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Do you plug your car in as soon as you get home from work at the end of the day? Raise your hand. (I just asked my husband to raise his hand.) OK, we have to stop doing that, because it’s peak period – which means a higher electric bill.

More than a quarter – 28% – of EV drivers charge their cars as soon as they get home, instead of waiting for the cheapest time to plug in. (That stat is out of the UK, mind you, but this is probably pretty similar in other countries. It certainly is in my driveway.)

Only 12% of EV drivers in the UK wait to charge until a point in the week when they predict energy prices and carbon would be the lowest, and only 3% are scheduling automated charging when energy is cheapest, according to UK-based consumer EV and home energy tariff comparison website Love My EV.

But the ways to save money on home charging transcend borders. Check them out, because they’re easy to implement:

Home charging during off-peak times

Charge your EV at off-peak times. If you charge during peak times, then it costs more money. If you’re not sure when that is, search online. Try your utility’s website, or your state’s public utilities or service commission, because it’s that organization that regulates rates and services.

The Florida Public Service Commission’s website gave me the information I needed. The off-peak times, i.e., the best times to charge where I live, are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. during the winter, and 10 p.m.-11 a.m. during the summer. (There is no need for air conditioning or heat in winter during the day, and low usage of other electrical appliances in the summer overnight. Typically, power bills are the highest in Florida in summer.)

On the flip side, the peak times, i.e., the worst times to charge, are 6-10 a.m. and 6-10 p.m. during the winter, and noon to 9 p.m. during the summer. (That’s electric heat consumption in the morning and evening, and the whole enchilada in summer of all the appliances and AC.)

If you live in the US, depending on where your state is, or in another country, this is really going to vary, so definitely check and make note.

Your electric car’s battery

Avoid running your battery lower than 20% and set it to stop charging at 80% unless you need the range for a longer journey, as the first and last parts of the battery take the longest to charge. This is also good for battery health and longevity.

A charged morning start

If you live in a colder climate such as Vermont, in fall and winter, finish your charging as close as possible to the time you leave home in the morning. As charging warms the battery, you’ll have more range from the same amount of energy.

Heat isn’t your battery’s friend

Moderate temperatures generally mean you get more miles per charge. However, above 77 Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius), range starts to fall again. If it’s hot out, make an effort to charge in the shade.

Extreme temperatures

In extreme heat or cold, keep your car plugged in (but not necessarily charging) to allow the battery temperature controls to keep running.

Solar option

If your car is at home during the day, investing in rooftop solar means you’ll charge with the cleanest and cheapest energy. Prices have dropped considerably, so it’s worth getting a quote now, even if you ruled solar out in the past. (Plus, there’s that whole global warming thing.)

Read more: Only 54% of EV owners know about home charger rebates — survey


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Bill Nighy on style, social media and holy socks: ‘I can’t operate in the wrong kind of trousers’

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Bill Nighy on style, social media and holy socks: 'I can't operate in the wrong kind of trousers'

Bill Nighy is a man of many talents – but he knows his limitations – most specifically in the trouser department.

The 74-year-old actor tells Sky News he has very clear sartorial demands when it comes to his acting rider.

“It’s odd, people used to say: ‘There’s a significant lack of classical work on your CV’. And I would say something like: ‘The reason is, I can’t operate in those kind of trousers,’ which is a joke, but it’s also kind of true.

“If you want me at my best, put me in a decent lounge suit. It’s a stupid thing for an actor to say, but art does reflect life.”

And he’s not afraid to bring his own life quite literally into his films, adding: “If it’s a contemporary film and it’s an independent film and they haven’t got a lot of money, I just say, ‘Come to my flat,’ and I open the wardrobe and they can take out whatever they want for that movie. So, the two things do blend.”

He’s currently starring in underdog sports drama The Beautiful Game, playing a retired football talent scout coaching England’s team in the Homeless World Cup.

Founded in 2001, the real-life international tournament that inspired the movie now involves over 70 countries and has transformed the lives of more than one million homeless people.

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Former Homeless World Cup players – who are no longer homeless – feature in the film, playing team members from other countries, which Nighy calls “a wonderful piece of symmetry”.

He of course wore a suit and tie for the majority of the film, despite it being shot in Rome during a heatwave. Scorching weather aside, he says: “It was quite fun to stand on the touchline and scream.”

Pic: Netflix
Image:
Nighy as football talent scout Mal in The Beautiful Game. Pic: Netflix

While Nighy may not necessarily look the part of a stereotypical football coach, he does work on his fitness, training three times a week. It’s something he insists he won’t be “winning any prizes for”, and he certainly won’t be sharing snaps of his workouts on Instagram.

‘My iPhone doesn’t see a lot of action’

He explains: “I’ve never been on social media. I’m lucky in that regard because I’m of an age where I can just about get away with it.

“I nearly went on it. I got very close to, I think it was Instagram, but I didn’t in the end make that jump.

“I don’t have a laptop. I mean, I’m carrying a computer in my pocket, obviously, like everybody else, but I’ve never had a computer. I’ve never owned one, again because I’m fortunate. I don’t need one for anything. I’ve got an iPhone, but there’s not a lot of action on it apart from, you know, the obvious.”

I can only guess ‘the obvious’ is phoning his nearest and dearest, including his daughter and friends. Nighy keeps his romantic dealings close to his chest, and since splitting with his partner of 26 years, he hasn’t been publicly linked to anyone new – either in the public eye or out.

Nighy and Anna Wintour at the Met Gala last year. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Nighy with friend Anna Wintour at the Met Gala last year. Pic: Reuters

As one of Britain’s most recognisable actors, he’s humble in his appraisal of his five decade career spanning theatre, TV and film – reaching to Hollywood and back.

‘I didn’t expect acting to last’

“I don’t know what I’m cut out to be, but it probably isn’t an actor, although I don’t know if anybody is. I think we all have to bend ourselves out of shape to do whatever it is we do.

“I didn’t expect to be an actor. I didn’t expect when I became an actor that it would last very long. I didn’t have a Plan B, it was all basically out of necessity.

“I flunked school, so I didn’t have any qualifications for anything, and I didn’t have a Plan B, so I had no safety net. But, you know, it gradually worked out.”

With two BAFTAs, a Golden Globe and Teen Choice Award (yes really) to name but a few of his accolades, he’s being modest.

And his acting career is about to take a step into the unknown, with his first big horror role in First Omen coming to the screen next month.

Nighy as Cardinal Lawrence in The First Omen. Pic: 20th Century Studios
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Nighy as Cardinal Lawrence in The First Omen. Pic: Disney/20th Century Studios

A prequel to the 1976 original, it returns to the very beginning of the story, with Nighy warning it’s not a film for the feint hearted: “The early signs suggest that it is truly horrible.”

Red satin and holy socks

He does have a wide experience of otherworldly roles, if not out and out horror. Nighy lists a few. “In Shaun Of The Dead I was a werewolf. Yeah, I was a werewolf.”

(Nighy was actually a zombie, but the movie was filmed 20 years ago, and who’s splitting hairs?)

He goes on: “And I’ve been a vampire several times. And I’ve been a squid. If you count animations, I’ve been a rattle snake with a machine gun in its tail. But they’re not straight horror. [First Omen] is really my first horror movie, like what you’d call straight horror. So, it is a departure.”

It goes without saying he was well suited and booted for the role.

“I was dressed by the Vatican tailor. So, you can see I look my best if you’re going to be a priest. And I’m drenched in red satin”.

Rumour has it he was given holy socks from the Vatican shop as part of his costume. Blessed beyond doubt.

Nighy ‘can’t stand’ his own films

He says it “will frighten the life” out of its viewers, adding “a few people I’ve met who’ve seen it and who are horror freaks were stunned. One journalist actually said [they were] traumatised.”

But he doesn’t have to worry about nightmares himself. “I’ve never seen it and I’m never going to see it because I don’t watch films I’m in because I can’t stand it.”

Pic: Netflix
Image:
Pic: Netflix

Meanwhile, his latest offering, The Beautiful Game, is a very different prospect, crafted to leave the viewer uplifted rather than in pieces.

Nighy says it’s a feelgood nostalgia that takes him right back to his childhood. “The deal was when I was a kid, you went, you paid some money, you went to the cinema, and you came out feeling a bit better than you did when you went in. This is what [The Beautiful Game] is.”

The Beautiful Game is streaming now on Netflix, and The First Omen will be in cinemas from 5 April.

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Song lyrics have become angrier and more repetitive since the 80s, study finds

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Song lyrics have become angrier and more repetitive since the 80s, study finds

Song lyrics have become angrier and more repetitive over the past four decades, a study has found.

Lyrics in rock, rap, country, pop, and R&B songs have also become simpler and more personal, according to research published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Rap songs showed the strongest increase in anger and negative emotions, while country songs had the lowest, the researchers said.

Eva Zangerle, an assistant professor at the University of Innsbruck’s department of computer science in Austria, said anger-related words may have become more common because music “reflects more general changes in society and culture”.

Prof Zangerle and her colleagues analysed the lyrics of 12,000 English-language songs released between 1980 and 2020, as well as the page views of the lyrics on online platform Genius.

They found lyrics have become simpler and easier to understand over time, while also becoming more emotional and personal.

Analysis also showed the number of different words used within songs has decreased, particularly among rap and rock songs.

The team speculated this may be because of changes in how music is enjoyed, such as increases in songs being used as background music.

Read more from Sky News:
Nick Cave has ‘feelings of culpability’ over deaths of his sons
Beyonce releases tracklist for upcoming country album
Springsteen first international songwriter to be Ivors Academy fellow

Prof Zangerle said: “In the last 40 years, we have witnessed a change from buying records in the store to being able to choose from hundreds of millions of songs on streaming platforms on the phone.

“This has also changed the way music is consumed.”

By analysing the page views on Genius, the team found older rock songs were viewed more than newer ones, but the reverse was true for country songs. They said it could indicate rock listeners prefer lyrics from older songs, while country listeners may prefer those from newer songs.

Prof Zangerle gave Bruce Springsteen’s 1973 song Spirit In The Night as a good example of complex songwriting, while she said Miley Cyrus’s 2019 hit Slide Away has simpler and repetitive lyrics.

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Helen Flanagan shares mental health struggles and ‘heartbreaking’ reason for pulling out of West End show

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Helen Flanagan shares mental health struggles and 'heartbreaking' reason for pulling out of West End show

Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan says she was sent into a psychosis after suffering a “bad reaction” to her ADHD medication earlier this year.

The 33-year-old TV star, who’s best known for her role as Rosie Webster in Coronation Street, shared the news on Instagram, after a couple of months away from social media.

She said she was left “emotionally struggling” after splitting from the father of her children, footballer Scott Sinclair – with whom she shares Matilda, seven, Delilah, five, and Charlie, two.

She also explained her reason for pulling out of a theatre tour of Cluedo 2 which kicked off last month, saying it was due to a bad reaction to her medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

At the time, it was announced that Flanagan had withdrawn from the show for “medical reasons”.

Alongside a selfie with her giving the peace sign, she wrote: “Had a few months off from social but I’m back now.

“So basically I really struggled mental health wise December/January. I felt really not great in my head over Christmas and I didn’t really feel that much different when I took the kids away for new year.

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“I had a lot of difficult things going on things I just can’t talk about on Instagram.

“I felt terrible, so I was due my theatre tour which I was excited about so when I came back from holiday I thought it was best for me to take some medication so I’d feel better and be able to cope better with being a working single mum of three and I was emotionally struggling with the break up from the father of my kids.”

‘I just love my kids so much’

She added: “I had a really bad reaction though to the medication (an ADHD medication) and it sent me into a psychosis for a few days which I didn’t know I was in.

“I just love my kids so much, this bad reaction though was a few days before rehearsals were starting and sadly I just wasn’t mentally well enough to do it.

“I was heartbroken as I’ve always been professional as an actress but I needed to stay at home and feel better for me and my kids, with the help of my amazing parents.”

She added that she felt like she was in a “really good happy place” and has found therapy “amazing”.

She said: “I feel like I’ve worked on myself with things that were quite tough to me but I feel lighter now.”

The cast of Cleudo 2 (L-R) Edward Howells, Dawn Buckland, Ellie Leach, Jack Bennett, Jason Durr, Hannah Boyce, Gabriel Paul. Pic: Alastair Muir
Image:
The cast of Cleudo 2 (L-R) Edward Howells, Dawn Buckland, Ellie Leach, Jack Bennett, Jason Durr, Hannah Boyce, Gabriel Paul. Pic: Alastair Muir

Flanagan was replaced in the role of Miss Scarlett in Cluedo 2 by Strictly Come Dancing winner Ellie Leach, who was one of the fellow celebrities to comment on Flanagan’s post, writing “love you” with three kisses.

Other stars including Ex-Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle, presenter Carol Vorderman and Coronation Street actresses Lucy Fallon and Brooke Vincent also showed their support.

Flanagan played Rosie Webster in the Manchester-based ITV soap from 2000 to 2012, returning to the role between 2017 and 2018.

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