Diverse and Interesting Topics

[Sandra]

Boxes of Malteser eggs stocked up ready for Easter 2025 in Morrisons in Essex

Shoppers slam supermarkets after Easter Eggs go on sale in stores across the UK - just days after Christmas

With Easter Sunday falling on April 20 next year, customers shared their confusion on social media after finding chocolate eggs and hot cross buns already for sale in shops including Tesco and Asda.

[Sandra]

Male strippers face 'extinction' as no topless fella booked for a hen do last year

Boozy hen dos and butlers in the buff are being ditched in favour of sober axe throwing, escape rooms and cocktail making, new figures have revealed

Hen and stag dos are getting a bit of a makeover

Male strippers could face 'extinction' as the traditional hen do, complete with plastic phalluses and male strippers, is being replaced by escape rooms and axe throwing, according to recent statistics.

Last year, not a single male stripper was hired for a bridal party, while bookings for immersive experiences soared by 270%.

[Sandra]

Greggs has warned that the rising cost of employing people will result in price rises across its range after Labour's tax raid budget.

The bakery chain said 'employment costs will result in further overall cost inflation, although wage increases should provide support to consumers'.

It comes after it was revealed that the price of a Greggs sausage roll increased for the second time in six months.

[Sandra]

Brits are calling for the return of the face masks after health experts raised fears about the number of viruses doing the rounds.

Flu is already pushing hospitals to breaking point but now there's the threat of the "mystery" HMPV virus which is said to have made its way to the UK from China.
There, the outbreak has caused huge overcrowding in hospitals as Wuhan medical centres are said to be admitting up to 2,000 kids a day.

[Sandra]

Gas supplies are 'concerningly low' and UK narrowly avoided POWER CUTS amid fears Labour's Net Zero will put the lights out during -20C cold snap

The icy weather over the last few days has seen demand for gas-fired power station balloon, with energy firm Centrica saying Britain could run out of gas reserves in days.

[Sandra]

British Gas owner Centrica has warned that the UK's gas storage has hit "concerningly low levels" with less than a week's worth of demand left in store.

Centrica put the shortage down to the recent freezing temperatures that have led to higher demand on the UK's gas network. Gas levels are currently lower than usual due to a combination of the cold weather and the end of Russian gas pipeline supplies through Ukraine, according to the company.

Centrica said that UK gas storage sites are holding 26 per cent less than they did this time last year, leaving them around half full.
This means the UK has "less than a week of gas demand in store", Centrica warned.

The government has addressed the concerns, insisting the UK will be able to meet demand through the winter.

[Sandra]

American women have the second largest breasts in the world, according to new rankings published this year.

The average cup size in the US is a C on average, data from the California-based World Population Review suggest, putting it in joint second place out of 108 countries.

It draws with the UK, Luxembourg and Iceland, which also all have C cup as their average breast size. Norway had the largest breast size, at an average of C to D.

Twenty-three countries — mostly in Africa and South East Asia — had the smallest breasts at cup size AA.

Researchers said countries with more obese or overweight women are more likely to have large breasts because the breast is mostly fatty tissue and glands.

That makes Norway's rank even more of an outlier.

By the same logic, there may be a link to women in areas with smaller breasts leading more active lifestyles, which can decrease body mass and breast size, the researchers say.

Writing in the study, the team wrote: 'Breast size is unique to each woman and is influenced by several factors including genetics, nutrition and diet, weight and body mass, fitness level and age.

[Sandra]

Britain's porn crackdown: Ofcom reveals the exact date you'll have to show your ID to prove you're over-18 to access adult sites like Pornhub and OnlyFans

They're some of the most popular porn websites in the world.

But both Pornhub and OnlyFans will soon be forced to ID users in the UK before allowing them to access their content. 

Any websites which host pornography must introduce 'robust' age checks to prevent children being exposed to it, Ofcom has said.

The regulator has set a hard deadline of July 2025 for the sites to introduce these age checks.




'Today, this starts to change.'
Any websites which host pornography must introduce 'robust' age checks to prevent children being exposed to it, the regulator said

The new details are included in the latest round of industry guidance, ahead of the enforcement of the Online Safety Act.

Ofcom's guidance said services which allow pornography or other adult content will be required to introduce age assurance tools to prove a user is not a child.

Examples of age verification tools include photo ID matching, facial age estimation or credit card checks.

Under the Online Safety Act, all social media and search services are required to carry out a children's access assessment to determine if their site is likely to be accessed by children, with Ofcom saying platforms have until April 16 to complete this.

Ofcom said it will then publish codes of practice for sites which are likely to be accessed by children, which will set out how they can implement measures to keep younger users safe.



Sites must then complete a children's risk assessment by July and implement any required measures, which may include age checks.

These checks will be required, regardless of the type of site, if it allows pornography.

'As age checks start to roll out in the coming months, adults will start to notice a difference in how they access certain online services,

Under the Online Safety Act, all social media and search services are required to carry out a children's access assessment to determine if their site is likely to be accessed by children, with Ofcom saying platforms have until April 16 to complete this

'Services which host their own pornography must start to introduce age checks immediately, while other user-to-user services – including social media – which allow pornography and certain other types of content harmful to children will have to follow suit by July at the latest.

'We'll be monitoring the response from industry closely.
Social media firms could have to use facial recognition technology to check children's ages

'Those companies that fail to meet these new requirements can expect to face enforcement action from Ofcom.'

Experts have described the news as a 'pivotal moment in the fight to make the internet a safer place.'

Ofcom's announcement today is a pivotal moment in the fight to make the internet a safer place.

[Sandra]

EXCLUSIVE

Scientist reveals the surprising reason why human penises are so big.

If you're ever unsatisfied with the size of your penis, it may be comforting to know that it's pretty big – that is, relatively speaking.

According to biologists, the average human male actually has a large phallus, at least in comparison with some of our closest living relatives.

While the average human manhood measures 5.1 inch (13cm) when erect, the chimp and the bonobo only boast a 3.1 inch (8cm) shaft.

Meanwhile, the orangutan's member measures 3.3 inch (8.5cm) and the gorilla only has a tiddler – just 1.25 inch (3cm).

Now, a scientist reveals the surprising reason why we really are 'king of the swingers'.

Simon Underdown, professor of biological anthropology at Oxford Brookes University, said it's 'almost certainly' related to humans starting to walk on two legs.

Becoming 'bipedal' has made it more difficult for humans to get semen to the right spot for conception – i.e. further into the vagina and nearer the cervix – and as a result, we have evolved larger penises.

'Chimps and other primates don't need to be big because they're not bipedal and hence getting things to the right location is not an issue,'

[Sandra]

International travel is set for a major shake-up as smartphones will be able to hold a digital version of the British passport by 2027.

Brits will be able to save important documents, such as their passport and driving licence, onto their phone using a digital wallet app - which is set to be launched by the Government at the end of the year.

It will initially only be for domestic use, but could eventually be used for international travel, subject to agreements.

Digitalising passports was an idea first pounced upon by Finland and their natives have been able to use their phones to travel to the UK as part of a pilot programme.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle launched the new Government app and claimed it was the beginning of 'wrapping services around individual people's needs'.

'The key function you want from the passport is being able to travel with it without constantly being worried you forgot your passport,'

'But it's not dependent on Britain, it depends on the country you're travelling to.

So we're keeping a close eye on international standards.

[Sandra]

Britain's daftest road markings are finally to be removed after wiggly lines baffled drivers and cyclists at a cost of £1.5m to the public
Britain's daftest road markings are finally to be removed after wiggly lines baffled

North Somerset Council has confirmed it will be removing the infamous road markings, which were slammed by locals after appearing on the seafront in Clevedon, Somerset in January 2022.

Photographs show the peculiar paintwork weaving along roads, leaving drivers and cyclists confused over where to go.

Council bosses originally set aside £201,000 for the scheme, but due to unforeseen costs that amount ballooned to £1.5m and will be funded by taxpayers.

[Sandra]

US lawmaker issues bill to ban men for masturbating 'without intent to make a baby' - senator accused of 'politicial trolling'



A Democrat Senator has been accused of 'trolling' anti-abortionists with a new bill that intends to ban men from climaxing, unless they're trying to conceive.

The proposed legislation, which appears to poke fun at reproduction laws that limit women's sexual rights, is entitled the 'Contraception Begins at Erection Act', as has been brought by pro-abortion politician Mississippi state Senator Bradford Blackmon.

It is said to be a 'political jab' at Republicans who support a ban on some forms of contraception, as opposed to a real desire to interfere in public sex lives.




US lawmaker issues bill to ban men for masturbating 'without intent to make a baby'

A Democrat Senator has been accused of 'trolling' anti-abortionists with a new bill that intends to ban men from climaxing, unless they're trying to conceive.

The proposed legislation, which appears to poke fun at reproduction laws that limit women's sexual rights, is entitled the 'Contraception Begins at Erection Act', as has been brought by pro-abortion politician Mississippi state Senator Bradford Blackmon.

It is said to be a 'political jab' at Republicans who support a ban on some forms of contraception, as opposed to a real desire to interfere in public sex lives.

The bill, introduced on Monday, is unlikely to pass, but could see fines of $1,000 (£800) for a first offense, $5,000 (£4,000) for a second offense and $10,000 (£8,000) for any subsequent offenses.

Blackman's bill targets mens' reproductive rights as a means of highlighting that all of the recent legislative bills relating to abortion and contraception focus on women.

He said in a statement to local news outlet WLBT News: 'All across the country, especially here in Mississippi, the vast majority of bills relating to contraception and/or abortion focus on the woman's role when men are fifty percent of the equation.

'This bill highlights that fact and brings the man's role into the conversation. People can get up in arms and call it absurd but I can't say that bothers me.'

If the bill were to be passed, it would be unlawful for 'a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo'.