Single ladies, muddy buckets and taking the middle aisle. This is your weekly dose of PR from outside the automotive bubble.

All the single ladies, all the single ladies.

According to Elaine Hoan, a social psychologist at the University of Toronto, data collected by her team from America, Europe and Africa, reveals single women are more satisfied with their lives than their male counterparts. The research involved nearly 6,000 people with an average age of about 30, from countries including the UK, US, South Africa, Poland, Mexico and Portugal.

I picked this up from The Times but it originated in Psychology Today last week. Note how The Times makes the story more suitable for mass consumption with an opener about singleton, Bridget Jones – and two images of her.

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YUK.?????? ??????

Fair play to a London cleaner who hit the headlines this week after he filmed himself cleaning four London Underground seats. The result was a bucket of the dirtiest water you’ve ever seen, and a defensive response from TFL.

This story was distributed by the South West News Service and picked up by all the nationals. From the looks of it, they did a retrospective photoshoot with Mr Carpet Clean and his crew. The video has been taken off Mr Carpet Clean’s grid, but I bet the attention has given the business a boost. I love this story. I hate the video.

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Scandi-style middle aisle.

Walk, don’t run. Aldi’s launched a Scandi-inspired Twig Tree and it’s a quarter of the price of other high-street brands. Product PR doesn’t get much better than this piece on Ideal Home.

MyVoucherCodes also received a nice little mention, with a comment from its shopping expert, Sarah-Jane Outten, about the twig tree trend (try saying that three times).

It's been a wonderfully busy week working with my regular clients and lots of new conversations. I'm not going to lie, this year has been the slowest in my (almost) five years of freelancing. But it looks like 2024 is ending on a high and I'm here for it. Thank you to everyone who trusts me with their words, comms and reputation. And hello to anyone watching from the sidelines. I want more single parents to set up their own businesses, so I'm trying to lead by example. It's so lovely to have you with me.

Faye x