It’s been a good week ... goal-setting

Another good turn for Girl Guides – the organisation is revamping its programme, with classic badges being replaced by new ones with more modern challenges.

So far, 15,000 girls have put forward ideas for new badges, including App Design, Vlogging and Upcycling.

This might sound cutting-edge, but the Guides have always been ahead of the curve. For every Homemaker and Hostess badge there was a badge that was a bit more adventurous: Air Mechanic (in the 1910s), Architect and Electrical Engineer (both in the 1920s) and Electrician (1930s).

More recently, in the 1980s, there was a Radio Communicator badge, and the current set of awards includes Survival, Circus Skills and World Issues.

Parents and the general public are now being invited to contribute ideas for the new programme on social media, using the hashtag #BadgeGoals. Social Networking badge, anyone?

Potential badges suggested by members include: Entrepreneurship (what to do when you can’t get a job); DIY (what you have to do when you don’t have a job); Festival Goer (well, you’ve got plenty of time because ...); Grow Your Own (since you can’t afford to buy food); Speaking Out (in the hope that someone might listen to your concerns about the present economic climate); and Voting (what the next generation must do in the hope of a better future).

There’s also the idea of a Space badge. I’m assuming this is galactic-type space and not personal, but each is equally desirable.

The new badges will help girls thrive in the modern world, says Girlguiding. Or on another planet, if they achieve their Space badge.

It’s been a bad week for ... insomniacs

Our grannies were right all along. Beauty sleep is a real thing.

Researchers have shown that people who miss out on sleep appear less attractive to others.

Just a couple of wakeful nights are enough to make a person look "significantly" more ugly. Dark-circled "panda" eyes and puffy lids can even put others off socialising with you, found the study by the Karolinska Institute.

Subjects of the experiment were rated by strangers as less healthy and approachable when they had tired faces. So here’s another suggestions for Girl Guides exhausted by their high-achieving efforts: the Sleep badge.