On 8th September 2022, the most anticipated and planned-for news story in modern-day Britain emerged – the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. As expected, this historical happening dominated news outlets and coverage commenced from the moment The Queen was announced to be severely unwell. But after years of preparation for what action to take following her death, should this undoubtedly momentous event have pushed the reporting of other stories aside as much as it did?

The latest Love Island stars snapping up new influencing opportunities is hardly surprising to see following yet another successful year of the hit ITV dating show. Something else that doesn’t come as a shock, is fast fashion brand Pretty Little Thing coming under fire for appointing this years’ runner-up, Gemma Owen, as their new brand ambassador.

Edinburgh’s busy roads can be chaotic at times with seemingly endless queues testing even the calmest of temperaments. And with the current increase of petrol prices along with the cost of living crisis, sitting in traffic jams is likely to be more vexing than ever. Now one Edinburgh driver has turned to TikTok to let off steam regarding long traffic queues after it took her nearly an hour to drive back to Portobello.

Could cancelling your Netflix subscription allow you to climb onto the property ladder? That is the advice that Channel 4 star Kirstie Allsopp has given to current first time buyers. Allsopp admitted that she is “enraged” by complaints of today’s housing market being too financially straining, and suggested that young people should strip back on luxuries in order to afford their first home.

“The only way to learn is to live.” That is one of the many life lessons that has been resonating within me ever since stepping into Matt Haig’s fictional world of The Midnight Library. Best known for writing self-help books, which aim to destigmatise mental health, Haig disguises similar messaging with the genre of fantasy and adventure in this novel.

200 million print books were sold in 2020 – the highest level of sales since 2012. With lockdown leading the world to rediscover an old-fashioned hobby, how does the growth in screen time correlate with this surge? The answer, of course, is TikTok.

Images of deficient food parcels rapidly spread across social media platforms which exposed the little amount of food that they actually entailed. The parcels were briefed to contain a school weeks’ worth of food that amounts to a total of £30. The photographs revealed that as little as £5.22 was spared for one parcel and some cases demonstrated the distribution of half cut vegetables and scraps of food which could hardly contribute to a meal.

Overwhelming thoughts and worries should never be bottled up, even when we can’t physically be near those who we may bravely choose to confide in. Perhaps now it is more important than ever that we keep talking to our loved ones. We need to ensure that we are staying close whilst staying apart.