You may not be at one with the waves, but your wardrobe can still make a splash, says Gemma Hayward

What we love, we're not sure about, we're buying and can't wait for...

Anything that feels or looks forced on a woman doesn't make her look beautiful I would never buy something thinking who it might please around me. I wear things for my own pleasure and for feeling comfortable; inner beauty is usually nothing to do with trying to make an effort.

The search for a British man who went missing in the Cayman Islands more than two weeks ago has been called off.

Ian Thorpe's hopes of competing at a third Olympic Games are on the line this week at Australia's national swimming trials in Adelaide, where a number of local rivals are aiming to crush the five-times gold medallist's London dreams.

Eveden, the private equity-backed online lingerie firm, has hired advisers to explore its strategic options that could involve a sale of the busines for more than £150m.

Labour MPs' beer ban may have backfired

I've finished my expedition to the glorious Okanagan Valley in British Columbia (Canada's California, apparently) investigating Ogopogo, the monster that is supposed to inhabit Lake Okanagan. Don't worry, I haven't gone all David Icke (yet) – this is for my new book, Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, and the subject gives me an excuse to visit some pretty interesting parts of the world. Canada was probably a brave choice for a first destination as it is seen as literary Mogadon by publishers. Bill Bryson supposedly wanted to write a book about the country but his publishers recoiled in horror. I love the place – I have a Canadian wife and spend every summer there – and hope to convert as many Brits as possible to the land of the beaver.

It’s that time of year again – the holiday season – marred only by the fact that shopping for swimwear rears its ugly head once more.

The Slutwalk business has had repercussions. Men and women have been squaring up to each other all over the place. At a literary salon on Saturday night, a young woman whom I'd never met before waved her cigarette at me and said: "Why do you wear all those rings? Are you gay or something?" to which I replied, "No, I just like personal adornment."