Britain.. Britain.. Britain

• The Daily Telegraph reports that a survey commissioned by skincare brand Clinique shows British women are the least likely to make an effort with their appearance for the sake of men. The study said that British women have the lowest levels of concern in the world for what husbands, boyfriends and other male observers might think, with only 51 per cent caring whether men liked their appearance. Glamorous Russian women topped the poll with 77 per cent saying that they were bothered about what their men thought.
• Apple’s online music store iTunes has sold more than three billion songs since its launch in Britain in 2004, reports the Guardian. The three billionth song - Coldplay’s "Speed Of Sound" - comes only 18 months after the company announced selling its one billionth song – a feat described by Apple as an “incredible milestone”. iTunes now has 550 TV shows and 500 films alongside its catalogue of more than five million songs.
• People who have children together, or have been partners for more than two years, may soon be entitled to rights similar to those of married couples, says the Guardian. The Law Commission is recommending that partners who split would be able to claim lump sums, the right to live in the family home and even a slice of their partner’s pension. There are currently 2.2 million unmarried couples living together in England and Wales.
• Supermarkets are stocking up on lower-alcohol wines despite Britain’s taste for ever-stronger wines varieties, the Times reports today. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and M&S have all introduced lower-alcohol wines in recent months, each predicting a shift in demand away from the full-bodied grape to the lighter, more forgiving vintages
• A British Airways flight was forced to wait for several hours on the ground after women members of the Qatari royal family objected to sitting next to men they did not know, says the BBC. The three wives of Sheikh Badr Bin Khalifa al-Thani refused take up their seats on board Flight 563 from Milan's Linate airport to London Heathrow, eventually transferring to another airline.