Alice Olins

Lucy Bronze’s name wasn’t on the list at the tiny, South London members' club her agent had told me to meet her at. I was early. There was no booking, and the guy on the front desk didn’t know her name. When England's toughest Lioness hurried through the door, head down, bun pulled tight, I hardly had a chance to raise my hand in hello. It was a mildly disarming start. Bronze clearly had no idea who I was, and she barely scanned the room to try and find out.

A day of unfiltered conversations on ambition, finance, health and identity, Step Forward 2026 brought 800 women together in one room. These are the takeaways still shaping how we think. There is a particular kind of energy that builds when 800 women all deliberately choose to spend the day putting themselves first. AllBright's Step Forward 2026 summit owned this optimism from the off. What struck me most was not the scale of the day, AllBright's biggest Step Forward yet, but the honesty within it.

On Sunday night, Madonna walked on stage at Coachella and the internet lost its mind. Not in that low-grade, scroll-past hysteria kind of way that evaporates within a handful of hours. But properly, collectively, joyfully and with some brilliant wild undertones: I implore you to read the comments below any of the most recent Instagram Reels featuring her unexpected and at the same time iconic appearance.