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This deliciously dark fairytale is only vaguely familiar to Disney’s Snow White.  This story is frightening, surprising, and intriguing to watch. This is not a love story. Snow White and The Huntsman is a desperate power struggle of a queen obsessed by beauty and the influence beauty gave her over men. Charlize Theron has an on screen presence that gives everyone goosebumps, her conversations with the mirror are haunting and have forever spoiled the innocence of Disney’s version. This film was not afraid to shock and certainly didn’t hold back on the violence – it’s a grown up fairytale that leaves you with a sickly sweet taste in your mouth.

Snow White’s father’s kingdom was taken over and she was imprisoned in a tower for most of her life...

I learnt to make this curry when I was looking for a colourful, tasty dish that would be easy to prepare. I’m a big fan of sweet potatoes, I love how versatile they are and the taste is divine when combined with the baby spinach. Most supermarkets sell a large bag of sweet potatoes for about £1.50.

Ingredients:

• 300ml vegetable stock/bouillon powder/veggie Oxo cubes
• Vegetable oil
• 7 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 red onions, diced
• Half a bag of fresh baby spinach
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 2 small, red, deseeded chillies
• 3 teaspoons of medium curry powder
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of coconut milk
• A handful of fresh coriander leaves
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

This takes 40 minutes to prepare.

• Put the sweet potatoes in a pan of hot water and simmer for 5 minutes...

Most of us have been there – the situation where you feel nervous opening a bank statement or paying for things on card in a shop. The cost of living in this country has risen to the point where wages simply cannot keep up – they only just cover expenses leaving limited money for savings.

Avoiding your problems will only make them worse.  Long term it is more beneficial to confront money problems and work towards a resolution. Budgeting is a starting point and gives you control – by setting aside money where possible you are preparing for the worst. Budgeting means that you can have an allocated amount of money for everything and you can isolate where the majority of your money is going if you think you are paying too much.

Online grocery shopping is an easy way to control how much you wo...

To meat eaters vegetarianism is associated with those who lecture others on what they should put into their bodies. They hear the word “vegetarian” and take a deep breath as though expecting to hear why they too shouldn’t eat meat. If any of my fellow vegetarians are reading expecting me to encourage them on why we should push others to be vegetarian maybe you won’t enjoy this – think of how patronising it is when meat eaters say we should eat meat and are unhealthy or simply being fussy. In my experience very few meat eaters have verbalised this, even when vegetarians preach about animal rights to meat eaters (especially at a dinner table) I find this equally as rude.

I don’t guilt people into it or feel that it’s my duty to convert...

“How old are you?” I blink, finding myself confronted by a man in his mid-seventies. His white nostril hair sticks out and his eyes are wide, his wife standing next to him with an overly powdered face smiling politely. He doesn’t think it’s rude to ask my age because I am still too young for it to matter. After a pause, I smile, telling them I’m 21.

“Why aren’t you married? My wife was nineteen when I married her.” I wonder how they know I’m not married. The concept of wearing rings struck me as being similar to “for sale” signs outside houses. I also noticed he didn’t say when we got married or when she married me, as though her role was entirely passive.

I decide to be polite and play the game a little – I was at work after all...