I wouldn’t call myself sexually illiterate, but I would say that, over the past year, my view of sex has been on a one-track journey. For me, love doesn’t necessarily come into it. Trust does, kink does, pleasure does. But not love. I knew, then, that reading Sensation would challenge me – this is not a book that was going to tell me what’s hot about being whipped, and why it’s fine to have one night stands with people you feel little to no connection with. For me, those are safe topics. Isabel Losada’s delving into the relation between sex and spirituality, her focus on slow, purposeful exploration, and her self-professed, charming fascination with human happiness, all have me holding Sensation as if it’s a bomb about to go off. read more

Kama Sutra Workout (Work Hard, Play Harder – With 300 Sensual Sexercises) boasts an awful lot of sex positions that will have you running (or crawling, possibly) for your chiropractor. Unless you’re a dedicated gym bunny, that is. read more

Prepare to be lulled into a false sense of security. Nothing is quite as it seems in Lisa Hall’s debut novel, Between You and Me (published by Carina, 2016). read more

“Get your tushies onto your seats!” Miss Polly Rae instructs her already enraptured audience. She is our host for the next hour and a half, and I very willingly get comfortable on my chair, helping myself to a fistful of peanuts that have been left for us to snack on. In my other hand is the programme. This is my first burlesque show, and I’m trying not to feel too anxious about the emboldened word ‘Games’, which sits squarely in the middle. Will we have to play? What will these beautiful, talented women make us do? read more

In ‘Assonance’, the eighth poem in a collection of 20, Miguel Cullen writes that ‘The sounds in my head…they’re brilliant today’ – and there is not a piece in Paranoid Narcissism! that fails to set your head ringing with this exact brilliance. read more

Though I hope he’ll never become a National Treasure, who doesn’t love Jonny Woo? And I loved Jonny Woo even a little bit more after seeing his Un-Royal Variety show last weekend at the Hackney Empire. The performers were brilliantly inventive, delightfully alternative and stunningly professional, avoiding any drag artistry clichés or repetitive themes. As a production, it rocked – in every sense. read more

We embark on our flight the top floor of a converted Shoreditch warehouse with pink lighting and round tables. The air is warm, the curtains are drawn and the sweet sound of elevator music fills the room: like a tornado in baby blue, Fancy Chance, air steward to AmeriKorea air, chucks a pack of mini cheddars at my head. read more

I began reading this book on the train home from Clapham to Eastbourne, and let me tell you, people noticed it. If it wasn’t the very obvious title ‘THIS IS NOT A SEX BOOK’ leaping right out at you, it was the fluorescent orange cover that caught people’s attention. Such was the idea of the famous Spanish YouTuber Chisuta Fashion Fever (real name: Maria Jesus Cama). This self-described ‘manual’ makes no apologies for its honest and realistic views on sex. At the beginning of the book, she warns people ‘who don’t like calling things by their name’ not to read it, but for others ‘who want to know everything about sex’, she ensures all topics are covered in an inclusive and sensitive way. read more

I wasn’t sure how much I’d have to say about Dutch lubricant. Ideally, it should do exactly what it says on the tin. That being said, I think Level deserve a shout-out for their luxurious new lubes. read more

A few decades later I was invited to the Strangers' Gallery by a lobby journalist friend and again, I watched someone make another dullish speech to an almost empty house, only this time I was a bit more grown up and less easily impressed by Pugin’s imposing interiors and the aura of institutional power. Later we ate lunch in a cosy cafeteria, although whether this was in Portcullis House, where the security seems even greater than that of any large airport, or in the Palace of Westminster, I don’t remember. The Houses of Parliament have that effect on you. Not labyrinthine, perhaps, just very, very big and easy to get lost in. read more