14 Things To Know About The First 20 Days

Three weeks in and Twenty Three is already shaping up to be a banger.

Thanks to two rounds of successful awards shows, and counting, Jennifer Coolidge is now officially a global treasure. Thanks White Lotus - the red carpet and the dull speeches reallllly needed her services this year and her sound bites. Heaven. J.Lo has also just launched Jen onto TikTok. Thank you for your service too, Mrs Affleck. (And also, hiiiii Colin Farrell, you crumpet.)

Prince Harry’s memoir Spare landed, spawning a gazillion memes, a family fall-out, a grand rebirth of Megxit loathing, a lot of opinion pieces, a few of the armed forced taking to Twitter and a souring of Iran-Britain diplomatic relations. Really. But you must still read it obvs! Or better still, listen to Harry himself reading it on Audible.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s young, zesty, new mumming, first female prime minister has resigned. “For me, it’s time,” she said earlier this week. Imagine if the countless men who’ve gone to war through the ages simply to stay in power had the foresight and wisdom to duck when the goin’ was good, knowing they didn’t have enough gas in tank for more, as she put it.

Ted Lasso has announced its third season – cue cheering – for release later this year. Alas, but still! It’s coming! If you haven’t watched this feel-good show yet, do yourself this new year favour.

Greta Thunberg brought down Andrew Tate (a vitriolic viral sensation slash fighter slash profesh women hater) in the most unexpected turn of events. He commented on her post. She shot back. He videoed a long rant. The pizza box in the vid gave away his location. He’s a wanted man in Romania. For sex trafficking of young girls. The pizza box was Romanian, emblazoned with a logo. His location was found, he was arrested. And she still got the last word, tweeting about the benefits of recycling your pizza boxes. Brava, girl.  

Alec Baldwin, he of 30 Rock (and a lot of children under 10) fame has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal on-set shooting that happened last year on his film.

Celebrity wellness brands are on the out – financially speaking! Apparently, us hard-working folk will only part with our dollars if we believe you. So, we believe Gwyneth is Goopy and Jessica Alba is Honest and Rihanna is Fenty. But we don’t believe Kate Moss is now mega into wellness, nor that Jared Leto should be dreaming up a skincare line. Although, in J’s case, he is sort of ageing like a vampire. So perhaps there is something here to pay attention to.

My oldest punk started her final year of school! Apologies, did that not make global news headlines?  It should have, it’s bloody horrifying!

The new superfood to know is, ahem, sea moss. Yes, sea moss. This neatly describes the thousands of species of red algae and seaweeds that grow around the world, which offer mega beauty and wellness benefits.

It’s dubbed ‘unsexy beauty’. And it’s big news. Case in point? The Google searches for ‘pimple patches’ alone have trebled.  And that’s probably just in my house

Valentina from White Lotus (yes I am still banging on about its glory!) is my 2023 crush… She was recorded at fash week recently exclaiming: ‘Allora no! I don’t prepare any resolution because I don’t want to get disappointed in myself. Enjoy every moment.’ Et cetera. As if I didn’t already want to be an Italian woman of A Certain Demeanour, this seals it! Who needs new year resolutions? Not me.

Female friendships are on everyone’s radar… Thanks not just to me having a holiday with my two oldest school friends (since the 1980s, please!) but also to Jamie Lee Curtis scream-cheering on Michelle Yeoh when she won the Golden Globe for Everything Everywhere All At Once, everyone’s remembered how much fun Older Woman can be. Especially Older Women With Friends. It’s true, it is fun. Especially those old friendships that know your every eye roll, lip curl and dirty story. I’m reading the new Ruth Ware, The Lying Game, which might turn out to have nothing to do with this. But it also involves a group of four old school friends who are thrown back together after many years apart when a simple three word text summons them. ‘I need you.’ So good. Equally brilliant on the subject of female friendship is Bad Sisters on Apple TV. Funny, dark, marvellous. It also starts Eve Hewson, Bono’s daughter and nepo baby. Are we still talking about nepo babies? Do you need more intel?

According to NYT, the hottest place to network is an ice bath. Forgive the hot paired with the cold - couldn’t resist the great headline. I’ve only just gotten my holiday arse back into any kind of Wim Hof / wild swimming / cold immersion, so I am a way off networking in an ice baths. But Finland did top last year’s Happiness Index and they’re propvol natural ice baths, so there’s something to this. Don’t say I didn’t mention it, 2023.

Brad Pitt is still begorgeous. It’s definitely a word. That’s all.