Latest news with #InsideSaturday
The Guardian
06-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
Houseplant clinic: why is my begonia growing lopsided?
What's the problem? I moved my spotted begonia from the kitchen windowsill to the bathroom. It's had a massive growth spurt, and one of the stems has grown really long. Does it need repotting, or is something else going on? Diagnosis It sounds like your begonia is responding to the increased humidity and lower light in the bathroom. While the boost in moisture has probably encouraged lush growth, the extra-long, leggy stem suggests that the plant is stretching in search of light – a process known as etiolation. This can cause the plant to lose its compact, bushy shape as it puts all its energy into reaching towards a brighter spot. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Help! My rubber plant is droopy Prescription It may not need repotting, unless the roots are tightly packed or poking through the drainage holes. Try cutting back the leggy stem to encourage more balanced, bushier growth. You can even propagate the cutting in water or soil to create a new plant. Prevention To keep your begonia in good shape, rotate the pot regularly to encourage even growth. Put it in a spot with bright, indirect light and good humidity. Pruning occasionally will also help it stay full and bushy rather than tall and uneven. Got a plant dilemma? Email saturday@ with 'Houseplant clinic' in the subject line
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
‘The beauty of this angle is the distortion': Sanket Khuntale's best phone photo
Sanket Khuntale describes Pritisangam Gardens in Karad, India as 'a go-to hangout spot for everyone in town'. Khuntale lives in Mumbai now, but visits the gardens as a ritual every time he goes home to Karad. On the day he took this photo, in 2017, he was there to meet friends for an evening stroll. The gardens lie against the banks where the Krishna and Koyna rivers meet, and the group walked by the water, talking, admiring their surroundings and stopping for street food. One of the group was Khuntale's childhood friend Tejali, who had been stopping to pick flowers along the way. Khuntale suggested taking a photo with his mobile phone. He positioned himself behind Tejali's head to take the shot, then later rotated the image 180 degrees. 'The beauty of this angle is the distortion, where the important parts of the image – her beautiful hair and the yellow flowers – look even more prominent and vibrant,' Khuntale explains. 'The flowers are called bhringraj, a common weed in India that is thought to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and promote hair growth. It was a total coincidence that I placed the flowers in her hair; I didn't realise the connection until the next day.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Reflecting on the image eight years later, Khuntale notes that his friend looks almost like 'a tree in human form – her body the trunk and her hair like branches with beautiful flowers. Every time I look at it, I feel like nature is smiling back at me.'
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Dining across the divide: ‘I felt like the atmosphere was quite hostile'
Occupation Communications director Voting record Michael, originally from Australia, voted mainly for the centre-right Liberal party there. In the Isle of Man, where he has lived since 2011, he was a member of the Liberal Vannin party, but left 'since they've become more leftist in their orientation' Amuse bouche In Australia, he helped prove fraud was taking place in online poker, and was part of the inspiration for the movie Runner Runner starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake Occupation Social media, in fashion Voting record Describes herself as left Labour and a socialist. Big fan of Jeremy Corbyn, 'massively disappointed in Starmer. Too much of a continuation of what we had before and trying way too hard to appeal to Daily Mail readers' Amuse bouche Rena once drove a London Underground train from Brixton to King's Cross. Her tube-driver friend invited her into the cab and let her push the buttons to operate the doors and make the train go Michael At first I thought Rena was very nervous, but over the course of the hour or so she opened up. I had a chicken burger and drank just water. Rena On the way there I was wondering if he'd be wearing a gilet. And he was! I had a cauliflower steak – he probably thought I was such a stereotype – and a tonic water. Rena He said, 'Let's start with the least emotional issue: net zero.' Actually I find the topic of the environment quite emotional. We're facing mass extinction. The planet will survive, but life on Earth, certainly humanity, won't. Unless we radically change what we're doing. Michael I think of myself as a pretty mainstream sort of guy; I believe in the scientific consensus around climate change. We should reduce our emissions but we probably do not need to have governments take control of the means of production. We talked about the fork on the table: if we produce it in Sunderland or Coventry, that creates carbon emissions that are accounted for in the UK carbon emissions budget. However, if you produce that fork in Mumbai or Beijing, that reduces the carbon emissions of the UK, but not the overall global carbon emissions. Rena I talked about what a huge impact the fashion industry has on the world. We have enough to clothe not just everyone on Earth, but the next six generations. We need to leave the fossil fuels in the ground and stop producing so much. Michael She was talking about introducing rationing for clothing. I think the idea is absurd. We need to have a genuine commitment to reducing emissions, rather than this accounting trickery of net zero. It's great that Elon Musk and big business are coming up with solutions. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Michael I think we both liked the chocolate-chip ice-cream. Rena We knew someone in common, a fashion designer on the Isle of Man. Michael We also spoke about affirmative action. The person hired should be whoever is the best able, best capable, to do the job. To me, the dismantling of DEI in America is actually compliant with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Previous administrations have gone along with it because they don't want a fight, whereas Trump obviously isn't afraid to have one. Rena What is happening in America is outrageous, and a distraction tactic – about turning people against each other. I think we should be doing a lot more than affirmative action to radically reshape society and bring people more on a level. Michael In a culture dominated by progressive/left-liberal views, it is normal for people to challenge me on mine. Whereas I don't think anyone's ever done the same for Rena. She is a nice and well-meaning person, but she needs to be more sceptical of everything she reads on the internet. It felt like I was chatting to a 19-year-old undergraduate hard‑left Trotskyist. Rena As a socialist I always look for common ground with people. But he seemed more interested in focusing on the difference – at best point-scoring and at worst ridiculing what I had to say. I felt like the atmosphere was quite hostile from his end. Michael We did not swap numbers. Additional reporting: Kitty Drake Michael and Rena ate at Pivot in London WC2 Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
The Guardian
03-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
This is how we do it: ‘We don't need sex for intimacy – we walk around naked, kiss and flirt'
As it takes Kyra a long time to climax, we usually have sex on the weekend – it takes up a Saturday morning Even though I've had more experience with women than Kyra, she has a higher sex drive than me. I'd happily have sex once a month, whereas Kyra wants it two or three times a week. So we settle on once a fortnight. When we have sex, I'll be living off that buzz for a while, but I think Kyra would like to live in that buzz constantly. The fact that she is four years younger and this is her first lesbian relationship is probably part of it (when we met, I was 26 and she was 22). But it's more than that – Kyra wants joy all the time. She's hedonistic and wants to do everything. Then do it again, and again. She makes life fun. It's what I love about her. If we haven't had sex in two weeks, Kyra will say: 'This is really bad.' But it won't bother me. We don't need to have sex for sexual intimacy. We walk around naked, lie together on the sofa, touch and kiss. Grab each other's bums in bars. Flirt outrageously. But I feel closest to Kyra behind closed doors, when it's just me and her. Talking about boring things, like how the car needs an MOT. I can be my true self when I'm around her. As it takes Kyra a long time to climax, we usually have sex on the weekend – it takes up a Saturday morning. Brunch plans are out of the question. Other times, she might suggest a quickie in a club bathroom, or on the sofa after work, but in reality she doesn't get home until 7pm, and dinner's already in the oven. So it's probably not going to happen in the way she fantasises. If I question whether her needs are being met and discuss opening up our relationship, she'll say, 'I do want more sex, but I only want it with you.' I can be stubborn and think: you can't make me. But then I take a step back and realise my wife's asked something simple of me, and I'm withholding out of stubbornness or laziness. Kyra and I aren't the same people who met nearly 16 years ago. Our intimacy has grown with us and we've made each other who we are. When things like how much we prioritise sex come up, we can be vulnerable and talk about it without worrying about how the other will react. If you're keen to talk to us about your sex lives you can get in touch by filling in the form below. It is very important that both sexual partners are happy to participate. Lucy has big, strong hands that I find so attractive. Sometimes when I masturbate, I just think about her hands Before Lucy, I'd always wanted to have sex with girls, but I hadn't met a hot, butch, cool lesbian like her. That's why it was explosive when we got together. I was living in a shared house, and we'd go into my room on a Friday afternoon and emerge Monday lunchtime. It was like that for more than a year. I wanted to have sex all the time. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Lucy has big, strong hands that I find so attractive. Sometimes when I masturbate, I just think about her hands. I'm an active thinker and can find it frustrating how straightforward and uncomplicated Lucy is. I try to coax fantasies out of her, but she resists and says she doesn't have them like I do. It also takes me a lot longer to orgasm, whereas it's so easy for Lucy. And because I need to orgasm to feel satisfied, the sex we have is indulgent and lasts two or three hours. As Lucy comes first, she is the one who puts in more effort and energy, which is partly why I'm eager to have sex more often. In the back of her mind, she's thinking: 'How long will this take?' But I think Lucy imagines I want to have sex more than I do; once a week is enough. Sometimes I wish she had a higher sex drive, but I don't feel any pressure to initiate sex; Lucy initiates it. If we haven't done it for a week or two, and we're in bed on a Saturday morning, kissing, giggling and gossiping, I'll think, 'here we go'. There are seasons to our sex life – it ebbs and flows, it evolves. It might be romantic and loving for a while, but at the moment it's more kinky. Recently, I've become more interested in the butch-femme dynamic, where Lucy is in control. It plays into what I'm attracted to in women: strength, power and masculinity. And I like to feel feminine, or powerless, in contrast. I hope it will always continue to change, as I find not knowing what the future holds exciting.
The Guardian
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Blind date: ‘Good table manners? Do Americans have them?'
What were you hoping for? Someone drop-dead gorgeous – Matthew McConaughey. First impressions? He's not Matthew McConaughey. What did you talk about? Theatre (I hope I gave him tips on staging his play next year). The excellence of British theatre and TV. The joy, for me, of being raised in London. Even though we didn't stop talking, it was a bit of a one-way conversation. Most awkward moment? Not having a reservation! A quick call sorted that one out, although we were taken down to a dark, deserted basement – so we opted instead to sit back upstairs at the counter. Good table manners? Do people from the US have them? Mind you, I polished off the bottle of wine … Best thing about Federico? His interest in theatre – we are both writers. Would you introduce Federico to your friends? That would be a bit pointless. Describe Federico in three words Not my type. Blind date is Saturday's dating column: every week, two strangers are paired up for dinner and drinks, and then spill the beans to us, answering a set of questions. This runs, with a photograph we take of each dater before the date, in Saturday magazine (in the UK) and online at every Saturday. It's been running since 2009 – you can read all about how we put it together questions will I be asked?We ask about age, location, occupation, hobbies, interests and the type of person you are looking to meet. If you do not think these questions cover everything you would like to know, tell us what's on your mind. Can I choose who I match with?No, it's a blind date! But we do ask you a bit about your interests, preferences, etc – the more you tell us, the better the match is likely to be. Can I pick the photograph?No, but don't worry: we'll choose the nicest ones. What personal details will appear?Your first name, job and age. How should I answer?Honestly but respectfully. Be mindful of how it will read to your date, and that Blind date reaches a large audience, in print and online. Will I see the other person's answers?No. We may edit yours and theirs for a range of reasons, including length, and we may ask you for more details. Will you find me The One?We'll try! Marriage! Babies! Can I do it in my home town?Only if it's in the UK. Many of our applicants live in London, but we would love to hear from people living elsewhere. How to applyEmail What do you think he made of you? I have absolutely no idea. Helpful? Did you go on somewhere? We were all done by 9.30. I walked him to the station And … did you kiss? Absolutely not. If you could change one thing about the evening, what would it be? That he had been more interested in having a blind date than a free dinner. I had to talk him out of having the most expensive dish on the menu! Marks out of 10? 6. Would you meet again? I doubt it. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion What were you hoping for? I had no expectations – it's the best way to go into these types of situations. First impressions? Generally positive. An intelligent, experienced actor, writer, artist-type, so similarities there, for sure. What did you talk about? London. Theatre. Acting. Writing. Television. Film – the British industry v that in the US (I'm from the US). Upbringing and family. Most awkward moment? None. Good table manners? Very good, certainly better than mine. Best thing about Denise? She's a very savvy theatre person with a real passion for the art and craft. And she's got the stories to prove it. Would you introduce Denise to your friends? Sure, why not? Describe Denise in three words Intelligent, bon vivant, British. What do you think Denise made of you? I think she had a lovely time. Did you go on somewhere? Yeah, the underground. And … did you kiss? None of your business … we hugged goodbye, like true artists. If you could change one thing about the evening, what would it be? Nothing. All good all around. Marks out of 10? I have to give a 7 because blind dates are by definition odd. Would you meet again? Sure, but in a work-related way would suit us both better. I hope to work with her in the future. Denise and Federico ate at Toum, London W1. Fancy a blind date? Email
