Are The Royal Family Worth It?

So are the Royal Family worth taxpayer’s money? As the recession starts to bite and unemployment rises it’s worth asking if we really need an unelected had of state that cost every person in Britain 69p. Frost wants to open up a debate on the Royal Family. Love them or hate them? Frost came across the video below that made us stop and wonder; should we rejoice that we have a Queen?

With Prince William and Catherine Middleton making royalty cool again and becoming more and more popular it seems that the royal family are having a resurgence. Posh has become cool again. Maybe we need more fantasy in our lives and the royal family gives us that.

Did the video change your mind? Are you a royalist or republican? Let us know.

Guess Watches Teams with Breakthrough Breast Cancer

Too Many Women is an incredible initiative, which aims to raise £1million for the pioneering work of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre. It is supported by a number of high profile celebrities and ambassadors, including Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Pippa Middleton and Matthew Williamson.

GUESS Watches is delighted to be working alongside Too Many Women and are launching a limited edition Sparkling Pink watch to raise money and help Too Many Women reach their goal of £1million.

The Sparkling Pink watch features with a polished silver bracelet and multifunction dial, which are both elegant and functional. With the addition of twelve pink accent crystals around the facia and the iconic pink Breast Cancer ribbon logo, this striking design supports a great cause and aims to be a chic wardrobe staple.

GUESS Watches is committed to raising funds and awareness to help fight the battle against breast cancer and is excited to be among the many supporters joining forces to assist Too Many Women and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

For more information see: www.toomanywomen.co.uk and www.breakthrough.org.uk

Price: £149

The Inept Girl's Guide To Cooking: Eton Mess

I love Eton Mess, it is easy to make, healthy and just that bit different.

Here is what you need.

Strawberries (about 500g)
4 meringue nests
1 pint double cream
1 tbsp soft demerara sugar
You could make your own meringue, but this is called the Inept girl’s guide, and, really, who has the time.

Next….

1 Wash and quarter your strawberries.
2 Take about 1/3 of the fruit and place in a blender with 1 tbsp sugar to make a puree.
3 Whip the cream until it stiffens
4 Place it all into a bowl, crush the meringue and add that too.
5 Spoon the mix into sundae glasses or a bowl, add the puree and a cluster of delicious ripe strawberries.

You can also add blackberries or raspberries. All summer fruits are great with Eton Mess, enjoy!

London Art Fair

London Art Fair

18 – 22 January 2012

Business Design Centre, Islington

London Art Fair, the UK’s largest art fair for Modern British and contemporary art returns, with over 100 galleries featuring the great names of the 20th century alongside exceptional recent work, from leading figures and emerging talent.

Highlights of the 24th London Art Fair will include:

Main Fair

Galleries from across the UK and overseas will be exhibiting the work of over 1,000 artists covering the period from the early 20th Century to the present day. Museum quality Modern British art is presented alongside contemporary art from today’s leading artists.

Art Projects

Established as one of the most exciting sections of the Fair, Art Projects features solo shows, curated group displays and large-scale installations from contemporary artists and galleries across the world. New to Art Projects in 2012 are Beers.Lambert Contemporary Art, Edel Assanti, Hoxton Art Gallery, Limoncello Editions, Michael Klein, Tenderpixel and Whatiftheworld.

Photo50

A showcase for contemporary photography established in 2007, Photo50 features 50 works presented in an exhibition curated by Sue Steward.

Photography Focus Day, Wednesday 18 January 2012

Featuring a series of discussions and tours dedicated to contemporary photography.

Tours, Talks and Discussions

An extensive programme of talks and critical debates in association with key partners, plus daily tours of the Main Fair and Art Projects.

London Art Fair tickets are now on sale at £11 (plus £1.50 booking fee) in advance, including a copy of the 2012 Fair Guide (to be collected at the Fair). Tickets on the door are £16.

For a full list of galleries and the latest London Art Fair news visit: www.londonartfair.co.uk

Prince William Praises Queen For Help Planning Wedding

A new book about the Royal Family has revealed that when Prince William was first handed his wedding list, he did not know anyone on it.

The book, called Our Queen also reveals that the Queen advised him to bin the official guest-list for his wedding to Kate Middleton and start again.

He said: “I came into the first meeting for the wedding, post-engagement, and I was given this official list of 777 names – dignitaries, governors, all sorts of people – and not one person I knew. They said: “These are the people we should invite”.

“I looked at it in absolute horror and said, ‘I think we should start again’. I rang [The Queen] up the next day and said, ‘Do we need to be doing this?’ And she said, ‘No. Start with your friends first and then go from there’. And she told me to bin the list.”

“She made the point that there are certain times when you have to strike the right balance. And it’s advice like that, which is really key, when you know that she’s seen and done it before.”

He also revealed that it was the Queen that insisted her wore his Irish Guards uniform for the wedding.

Made In Chelsea Stars Ollie Locke and Chloe Green Split Up.

Made In Chelsea stars Chloe Green and Ollie Locke have split up.

Chloe Green joined the reality TV show this month as Ollie’s girlfriend and has said that the relationship could not survive the media spotlight.

The daughter of Topshop owner Sir Philip Green said: “We have split. It was nothing to do with Ollie being bisexual; I was fine with it and so was Dad. He met Ollie and thought he was a really nice guy.”

She also said that “World War 3 nearly broke out” a few times between her and Ollie’s ex-girlfriend Gabriella Ellis.

“It’s fair to say there were some awkward moments and World War 3 nearly broke out when we watched the screening of the first episode.”

However, the two seem to have become friends, Ellis went on to tell GLAMOUR.com: “Yeah, we’re really close friends actually. In the past kind of week or two, we’ve become really close. The show airs nearly a month after we’ve filmed the episode, so now we’ve become really, really close, but you’ll see it happen.”

The Stig, a Black Cab…and Chris Evans

The Stig, a Black Cab…and Chris Evans

• Top Gear Live’s tame racing driver in 400bhp London ExCeL blat

The Stig gave television and radio presenter, Chris Evans, a truly memorable ride yesterday morning when he took to the wheel of a Black Cab for a quick tour of ExCeL London, the capital’s venue for the all-new Top Gear Live 2011 (November 24-27th). The show also visits the NEC in Birmingham between 11 – 13 November.

Petrolhead, Evans, jumped in the back of a rather unique 400bhp version of the iconic London taxi to announce his appearance at this year’s show where he will take part in a special live rendition of Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

Negotiating service ramps, the underground car park, power-sliding through the show halls and across the central boulevard, The Stig gave his passenger a whirlwind tour of the 100,000 square metre venue.

Billed as ‘The Ultimate Top Gear Experience’, visitors can expect all the on-screen, supercharged excitement of the TV show rolled into one event, with the famous presenting trio of Clarkson, Hammond and May previously seen in the TopGearLive action arena now spilling out into the rest of the event.

At the centre of the new format is the new Top Gear indoor track featuring highlights from the TV show including Stig Power Laps and ‘Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car’ as well as the Top Gear Stunt Team, mouth-watering head-to-heads and supercar parades.

BBC Radio 2 breakfast DJ and One Show presenter, Chris Evans will appear on 24th November at London ExCel. Further celebrity names will be announced in the coming weeks.

Visit www.topgearlive.co.uk or facebook.com/topgearliveuk to see how Chris and The Stig got on.

Tickets start at just £49. For more information about the show or to book tickets visit www.topgearlive.co.uk or call 0871 230 5588.

London Fashion Week Highlights | Fashion Shenzhen

One of my London Fashion Week highlights was Fashion Shenzhen on 19th of September.

Shenzhen, Guangdong province, is not only the nation’s garment capital, with 3,000 garment manufacturers employing nearly 500,000 people, but also home to some world famous designers.

It was Fashion Shenzhen’s fourth appearance at London Fashion week, It was organized by the Shenzhen Garment Industry Association. I love the music, the clothes and the atmosphere.

Chinese Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming attended and said that Shenzhen is actually not just a garment manufacturing base, but “well-positioned to be China’s fashion and creative capital”.

Xie Haiping and Deng Hao were the two designers at Monday’s catwalk at Vauxhall Fashion Scout in the Freemason’s Hall.

A one minute video of the highlights are below.

The Vauxhall Fashion Scout founder, John Walford said of the show: “It really is rewarding to see how this relationship has gone from strength to strength.

“This new exciting student exchange, Chinese collections in the UK and UK collections in China, becomes possible for the first time with the opening of the Shenzhen Fashion School next year,”