Trump’s Baby Balloon; & Why ‘Natural’ Beauty Is A Damaging Stereotype

There’s a ton of cabinet reshuffles this week and baby Trump - all 6-foot helium-filled malevolence - is flying over London. Is the balloon a meaningful protest; or is it a childish blimp that could ruin a trade agreement with the US? And aren’t there leaders (Erdogan, for example) whose visit to the UK we should protest more? 

Also this week, Justin Bieber’s engaged! Kylie Jenner’s almost a billionaire! Cardi(gan) B has had a baby called Kulture! In (more important) news, we discuss Amanda Knox’s comments on sexuality (she says she taught herself how to masturbate in prison), Terri White’s piece on poverty (30% of children live below the poverty line), Giles Coren’s piece on why ‘liking’ things draws us further away from our authentic self and Richard Godwin’s shocking piece on noise pollution - which is killing 10,000 people a year. 

And of course, we *had* to mention Love Island. Dolly raises Alex’s comment about liking ‘natural’ women (what damage does the #ijustwokeuplikethis emphasis do to women?) whilst Pandora laments our cultural obsession with augmented hotness, flagging a brilliant piece on Vice about Megan Barton-Hanson. 

Links

- Glow on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80114988 

- In defense of Megan Barton-Hanson, by Emma Garland for Vice https://www.vice.com/amp/en_uk/article/vbq5dy/in-defence-of-megan-barton-hanson

- Terri White on Britain’s poverty problem (last week’s issue; not yet online)

- The goop podcast on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-goop-podcast/id1352546554?mt=2 

- She Must Be Mad, by Charley Cox https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008291662/she-must-be-mad/

- Sonic Doom: how noise pollution is killing 10,000 people a year, by Richard Godwin for The Guardian  https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jul/03/sonic-doom-noise-pollution-kills-heart-disease-diabetes

- The Urge To Like Everything Is Rotting Our Brains, by Giles Coren: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-urge-to-like-everything-is-rotting-our-brains-vdttbtmdx 

- Guys We F****d with Amanda Knox: https://soundcloud.com/guyswefucked/amandaknox 

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