Friday morning, 9am, sunlight trickles through the blinds and across my rumpled bedsheets. Today marks one full week since moving in to my new flat. One week of stretching out into my own solitude after more than two years coddled up in my family home (during one of which we barely even left that home). […]
Loved Bridgerton? Don’t sleep on Jane Austen…
Our cultural obsession for period dramas has been well and truly ignited as Regency drama, Bridgerton, landed on Netflix earlier this year. Written and produced by Greys Anatomy creator, Shonda Rhimes, accompanied by perhaps one of the most memorable sound tracks of any recent series (I never knew I needed a string rendition of ‘Thank […]
Four simple festive cocktails guaranteed to spark holiday cheer
Guest post written by Lauren Cowie. If, like me, you are missing a pint, cocktail, or nice large glass of wine in your local pub. Spending time with your friends, rather than sitting on your sofa in your comfiest pjs, binge-watching trashy American reality tv (Below Deck anyone?) – then these festive tipples are sure […]
Besos Betty’s Boycott Bezos Small Business Gift Guide 2020
In the midst of all this year’s bad news, the one constant positive is the way that communities have come together in new ways to support one another. Something I have noticed in a bigger and more unanimous way than I have ever seen before, is a tidal wave of public support for small, independent businesses. […]
Three Women, Lisa Taddeo – Review
This is book is a piece of art. Three Women is a book about female desire and the way the world looks upon and reacts to desire when it comes from a woman. Writing in her prologue, Taddeo explains: ‘As I began to write this book, a book about human desire, I thought I’d be […]
Travel Destinations in Scotland 2020
Travelling has always been one of the main loves of my life. Exploring a new city, eating local food, swimming in the sea – these things have always invigorated me and usually I try to fill my summers with as many small adventures as I can. Last year Nic and I delighted in the pasta, […]
Banana Leaf, Old Dumbarton Road – Review
It was a Friday night in Glasgow, and in true West Coast fashion, the heavens had opened. I cursed my unreliable brolly as I hurried down Kelvin Way, clutching a bottle of £6 Merlot. I was meeting some old friends from uni, who I hadn’t seen in a couple of months, and we were looking […]
Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi – Review
This was the second Besos, Betty Bookclub read, and it was a good one. Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel, is an ambitious, sprawling narrative which spans seven generations of two families, split by the slave trade in the late 1700’s. This novel is immense; a family tree on the opening page becomes a very necessary […]
History that We Should All Be Aware Of: The Time the US Government Bombed their Own Citizens
For many of us, it is almost unimaginable to consider a government turning the full might of the army on its civilians, dropping bombs on a street where families live, breathe, eat, work, and raise their children. But that is exactly what happened on the 13th May 1985, when the police force dropped a bomb […]
History that We Should All Be Aware Of: The Murder of Stephen Lawrence
This is one of the most high-profile murder cases in British history, which brought the term ‘institutional racism’ into the national lexicon, but until recently, I knew very little about the details of it. The murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence in an unprovoked, racially motivated attack sparked national outrage and a number of public inquiries […]