Since Patrick Joseph Kennedy entered the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1884, the family name has been associated with US politics. From the battle for civil rights to setting fashion trends, the dynasty has been at the forefront of American public life.

Although the younger generations may not have the global recognition of JFK or RFK, they continue to uphold the family legacy of political engagement and social clout. Here are the ones to watch:

Jack Schlossberg
The only grandson of JFK, Jack Schlossberg (pictured above) crafted his public persona on social media. Often posting controversial content, the 32-year-old uses Instagram and TikTok to “make politics accessible for younger voters”, said the BBC. He joined Vogue as a political correspondent ahead of the 2024 presidential election and announced last month that he would run for Congress.

Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo
The youngest of three sisters, Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo comes from a “long line of Empire State power players”, said People Magazine. The granddaughter of RFK and daughter of Kerry Kennedy and New York mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo, she has built a following as a social media influencer. The 28-year-old uses her public platform to advocate for mental health awareness, sexual assault prevention and LGBTQ+ rights. She revealed in 2021 that she identifies as demisexual.

Patrick Schwarzenegger
The Kennedy line is almost as entrenched in Hollywood as it is in politics. The latest to have his name in lights is Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, the second child of Eunice Kennedy. The 32-year-old most recently starred in season three of “The White Lotus”. He has shown no interest in going into politics and has said he and his siblings “hated” it when their father gave up his movie career to become the governor of California.

Joe Kennedy III
RFK’s 45-year-old grandson Joe Kennedy III was a member of the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021, before becoming US special envoy for Northern Ireland. Since returning to the US at the end of November 2024, he has founded the Groundwork Project, a non-profit association to support and connect community activists.

Many women enter my clinic in the run-up to Christmas with the same problem, said GP Amir Khan in a video that went viral on Instagram this week: they feel exhausted, numb and are struggling to cope. These women are suffering “Christmas burnout”, or “biology colliding with social pressure”, notably the “huge expectation to make Christmas magical”.

‘Third shift’
Hearing Khan’s message “felt like he was reading my mind”, said Kerrie Hughes in Woman & Home. Many of us spend the festive season stuck “navigating illness with kids, plans changing” and “the ever-looming feeling that I still have so much to get ready for Christmas”.

“Forget tidings of great joy, Christmas just gives women an endless to-do list,” said Rachel O’Dwyer in The Irish Times. As calendars flip to December, women are expected to take on a “third shift”. If the first shift is the “invisible, endless, heavily gendered work of keeping family life upright”, and the second is “unpaid domestic and care work” along with their actual jobs, the “third shift” is the “mental load of seasonal admin”.
Whether “planning social engagements” and “remembering thank-you notes” or “tracking nativity plays and pantomime tickets”, we are “keeping the whole sleigh on the road”.

‘Kindness rather than criticism’
“Behind every magical Christmas moment there’s generally a dog-tired, stressed-out mum,” said Lucy Denyer in The Telegraph. The irony is that, as we drive ourselves mad trying to create the perfect Christmas, our loved ones “often get the brunt of the resentment, exhaustion and rage”.

Many women in mid-life also underestimate how much oestrogen “shapes the brain”, said Dr Punam Krishan in The i Paper. The hormone’s job is to regulate “mood, memory, stress tolerance, sensory processing and sleep”, all of which are tested during the festive period.
My advice to them is to show yourself “kindness rather than criticism”. If Christmas feels like a struggle, you are not weak or failing. “It means your system was overwhelmed in a season designed to overwhelm.”

People throw hot water into the air to see it instantly turn into ice crystals in the city of Ergun, in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region. Other local winter pastimes include ice sculpting and snow carving. 

CFOTO / Future Publishing / Getty Images

Night buses probably bring to mind “images of cramped seats and constant jolting”, said Time Out. But Twiliner’s new offering is far more “bougie”.

The Swiss operator has launched two overnight routes – Zurich to Amsterdam via Luxembourg and Belgium, and Zurich to Barcelona – and is planning more stops across Europe. Each bus is kitted out with 21 reclining seats that double as beds, plenty of USB ports and a sizable toilet and changing room. Tickets don’t come cheap, though, with prices starting at around £140 for each journey.

Sleeper buses are popular in Asia and South America but have been “less successful” in Europe, said Rhiannon Batten in The Guardian. Twiliner is trying to change this by offering a service that is both “comfortable and sustainable”. The buses run mostly on hydrotreated vegetable oil fuel (also known as renewable diesel), and the company claims each journey produces less than 10% of the carbon emissions of a flight of a similar distance.

Aside from the “generous luggage allowance” and “efficiency” of travelling overnight, one of the biggest draws is the “comfort factor”. The “no-children-under-five” policy and “strict guidelines” on noise make for “calm travelling”. There is a “magic to falling asleep in one country and waking in another”. 

The sleeping experience is similar to “business class on a long-haul flight”, said Rachel Ifans in The i Paper, “albeit with a bumpier ride”. As the “backbone” of my “no-fly London-Amsterdam-Basel cultural mini break”, the Twiliner offered a “fuss-free, efficient journey – but I was looking forward to a quiet night in a hotel bed, with considerably fewer bumps in the night”.

The process of trying to undo Brexit has begun
Ben Kentish in The i Paper
The “last thing” Keir Starmer needs is “to become embroiled in an internecine battle” over Brexit, writes Ben Kentish. But he may have “no choice”, with senior Labour politicians being so “open about their opinions” on the issue. Wes Streeting and others with “their eye on the top job” are keen to “position themselves in line with their party base”, which wants to “reverse as much of Brexit as possible”. A “closer relationship with Europe is becoming ever more likely”.

Christmas trees aren’t anti-Christian
Jide Ehizele in The New Statesman
The “familiar Christmas arguments have resumed”, writes Jide Ehizele. “Even the Christmas tree” is under scrutiny, condemned as “un-Christian or spiritually devoid of meaning”. It’s true that “many of the season’s customs were adopted, adapted and reoriented from pre-Christian life”, but “symbols are not defined by their origins, but by how they are used”, and the Christmas tree “has been absorbed into the British way of life”. Regardless of beliefs, it “gathers families, anchors memory and quietly shapes moral imagination”.

Reading aloud is a joyous act. We should all do it more
James Baxter-Derrington in The Telegraph
“We all learn to read vocally, first with our parents reading to us, then us to them,” writes James Baxter-Derrington. Yet we “abandon the joyful, communal experience of reading as soon as we can”, even though “reading to someone, or being read to, is a beautiful, intimate act” and a “comforting balm against the world”. Christmas is “the perfect time for you to give it a try”. After all, “why should kids have all the fun?”