Letter From London

London Swings

London is one city where the weird and wonderful keep happening side by side. Last weekend, Flip Out, the city's largest trampoline park, opened in Wandsworth. With more than 120 trampolines over 45,000 square feet, the park has features like the snazzy parkour area, so you can try free-running without being terrified that you'll smack your head on the pavement, basketball hoops so you can practice those dunks, a special stunt area and a massive pit filled with 38,000 foam blocks you can dive into. There is a Pinball area where you can endlessly bounce between two trampoline walls, along with Flip Fit cardio sessions and Flip Yoga.

In another part of the city, Aperol's rooftop bar at the Bird Of Smithfield had a weekend inspired by the Terrazza Aperol in Milan. The hang-out featured a GIF photobooth, where guests could strike a pose but the main attraction was the Aperol Spritz Socials, a series of inspiring talks with London's hottest influencers. The most bizarre but delightful event featured the eccentric Tweed Run in its eighth outing. Hundreds of cyclists gathered in flat caps, trilbies and berets for a 12-mile ride while about 1000 people dressed in Harris Tweed jackets began their ride from Clerkenwell in what is described as a "bicycle ride with a bit of style". Enthusiasts had travelled from Ukraine, Netherlands and various other countries and streets were lined with people eagerly taking pictures of the well-dressed riders, some on vintage bikes, including penny-farthings. The cyclists stopped for tea in Tavistock Square and lunch in Kensington Gardens. The event finished back at Clerkenwell for a bit of a 'jolly knees-up' at a garden party with free gin cocktail, live music and barbeque to end the evening. The news of the month for A-Listers is that actor Robert De Niro is building a new 83-room luxury boutique hotel in Covent Garden called The Wellington Hotel.

Beaches in Danger

In the midst of the EU Referendum debate, a EU health rule will, for the first time, see 10 beaches in England and 17 in Scotland getting warning signs because of 'poor' water quality measured over a period of four years. Signs advising people not to swim are being put up in beaches including parts of Clacton, Margate, East Looe, Ilfracombe and Burnham along with Cleveleys, north of Blackpool, Allonby and Silloth in Cumbria, and Spittal, Northumberland. Some of these are the most popular beaches in the UK. The signs are advisory and do not amount to a ban. Some of these famous tourist spots during summer will inevitably put some visitors off, which will be a blow to the local economy. So check EU warnings before you plan your holiday.

Upskirting Scandal

"Nothing comes between me and my Calvins…." Was the tag line that had made Calvin Klein a global brand but its provocative adverts may have gone too far—or too high. The company's new ad campaign has been severely criticized for a total lack of social responsibility. The row is mainly over the "upskirt" shot of model Klara Kristin flashing her knickers which has become the focus of social media criticism. The campaign also includes another shot of an anonymous model with her hands inside her knickers, one of reality star Kendal Jenner posing with a grapefruit that looks like a woman's genitals and another of a model in her Calvins taking a belfie (selfie of her bottom). They images are akin to soft porn and critics have slammed the fashion house for ignoring the kind of influence it can have on teenagers. The Karla shot has been called 'disgusting' with some going so far as to say the young-looking model's hyper-sexualised image is 'fodder for pedophiles.'

The controversy started after it was posted on Instagram, with followers calling it creepy and sexist. Klara has, however, remained defiant and written on Instagram: 'I LOVE this photo… All this discussion about it makes me think about how alienated and scared some people are to the female human body.' She has got some support but for most people it's not the underwear nor its sexually explicit nature but the angle of the image. Upskirting is seen as exploitive and classified as sexual harassment by the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE). In the photograph Klara does look much younger than her 22 years. This is not the first time Calvin Klein has been slammed for its daring adverts. NCOSE has now started a petition for the ad's removal and an apology from the American fashion brand.

Gluten Tag

In most supermarkets, the 'free from' section of food products is increasing, claiming to be free from lactose or dairy. The latest addition is gluten. Gluten-free cakes, bread, pesto and various sauces or even gluten-free Easter eggs are easily available. Even products that do not have gluten now go with the specification 'gluten-free'. The hype has been going crazy. You can find gluten-free ready meals in the "healthier choices" chill cabinet. It wasn't too long ago that gluten-free food was only available on prescription. That was before Gwyneth Paltrow got onto the gluten-free bandwagon and Americans began to follow blindly in her footsteps. One US TV show host even joked that gluten was comparable to 'satanism'. The craze has now crossed the Atlantic, which was inevitable, given the global fads for diets.

What they forget to put on those "gluten-free" products is the fact that gluten-free can be high in fat and calories and cause nutritional deficiencies and obscure an actual diagnosis of coeliac disease. Also experts haven't quite figured out why healthy people adopt the diet except that most say 'no reason'. It has also been found that there is no scientific evidence that a gluten-free diet is beneficial for children without a verified diagnosis of coeliac disease or wheat allergy. Here's food for thought—fads, by their very definition, never last that long anyway!