One of the most remarkable moments of the election campaign this week was when BBC journalist Andrew Neil swivelled to deliver a stern monologue straight to camera, demanding that Boris Johnson turn up to be interviewed by him, as normally happens in a British election.

An empty chair lurked in the background as Neil challenged the prime minister to face him in a tone so menacing, I thought my screen would crack. But as intimidating as Neil’s seething might be to the rest of us, has he been outmanoeuvred by the prime minister? It’s all a symptom of a wider problem that is emerging in this campaign. The traditional media has been wrong-footed at every turn by the parties, as their teams flout established norms. They disseminate leaked documents of uncertain provenance, set up fake fact checks and dodge TV appearances. The old rules no longer apply and the consequences could be lasting. It’s too late to do much about it in this campaign, but as Richard Sambrook argues, some serious reflection is needed if the British media is to hold those running for office to account in the future.

Top of my to-do list this weekend is ‘clean out your disgusting make-up bag immediately’ after reading this article about the icky germs found on products like mascara and lipstick. Researchers tested 467 items donated by brave volunteers recently, and found almost all of them harbouring bacteria or fungus – including E.coli. The worst offender is that weird, egg shaped beauty blender used for applying foundation. You might want to schedule some decontamination time yourself.

And in ancient ickiness, a paper published a few days ago recounts the story of how a chance encounter between a fruit fly and a pail of milk around 5,500 years ago gave us what we now call cheese.

This week we’ve also been controlling our breathing, trying to stop eating when we’re full (why is it so hard?) and wondering about child dinosaurs.

Contact us here to have your event listed.

For sponsorship opportunities, email us here