All posts tagged: Bracing

Brits Are Bracing Themselves For Yet Another Cost Of Living Crisis

Brits Are Bracing Themselves For Yet Another Cost Of Living Crisis

Published by Sam Flores

!function(n){if(!window.cnx){window.cnx={},window.cnx.cmd=[];var t=n.createElement(‘iframe’);t.display=’none’,t.onload=function(){var n=t.contentWindow.document,c=n.createElement(‘script’);c.src=”//cd.connatix.com/connatix.player.js”,c.setAttribute(‘async’,’1′),c.setAttribute(‘type’,’text/javascript’),n.body.appendChild(c)},n.head.appendChild(t)}}(document);(new Image()).src=”https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb”;cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({“playerId”:”8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb”,”mediaId”:”2bc7aa85-ab4f-4c5f-b2c8-3ce091eb0f8f”}).render(“6a01dc7ce4b06e786e3f72cb”);}); For many households, the “cost of living crisis” has felt inescapable and never-ending. And now, a PwC report has found that people seem to be bracing for yet another financial shock. It said that UK consumer confidence has seen its lowest quarterly decline in four years (in 2022, or four years ago, inflation reached a then-41-year high of 11.1%; PwC point out this is the “sharpest quarterly decline in sentiment since the onset of the Ukraine war”). It’s the lowest overall score since 2023. “All age groups are concerned about the rising cost of living, with most people planning short-term cutbacks and sentiment among the under-35s the hardest hit.” What are the most common concerns?  90% of respondents said they were most worried about the cost of living. 80% said they plan to cut household spending in the coming months (food price surges are reportedly expected by some in November 2026).  Twice as many respondents (12% vs 24%) said they planned to drive less to save on fuel costs in the April …

Magnificent minimalism, sizzling Strauss, bracing Berlioz: Guardian critics’ top picks for Proms 2026 | Proms 2026

Magnificent minimalism, sizzling Strauss, bracing Berlioz: Guardian critics’ top picks for Proms 2026 | Proms 2026

Published by Sam Flores

Ecstatic baroque and early music If 19th-century repertoire thrives on scale and scope, baroque and early music is all about intimacy: the husk of bow on gut strings, the purity of an unaccompanied voice. It’s music that often struggles to find a place at the Proms, but clever choices make for an intriguing lineup this year. Lutenist Thomas Dunford’s Ensemble Jupiter is a period band with the swagger and spontaneity of a rock group. They’re joined by exciting young tenor Laurence Kilsby for a late-night programme of Purcell, Handel, and John Dowland (21 July). Cabaret vibes meet immaculate style. There’s further blurring of the edges in Notre-Dame organist Olivier Latry’s recital (26 July) – an all-Bach programme including transcriptions by Duruflé and Widor, and an improvisation by Latry himself on the letters of Bach’s name – as well as by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra (16 August), who trace the evolution of dance through works by Rameau, Bach and Handel, along with Beethoven. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a dream team of soloists …

Families, union workers bracing for a crippling, historic LAUSD strike in exactly one week

Families, union workers bracing for a crippling, historic LAUSD strike in exactly one week

Published by Sam Flores

Los Angeles schools are one week away from a historic employee walkout — which for the first time would involve three major unions representing teachers, most non-teaching staff and school administrators, including principals and assistant principals. If a strike unfolds on April 14 with the three unions — or even two of the three — it would be impossible to keep all campuses open, the district confirmed Monday, upending the education of some 390,000 students and their families’ workday routines. Parents would scramble for child-care options and an alternative for weekday breakfasts and lunches. Depending on how long a potential strike lasted, important state testing could be disrupted, as could student plans to take college-admissions assessments, such as the SAT and Advanced Placement exams. The Los Angeles Unified School District wants families to plan ahead. “Families should prepare now by ensuring their child can access learning through Schoology” — which is the district’s online learning system, according to a statement provided in response to questions from The Times. Parents also should make sure their child …

Are you bracing your core or just holding your breath? A yoga teacher reveals how to correctly engage your deep core muscles when you exercise

Are you bracing your core or just holding your breath? A yoga teacher reveals how to correctly engage your deep core muscles when you exercise

Published by Jenni Sidey

You’ll have read or heard the instruction a thousand times, but how do you actually engage your core and what does it look like in practice? That’s something certified yoga teacher Leanne Lent from fitness app Yoga-Go wanted to demystify recently when she shared a video on Instagram. In the post, Lent demonstrates what most people do wrong, sucking in her stomach and clenching her abdominal muscles. You may like She then reveals how to actually brace your core with a close-up of her stomach. This time, there’s no obvious sucking in of her tummy. She continues to breathe normally. It’s a subtle change, but it can make a world of difference. “To engage your core effectively, you’re aiming to create support around your spine, especially between your ribs and hips, using your deep core muscles,” Lent tells Fit&Well. “A lot of people think it means sucking in, but that actually just creates tension and limits your movement and breath.” Start your week with achievable workout ideas, health tips and wellbeing advice in your inbox. …

Terrified Investors Are Bracing for an AI Bubble “Reckoning”

Terrified Investors Are Bracing for an AI Bubble “Reckoning”

Published by José Betancourt

Fears over a growing AI bubble that could wipe out the entire economy if it were to burst continue to mount. For many months now, investors and even tech leaders have openly been discussing the possibility — but if or when such a collapse could take place remains a subject of heated debate. Nonetheless, investors are already preparing for that type of major tech sell-off, the Financial Times reports. The reporting shows that plenty of fear and uncertainty remain over the untold billions of dollars being poured into wildly unprofitable AI ventures — a dynamic that’s seen AI companies’ valuations skyrocket to record heights, despite dubious prospects of ever turning a profit. Some are pulling back on their investments in major tech stocks, while others are outright betting on eventual drops in share prices. “Whether there are excesses… in the equity market on AI is no longer questionable, but to figure out which exact companies will be the losers and when this reckoning will happen is difficult,” fund management firm Amundi chief investment officer Vincent …

Shimmer review – National Youth Orchestra welcome the new year in bracing, stylish style | Classical music

Shimmer review – National Youth Orchestra welcome the new year in bracing, stylish style | Classical music

Published by Sam Flores

It’s rare to hear an orchestra’s first public performance. It’s even rarer when that performance takes place barely a week after the players first met. But that’s the seemingly impossible ask for the teenagers of the National Youth Orchestra, whose annual cycle begins in earnest just after Christmas, building up to a three-city UK tour before term. It’s a bracing start to the year for anyone whose post-festive achievements have been largely sofa-based. Indeed, 2026’s Shimmer programme is less festive glow than urban heat-haze, inviting us into the sun-bleached Spanish streetscapes of Debussy and Ravel, wriggling with dances, festivals and life. Premiered in 1910, the imagined Spain of Debussy’s Ibéria is a delicate, pointillist affair – a collage of muted colours and scents. Some works swell with the extra weight of NYO’s doubled – often tripled – forces, but while conductor Alexandre Bloch kept his huge ensemble absolutely controlled (this is, after all, Spain through unmistakably Gallic eyes) there was still a sense of painting extra layers on a watercolour. Rhythms juddered, the sinuous scale …