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Anal sex, especially when you’re bottoming, can feel like a game of Russian roulette. Actually,

Feeling confident and sexy in lingerie can be a complicated process. No one sees that struggle up close (and personal) more than a boudoir photographer. While a skin-baring photoshoot might seem like something you do for a partner, that is not always the case. According to NYC-based boudoir photographer, Andrea B. Ballen, the purpose of an intimate, skin-baring shoot is often more personal. Her sessions are designed to help women “see and realize we are sensual beings, worthy of owning our sexuality without shame or fear.” Ballen has witnessed this struggle in all types of clients. Some want to celebrate their new single body after divorce, while others struggle with loving new post-partum curves, scars, or stretch marks. No matter what they’re warring with, though, when it comes down to it, Ballen loves helping people discover that they can celebrate themselves and their bodies at any phase in their life. Through her sessions, she watches people “let go of inhibition, let go of fear, self-consciousness, body image issues, anything that’s been holding them back,” she says. And (perhaps unsurprisingly), that often starts with the lingerie we wear.

The surprise hit of high summer, colourful crochet is everywhere right now. What started on the spring/summer 2023 catwalks as more of a laidback, seaside-inspired look – with cream, custard and khaki beach dresses at Gabriela Hearst, Khaite and Ulla Johnson – has bloomed into a rainbow-bright riot on the high street. The fabric – which is created by using a hook to weave loops of yarn – has fallen in and out of fashion throughout the decades. The hippy heyday of the Seventies saw a massive boom in crochet clothing, in particular garments made from a patchwork of ‘granny squares’. More recently, London Fashion Week designer Christopher Kane (known for his love of ‘granny chic’) put black and blue crochet on the catwalk, styled with leather and latex. Singer Harry Styles – known for his love of Seventies styles – has inspired fans to weave their own crochet cardigans after he was spotted on stage in a patchwork design. According to Klarna Shopping Index research, shoppers are embracing the retro look in a big way, with sales of crochet items up 81% year on year. The most popular garments are trousers (up 269%), shirts (193%) and skirts (140%). So how should you wear the trend now? This year’s revival is all about fun in the sun. A mesh dress or cover-up is a beachwear must-have if you’re jetting off somewhere hot on holiday. For a subtle Seventies look, team a bright crochet vest with wide-leg or flared jeans or denim cut-offs. Heading to a festival? Go bold with a ‘granny square’ dress in a cocktail of colours or co-ord set in this season’s hottest hue: emerald green. Accessorise your look with some vintage-style cork sole wedges or espadrilles (another classic trend that’s making a comeback right now) and add a woven beach bag for a cute finishing touch. Here’s our pick of the best crochet pieces to shop this summer… Boohoo Premium Patchwork Crochet Knitted Dress, £32 (was £38) Simply Be Orange Wide V Neck Crochet Jumper, £30; Blue Crochet Straw Hat, £10.80 (was £18); Pink Wide V Neck Crochet Jumper, £27 (was £30); Bright Blue Crochet Wide Leg Trouser Co-ord, £30 Pep&Co at Poundland Cerise Pink and Yellow Striped Bodycon Dress, £14 (in store only) Roman Multi One Size Cotton Blend Crochet Cape, £28 (was £35); Light Denim Stretch Denim Mom Shorts, £24 Matalan Pink Crochet Look Long Beach Dress, £19 Monsoon Sleeveless Crochet Top with Lenzing Ecovero Green, £50; Winnie Wrap Midi Skirt Black, £55 V by Very Crochet Flared Sleeve Top, £14 (was £22); V by Very Crochet Shorts Green, £8.50 (were £18) Bimba y Lola Orange Crochet Top, £44 (was £110) Accessorize Pink Raffia Crochet Beach Shopper, £15.20 (was £38) Esprit Robyn Cotton Hobo Bag in Crochet Knit, £46, La Redoute FatFace Penelope Tile Crochet Sliders, £47.20 (were £59)

It’s never too early to plan your fall capsule wardrobe. So as you dip your toes into transitional weather attire, let us slowly direct you to the best fall fashion — no pumpkin or leaf motifs here. Instead, we’ve created an extensive roundup of sublime autumn staples that you can freely mix and match. There are classic button-downs, stylish pants, fall jackets, trendy handbags, everyday jewelry, and plenty of shoes.

McLaren have announced 18-year-old Bianca Bustamente as the first ever female driver in their development programme. The Filipino teenager will drive with McLaren’s livery in F1 Academy next year, with all 10 F1 teams being represented by at least one driver in 2024. Bustamente is currently seventh in the Academy’s inaugural season standings, having recorded two wins and two podiums this year, ahead of the season finale this weekend in Austin, Texas. She has won numerous karting championships in Asia and has previously competed in W Series, Formula 4 UAE Championship and Italian Formula 4. "To sign with McLaren and ART Grand Prix is way beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined growing up racing karts in the Philippines", said Bustamante. "I still have a hard time seeing my name next to McLaren without getting emotional, as the history and heritage linked to this team leaves me truly speechless.” The likes of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and current McLaren driver Lando Norris have come through the team’s illustrious junior ranks. "I’m so grateful for this opportunity as I believe I now have the best possible development structure around me to take the next step up in my career,” Bustamente added. "For now, my focus is to finish off the F1 Academy season strongly here in Austin, but we’ll get to work immediately on the 2024 season. "I’ve never been more motivated in my life! A big thanks goes to Susie Wolff [F1 Academy managing director] and the team at F1 Academy for fighting so hard for us girls and to give us this opportunity to be the best we can be." Spanish driver Marta Garcia is set to wrap up the F1 Academy title at the US Grand Prix – she has a 48-point lead ahead of this weekend’s three races. Read More Daniel Ricciardo to make F1 return from injury at United States Grand Prix Nico Rosberg identifies ‘dream candidate’ for Red Bull seat Nicolas Hamilton: ‘Lewis has never put a penny into my racing... it’s not easy being related to him’ Daniel Ricciardo to make F1 return at US Grand Prix Netflix reveal star line-up for F1 Drive to Survive vs Full Swing golf match F1 2023 season race schedule: When is the US Grand Prix?

Halloween is next week (or this weekend if you're celebrating early) and so many of us will be trying to scramble a last-minute costume together. From Barbenheimer to Taylor Swift, this year has been jam-packed with pop culture moments and so there are a number of options to choose from that are relevant and fresh. And with TikTok being a great source for all things Halloween-inspired, the possibilities are endless. Here is a rundown of the costumes that best represent 2023 - if that's the vibe you're going for: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce @nfl gonna see a lot of these costumes this year ?? #traviskelce #taylorswift #halloween #nfl (via kidsuper/IG) With pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce making headlines with their rumoured romance, there's no doubt this will be a popular couple's costume. Meanwhile, one couple was ahead of the trend as Makayla and Nick Stephens dressed up as the celebrity couple back in 2020 - years before Swift and Kelce got together, and now their holiday photo has gone viral. Or Taylor Swift (from any era) @baileylovestayl0r 2 more months!! ? part 2? #fyp #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #taylorswiftedit #halloween #halloweencostume #ideas If you wantfell to dress up as Taylor Swift for Halloween, then the internet is full of inspiration thanks to Swifties dressing up in singer's different album eras when attending the Eras Tour live shows. Whether, it's debut, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, reputation, Lover, Folklore, Evermore or Midnights, there are costume tutorials and guides out there for every single one. AI-generated Pope in a Puffer Jacket Artificial intelligence has improved in recent years, so much so this realistic photo generated by AI of the Pope Francis in a white puffer jacket had people scratching their heads, unsure on whether it was real. The image quickly became a viral meme, so this would be a great 2023 meme to recreate for Halloween - and you'll be kept warm wearing a puffer jacket. Carmy from the Bear @sofia.silerio yes jeff #fyp #thebear #jeremyallenwhite #halloween #halloweencostume Season 2 of The Bear was released in June this year, and viewers love Jeremy Allen White's character the intense award-winning chef - a costume that is easy to put together with a white t-shirt, black trousers and a blue apron. Daisy Jones & the Six @ecovi ahead of my time @daisyjonesandthesix #halloween #halloweeninspo #halloween2023 #fyp #foryou Channel the 1970s by recreating looks from Daisy Jones & The Six, after the TV adaptation was released back in March - this could make a great group costume. Some of the different elements include flared trousers, crochet tops, kimonos, and florals while not forgetting the knee-high platform boots. Kendall Roy from Succession @remyedenmaria My boy squiggle cooked up this beat for me #kendallroy #halloween #ltotheog #succession #successionhbo #jeremystrong #fyp #foryoupage Viewers were devastated when the final season of Succession aired back in May this year, but fans can recreate one of the show's most iconic moments - Kendall Roy displaying his rap skills with his song 'L to the OG'. To channel Kendall, you'll need a pinstripe NY Yankees jersey, and a white shirt with a black bowtie. Rihanna at the Super Bowl @lifewithvikki best couple’s costume if you ask me #halloween #couplescostume #rihanna #rihannasuperbowl #rihannahalftimeshow Rihanna playing her biggest hits while pregnant at this year's Super Bowl was one of the musical highlights of 2023, so there was no doubt it would also be a go-to costume for Halloween. And if you're looking for a group costume, then other pals can dress up in white as the backup dancers - which inspired plenty of memes. Barbenheimer @noodlesn16 #greenscreen Barbenheimer will be the number 1. Count it ONE. Couples Halloween cotume this year. You heard it here first. #barbie #barbenheimer #oppenheimer #halloween #couplescostume With the release of the Barbie movie and Oppenheimer on the same day (July 21), 2023 was truly a Barbenheimer summer, and so this will no doubt inspire many looks this Halloween. For those who want to dress as Barbie there are a number of looks to choose from - roller-skating Barbie, cowgirl Barbie and disco Barbie etc, while with Ken you have surfer Ken, cowboy Ken, or the white fur coat look with the bandana and glasses. While bright and bold colours are seen in Barbie, those dressing up in an Oppenheimer look should be suited and booted in muted tones from the 1940s - with a porkpie hat and a cigarette or smoking pipe. Justin and Hailey Bieber @biebersgoodside.2 “Another one. Thank u!” ? #justinbieber #haileybieber #jailey #halloween #couplecostumes #bieberfever #costume Justin and Hailey Bieber became a meme this year for their different styles, with Hailey dressing up when attending events while Justin goes for the more casual and relaxed look. This is a pretty easy couples costume as you can recreate the look with clothes from your own wardrobe. Paris bed bugs @thatblonderebel Easy Halloween costume: Parisian bedbugs video inspo: @Danielle Pinnock #halloweencostume The news of bedbugs infesting public transport in Paris soon became a viral concern as videos circulated of the critters on TikTok so what better way to reference a recent trend than by dressing up as a bedbug for Halloween? (After all, Londoners have been petrified of bugs arriving on the tubes and trains). Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.

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It's been more than 15 years since IBM stopped making ThinkPad laptops, yet you're still

The next time you eat something with your hands, take a moment to notice how it feels on your fingertips before taking a bite. If it’s a burger, are the buns smooth or covered in a smattering of sesame seeds? When you put pressure on them with your fingers, does the bread squish down or is it more of a crumby affair? Then, when you finally take a bite, notice how satisfying it is to sink your teeth through its layers; soft bun giving way to crunchy lettuce or onion, to oozy cheese to, finally, juicy patty. Now think about how different it would be if you had used a knife and fork. Eating with one’s hands is an immensely pleasurable experience. While in the West, the act is usually confined to foods encased in bread or pastry, Indian, African and some other Asian cultures are more adept at using their fingers for dishes that might seem too “messy” or “sticky” on this side of the world. One of my favourite dishes is banana leaf rice, which at its core comprises of rice, vegetables and curry. I mix each element of the dish and use a pinching motion with all five fingers to construct the perfect bite, before sweeping it up in a quick motion and delivering the food to my mouth. I find that it forces me to really consider each bite, from what flavours and textures I want it to contain, to how large a portion I can manage. Up until a few months ago, I never really thought about how often I eat with my hands. Like many people, I associated it closely with Indian meals and always thought that Western culture was too obsessed with polite society to really dig their fingers in. This is still true, to an extent – many South Asians who grew up eating with their hands report being looked at with horror when they attempted to do the same in public here. But, after witnessing my very white British husband happily dig into banana leaf rice when we began dating, and having conversations with friends about the topic, I’ve come to realise that eating with our hands is a much more universal act than I thought. For example, burgers, pizzas, hot dogs and chips are all eaten by hand – unless you’re eating one of those beastly burgers that tower too high and need to be deconstructed. Then there’s things like fried chicken or shellfish, which are simply easier to pick up, pull apart and pry open using your fingers. Foods like Mexican burritos and tacos or Japanese sushi are commonly picked up by hand and devoured. Some people enjoy eating salads by hand, finding it easier to use pieces of lettuce filled with dressing and other ingredients like edible spoons. A surprising proponent of this was Sylvia Plath, who wrote in the third chapter of her 1963 novel The Bell Jar that she observed a poet eating a salad “with his fingers, leaf by leaf”, making it “seem to be the only natural and sensible thing to do”. The more I think about it, the more I realise that my hands are my favourite utensil. No one is delicately picking up crisps with chopsticks or forking a French fry. All manner of flat breads – from parathas and naans to injeras – beg to be torn apart by hands and used to mop up dhal and curry. I would never think of eating a sandwich with a fork and knife, any more than I would for a Taiwanese bao. It just seems wrong. On this side of the world, cutlery has reigned supreme until very recently. Primitive humans have been carving knife and spoon-like implements for centuries, while the fork is a surprisingly modern invention. According to the Smithsonian Magazine, a Byzantine princess debuted a golden fork at her wedding feast in Venice 1006, which disgusted locals who ate using their fingers and knives. One Venetian apparently condemned such a tool and said: “God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks – his fingers. Therefore it is an insult to him to substitute artificial metal forks for them when eating.” There’s perhaps also an aspect of self-consciousness being thrown out the window when we eat with our hands. It banishes the concept of formality and Anglocentric ‘table manners’ Surekha Ragavan Despite the initial rejection, forks became a mainstay across Europe after 1533 when Catherine De Medici, wife of Henry II, hauled a collection of silver forks from Italy to France in 1533. Three hundred years later, the full set of silverware as we know it had integrated itself into everyday life in Europe. Manners-obsessed Victorians then made up all sorts of etiquette rules, from how to hold a fork, to the myriad of different-sized cutleries with very specific purposes – like fish knives and dessert spoons. These became class markers, separating the upper echelons of society with their dinky utensils from the lower classes, who worked too much to care about which spoon went where. But one thing could be agreed upon – eating with one’s hands was considered impolite and vulgar in almost all culinary situations. That is, until about a decade ago when DeBrett’s, the British authority on etiquette and behaviour, declared in their 2012 guide that “table manners are no longer about adhering to a rigid, and outdated, code of conduct”. The experts named foods like pizza and calzone as “acceptable” foods to be eaten using your hands. It also advised such adventurous eaters to create “as little mess as possible”, sit up straight and ensure you “never put your elbows on the table”, proving that some old habits die hard. Bristol-based restaurateur Rashintha Rodrigo, one of the five founders of Sri Lankan restaurant group The Coconut Tree, says he eats almost anything with his hands – even a roast dinner. “I start with a fork and knife but always find myself picking pieces of chicken or potato off my plate with my fingers towards the end of the meal,” he laughs. He also grew up eating rice and curry with his hands in Sri Lanka, and felt self-conscious about doing the same when he moved to Britain. But these days, he finds it liberating. “It’s become more accepted in the past five or six years and more people are curious about it,” Rodrigo says. Surekha Ragavan, founder of Periuk, a digital archive of heritage Malaysian recipes, also finds freedom in the act. “There’s perhaps also an aspect of self-consciousness being thrown out the window when we eat with our hands. It banishes the concept of formality and Anglocentric ‘table manners’,” she says, reminding me of another observation by Plath in The Bell Jar. The author’s liberation is slightly different, though, as she wrote: “I’d discovered, after a lot of extreme apprehension about what spoons to use, that if you do something incorrect at a table with a certain arrogance… nobody will think you are bad-mannered or poorly brought up. They will think you are original and very witty.” Those who advocate eating with hands often also say it makes the food taste better, but no one seems to be able to pinpoint why. Jose Pizzaro, the acclaimed Spanish owner and founder of the Pizarro group of restaurants, describes it as “the best way to eat”. “It’s a visceral pleasure that’s really hard to beat,” he says. “It creates a sort of magical connection between you and the food. If you’ve never eaten a big, fat, juicy prawn covered with garlic and lemon with your hands, and then go through the ritual of pulling off the legs and the shell and then sucking the brains out – you haven’t lived!” But why is the tactile sensation of touching food so delightful? Some opine that touching your food is beneficial because you can gauge food temperature better with your fingers, and so run a lower risk of burning your tongue. Others claim that your fingers have “healthy bacteria” on them that get transferred into your digestive system when you eat with your hands, but these are difficult to quantify. However, Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, believes the pleasure lies in our perception of food, as opposed to any other physical benefits. In his review of how the experience of eating changes when people eat with their hands instead of cutlery, Spence found that having more direct, tactile contact with food appears to “enhance the experience” of eating and drinking. “There’s a lot of sensory input that happens even before we put the food in our mouth,” he says. “Just by using our sensitive finger pads, we almost anticipate how tasty something is going to be before it reaches our tongue.” There’s practicality in using our hands to eat, too. We can determine how ripe a fruit is by squeezing it gently, or figure out if something is going to be soft or crunchy before biting into it. Of course, there are some dishes that are simply not hand-friendly. Noodles, pasta and soups obviously require cutlery to eat, but there’s nothing to stop us from taking more joy in the foods we can eat with our hands. If you’ve never tried handling anything beyond a sandwich or a pasty, I fully encourage you to try something new. Take a leaf out of Plath’s book with your next salad, perhaps, or take the plunge into some rice and curry. It will require practice to develop the skill of eating without dropping rice absolutely everywhere, but I promise you, it’s worth it. Read More Adorable, cuddly… evil? How the Furby took over the world ‘You think it’s going to be a money making machine’: How modern life killed the hobby The dish that defines me: Mallini Kannan’s baked honey-soy salmon 30-minute summer recipes for all the family to enjoy What to cook this week: Tomato tart, sweetcorn pasta and other summery suppers The dish that defines me: Mallini Kannan’s baked honey-soy salmon