of respondents waste food, with the annual cost of this waste reaching almost €700 per household. More than half of respondents store dairy products on the bottom shelf, an area intended for raw meat because of its colder temperature, notes Eleanor. Worse still, 28% keep dairy products in the fridge door, the most temperature-unstable zone, where frequent openings can quickly cause products to go off. The problems extend beyond the fridge. Nearly half (45%) of those surveyed have discarded spoiled food due to confusion or misuse of their freezers. 'Air exposure is a major culprit — if food isn't properly packaged, air can seep in and cause dehydration,' says Eleanor. 'Opting for airtight containers and freezer-safe wrapping is essential.' Nearly three in four (70%) Irish households are unaware their fridge and freezer could be responsible for up to a fifth of their total energy costs. Furthermore, nearly three in four (70%) Irish households are unaware their fridge and freezer could be responsible for up to a fifth of their total energy costs, highlighting the need for both appliance maintenance and timely upgrading to more energy-efficient models for long-term savings. Brian McMenamin, director, BSH Ireland, Home of Innovation (BSH stands for Bosch, Neff and Siemens — all brands belonging to Home of Innovation), adds it's 'vital' to get the best out of appliances'. 'Our research uncovered many common trends are costing Irish households, but with the right appliances and a few small tweaks, lower energy bills and less food waste could be at your fingertips.' Fridge organisation tips The top shelf often has the most consistent temperature, but it's not the coldest part of the fridge, so it's ideal for leftovers, and dairy products like milk, yoghurt and cheese. Keep your cooked meats, deli items and hummus on the middle shelf. Raw meat, fish, or poultry should always go on the bottom shelf to prevent drips and contamination. The fridge door is the warmest part of the fridge, so best for storing condiments like ketchup, mustard, mayo, jams, and hot sauces. Most modern fridges have crisper drawers designed to control humidity and airflow, so put them to use and maintain the freshness of fruits and vegetables. First in, first out — try to rotate older items to the front as a reminder to use them. Don't overfill — air needs to circulate for proper cooling. Keep fridge at 4C — that's the ideal chilling temperature. See
Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business Wire
Caleb Miller and Eleanor Aldous Bring National Spotlight to Aldous Law Firm with Lawdragon 500 X Selection
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aldous Law trial lawyers Caleb Miller and Eleanor Aldous have been selected as repeat honorees on Lawdragon's 500 X – The Next Generation, a guide that highlights the profession's young leaders 'Caleb and Eleanor continue to personify the best attributes of this fine generation of young lawyers,' said Aldous Law founder Charla Aldous. 'We look forward to their continued growth and accomplishments.' Mr. Miller and Ms. Aldous were both recognized for excellence in plaintiffs personal injury law by Lawdragon, which since 2023 has sifted through nominations, independent research and peer recommendations to recognize up-and-coming lawyers. 'Caleb and Eleanor continue to personify the best attributes of this fine generation of young lawyers,' said Aldous Law founder Charla Aldous. 'We look forward to their continued growth and accomplishments.' In 2023, Mr. Miller received the Texas Trial Lawyers Association Reich Chandler Award for outstanding advocacy and commitment to ethics and professionalism. He serves on the executive board of the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association, as vice chair of continuing legal education, and on the executive board of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. His work has also been recognized by Texas Super Lawyers, D Magazine, the National Trial Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America and National Law Journal as a Rising Star of the Plaintiffs Bar. Ms. Aldous has been honored by The Best Lawyers in America and Lawdragon and serves on the Bench Bar Conference Committee for the Dallas Bar Association. Earlier this year, she filed suit against a Dallas nightclub on behalf of an 18-year-old sexual assault survivor whose pleas for help were ignored by security staff. She also helped win a nearly $72 million verdict on behalf of a family whose father fell 30 feet to his death on a job site. View the full list here. Aldous Law specializes in high-stakes personal injury litigation, including wrongful death, trucking collisions, medical malpractice, products liability and sexual assault cases. Learn more about the firm at
Saudi Gazette
2 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
Woman smuggled baby into UK using fake birth story
LONDON — Last summer, a woman was arrested at Gatwick Airport after she arrived from Nigeria with a very young baby girl. The woman had been living in West Yorkshire with her husband and children, and before leaving the UK for Africa had told her GP she was pregnant. That was not true. When the woman returned about a month later with the baby, she was arrested on suspicion of trafficking. The case, the second the BBC has followed through the Family Court in recent months, reveals what experts say is a worrying trend of babies possibly being brought to the UK unlawfully - some from so-called "baby factories" in Nigeria. 'My babies are always hidden' The woman, who we are calling Susan, is Nigerian, but had been living in England since June 2023, with her husband and children. A careworker with leave to remain in Britain, Susan claimed she was pregnant. But scans and blood tests showed that wasn't true. Instead, they revealed Susan had a tumour, which doctors feared could be cancerous. But she refused treatment. Susan insisted her previous pregnancies had been invisible on scans, telling her employer, "my babies are always hidden". She also claimed she'd been pregnant for up to 30 months with her other children. Susan had travelled to Nigeria in early June 2024, saying she wanted to have her baby there, and then contacted her local hospital in Britain, to say she had given birth. Doctors were concerned and contacted children's services. Arriving back in the UK with the baby girl - who we're calling Eleanor - Susan was stopped and arrested by Sussex Police. She was bailed and the lead police force on this confirmed there is no active investigation at the moment. After her arrest, Susan, her husband, and Eleanor were given DNA tests. Eleanor was taken to foster carers. "When the results show that I am Eleanor's mother, I want her to be returned immediately," Susan said. But the tests showed the baby had no genetic link with Susan or her husband. Susan demanded a second test – which gave the same result, and then she changed her story. She'd had IVF treatment before moving to Britain in 2023 with a donor egg and sperm, she said, and that's why the DNA tests were negative. Susan provided a letter from a Nigerian hospital, signed by the medical director, saying she'd given birth there, as well as a document from another clinic about the IVF treatment to back up her claims. She also provided photos and videos which she said showed her in the Nigerian hospital's labor suite. No face is visible in the images and one showed a naked woman with a placenta between her legs, with an umbilical cord still attached to it. The Family Court in Leeds sent Henrietta Coker to investigate. Ms Coker, who provides expert reports to family courts in cases like this, has nearly 30 years experience as a social worker. She trained in Britain, and worked in front-line child protection in London, before moving to Africa. Ms Coker visited the medical centre where Susan claimed she'd had IVF. There was no record of Susan having had treatment there - staff told her the letter was forged. She then visited the place Susan said she'd given birth. It was a shabby, three bedroom flat, with "stained" walls and "dirty" carpets. There Ms Coker was met by "three young teenage girls sitting in the reception room with nurses' uniforms on". She asked to speak to the matron and was "ushered into the kitchen where a teenage girl was eating rice". Ms Coker then tracked down the doctor who'd written a letter saying Susan had given birth there. He said, "Yes, someone had given birth". Ms Coker showed him a photograph of Susan, but it wasn't her, the doctor said. "Impersonating people is common in this part of the world," he told Ms Coker, suggesting that Susan might have "bought the baby". The practice of "baby farming" is well known in West Africa, Ms Coker later told the court. At least 200 illegal "baby factories" have been shut down by the Nigerian authorities in the last five years, she said. Some contained young girls who'd been kidnapped, raped, and forced to give birth repeatedly. "Sometimes these girls are released," Ms Coker said, "other times they die during childbirth, or are murdered and placed in the grounds of the organisation." It's not clear where baby Eleanor might have come from – though the doctor told Ms Coker he believed she would have been given up voluntarily. Ms Coker was unable to establish who Eleanor's real parents are. She gave evidence to the Family Court in Leeds in March this year, along with Susan, her husband, her employer and a senior obstetrician. At an earlier hearing the judge asked for Susan's phone to be examined. Investigators found messages which Susan had sent to someone saved in her address book as "Mum oft [sic] Lagos Baby". About four weeks before the alleged date of birth Susan wrote a text message which read: "Good afternoon ma, I have not seen the hospital items" The same day, Mum Oft Lagos Baby responded: "Delivery drug is 3.4 m "Hospital bill 170k." Assuming those sums to be Nigerian Naira, they would be in the region of £1,700 and £85 respectively, the Family Court judge, Recorder William Tyler KC said. The local authority pointed out the messages were set to "automatic self-destruct mode" – and said they represented evidence of a deal to purchase a baby. Susan tried to explain the messages in court. The Recorder said her attempts were "difficult to follow and impossible to accept". Recorder Tyler, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, found Susan had "staged a scene" which she falsely claimed showed her giving birth to Eleanor in Nigeria. He said Susan and her husband had put forward a "fundamental lie" to explain how Eleanor came to be in their care, and had tried to mislead authorities with false documents. They'd both caused the little girl "significant emotional and psychological harm", he said. In early July, the BBC attended the final hearing in Eleanor's case, held remotely. In one little square of the Teams meeting we could see Susan and her husband, sitting upright, barely moving, focused closely on what the advocates said. They wanted Eleanor returned to them. Their barristers said their own children were thriving - they wanted to offer her the same love and care. Susan's husband saw Eleanor as "a fundamental part of their family unit". Vikki Horspool, representing the child's guardian, a social worker from the Independent Children and Family Child Advisory Service challenged that. She said that the couple "continued to be dishonest" about Eleanor's real start in life and how she came to be in their care. The judge ordered that baby Eleanor be placed for adoption, and also made a "declaration of non parentage". He said he was aware of the "pain" this would cause Susan and her husband. The barrister for the local authority told the court that the baby is "very settled" with her foster carer, taking part in activities in her community and getting medical treatment. When Eleanor is adopted, she will have a new identity and British nationality - but she may never know who her real parents are. Eleanor's story echoes the case of "Lucy" – who was brought into Manchester Airport in 2023, by a man claiming to be her father. 'Money exchanged for children' Ms Coker believes it is likely that more children have been brought unlawfully to the UK from West Africa. She told the BBC she has worked on around a dozen similar cases since the pandemic. In her experience, baby trafficking is commonplace. "Money is getting exchanged for children on a large scale" she said - not just in Africa but "across the global south". Since 2021 the UK government has restricted adoptions from Nigeria, partly because of "evidence of organised child trafficking" within the country. British authorities have been aware of the problem for many years, and there have been several cases in the Family Courts over the last 20 years. Two hearings in 2011 and 2012 involved Nigerian couples who'd had "fertility treatment " that led to a "miracle baby". These "treatments" continue, as recently exposed by investigative journalists at BBC Africa Eye. In 2013, the UK High Commission in Lagos required DNA tests in certain circumstances before newborn babies could be taken from Nigeria to Britain. Among 12 couples investigated was a former Oxford academic, prosecuted for immigration offences. However this process has since stopped. In 2018 officials were advised that such DNA testing was unlawful. They were told they could not make people undergo DNA testing when they were asking for a visa or passport in support of an application relating to immigration status – and that had been the case since 2014. Ms Coker said some clinics offer "packages" that include registering the baby's birth. It will cost anywhere between £2,000 and £8,000, excluding any airfare, she said. She thinks more people in Britain should be aware of this activity. It is hard to tackle, she said - perhaps DNA testing of newborn babies and purported parents would help. But she wasn't sure the British government can do much to stop it, she said, "the issues start in countries where the children are born". Patricia Durr, CEO of the anti-trafficking charity ECPAT said cases like this were particularly "heinous" because they denied a child right to their identity. She said: "Every effort must be made to prevent these egregious crimes occurring." A government spokesperson said: "Falsely claiming to be the parent of a child to facilitate entry to the UK is illegal. Those found doing so will face the full force of the law. "Border Force is committed to protecting individuals who cross the border and where concerns are raised, officers will take action to safeguard individuals who could be at risk." The BBC contacted the Nigerian High Commission for comment but they did not respond. — BBC
Time of India
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
10 comfort fictions that feel like a blanket on a rainy day
Stories that feel like a warm cup of chai when skies turn grey There's something about rainy days that just asks for a good book. Not the fast-paced thrillers or complicated high fantasies, rainy-day reads need to be softer, slower, and warmer in a way that makes you forget the world outside. These aren't necessarily "happy" books, but they carry a kind of emotional weight that feels familiar and safe, like an old sweater or a handwritten letter. If you're looking for stories to curl up with when the rain hits the window, here are ten fiction picks that feel like comfort in print. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman This one sneaks up on you. It starts quirky, even a little odd, but as Eleanor's world slowly unfolds, it turns into a quietly powerful story of healing and connection. Perfect for when you're feeling introspective. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune It reads like a warm hug. A caseworker visits a magical orphanage and ends up discovering a family in the most unexpected place. It's tender, kind, and softly magical without ever feeling over the top. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman Grumpy old man. Sad past. Unexpected friendships. You'll cry, you'll smile, and by the end, Ove will feel like someone you actually know. Best read with a blanket and zero distractions. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Yes, it's old. But Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy never really go out of style. Their sibling chaos, quiet growth, and small joys are timeless. Rain on the roof, book in your lap, it just fits. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi Set in a small Japanese café where you can time-travel (with rules, of course), this book is about regrets, unspoken feelings, and how sometimes just a few words can change everything. Gentle and haunting in the best way. The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary Two strangers share an apartment but have never met; one works days, the other nights. They start leaving notes. It sounds like a rom-com (and it is), but it's also deeply comforting and filled with small kindnesses. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Anne Shirley's imagination, misadventures, and huge heart are the kind of things rainy days were made for. It's nostalgic, wholesome, and reminds you of simpler joys. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig What if you could see all the lives you could've lived? This book walks through regrets, second chances, and what really matters in the end. It's philosophical, but in a deeply human way. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows Told through letters, this story captures post-WWII life on a tiny island, book clubs, friendship, and resilience. It's surprisingly funny in places, and beautifully written in a way that feels old-world charming. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Because some comfort reads never age. Rainy days are perfect for revisiting Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, and all the quiet wit and sharp observations of Austen's world. Comfort fiction isn't just about happy endings. It's about softness, warmth, and characters that stay with you long after the book ends. The next time you hear thunder outside and feel like staying in, maybe one of these stories will keep you good company.
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
After an ADHD and autism diagnosis, I now find the world more confusing. How do I make sense of this?
I received an ADHD and autism diagnosis at the end of 2024 after a period of stress and depression. I thought that my profession was to blame (I work, however unfittingly, in finance) but have come to appreciate that I am sensitive to many kinds of environmental stressors. It has been difficult to navigate the world since the diagnosis. At first I was ecstatic, finding many of my life's complexities could be easily answered by a natural neurodivergence, but have since found the world to be even more confusing, especially where relationship dynamics are concerned. Some people I have told about my diagnosis have started to baby me slightly. Whereas before the diagnosis I might have struggled along in certain social situations, feeling myself a little bit slow off the mark, or bored, now I am starting to notice a pronounced sense of my 'otherness', which is quite scary. Do you have any advice on how to keep things in proportion after receiving news that can force you to look at life through a completely different lens? Eleanor says: What do we learn when we get a diagnosis? You say to a doctor I have experiences A through F. They say, ah, it sounds like you have condition X. And you say interesting, what's condition X? And they say well one important hallmark of condition X is where you have experiences A through F. A diagnosis can be so helpful and so emancipatory, but it doesn't necessarily leave us knowing what causes or explains our experiences. In lots of mental health diagnoses, we still don't know those things. Nor do we learn that we experience the world a particular way – we already knew that. Much of the force of the discovery is learning that the experience isn't universal, that medicine has needed to categorise them so they can be helped, explained, accommodated, and so on. Many of us feel the duality you describe after a diagnosis: understood, since we can finally name the patterns, but isolated, since we learn those names at the cost of learning they're unusual. It feels like good news and bad news at the same time. You mentioned the pronounced sense of otherness. Like being on the outside of a fishbowl looking in. One response is to resist that: othered from whom? Lots of people learn as adults that they're autistic, or have ADHD, or both; lots of people find new ways of understanding their mental experiences. As a result, there's a lot more understanding of these things than maybe ever before. That's not to say you have to take up residence in communities of the literally like-minded. It's just to say that when you meet new people, it may be that their experiences are not so different to yours. We never know what's happening in other people's minds; if it's otherness we're worried about we may be in the company of more others than we realise. Another response, though, is to allow that feeling of otherness. Similarity is helpful for connection, it's true. To that extent, it's frightening to learn that we're not so similar to others. That will make some things harder. But similarity isn't the only way to connect. You can feel reverence, awe, cherishment, for things that aren't much like you at all. Indeed, being in front of things unlike you can make you more aware of and reverent towards the contrasts in yourself. We feel this all the time with the natural world: lots of people feel deep love for, feel most themselves around, the ocean, the night sky, an animal. It's not because they seem the same as us. All that is to say: it can be precisely by standing in contrast, and not similarity, that you can simultaneously appreciate what is true of others and what is true of you. There's a kind of connection available here based on a true vision of each other, not just on being similar.
