The Nation’s Cleaning Habits: Are We As Clean As We Think We Are?

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Frostie

Would you consider yourself to be a ‘clean’ person? Well, cleaning and hand wash product manufacturer Method UK has recently revealed the nation’s grimy habits and it looks like we aren’t as clean as we perhaps thought we were. It would appear that as a nation we have quite a few dirty little secrets and many of us take shortcuts when it comes to cleaning.

The survey of 1,000 people aged 18-40 found that 20% aren’t ashamed to dig something out of the dirty washing pile if they don’t have a shirt to wear to work and some of us will even go shopping for new clothes simply to avoid doing the ironing.

The survey also found that 13% of the UK only clean their bathrooms twice a year and fifth of us spend more time organising our wardrobes than we do cleaning. However, a quarter said they will always tidy when they know they have guests coming over. It would also appear 14% never wash their hands before eating and 15% of us are quite happy to eat off the floor – hopefully not when those guests are over!

But, 90% of those surveyed believed they had a valid reason for their uncleanliness, blaming it on the fact they simply do not have enough time to do it. Does that sound like you? As much as you hate to admit it you probably do have a few of these dirty habits – but what can you do about it if you don’t have any spare time?

Well, why not let the professionals do the hard work for you? 25% of those taking part said that their cleaner was more important to them than their doctor, dentist or hairdresser. With the arrival of spring why not check out what a service like Molly Maid Spring Cleaning can do for you – they might just be able to help you avoid a few of these:

Britain’s top ten most surprising dirty little secrets include:

Running out of clean underwear and going commando
Using a hairdryer to dust
Noticing a lipstick stain on a ‘clean’ wine glass and wiping it off with a finger
Leaving the bed sheets for more than six months before washing them
Following the five second rule and eating food that has fallen on the floor
Eating from the same plate at dinner that was used at lunchtime
Never washing hands before eating
Hiding mess away in cupboards rather than clearing up
Buying new clothes to avoid doing the ironing
Cleaning the house in the nude

If you have nodded your way through this post and got to the end thinking that perhaps you are not as clean as you thought at the beginning, then it may be time to make a few changes! With the arrival of spring what better time to make that change and start with a major spring clean – if you don’t want to do it yourself, call in the professionals and let them do it for you!

By Patrick Vernon.

The Prime Minister Who Dodged Tax

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

I know what you are thinking. It’s Dave, right? Well, no. There is no evidence Prime Minster David Cameron has avoided tax. Not so one of his predecessors. In fact, one of the most well thought of Prime Ministers earned a fortune and used his power to dodge tax.

Winston Churchill made a substantial amount of money but he conspired with the chairman of the Inland Revenue to cut his tax bill. The Inland Revenue have two thick files on Churchill, but no one found out about his tax dodging when Churchill was alive. In fact, the only newspaper I have read about it in is the amazing Sunday Times. In an article written by David Lough, author of No More Champagne: Churchill And His Money.

You only have to read Churchill’s archive to find out that Churchill was not as patriotic as one would think. He was happy to pay tax for the first 40 years of his life, even supporting Lloyd George’s introduction of a super-tax. But as soon as he was rich enough to be affected by it he seemed to change his mind.

When Churchill was Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924 he owed £400,000 in todays money but could not pay. He personally called on the Inland Revenue Chairman Richard Hopkins who sorted the issue out for him. Hopkins went off and found out that if Churchill retired as an author on the last day of the tax year, fees paid the following year could be treated as capital receipts not income. Capital receipts were not taxed. Churchill did so.

This was not the last time he called Hopkins to his office and Churchill resumed writing. He dodged much more tax and the Inland Revenue barely put up a fight. In 1945 he made £6 million from selling film rights to his books, all of which went untaxed. The IRS would not have any of it however, and Churchill’s executors had to settle with the American tax authorities after his death.

What do you think? Did you know that Churchill dodged tax?

Vichy Dermablend 3D Correction Review

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

When the press release for Vichy Dermablend 3D Correction foundation landed in our inbox we thought it looked interesting. Vichy Dermablend are known for their market-leading formulas which correct skin complaints like rosacea, redness, scarring and vitiligo. Their new Vichy Dermablend 3D Correction promises to turn 3D imperfections into 2D. It is a gel which, according to Vichy, ‘unfolds like a second skin, only even smoother, and more beautiful’.

Here is our verdict:

“The texture of the foundation feels nice. It is a gel and smooths on well. Since being sent the foundation to review my skin has had its first breakout in years. I am not sure what set my skin off, but the foundation does cover any redness and also smooths out open pores. The colour I review is nude but my skin is pale and it is too dark. The colour is also a bit too beige for my white skin. I have this problem a lot with foundation so I cannot blame Vichy, I have just spent my life wearing high SPF and keeping out of the sun.

Despite the issue with the colour, it does cover well. Smoothing out the complexion, covering spots and eliminating redness. It does this without being too heavy. It looks like skin instead of makeup. You also only need to use a little for good coverage. A fine layer will do all you need and it leaves skin looking fresh. It is available in five shades so I would go with the next colour down. It still leaves my skin looking clear, even and a little tan. It also has an SPF 25 which I consider essential in products (note: pale skin!) Recommended.”

Transform the appearance of acne-prone skin with the Vichy Dermablend 3D Correction Foundation SPF25, a corrective resurfacing base that provides high coverage and an ultra-matte finish.

The Dermablend 3D Correction Foundation SPF25 takes coverage to the next level, smoothing the skin’s surface to minimise the appearance of imperfections. Enriched with salicylic acid and eperulin, the oil-free foundation will work to visibly reduce the appearance of imperfections day-after-day.

In just a single application, the texture of the complexion will appear smoother thanks to a texture innovation, AlliagelTM. The formula’s pigments and soft focus agents cover and blur imperfections like a second skin, for a natural result and comfortable wear that lasts for up to 16 hours.

Available in five shades, the lightweight foundation is perfect for those that want to correct their skin’s texture and colour, providing coverage that does more than just camouflage.

Available from feelunqiue.com Boots.com and Boots nationwide.

Snake Oil or Medicine? by Dr Kathleen Thompson

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Frostie

Every day we read on the Internet, in newspapers or in magazines about wonder drugs. With all these miracle cures around it is surprising that so many of us still suffer illness. Surely we just need to pop one of these pills and all will be well?

But maybe, just maybe, some of these potions can’t cure cancer, can’t make people with arthritis dance in the streets and can’t make you lose ten inches off your waist-line in a week?

If you have incurable cancer, or constant arthritic pain, you wouldn’t want to miss a useful treatment. So how can you know whether claims are genuine or snake oil?

Approved medicines are tested in numerous clinical studies, usually in thousands of people. Study data are scrutinised by regulatory authorities (FDA in USA and EMA in Europe) before doctors can prescribe them. Thus there is firm evidence that they work, and a great deal is known about side-effects or safety issues.

However, anything can be advertised on the Internet – Google has no truth filter. Impressive-sounding study results may not be scientifically sound. So here are some clues to help you assess them (See Table):

1. Has the ‘medicine’ been tested against placebo (dummy medicine)? If people believe they are receiving a beneficial treatment, they often feel better, regardless. Most studies should include some patients who only receive placebo, to make sure any benefit is due to the real medicine.

2. Measures of benefit (endpoints) should be chosen before a study starts. Eg an influenza medicine may measure fever. If fevers don’t improve, one can’t then change the endpoint to, say, sore throat, just because these improved more. Some symptoms will improve by coincidence, and it isn’t valid to cherry-pick the best results. This is often done in unregulated ‘studies’ and can make a treatment look better than it is.

3. Always check how many people were tested. If a study only had two patients, and one received real medicine and one placebo, even if the patient on the real medicine did better, it could have been due to chance. Statisticians calculate how many patients are needed to give a reliable result. Unregulated studies rarely include enough people.

Unapproved studies are not always checked, so there is more opportunity to ‘cheat’—results may be changed, ‘patients’ invented, or data from any patients who didn’t improve may be removed. Where the study was performed, and by who, may give reassurance on this, or not.

A respectable study will be written up as a report, and will be published in a good scientific journal. Be careful though – some ‘journals’ have impressive titles but are not what they seem. You can check them on Cite Factor (see below) to be sure.

I hope this helps you decide what you can believe. If in doubt, do ask your doctor’s opinion. And remember, if something seems to good to be true – then it may well be exactly that.

By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co,uk

Further information:

http://www.citefactor.org

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/info/understand

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

The 2016 Sunday Times Rich List

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

ROLLING STONES WEALTHIEST BAND – WITH £630 MILLION,

AHEAD OF U2 – JOINTLY WORTH £500 MILLION

ADELE’S FORTUNE GROWS BY £35 MILLION T0 £85 MILLION

DJ CALVIN HARRIS HAS £95 MILLION FORTUNE

Adele, who has added £35m to her personal fortune in a year, tops the Young Music Rich List of performers aged 30 and under. The 27-year-old singer is now worth £85m, and rises to 30^th place in the overall 2016 Sunday Times list of the wealthiest of performers and composers in Britain and Ireland.

The Music Millionaires top 50 is released today, ahead of the 28^th annual Sunday Times Rich List to be published this weekend. Adele, Britain’s richest ever female musician, has benefited from the worldwide success of her long-awaited third album, 25, released last November. The London-born singer/songwriter is now hard on the heels of Ireland’s wealthiest female performer, Enya, who is worth £91m, up just £1m on 2015.

The Rolling Stones – Sir Mick Jagger, worth £235m; Keith Richards, £220m; Charlie Watts, £120m; and Ronnie Wood, £55m – with combined fortunes of £630m, up £40m on 2015, are the wealthiest band in Britain and Ireland, ahead of U2 with a joint fortune of £500m, an increase of £69m on the 2015 Sunday Times Music Rich List. U2 was the highest-grossing rock act last year selling 1.29m tickets worth £66m for 76 concerts.

The 2016 Sunday Times Music Rich List is headed by Sir Paul McCartney, who with his wife Nancy Shevell, shares a joint fortune of £760m, up £30m on last year. American-born Shevell has a £150m stake in her father’s New England Motor Freight trucking operation.

Calvin Harris, the Dumfries-born international DJ, who writes, sings, records, remixes and produces his own music, has seen his personal wealth leap by £25m in a year to rank him at 27 in the 2016 Top 50, worth £95m.

David Bowie’s widow and his filmmaker son by his first marriage to Angie, Iman Abdulmajid and Duncan Jones, join this year’s list with a joint family fortune of £90m, based on the £70m from Bowie’s will, their own wealth and royalties from the chart success of Bowie’s music after his death.

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2016

THE TOP 50 MUSIC MILLIONAIRES IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND

2016 rank	2015 rank	Name	2016 wealth	Wealth increase, unless indicated
1	1	Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell	£760m	£30m
2	2	Lord Lloyd-Webber	£715m	£65m
3	3	U2	£500m	£69m
4	4	Sir Elton John	£280m	£10m
5	5	Sir Mick Jagger	£235m	£10m
6=	New	Olivia and Dhani Harrison	£220m	£20m
6=	6	Keith Richards	£220m	£10m
8	8=	Ringo Starr	£200m	£20m
9	7	Michael Flatley	£198m	£3m
10	8=	Sting	£185m	£5m
11=	11	Eric Clapton	£160m	£5m
11=	12=	Rod Stewart	£160m	£10m
11=	10	Roger Waters	£160m	No change
14	12=	Sir Tom Jones	£155m	£5m
15	12=	Sir Tim Rice	£150m	No change
16	15=	Robbie Williams	£145m	£10m
17	17	Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne	£135m	£5m
18=	18=	Brian May	£120m	£10m
18=	18=	Charlie Watts	£120m	£10m
20	21=	Roger Taylor	£115m	£10m
21	18=	Phil Collins	£110m	No change
22=	21=	George Michael	£105m	No change
22=	23=	Jimmy Page	£105m	£5m
24	23=	Robert Plant	£103m	£3m
25=	27	John Deacon	£100m	£15m
25=	25=	David Gilmour	£100m	£10m
27	30=	Calvin Harris	£95m	£25m
28	25=	Enya	£91m	£1m
29	New	Iman Abdulmajid and Duncan Jones and family	£90m	–
30	43=	Adele	£85m	£35m
31=	33=	Gary Barlow	£75m	£10m
31=	30=	Mark Knopfler	£75m	£5m
31=	29	Nick Mason	£75m	No change
31=	30=	Pete Townshend	£75m	£5m
35	33=	Engelbert Humperdinck	£70m	£5m
36=	28	Noel and Liam Gallagher	£65m	Down £12m
36=	43=	Brian Johnson	£65m	£15m
36=	39=	Chris Martin	£65m	£13m
39=	35=	Barry Gibb	£60m	No change
39=	35=	John Paul Jones	£60m	No change
41	37=	Sir Cliff Richard	£58m	£3m
42=	39=	Guy Berryman	£55m	£3m
42=	39=	Jonny Buckland	£55m	£3m
42=	39=	Will Champion	£55m	£3m
42=	37=	Kylie Minogue	£55m	No change
42=	46=	Ronnie Wood	£55m	£10m
47=	46=	Jay Kay	£50m	£5m
47=	43=	Sir Van Morrison	£50m	No change
49=	46=	Peter Gabriel	£45m	No change
49=	50	Mick Hucknall	£45m	£5m
49=	New	Ed Sheeran	£45m	New
49=	46=	Bernie Taupin	£45m	No change

Britain and Ireland’s wealthiest young band, with all the members aged under 30, is One Direction, with a combined wealth of £132m. The four musicians in the One Direction line up, Niall Horan, aged 22, Liam Payne, 22, Harry Styles, 22, and Louis Tomlinson, 24, have each added £8m to their personal fortunes in a year and are individually each worth £33m, up from £25m last year.

Former One Direction member Zayn Malik, 23, has added £5m to his personal wealth, now worth £30m, helped by the success of his debut solo album, Mind of Mine, which topped the sales charts in the UK and the US this month.

Sam Smith and Florence Welch, who were new entries in the Young Rich List in 2015, worth £12m, have both added £8m to their personal wealth to join the Young Musicians Top 10 – each with fortunes of £20m.

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2016

THE 10 RICHEST YOUNG MUSICIANS

IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (Aged 30 or under)

2016 rank	2015 rank	Name	2016 wealth	Wealth increase
1	1	Adele	£85m	£35m
2	7	Ed Sheeran	£45m	£25m
3=	2=	Niall Horan	£33m	£8m
3=	2=	Liam Payne	£33m	£8m
3=	2=	Harry Styles	£33m	£8m
3=	2=	Louis Tomlinson	£33m	£8m
7	2=	Zayn Malik	£30m	£5m
8=	New	Sam Smith	£20m	£8m
8=	New	Florence Welch	£20m	£8m
10	8=	Ellie Goulding	£17m	£4m

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST – 148 PAGES ON APRIL 24

The 2016 Sunday Times Rich List – the definitive guide to wealth in Britain and Ireland – is published on Sunday, April 24. The 148-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine is the biggest issue of the Rich List ever published since it first appeared in 1989. It charts the wealth of the 1,000 richest people in the UK and the 250 richest in Ireland. The list is based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies. It excludes bank accounts, to which the paper has no access.

The Sunday Times Rich List is compiled by Philip Beresford and Robert Watts, and edited by Ian Coxon. The complete list will be available to all the paper’s digital members and will be fully-searchable online at thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist

With thanks to The Sunday Times Rich List

How To Travel The World Without Selling Your Possessions

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Frostie

The date you board the plane, and jet off to the first destination on your world tour, is getting closer! Whilst sitting at your desk, saving up the final pennies to put towards your adventure, you are daydreaming of sitting on a beach in the sun but are actually looking out the window on a drizzly Monday afternoon.

But, as you wish away the time until you touch down in paradise, there are a few very important things you need to sort out – particularly what you are going to do with all your possessions! Perhaps you have already sold some to put towards your travel fund and maybe the situation has encouraged you to have a major clear out. But, there will still be many things that you want to come back to in a year or two, when your travels come to an end and it is back to reality.

So, here are a few ways that you can travel the world without having to sell all your possessions:

1.Rent out your home – furnished

If you are lucky enough to own your own home, then leave all your possessions there and rent it out Posted in Life & Style, Travel | Tagged How To Travel The World Without Selling Your Possessions, possessions, travel, traveling, what to do with your stuff

Chef Adam Handling Launches new Tasting Menu; Adam Handling at Caxton

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Kesh

Adam Handling Photo By; ‘G & G Goodfellows’ & ‘Duncan Davis’

At only 27, young chef Adam Handling is proof that passion, creativity and skill really does come at any age. With a series of accolades and awards under his belt, Handling’s career is one that some chefs can only dream of. Pursuing his passion of cooking from the age of 10 and eventually finding himself a finalist on Masterchef: The Professionals, Handling now shares with us his imaginative and awe-inspiring creations using themes from his own life in his new menu now launching at restaurant Adam Handling at Caxton. With two tasting menus to choose from, a seven course and an eleven course, I can only scratch the surface when describing the utterly show-stopping dishes which follow each other harmoniously and it’s very clear that Handling has perfected the art of Gastronomy and channeled this with great creativity.

Photo by; ‘G & G Goodfellows’ & ‘Duncan Davis’

Each dish is nothing short of an experience, a menu for real foodies, it’s clear that this menu was created by someone who loves food and the food here is clearly derivative of memories, experiences and places. Don’t let the thought of eleven courses send you into food coma dread, everything here is well thought out, balanced and finely tuned.The first few courses are smaller appetizers ‘Pork & lovage’ and ‘Beetroot, beetroot and more beetroot’. Both of them transport you to a garden with beautifully fresh and seasonal flavours which compliment each other in succession, yin and yang at it’s best.

‘Beetroot, beetroot and more beetroot’

We then start to embark on complete indulgence and sensory overload, ‘Liquid gold’ is every bit as decadent as it sounds, two golden cubes of olive oil butter wrapped in white Chocolate and 24 carat gold which are presented filled with Caviar finished with a truffle on top. Now this was the one I was most hesitant to try, fish, chocolate, truffles and gold? This is certainly a brave and ambitious dish to execute but Handling miraculously balances some of the most distinct and powerful flavours with ease, flooding our tastebuds with a flavour of the ocean and leading us nicely on to our next course.

‘Liquid Gold’

‘Crab, apple and Sea Herbs’ is presented on a bed or seaweed and immersed in liquid nitrogen, for once, theatrics in this case is most welcome with the liquid nitrogen flooding the table with a delicate perfume of the sea, it’s incredibly welcome to enjoy the taste of the sea whilst flooding your nose with scents of the ocean.

Key to ‘Mother’

‘Mother’

The theatrics then continues as we are presented with a box which you must open with a little tiny key, in it is our next course; ‘Mother’. The showpiece of the menu, Mother is another dish which demonstrates the skill and fine balancing of quality flavours and ingredients. Slow cooked egg yolk is encased in shavings of apple and combined with celeriac puree, truffle cream and dusted with seaweed powder and truffle crisps. This dish is a delicate dance on the tastebuds and is incredibly satisfying. The texture, taste and temperature get your senses firing on all cylinders. Presented in a bespoke wooden box, this dish really is spectacular in every sense and something which is clearly very special to the chef himself.

Stunning Turbot Dish

‘Beer, beef, chilli, yolk’ is a smaller dish but a welcome interlude presented on a cracker this is probably one of the more relaxed courses but certainly demonstrating just as much skill and flavour. The next dish of ‘Turbot, Limestone and Radish’ was perhaps the more simpler of the dishes in terms of how it is served but definitely the best. This dish needs no introductions, Turbot served on a bed of perfect creamy mash potatoes and radish is a winning combination in my book. ‘Burnt Beef’ really is something to marvel at, and a lesson to anyone who wants to know how to plate a dish in an impressive way.

The final two desert courses almost seem to merge into one as they were devoured with much pleasure, ‘Nitro Tiramisu’ and ‘Chocolate, caramel and blackcurrant’ are every bit as appetising as they sound and my resounding thought was that I could have eaten it all over again even after the nine previous courses. Every course really does take you on a journey and transports you somewhere. To the sea or a garden or in the case of ‘Mother’, to Heaven itself. The work that has gone into such a thing can only be the brainchild of a culinary genius and the acute balancing of every flavour really is the most remarkable feature.
Not only has Handling nailed every flavour combination which you’re faced with when digging into his well-versed 11 courses but every course is presented with creativity, flair and adventure.

When it comes to the restaurant itself, the best thing about The Caxton was that it was so easy-going and how un-pretentious it was. The service was second to none and every member of staff was well informed and a pleasure to talk to. It says something about a place when the other diners are all genuinely having a good time and completely relaxed and this is somewhere which has no airs or graces about it. Just the promise of excellent service, sublime food and ultimate satisfaction. If you love food and you love flavour, this is really an experience like no other, full of wonder and inspiring cookery. Something to share with company you enjoy and somewhere to be adventurous this is certainly one of the best value tasting menus in London priced at only £50 for seven courses or £66 for the eleven course (without wines). Bravo Adam Handling, thank you for my amazing dinner, P.S, how do we create Liquid Gold at home?

For further information or for bookings, please visit: Caxton Grill

The Chalfont St Giles and Jordans Literary Festival by Denise Beddows

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Margaret Graham

The theme of this year’s exciting Chalfont St Giles & Jordans Literary Festival (10-22 May) is ‘Lives in Words’. Sharing their insights into their own or others’ lives will be a stellar line-up of guest speakers.

Participants will include Professor (Sir) Robert Winston, examining ways in which science may increase our happiness, and diplomat Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, sharing his experiences as a British Ambassador.

Anna Jacobs outlines the background to her best-selling novels, whilst poetry lovers will be well served by the wit of award-winning poet Wendy Cope. American poet Robert Frost will be the subject of a discussion led by Gabriel Woolf and Linda Hart, and Claire de Carle and Dr Sarah Rutherford will discuss Capability Brown.

Ffion Hague examines the relationship between Robert Walpole and poet Thomas Gray, and Vernon Bogdanor describes the constitutional crisis of 1936 caused by Edward VIII’s relationship with American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

In a joint presentation entitled Spooks & Spooks, Denise Beddows, aka author DJ Kelly, explores our county’s 600 year history of spooks of the spy variety, as featured in her book Buckinghamshire Spies & Subversives; Catriona Troth describes the inspiration for her book Ghost Town and the way The Specials’ chart-topping song of that name eerily reflected the 1980’s urban decay, unemployment and racial violence, and Margaret Whittock recounts the spooky circumstances leading to her discovering the Gallipoli graves of her two great uncles and to her novel Ghost of Gallipoli.

With coffees, teas, homemade cakes and books on sale, readers and budding writers are invited to pop in to browse books and seek writing and publishing tips from 8 published authors at the Writers’ Café and Pop-up Book Shop (10-1pm Sat 21^stMay in The Reading Room, High Street, Chalfont St Giles – admission free). See:www.chalfontstgilesliteraryfestival.org.uk

Frost Magazine

Books and Lifestyle