Period pains can be so very unpleasant, and they really do make one wonder what God was thinking when he created periods. However if you have endometriosis, they can be much worse. Endometriosis happens when the cells which should only be found lining the uterus, attach themselves to various other locations in the abdomen, such as the ovaries or even bowel. These cells behave as if they were still in the uterus, thickening and breaking down during menstruation, which, because they’re in the wrong place, can cause severe abdominal pain, not to mention internal scarring and adhesions, and infertility.
Incredibly, endometriosis is thought to affect 1 in 10 women and can lead those women to dread their monthly period, some relying on large amounts of pain killers just to cope.
It’s always a concern when someone is needing regular high-dose pain-relief, as no medication is without side-effects and that’s why I’m delighted that Wuku have developed a special heat patch which can really help, and it’s particularly good to talk about this now, as March is Endometriosis Awareness Month.
Wuku heat patches are very slim and discrete, and you simply stick one to the OUTSIDE of your underwear over the painful area – be it the lower abdomen, or the back. Pealing the protective cover off the patch automatically activates it to produce heat for, guess what, up to twelve hours. This prolonged action makes this heat patch so much more useful than other similar ones and means you can carry on with your day with that constant comforting warmth.
Personally, I’m of an age where period pains are happily a long-forgotten memory, however I’m suffering with troublesome back pain at the moment, so I was keen to test the heat patches. Small and neat, around 4 inches by 3 inches, you simply remove the cover to reveal the adhesive surface. The heat then starts in around 30 seconds. Please be patient – 30 seconds can seem a long time when you’re watching for something to happen, but once it does starts, the temperature increases steadily, reaching a very comfortable level over a few more minutes. The heat then stays at that level for a long, long time, I’ve been wearing the patch for hours and it’s still emitting a very pleasant heat which is really easing my pain.
So if you suffer from bad period pains, or even if you just have a bad back like me, I can truly recommend Wuku Heat Patches. At £12.99 for four patches they’re a great price and very effective. It’s well worth taking a look at the Wukuwebsite for other great period and women’s health products too. They clearly have a mission to make a difference.
Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice.
Children need all of the support they can get. Especially after COVID. A new survey of UK teachers reveals a rise in pupils starting school with poor speech and language skills since the pandemic.
Commissioned by assessment provider GL Assessments, the poll of 1,000 teachers found that nearly half of primary teachers estimate up to one in five of their pupils struggle with speech and language. These difficulties often become apparent when children start school (48%) or even earlier (33%).
Many teachers report that speech and language issues are frequently mistaken for reading and maths difficulties (46%) or misidentified as behavioural problems (27%). Additionally, 44% of primary school teachers say up to a fifth of their pupils struggle to communicate at an age-appropriate level, while 37% believe the issue affects as many as two in five pupils.
A significant 76% of teachers feel parents often deny or overlook these challenges. However, there are practical strategies parents can use to support their child’s language development.
Below, Cristina Miguelez, Spokesperson at online language learning platformPreply offer key tips to help parents support their child’s speech and communication skills at home:
1. Read together and discuss the story
Reading books with your child is integral to develop their literacy skills and understanding of language. Furthermore, discussing the books you read together can positively impact their communication skills.
It encourages them to express their opinions and enhances their ability to recall details, improving their overall understanding of language and communication. Keep their favourite books within easy reach so they can revisit them, reinforcing their memory and comprehension.
2. Reflect on the day’s activities
Another effective way to support your child’s language development is to regularly discuss their day and the activities they’ve engaged in. For instance, ask them about their school day or, if you’ve taken them to the park, encourage them to share their favourite part of the experience.
Like discussing books, this helps children understand how to use language effectively and communicate their thoughts more clearly.
3. Engage in conversations about TV shows
If your child enjoys watching children’s television, discussing what they watch can significantly enhance their language skills.
Educational programmes are particularly beneficial, as they introduce new vocabulary and concepts. Engaging your child in conversations about these shows can deepen their understanding and reinforce language learning.
4. Use comments instead of questions
While asking children questions is important, too many can feel like a test. Instead, focus on making conversations more natural. Comment on what they are doing and what is happening around them rather than constantly quizzing them.
This approach helps children feel more relaxed and comfortable when communicating, making it easier for them to process and respond to language.
5. Turn everyday moments into learning opportunities
Daily routines can be powerful tools for language development. Activities such as cooking, shopping, or getting dressed provide opportunities to introduce new words and encourage conversation.
For example, while preparing a meal, talk about the ingredients, describe their colours and textures, and explain the cooking process. These simple, everyday interactions can significantly enhance a child’s vocabulary and understanding of language.
Last week, thanks to a fantastic article in The Atlantic, I found out that one of my books had been taken from a piracy site and used by Meta to train their AI. Seeing your book on a piracy site hurts a lot. It takes years to write a book. There is a huge amount of sacrifice. Of sleep, time spend with loves ones, and time spent with Netflix. Querying is hard and tough on your mental health. After all of that, your book can then die on submission. Then you have to write another book and start the whole thing from the beginning.
Authors do not earn a lot of money. At last count the average was seven thousand pounds a year. If you worked out the hours we put in, it is below minimum wage. You have to really love it to be an author. The highs are liking nothing on earth and the lows are crushing.
Being an author is as hard as any other career. Yes, it has a huge amount of benefits. Working from home, being creative and seeing your work out there in the world. But the work can be tedious. Reading the same book multiple times. Editing it so many times that you want to give up. Then you market it while writing your next one. It is the dream, it really is. Don’t get me wrong, but there is a lot of work involved. If you cannot afford books you can go to the library. Authors get paid when you borrow our books. There is also the Libby library app if you are not near a library. My two books, Where The Light is Hottest and Ember are both on kindle unlimited. I hate to be downer and I know how lucky I am. I feel privileged and happy every day, but please stop stealing our work. Especially if you are a trillion dollar company. We can only write if our books sell. Publishers will not give us contracts if they think we have no readers. Publishing is a business like no other. It is all about the bottom line. Thank you. Please share any comments below.
As music is so subjective, Frost Magazine is delighted to present the views of two of their reviewers on this concert – Paul Vates, yesterday, and now Michael Rowan . Enjoy.
Piano Concerto in A minor: Francesco Piemontesi, a native of Locarno, has gained a reputation as one of the leading interpreters of the German classical and romantic repertoire, little wonder that he was invited to perform here.
Francesco Piemontesi: image credit. Camille Blake
Schuman’s Piano Concerto is one of his finest large -scale creations and is one of his most daring and romantically delightful works. Undoubtedly challenging for the pianist, but Piemontesi was well up to the challenge. Grabbing the attention with an explosive start, then the piano comes in quietly to begin with, then the strings, blissfully swelling, demonstrating the skills of the full orchestra. Joyful and uplifting and finally the stunning piano solo transforming the Festival Hall into and intimate Salon, before returning us to the concert hall.
It is hard to describe the music, the nearest I came to it is, ‘gorgeous gorgeosity,’ a quote from an Anthony Burgess novel, that sums up this piece, joyful and all consuming. It is the music that could lead me into the best sleep that I could ever imagine, or if I could choose some music to listen to before the anaesthetic kicks in this would be it, and at the very end I cannot imagine a more beautiful piece to finally leave the planet.
The finale launches into an exhilarating waltz – the ending sounds like an outpouring of unbridled joy. Much of the audience were on their feet and everybody cheering demanding an encore. And what an encore, the orchestra and audience held its breath in rapt attention scared of missing a single note. More thunderous applause ensued, leaving no doubt how much we valued the talent of Francesco Piemontesi.
Following the interval, we sat back to enjoy Mahler’s Symphony No 5
It is impossible not to think of the film ‘Death in Venice’ when listening to Mahler’s Symphony No 5 and the scene with Dirk Bogarde as he views Venice from the Grand Canal.
Little wonder then that this music fits so perfectly with the film, which looks through the eyes of a lonely old man, towards the end of his life, appreciating fleeting beauty and mortality all of which can be drawn from the music.
Conductor Robin Ticciati (image credit Mark Allan) regularly collaborates with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Ticciati was born in London and trained as a violinist, pianist, and percussionist. Receiving his OBE in 2019. As a conductor Mahler was a strict taskmaster and attracted plenty of adverse criticism and whilst Ticciati has to demand much of this orchestra, there is no denying that the musicians liked and respected him, and that the feeling was mutual. We were in very good hands.
The first part, Funeral March, opens with a trumpet fanfare, quiet to begin with but growing to a magnificent crescendo, at first brooding and finally ecstatic, sweeping the audience before it. The second movement plunged us into a turbulent, furious, and manic fray, broody and dark giving way to lighter moments.
And then the famous Adagietto forever linked to Death in Venice. Beautiful, haunting and filmic. Uplifting, rousing,, rhythmic comes to a frenzied end, which left the conductor, orchestra and the audience exhausted. It had been quite a journey, but so very worthwhile. A special mention to Robin Ticciati who had the unenviable task of keeping the energy up for an orchestra already giving their all.
Dirk Bogarde when on Desert Island Discs, told the story of taking the film, ‘Death in Venice,’ to Warner Brothers in Hollywood, hoping to sell the film to the American Market. The screening was attended by all the top executives, but the end of the film was met with total silence. Bogarde’s first thought was that they couldn’t move for emotion until one of them said ‘I think that the music was just great, who did the theme music?’ Visconti, the director, realised that the film had bombed and said ‘it’s by Gustave Mahler,’ at which point the Hollywood bigwig turned to the assembled audience and said, ‘I think that we should sign him.’
Upcoming Concerts
Alina Ibragimova plays Prokofiev Wednesday 26 March 2025, 6.30pm – Royal Festival Hall In a time of revolution, Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto wove fairytale magic – and no-one makes it dance like Alina Ibragimova.
Tan Dun’s Water Concerto Saturday 29 March 2025, 7.30pm – Queen Elizabeth Hall. Eva Ollikainen rediscovers two modern classics, and Colin Currie – in the words of one critic, ‘surely the world’s finest and most daring percussionist’ – explores new ways of listening, with the extraordinary, culture-crossing Water Concerto by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon composer Tan Dun.
Repertoire Pärt – Symphony No. 1 (Polyphonic). Tan Dun – Water Concerto. Lutosławski – Symphony No. 3
Re. Easter, these are the April events until the end of the season:
Jurowski conducts Lyatoshynsky Wed 2 April 2025, 7.30pm – Royal Festival Hall ‘Peace Shall Defeat War’ wrote Boris Lyatoshynsky on the score of his Third Symphony, and the message of this great 20th-century Ukrainian composer has never felt more urgent or compelling. Vladimir Jurowski presents a programme of uncompromising emotional power.
The music. Prokofiev – Selection from Semyon Kotko. Mussorgsky (arr. Denisov) – Songs and Dances of Death. Lyatoshynsky – Symphony No. 3
Tragedy to Triumph Sat 5 April 2025, 7.30pm – Royal Festival Hall. Schubert’s unstoppable Ninth Symphony is known as ‘the Great’ – and with Vladimir Jurowski bringing all his insight and imagination, you’ll hear why.
The music Beethoven – Coriolan Overture. R Schumann – Violin Concerto. Schubert – Symphony No. 9 (The Great)
Jan Lisiecki plays Beethoven Sat 12 April 2025, 7.30pm – Royal Festival Hall. There are few experiences in classical music more invigorating, or more stirring than Sibelius’s Second Symphony. For the young Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, Sibelius is a national hero. There’s another tale about memory to be told here, as Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki takes centre stage to showcase the grandeur and glory of Beethoven’s mighty ‘Emperor’ Concerto.
The music Sibelius – Pohjola’s Daughter. Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor) Sibelius – Symphony No. 2
Daphnis and Chloé Wed 23 April 2025, 6.30pm – Royal Festival Hall. Wed 23 April 2025, 8.30pm – Royal Festival Hall. Ravel’s orchestral masterpiece is a ballet that resists staging, rarely being performed as a ballet. Enter Circa’s powerful acrobatics and aerials.
The music Ravel – Daphnis et Chloé. Ravel – La valse
Mahler 8 Sat 26 April 2025, 7.30pm – Royal Festival Hall is sold out.
A breath-taking evening at the Royal Festival Hall is quite normal for the eager audiences. It’s not that they are easily impressed – far from it. It’s the quality of musicianship on display that takes the breath away.
This evening’s highlight was Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Almost 100 musicians filled the stage and, under the flamboyant batonship of Robin Ticciati, the London Philharmonic Orchestra rose to the occasion. From the opening solo trumpet fanfare (take a bow Paul Beniston) to the ups and downs of the whole piece, I felt the musical journey was more than worth it.
Robin Ticciati – ⓒ LPO
Ticciati’s gusto and sheer force of character urged the orchestra through the funeral march, the drama, the waltz, the love-song and the vigorous climax of the symphony’s five movements. The whole work – written in 1901 and 1902 – has been labelled as ‘schizophrenic’ and the changes in rhythm and pace at times are a shock to the system. But I left feeling uplifted and enthralled by the sheer power of Mahler’s music.
Francesco Piemontesi – ⓒ Camille Blake
The evening began with Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor (written between 1841 and 1845), played by special guest Francesco Piemontesi. The smaller chamber orchestra, still under Ticciati’s control, complemented Piemontesi’s wonderful interpretation – but, for me, the piece lacked any real cohesion. I am not sure why it was placed with Mahler’s symphony, which outshone it in almost all areas. It was good, but I wasn’t moved in the way some audience members were. But you can’t enjoy everything and it doesn’t stop me being enthralled by the skills on display.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has a vast range of events at various venues around the country. Check out their website for details – https://lpo.org.uk/whats-on/ .
Principal Conductor Edward Gardner Artistic Director Elena Dubinets
Dates until Saturday 31st May 2025 Check with the LPO website for details
I loved Mahi Cheshire’s debut, The Deadly Cure, so I was excited to read The Lying Guest. I also love a destination book. There is nothing quite like being whisked away to a different world. Preferably one with a beach.
I could not put this book down. I was drawn in from the first page and was desperate to know what was going to happen. Mahi Cheshire has cornered the unique medical thriller market. Anika is a surgeon who makes a mistake at work. Her entire life unravels and she heads back to Sri Lanka, where she used to summer when she was younger, and when a tragic accident happened. The Lying Guest has so many layers and they are all tied together perfectly. I love everything about this immersive novel. It has everything you could want: secrets, drama, exotic locations, a medical setting, and love. I had no idea where the plot was going. I loved the ending. I raced through this five star read. A perfect, twisty, thriller.
Hardworking and overworked, Anika is a talented surgeon at a London hospital. It’s been some time since she’s had a decent night’s sleep, let alone a holiday. Not ideal for someone with parasomnia – a rare condition, made worse by stress, that can cause sleepwalking.
When a patient dies on her operating table, important people start asking questions and the media and her colleagues turn against her overnight.
It seems her only respite is to escape on a housesitting gig in Sri Lanka and to keep a low profile until the verdict on her case, and her career, is decided.
Despite everything, she’s excited to visit the place she used to summer as a child. But what should be a restorative beach break ends up being a trip back into a murky, haunted past that’s been waiting for her all along.
Anika left for what she thought was a dream holiday, only to find herself trapped inside another nightmare. Will she finally wake up to face her demons?
Red Flags is a joyful book with a great message. It is How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days for the Gen Z generation. I love Poppy. She is so confident and sure of herself, but her guard is up and she is too cynical. Then we have Cam, who is scared of being vulnerable. He is terrified of intimacy. It is so wonderful to see a young man portrayed in such a beautiful and nuanced way. I am not the target market for this book. I am not a teen, nor a young adult, but if I ever wanted to read a manual for having a good, healthy, relationship, then this is definitely it.
This witty and engaging book is a must read. Sophie Jo writes very wise books full of warmth and well-rounded characters. I adored it. A brilliant five star read.
Poppy is known for her high standards. Why bother with relationships when boys don’t ever seem to live up to her expectations? One red flag and she’s out.
Cam is known for quickly developing the ick. He’s never dated anyone for long – a week here, a month there, but he always spooks.
When Poppy’s friends challenge her to give someone a chance for two whole months, Poppy decides that Cam (her mysterious bus crush) could be the best of an underwhelming bunch. But Cam’s been set his own challenge: he’s banned from ending things in his next relationship … and that means he’s ready to do whatever he can to put Poppy off.
Two skeptics. Two months. And this time, neither of them can disappear the moment they spot something they don’t like…
As Mad Beauty celebrates their 25th birthday, they have launched an exciting new SS25 collections. Featuring magical collaborations with Disney and Warner Bros, alongside their exclusive own-label range, these collections are designed to surprise and delight. They are fun and super cute. The designs are brilliant. I love them.
These products are gorgeous products of joy. When you get one they add to your day. We all deserve gorgeous things in our life that brighten up the day. Get shopping now. Now available to shop online at madbeauty.com, here’s an exclusive first look at the must-have products from each collection:
Lady and The Tramp
A romantic rendezvous of delicate florals and indulgent treats, this collection celebrates the classic love story’s 70th anniversary. Perfect for Disney lovers and dog enthusiasts alike, this collection reimagines the film’s most iconic moments into innovative beauty products.
Transform bath time with this charming bath spaghetti, fragranced with wildflower for a luxurious soak that’s as indulgent as the film’s famous candlelit dinner scene.
With Moana’s popularity soaring ahead of the upcoming live-action movie in 2026, this collection is a tropical celebration of inner strength and independence. Expect fresh scents, vibrant designs, and products that help you look and feel your best.
Enriched with shea butter and algae extract, this hydrating mask deeply nourishes hair, leaving it silky smooth. Use Moana’s iconic paddle scoop to apply the perfect dose and let the tropical coconut fragrance transport you to island paradise.
Bringing beloved Disney Princesses into the modern era, this collection is filled with fun, contemporary beauty essentials. Expect new formats like lip oils, face masks, and scrunchie sets, ideal for gifting when choosing just one princess is impossible!
A four-piece collection of hydrating, high-gloss lip oils in delicious fragrances including apple, cherry, vanilla, and strawberry, to keep lips soft and radiant all day.
Shop the Disney Princess Express Yourself collection here
Powerpuff Girls
Inspired by the fearless energy of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, this vibrant collection features beauty must-haves designed to empower and uplift.
With travel booming, Mad Beauty celebrates its hometown with a collection of iconic London-inspired beauty gifts, making for the perfect souvenirs and keepsakes.
