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The Sun
28 minutes ago
- The Sun
‘Statement' budget-friendly Dunelm sun lounger ‘brightens up the garden' – perfect for sunny days
Dunelm shoppers are buying a sun lounger to add to their gardens for the summer months. The Helsinki Lounger costs £35 and has stacked up hundreds of reviews online. 1 Dunelm Helsinki Lounger £35 BUY FROM DUNELM As the UK basks in the glow of a warm heatwave, many are turning their attention to the outdoors to make the most of the sunny weather. A comfortable yet affordable way to enjoy the sunshine, Dunelm's Helsinki Sun Lounger offers a stylish solution for £35. It's available in four distinct colours, including three bright options which are popular for adding some brightness to the garden, and also a neutral grey. Designed with comfort in mind, the lounger reclines, and once you've found your perfect position, you can lock it into place with knobs on each side, so it's ideal for sunbathing during long, sunny afternoons. Unlike some sun loungers, there's also a head cushion for support whether you're lounging or having a quick nap. However, given that it's lightweight and easy to transport, the lounger doesn't have to be confined to your garden or balcony. If you're heading to the seaside, embarking on a camping trip, or planning a picnic at your local park, the lounger can be folded and carried along with ease. The practicality, paired with affordability, makes it a good option for those looking to maximise their enjoyment of the outdoors. With its budget-friendly price tag of £35, the Helsinki Sun Lounger demonstrates that enjoying the summer doesn't have to come at a high cost. Shoppers are leaving their feedback on the Dunelm outdoor item, which has built up a 4.4 star rating online. One pleased shopper said: ''Super comfy and stylish.'' ''We've had lots of compliments about this lounger.'' Another shopper praised their new purchase, commenting: ''I love my new coral-coloured chairs.'' ''They're so comfy and the colour really brightens the garden up.'' A third shopper added: ''Amazing deck chairs, I bought green ones and they are very lightweight but very strong plus with excellent flexibility for different positions.'' Or if you're wanting to make your garden the ultimate entertaining space, a fire pit is handy to have for when temperatures drop, and the Dunelm Steel Chimenea currently has 30% off.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
TOM UTLEY: I like an honest pint, the Isle of Wight and Tim Henman. Am I next for a Lifetime Achievement Award in Dullness?
Raise a glass with me today to the great Peter Hansen, 85, the worthy winner of the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award presented by The Dull Man's Podcast for that most admirable and underrated of qualities, dullness. I confess I had never heard of him until the other day, but then I suppose this was only to be expected of the winner of such an award. It turns out that he is the inventor of the unpleasant, sulphurous smell they add to otherwise odourless natural gas so as to alert us to leaks – a dullish invention, I grant you, but one that must surely have saved countless lives. As it happens, I may well owe my own life to Mr Hansen, although I didn't know this at the time of an unfortunate incident in our kitchen many years ago. I had hired a monoglot Slovakian painter and decorator, Marek, who in the course of his work hammered a nail into a gas pipe behind the skirting board. We might have known nothing about it if it hadn't been for Mr Hansen's revolting smell, which quicky filled the room. As I rushed around, frantically throwing open all the windows before searching in the cluttered cupboard under the stairs for the valve to turn off the gas at the main, Marek just stood there, squinting at his Slovak-English phrasebook and repeating over and over again: 'Vorterpitter, vorterpitter.' When at last I'd located and closed the valve, I asked him to show me his phrasebook, so that I could work out what on earth he'd been trying to say. He jabbed a paint-stained finger at the words: 'What a pity!' But back to Mr Hansen and that award, which he accepted with great good humour, self-deprecation and courtesy – three laudable attributes that, in my experience, often go hand-in-hand with dullness. 'I couldn't be more proud,' he said. Comparing the smell of his gas-additive to that of 'bad eggs' and 'flatulence', he said: 'I had to look for the nastiest smell I could think of. That was the choice. I can't describe the smell. It's just horrible.' He had made hardly any money out of his invention, he explained, because he was in his 30s at the time and 'I wasn't very business wise'. 'But I had the kudos that I delivered the smell and that was enough for me.' Before I go an inch further, I must warn any readers who suspect I may have my tongue in my cheek when I write in praise of dullness that they couldn't be more wrong. Indeed, I agree heartily with Albert Einstein when he declared: 'A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.' I will merely observe that this world might be a degree or two safer today if only Albert and his fellow physicists had embraced dullness to the full, instead of devoting their lives to developing exciting new theories about nuclear fission. As for myself, I like to think I've been the very embodiment of dullness since my early teens. At school, I was never one of the cool kids who worshipped Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and the Stones. Though I wouldn't have dared tell my classmates, I much preferred Cliff Richard, Dusty Springfield and Val Doonican. While the in-crowd bought their casual clothes in Carnaby Street, mine came from Marks and Sparks. These days, I've graduated to John Lewis for most of them. At my posh school and university, the cool brigade also liked (or at least professed to like) the beat poet Allen Ginsberg, artists such as Mondrian and Kandinsky and the novels of James Joyce and Jean-Paul Sartre. I infinitely preferred John Betjeman, Gainsborough and Millais, PG Wodehouse and good old Jane Austen, whose books I have read again and again ever since, with never diminishing pleasure. As for my other tastes, you can keep your fancy cocktails, your haute cuisine and exotic foreign holidays on faraway islands I've never heard of. Give me an honest pint, a steak and chips – and, for choice, a holiday cottage in the British Isles. This year, we're off to the good old, dull old Isle of Wight. In the world of work, meanwhile, I flatter myself that I've devoted almost 50 years to expressing heroically dull opinions in print – dull and desperately old-fashioned, anyway, in the view of many of my sons' generation. You should see how my boys roll their eyes, for example, when I write that it's simply absurd for any individual to insist on being referred to by the plural pronouns 'they' and 'them'. They yawn when I express my fear that today's teachers and university lecturers brainwash their students with a crassly distorted, Left-wing view of our islands' history, which paints almost everything about our past as pure evil. Does it never occur to them that Britain has damn sight more to be proud of than almost any other country on the planet? Why else do they think the UK is the number one destination of choice for so many migrants fleeing the world's hell-holes (far too many for our own welfare and social cohesion, in my dull, old-fashioned view)? As for celebrating dullness for its own sake, I've written columns in praise of Britain's suburbs as the ideal places to live. I've described, ad nauseam, my love of crossword puzzles and afternoon telly, and my dislike of fashionable phrases such as 'reaching out', 'can I get?' and 'going forward' when it's used to mean 'in future'. I've confessed in print how I've begun to irritate even the patient Mrs U, by scowling 'don't mention it' every single time another driver fails to thank me for pulling over to let him pass on a narrow road. Once, I even wrote a piece extolling Tim Henman! Enough said. True, dullness on its own isn't always a desirable quality. For instance, you have only to think of John Major, Theresa May and our present walking disaster, Keir Starmer, to realise that a Prime Minister needs something rather more. A functioning brain, for starters, and perhaps the guts to stand up for common sense against those who would bankrupt us all. But I must stop now, before I bore you all to tears. I have an appointment with my regular crew of old codgers at the pub, where we'll swap ancient jokes we've all heard a million times before, and tell each other how much better life was in the old days, before the entire world went mad. Never let it be said that we don't dare to be dull! Oh, but before I go, I suddenly remember that in the course of almost 50 years of rambling in print, I've told that story about Marek the decorator on more than one occasion. Is it too much to hope that this will boost my chances of a future award for dullness?
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Your new Euro Summer staple: Dua Lipa just rocked the PERFECT Aussie bikini in Italy - and it's just $89
Dua Lipa is officially the queen of Euro Summer style and her latest holiday post proves it. The pop superstar, 29, is currently soaking up the sun on a dreamy European getaway with her newly-confirmed fiancé, British actor Callum Turner. In a recent Instagram photo dump, the Hotter Than Hell singer gave fans a peek into their sun-drenched travels - and while the private helicopter, luxe villas and million-dollar diamond ring are impossible to ignore, it was her ultra-chic bikini that stood out. And here's the best part, it's from an Aussie fashion label... and it's still in stock. The black-and-white polka dot bikini, featuring delicate lace trim and dainty string ties, is the 'Juni' set by brand With Jéan, co-founded by Sydney-based designers Sami Lorkin-Tanner and Evangeline Titilas. Retailing for just $89 for the top and $79 for the bottoms, the look is surprisingly affordable for a celebrity wardrobe staple. The cheeky-cut bottoms are high-rise and tie at the sides, while the triangle-style top is flirty, flattering and totally on-trend. They also have an inclusive size range from XXS to XL and, yes, they ship Australia-wide. With polka dots having a major moment this season, it's no surprise Dua reached for this playful print. And given her fashion track record, we're predicting a sell-out fast. Her long raven wet tresses complimented the bikini perfectly after plunging into the crystal-clear water to cool off. Dua has also been quietly rocking a giant sparkler on that finger for months, but only confirmed her engagement to Callum in a recent British Vogue interview. The hitmaker admitted she never saw herself as the marrying type, saying: 'I've never been someone who's really thought about a wedding, or dreamt about what kind of bride I would be,' she said. But while she's still working out what to wear down the aisle, one thing's clear - when it comes to poolside style, Dua Lipa absolutely nails it. But as she continues to document her lavish trips online, some X, formerly Twitter, users cracked jokes about her nonstop traveling. Many wondered where she and Callum would go for their honeymoon since the couple had already been 'everywhere.' Some even joked that she might take it to the next extreme and head to space. Retailing for just $89 for the top and $79 for the bottoms, have an inclusive size range from XXS to XL, and still are in stock online 'This girl has already traveled all over the world, where are they going for their honeymoon to make it memorable? Mars?' one user jokingly wondered on X. 'Their honeymoon is gonna be three years long,' another wrote. Others suggested the Arctic and Antarctica, while one even joked they might go to the moon sometime soon. Some people referred to the pop singer's lyrics from her hit song Levitating. 'She did say, 'Whatever, let's get lost on Mars,'' one said. 'She knows a galaxy they can run off to,' another humored. Dua is well-aware of the travel jokes and previously made a statement about it in her aforementioned Vogue article.
