Global developmentLagos loves to wine, dine and dance in the month leading up to Christmas, but soaring prices and rampant inflation mean would-be revellers are staying home
A normal December for Nigerian student Ibukun Ometesho involves a seemingly endless roll of music concerts and dinners out with friends. This year, however, she is hosting friends at home because she can’t afford to party.
Ometesho wanted to attend the Palmwine music festival in Lagos, but a student ticket costs 21,100 naira (£20) – double what she paid last year, and three times more than in 2021. Read More...
The ObserverFictionReviewAn idea born of lockdown conversations over Zoom, Macdonald and Blaché’s intriguing sci-fi is infused with their own cultural nostalgia
To those readers who know Helen Macdonald from their exact and wonderful writing about the natural world, including the bestselling memoir of grief H Is for Hawk, this book, a trippy, philosophical science-fiction novel with the pacing of a thriller and the pulse of a romance, is an unusual departure. Read More...
Fashion blogFashionA brief history of BrylcreemFrom Teddy Boys to Mad Men, the slick-backed quiff has come in and out of fashion for decades, and a humble cream from Birmingham has helped keep each hair firmly in placeWhat's the story?Keeping quiffs neatly in place since 1928, Brylcreem is an iconic product of men's hair styling. Founded in Birmingham by County Chemicals, it was created as hair cream that was originally only sold to barbers. Read More...
