Hannah Cann tells us why she loves political correctness.
Do you have swine flu? No. Do you know anybody who does have swine flu? Probably not. So what's all the fuss about?
Can't afford ethical clothing but can afford a night out at Ziggy's? Jennifer Heyes discusses where students' priorities should really lie.
Three of The Yorker's blogs team have had a hard think about what general rules they live their lives by and written them down in the form of their own Personal Philosophies.
Whilst the way the rich and the famous look has probably been up for discussion since Elizabeth I wore a ginger wig, we've seen a definite switch in our lifetimes from interest in looks to pressure to change them.
In between stories of MP Expenses and the US Elections, a statistic emerged that genuinely shocked me - the number of facelifts in Britain has risen by 12%.
It's no longer the odd aging Hollywood starlet trying to cling onto her career - it's regular women who, instead of treating themselves to a new pair of shoes to improve their self-esteem, are going under the knife.
Who's to blame for this? The Media are usually first on most peoples' lists. The paparazzi culture has changed our magazine agenda's for good - there only used to be OK! and Hello, now there are a whole range of celebrity rags on the shelves.
Granted, these magazines are driven by demand: if we didn't buy the magazines, the prices of pictures of Britney being carried to her padded cell wouldn't be half as much as they were. But why do we care?
Is it all about us being able to draw comfort from the fact Kelly Brook also has cellulite?
On Sunday I settled down to T4. They were launching a new programme, called 'Vanity Lair'. It was a reality show (just what we need) which contained 10 "self-confessed beautiful people". So, I started watching, it was my day-off after all.
After 20 minutes I couldn't do it anymore. I switched off. In the house were 10 irritating, shallow people who were supposed to be debating what makes someone beautiful, but were instead stressing about how to fit their "fat feet" into their wedges and who to sit next to in the hot tub.
Their first challenge was to decide which of 3 newcomers, were most beautiful - that's fine, as it could be a genuinely interesting social experiment - if they ever actually got that far, instead they simply listed their flaws. Everything from weight to hair colour was rated.
After a rant to various friends about how abysmal our TV schedules must have got, I got to thinking - were they just being shallow, or had they just soaked up enough quizzes in Cosmo, and pictures of celebrity wobbly-bits to actually tell the world that 'Yes, I am beautiful'? Should I actually respect them for having the balls to voice their confidence?
Unfortunately for them I returned to my original train of thought. They were actually just self-indulgent muppets.
It is however part of a wider issue - what have we, as a society done to change the beauty industry? The fact that many people have a larger disposable income available, and they may be prepared to spend that on a cheeky facelift, but what's wrong with the way we look - if Marilyn and Jackie O were all natural - why can't the rest of us deal with our flaws?
I think we can't deal with our flaws because we live in such a cut-throat condemning society. One imperfection and your out on your ear. I don't think this is just looks however, this judgemental high-horse attitude seems to be all encompassing.
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