What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and all things nice. Obviously. That's why they dissolve in water and never ever cause any trouble. Or maybe they're made of flailing, uncoordinated limbs and muscles barely strong enough to hold them together. That seems to be the strange idea we're embodying when we say that somebody "throws [or runs/hits/kicks] 'like a girl'". Always have picked up on this in their new ad, which went viral at the beginning of the week. Adults and boys who are asked to do things 'like a girl' embody the stereotype, but the girls themselves haven't got the message - they go all-out, as hard as they can. We can't quite silence any cynicism - after all what Always really want is for you to buy their sanitary products [don't. Just get a mooncup. And stop calling them sanitary products, there's nothing unsanitary about periods]. But there's no denying it's a good film, and it got us musing on what it means to do something like a girl...

It is the Summer Solstice tomorrow, with some people questioning if it is definitely summer - refusing to loosen their woolly scarf just in case - and others resolutely donning their shorts from May onward. We know that in the UK we don't do summer well. Yes everyone's very enthusiastic when the sun does come out. There is Pimms and if you like tennis and stuff like that you are fine come summer. Everybody loves a barbecue, once the veggie/meat cooking etiquette has been established. But think of those who wilt in the heat, or are sceptical about a day remaining lovely from dusk till dawn and daren't leave the house without a pac-a-mac packed. What should they do once winter/spring definitely breaks into summer? We share our summer coping skills...

Nick Clegg has been pretty busy lately. Posing with the Sun newspaper (with a suspiciously clear desk behind him), uh, he's probably eaten lunch a few times, fended off an attempted putsch (putsch by poll, that would suck) and gone down the pub with Vince Cable because they are mates, guys. Total mates. And why not, they've got nothing else on, being photographed with a pint in hand works for Nigel Farage. In fact Nick Clegg even pulled a pint (the photo shows he went for London Pride rather than Iron Maiden's Trooper) which is something to put on the old CV. Just in case, always good to have a fall back. But while we know the drapes would be yellow, what would a proper Lib Dem pub be called? Here are some of our suggestions...

Do you ever meet someone from your past and realise after half an hour of catching up that your voice has... changed? Vowels widening or slang you hadn't thought about in 20 years suddenly popping out of your mouth as if you use them every day? There are so many varieties and kinds of English and the way we talk can pin our upbringing down to within a few miles. But might all that change. It might sound like one of those manufactured moral panics that crop up every so often - 'the ubiquity of American television is homogenising our language!' 'there's no such thing as regional accents any more!' But then again, apparently some accents and dialects really are at risk of dying out What a shame that would be. If there's one thing that makes English interesting, it's the hugely different number of ways of saying the same thing. And, let's face it, the potential for comedy contained within that as well - ask an American for a fag and enjoy their confusion until they ask you for their thongs and get annoyed when you pass them pants instead of flip-flops. We're not sure that English is going to be standardised any time soon, but it does seem like a good time to think about some of our favourite examples...

This week Michael Gove stole some of Farage's pint drenched spotlight when the OCR exam board (which we all agree is our favourite exam board - though Squeamish Kate has a penchant for WJEC) implied that Gove had banned them from putting American classics To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men on their English GCSE syllabus in his new guidelines. Gove said he had done nothing of the sort and the intention of his new guidelines that appear to ban books was to broaden the books for young people to study at GCSE. Although rumour has it that Gove really, really hates the book Of Mice and Men. Like, really hates it. Anyway with our eye on broadening what books teenagers should be reading we have come up with our own book list for Gove and the OCR exam board to consider...

Yesterday was voting day. Did you vote? Did you go in knowing exactly where you were going to place your X? Did just hope you'd have the option of the Monster Raving Loony party to vote for? Or did you look at the list of parties ("Oh Nina, what a lot of parties") and candidates and spoil your ballot for want of someone to vote for? Well, this might finally be the Friday 5 for you. We have come up with a list of people (animal, vegetable, mineral) who we think should consider entering politics. Start an online petition if you agree. 

Ah, this is a feminist site. So this has been a long time coming. Hardly a day goes by when we don't receive an email asking when, when are we going to write about cleaning products. When are we going to post up tips for relief from housewife's knee? WHEN are we going to write about the joys of a neat and tidy home? Well, we got pretty close last week when every member of the team when asked about robots expressed a desire for aRoomba. Yes, it turns out our imagination stretches no further than a desire to be able to eat our tea off a sparkling floor. So here are the Squeamish team's best cleaning tips so you too can achieve our levels of domestic bliss...

The robots are coming and a third of Brits fear the rise of the machine. They fear robots will take their jobs and 10% expect to see Robocops on patrol in a decade. Some people are more open to robots, with 17% saying they'd get intimate with an android. 
We are, of course, already surrounded by robots or machines and at Squeamish HQ we like to try and embrace leaps in technology. Particularly leaps in technology that involve household chores. So we have come up with some robots we don't fear, nay, we look forward to them. Now we know (most of you) aren't robots but SEE IF YOU CAN SPOT A THEME here...

Summer's so close we can almost taste it. And by 'it' we mean sand-blown icecream; fresh strawberries; bbq-blackened sausages. The many and varied tastes of summer. Seems like we're not the only one with food on our minds at the moment. The annual'50 best restaurant' list has once again been published, allowing foodies everywhere to plan food-based world trips (or, more realistically, sigh in envious disappointment as they imagine where they would eat if they won the lottery and didn't have to worry about waiting lists.)

But that's the thing - while these best restaurant lists ricochet establishments into the culinary stratosphere and create celebrity chefs - how many of us drool over memories or longings of high-end, £50-a-pop food? Ask people about their favourite meal and you're as likely to hear about something their gran used to make when they were ill or that perfect hotdog they had at the fair on their first date. But whatever the answer, it's always fun to hear about other people's food memories: what makes a meal stick in the mind and make someone's mouth water when they recount it 10 years later? We're not saying it was easy, but we tried to choose one each that has that effect on us...

It was St George's Day this week, as a Palestinian soldier with Greek parentage it is only natural that St George should be multicultural England's patron saint. Although St George is actually a pretty busy patron. When he isn't slaying dragons, England shares him with various other countries and cities. He is also the patron saint of those suffering from leprosy, plague, herpes and syphilis. As Nick Clegg suggests the separation of Church and State, we think it might be time to adopt a patron saint of our own. There must be some twiddling the thumbs with only a couple of professions and diseases to patron over. Here are some we think might suit Squeamish...