Two countries that both teach swimming at school What should a child wear to a school swimming lesson? In England and in Victoria the lessons themselves are compulsory, so the answer matters to every family with a primary-age child. Where the two differ is in who writes the kit rules. England has a national list from …

A clothing brand that shares its letters with a warmth rating The tog is a British measure of warmth. Bensons for Beds explains that it was "taken from the term 'togs', an informal word for clothing (which derives from the Roman 'toga')," and that it was first created by the Shirley Institute, "the Manchester-based HQ …

For babies, the answer is no duvet at all The NHS says a baby's room should be "between 16C to 20C", and that a cot should be kept clear of "pillows, duvets, cot bumpers, loose blankets, soft toys". So the first answer to "what tog duvet for my child?" depends on age. For a baby under 12 months, UK safer-sleep guidance …

The tog is the same; the duvet is not Which? tested 24 duvets with a panel of 40 testers and found that "the best synthetic duvets in our test scored just as highly for comfort as feather and down options, and in some cases surpassed them." So the answer to "which feels warmer, down or synthetic?" is not as simple as …

Two value brands, two different pitches Silentnight and Slumberdown both sell low-priced duvets to UK shoppers, and both cover the tog ratings most households need. They sell themselves differently. Silentnight leads with its name: its site calls it the "UK's most trusted sleep brand" and offers a "Lifetime product …

The standard winter duvet, and the step above it A few weeks into winter, with the heating off overnight, a 13.5 tog duvet can start to feel thin, and the 15 tog on the shelf above it looks tempting. On paper the step is small: 1.5 tog, about 11% more thermal resistance. In practice the question is whether your bedroom …

What Dunelm sells, and what it costs When the nights turn cold and the summer duvet comes off the bed, Dunelm is where many UK households look first. Its duvet range is large: 181 results when we checked on 5 October 2026, starting at around £12. The question this review answers is whether the cheap end of that range …

A focused range against a full department store The White Company listed 30 duvets on its UK site; John Lewis listed 145. That difference in size explains most of this comparison. The White Company sells a focused range under its own name. John Lewis sells its own-brand duvets alongside other makers, from a £25 …

Not quite: the Irish Sea splits the meaning What does "togs" mean in Ireland compared with the UK? The short answer is that it means different things. In Ireland, togs are what you swim in. In the UK, "togs" is old informal slang for clothes in general, and the singular "tog" is the warmth rating printed on a duvet. An …

The night the winter duvet becomes too much A British summer does not give much notice. Bensons for Beds puts it this way: "a 13.5 tog duvet can be difficult to live with in the height of summer when temperatures can suddenly shoot up to 30°C or even more." That is the night most people start looking at a summer duvet, …