Rosa Prince

Friday

Rosa Prince

The strange rise of calling kids ‘mama’

From our US edition

The first person I heard refer to their child as ‘mama’ was a friend I met at a prenatal yoga class when I was pregnant with my daughter six years ago. After the babies were born, I would hear her croon to her daughter as she put on her tiny snow suit, ready for the bitter New York winter outside: ‘Come on mama; let’s go mama.’ She does know it was she who gave birth to the child and not the other way around, I would wonder. To begin with I didn’t think much of this somewhat idiosyncratic nickname.

mama mother and child

Friday

Rosa Prince

Is McDonald’s the Apple of the fast food world?

From our US edition

The Golden Arches are shining with even greater lustre than usual in Chicago these days. McDonald’s, the world’s biggest food chain, has just opened its flagship restaurant in the town it calls home – and what a marvel it is. More like an Apple Store than a fast food joint, the new outlet is described by designers Ross Barney Architects as an ‘oasis,’ a sleek glass cube the size of a city block with shared tables, ‘tapestries’ of living plants on the walls, an apple orchard and table service as well as automated ordering. The new look will form the basis of redesigns for the majority of the firm’s 14,000 restaurants across the country, at a cost of $6 billion, meaning an oasis could be coming to a McDonald’s near you very soon.

mcdonald's chicago

Friday

Rosa Prince

Why won’t America join the war on plastic bags? 

From our US edition

Bangladesh was the first to ban them back in 2002. Other countries, from Rwanda to Macedonia, have followed and in many places they are being taxed out of existence. Yet the United States’ reaction to the global drive to tackle the scourge of disposable plastic bags is, largely, a collective “meh”. What is it with America and its love affair with the plastic bag? Why has it been so hard for this country to take action the rest of the world considers both necessary and relatively painless? Here’s the boring but worthy bit: single-use plastic bags are a Bad Thing. They have a horrible effect on our oceans, swishing around in the water and posing a major hazard to marine life.

Tuesday

Rosa Prince

Cynthia Nixon and the growing celebritisation of US politics

From our US edition

She was the angry one from Sex in the City, and now Cynthia Nixon is venting her spleen on behalf of the voters of New York. Last month, Nixon launched her pitch to challenge incumbent Andrew Cuomo as the Democratic candidate for the governorship of New York, invoking the wrath of many New Yorkers over the state’s crumbling transport links and cash-starved schools. And why not? In an era when a real estate mogul turned reality TV star occupies the White House and a chat show queen is the great black hope to replace him, why shouldn’t Nixon segue from sipping martinis with Carrie and the gang to juggling New York’s $168 billion budget?