What’s Hot? 15/01

This week, we’re bringing you literal sunshine ☀️ reviewing caterpillar cakes ? Trump ? laughing at influencers in Dubai ? and finally, celebrating a bi icon…

The one you need to hear: ✨ Good news only ✨

This week, @scottbryan tweeted the amazing news that from TODAY, sunrise will be before 8am every day in London, and by next Friday, it’ll be sunset after 4:30pm every day.

In a lockdown where people are struggling without evening walks and feel nervous heading on early-morning supermarket trips in the dark, this news is a welcome relief.

Scott is a TV critic and broadcaster, who many will know as the old Bake Off correspondent for Buzzfeed (what a job) – he’s well worth a follow for uplifting news.

The one we’re trying to understand: Colin & Co

The UK’s obsession with caterpillar cakes is hard to explain. Some parts are easy: Colin is King, the others are all wannabes. But at the end of the day, they’re just swiss rolls with different icing. I say that, and yet I’m actually in a group chat where we rate and review caterpillar cakes, including this latest entry from my friend Samuel:

Clyde (ASDA) takes a lot of what Colin did right, but lacks the richness and quality of the original and best. A fine homage to the classic birthday treat, however Colin keeps his crown vs this young pretender. 7/10

We also once played snog, marry, avoid with Colin, Wiggles and Curly. But let’s not go into that now.

The reason I bring up Colin & Co is a TikTok from this week, which guesses how each caterpillar cake would vote in a general election. Who said lockdown stifles creativity?

The list you need to read: Most surreal places Trump was banned from

Okay, so we know Trump was banned from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook last week. But the list got more surreal as it got broader (but we are totally here for each and every ban).

Trump was banned from Shopify (no more MAGA merch), Twitch (no streams pls), Snapchat (totally ghosted), TikTok (how the tables have turned) and Pinterest (no gold and red inspo board for you, hun).

The one that made us laugh: Influencers in Dubai

We were all mad at the number of holidays that influencers went on in 2020, right? It was a mixture of jealousy and pure COVID fear, an internal battle asking, “Would I do that if I was in their situation?” “Obviously not, it’s not morally right” “But it does look soooo hot and Walkers doesn’t hit the same way Lays does.”

In 2021, the feeling remained, as Dubai remained one of the UK’s only travel corridors, and influencers flocked to its sandy shores. Then, this week, we laughed. We laughed and we laughed and we laughed, when Dubai was taken off the list, with under 12 hours warning. “Take that” we said, “SEE, that’s why I didn’t go to Dubai” we insisted, despite the fact we haven’t travelled more than 3 miles from our houses in months.

Suddenly, the influencers were A) stuck in Dubai, B) deleting all the comments on their posts complaining that they were in Dubai, and C) coming up with their excuses. You see, you’re allowed to travel to restricted areas for work. Influencers’ work, is, of course, creating social media content. So a free trip to Dubai can be classed as work… I guess.

This Guardian article analyses the cases of three influencers, having contacted 23 for the piece. The final line made us burst out laughing, which felt almost as good as biting into a Lays crisp.

The ally no one knew they needed: Barbara Millicent Roberts

Born in Wisconsin in 1959, Barbara Millicent Roberts went viral on Tuesday for appearing to come out as bi-sexual on Instagram this week. Sadly, it wasn’t true. But we couldn’t help but wonder – is Barbie the ally we never knew we needed?

A tweet this week showed Barbie and another female doll wearing “Love Wins” rainbow shirts, claiming Barbie had her first ever girlfriend. Unfortunately, Barbie actually posted this image on “her” Instagram three years ago, but support for “Barbie the bi icon” continued.

Is this support misplaced? We don’t think so. Mattel has done some amazing things with Barbie of late, including gender-inclusive dolls, inclusive body types including disabilities, and most recently, a video of Barbie explaining her own white privilege on YouTube.

When I was younger, I definitely wasn’t a Barbie Girl. But at the same time, I don’t think Barbie was a Me Doll. Things have changed for both of us, and I can firmly say, I am a Barbie Girl in a Barbie World.