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Eddie Howe says ‘a lot more to come’ from Newcastle striker Alexander Isak
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ENTRUSTED with our readers’ deep secrets, the Dear Deidre team really have a unique insight into what dilemmas the nation is grappling with. Of course, there are some constants — cheating, differing sex drives, low self-esteem and loneliness. Advertisement 3 Sally Land reveals the nation’s most common dilemmas of 2024 But some issues loom larger in certain years as new problems come to the fore. As 2024 nears an end, we take a look at what exactly our readers have been writing in about. Every year, we help thousands of people by answering every single dilemma with a personalised answer, and we’ve kept a record of the issues we’ve tackled. Relationship issues consistently come out on top, with 23 per cent of the emails Dear Deidre receives focused on romantic problems. Advertisement READ MORE DEAR DEIDRE HERE TO HELP Is Something Playing On Your Mind? Our expert-led Dear Deidre team can help HERE TO HELP Do YOU have a dilemma? Dear Deidre can help - confidentially & for free Sex came a close second, with 19 per cent of readers writing in with a sexual dilemma. Interestingly, half of every single relationship message addressed cheating. Sometimes, the unfaithful party would be writing in, otherwise a suspicious or heartbroken partner worried about their relationship. Among the emails about cheating on partners, home surveillance and doorbell cameras featured more prominently, with some partners forgetting to turn off cameras before inviting flings to come back to their homes. Advertisement Most read in The Sun baby joy Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan announce she's pregnant with first baby NEIL BY MOUTH Moment Rangers hero says he needs RESCUED on live TV during Motherwell clash GER OUT Moment raging Rangers fans BOO their own players and say 'go away' at Motherwell Highlights WELL 2 GERS 2 Shambolic display leaves Clement on brink as horror Christmas week continues A growing number of readers also wrote in because, although they were separated, financial constraints meant they could not move out of the marital home. The reluctant house sharers were frustrated at being unable to move on — a trend that reflects economic uncertainty in the UK. I work on Dear Deidre- my tips on what to do if you've lied to your love. Notable developments this year have been new requests for support with quitting vaping. Another new issue came in the form of pensioners worrying about losing their winter fuel allowance. Advertisement Social media has been a common theme in all the categories. It is impossible to quantify but has had a huge impact. So many of the relationship problems relate to partners ogling scantily clad influencers or flirting with others they have met online. Plenty don’t see this as cheating but the feeling of betrayal is real for those on the receiving end. Advertisement And it’s not just cheating that worries people. Time spent watching endless videos encourages weird infatuations, with one woman complaining her husband had become obsessed with the French election. Opportunity for temptation He insisted they spend their family holiday in France watching speeches — and had previously had no interest in politics. The issue of phone addiction came up, particularly for parents fretting about not only what their children were being exposed to, but also how their mobile activity was affecting their own behaviour. Advertisement They asked our team for help on how to manage this. And a huge number of adults wrote in fed up with their partner, who had little interest in them but spent all hours playing online games or scrolling through their socials. It’s clear that while technology enables us to do far more and do it efficiently, left unchecked it threatens our real-world connections and provides more opportunity for temptation. Next year, I will be recording when social media, phone usage and the internet are mentioned as part of the problem, and I predict this will be a huge growth area. Advertisement Below is a reader’s letter about ogling, followed by one about winter fuel allowance. I also break down what percentages of our mail different types of letter make up. Mortified after ex saw me having sex on security cam (Letter from November 14) 3 My ex saw me having sex with a one-night stand after helping me install a security camera system Credit: getty DEAR DEIDRE: MY ex saw me having sex with a one-night stand using the camera security system he’d installed as a favour to me. Advertisement I was completely unaware that he was watching this, until he turned up the next morning and got very upset with me. Originally, I was grateful for his help setting up the system, but now I feel really uncomfortable. He said he’d received an alert on his phone and checked it by chance, but I can’t help worrying he’s keeping an eye on me. He insists he hasn’t been watching and that was a one-off, but the whole experience has really unsettled me. Advertisement I’m 36, my ex is 39, and we were together for eight years before we broke up five months ago. Our split was both mutually agreed, and amicable, and we decided to remain friends. We still met up and sometimes even had sex, but as we didn’t discuss what this meant I thought we were simply friends with benefits. I really appreciated still having him in my life. Advertisement When I was moving house, he offered to help, knowing how useless I am at DIY. He helped put up shelves, and installed security cameras which he set up online so I could view them through an app. I knew he had access to it all while he set it up but assumed he’d log out. So when I brought a man home, I didn’t think twice. Advertisement Now I feel mortified. He says he didn’t mean to breach my privacy, but I feel so conflicted. DEIDRE SAYS: Watching you have sex with another man was a huge breach of your privacy, and you shouldn’t take it lightly. Advertisement As a priority, please ensure that you are the only one with access to your security system. Make sure you’re the primary account holder and change your password so that he doesn’t have access. It’s completely understandable that this experience has made you question the sort of person he is. Unless you decide you can trust him completely, you would be wise to stay away. Advertisement At the very least, it’s clear that the lines are blurred between you and your ex and some boundaries need to be re-established. As for your relationship with him, you need to decide if there’s any hope of a future together. If you decide there’s not, it would be best to step away so you can both move on. My support pack Moving On will help. Advertisement Left freezing since losing fuel payment (Letter from December 18) 3 I’m forced to choose between putting my heating on or buying food Credit: getty DEAR DEIDRE : SINCE the Government cut my Winter Fuel Payment, I’ve been struggling to afford my bills. Now I’m forced to choose between putting my heating on or buying food, and the stress is making me unwell. I’m a 76-year-old pensioner, and live alone. Advertisement Until this year, I was receiving £200 payments to cover the cost of my heating bills, and I heavily relied on it. So when the Government announced the change, I went into a complete panic. My pension is already low as it is, so without the extra payments I knew it was going to be a hard couple of months. When I contacted the council for help, they told me that, while I was eligible to apply, I had missed the deadline so now I’d have to go without. Advertisement Ever since, my life has been an absolute nightmare. Now I wake up every morning to a freezing house – and no matter what I do, I can’t keep warm. The constant dread is getting me down, and I’m now struggling to cope. DEIDRE SAYS: Advertisement I can only imagine how distressing this must be for you. While the qualifying week for this year’s Fuel Payment has now passed, you may still be eligible if you successfully apply for Pension Credit by December 21. Read more on the Scottish Sun GHOST TOWN Former Scots shopping hotspot 'decaying' as multimillion pound revamp ‘failing’ VAX HORROR Striken Scots 'gaslit' by health bosses after complications from Covid vaccine Please note that you only have two days to do this, so please take action today. You may also be eligible for a £150 Warm Home Discount. You can find out more about this on the government website ( gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme ). Advertisement Letters that flooded our mailbox TOP TOPICS: Relationships 23% Sex 19% Family 8% Parenting 7% Friendships 4% Workplace issues 5% Mental health 11% Health 5% Addictions 8% Bereavement 5% Sexuality 4% Other 1% SEX WOES Sex drive 43% Fetishes 16% Threesomes 12% Erection problems 11% Fantasies 7% Climaxing 4% Menopause 3% Other 4% LOVE Cheating 49% Domestic abuse 12% Addictive love 10% Broken heart 14% Online romance 6% Age gaps 5% Other 4% ADDICTION Alcohol 42% Porn 22% Drugs 13% Smoking 8% Vaping 5% Gambling 9% Shopping and spending 1%Oldacre, a 6-foot-6 backup center, converted all six of her field goal attempts and 9 of 10 free throws. She also had seven rebounds and three of the Longhorns' 21 steals. Madison Booker had 14 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals for Texas (13-1). Starting center Taylor Jones had 11 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Kade Hackerott led Texas Rio Grande Valley (6-7) with seven points. The Vaqueros shot 27% from the field and committed 37 turnovers. Texas converted the turnovers into 47 points. Texas Rio Grande Valley: The Vaqueros average 16 turnovers a game but matched that by midway through the second quarter. They committed 13 while falling behind 24-5 after the first quarter. Texas: Aaliyah Moore's physical health is something to watch. Moore, a starting power forward, missed her first game this season on Sunday while resting because of tendinitis in her right knee. Moore played with that condition last season but it has been a struggle for her. Texas has only two centers and two power forwards on its roster. After Texas Rio Grande Valley sliced a 19-point deficit to 10 with less than four minutes remaining in the second quarter, Texas finished the half with a 13-1 push, eight from Oldacre, during the final 2:36. The Longhorns outscored the Vaqueros 54-12 in the paint and it could have been worse. The Longhorns missed 12 layups. Texas Rio Grande Valley is at Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday, and Texas is at No. 9 Oklahoma on Thursday. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
If you have even the faintest interest in the world of beauty, and don’t live under a rock, then you’ll have heard of the Dyson Airwrap. The iconic hair tool was launched in 2018 and has since become a cult favourite among beauty lovers – so much so that there has been a slew of similar tools launched to the market, from Beauty Works to fellow hoover brand Shark. Featuring multiple attachments that fit one barrel, it is famed for its ability to style hair from wet to dry in a matter of seconds. But ingeniously, it uses airflow technology rather than heat, making it easier on your hair. And the air suction means using it is surprisingly effortless: no more fighting with a curling iron, getting tangled up in the wire or burning your fingers on the hot end. I first became aware of the Airwrap around 2021. Endless TikToks of smug women producing a mass of bouncing, glossy ringlets, one after the other, in a matter of seconds, was enough to convince me: I want one and I want one now. One thing has stopped me, however, from taking the plunge: The price. The standard edition, with five attachments, costs a cool £480. Admittedly, at the time of writing, it is on sale for £400. But that’s still about £300 more than I am willing to pay for a hair tool. Luckily, there is a way you can try out the Airwrap without parting with what is almost my total monthly rent payment. At their Trafford Centre store, you can get your hair done by one of their stylists for £35. So one chilly evening I decided to brave the Christmas crowds and head down to try it out, on one of the last remaining December appointments. Inside the Dyson salon at the Trafford Centre store. (Image: Manchester Evening News) I stepped inside the spacious store where a friendly assistant led me through to the back, through throngs of husbands and boyfriends loitering by the Airwrap display and eyeing it nervously. The salon area was a temple to all things Airwrap. The walls were studded with every iteration of the tool, plus all its attachments, and Dyson’s other hair tools: the Airstraight straightener (£450) and the Supersonic hairdryer (£400). Airwraps and other hair tools on the wall inside the Dyson salon. (Image: Manchester Evening News) I sat down on a comfy chair in front of a mirror lit by glowing LEDs. The stakes were admittedly high – as luck would have it, the only appointment I could get was on the day of the M.E.N’s Christmas party. But I felt confident, and more than anything, curious to see what this raved-about tool would actually do for my hair. A word on my hair: this is what I arrived at the salon looking like. Most nights I use a dressing gown cord to curl it overnight, which has always worked well for me. My hair is naturally quite wavy, so it holds a curl pretty well, but is also – no matter what I do – determinedly flat. How my hair looked before leaving the house. (Image: Manchester Evening News) I said as much to the Dyson stylist. After consulting on what I wanted – “curls and volume, please” – we got started. Following a stint at the wash station, where I was lathered up with Aveda products (and got the best head massage I have ever had; he scrubbed at my scalp like he was doing the washing-up) we were back in the chair and ready to get started with the tools. First, the stylist got started with the Dryer+Flyaway smoother and a good old-fashioned round brush. But before beginning, he applied some hair product. Fine with me – I use heat protectant myself before blow drying at home. This was no ordinary argan oil, though, but Dyson’s own Pre-Style Cream, containing chitosan, apparently derived from oyster mushrooms. There is also a post-style serum, both priced at £49 per 100ml bottle. “The serum uses the natural structure of the mushrooms to give hold and structure, but without the crunch of hairspray,” the stylist told me. I nodded sagely. Dyson's line of hair products. (Image: Manchester Evening News) Next, we moved to the soft smoothing brush: essentially no different to an ordinary hairbrush, except with hot air blowing through it. After carefully dividing my hair into sections, he put this brush to work on my roots, dragging it upwards and through my hair but stopping just before the ends, as we were leaving these damp for curling with the air wrap. This stage went on for a good ten minutes. I have to say that the stylist was excellent: very friendly and a complete professional throughout, careful and attentive with every lock of my hair. There was no-one else in the salon and I felt completely looked after, and diligently attended-to. After the smoothing brush, it was time for the star of the show, the airwrap itself. I watched in fascination as the stylist brought the device close to a lock of hair which, as if pulled by magnets, wrapped itself around the barrel. He left it curled around the barrel for about fifteen seconds, before giving it a blast of cold air, which is supposed to help set the curl (you can programme this to your liking in the Dyson app, with newer models). Every lock was curled and then pinned (Image: Manchester Evening News) When released, it produced a gentle, slightly wispy-looking curl, which the stylist tickled up by twirling it round a few times more. He pinned up each lock and proceeded to do the same to my whole head. The process took a further 20 minutes or so and by the end I looked like someone out of a 50s magazine. Another ten minutes later, with all the pinned curls taken down and teased out, I was initially impressed with the result. I’m not used to having so much volume, body and movement to my hair, and I liked the look, especially the back of my hair, where there were definite Hollywood-esque, bouncy curls. How my hair looked after the stylist was finished - timestamped at 6:03pm (Image: Manchester Evening News) How my hair looked after the stylist was finished - timestamped at 6:04pm (Image: Manchester Evening News) But the problem became apparent as soon as I raised my hand to my head. My hair felt sticky and weighed down – almost matted – by the amount of product applied to it. How were the curls supposed to last when the serums had made my hair so slick-feeling and heavy? It might have looked great in photos, but look at my roots and you’ll see that already (half an hour after being washed) they look grainy, stringy and almost – dare I say it – greasy. Within another half an hour, the curls had sadly all fallen out, and the ends of my hair looked a straggly mess. By the time I got home, apart from a slight wave, you could barely tell I had had my hair done whatsoever. By 6:58pm, this was how my hair looked (Image: Manchester Evening News) I didn’t say any of this to the hair stylist, of course. I paid, thanked him effusively and quite honestly for his time and effort. Even though I was less than satisfied with the results, it had been a thoroughly enjoyable experience being pampered by someone who clearly knew what he was doing and was an attentive, skilful stylist. But I can’t help but think the style the Airwrap created was better suited to be photographed, not lived in. The second I took my hair out of the sterile environment and into the real world – the second I touched it, in fact – the cracks began to show. I can’t speak to others’ experiences of the Airwrap. I’m sure some people love it. Maybe it helps if you have finer hair; maybe it helps if you use less product. But if you’re paying nearly £500 for a hair tool, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for the results to last longer than half an hour. That’s something that even a £30 curling iron can achieve – and for all the Airwrap's advanced technology, it still couldn’t quite manage it on me.Eddie Howe wants even more from in-form Newcastle striker Alexander Isak. The 25-year-old Sweden international took his goal tally for the season to 12 in the 3-0 Boxing Day win over Aston Villa at St James’ Park, 10 of them in his last 10 Premier League games, after a challenging start to the new campaign. Isak managed 25 goals in a black and white shirt last season to further justify the club record £63million the club paid to bring him to Tyneside from Real Sociedad during the summer of 2022, but as delighted as he is with his big-money signing, head coach Howe is confident there is even more to come. Murph 🔗 Alex Isak Different game. Same link up. 💪 pic.twitter.com/OMhZf7dtKZ — Newcastle United (@NUFC) December 27, 2024 Asked where the former AIK Solna frontman currently ranks in world football, he said: “My biggest thing with Alex is I am evaluating his game on a daily and weekly basis and I just want to try to push him for more. “Everyone else can say where he is in the pecking order of world football. His game is in a good place at the moment. “My job is to not sit back and appreciate that, my job is to try and find areas he can improve, push him towards that and never stop pushing him. He has all the ingredients in there. Football never stops evolving and changing and he has to evolve with it. “There is a lot more to come from him. Our job is to help him deliver that. “Of course the main responsibility is for Alex to keep his focus, ignore the plaudits and keep helping the team, not be selfish. It is about Newcastle and he plays his part.” It is no coincidence that Newcastle have prospered as Isak has rediscovered his best form, and they will head for Manchester United – where they have won only once in the top flight since 1972 – on Monday evening looking for a fifth successive win in all competitions. He has scored in each of the last five league games having grown into the mantle of the Magpies’ main man, a role performed with such distinction in the past by the likes of Jackie Milburn, Malcolm Macdonald and Alan Shearer, and he has done so with the minimum of fuss. Asked about his character, Howe said: “He is calm, cool – he is what you see on the pitch. “He doesn’t get overly emotional, which for a striker is a great quality because that coolness you see and calmness in front of goal is part of his personality, part of what he is. He seems to have an extra half a second when other players don’t. “With Alex, the beauty of his attitude is that he wants to improve. We give him information and he is responsive. He is not a closed shop. “He is in no way thinking he has arrived at a certain place. He knows he has to keep adding to his game. The challenge is great for him to keep scoring freely as he is now.”Raiders and Saints meet with prominent players nearing statistical milestones
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