Every time a picture of David Raya from his Blackburn days makes the rounds on social media, the response is always the same. incredulity. The face in that picture is that of a younger, heavier-set, stockier goalkeeper who is hardly recognizable as the calm, sharp-featured Arsenal number one, who has since developed into one of the Premier League’s most dependable last lines of defense. Once you know the story, it’s difficult to avoid feeling a mixture of admiration and mild horror because the transformation is so dramatic that it requires an explanation. Raya was hospitalized after colliding with striker Jay…
Author: Michael Martinez
A late 1970s photo of Chris Evert, with her hair pulled back, a baseline stare, and complete focus, perfectly encapsulates what made her one of the most captivating athletes of her time. People are still staring at her face decades later. Now, just for different reasons. The discussion about Evert’s plastic surgery didn’t start recently. It began subtly in 2012 when comments on tennis forums were sparked by television close-ups she was doing while broadcasting. Fans noticed a slight change in the area surrounding her eyes, a tightness that wasn’t there before. To put it bluntly, one Talk Tennis commenter…
Observing a public figure refuse to age normally has a subtle allure. Since the early 2000s, Alesha Dixon has been in front of British cameras, first as a member of Mis-Teeq, then as a solo performer, then as a Strictly winner, and finally as a regular member of the judging panel for Britain’s Got Talent. People began to notice that she appeared, well, better than before somewhere along that lengthy arc. Not merely polished or well-groomed, but truly unique in ways that are hard to account for with just moisturizer. The discussion surrounding Dixon’s plastic surgery is not new. A…
Watching Carol Vorderman handle the discussion about her appearance is subtly fascinating, not because she avoids it but rather because she doesn’t. Celebrities tend to deflect. The 65-year-old Carol has always been a little more open. When discussing her skin care regimen, she will almost casually bring up the Botox, as if it were no different from changing moisturizers. Even though the whole picture is still a little hazy, it’s refreshing. For years, there has been conjecture regarding Carol Vorderman’s plastic surgery. When she told The Sun in 2012 that she wanted “a little rejuvenation” and acknowledged that she wasn’t…
A parent who has spent months, sometimes longer, waiting for a letter from the NHS that might or might not arrive before their child’s situation deteriorates experiences a certain kind of fatigue. That weariness is currently becoming more commonplace throughout Britain. And it’s subtly changing the places where families seek assistance. Private CAMHS, or mental health services for children and adolescents provided outside of the National Health Service (NHS), has evolved from a specialized option to something that resembles a parallel system. Clinics in Scotland and England are reporting a variety of presentations, a heavy caseload, and, in certain areas,…
A specific type of scrolling occurs in the bedrooms of teenagers who ought to be sleeping late at night, typically after midnight. The light from the phone pierces the darkness. A video of a person their age speaking softly to the camera and describing in precise, almost clinical terms what it’s like to suffer from anxiety, depression, ADHD, or borderline personality disorder is shown. The audience observes. then observes another. Something has changed by the time they put down the phone. They now have a new vocabulary to describe their emotions. One of the more difficult issues surrounding child mental…
Ten years ago, a certain type of conversation that is currently taking place in school hallways would have seemed odd. Fourteen-year-olds are comparing their symptoms. Sixteen-year-olds discussing the distinction between panic disorder and generalized anxiety. Kids who haven’t yet sat their GCSEs or earned a driver’s permit using language that, not long ago, belonged exclusively to clinicians. A TikTok algorithm caused something to change, and most parents weren’t fully aware of it until it was all over the place. It’s challenging to pinpoint the exact numbers underlying this trend, which is telling in and of itself. What researchers do know…
Parents all over the world seem to recognize a certain look without having to give it a name. The strange emotional flatness followed by an explosion of feeling, the glazed eyes, the meltdown that occurs the instant a device is taken away. Many may have thought that this was just typical of contemporary childhood—noisy, overstimulated, and difficult to control. According to a study that was published this month in the Psychological Bulletin, a more precise mechanism that has been developing covertly for years may be at play. Increased screen time in children under ten was consistently linked to what researchers…