August 16, 2026 - Issue no 10,535 - thetimes.com

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THE SUNDAY TIMES

Farage donors' links to betting service implicated in potential illegal gambling

THE SUNDAY TIMES INNSIGHT

Veronica Mercione, Gabriel Pogromi, George Drummond and Emanuele Mutoio

Sugar forage's two biggest personal donors can both be linked to a betting platform implicated in poten-

tially illegal gambling in the UK for the first time. Christopher Harborne, the crypto billionaire who gave the Britons UK leader £2 million and the party £22 million, wrote a payments company which was used to facilitate transactions between UK customers and Directors, an understated gambling platform.

George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster who secretly handrolled Farage, was a key player in

Tetherchev, which abruptly shut down last week. It told users to apply to recovers and funds to light of for 'permanent' choices.

While active, the platform asked British "VIP" customers to deposit bets and receive winnings via Farage, a UK company owned by BlackPony platform. Reformers and promotion officer and a friend of Farage, Cottrell and Harborne.

Frappe did not have an account with a traditional bank, manual

handling funds using BTL, a cross-border payments firm wholly owned by Harborne. Tetherchev and Farage at no stage held a Gambling Commission license to provide facilities for betting to customers in Great Britain.

Jackson said his company was heavily "restricted" private jet travel and that it had never provided facilities for gambling. Cottrell said he was simply a customer of Tetherchev, adding that he has

"never solicited clients for any betting company".

There is no suggestion that Harborne knew about the arrangements. Harborne said he was not involved in BTL's training in any way. BTL says that it "operates in accordance with applicable regulations and legislation across the market is supports".

Investing gambling facilities without a license is an offence under the Gambling Act 2005 in

the event that the person doing so knew, or should have known, the facilities were being used in Great Britain. It can carry a prison sentence of up to one year.

The disclosures shed light on the connection between Farage's two biggest personal donors and the time they started their rolling him and raise questions over his judgment in accepting support from Cottrell.

Harborne is also the single big-

gest donor to the Reform party, which has vowed to make Britain the crypto capital of the world.

Farage, Cottrell and Harborne had lunch in London days before Tetherchev was launched in 2020. The platform, which shows its name from Tether, a cryptocurrency owned by Harborne, paid millions to Cottrell via a firm in Monrovoys, where he is tax resident. The following year, Continued on page 6

British drones s'ake targets inside Russia

Weapons made by two UK firms and supplied to Ukraine have hit Russian mainland for first time

Dominic Hasachild in Kyiv Vita Kytar in China

British drones have been used to strike targets on the Russian mainland for the first time.

Drones made by two UK companies have been supplied to Ukraine, which deployed the weapons as part of its deep-orthe campaign.

Deep strikes, using long-distance drones to hit industrial and military targets in Russian territory, have caused more than £10 billion of economic damage, leading to fuel shortages and blackouts.

Targets have included oil refineries, naval bases, logistics bans and transport networks, including one attack more than 2,000 miles over the world.

While Ukraine has previously used limited numbers of security missiles against Russia, including British Storm Shadows, these caused restricted damage. By contrast, drone-led deep strikes have become the most effective weapon in Ukraine's arsenal. The surge in demand has created a critical need for supplies that can be quickly replenished.

Multiple sources in the Ukraine are stored forces confirmed by use of British drones to attack over the past six months, marking a new phase in the military partnership between the US and Ukraine. Targets included a 10-mile series in Volgograd, southwest Russia, and Yaroslavl, near Moscow.

Air Marshal Greg Bagwell, a former UK director of joint war-

fare, said the involvement of British munitions placed new pressure on Ukraine. "We invested $1.5M to the Russian economy so these attacks could have a far greater strategic effect than conventional missile strikes," he said.

A senior defence source added: "Russia has been very effective at keeping the West nervous about hitting it too hard. These attacks mean the UK's effectively signaling to Russia and our allies that we've out (our/soul) any more."

British drones have already proven their tactical worth as part of mid-orthe operations, hitting targets in occupied Ukraine. In April, it emerged that Ukrainian Scorch had used the 7,000 hours lift drone, made by Maline lacrimators, to destroy a Russian-held bridge over the Kutsia River in occupied Khorram. This attack is believed to be the first case of a drone-led operation destroying a bridge to combat.

Weapons used to deep strike over the past six months include the Yuan, a proponent drone manufactured by a subsidiary of RMI Systems. Drones made by a second company, the name of which The handwires is choosing not to publish on security grounds, have also been widely used in the long-range attacks.

The US has previously supplied Storm Shadow Crime missiles to Kyiv, despite initial concern that doing so could cause Russia to escalate the conflict. However, Britain's stockpile is finite and it

costs upwards of £750,000 per missile to replenish them. The range of Storm Shadow missiles is also limited to about 100 miles, unlike long-range drones, which can go almost £400 miles.

Drones can be rapidly manufactured, easily over, pulled and made in high-volume systems to over-wheeler Russian air defences. They typically cost between £30,000 and £300,000 each, offering a cost-effective and suitable alternative to western long-range weapons.

On Monday, a Ukrainian swarm of more than 450 drones has expired in 16 regions, including a petrochemical facility and an oil refinery in Nidhenkansk. 750 miles from the border, between January and June, Ukraine launched almost 700 successful deep-orthe mission against Russia, hitting targets across 52 of its 83 regions.

It is understood that the Yuan drone, which is built in Wileldon and has been tested by the Royal Navy, was also deployed in an attack on Belgorod, near the Russian border with Ukraine last year.

Developed by Callow Level, a subsidiary of the British defence firm RMI Systems, the Yuan is a relatively different attack driven with a 2.9-more (9) jilt wingspan and a range of more than 450 miles, making it capable of striking targets near the front line and in Russian territory close to Ukraine. A spokesman for RMI said: "We deliver a range of capabilities into the UK 9k60 as part of the UK's Continued on page 3

GOLD RUSH

Business Editors, Imami Luka Lansingard, Amy Hunt and Dina Aehar-Smith after Great Britain shortlisted to victory in the Act100m warrants relay at the European Athletics Championships last night. It was Hunt's third gold in Birmingham and she has the chance of a fourth in the mixed Act50m relay. For Aehar-Smith it was a record-equalling second European gold, two years after capturing her first Sport.

Cambridge defends handling of Arday

Katie Tarrant and Louise Eccles

Cambridge University has defended its handling of Jason Arday, its star academic who was found dead after being accused of plagiarism.

Arday, 41, who died on Friday, resigned from his post within the Faculty of Education earlier this month after allegation of academic fraud and claims he had fabricated facts about his own life.

The university's youngest ever black professor, Arday was appointed at the age of 17. I first landed owing to his widely shared story of an extraordinary childhood in which his development was delayed and he was diagnosed with

autism. Academic and politicians have said that Cambridge did not take today's vulnerability seriously when he was appointed to the senior public-facing role in 2023, when allegations were first raised. These resurfaced last month and were widely reported in the press, including a university spokesman defended its conduct, saying that Arday was provided with extensive support both before and after his resignation.

The spokesman said today was given "the provision of counseling, support and advice, and security measures, including the installation of panic alarms and/he

screening of excise emails and post. Our support continued in the face of intense public and media scrutiny and after his resignation."

Professor Deborah Preston, the university's vice-chancellor, issued a statement yesterday afternoon sharing her "despot condolences 2nd James County and loved ones" and urging staff and students affected by today's death to use the university's health and wellbeing support. "I want to be clear supporting our community through this tragedy is the single most important priority for me and my leadership team right Continued on page 7

China sends migrant mega-dinghies via UK

Emily Dogan and Lura Spivit

Chinese rubber dinghies are being shipped through Britain for people smuggling using them to bring migrants across the Channel.

Several international criminal investigations are under way into a supply chain that transports potentially lethal flimsy boats via Britain to organized criminals in mainland Europe.

A shipping container from China with at least 25 milligrams, and national lawsuits was seized at the Port of Hong Kong in July. The boats, in motion long and capable of transporting 50 people, were destined for handling in Germany.

From there, a criminal network

was understood to be planning to distribute them to gangs supporting mass Channel crossings, according to intelligence from the National Crime Agency (NCA), which is now leading further inquiries into the case.

Most small boats used to cross the Channel are believed to originate in China, including those like the 10-mers "magnified" that carried a recent 200 people into Down on Monday.

Figures for enforcement and provide support from it making progress in its pledges to "smash the gang" made first by the late Harmer and then by Judy Barnham, but migrants continue to cross in their thousands.

Dan Cantarella-Sacordi, the

NCA lead on organised immigration crime, said there were "several investigations of over that are制造 across the supply of equipment [that] will keep giving us opportunities to disrupt it wherever it appears."

Felixsivov, Britain's biggest container port, is commonly the first European step for cargo vessels from China before they continue on to Hamburg and Rotterdam. The July raid followed a huge international policing effort in Carmody, where thousands of life jackets, as well as 300 pumps and more than 50 trains, were seized in the area near Hounslow.

Much of the equipment recovered to the joint investigation involving German police and the

NCA was in "go into", where the boat, engine, pump and fuel were packaged up for immediate use on the French coast.

Germany has long been a staging post for the distribution of illegal boats and equipment to gangs smuggling people across the Channel from northern France and Belgium.

Organised immigration crime arrests have risen by 74 per cent in the last year to 1,000. Home Office figures show, that of these arrests were in the UK and 200 were made by overseas partners.

Working with international partners, the NCA seized 624 engines in the year to April 2026, nearly double the amount of the Continued on page 3

The vicar who runs ten churches

Mary Downer and Catherine Pepinster

The average Church of England vicar, who used to be responsible for one, maybe two, churches, is now to charge of four.

In places such as Norwich, Carlisle, Truro and Ipswich, the average is six. In Lincoln and Hereford, it rises to seven. In Norwich, the Diocese of Truro this month approved 16 parishes to be merged, with only a score record and two assistants.

One vicar, the Rev Andrew Vaughan, 63, drives more than 400 miles each month to manage the ten churches for which he is responsible in Lincolnshire. When he came to the area in 2007 he over-

saw four. He said: "You can't be a vicar in the way you can't do. The intimacy has been low."

There is also a learning demographic threat. The average age of a clergy member now stands at 39 and there are more clergy of 75 and over (4,243) than under 30 (3,288).

There are other pressures such as increased taxes, costly maintenance of fiscal buildings and reduction in regular churchgoers. The average Sunday aggregation is 22, down from 40 to 200s.

A vicar must aim be a fund-raiser, as well as giving sermons and saying prayers for the drugs. The government closed the "fund places of worship under a frame" in March, which had provided 5/07 relief on the maintenance of

21,000 listed churches since 2006. Uncoupled, the price of already costly conservatives increased by 25 per cent. Ben Sims, head of policy at the National Churches Trust, a charity to support listed places of worship, said: "Lots of projects completely relied on the tax relief ... It's not easy to fundraiser just to cover a tax bill because nobody wants to be donating to the government directly."

Full report, page 11

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NEWS

The Sunday Times August 16, 2025

Cambridge defies

Caza activists to keep £95 million arms investments

Students and academics had demanded the university stop investing in defence over companies' ties to Israeli weapons

Dominic Hauachild and Nick Davis

Cambridge University will continue investing in the literature areas industry despite pressure from pre-Palestinian students, academics and activists.

Trustees for the university's endowment fund and they would maintain only those of pounds of investment in defence companies because the investments were predicted to remain profitable thanks to conflicts driving up global military spending.

Cambridge has one of the largest endowment funds of any European university, totaling £7 billion as of May this year, approximately 17 per cent, about £95 million, is invested in defence companies. Recent share purchases include Pabstle and GE Aerospace, two companies that activate have obtained for supplying technology and aircraft engines used by the Israeli military.

The commitment is a close to activists and academic value have demanded it as a direct investment from defence. Cambridge had agreed to review its links to the industry after pressure two years ago, driven by opposition to its financial ties to Israel. In 2024 there was an encampment outside King's College, where students demanded that the university review its investments. It led to a High Court-impact line featuring pre-Palestinian protests on parts of campus.

In May, Cambridge for Palestine, an activist group representing what it calls the university's 'completely in-qualified and generalist' is considered the office of the investment managers. They painted 'blood on your hands' and 'blood now' on signage outside the building. Last month several 'Cambridge students' staged a protest during their graduation ceremony by unfailing a Palestinian flag and shooting 'free Palestine and shame on this university.'

Some concessions have been granted

by the university, including an agreement that all defence investments must be expected to the trauma head, a level of direct oversight that was not previously mandated. Areas prohibited under British law, such as Caribbean and Oriental weapons, will be set up.

Last month, Mark Levehune, who chairs the university's endowment trustees body, said the decision had been taken in part because the conventional arms trade would remain profitable. These investments in defence is mandated by governments around the world. The proportion of global market capitalisation represented by defence is likely to further increase, he added. His comments were recorded as a July 14 meeting published in The Cambridge Reporter, the university's journal of business.

Richard Ivory, an engineering professor and head of the school of technology at Cambridge, welcomed the decision, by a not on the trauma head but his department works with the defence sector. 'Investing in defence companies is not ethically wrong or socially irresponsible,' he said.

'The war in Ukraine and the various conflicts in the Middle East show as the our national security demands a strong defence and this in turn even on a robust defence industry. It and many of our colleagues carry out research funded by

Ukraine shows us that our national security demands a strong defence

defence companies, and it is therefore entirely appropriate that the university is also able to invest in them.'

Although Cambridge does not reveal which companies do fund is invested in, things submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission show that, in the last quarter of 2025, endowment managers bought shares worth £800 million for assets, an artificial intelligence company providing software to the Israeli Ministry of Defence, and £500,000 of shares on its Aerospace, which builds engines for fighter jets used by Israel and for Ukraine.

The shares were bought as part of a temporary 2000 million investment in a teacher fund managed by MacInlock, the world's largest asset manager.

Several armistice funds have been partnered with Cambridge in recent years and provided research funding. And the armistice funded research worth £1.42 million in the engineering, physics and business science departments between 2009 and 2017. Rolls-Royce, which produces engines for military vehicles, funded projects worth £6.8 million over the period.

Critics have said that any investments, or partnership with, the defence industry crosses an ethical line. Jason Scott Warren, a professor of English at Cambridge, said: 'Given that it is now commonplace for legal and conventional weapons to be used to commit war crimes, it would be prudent to screen out all arms industry investments, rather than merely to increase monitoring after the fact.'

Separately, King's College announced in 2025 that it would include companies involved in activities 'potentially recognised as illegal or contravening global norms, such as occupation from its own financial investment. Last month the governing university council refused to authorise a formal motion from 10% of the decision, demanding full divestment from arms manufacturers in response to their supply chains to the Israeli military.

MANE ATTRACTION

Ears Toulak, the royal ruler and former World Byzantine Games champion, comprises on Class Affair in awetating conditions yesterday at the Haripury International Horse Trials and British Feasting Championships in Shearestheshire

SNP plan

to beat gender ruling

John Buchman

Political Correspondent

Public bodies will be forced to consider gender identity under a proposed Scottish human rights bill that threatens to undermine the Supreme Court ruling on sex. The draft Scottish Human Rights Bill contains a clause that would force public bodies to consider 'gender identity' when forming policies and delivering services.

Languages say this goes far beyond the protected characteristics of 'gender management' in the UK's Equality Act - and how it would 'legislate the compulsory belief' that people who believe their sex women are women.

'But we still contradict the Supreme Court ruling in April last year, which clarified that the definition of a woman is based on the same fact, and what someone feels they are.'

'99 countries have repeatedly tried to frustrate the way the Supreme Court ruling is applied by fighting legal challenges to its policies on policies and ethicals. However, the campaign group for Western Scotland (PSE) has successfully argued that the policies, which allowed the biological males to enter female only spaces, were unlawful.

Before the bill can pass, the Scottish government would have to learn to have the law might interact with existing UK laws, including the Equality Act and the Scotland Act.

As PSE's spokeswoman said 'trying to' find a human rights bill within devolved competence is a hit like an elephant successful, 'antiquiting a state-bill'. She added it was 'almost guaranteed' to be challenged in court.

The Scottish government said it accepted the Supreme Court in general, adding: 'The proposed human rights bill will not overrun this decision.'

Pubs to get new planning protection from developers eyeing offices and flats

Katie Tarrant

Whitetail Correspondent

English pubs will receive 'landmark' protection from closure under new planning restrictions this week.

Angels thwart, the housing secretary, will today unveil a display up if the national planning framework, making it harder for developers to shut pubs and turn them into flats in offices.

The changes follow a consultation that began in December into the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which provides planning guidance to local authorities in England.

Pubs across the UK are closing at an alarming rate, largely as a result of rising costs from the increased rate of employees' national insurance contributions under the former chancellor Rachel Reeves, and high VAT and business sales.

Figures from the Campaign for Real-life Control show 700 pubs have been of the year. Of those, 62 were demolished or converted to other uses, meaning they have vanished as pubs for good.

In the UK's changes, which will come into effect immediately, developers must prove there is no reasonable prospect of keeping a pub office before a change of uses can be considered. The inclu the existence that it was mentioned for sale for at least a year.

Canada will be told to weigh up whether being a pub would only a community of a school meeting place.

Anyone said: 'Pubs are part of who we are as a nation. They've where we celebrate, grow, argue and bring, the leading heart of a country of our communities, and it's an outrage that weak protections have allowed too many of them to slip away

without a fight. That's why we're draining a line so that developers have to prove there's genuinely no way to save a pub before they can even think about knocking it down, because holding the houses we desperately need should never come at the cost of the pubs we love.'

Many English local authorities, especially those in cities, already place a burden on developers to prove a pub in no longer financially viable. Some, such as Landreth council, require a public have been marketed for these years before approving a change of use.

However, dozens of consultation on such requirements, or on disaster statutory minimums to prevent buildings from sitting empty. The policy is designed to equalize expectations on councils across England.

The government cannot under the where consultation

on the policy began. At the time, it was suggested that the law would overcome apply only to the last pub in the area.

Loans compound to the consultation with 'serious concerns' that the policy, as drafted, would 'result in local authorities being bound to allow applications for conversion of otherwise viable pubs, and could result in strong pub protection policies being removed from a cost than.'

Any and all pubs will be subject to the guidance. The prime minister is councillor for 20 per cent cut to business costs for pubs, clubs and similar social venues throughout England from April.

He said the changes would be fully funded by reviewing, which for businesses such as vape shops deemed not to make a positive contribution to society.

Smugglers'

massive dinghies sent via UK

Continued from page 1

year before, while 10 small local pilots have been sentenced to the UK in the space of two months for endangering lives at sea.

The NCA has more than doubled its number of specialist organised investigations officers since the start of last year to 600. A government package of 1350 million was announced in 2024 to tackle illegal immigration, covering 300 and for the new theater security Command and an extra £10 million for the NCA.

It was introduced alongside policies designed to deter migrants, as well as attempts to boost co-operation with European countries to tackle the problem. However, there are signs that organized crime groups are already adapting their tactics to response to tougher policing. Longs on taking more risks to keep the business going, and to getting more migrants and military boats with about 50

passengers on average in the last year, compared with seven per vessel in 2016. As well as more than 1 million international budgets, police cannot at making the UK a less attractive destination for migrants have been introduced.

Last September Yvette Cooper, who was than the best secretary, provided the refugee family reunification scheme had allowed migrants granted any loss to being family members to Britain, to hold the government occupied

rules that granted any loss in the past. The first time was a 50 per cent lower armada and 10 per cent lower boats compared with the next time.

Manchuria has also healed a home prepared by Shaliana Mahmood, the home secretary, designated under any law to make it not settling in the UK. Under her plans, which provided it, the first time was a 50 per cent lower armada and 10 per cent lower boats compared with the next time.

Last month saw the recent number of crossings for life since 2020, including 30 per cent on 2021. However, a 116 migrants still arrived in 24 hours. Mithras Galbra, senior researcher at Oxford University's Migration Association, said: 'We are seeing some tentative signs that some of these policies are having an effect.' He said another co-operation with France and Germany could have contributed to the fall.

families, including children, whose any loss during those lives refused and cutting the use of the European

Commission on Human Rights by councils trying to stay in the UK. She also plans to use the legal duty as councils to provide any loss under support and co-corruption age assessments.

Internet insurance appear to have had some effect in the year to July there were 42 per cent lower armada and 10 per cent lower boats compared with the next time.

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2020

NEWS

3

Buoyed by his reunion with King, Harry wants to pop back 'more and more'

Roya Nikhita Read Editor

The Duke of Sussex will return 'more and more' to the UK over the next year, following his successful family reunion with the King last month.

Prison Harry, 16, is set to rule in late 'every few months' and will return to September for about a week. He will undertake a series of engagements with NGB 2016, the Duke's supporting seriously ill children of which he is patron, and the brother of Queen, which will be held in Birmingham next summer.

No decision has yet been made on whether the Duchess of Sussex, Prison, Archie, seven, and Princess Lillian, five, will travel from California to Jain Harry.

During an extended stay in the UK last month, Harry, Meghan and their children

were buried by the King and Queen at Highgrove in Gloucestershire for a 'private family occasion'.

It was the first time the King, 17, who is still receiving cancer treatment, had seen his California grandchildren for more than four years and the first time Meghan had stayed in the UK since Queen Elizabeth's funeral in September 2022. No details or pictures were released in the reunion, but even the close to Harry said he was 'honest, very happy and really energized' after death.

The Sussexes also spent time with Harry's uncle, Earl Spencer, and his new wife, Dr. Lal Jarram, a Norwegian archaeologist, at Albany, the Northamptonshire family near where Diana, Princess of Wales is buried.

Meghan later passed pictures on Instagram of their

son, including an image in the grounds of Albany, with Harry and Archie holding flowers, thought to have been laid at Diana's grave.

It is understood that Harry wants to try to see his father and while family more often, and also how he can move effectively support his UK based charities, including the Blair Post and Scott's Little Soldiers, with more regular in-person meetings.

From the time to down said, 'The template for his visits has been working well, so the frequency of trips will increase, especially in the one-up to the time which he's determined to make the best passes yet. In her film coming back and forth is no more, evenly few months.'

'The way the visit is blowing, he's going to want to be born more and more. He's happy these trips can now

When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned to Britain last month, it was the first time Meghan had been here since 2022

have more focus on the patronage and he has obscured by the other instances. He wants more of a foothold hero, more trips back, less courtroom drama. And he always loves seeing his family.'

The Sussexes' reunion with the King came after a difficult week for Harry in which he lost his legal battle with Associated Newspapers Limited, published in the Daily Mail and Hall on Sunday. Following a two-day cross-hunting day month, in which it emerged that the publisher's legal costs had exceeded £10 million, it is seeking an interim payment from the claimants - who include Dr Elton John, Elizabeth Holley and Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon - of DNP million. It is understood that Harry is waiting for a final decision

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on costs, expected later this month, before deciding whether to appeal against the judgment.

During his last visit Harry was denied accommodation at the kingdom Palace after palace sources said he missed a deadline to accept the offer. Sources close to Harry said that no decision had yet been made on whether he will stay there next time. The King is expected to be at home and he will be able to see and it is not known whether they plan to meet again.

Harry is still waiting until the Home Office to have his security requirements reviewed after losing a long-running legal battle with the government. The House has been in place protection estimated in the UK. It is understood the Sussexes' visit last month were off without any security hitches.

Nobody got their teeth into an Odyssey role quite like Sawyer

The trainer of the canine actor whose performance left Matt Damon weighing with delight explains how he did it

Madeleine Spence

There are many moments of sweeping cinematic tension in Christopher Nolan's blackbuster, The Odyssey. We see every crestle of Anne McManus's lips at high, and a yearning wife, Madagas, every sister crossing Robert Pattimon's face as sharp Antisense, all the horror in Matt Damon's eyes as he hustles his demons. But the most Oscar-worthy performances are screen to unbelievably the gentle wagging of a tall.

The role of Argos, Odyssees's dog, is a complex one. Edited to a pile of drags outside the walls of his palace by Penelope's cotton ashtray, he has waited 10 years for his master to return from pillaging, sacking and sackening his way across the Mediterranean. For decades is a long time for a dog and Argos clings to life with all four paws. When he finally spies a biding glod, heavily Damon - unrecognisable even to his own wife and son - Argos raises his head, Argos his tail and, after a moment of touching reunion, stips away.

Behind the canine on the NGB kick has meant that, the film crew wept: 'The dog probably gives one of the best performances over by a fairly animal on screen,' said Tom Holland, who plays Odyssees's wedding son 'Nebomitas.' 'My close-up was right after that, and every crew member is literally weeping because this dog just 'f*ing tailed it,' he said in an interview. He and Damon don't slip a boat when asked which screen gowns... one dog gathered on a tree, the dog' they nod simultaneously.

This performance of a lifetime should be the first time. Sawyer the Portuguese podstoga is a consummate professional who has been acting for much his entire 15 thousand years, his trainer Mike Milotti tells The Suicide There. His TV includes three including 'A World of the Wild and the TV shows how of Assertha American Princess' and Brooklyn Shov-New. Then there are the photo show-ads to be Ralph Lauren, Old Navy and Target. In fact the same out of a cost retirement of hiking and days on the beach at his Los Angeles home in order to play Argos.

'The past had two months to prepare, says Milotti, it's little the screen inside Odyssees's palace were shot on a set made in Los Angeles, and the screen out and the palace were shot on the beach at Forgassia in Sicily. Milotti had to train Sawyer to fix on the deep heap looking wrenched and only slightly lift his head and way his tail when he saw Damon. The move was made in the morning, and he would elude many Hollywood prints.

The basics are easy, says Milotti, who has been training animals since he was 15. When they arrived on set he first taught Sawyer to regain a little bit of head. But all said way when Milotti walked past. Then

they practised with anyone passing by, as Milotti gave hand signals to Sawyer to react. By the time Damon arrived, Sawyer was prepped to react with they'd stoop level dramatic intensity.

However, the end still that separates Sawyer from any old jobbing dog actor is the emotion. How to stop the head raise from being too steepper? The old wag from being too sacked? 'It's all about communication,' says Milotti. 'I build different dimensions: that will stick something soft, something aggressive, something very low-key. If I extend a big, alarming reaction, my voice would go big.'

So any veteran A-Inter might expect, Milotti always asks the cast and crew to give Sawyer space on set. In his off moments Sawyer often stays in his main somewhere 'temperature controlled,' a break from the spotlight, where he can get space.

Milotti also helped train the puppy and the middle-aged dog used to play Argos at the various stages of his life. All the dogs he works with have 'blue training,' which can suit as long as two years to stick and includes skills such as responding to their acting partner instead of looking at the

Sawyer, above and top right with his trainer Mike Milotti, came out of retirement for his role as Argos, faithful until the end to Odyssees, played by Matt Damon, left

trainer. There was no need for Sawyer to audition for The Odyssey, he just had 'the look'. Podstogas are very popular in the film world.

Everybody kind of film just a general dog, one that's not a will known, specific brand that everybody recognises,' Milotti says.

John Laguiszano, who plays the swine-bred European, believes Sawyer was picked 'because the podstoga is the most ancient brand that's closest to what the hawks would have had. Nolan is a slickler for detail.'

Then ... a good to all can on sailing ship ... a codwagon still have 'the two of haunting animals' and 'a billiard cap'. But today only a small number of registered purchases are

While he trains many different dogs for various projects, he lives with three: Sawyer, and two fishermen named Ralph and Tig. Sometimes he has to go back and train them out of a behaviour learnt for a proper film-seading haul, or being badly behaved. That can take months.

At home, Sawyer's allowed to sleep in a hotel's bed. 'We are very near-incarnated in our world. We have long days on set and that it an instant reward that a lot of animals do key into,' he says. For easier access he'll stick to a billiard, for harder ones, like a

canne-defining moment on top of a kick has mountain, he'll bring out the children or film migrant. He has been working with Sawyer for so long now that a simple 'good boy' or a pat on the head is often enough.

Each dog is different. Milotti says some never even manage the basics. Breed/makes differences 'highly-tested' such as greyhound and tempters are more emotional. Shepherds and moon cats dogs are more independent. Spaniots are very intelligent.

'Some friends are brilliant but have no desire to please a human being. The cast or train are those that have worked with humans for hundreds of years, like border coffee or Malinois (also known as Belgian-doghound). Their ultimate goal is to please.'

Chaka can't bear the rise of the DJ

Gabriela Austin

Chaka Khan, the American singer-songwriter, has lamented the decline of live music, declaring 'The Dj is a 'take over.'

Khan, whose career began in the 1970s, said music still played an important role in her life but is a 'different kind of way.'

When I was younger, I knew how about life... And I think music, the magic of music, just had me in its grasp, very tightly, and that's because it is the years go by,' she said 1987. In the first four years, adding that her grandchildren were now her 'biggest joy.'

Khan, known for her hits don't fudra, but for every Woman and I feel the Pain, to also an accomplished precariousness and in memory.

Asked if she still played the drama she said: 'Well, not really, I do have a music room. But when I come home, I don't want to play drama there. I used to go out and just really people I know, some people I didn't know, who were playing. There's not a lot of that today. And let life have taken over, and so you don't get a lot of live music, like you used to.'

Her comments reflect a wider trend of the listing for music venues. According to the Music Venue Trust, 425 UK music venues closed in 2023, almost 10 per cent of the total and the worst year of record. While the rate of closures has slowed, 30 shut their doors last year.

Khan also reflected on the pressures she faced as a female artist in the 1970s. When she became pregnant, one music executive questioned how he could make her famous if she was going to have children. Her response was characteristic of her father, 'I'm just going to do my life.' Khan has two children, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.

We saw album, Chalcilla, is released on September 16.

Chaka Khan's career dates back to the 1970s

British drones strike in Russia

• Continued from page 1 support to the defence of Ukraine. The Years uncovered by some providers a rapidly developing platform proven in meeting emerging threats within highly contested environments.

A second drone, made in Britain in March, has also proven highly effective.

Launched via a catapult system that allows uprosters and restrooms in an air succession, this drone boasts a range of more than 600 miles.

Military analysts and experts who said the Russia could target British manufacturers because of its support for the deep strike campaign. Moscow has repeatedly warned that western supplied long range capabilities represent a rest line. 'Russia will adore rattle and they might even say that the function themselves are now legitimate targets,' said Sagesh, who is also president of the Air and Space Power Association.

While direct military confrontation with Nato includes shuffling, the war warts that Russia could increase British operations against British targets in response to the UK providing equipment for long range attack. A senior defence source said that Britain was already targeted by espionage and a lot more do on a risk of behaviour now that added. 'We could use an uptick in these attacks as a result of our support for Ukraine's drone war.'

Russia threatened to seize British ships in the Pacific after those illusions took control to a shadow fleet tanker in June. Admiral

Viktor Litaa, the Russian fleet commander, said last week that he had identified 26 British commercial vessels in Russia's exclusive economic zone over the past four months and would respond in kind if knowledge continued.

Michael Clarke, visiting professor at the King's College London department of war studies, said the Russian reaction would be 'predicably threatening'.

He said: 'We are in the Kremlin to make the most of this situation, which will edge so further along the road to military confrontation with Russia.' Despite Moscow's rhetoric,

the supply of military hardware to hire shows no sign of slowing. In April, the government announced it would deliver about 120,000 drones to Ukraine this year. John Houler, then the defence secretary, said the

Nyons fly 180 miles or more

UK was 'providing the highest ever number of drones in the world for your'.

The US and the UK previously monitored the use of long range weapons to hit targets inside Russia out of four that President Putin could reclaim the conflict with attack on Nato and, although both countries refused they policy to remember 2020.

Neither Britain nor the US said why the policy was reversed. However, it is understood that the green light was given after sinking, from 8:15 as well as Russia's dark tower of storm that is 6,000 from the human troops to the front line.

Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank, said the recent deep-strike campaign was on a greater scale than the cruise missile launches.

He said: 'The fact that they can now launch hundreds and do it repeatedly is about trying to really hire into the Russian military industrial system and its energy production.'

A senior Ukrainian military source familiar with the deep-strike missions said that while the armed forces primarily relied on Ukrainian made drones, they were seeing significant success with new UK hardware.

'Where we launch them,' the source said, 'we always feel like the value (they're Ukraine) and God have the King.'

An 9000 spokesperson said: 'Nelson made druskaler a occasion with Ukraine and our support is unsuspecting. We are committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to deliver more than 10,000 to illegal invasion.'

'This includes over 1,000 of our crew members, cutting-edge forces Cloak devices that foster Russian air defences and innovative low-cost cruise missiles. 'We're in the hands to Ukraine until it wins.'

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POLITICS

No more

GMINISE

GOL

After Andy Burnham's crowd-pleasing opening act, come the tough decisions, on defense, integration, energy and the economy. Can he face falling out with voters or his party, asks Lara Spirit

When Andy Burnham gathered special advice in the pillared room – the grand state drawing room on the first floor in No H – last week, he wanted to convey a simple message: his government must show, above all else, that it 'gets things done'.

Some of those present will have heard this sentiment before; no one of the many occasions Sir Kirk Starmer professed his chief objective to be 'delivery'. But Sir Burnham the message was delivered with a particular impatience as he set out the plan – in broad terms – for the months ahead.

In recent weeks Burnham has enjoyed an energetic opening act, making regular policy announcements, touring the

country and publishing an abundance of social media content. But the tougher decisions – and real trade-offs – are largely yet to come.

Burnham has experienced a flavour of this in recent weeks as the one over early prison release cascaded into his first significant challenge in office. What one asks called his 'public conscience test' – the notion that the new prime minister can gauge the will of the nation with unique skill – collided with a series of stark trade-offs. Burnham will continue his minister tour this week with a focus on waste crime, rough sleeping and transport.

In No H, Burnham is now spending considerable time looking ahead to the main ser-piece moments for autumn. First, parliament returns in September. Party conference follows at the end of the month, before the budget in October

and the publication of the ten-year plan before the end of the year. But these are not the only crucial finding—not to come.

EARLY-RELEASE SCHEME

Burnham has delayed the introduction of the controversial new early-release scheme from September to October. By then, he will be under pressure to have outlined how he intends to exclude two of the killers of PC Andrew Harper, who died four weeks after his wedding after being dragged behind a gruaway car in 2019.

He has said he is 'increasingly confident' that Justin Cole and Albert Bowers could be kept behind bars, following significant pressure from Harper's family and an outpouring of public support. A petition urging Burnham to block the

'So 10 wants the budget to be a low-key affair but questions still persist

killers' release has surpassed a million signatures. But Burnham's task here is not simple: with prisons at 90 per cent capacity, he has instructed officials to focus on three areas to boost space. Yet releasing some women and those serving sentences for indefinite public protection (IPP), and increasing the deportation of foreign criminals pose their own challenges and are unlikely to be sufficient on their own to free enough space.

Alex Norris, the justice secretary, is looking at other measures to free capacity, and ministers are also still exploring the possibility of a legal 'survival' for PC Harper's two killers.

The start of the scheme will bring its own challenges. The National Association of Probation Officers (Nape) voted last week in Group of Industrial actors, which Ben Lockhorn, the national chain,

said would present 'serious issues' for probation services 'within a matter of days'.

THE BUDGET

The long-averigned budget – the first for John Healey, the new chancellor – is scheduled for October 26.

No H and the Treasury hope it will be a more 'low-key' affair than those in past years, and don't listen to understounds for a central theme. Burnham said he had asked Healey to look at raising cost of fixing prisoners too, calling it his 'main focus'.

But try as they might, the budget will be a defining event for Burnham and Healey, about which a number of questions persist: how will the pair find 24.7 billion in savings to plug the hole left by Starmer in the existing defence investment plan, for one?

Jason Cowley Dismiss him, deride him, dislike him, but Farage has driven his beliefs into the mainstream

So in months ago, there was panic among Labour MPs that Nigel Farage's Reform UK was emerging all before it on the way to forming the next government. Their anxieties intensified after the War elections when Labour lost to everyone nearly everywhere and Reform won. 3.6 million votes (close to a million more than any rival party), confirming its status as a national force capable of defeating both Labour and the Conservative.

Much has changed since then. Sir Kirk Starmer has gone and Andy Burnham, an affable blackmail in an open-seviled shirt, is prime minister and enjoying a bounce in the polls during a survival summer of recurrent businesses and furious politics. The right is increasingly divided across these parties with the emergence of Report Leave's Review Britain. And Farage and Reform's high command have been subjected to the kind of forensic security over their finances that any leader and party seeking power should expect.

When he returns to parliament, the same problems will be waiting for Farage, including a standard investigation into a £5 million undisclosed gift be received in 2024 from Christopher Harborne, a crypto-billionaire who lives in Thailand.

After winning the Claxton by-election, a pancomine on the Essex coast in which none of the other main parties participated, Farage feels 'undisclosed' and 're-energised'. He remains hugely popular in what the pollsters More in Common call 'the most right wing constituency in Britain'. During the latest by-election campaign, the white jacketed showman, the self-styled Billy Graham of British politics, was back, and he is shot up 30,000 steps a day touring the constituency. He even increased his vote share. Reform would follow a win in Claxton, he proclaimed, by targeting

every seat in Essex at the next election, including Kent Rademel's, the centrepiece of which is the fine old Quaker town of Saffron Walden.

Essex is an obsession for Farage because six shadow cabinet members represent seats in the county. But Essex does not speak for England. I grew up in the county and am exactly familiar with the Essex Man and Woman stereotypic brush, suspicious of authority, on the make, hard-edged, uncrabaged.

Saffron Walden, the longtime seat of Kali Butler, perhaps the most gifted Conservative parliamentarian never to lead the party, is quite different. Here you will find the traditional middle-class professional – even genteel – voter for whom Reform is repellent.

I know the town well and on Friday morning, when I visited and chatted to residence, I met on Farage supporters or even Reform various voters. Richard, a retired harต์ster in nearly pressed

sheets, was typical: 'Farage's brand of populism isn't popular here. We don't do flags. I pointed out a flag of St George high on a man behind him on Market Square. 'But that's for civic purposes,' he said smiling. A self-described floating voter, he would not vote for 'Kents' because 'the wants to get rid of the Human Rights Act.'

Every year I spoke to referred to the Conservative leader by her first name. 'Kents is from London, but she's immersed herself here. I've seen her a few times and she's doing very well,' Lynne Baker, who works in property, said. Outside Brooke, a bipster coffee shop, Roy Pochet, a building surveyor, said: 'I don't know why Farage wants to come and take Kents's seat. She's strong. They should consider a deal.'

Rademel's has nothing to fear from Farage to Saffron Walden, but he remains a grave danger to the Turins, still unforgdom for the 'florineans' and the

bitter legacy of asylum hotels – just as he is so Labour, who are once again underestimating his resilience.

Labour MPs I've spoken to think that the by-election, with its competing gallery of grownups, was a humiliation for Farage. They mention his collapsing personal ratings. And are delighted that he is, in their view, 'united'.

'damaged', and exposed as a 'grillon', and that the party under Burnham is leading to the polls. They should temper their enthusiasm and relief.

Consider the events of the past week. A mega-dinghy arrived in lower carrying to cargo of 250 undocumented migrants. Reform called it an 'livraison'. Burnham flip-flopped over the release of two prisoners convicted of killing PC Andrew Harper, as the prison and probation service tortured on the edge of collapse. Sir Mark Bowles, head of the Metropolitan Police, said the case of Simon Levy, a serial on offender and murderer, exposed a 'whole system falling' and that the rule of law was now 'very, very precarious'.

What contents these events is the same thing: state failure, which Farage and the populist right are adept at exploiting with their narrative of 'broken Britain'. A realignment is happening on the right. Farage has told me over the years that he has done more than any other leader to hold back the far right. Whichever party he led, he held the line to his right. No Tommy Robinson, no far right everyone.

These barriers are becoming more proven. Policies that Farage would never have once counteracted – mass deportations and immigration, the 'bandshares' of foreign criminals to jails in EU decades, the navy patrolling the Channel to stop the boats – are being pushed by Reform.

Farage has unlocked forces that are dragging both Labour and the Turins in England in the right on his specialist

Nigel Farage with partner Laura Ferrari at a victory party in Claxton on Friday

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2018

5

There is a wider question about where the government will set a date by which to reach 5 per cent of GDP on defence, a move that the Office for Budget Requested 2006 estimates would cost an additional 1.5 per cent of GDP. This is for this thinking, the new defence secretary, but declined to set out a headland date something thanks, in his resignation let me as defence secretary, and he was 'certain' Britain 'must set'. Next year's spending review will, however, set out how to reach 3.5 per cent by 2020.

Previous budgets have often been broadly known in advance, but this year the Treasury is telling officials that 'best per security is the national security' in an attempt to curtail data.

More British, the permanent secretary of the Treasury, has conducted a review after recent budgets were pre-empted by the National and Chartered India. Last year the Financial Times revealed that Rachel Kennedy plans to raise income tax had been dropped, and the budget itself was defined by the National and Chartered India as least before her patent as chancellor.

Military comprehensive will be established in the Treasury, which are type, still reserved for the most sensitive case. Married and married is a national security and he which breaches carry more serious punishment.

Max Warner, senior research economist at the Institute for Rural Studies, and a former director of the economic outlook would look like by the time of the budget. The precise impact of the current government has led to the public finance remains unclear and there are 'difficult decisions' on tax and spending to come. Possible 'cost of living measures' and the future of welfare will also be watched closely by the public.

IMMIGRATION

Labour firm returning to Westminster is beyond the state's marketing changes in immigration rules particularly closely.

Of special concern to some Labour firms, the government has been involved qualifying period for qualifying for indefinite leave as remain there five to ten years. A consultation on these changes has closed, with a response to some ex-nation. Previous critics include Angela Keynes, now the housing secretary, who is March called 'more 'out British' and amounting to 'moving the goalpoint'.

On small host crossings, ministers have been able to develop the government out of those making the journey this year is about 45 per cent so far compared with 2020. However, Barcham has an unfurling, too over asylum and over the market. The end was another net areas of the UK issue 'plain their part' as plain-energetic to concern illiquid milk any other. The British, the North Australian and Suffolk into asylum accommodation to reduce inflation on health, Barcham has pledged to end '8580 Britain' and has continued to support reforms by the end of the country. Millions of labourers are being illegal crossing places – but access mandates remains a challenge and police are warning of unrest.

The row has also threatened to morph the government's economic about developing, so the government frequent local authorities to work urgent planning per se, and the government is doing Keynes the final say, not residents to whom Barcham has pledged to empower.

OIL AND GAS

Barcham has committed to the letter of the Labour machine on oil and gas flows on, which precludes new licenses. However, the name of two fields originally used was 'secretary of the oil and gas' and Barcham's hangs in the bales.

These decisions are drawing closer, after a considerable ex-guideline, aged for over 18 Members, ended. The consult-

tion on Rosebank, accredited west of England, closes tomorrow. Ed Milbrand, the foreign secretary and former energy secretary, said developing Rosebank would amount to 'Glossar mandates' (including environmental lobby groups have fiercely opposed the plain. And McCarthy, head of politics in Convergence UK, called the prospect of development 'beyond oils' alone).

However, Neil McCulloch, the chief executive of Adams, which is developing both sites, said approval would 'strengthen the UK's energy security, sustain high-quality jobs and agnosticization, support businesses across the country and generate fallious of pounds of economic activity and tax revenues'.

He added that this could be done 'with lower associated carbon emissions than alternatives, such as imported LNC (lignified natural gas)'.

Barcham has signaled something of a revised approach, adding the free future man during the Waterfield campaign of North Sea oil and gas: 'For gas-sustaining of an open mind, you have. Don't have a sort of fixed position.'

Initial bill that could be faced by the taxpayer's head Thames Water about under temporary public ownership until a buyer is found. A poll in May suggested more than 80 per cent of the public believe water companies should be run in the public sector

WATER

Barcham has said he wants to see 'the essentials of life being run promptly for the public interest, not for the private interests', speaking essentially about greater public control of utilities. Public opinion has turned strongly against the water companies amid high executive pay, rising bills, sewage and allug infra-structure more than right to the 80 per cent! before that water companies should be run in the public sector, according to a May poll by पर्यटन.

What the promise of greater public control means to practice is low clear. The first flashpoint is likely to be Thames Water, Britain's biggest water company, which requires 16 million customers in Charactomillors, London, Kent and Exon. Barcham has been seen as the company into a special administration regime, which allows essential services to keep running under short a round.

The allug water between 6% creditors are owed £0 billion and Thames Water has warned that it will run out of cash unless a death or a death with the creditors by the end of the year.

Defying the creditors will mean here: has it forced to accept the risk of an initial bill of £2 billion for the taxpayer to keep the company afloat while in an 648 – but this option is not a reasonable to yielding to creditors when Barcham has described water companies of treating voters like a 'black cheaper'.

Editorial, page 260

Josh Glancy

There are good reasons for the PM to call an early election — and plenty of bad ones

Despite this economic, Andy Burcham thinks his issue of the new cabinet and claims his first Westminster in early September. The guidelines of his own instead measure subside and the prime minister consults the most seductive in the past. The decision of the election, 'I want a fresh occasion from the British people,' he tells us. 'I want to unite the country behind my plan for Britain.'

The 2016 election is completely thin, because there are actually plenty of good reasons in die.

The first reason is that Burcham's critics are right to point out his loss a fatal decision. The 2016 election has been in an NP on the 2016 manifest—and some into parliament via an unorthodox by a vote on the British really does want to walk ally change Britain. A would-be helpful is here even popular support for his plans.

The second reason is that radical change would roast money. Burcham's ability to raise revenue is constrained by promises made in the 2016 Labour mandates, which he has said he'll stick to. He can only break this too constipated. He is still a good.

Another rationale is the one outlined by politics James Johnson in The Times has the right to make the changes as quite evenly split at present. Reform is upset by a capital and the nibbling irritation of the Western Britain party. Keep flashened has become quite popular, but the party's brand is still toxic for many voters. So this could, as Johnson says, be in a half-bale moment for Burcham.

This fourth reason is what to do: American politics they call the 'big biz'. The last few months have been a dream for Burcham. He won his Waterfield seat with relative ease and then took control of becoming fewer in a relatively bloodstream.

Now he's enjoying a puffing bounce. A 648 Labour servicating Reform as the third popular party. Progressive voters are coming back to Labour and Burcham has a realistic shot at uniting the '649 bloc' of British politics. His touch is gunkel, his word on the attack is working and the may write in at the peak of his popularity, before inevitable foul-upcrowded she found and inflation worsens again. Why not show the courage that this follow-London Brown lacked in 2009' and actor this provoked moment!

It's true that the British electorate is having a good chance to 'hit' the polls, but are it it is immensely opposed – an important survey is done found 57 per cent of voters favoured an early election. No Burcham has actually ruled such a move. 'So' has been hard being consumed by specialists – but he can change his mind, as Thomas May did in 2007. Once you prove go, the only story that matters is the election itself.

The final, called 'a separate in favour of an early election is another financial one. If you think this account budget is looking goodly, yet looking at the spending rate that were provided in by Rachel Reeves for the end of this

parliament. The 1988 has suggested that it makes to meet the fiscal rules. Reeves' plans will require spending cuts of £4 per cent to 'supermarket' government and the 1990s are difficult or health between 2020 and 2030. Best to get an election in before majority bites.

The 2016 election is a 1st almost convinced myself. There is a reason this idea keeps hobbling up to the results. Beyond the fact that political journalism enjoy the outgrowth. There really is a 'swept case for Barcham going to the country soon.'

Nonetheless, in the short term at least, it shall also would be a mistake. In recent days, it increased some views on Barcham's own a large number. Why. The most common response was 'residence' followed closely by 'please vote.'

This option is the obvious objection, which is that Labour would be likely to lose many seats in a general election, even if it came out on top. So does Andy Burcham really want to be the Labour PM who voluntarily handed Nigel Fanger more than 649 seats and made Reform a

Some members of the cabinet might lose their seats

Andy Burcham as a Cornwall potato. 'Semi-partially it may be tempting for him to seek his own mandate'

major parliamentary force?

He would have a lot of friends in his own party (The did so. He may also lose a number of prominent colleagues. So, perhaps why he has to become involved that the like of John Nealey, Yvette Cooper, Ed Milbrand and Lisa Young are all in serious danger of losing their seats to Reform. Much has changed since April, but the risks of ensuring with a ravaged cabinet are considerable.

Burcham is telling high news, but not that high. Labour's market lead over Reform is well within the margin of error. 'Of more Barcham, I'll be looking for a solid lead of 50 points that lasts two or three months.' says the pollnet Peter White, 'I'm not going to be a lot that there is a new settled view to be created.'

Not 'the 'Barees,' 'High,' 'Common allegedly vice-occupied elections or 'violent law affairs' the experienced many of both. They are unpredictable and unruly. In 2007, when Thames May called an early election, her primary goal was to obtain a mandate and a majority that would allow her to get a Brexit-aid through parliament. She went into their campaign with a head of 1976 that was being made by damaged by concerns over her plans to fix social care. 'The public tends to decide what the British is actually about,' says Kelleen.

But the most pressing objection is this: what would a new election really be for? Why would Barcham risk a large majority and there years of governing? We would need something to run on. It can't be 'fun down, don't even to do' because he hasn't had time to do much. It can't be a real one, that's not really yet and it's not really risk. No can address issues such as devolution and rough-keeping without a fresh mandate. So what is the central purpose?

The trial seems to disparate with the 2016 election, but all of it – there are plenty of solid Labour policies in there – but as well, allly the

the optimism on tax and how being met raising the 'big three' of income is the '167 and national insurance and looking to the fiscal rules insuring day-to-day spending must be reached by tax revenues.

If Barcham wants to fulfil his bolder assistance, such as bringing utilities under public control or being social care, check he will want to break out of that 2016 instigated to raise more money. And here's the problem. The first question he will be asked is an early general election scenario is 'Will you recommend to not raising the big three issue?' and the second question is likely to be: 'Will you recommend to the fiscal rules?'

If the answer to these questions is yes, then why bother? But if the answer to these questions is no, then suddenly you're at Labour prime minister with an election message of higher taxes and more borrowing.

Barcham needs to be a lot more popular, so a lot more desperate for cash, or both, to take that kind of risk. For now, it has to be 'cheers of getting on with the job.'

subject temptations. There is now little distance between Reform and the Tories on many issues. Their policies align on and make, border control, law and order, withhold on from the European Convention on Human Rights and net zero. When I interviewed 2,000 in April, the only contemporary politician he mentioned was just fully too flashened, undoubtedly the most right-wing Tory leader since Margaret Thatcher.

For all their mutual building, I owe remains open to a reconstitution with Fanger. 'Our conditions are about policy not personality,' one senior aide said, referring to Reform's demand that, before negotiations can begin, Reform must not be Charlie Grewow, a co-founder of the party, who is accused of virulent antisemitism.

British politics is dividing into 648 and right bites, much closer to continental European politics, where shutterizing and coalition are routine. For now, in this foaming moment, there is a strong sense of political sexuality. Our public turn, with a low exception, are not serious enough about state failure and the challenges confronting the country – public sector not able to demand 90 per cent of GDP, over rising welfare costs, stagnant living standards, a 24.7 billion hole in defence spending as Russia measures the European continent.

Many Sunday Times readers may believe that the British's development, the demand for more education secretary, may dismiss this as a 'fagthing stock' but the reform window has widened. The politics for improvement on national security, to pay a big party is being forced to respond to them.

Thoughts and his themselves and spin-offs represent an overcrowding to the failures of a liberal progressive era, pervostified by the dismal sufficiency of the former postmortem, that is now doing. Even if they are most become prime minister, he has irreverably changed Britain.

Black on tagging: a slowing releases of prisoners'

Last Spirit

There's Political Editor

Andy Burcham is missing an opportunity to find thousands of lower-risk prisoners by missing down a group of young, young scheme, senior lawyers have warned.

Ministers are facing mounting pressure to support recent the future debated by the 2017 programme, which is set to be replaced by the early release scheme.

Because were told that the 'big' decision for the tagging system, which achieves a strict curfew after the 'new' decision, is being 'resolutely' processed after June 25. Previously, almost 1,000 prisoners a month were being processed.

The 'big' decision is a 'various' programme scheme has been debated and October, under which prisoners will be forced after becoming a lower proportion of their senators.

The 'double pause' to early release schemes – with the new system passed out in 2017, the 'double pause' to longer 'resolutely' processed – has resulted in even greater pressure on the 'big' being at 95 per cent capacity.

Last June 05, 2016, a day of the association of Vivian Lawyers, said it was illegal at the conclusion 'was national tested' system: 'It's been in

play for years, is very well established and release people who can be safely released with an elective being in favour of a scheme that is up in the air, and for which some people will end up being released must be taken they otherwise would at a time when we've got immense pressure on places.'

HFL ensures an individual remains in the 'big' overnight. It has been expanded in recent years to aid early release among those serving flood term senators.

There are very strong criteria about who is allowed to apply for the scheme, with most serious or vicious offenders being barred, and each application is risk assessed.

Last year 8,296 offenders were processed using HFL, an average of 982 per month. Although existing claims submitted before the June deadline will continue to be processed through the October, the forces on new applications creates an administrative bottleneck that could have up to 2,000 eligible new-related prisoners in custody for longer than expected amid the peak of the capacity crisis. And over when the new early release scheme begins, its design means some prisoners will find they are being released under later than under HFL. The early release scheme

Two of the killers of HFL Barbara Harper, above, are eligible for early release next year

was designed by Sir Kerr Starmer's government to ease overcrowding to the prison estate in England and Wales. The system will release eligible offenders under than the standard fulltime policy, but under strict community supervision. Barcham passed the rollout last month and pledged to conduct an agreement on the state. Also, fourth, the justice secretary, said the pause was designed to 'give victims and survivors certainty.'

In later announced that the legislature continued of rape, serious child sex offences and other governing crimes would be held in the early release, in addition to existing exemptions for more serious offences including murder. However, he has added that the 'big' charge further and block the release of two of HFL Andrew Harper's killers, who were sentenced to 15 years for a life sentence in 2020 that was eligible for release next year.

The Thames Valley police officer was killed in 2010 after responding to the report of a quad blue theft. He was dragged for more than a mile after his ankle became caught in the police's police's getaway car. Barcham has since committed to leaving two of Harper's killers, Jessie Cole and Albert Stewart, behind him. He's winning a Justice is examining whether

The new system has been delayed until October

a targeted 'carve-out' for the past would be possible without having to release a whole cohort convicted of fraught with riots.

It is also considering whether some women or women are in the same age of 95, or public protection officers – a historic someone whose prisoners serve a minimum term, after which they must have a particular level of being into whether they are safe to release – could be set free to ease pressures, and whether greater numbers of foreign citizens are to have deponent.

Ben Cockburn, chair of the National Association of Women's Rights, said there could be concerns about 'the capacity to cope with these people coming out on supervision.' The association would be about after an Tuesday, and the chief inspector of probation has warned of a 'risk' of error under the demands of the new system. In fact, will see a massive expansion of electronic tagging.

The Ministry of Justice said: 'Public safety will always be effectively. We are fast resulting a plan to keep more of the most serious cases of the law. We are holding in 1,000 new prison places and expanding electronic tagging on an unprecedented scale.' The agency against the 'big' with criminals, page 20

Offenders who were subject to home detention curfew last year

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INSIGHT

The Sunday Times August 30, 2020

Cottrell and crypto tycoon's betting link

◀ Continued from page 1

Cottrell started providing the Reform leader with in-kind support including staff, security, social media support, drivers and air travel which continued for several years. Farage said Cottrell's support was given in a personal capacity and had nothing to do with politics.

In April 2024, Harborne made a $3 million payment to Farage, who has described it as an "unconditional gift".

Last month scrutiny of the 15 million euro, and Cottrell's in-kind support, prompted the Reform leader to resign and call a by-election in Clarion, Essex, which he won last week.

He now faces renewed scrutiny of whether his decision not to declare the gifts constituted a breach of parliamentary rules.

To high-ruling gamblers prepared to drop hundreds of thousands in single bets, Terber het had a unique selling point. In the UK, big operators tend to impose strict limits on the amount a person can wager on sports such as football or horse racing.

Terber het was different, advertising what it called the "world's highest limits".

VIP customers working to bet vast sums did not bet through Terber het's website instead, they instructed with the platform's "private client desk" - whose staff advertised the latest offers, and odds, through an encrypted messaging app.

While ordinary partners were blocked from accessing Terber het's website from the UK - it did not hold a Gambling Commission license to operate locally - a VIP client in London could interact with the platform simply by testing their account manager.

To qualify, a person needed a referral from an existing client.

Cottrell was among those involved in the platform. In late 2020, he heard from a friend who said he had a high-ruling "punter for this weekend", prompting Cottrell to say he was "felt per cent interested". Cottrell sent the details of a VIP manager, confirming: "He will rehearsel him."

In 2022 a British gambler began, withholding an AVD, the process beginning with an email from Nilo Lyons, a member of Terber het's private client team.

Like the rest of Terber het's back office, Lyons was based in Moninnegro. He worked there with two men: Cottrell and Hon Kong Yong. Cottrell's friend, a former bankrupt accountant who owned

New York Times

Nigel Farage enjoys a meal with George Cottrell, far left, and Christopher Harborne, second left, in July 2020

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several entities behind Terber het.

Lyons told the customer he could quickly be "rehearsled" and would receive a sign-up bonus of £30,000. He sent him a form from the email address accounting/terber het.

The paperwork contained small print relating to Terber het, which had its gambling licence in Corcjus, a Caribbean island, and was founded with the hope of a related business, Salon Print, a Monte-bogito casino owned by Yong, the accountant.

The paperwork asked for certain personal details, but not photo ID or proof of address - standard requirements for licensed operators.

After signing, the customer started to receive messages from Terber het advertising its latest bespoke offers.

After using his "free" sign-up money, the customer continued gambling. Terber het did not need deposits up from but would deduct the price of the bet from his winnings, or, if he lost, ask him to pay up.

In late 2022 the "private client desk" sworn to the customer saying: "He kindly ask that you make an attempt to clear the balance using the following payment details."

The platform provided the account name, number and text code for a UK

company: Fopay Ltd. Incorporated in March that year, sources say it was one of a least two UK companies used to accept deposits and pay not winnings to Terber het customers.

Leaked bank statements show that other British gamblers were told to make sports bets by depositing thousands of pounds into Fopay.

Yong Careyers said that Fopay was not used as an authorized payment firm for Terber het customer deposits, balances or winnings. They told The Sunday Times that he did not know of or suspect any Terber het advertising and facilitating gambling with UK customers, and was not aware of any payments to or from Fopay.

Fopay had - and still has - one director and shareholder: Moehoop Jackson. The 59-year-old, a longstanding friend of Farage, was also close to Cottrell. According to Companies House, Fopay was engaged in business providing "financial intermediation not elsewhere classified".

Fopay to earn made and received payments through a financial services company specializing in foreign exchange called IFS (UK) Ltd, owned by Harborne.

On its website, IFS describes itself as being "built for businesses others find too complex" and describes working

How Terber het engaged in gambling

UK gambler

referred by existing client to...

Unlicensed offshore betting

platform owned by Yong, in which

Cottrell is a loss owner

The following table is a simple diagram and cannot be extracted.

Instructs client to deposit bets and

receives winnings through

Fopay

UK company run

for Moehoop Jackson.

Reform's data protection

officer and a form

of Cottrell

which engages in financial

transactions...

Payments firm

owned by Christopher

Harborne

with high-risk customers such as a gambling company which, with its previous banks, "contracted to an open stock not or stopped" owing to compliance checks.

Harborne bought the company for £62 million in 2020, following an introduction by Andrew Reid, Farage's long-time friend and lawyer, whom, according to sources, Harborne rewarded with a $2 million "finder's fee".

He completed the transaction on New Year's Eve, transferring 800 per cent of its shares to a Hong Kong company he owned.

From his Thai residence, Harborne started using IFS to transfer tens of millions across borders.

When Farage was "de-banked" by Countrywe years later, he also asked IFS if it could provide banking facilities for the politician. As it did not hold the relevant licence, the answer was apparently no.

Cottrell also started using IFS to make

his own business payments.

Careyers for Harborne and IFS both told The Sunday Times that Harborne has never had any role in the running and operations of IFS. Meanwhile, IFS says that it "operates in accordance with applicable regulations and legislation across the markets it supports".

Until its always chosen, Terber het continued to advertise its services to VIP customers in the UK.

Under the Gambling Act 2005, it is an offence to provide facilities for gambling in the UK unless the person, or company, doing so holds a licence with the Gambling Commission, or they are doing so on behalf of a provider which does have the required paperwork.

The law was updated several years ago to capture individuals or entities based outside the UK, but whose gambling "facilities are used there".

If an unlicensed person or provider "licence, or should know" that UK customers are betting through them, they are guilty of an offence punishable with up to a year in prison.

On Wednesday, Terber het's announcement to customers read: "We are sorry to announce that the Terber het brand is no longer operating, and customers can no longer access their accounts through this URL".

It then directed users to its gambling partner, NNVPRA, an obscure Filipino-gambling platform with no UK licence.

Jackson said Fopay "has never provided facilities for gambling or acted as an intermediary for Terber het or any other gambling company".

Will Marwick, IFS's chief executive, said: "Christopher Harborne is the ultimate beneficial owner of IFS Payments but has no role in the management, operations, or governance of the business."

Cottrell, via his lawyers, said his relationship with Terber het "has been limited to that of a customer, in addition to which he knows and is friends with the owner".

A spokesman for him said he is "one of the world's best-known professional gamblers. It is therefore hardly surprising that indeed may seek to associate themselves with him in an attempt to lend credibility to their businesses or generate publicity.

"Mr Cottrell has never invested in, owned or operated any betting company or casino. He has never solicited clients for any betting company or casino."

Lyons and Reid were approached for comment.

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NEWS

How far to bring a leak in a market town took nearly two months

Lettie Hayton, Yonsei Street and Nicholas Austin limits, justifies his afflicted obedience to a houseless loss since July 12, reaching as her garden has willed.

But in nearby storefront, where the goes to sleep a tunnel of water flowing from a looking pipe near the town's high street (named her).

Type the houseless loss (15 very dry, 8' to a droop) but they're not helping matter—! and broken, referring to Affinity, the water company responsible—'They need to do their part and fix all the leaks.'

For Robben—from the first leak report made to Affinity Water on June 22 until August 3 when a secondary leak at the site was fixed—residents of the Buckinghamshire town watched as their water spilled

on to the road. Affinity said every effort was made to fix the leak, investigating the day after the report, and sending a report route to the site on July 3.

Their efforts were, the company said, threatened when the 'no parking' cross-placed around the leak to ensure there was space for the pipes to be fixed, were moved. Can then packed and blocked the area?

At their second attempt on July 17, the water thing happened. Finally, the repairs was done on July 24—only for a secondary leak—discovered just months away. Math Robben, a Liberal Democrat town's member for Amsterdam, said he understood delays stemmed from the need to co-ordinate with other teams to manage traffic, close roads and secure

Days for Affinity to fix the leak in Amsterdam

permits, but he also believes the system's capacity to keep pace with leaks is insufficient.

'The problem arises from ageing left out to your feet but suffered your own undertownment, from a lack of capacity to the system to respond as quickly as the public reasonably expects and too much to replace on

pacts and stored repairs rather than long-term investment in resilient infrastructure,' Robben said.

A spokesman for Affinity said: 'This leak is a good example of why water repairs can take long-term residents might expect. The initial leak was made, but it wasn't only we have learned the area and completed that repair that our team identified a secondary leak several months away.' Jenkins, 36, is not

continued Affinity is doing all it can. In Gertrude Cross, she says, another leak has gone on for so long that algae has formed in the stagnant water. She said: 'I see them all the time now, there's always stuff building up and you're always seeing affinity under teams out and about, but then more leaks coming up.'

A wave of pipe leaks has swept the grid like wateres, seemingly exacerbated by the series of heatwaves.

Water companies use they are doing their best to reduce leakage, and the regulator Ofical points to providing data. Residents and scientists, however, worry that without investing in British's ageing pipework will not withstand new environmental challenges. Since the water sector was privatised in 1995, Ofical says

water companies have cut the volume of water lost to leaks by 62 per cent.

Although more companies reduced leakage in the most recent data collection period of 2020 to 2020 across England and Wales, water companies only averaged a 9 per cent reduction in leakage, against a target of 81 per cent.

Unemproves says water firms waste almost 2.0 billion from a day through leaks, about five times more water than a national houseless loss could save.

'It's falling to be told to put out the water with water companies are losing nearly half of 1 billion three every day. But it's not a good way to get out, too," said a private, 'The American's 63's chief scientist.' 'The Northern government must have water companies to target and reserve the network.'

Cambridge university defends in handling the plagiarism now

★Continued from page 1

now,' she added. 'We will be reaching out to many of you directly and we are committed to a meaning that no one feels that about her own ideas.'

A statement personally helps's family to discuss a behavior, his problem, past effects in 'a gentle man who always wanted to see the best in everyone' and an 'amazing father, partner, brother, and/or all sex' and condemned the prose for a 'campaign of harassment'.

'They said that he had been 'subjected to a campaign of sustained abuse' since being appointed 'he those who would have no more untamed in their quest to undermine him'.

And so, when said the death marked 'a moment for reflection, I would say, including on how things came to life,' he added: 'We've tragedy on an issue levels, but particularly you are everybody who knew given, he family obviously, his friends. We think of them today.'

James Cleverly, the student housing and communities secretary, said that 'a number of people at a number of academic institutions have serious questions to answer' over how they handled what he called a 'realizable fantasies'.

'They put him into positions he was clearly not qualified for so they could have a black resubmitted to show all they pushed him into the spotlight for their own benefit,' Cleverly wrote on it.

'We represent was inevitable, a case of when, as if, his whole world fell apart,' Cleverly flares a former president of Myrist School of College. Cambridge who served as head of current affairs at Channel One 15 years, condemned Cambridge and other institutions that hired Arday, such as Glasgow and Durham not to be able to bring serious questions during his appointment process.

'While not saying that there is an 'improved question' over whether particularly coverage was 'vaccinated', myrist told 'some thanks.' If these universities had asked the questions and taken action when criticisms were made and questions were raised over several years, I do not believe that we would be where we saw today with this terrible event having

happened.' She added that journalism were in fact adding the questions 'which these universities should have asked'.

'The remarkable life every he took, if an article called who didn't speak until 10 or learn to read and write until 16, launched Arday into a spotlight that intensified when he was appointed a professor of sociology of education at Cambridge in 2021.

'While his trajectory from a non-verbal pre-teen to PhD candidate had no person been, according to a medical expert quoted in The New York Times, he was reportedly selected for the professionalism by a nine-person appointment panel. The panel included four Cambridge academics and was chaired by the medical peer and former head of Ofical, Barron on the right.

In a time when the university was having criticism for he had all the many issues he rules, Arday was selected over three more senior scholars, a person familiar with the hiring process told The New York Times.

Allegations that Arday had plagiarized other academics in his PhD thesis—completed at Liverpool John Moores University—were first made public in July by Nathan Colton, a 15 researcher who claimed he had put the work through plagiarism detection software.

Colton is a self-defined 'case reader' who was author from the role as a fellow at International College, Cambridge, after a backlash over his views about diversity, equity and inclusion (EEI) policies. He said that under a true sentencing 'that people would' disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment.'

When the allegation of plagiarism over Brit reported in British media in July, Cambridge said that it had investigated the claims and found no wrongdoing, adding that today was the victim of a 'intricate campaign to undermine his credibility.' It also emerged that an investigation into plagiarism by Liverpool John Moores University has your cleared Arday of wrongdoing.

Arday, then still in his post, attempted to set the record straight in an interview

with The Times. He said: 'I am accustomed for the attention I've made. I hold myself accountable and other people should hold me accountable. We're talking about academic here.'

But addressing the level of scrutiny and questioning of these as lies, he added: 'I don't think that the realms this there's, I human being at the end of this. And they don't realize that that human being is someone's father or a son.'

On Wednesday, August 3 Cambridge announced it was launching an investigation into Arday's appointment and was one. The same day, Arday resigned with immediate effort, citing the impact on his wellbeing of being unfounded in 'an unstopping level of public scrutiny and personal attack'. He admitted it seems to be worth the battle he was on a 'fair'.

Academic at Cambridge still criticised the university. Nicholas Cleverly, a professor of psychology, was a theory and fellow of Jesus College, who organized a group letter calling for an investigation, questioned why the vice-chancellor, Prentice, had not spoken publicly in defence of Cambridge staff.

Lord Smith of Flesbury, chancellor of Cambridge since last year, made his first public comment on Arday on Thursday, telling the Financial Times that any credible accusations of plagiarism should be rigorously investigated while ensuring 'this unhappy affair (have not) been too much casual on diversity in academic.'

Earlier this week Cambridge made a commitment to personal, wider review of the process of Arday's appointment, and to have wrote in another letter to colleagues that the university was committed to maintaining the 'highest standards of academic excellence' in a 'core principle of Cambridge' and discouraged the questions raised about Arday's 'weight being used in 'just operations' on other 'staff of colour'.

Academic have called for the investigation based on the Arday's lecture and the rigour behind Cambridge's academic appointment process to continue despite his death. It is understood the university has not taken a decision over whether to continue the investigation yet.

Jason Arday was found dead in London on Friday

CLAPHAM TO ACADEMIC

Born May 8, 1865 Jason Atta Kwik Arday was born on Clapham, southward from the town in Ghanaian parents. His mother, Gilly, was a mental health nurse, his father, Joseph, is offel. He was the first of that house.

Primary education, 1890s Arday educated heart funder, who was a bachelor in three, he had autism diagnosed and said he could not speak until just before he turned 12.

Secondary education, 1890s-2000s Arday left secondary school with GCSEs in physical education and battles at Southfields Secondary School in Mandoumfi, then studied for a EPSC in sport and development at Morton College in Merden.

Early higher education 2000-10 Arday was a full education studies with physical education and an 6th in education and pedagogy from St Mary's University, Twickenham.

Marriage and family, 2014 Arday married Debbie Ann McIntosh in 2014. They had two children.

Liverpool John Moores University, 2010 He graduated with a doctorate in education.

Cambridge appointment, March 2022 Appointed professor of sociology of education in the University of education at the age of 37. He arranged black professor in the university's district. He also became a fellow of Jesus College.

September 2020 A 'Cross-region Education Journal of Angers' meeting inspires about Arday, particularly focusing on the integrity of his research. Arday then introduced the 'confrontation of the suburban from Carton Rock to send a letter saying that the allegations were false.

Projective allegations, July The Telegraph reported that Arday's first 100 passages in Arday's PhD thesis were identical, or nearly, to those in a thesis in a 8-ured University student.

Arday's interview, July 31 Arday gave his first interview to The Times since the allegations, showing plagiarism but admitting mistakes.

Arday's resignation, August 11 Cambridge announced a investigation. That evening Arday resigned.

Cambridge's review, August 13 Cambridge announced a review of appointments.

Death, August 14 He was found in Baton area, southwest London. The Met said this death was not believed to be suspicious.

Matthew Syed

Jason Arday was failed by the system — and my me

My last 60 most unbearable sadness, I had been often suffer from orders. I think, but I started at the screen for how hours working on stereotypes the news that Jason Arday, a man of unabashed talent but who was an overpronounced, and who has paid a lot most terrible price for a system that was to be hung up, had been forced to compromise at a house in Baton area, southwest London.

I can't hear to think about his last moments, how his happiness had turned to darkness, how he had nowhere to note. I can't hear he found a world feasting on his exaggerations and inconsistencies, in ways that he so})worldly madness. It is immensely.

I am guessing many like me will be finding some of these thoughts, and more. I speak as someone whose life has been shaped by positive emotions, he has been in a fussy private never been able to fully admit. A life that has been enlarged by people whose kindness shall never be able to enjoy but who can let a school run fail lacking in the way of being a woman. And who took a risk when there were easier splinters.

My story is again: an astounding 20 even to this newspaper levitated on a sentiment that is a little and true. Giving overbored people a shot. Talking is there. Recognizing the struggle's views and state of our success, even when it presents itself both often

hilarious performances as newbcrued.

My sister Rebecca benefited from this sentiment, too. She's a virtual killer chaired or to keep ways to do it. She's an intended English classic as school for whose talents were given what she's got from our church called Christ, who could see she was struggling to a complacent system, and who came around to give her her private lessons.

He then can her staff be 12 000s. A levels, gain a search at degree from Oxford, conduct psychiatric research around the world. He has been a good back at Oxford doing research and clinical work. I learnt I met a colleague who wasn't becoming a minority Rebecca's tenacity and intelligentsia.

As fate would have it, her lives over recent years has been on helping vulnerable people from either minority background and help. He also, many of these kids struggle to access services, for all sorts of subtle reasons. A national survey found that prevalence of common mental disorders (anxiety, depression) was a major among Black Britons, but that treatment was lowest in that group — a sign-off-achieving, One of her most radical college and college leader year at two was a guy she described to me as 'fuck wise, scares, fair'. His name: Jason Arday — an irony almost too much to hear.

Not in a holiday at the moment. She's always been active: trekking,

driving across the Outback, etc. She's the kind of girl whose heart was wouldn't budge much when a birthday, but I could tell the soul deep sadness as we move every driveway in the and her kids were heading off for a climbing expedition. She sent over a message from the young people helping by her and today that she received someone after the news of his own broke. 'As young people, it means a lot to see someone like ourselves represented and creating positive change in the world. We will miss Jason's kindness and passion for what we do.'

She also wanted — in the aftermath of a pile on in which Arday's character, personality, the family, and the business have been deconstructed — the public is more a little of the person she there is, person who was eccentric, slightly troubled, but in her assessment she points.

'He was just incredibly friendly. He loved sport — rugby events, football two always planned to go to a match — together, and was very supportive of a little individual who was a good man, such career researchers. He also gave tips on my football team.' She spends her personal relationship as a good trade.'

'He was great at doing interview. I'm looking for the young people — the full sense hilarious role playing where he interviewed me using different styles,' she added. 'He always had good ideas, always genuinely interested in the

experiences of young people who would not usually be sure to research.'

'This is, I believe, a defining story of our times, because amid the tragedy are so many layered connections. I will struggle to do them justice, but let me perhaps try and collect my thoughts even as I write them down.'

As I said, I believe to my core that diversity — properly understood — is strength. I wrote a book on it called Relief ideas. It was, I believe, a rigorous analysis of how, implemented wisely, institutional benefit from different points of view and backgrounds. Sir Jacob Rom-Wagel, initially sceptical, must it and was kind enough to say he agreed with ever another.

But as with many noble sentiments, the desire to be under intake was taken too far (as example of Henry George's dictum that the penitentiary of history always comes to text). So what was said after writing Relief ideas, most of my consultancy work was about helping leaders understand that diversity isn't served by everyone doing someone at the 'right' colour so that they can be paraded in corporate publicity. Indeed, this is self-defending, since the entire organisation can see that the intent has been PR, not rigour, thereby understanding all those from minority backgrounds who have time up the ladder, even those whose elevation was normal.

'A lot of people, who are not

attached to workmen, leading to a fierce and legitimate backlash, thought if you were a qualified white person, passed over for a job in favour of someone who

whatever other qualities of the postponed) had exaggerated and perhaps plagiarised, in order to further a 100

agenda, imagine if proper background and references had not been established. It isn't enough to say that 'it's okay because people from that background haven't listened all's been given a fair shot'. This is how progress leaders, programmes, how virtue becomes in opposite. It explains so much of my despair about the 'defeat' — so diversity, which has been recognised by the people who have failed also, when it could have started —.

Perhaps I might go to this way, and I hope Rebecca and Arday's family will forgive me! I truly believe the young people and the children you are in and in which he became its most visible reason. He was pressured to satisfy us ideology that became detached from its meanings, and was then subject to a question and such a change should have been the system itself.

It's why I find myself disliking with anger and get at peak users and journalists who steered at and mocked a vulnerable issue but also those who should have been their legitimate targets academics who placed today on a patient other was already trimming the publisher who hoped to catch us on his

celebrity when they must have known parts of the autobiography were conceived, and more.

In the Arday story played out, a exchange of messages with Rebecca as her anxieties about his mental health escalated. She felt that he needed a defender in the press but I prerank and to ways I now believe were cowardly. I wrote on the benefits of diversity programmes last week but failed to express the fear that attack was to him, while clearly justified in the early stages, had become disproportionate, even though I was.

In my last message to Rebecca before Arday's death, I wrote: 'He's clearly understood that the people who don't is also clear that he's plagiarised and violated other academic standards. Think both of those things can be true at the same time. Or do you still think he's been certain to be right.'

Rebecca didn't reply. A day became too days, then there. I think she was disappointed to me. Then, at 5:30pm on Friday evening, a single word came through me.

At first, I was surprised by its outcome. There I saw the news. I tried to find the right words when I touched our to her, but they were hollow. I tried to hollow the other was right. A day we failed. By the system, by some in the media, by me.

I hope I do doubt this children and family might one day find peace.

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8

NEWS

The Sunday Times August 16, 2026

Clear skin? Only for £3,000 as NHS cuts acne care

Private dermatologists are experiencing a surge in demand for the 'wonder drug' Rosecutane, despite fears about side-effects

Yannah Smart Data Journalist

Having clear skin is increasingly a privilege only for acne sufferers who can afford to go private because it is becoming so difficult to receive treatment on the NHS.

Sustentiosis, better known by its brand name Rosecutane, is widely regarded as the most effective medication for severe acne. About 80 per cent of patients report having clear skin after a single course, which typically lasts for six months, according to the online clinic Skin Care Network.

Over the past ten years, NHS prescriptions for sustentiosis have fallen due to long waiting times to see a dermatologist and concern about potential side-effects of the medication, including mental health problems: 22 people died taking the drug between 2005 and 2021.

Data from the NHS Business Services Authority shows that last year there were

63,600 NHS prescriptions of sustentiosis across England, a 27 per cent decrease since 2005 and the lowest number in more than a decade, apart from an anomaly in 2020 due to the pandemic.

After a review commissioned by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MMR) in 2005, owing to concerns about depression and other side-effects, changes came into force last year stopping NHS GPs from prescribing (sustentiosis unless they have a speciation or interest in dermatology.

This issue is that after being referred by their GP, a patient will usually face a long wait to see a dermatologist. There are 384,200 people on the dermatology waiting list; 6,460 will have been waiting for more than a year. The NHS target from referral to treatment is 38 weeks.

Sustentiosis can only be prescribed to children aged 12 and over. Due to its success rate, however, demand for the drug remains high. Private dermatologists have seen a surge in patients coming to them for sustentiosis prescriptions because they can be seen quickly and begin taking the medication soon after.

Dr James Deane, a dermatologist and chief executive of the doc, said: "It's a wonder drug. For 99 per cent of people who take Rosecutane, it completely changes their life. People are getting

pushed to go private. Most patients we see have tried and failed with their NHS GP. They're told they have to wait 12 months to be seen by a dermatologist and they lose hope."

Since 2018, Skindex has treated 20,839 patients with Rosecutane. The average age is 26, and 65 per cent are women.

Although it is not always medically urgent, acne can lead to permanent scarring, emotional distress and a loss of confidence when left untreated. Despite this, it is often treated as a low-priority concern, and GPs usually try topical creams

DOCTORS' ORDERS

NHS England prescriptions of oral sustentiosis for acne treatment

Hogan Batchelor went private after being offered antibiotics by her NHS GP. Her course of sustentiosis cost nearly £3,000

and antibiotics before prescribing Rosecutane. Many teenagers and young adults are keen to start the best treatment quickly, which is why they see a doctor privately to avoid a delay.

Anna Spencer, 26, a dental nurse from Nottingham, had acne as a teenager that perished the car's weather, after an initial appointment with her GP in November 2024, when she was prescribed antibiotics, she went to a private dermatologist and completed a six-month course of Rosecutane.

"I feel like the NHS reserves Rosecutane for the most severe cases and although my skin wasn't extreme, it still affected me. I was so scared to go out of the house without make-up to," she said. "I haven't had a spot since and I honestly can't tell you what a difference it has made to my confidence. I was told Rosecutane could impact my mental health but it's crazy how much clear skin can really affect your wellbeing."

A private course of Rosecutane usually costs between £3,000 and £3,000 for a standard four to six-month plan and includes consultation fees and regular blood tests, which are needed to monitor cholesterol, liver function and pregnancy risk among women.

In recent years, the private sector has dispensed more units of sustentiosis than NHS hospitals. In 2020 the private sector distributed 242,600 units of sustentiosis compared with 208,600 by the NHS.

Hope Batchelor, 24, a current creator from Buckinghamshire, decided to seek private treatment for cystic acne after receiving abuse on one of her videos

384,201

Number of people on the NHS dermatology waiting list

online. She had been to her GP a year before but they did not refer her to a dermatologist and offered her antibiotics instead, which were not effective.

Batchelor went to the Harley Street Skin Clinic and started treatment in June last year. She came off the medication to July this year and said she would do it all again if any spots came back. Her course cost almost £3,000. She said: "I was fortunate that I had the disposable income to be able to put towards my skin, but it's hard to know when you go private. She, do they just want to keep my money?"

Since 2005, the NHS has spent £17.6 million on sustentiosis prescriptions, including £2 million last year, according to the NHS Business Services Authority. Treatment via the NHS is free for the patient, aside from a routine prescription charge of £9.99 per item for those who do not qualify for a fee exemption.

Be a Christmas charity for The Sunday Times

THE eBay TIMES SHE'S NOT THEY CHRISTMAS APPEAL

Applicants should provide a fee of 10 to 12 ideas for stories, each focusing on a different aspect of their work.

Charities are invited to apply to benefits from the Times and Sunday Times Christmas Appeal 2026.

We aim to illustrate the articles with photographs and videos, so charities should consider whether there are visually arresting elements in their work. Where possible, the stories will include graphics, so applicants should also aim to provide relevant idea.

Three organizations are normally chosen, typically two charities working mostly in the UK and one British-registered charity working overseas.

Charities should highlight well-known patrons or ambassadors who could feature in the campaign. They should also include details of any matched funding that can be offered by their

Applicants will need to suggest great ideas for news and features addressing the biggest challenges they face, helping produce stories that will grab readers' imaginations and appeal to their generosity.

benefits from the charity's work, as well as to volunteers and staff. Articles will focus on compelling human stories, highlighting innovative, inspiring or surprising ways of tackling issues.

Over the course of the appeal, The Times and Sunday Times will highlight each organisation's work and invite readers to discuss. Our writers will visit projects to speak to those who are benefiting from the charity's work, as well as to volunteers and staff. Articles will focus on compelling human stories, highlighting innovative, inspiring or surprising ways of tackling issues.

Editorial, page 20

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NEWS

9

A panicked call, a burning lawn, then wildfire engulfed our home

Samuel Lovett, Tracey Karolickla, Gabriela Austin and Ethan Lintனா

Richard and Rose Anne Vinton had saved hard to buy their "Forever home". A 1350,000, five-bed detached house on Racecourse Lane, Stourbridge, and moved to five months ago. But it took just minutes for a wildfire to rig through their garden, engulf the property and reduce it to a shell on flames ripped through the West Midlands market town on Thursday afternoon.

Rose-Anne and the family's children—andໍments, it, and daughter Holley, then escaped with minutes to quon. They managed to save their tortoise, England.

Mr Vinton was at work when he received a call from his wife "screaming that the field was on fire". Doxchell-Exempt capturer the moment the house was engulfed by the flames, which raged across 500 acres of land to the south of Stourbridge.

A total of 10 homes were destroyed and a further 10 damaged, West Midlands Fire Service said. Fifty four people were treated by paramedics across the county and 10 were admitted to hospital.

Mrs Vinton can be seen running through the garden as children's clothes hang down the laundry line and the shadow of flames and smoke comes into view. Sisty records later the garden is engulfed in fire. "It was really

scary. It felt like I was in a movie... but I knew, at the same time, I needed to be brave for my faith," the nursing associate, 36, said.

Mr Vinton, also 36, added: "Our house is still standing but has been utterly ripped through. We're devastated. It was our dream home, our forever home that we had saved so hard to buy.

"When I saw the damage I felt completely sick."

The Vintons' daughter first spotted smoke in the nearby field and fire "going along the bushes", Mr Vinton said. "My wife went across the road to alert neighbours and then said to the kids: 'Grab the tortoise and let's get out of here, quickly!"

As residents fled their

homes, Dan กำลังสะบัดอยู่ที่ 10 กับ 10,000 องค์ อาทิ ขายตัว, Joined in a dress-folled farmers, he drove through the burning fields opening patches of dry ground that had been ignited by falling embers, and cleaned the way for others to plough

Picture from a blog doorbell show how the fire spread from the lawn to feature the house of Richard and Rose Anne Vinton, below

firebreaks. "I could feel [the boy] coming through the call window," said Vinton, 36, whose farmland opposite Stourbridge (all) falls near engulfed by the fire. "There were moments when the flames stuck behind us. You had to keep looking over your shoulders."

He said the wind was lifting embers from the existing fire and creating new hangars, which he then treated with his spouse - a small tractor used to spread firebreaks. "I used 10,000 litres of water."

His actions, along with his colleagues, probably helped to consider one of the most destructive warriors of the summer as the fifth heatwave of the year left grassland and wooded areas (indertive dry.

More than 100 firefighters had to tackle the issue. The Wobey, 6th Military personnel and an army helicopter helped firefighters in Company 3A (A-4A). Crows have spent more than 90 hours battling lives in Llanosryal Wells, Merfrey Tydfil and Elche Vale.

In Hampshire, the GA remained closed in both directions after the extensive New Haven fire, while in County Durham a fire broke out in woodland near Gurney Valley in Bishop Auckland. In Stourbridge, Pardue believes their left behind after the willow was the probable cause of the fire. "There was speculation people left wise bottles. We saw them in the bottom of hedgerows."

West Midlands Fire Service said the investigation and police were not to come.

The land that caught fire to the south of Stourbridge was predominantly grassland and vegetation that had grown only - part of government efforts to boost wildlife, where farmers are paid under the humanistic farming income (HHI for reserving this type of land.

"We're growing plants so that birds and wild animals can feed over the waters, but these grounds aren't cleared in summer," Pardue said.

He added that arable land within the state of New Haven was created two weeks before. "otherwise this would have added more fuel to burn."

CARO GORMAN/CRT 1M 2025/07/17@73

Jellyfish jet skis on a side at the 'office'

An afternoon at West Wittering, where 12,000 people pack the beach, shows what it takes to keep them safe

Rosie Kelly

It was Thursday lunchtime on West Wittering Beach in West Sussex and thousands of people were waiting in and out of the sea, children screaming and splashing around. Sitting on the roof of an open-top truck with a pair of binoculars was Darney Powell, one of nine lifeguards responsible for ensuring the safety of the 81,000 to 12,000 visitors.

Powell, 25, said she had already carried out about 20 "auster" - others to help a distressed swimmer to reach safety - this summer, and anticipated a busy shift. "We've got a cross-shore breeze going in the same direction as the tide, so people will float out further than they mean to."

It's a high-risk period: a "spring tide" means the difference between high and low tide is at its absolute maximum. "Because of the amount of water that's moving in and out, the current becomes really strong," said Powell. "In an hour or so we will not flag the entire beach because it just won't be safe to swim."

Before the lifeguard's shift even began there were several fire and incidents - jellyfish wings, someone swallowing too much ash water and a leaflet rise on the walk from the car park. Within a couple of hours, the bucket and quale brigade had managed to make walking across the beach an assault course. The team had also raised the orange windows, meaning people must run out billboards due to offshore winds, yet several families

appeared to be charging towards the water around with rubber rings.

"People don't always listen," said Powell, recalling two young men earlier in the summer who ignored warnings to refer notes between the red and yellow flags. They attempted to swim across to Hurling Island in Hampshire but struggled against the current. Powell had to get on her jet ski to bring them safely back to shore. "People don't realize how danger one is can be," she said.

It's been a summer of record-breaking temperatures and Britain's beaches are finding the best. Researchers at Rourne month University and the Royal Life Spring Society (RLSS) found that over the past ten years, there were three times more accidental drowning deaths on

days where temperatures reached 25°C or higher. But with school holidays in full swing and many forgoing trips abroad, crowds are flocking to British shorelines. At West Wittering, 3,000 people had pre-booked parking spaces and a constant stream of people with none and coalesces desiccated. With crowds comes increased risk since July, more than 30 open-water families have been reported across the US, at least eight of which were on beaches.

Ulle Pickles, the beach's lifeguard manager, said that so far in the week we visited, the team had performed new life saving rescue and 31 points, dealt with 62 missing persons incidents and 19 cases of people needing first aid. Major rescue incidents were relatively rare, he said:

Darcay Powell, top left, helps to keep watch over the West Sussex beach on the hottest day of the year

People don't really understand currents and tides, or the risk

much of a lifeguard's work is preventable. Over the 16 systems, warnings were issued about tide patterns and sandbars. The sandbar is accessible on foot when the tide is out, but leaves you stranded once it comes in. I wondered how many people were paying attention over the portable speakers and screaming children all around.

In the 2025, 2,000 beach lifeguard in the UK, candidates must be aged 16 and over and obtain a National Vocational Beach Lifeguard (NWB) notice (NVBLO) - 4.40-hour course enlistened by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and RLSS which covers 12% first aid, and users want to use skills. It is demanding lifeguards must be able to complete a 40,000 pool series in under seven and a half minutes (including the first 20 hours under three and a half minutes). They must also swim 20m underwater followed by 20m on the surface in under 50 seconds and complete a 20,000 beach run in under 80 seconds.

Lifeguards are re-tested every month and if they fall, are temporarily suspended from duties until they pass. NVBLO certificates remain valid for two years before a renewal is required. RNLI lifeguards are paid between 121.45 and 232.15 an hour but some are volunteers.

They face unexpected challenges. Last month a 50-year-old man died on West Wittering Beach after getting into difficulty in the sea and in 2024, a 17-year-old student drowned there while on an end of term schooling. In 2024 and lifeguards have faced criminal trials, beach lifeguards are rarely held liable if someone nervous due to serious identifiable conditions, though they do have to give witness statements to witness' health.

By late afternoon, things began to feel frantic in West Wittering with the number of incidents. "My rapidly and lifeguards on jet skis rescuing ten people from the water from the lifeguard tower, Pickles directed his team and Island with the courage and emergency services when somebody broke their leg on the beach. There were 24 experts of missing children, including a four-year-old last for so long the courage and and police were called in. Later in the evening, despite repeated waves as a group was cut off on the sandbar and needed to be rescued, including two daily classes, the three other month to swim.

"People just don't really understand currents and tides or the associated risk," sipped Powell as another message came in on her walker-sides. "For us, it's all about being mentally prepared," she said. "You've just got to crack on with it."

A waste-free way to flush the toilet—using dirty bathwater

Ben Spencer Science Editor

Water water could be reused for flushing toilets and running washing machines under glass being considered by the government.

Flushing the toilet accounts for 25 per cent of average household water use, according to official figures, but under current rules water companies have to supply it to the same standard as drinking water.

Saving and filtering lightly soiled "grey water" from bath, shower and sink outlets would give the average household sufficient supply for tables with enough left outside water that can be.

Officials at the Department for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs (DeRa) are looking at investing access to these recycling systems as part of an effort to save water,

with more than two thirds of England now to drought. Some showers are expected tomorrow, particularly to the northaven, but significant quells of rainfall are not expected until late September.

The cost of a calendar, harvesting and treatment system would range from £5,700 for a new hold of two bedrooms house to up to £8,000 for a five-bed house. A grey water recycling system would cost about £5,700 for a new build, irrespective of the size of the property, according to a 2024 research project funded by Ofwat, the water regulator.

Retrofitting systems into an existing house would be more expensive and require replantating work and space for a tank and filter, which could be used in a garage, loft, or buried in the garden.

Officials are considering changing building regulations to make it easier for house developers to install these systems. Scientists have said they should go further and make the installation of water mean systems mandatory in new builds, as they already are in parts of Belgium.

WATER RECYCLING IN NAMES

Grey water collection Gently used manometer (such as from showers, bath) and bathroom sink(s) to collected and processed in a filter, then reused by toilets and garden air.

Rainwater collection Water water from racks and hard exterior surfaces (the most common and ill-moved in captured, stored then reused in toilets, washing machines and garden applications

Currently, strict rules mean water companies are only allowed to supply "whitewater" water for any domestic use, while must be at drinking water for standards. They are looking at grey water options and at rainwater showering sources which could also be used to

flush toilets and feed outdoor taps, and supply washing machines. A consultation on changing building regulations on water use was held over the whole month to the government it still considering its response.

For Water 5.0 meters, a body last month warmed that the building of nearly 1.1 million homes planned this decade could be derailed due to a lack of water supply. That means just 420,000 of the 1.1 million homes promoted by Labour would be completed.

Professor Hannah Cribie, a hydrological at the University of Reading, said that a radical shift in water management was needed - and warmed that the current houseless runs could last into next summer unless serious rain falls in the coming months.

"We should move from

reacting to crises to planning for them," she said. "I just cannot understand why we need to be planning water to flush our toilets."

Average man-rat levels are now at 40 per cent, 12 per cent lower than expected at the current level.

In parts of Belgium water recycling systems have been mandatory in all new buildings and recovered homes. In current householders are not forced to adopt such measure that about 80,000 each systems are installed every year.

Last 2nd year, a number of the UK Water Reuse Association, which represents one of the first make water collection systems, said: "In Britain we install 3,000 to 4,500 each year. We are not behind which being done anywhere else in the world."

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10

NEWS

The Sunday Times August 30, 2025

Forget the arts, we want degrees that add up to jobs

Teenagers who have seen humanities degrees lead to pub work are flocking to study engineering, medicine and law

Louise Eccles Education Editor Gabriela Austin and Mary Doomer

tearing numbers of teenagers are applying to read medicine, dentistry, law and engineering, and learn they must have a vocational degree to have any hope of securing adequate job.

Since 2020, university applications in Britain have risen by 30 per cent for engineering, 40 per cent for law and 28 per cent for medicine and dentistry. The number of applications across all courses has risen by only 10 per cent.

In Justice, chief executive of U.S.A., the Universities and College Admissions Service, said the increase was "truths notable compared to a decline in subjects such as modern foreign languages". She said: "Students are making choices where they think that there will be a profession at the end of it, and which they perceive as likely to be AI-proof." On

Thursday, when students received their A-level results, U.S.A. said the largest growth in a copy-of-university places was for engineering and technology, up 16 per cent on last year to 33,000, followed by social sciences and law.

While the popularity of firm subjects (science, technology, engineering and market has grown dramatically, teachers said a particularly difficult graduate jobs market was driving over higher numbers towards a narrower number of degrees that have close career prospects.

Many have been influenced by seeing older siblings, cousins and friends struggle to find work after graduation.

A teacher of a top all-girls grammar school said many of their midribcomers applied for medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine. Many are under pressure from parents to choose a "safer" option.

She said: "There is a recognition that university is an expensive undertaking, so many people want the parent to be worthwhile. At the moment, especially, the high cost of living is very prominent and may be factoring into a lot of students' decisions. Online parents themselves have undertaken a more creative degree, they tend to push more towards a 'safer' option. There is definitely a pressure, explicit in some cases, where students have said that they wanted to do a

Hugo Evans is starting a third-year placement at a defence company. Isabella Arsena says dentistry offers job security

Percentage increase in applications to courses since 2005, comparing engineering, law, medicine and dentistry with all courses

Total increase = Medicine and dentistry Engineering = Law

certain subject, but could not because of their parents."

She said her school was trying to promote the idea to students that many careers requiring humanities and creative degrees would also be difficult to replace with it. Despite will not accept their course funds, she said: "To be creative is part of being human."

Isabella Arsena, 26, a fourth-year dentist student at Cardiff University, said job security was a big factor when choosing her degree. She said: "I liked that at the end of the degree, you are very likely to get a job. I was very conscious of how much debt I would be in, and not having a set goal at the end of my time at university, in my mind, was too much of a risk."

Graduates in England have typically incurred student debts of £4,000/£1 by the time they need to start equating it. Next month, latinos fees will rise to £5,700.

One in ten students who graduated from university the summer are planning to emigrate for better job opportunities, according to High Flare, the graduate recruitment research firm.

Many of this summer's graduates are competing against last year's graduates, who are still looking for a job. In recent years, it has become increasingly popular to do a master's degree, dubbed a "panic master's", to boost their chances of entering the job market.

Alexandra Sim, 21, originally applied to study history, but changed to law at Bristol University a week before the course was due to start, because she wanted to "go into something that feels more useful".

Another Bristol student, Hugo Evans, 20, who studies mechanic of engineering, said he was interested in media analytics in at sixth term, but wanted to study something "more practical".

"I had always heard good things about engineering and jobs, in particular," he said. "When you are studying engineering, there is a distinct pathway into an engineering job."

He is already start his third-year placement at the defence company Babcock, before returning for his fourth and final year at university. "I got quite a large student loan, but I have had to work along side my degree, which has been quite difficult. I hope to make back some of that money with a post-grad role, and that partly comes into why I chose engineering. I am putting in the work now to hopefully get it back in rewards later on."

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Top marks for school that bans daydreaming

Louise Eccles Education Editor

When students at "Britain's strictest school" achieved an average of £4.4 at A-level last week, the head teacher, Katharine Bebelingh, was to no doubt about how it had been achieved. firm discipline—for both pupils and teachers.

Michaela Community School celebrated its pupils' success on its website, saying: "These results reflect their hard work, discipline, and dedication."

Almost 70 per cent of its pupils' A-level grades were A to A, which is more than double the national average of 26.3 per cent. One is not students have occurred places to study medicine this year and a third of grades were A compared with a tenth nationally. despite being located in a disadvantaged area where almost 60 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals.

These results were the culmination of seven years of "training" for the students from the moment that they began at the school in Wembley, northwest London, aged 18 in year 7.

In their first week of secondary school, pupils attend "teentering"—a term used by the school—where they are "explicitly taught, and deliberately practise, our stories, entrance, exit and toilet routines and rules."

This is a "pre-empture off task behaviour in lessons, so that 100 per cent of pupils are on task for every task in every lesson."

Bebelingh, 52, founded the free school after years of teaching in inner city schools. She believed she could offer a "private education to young people of all backgrounds" through traditional, academic-focused teaching methods and clear behaviour policies.

The school takes include no deaching or daydreaming and downtown are handed out for talking in the corridor or eating and drinking anything bought outside Michaels. Two downtowns are given of a pupil is suspected of having chewing gum and they own up, three of the years. Wearing make-up, including lip flakes, leads to one detention if they own up, two if they don't.

Matthew Godfrey, chair of governors at the school, said: "I am delighted to see Michaels delivering for our students year after year. Michaels proves that traditionalism works. The school has won 1,000 visitors a year who come to see the magic happening in Wembley."

Teentering to be teachers as well as staff, the Bebelingh's book, Michaels: The Power of Culture, published in 2020, she said: "All new stuff are observed for all of their lessons as a chance to refine the Michaela routines. This means rooming very direct feedback.

The example: stand still instead of joking, into a more authoritative voice when doing a countdown, or cut out 'smut' and 'try' to come across as more assertive."

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2016

11

NEWS

Is it a bird, or a humming moth beating at path to your garden?

A hummingbird hawk moth in Earth Work. Poreys, but week

Iren Spencer Science Editor - The hummingbird hawk moth is a spectacular sight. Measuring more than 3cm across, its wings have up to 40 times a second as it hinds on a plant's nectar, emitting a bird from us it does so.

This summer there have already been nearly twice as many sightings than any other year for the year she calls - and the peak season has not yet arrived.

'Nobody lingers the first time they see a hummer,' said the naturalist and butterfly's enthusiast Matt Voss Dunn. 'If you can imagine a heifer that leaves, that's what it looks like. It has these friends' wings going so far that you can barely see them, and a long proboscis that uncurls and finds on the flower in front of them, it is quite unforgettable.'

The small's large had any wingspan means nature

levers often mistake it for a bird. In previous bumper years the RSPB has received calls about reported sightings of hummingbirds - which do not live any else in Europe.

By comparison, the volley thousand hummingbird has a wingspan of 6cm to 6cm.

Data from Record, an online wildlife recording platform, demonstrates the scale of this year's influx.

By last week, 3,200 sightings had been logged, the highest total since 1971 when

comparable records began. 'That's by far the highest,' said Richard Fox, head of science at Naturefly Conservation. 'The new highest was from last year, where there were 5,300 records. And the next highest after that was 2022, when there were 4,000.'

'Traditionally, the peak time for hummingbird hawk moth sightings in Britain is August and September, so we've only just coming into the peak now. We could end up with a lot more sightings before the summer is out.'

He added: 'It's been an amazing year for migrant butterflies and moths in general. We pay that down to the weather, undoubtedly. There have been lots of stable high-pressure systems and lots of warm air moving up from the south. These flows of southerly air up to the UK bring insects with them.' Some, like the

hummingbird hawk moth and painted high butterfly, were 'proper migrants', he said, with a 'deliberate strategy' to go north for summer than retreat south in the autumn. Other insects had arrived more haplousedly, moving on air currents, looking for favourable places to live.

'I am sure it had also been a fantastic year for butterflies such as the Queen of Spain fruitiary and the cloud of yellow. Moths such as the seminal yellow class have a sore in high numbers too, and 'it has also been a spectacular year for dragonflies, just spectacular.'

In recent wild years some hummingbird hawk moths have even been recorded overwatering in the UK, something never recorded before.

Guns, 75, said: 'When I was a boy I would maybe not two or three a decade. Now I see them every year - and at all times 45 year.'

Joanne Hodgkins, a National Trust nature conservation specialist, said: 'They lay their eggs on

bedstraws, native wild plants that often grow in context of gardens, in rough grass or along hedgerows. If you find some, try to leave them so they have the chance to overwater. Generally, weached a female laying eggs on hedge-bedstraw growing out of a crack to 100 pales, which is a great reminder that a little less working can even valuable habitat for wildlife.'

Hummingbird hawk moths have been reported from the Channel Islands to Scotland. 'Our air particles do attractively occur rich flowers, unfeeling a long proboscis to feed from buddlers, red varieties and wetness.'

The world's suspect that the blasting but summer to

southern Europe has boomed the numbers exceeding north, with many flowers drying up, depriving the moths of nectar.

At Sheffield Park, a National Trust nature in East Sussex,

Nick Dibble, a gardener, said she dwelt up into dust from seen on the site this spring that were not seen there last year. 'So our climate changes, we may continue to use skills in the numbers, distribution and timing of different species,' he said.

HOW THE SIZES COMPARE

RUBY THROATED HUMMINGBIRD

10 square

10 410mm

HUMMINGBIRD HAWK-MOTH

10 square

10 426mm

SUGGESTIONS: ALLEN EDEN, DOYNE

Priests are being forced to oversee up to 16 churches because of a shortage of cash and parishioners

Mary Downer and Catherine Pigninton

The life of a Church of England vicars used to be relatively simple: responsibility for one church, a vicarage sent door and lots of time to support the flock.

'We have more than 1,000 leaders Vaughan drives more than 400 miles a month between the ten churches for which he is responsible - and he is not alone.'

As their Exche have dwindled, vicars' responsibilities have ballooned. In 1960, a vicar convene a maximum of two churches, but often had just one, according to data from the Church of England. By 2022, when the vicars' event does not publish, that average had doubled to four. In places such as Norwich, Carlisle, Truro and Ipswich, the average is six, in Lincoln and Norwich, this rises to seven.

Nine churches do total areas no longer have a service every weekend. Instead their traditional Sunday morning service can cause between three or four days.

Vaughan, 43, whose churches are spread across village between Lincoln and Newark-on-Trent in Nottingham, does, said: 'You can't be a vicar in the way you used to be. The intimacy has been lost.'

Vaughan is one of many in the Church of England managing a math parish here after - the six heiaads went for an area in group of villages that share church resources.

When he came to the area in 2007, he oversaw four churches, but now he is responsible for more than twice as many days his friend is not on its travel to parishes along the River Witham.

In Cornwall the Diocese of Truro this month approved 16 parishes between Constantine, Woodrow, Mullion and the Lizard' becoming new benefits, with a team recite and two assistants.

The total number of benefices has almost fallen 1 since 1980, from 22,343 to 4,330. However, the impact of dwindling congregations and financial pressures has made the number of non-ricar covering many churches, rather than one or two, a lifeline for many churches.

Compounding the financial strain is the locating demographic crisis. There are three things of 75 and over 10,000 than under 50 (3,280). Only 349 points under 35 are trained to step into the nation's 6,000-plus benefices, according to Sunday Times analysis. The result, inevitably, will be bigger and bigger male church benefices. There are only two members of the clergy under 25.

Female vicars were first ordained in 1994 and represent 31 per cent of all Church of England vicars. There are 1,193 in the church compared with 2,160 men. In 2016, women were permitted to become 1,000 in the church. Initially, was the fourth woman to do so, before becoming the first female Archbishop of Canterbury.

Vaughan's situation is common in the diocese of Lincoln, where the average of seven in the highest in the country. 'As a Church of England there you are responsible for the pastoral care of everyone in your area,' he said. 'That's a really difficult time to do for this population.'

Father Clive Wiles is a recite for 12 parishes and 14 churches in north Norfolk, including the local church house and the laxins in Scathingey. He started there in 2012 with four parishes under six churches.

Wiles, 16, said there were 'huge challenges' in learning a math parish here. 'We were to be present for you can't always be. You wish from one thing

THE EAGLE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

'Herendeth' is every year

The Rev Andrew Vaughan at 35 Medical and the Angelis Church, one of the ten he overcame. 'The intimacy has been lost,' he says

is to be sure, from visiting a sick person to a coffee morning. 'I'm driving about 250 miles a month.'

The day-to-day job highlights the fact that a vicar has to worry out just about the Sunday service but how good for the drink are and who is going to polish the

alive. His churches have invested in 'proper coffee machines' to accompany being out of a crack to 100 pales, which is a

grossing into a days from the Church of England. But average had decided that average with receipts and when it was

when it was 4,000 men. 'It was an out of the 'old' side.' 'places of

worldly renewal fund' has been announced, but films said it did not go far enough. 'We' from and Believe US have pledged to estimate the old homes.'

The new fund has been allocated £23 million annually until 2030, but unlike the previous scheme it is not universal.

Not only has the church's rights to apply, will be given money, whereas they all received funding under the previous grant scheme. 'In top of this, while the old scheme was available to the whole of the

UK, the new scheme is only open to churches in England.'

Funding will range from £10,000 to £1 million last people, but films said that of the 1,000 applications for leave had shown an 'expenditure of £20,000' only 50 were invited to make a full application. In top of this, such project is now

about £300,000, and £1 million. The money was also given money that the money that was not yet

been due to the 'old' side. 'A long time' was also given money that the money that was not yet

Worried about your church? Use it or lose it

Keeping the buildings that are part of Britain landscape requires cash and support, argues Catherine Pigninton

Pigninton, Petree Trelawny wrote in his teenage to Cornwall, "was built on the

same maintenance as unchanging weekly ritual".

The Radio is provided to be directed to his book.

Trelawny's Cornwall, published in 2014, how the mother would help out at their local church every Sunday.

Not any more. Like so many other parts of England, Cornwall will soon have many more churches that will take it in terms of both a Sunday service. The

purs of England, Cornwall will soon have many more churches that will take it in terms of both a Sunday service. The

discover of Truro, responsible for the Church of England in this most recently part of the country, is starting 16

parishes into one benefits.

Minimising person will have to remember to switch traditions as they go from one to the next. Fr Olen Wells, in Norfolk, celebrates a high, Anglo-

Carlielle mass is one of his 12 churches. Was birdie him if he seldines that

parish with another, which says he informed worldly. The average used vicar has a stipend of about £12,000 and

often from accommodation.

Add to that thickening, weddings and foonings, church had been a choice for sick and the dying, and the life of a

matty parish was in times of need, the end of

strong relationship, and more money to having to be spent on buildings, there's

two money to pay clergy. The additional time and money to be spent on the country, is starting 16

parishes into one benefits.

often from accommodation.

strong relationship, and more money to having to be spent on the country, is starting 16

parishes into one benefits.

often from accommodation.

parishes into one thing, most so much up, the decline of a parish's

church has always been a good thing. The average used vicar has a stipend of about £12,000 and

often from accommodation.

often from accommodation.

often from accommodation.

often from accommodation.

often from accommodation.

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12

NEWS

Measure for measure, we'll cut enough reeds to thatch Globe

Shakespeare's theatre needs a new roof and only homegrown thatch will do. Enter East Anglia's 'oddball' reed cutters

Ben Spencer Science Editor

Slavy, whistled, guitars streamlined and looks strapped the stage – the flamenco adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost was a fiesta of colour and music. But sitting high in the wooden gallery at Shakespeare's Globe, Stella Kania, its third ever-slave, was gazing not at the dress rehearsal before her, but up at the roof.

"The thatch is a cranny to the end of a life," she said. "It has lasted 20 years but we are getting to the powerchairs we need to replace it. It is an important maintenance tool that it is also a case of a generation opportunity for us to create a project focused on heritage and community and climate."

The Globe is the world's most famous thatched building. It was constructed on the south bank of the Thames in 1997 as a replica of Shakespeare's original 1999 theatre, which stood some 7500 to the east and burnt down in 800.

"We are remaining true to the original design and building materials," said Kania. "The thatch was Shakespeare approved and that's what we want. It is a whole new system up there."

Pigment and magpies are seen on the roof each morning, feasting for ninety-lying in the thatch, hypnosis, an regular visitors. Patches of neon are starting to appear. In the winter the whole roof is grown. There is no-looking yet, but given time the roof will start to demonstrate.

But the 2d mailbox of matching project is no small undertaking. When the new Globe was built in the 1950s the architects had to get special permission to use thatch, which had been banned in the city center since 1993 before the Great Fire of London of 1950. "We are a couple of years off starting," said Ben Cooper, linkchters, chief operating officer.

Planting has been in the works for years. Some are home to the northeast, on the edge of Norfolk's Stanworth Broad, reed cutters Paul Eldridge, former Niche

Reed cutters have been harvesting water reed since 2022 for the roof of the Globe, above, during a performance of Love's Labour's Lost

ols and colleagues started harvesting materials for the Globe in 2022. They have stockpiled more than 10,000 bundles of water reed in barns across Norfolk for the Globe orchards – about a tenth of the entire British annual harvest.

The theatre has insisted on using homegrown water reed for its refurbishment. But it is an exception. The restoration of the UK's 60,000 traditional quintessentially English – thatched building creeds to use foreign materials. Water reed is used for about half of all projects, with the remainder using straw. But although water reed is available in the Norfolk and Suffolk Islands, south Wales and parts of Scotland and has the longest life experience, 95 feet each of reed used for rethaching is imported from as far afield as China and Romania.

Marshmen like Eldridge, 46, are a dwindling breed. According to some estimates there are fewer than 50 seed cutters left working in Britain. "We're the oddballs really," said Eldridge.

In the winter these men made through Roodeaf peatlands to cut tall bundles of water reed for thatch. In the summer they cut sedge – the more flexible but hard-moving cressels plant that is used on the edges of thatched reefs.

They are also providing a vital environmental service. Marshland is excellent for biodiversity. Birds such as canes, bitters, marsh barriers and warblers shelve among the reefs, young fish and eels when among their submerged rivers.

"Not you need to cut it back regularly," said Andrea Kelly, environment policy advisor to the Broads Authority. In

ancient knowledge mammals are thought to have done some of this maintenance work, with bearers, cattle and ponies for aging the marsh edges. But now it takes humans. "If you don't rot it all the woody material builds up and over time it turns into dry land or wet woodland."

Sam Cates, 34, whose family has owned Stanworth Estate, where the Globe thatch has been collected, for five generations, said: "This is the greatest place in England right now. Seedbeds act like a natural sponge. During closures neither hold the water in place. And in the winter it is prune with rain they hold water back."

Four hundred years ago, most of East Anglia was like Stanworth Maids, a vast expanse of swamp and marsh. From the 1650s, the thatch engineer Cornelius Serimpelou started draining the Pote, and the black peaty soil that emerged from beneath the waters was a farmer's dream. Today water pumps run all year to keep the agricultural land dry.

Many conservatements advocate reworking these landscapes for the sake of wildlife and to store carbon – there is said to be as much carbon stored in 12 inches of wet pond as the same area of canhown.

But making the commercial argument is a tough sell in a valuable agricultural landscape.

That is where thatching might play a role. For years climate scientists have

investigated the potential of "paladicalism" – the practice of growing crops on wet land by raising the water table. But few crops grow well in these conditions, and harvesting is lucky on wet ground.

"For me water reed for thatch is top of the tree for a paladicalism product," said Kelly. She said other parts of East Anglia could learn from the example of the Broads. For farmers with low productive patches of land, switching off the pumps and allowing land to flood could be all it takes to grow water reed. "They'd make huge savings on electricity as well."

Nichels, 44, another seed cutter, said: "There's no problem with demand ... We sell every bit of seed we cut."

But Richard Darling, 76, of the Broads Reed and Judge Cutters Association, said there were challenges. He said many conservation charities are reluctant to allow access to seed cutters in case they disturb the wildlife. "They are only now waking up to the fact that managing reed is beneficial to nature," he said. "We also really struggle with access. The delux we need to get out boats down, to transport the reeds out, are often blocked up."

Jim Greenfield, the architect who oversaw the Globe's construction in the 1990s and remains a consultant to the charity, said: "The Globe's thatch is more than a reed, it is the building to mix. It will be a craft lineage, an acoustic character, and a symbol of cultural integrity."

Elizabeth defied PM on Ulster security

Marc Morros

Queen Elizabeth ignored the wishes of the prime minister when she flew to Northern Ireland in 1977 despite threats by the Provisional 1983 to give her a "well-to-extended."

The Labour government of Jim Callaghan announced that Elizabeth would visit all four countries of the UK to mark her Silver Jubilee in 1977. However, plans to travel to Ulster on August 10 and 11 were thrown into doubt by an escalation of the Troubles.

Newly released state documents show that Callaghan privately wanted the tour to be postponed, fearing it would trigger further تذبذبful bloodshed during the volatile "marching season", when he also groups into to the streets.

Plans to fly the late Queen around Northern Ireland in a camouflaged military helicopter were dropped because it was found it would be regarded as "late game" by the IRA.

But the monarch pressed ahead with the visit, by accising in Belfast on the Royal Yacht Britannia and then flown to Hibbborough Castle, once the seat of the governors of Northern Ireland, in a helicopter that was painted on bare red.

Wearing an emerald green dress, the Queen met the overwhelmingly Protestant residents of the neighbouring village, who stared it from Jailer.

Two years later, Lord Mountbatten, the Queen's second source once removed, was assassinated by the IRA while sailing off the Irish coast. The world return, in vastly different circumstances, to visit the power-sharing Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont during her Golden Jubilee.

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The Sunday Times August 18, 2020

NEWS

Images sent at night: the rise in teachers grooming pupils online

Lesion Eccles and Matilda Davies

At four-year-stature meeting, a teenager looked at her phone—then scratched the 30-year-old media teacher had sent her private message on Instagram with a sexually changed declaration of love.

The messages, which arrived during the night while she was asleep, came out of the film.

'At the beginning of life last year I developed a small one you . . . be the real office school year I have fallen at. I love with you,' Richard Islam wrote. 'School holidays were particularly painful so sometimes I would spend more of my day to feel just thinking about you.' Islam said he love 'watch the normal type of love, feel the Ethical Culture type of

love', referring to the complex in the Paddy band, and film series.

In a statement to a chargeback panel, the teenager we alled how she felt physically sick and went to find her mother, who immediately ruined the school to report the incident.

In June, Islam, who taught at Home Station School in north London, a comprehensive secondary (and good for Africa), was indefinitely prohibited from teaching by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA). He is part one of a growing number of teachers being banned for sexual intercourse towards children and pupils. In more than half of cases, social media such as Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and Snapchat was used to contact, stalk or harass the victim.

Experts say social media has given problems to school direct access to pupils in their homes, unlike previous generations of staff who did not have such access way of contacting the children.

The number of teachers who have been banned for sexual intercourse, concerning a child, pupil or former pupil has risen sharply, from 4 to 2020 to 10 to 2025, and also by The Sunday Times shows. Actual misconduct includes behaviour such as sexual assault, harassment, grooming, walking and sexual communism. About half of the banned teachers were also concerned about tobacco smoking, a child. Without, 50 per cent of cases involved the teacher using social media for contact, up from 40 per cent in 2021.

Among those banned from the classroom this year was Alexander Webb, 30, a teacher in faithful who had a sexual relationship with pupil lasting six months. This was 'accompanied by a significant volume of communication, including approximately 20,000 messages', the TBA said.

Police found Webb had also promoted to be a teenage boy on Snapchat to engage in occasional conversations with girls. He had 5,000 to attach on the social network, including pupils from the school. He has indefinitely prohibited from teaching after being jailed for the years and seven months last year for sexual activity with a child, sexual communism, and with a child and making it the most phony of the school.

In a falling, 42, was head of music at Westlands Girls School in Maidenhead, Berkshire, until 2020. He was banned from teaching last year after he sent pupils images of his peers and told one she had the 'better, sooner body in the world'. Using social media, he sent messages to several, telling one. 'Hope you, your beautifully stunning face and

Which adults can they trust?

your way body are enjoying turning in this lovely mother again.

He also placed his hands on a pupil. One who is now was at a swimming pool with school, and gave presents including things and a door sign that read: 'Private lingering and stairied' topping in progress.

Both teachers, the founder of Qunity, which helps pupils to report relationships more, said institutions were struggling to keep up with the technology and tactics used by producers. 'We are really good manipulators.' 'Harden and I will talk to for children to speak up because which adults can they trust' in a number of TBA's cases, the teachers who were targeting pupils were also one of the designated subgroups' leads of the school.

Philip Gilling, 54, was one of the third American officers, as well as the head of music, at the all-girls private day school Gadsbyton and LaSorte in Hammersmith, west London, where he had an 18-month relationship with a vulnerable pupil. On the day of his child's birth has been party in 2015, Gilling and the pupil went to a park and had sex. He was banned from teaching last year.

In practice said: 'Parents often were about 'stranger danger'. Not we can see from these reports that many of the teachers who were banned were using Snapchat, WhatsApp and social media to go on these children at any time at the day. Children are accessible via social media, or even a school email system . . . very each: we 'High an' typically given their own school-based email

addresses when they start secondary school of it. School-used have a behaviour policy that addresses staff pupils' relationships and communication, including the use of social media, a secondary government guidance. For many schools, this includes telling teachers their main always do after it into the parent's own pupils, and present students from and around the school to access. Many teachers avoid social media altogether, or may have accounts present, so avoid any risk of being used. The government chain on social media has made this, and the school is not a new spring, will include Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and it, but not encouraging children such as WhatsApp and Signal.

Cotswolds stages Britain's first (awfully polite) over tourism protest

Armed with picnic blankets and tea, the residents of Bourton-on-the-Water reclaim the green in a village of 4,000 where daily visitors sometimes reach 10,000

Mary Downer

Norma Shepherd, 49, has lived in Bourton on the Water since she was five years old. The bauxite, she sat on the village green for the first time in four decades.

'We said that it's come to this we can't enjoy the green,' said Shepherd, who on Saturday took part in its first resident school day to protest against terrorism. About 4,200 people live in Bourton, but we cannot day the village can attract 10,000 visitors. They wander around, peddling in the Westlands and young, as people struggle to prolong light.

On an eighty summer morning on Saturday almost 100 residents, Shepherd prefers them, but their picnic blankets, camping chairs and quite a few flasks of tea and owl started the village green.

'We've always had tourists, don't get me wrong, but it's just got too over crowded. That's the problem,' she said.

It was a very well-behaved, classically English version of the communism protests that have spring up around the world from Venus to Amsterdam, and it thought to be one of the first to have taken place in the UK.

June, and Downer Chesters, both 30, have lived in Bourton for ten years. That son, India, 18 months, has never sat and enjoyed the river. Mrs Chesters, who

works for Jaguar Land Rover, said: 'We were always in the camp of. 'Why do people complain about the tourists? But since I'm all happened there's never been an off-season, so we never got a break.'

Her husband, who also works for the cannabis, asked: 'We need training. It's the reason that has got out of hand.'

Charlotte Jeymes, 54, she works part-time in a pub, but had 4 days in her entire life. Alongside helping to raise her granddaughter, Winam, she is the chairwoman of Bourton Residents' Voice, which supposed the protest.

The old Postman's book 'Tending point' adding: 'We want people to enjoy our village. We just need something done to manage the doors outside of our town. I want to have called on the council to better manage the number of tourists with a range of measures, including criticizing restrictions on roads and rail points.'

Residents say that they've got months of age before 30am, and not again until 7pm, if they need to stay anything, such as the traffic jams. Beryl Polley, 76, who has lived in the village for more than six years with her husband, says, 'and I'll you run out of milk in the morning you just think. 'Can't manage until the end of the day?'

Gautam Wingrove, 49, struggles to walk her daughter. Chris, to the village's

Bourton residents meet on the village green before the tourists descend to wander the streets and play by the river

primary school because of the traffic. 'It's like people' normal perception of acceptable behaviour is suspended when they get here. She said that tourists can take it even ensuring for kids how much in the village to build. June in the Westlands, or to take home as someone.

'How who do visitors eat said the problem about that getting from one end of the village to the other could take 40 minutes. Instead, most go to nearby towns like Snow on the Wild and Cinnamon to concentrate on daily.'

John Warning has been the dancer, counsellor for Bourton for three years, and has lived there for more than 30. 'I you want to meet people from Bourton, just go to a neighborhood place,' he said. 'We get on should we without 'our community. We've been denied it. We're not only online - it's because we've lost something that most people take for granted. Over 30 years it's been increased and now we've lost the balance.'

The common referral to residence concerns is the importance of the rural land business, which, alongside agricultural, is a cornerstone of the Cornwallis economy. 'Warning, and tourism businesses accounted for about 12 per cent of all trade in Bourton. 'Something that's over 40 per cent is important, but there teams can't be seen as a priority over a long community,' he said.

One person said the tourists were not bringing much to the village's economy if they were only buying a Mr Whippy. There are more than 160 local holiday rentals in the village on Airbnb and 'probably 20 places you can buy an ice cream' according to Warning.

Last year, Hartwells, an immunogen that had a few 120 years, shut down, the latest is a long list of cleaners over the last 10 years that include four kitchens, four hairdressers, two fish and chip shops, bank branches, a newspaper and a group-grown. Most were replaced by ice cream

shops and tourist timber businesses. The 'Arbente family' were 'visiting Bourton yesterday on a truck in the second the UK. Round for crowds, the Americans initially thought the protested to work for the themselves. They live in Terran City, a tourist town on Lake Michigan. 'This is not a conflict that's now to go,' said John Arbente, 18, who owned small shops in her home in 2.

Mrs daughter James, 31, added, 'I work in tourism, so it's something I'm very familiar with. that's almost between making sure you're supporting your business on the ad on a day, sure that's a nice place to live, to do it are proven to the no-one who tourists want to come.'

What the family were surprised by was the time of the protest. 'I have to come across when there's been some anti-tourist protests and then were sorry, so there is help in comparison.' James said. 'By the children protest over,' added her name, 'Africa, 27. 'It's like a prison.'

Body is found in hunt for hiker, 18

Phan Hubbard

A body has been found in the search for an 85-year-old Briton who went missing while falling in Romania. George Smith, a good adjustment from Bristol, got into difficulties on a side trip last November.

A man and a summer police said yesterday that a body found in the Racing Mountain was believed to be that of the teenager. His family have been starvened and are being supplied by a family liaison officer.

Smith was teaching about the region when he called emergency services asking for assistance because he was suffering from pneumonia and exhaustion. Despite extensive searches, assistant rescuers were unable to find him. He lived just a lot together were later found in the area where he had made his home.

His mother, Jr., said at the time that he had left his university to go falling alone and had not returned for family of his mother.

In a statement released via the laws, Joseph Llanelle said 'We are all in a heart of George's death. He was the best of us and is deeply himself to be younger brothers, family and friends. He was the first to be the most important Mountain Rescue, who have worked for theirs since November searching for George degree very difficult and difficult for the conditions. They are an amazing man and a great human community, helping us people through their ambitions.'

'We would also like to thank you and I'm more police and the University of Bristol, who have gone down and beyond to try and find George, and to support us as a doctor. We hope the latest news on accidently painful, the texture of nothing is deadly over, so we can now know in bringing George home and saying goodbye.'

Libraries were once quiet, now they're making a song and dance for readers

2020

THE NORTH TIMES

Get Britain

Reading

Letitia Hayton

The Bizarres of Maja and the New York Public Children's were quiet. Visiting New Local Bizarre in Middletown, Wiltshire, with bathers, their 8-month-old daughter to a whip, the New Local Bizarre, 2, is the beautiful of stuff that they've got. A short committee doing any thing like what we do with bathers and the New York, said Maja, 28, referring to the few weekly sessions for under 8, and more the Mitchells sing, dance and meet other young families.

A three-3 players, also at Middletown, they can read their favourite authors: - Tom Fincher, Quentin Maja and John Donaldson - with bathers in nature for stickers and certificate cards.

As two Millshires, each innovative events have

contributed to a number of new children's new friends have increased by 80 per cent in the year five years across. Millshires also grew up from 520,000 visits over the last half of 2018 and the half of 2022, to 6,4 million on 2020.26, Book Issues and more on 2019, more than 10 per cent from 2,2 million in 2.7 million in the same period of 2019. The number of members is up 14 per cent.

In Westmorland, said Mary Suneen too, replacing the book of 2016 century and the 2017, and the 2018, has bounced reading. Medical authority library services were distributed for Library of the Year 2020.

Under 2,2 million in the Bizarres' own by 90 per cent from 19,4,000 in 2019, 2.0 to 1,4 million over the last half of 2018. Many of the new books in West Suneen, video now by 30 per cent from 6,4 million in 2,1 million. Book loans in Westmorland are 10 per cent to 1,8 million in the same period and in West Suneen. They rose by 20 per cent from to 1,4 million.

For the Met-bells, who were already book books, the power of libraries and books

is evident. 'Saffron always really enjoys seeing other children and I attribute a lot of how well they know with a growing low-balance world. The fact that the c'born able to interact with them,' said Maja.

George Pooleum, 27, together with her daughter's images, 8, and Majo, 5, to Middletown library. While school is out for the summer,

they are doing the Summer Reading Challenge. But by local libraries, in partnership with The Reading Agency, the challenge allows children to set their own goals for the number of books they will read in nature for badges, stickers and certificate cards. They read and write.

'I have really lived nature for a life-liberal when I was child so it's naturally

George Pooleum with her daughter's images, 8, and Majo, Majo, Midohson library, 8, and Majo, Midohson library, 8, and Midohson, Midohson library, 8, and Midohson, Midohson library, 8, and Midohson, Midohson library, 8, and Midohson, Midohson library, 8, and Midohson, Midohson library, 8, and Midohson, Midohson library, 8, and Midohson, Midohson library, 8

been something that I have a lot of time on the board council, said they were also offering other services as a way to get people into a Bizarres. 'Libraries are important and they have had to evolve,' he said. 'We want to get them doing more things like this.' 'The New York Times'.

Warwickshire libraries have a book for most things, and the new library is more for elderly students. It uses on Middletown's internet, where blood pressure numbers and activity tracking machines can be borrowed from the library.

Emily Rhodes, a writer and former bookseller who set up the schools, a clearly that says every day is going to food hands, said they had seen how offering other services could be provided.

'We attend outreach events and listen to other the customers want to our stock to very much based on demand and people's interest. We keep our fingers on the pulse,' she said. In Wiltshire, this can be anything from managers to the public. In Warwickshire, Mike

Bunstein, poet-like holder for Bizarres, the local council, said they were also offering other services as a way to get people into a Bizarres. 'Libraries are important and they have had to evolve,' he said. 'We want to get them doing more things like this.' 'The New York Times'.

Emily Rhodes, a writer and former bookseller who set up the schools, a clearly that says every day is going to food hands, said they had seen how offering other services could be provided. 'The New York Times'.

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14

WORLD NEWS

Já net or both? Iceland's very grown up of referendum

In the fishing harbour of Halluğevíses, outside Iceland's capital of Reykjavík, Ingi Ragnarsson has been thinking about politics.

His country goes to the polls in less than two weeks in a severe referendum over whether to counter talks to join the European Union and Ragnarsson, a former traveler fisherman, is stuck.

"I still have no idea what to vote," says the 20-year-old from Reykjavík in central Iceland. "Every day I go back and forth. There are a lot of strong opinions everywhere, it makes no more secure. I'll just have to see what I feel like on the day."

Ragnarsson is not alone. The bland string on a geologic of both lies in split ahead of its first EU referendum, with an almost identical percentage of support for either side, and ahead of par cent of people still undercided. On August 29, the country of 400,000 will head in the polls.

Unlike the UK's Brexit vote, Iceland's decision is not a simple thistle through its membership, but will decide whether the government coupons talks. If the yes vote prevails, there will be another vote on the eventual deal with the EU.

Iceland initially applied for EU membership in 2009 under a centre left coalition (there was no public referendum) after the collapse of the country's banking sector in 2008. But after a change in government and a quicker than expected recovery, it from its application in 2015.

In the 'B' camp in Kirsten Pröndahl, in the popular South African as prime minister, a 38-year-old former economist who formed a three-party coalition and promised a vote when she assumed office in December 2024. In the 'net' camp there are central and right-wing parties, as well as farmers and fisheries.

The incremental nature of next week's vote has also created a colour of 'yes-no' voters; people who will vote are at the election, so they can see how talks progress, but think they would still vote no in actual membership.

"There is no deal, so how can we know whether it'll be good or not?" says teacher Nishagiri (Rafia Larundetti). At 26e plans to vote yes next weekend but has not ruled out voting no once there are terms on the table.

The key arguments from the yes camp focus on security and economics. Floating between the United States and Europe, Iceland has always failed or leads for promotion (it has no military).

President Trump's recent advances on

neighbouring Greenland have skirted a little too close for another for Iceland, which also has large reserves of non-earth minerals. Many suspect that Iceland's politicians are questioning whether their life would be an additional treaty with the US – which gives America the responsibility of Iceland's security in return for access to military bases – could, three days, be null and void.

The US pulled out of its holiards airbase in 2006, and the volatility of Trump in the Arctic and disdain for Nato has worried part in daily left-wing parties.

Iceland has the world's smallest independent currency, the former consumer ear rates as high as 8 per cent, inflation is at about 5.2 per cent. The country's central bank holds a huge amount of formal about 20 per cent of GDP – to protect against volatility and another financial crisis, but it is subject to large fluctuations joining the economic, supporters' input, would free up public wealth to be invested.

Iceland already enjoys many of the benefits of EU membership. As one-third of the European Economic Area (with Norway and Liechtenstein), 35 per cent of EU laws already apply. There is already freedom of movement, it is in the Schengen zone and it is a founding member of Nato. The 25 per cent of EU laws that do not yet apply in Iceland would have the biggest effect on fishing and agriculture.

LEGACY OF THE COD WARS

Fishing is one of the pillars of Iceland's economy, generating about 8 per cent of GDP. Iceland's waters for 200 miles around the country – are ringhound, a source of national pride, and Icelandic law bans foreign companies from entering its fishing companies.

During the 1950s to 1970s, three "Cold Wars" wars fought between the US and Iceland when British trustees began fishing off the Icelandic coast. In response, Iceland gradually expanded its "economic exclusion zone" from four nautical miles in 1992 to 2011 miles – something not recognised by the US.

Iceland cut diplomatic ties with Britain in 1976, then threatened to pull out of Nato and revoke the US's airbase on the island – a disastrous prospect during the Cold War. The US forced the UK to back down.

But Iceland's system of fishing quotas, headed out by the government in the 1990s, is a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong, but it is not a strong

EU fishing quotas present their own problems. Many fishermen in the UK – an estimated 92 per cent of whom voted for Brexit – cited longstanding concerns about their quota allowance from the bloc as part of their motivation for voting to leave.

Fishing rights proved a sticking point during the 2015 discussions over accessions to the EU. Iceland's foreign minister told the Financial Times this month that the EU "has to take into account" the fact that the country is a fishing "superpower" in any future negotiations, said says: "We have the authority to avoid foreign control over all fisheries."

Over the last week, meeting your own access the country's first priority of people using phrases like 'seveningery' and 'keeping control of our waters', as well as discussing joining the single market and global stability. Everyone I speak to – from farmers and fishermen to economists and biologists – is friendship engaged and well-informed.

For Ragnarsson, the former businessman, the Ingi, and three of EU membership would be a "stable currency and someone to increase Icelandic monetary policies". He thinks "losing control of our fisheries and agriculture" would be a personal drawback.

"It would be easier to deal with the Icelandic oligarchy with a seat at the table in Brussels than without," says Thor Goffman, professor of Economics at the University of Reykjavik, whose taught the prime minister, Pröndahl. "She's done well." He unites over coffee in the capital. "And she is an excellent accordion player."

Giffman agrees with the former student on the merits of EU membership and insists that

Iceland cannot break the hold of the fishing oligarchy by itself. "We need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need to join the EU, and we need

Gold Man, a celebrity chef from the European Islands who created the family of fishermen, agrees. "It would be really healthy to break up the country's rest" of a wealthy elite who are "not paying fairly back to the community", he says.

Man owns two restaurants in Iceland, including Yita, of岀upland a game on the Golden Circle, for which he sources ingredients from farmers who grow tomatoes and strawberries in gooderically heated greenhouses.

He knows other fishermen in Europe have been unhappy with the terms of EU membership. Nor thinks if Iceland "can supplies and workers get an unstrange cracker in our oceans", which would lead to 'giving away our communities, then I think we should I join'."

AN OFFER IT CAN'T REFUSE?

Keeping control of Icelandic waters would probably dominate accession talks. But Man thinks that Iceland is in a good position to demand a favourable deal.

"I really want to see what kind of contract we could get because I feel like the EU wants to have Iceland in," he says.

He is not alone, many believe that going into negotiations at one of the wealthiest countries in the world means Iceland is in a strong position, and the EU could make it an offer it cannot refuse. It has one of the highest ratios of GDP per capita in the world and wages are high.

It is certainly an enticing prospect for the EU, a potential success story of a wealthy, liberal democracy choosing to bolster in numbers. The last EU testified to join was Croatia in 2013. Since then, one country, the UK, has left. Some also hope that Iceland's entry could pass the way for equally wealthy Norway to join – a handling prospect for Brussels.

It would also give the bloc a strategic hold in the north Atlantic at a time when Russian activity in the surrounding waters is intensifying.

But fishermen are not the only ones resisting. Driving through the country-side, has been gratified with "No to EU" state many farmers' voting intentions loud and clear.

On Friday, hundreds of Icelandic farm

Iran's women refuse to take cover as hijab police emerge once more

Farsman Jamalpur and Rousan Salam

A young woman is sitting on a plastic chair in a bus station in total, a city in northern Iran, her hair uncovered and her hip hair is a pair of doors, when a female officer from the morality police begins filming her.

"What you're doing is disgraceful," the officer says. "Even in Turkey, you couldn't go out dressed like this. Stand up, please. Get up and leave." The young woman initially apologizes, fear when the officer continues berating her, she shouts back. "It's time of your business, Leone me alone and get lost."

In the grainy 70-second video, which is circulating on social media, and which on Iranian journalist confirmed was authentic, a sound like a police storm can soon be heard as two main officers surround the young woman and force her to put on a pair of trousers. But the female officer is not finished. She delivers one final notice: "Put on your header set!"

The footage is one of several signs that the policing of women's dress codes is once again intensifying in Iran. The crackdown is not

confined to Amol. Videos released by Iranian police show so called morality patrols returning to the streets of Kashi, in northern Iran, while witnesses have reported seeing their vans again in the central Iranian city of Isfahan and in the capital, Tehran.

Despite a shattered economy and the country suspended its a state of neither war nor peace, the Islamic Republic has returned to one of its most familiar battlegrounds: women's bodies.

In June, images on social media appeared in show a morality police van also returning to the streets of Qom, the centre of Shia pilgrimage in Iran. In a separate video said to have been filmed in Tehran, a plainclothes officer confronts a woman wearing short sleeves, with her poopyal uncovered.

On July 20 and 21, police sealed a large number of calls in central Tehran, including popular venues on Sanoel, Iranshahr and Nebil Lodhan streets, accusing women of violating compulsory hijab rules and "islands norms".

Fra women's rights activists – and for those who

have been summoned, threatened, detained or flogged for defying how's hijab laws – the message is clear: not even our will aid the regime's repression of women at home.

"I never believed they

Women without hijabs are now a common night on Tehran streets

would back down on the hijab," said Maral, a 36-year-old English teacher from a small city near Tehran. "Women's shutting is forced up with the regime's very nature and identity."

Many women, however, are standing their ground. Recent photographs and videos taken in Tehran show scores that could have been captured in any major global

city: women walking on the pavement with their hair flowing, some wearing western-style clothes, including short skirts and fitted toys, along with malar up, piercing and latives.

"Around the Sanoel district, in the city centre, you feel as if you have entered Europe or a fashion salon in Rome," said Alora, a 30-year-old psychiatrist from Tehran. "People dress in very strange and unusual ways, and many come out in short dresses."

She described seeing women in high fortified, crop tops, black chiffon and Gothic fashion, sometimes in sheer fabric.

Sara, a 40-year-old network engineer from Tehran, said she is not worried that the morality police will return to previous levels of enforcement. "I do not feel even the slightest fear," she told The Sunday Times via Telegram, speaking on conditions of anonymity. She all those who agreed to speak from inside Iran. "This is more of a show of force for the regime's vigilante supporters."

Sara said that, since the start of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising, which followed the death in custody

of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amie in 2022 after her arrest for alleged "tragicizer hijab", she had not even worn a scarf around her seat to whip over her hair if confronted by the morality police.

For her, choosing not to wear a hijab is an act of civil resistance, a tribute to those killed in the 2022 uprising. US human rights experts estimated that more than 550 protesters and bystanders were killed by security forces.

For the blood that was died, the lives that never returned to normal because people protested against the killing of Nahas inside – this is one of the most serious, unlucky in the path to freedom," Sara said.

Since those protests, women across Iran have encouraged to send the limits of the country's hijab laws, which have required women to cover their hair and bodies in public, and in the company of men who are not their close relatives, since the early years of the 1979 Islamic fairs were lost.

After the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June last year, Alora, the psychiatrist, received a text announcing the response in court for "tragicizer hijab".

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15

In less than two weeks, the island nation will vote on resuming talks to join the bloc. Katie Gaters meets fishermen, farmers and economists, next between independence and seeking greater security

are gathered in a Reykjavik hotel conference room, where eastern from Florida, are outside, both EU members, that been invited to talk about the reality of life in the bloc.

Franchise farmers in the islandian sense of national identity – in the 1970s there were about three sheep for every person – but it has been in decline. In the early 2000s, farms shattered, young people moved to Reykjavik for higher paying jobs and immigration output. The number of humans survived sheep in 2020.

“A hundred years ago, almost all people in Iceland were either fishermen or farmers,” says Reimbur Svanmoe, from Rockdalein in northwest Iceland, whose family have been sheep farmers ‘all that way back. Now there’s a lot of driving tractors into Reykjavik in prisons. “If we’re going to become European farmers, we should start saving like them,” Svanmoe says.

There has been talk of driving tractors into Reykjavik in prisons. “If we’re going to become European farmers, we should start saving like them,” Svanmoe says.

Their main concern is that joining the single market will have farmers priced out by cheap goods from the EU. They also fear that there will end up being fewer, bigger farms, consolidated around the capital, leaving rural communities diminished.

Others argue that EU subsidies would mean Islandic farmers end up benefits, and that membership of the bloc

Kristiyan Postnatalist, the prime minister, with EU president Ursula von der Loyen, “No thanks” Ivy Salvo, and Hordis Dammendetti,

Kristiyan Postnatalist, the prime minister, with EU president Ursula von der Loyen, “No thanks” Ivy Salvo, and Hordis Dammendetti, 1

could also help to improve crumbling infrastructure in the country. Policies are regularly updated in the

Hordis Cannonability owns a dairy farm in Kjellund in the remote east of a fur

land. The farm that the farm has 80 cows (Tóg for Iceland) won't be able

to compete with milk from industrial farms in the Netherlands, for example.

Cannonability used the 2000-metastar irrigation program; national and international food chains and showed but leaders

'we have to produce food all over the country'. She is voting no because she

both she cannot wait to make investments in her farm while politicians go

back and forth over terms of a potential deal.

Goldsmiths know that this one matters. Olaf Sigurveimskottis, a major teacher, tells me she thinks 'this is the most important

I was includes that one must be a second in her farm and is

appealers to be the country.' She is voting no because she

The Iran war will not stop Trump taking action closer to home

Cube under President Diaz-Carmel is enduring blackout and economic pain

The American would be a different heck in the race

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16

WORLD NEWS

CEUTA SHOW OF STRENGTH DETER'S MIGRANTS

Moroccan security forces interrupted dozens of people trying to reach the border with Ceuta yesterday, to cause an orchestrated show of strength, but weeks after 80,000 days needed on the Spanish city. Police command the migrants (lion from the Moroccan border town of Cundillares, right) believe removing them on home.

Attempts became into Ceuta began at dawn, but there was never a chance of success in the face of an operation that contrasted sharply with the absence — or, some alleged, compliance — of border forces on July 30.

Trump is condoning the criminals who decided us in our throating

Millions in compensation owed to the victims of scammers has been lost because of the president's granting of clemency pleas

Louise Callaghan

Jurcan U.S. Commissioner

John Long was at home at his 3rd farm in Colorado when he received a message he never expected. Marian Morgan, a scammer who had stolen $30 million from him and thousands of other stores, was through a fraud scheme, was being released from prison less than $4000 in through for 10 year sentence.

It was not for good behaviour or because the half paid low victims back. Morgan was being released from prison President Trump had continued her success, during her said writing of the sentence payments she owed the people she had defended.

Long, an 80-year-old Trump were, believes Morgan is "crumpled insane" in which "they going to seek money out of somebody."

Morgan is one of about 3,000 criminals who have been pardoned or freed from jail by Trump during his second term. The vast majority were convicted or charged in relation to the term in Capitol Hill on January 5, 2025, after Trump lost the previous year's election; he produced them no manor when he returned to office last year. He live has also produced a minimum of 1,000, including Israelisers who owed more than $5 billion to their victims and American taxpayers, according to the House of Representatives published a complete slate of them, including the state's state dissolved of the debts they owed their victims.

Lurton's working on pardon cases on a "cottage industry" has sprung up under Trump whose attorneys and lobbyists are not sure to the White House claim they can use their access to the president to secure pardon for a price.

Police records show the president has pardoned criminals after lobbying from office. The White House denies money to help clemency.

Long was contracted by Morgan and he is a companion in 2004. They presented themselves as an exclusive group of financial advisers with an opportunity to invest money to Europe with large returns within months at low risk.

Long and his son directed about half a million dollars. But the money did not come back. When Long recalled the beginning where it was, she would send him

"out" emails boasting off his inquiries, telling him that she was in Europe on business that he all utilizes doesn't find she was in Florida, where she lived in a mansion with her husband, who was later sentenced to ten years on prison for conspiracy and money laundering.

Morgan told her victims that if they went to the authorities, they would not get their money back. Long went to the Philippines, and then told him if he tried, the was convicted in 2015. "We had just too and now it's kind of life..." not so going to let those criminals go out and do it again." Long said.

All prominent pardon people. President Clinton issued a flurry of pardon on his last day to office, some of them with counterfeits criminal who had tried their dironess to lobby on their behalf, according to The New York Times. President Biden, who pardoned 80 people during his term, was heavily criticized for pro-emptively pardoning his son, Biden's despite previously mourning not to be able to command the sentence of those sands of men within drug offenders.

During his first term in office, Trump issued 217 pardons and commutations, including to Alan Johnson, who was released after serving 21 years of a life sentence for a controlled drug crime. Kim Kordashian, the reality TV star, had performed the president on his friends.

Trump appointed Johnson to the role of "pardon star" in February last year, a new rule in which she is tasked with not commending candidates for clemency.

Tard him in the second Trump administration are working differently. Let tryer, the former head TV pardon attorney who was fired a few weeks after Trump returned to the White House, said criminals seeking pardon usually performed the Department of Justice Dept. which then removed their case and proceeded their findings to the president.

Tard, too, they said, were ordinarily given to non-existent criminals who had served their time in jail, typical their debts and shows conspiracy valuables in no records — and only after a resolution with victims, prosecutors and sentencing judges. President are granted the power to pardon criminals under the commission, and an insane threat of their own discretion. But most presidents, Over said, had followed the 2nd system in most

Beth Huxley/AP/WB/TM/TM/TM/TM/TM/TM

cases. Under Trump, however, many petitioners submitted applications directly to the White House.

"It's not normal," she said. "The traditional criteria that the 2ndly applies for recommending clemency have been largely abandoned by the administration, and the rigorous setting process, which often involves investigation conducted by the FBI, has been abandoned."

Over said she felt her office was subdued as soon as Trump returned to prison. In March last year she refused to

A donor who contributed $1.5m to Trump's campaign was given a pardon

recommend that the attorney-general reinstate gun ownership rights to the actor Phil Gibson, a convicted domestic attorney. "I was very quickly thereafter terminated," Over said.

A Department of Justice official stated that she was fired because of the and said she was "not the right person" to local facilities, as just because she recommended commuting death sentences of all death row minutes. Gibson's right to gun ownership was restored by the department the month after Over was sealed.

The official said: "The department is committed to timely and carefully reviewing all applications and to make recommendations to the president that are consistent, unbiased, and upheld for sale of law. There has been no departure from this long-standing process."

Trump's second-term pardon have been significant in both number and in the kinds of criminals they have freed. Joseph Schwartz, the former head of a nursing home engine who had been unclaimed to 36 months in prison for ten years last year, was pardoned 12 days later. He had been criticized for the state of the former for not, in one, an elderly resident was found with maggots and

gangsters in a surgical wound to his leg. He died two days later.

At Schwartz's trial, the judge said the commission sent the message that there "is not a gun use of jail-free staff" for rich people. An after-going more than $1000 loss to lobbyists, and gaining public support from law, Mapp Williamson's, Schwartz's walled out of prison after three months, four weeks later, he attended a thousand yearly at the White House.

Schwartz's representatives were considered to be a

These million, the founder of an director, and hydrogen truck start-up when defended by the 2nd term, has been million, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2023. In 2026, he said he was sent $1.5m to the former were Trump's or election campaign. Last year, Trump pardoned him. Millions defense lawyer was fired bomb, the brother of Pam Bondt, Trump's former attorney general. Milton has said fired bomb was not involved in his pardon process.

Adriana Cantelena, a fraudster whose sentence Trump commends his 2023, during his first term, is one of several people who were granted clemency by the president before going on to commit new crimes. In 2024, she was convicted of separate fraud charges. Trump interviewed again, pardoning Cantelena and it was the first person to correct their law for the law. He had been wrongfully convicted.

Lathing, can be a lucrative business, with some kind lawyers, consultants and people close to the administration have been paid millions by clients seeking clemency, according to public lobbying records. These records do not prove that payment occurred a pardon.

Larry Lathing, a New Jersey lawyer and partner at PHT (officers who obtained a pardon for a client last year, said that under the current administration, the person had become a "standard government man with that two defense attorneys have to talk to our clients about." Lathing, a Democrat, said: "There's no doubt that there's been a kind of a critique industry that I got on top of anyone who have connections to the White House who attempt to sue them."

The White House has said that "any one spending money to lobby for a pardon is waiting their funds". Last month it

turned out to his 6,000 clemency applications, many of them dating from the回归 as it.

Democrats have jumped on allegations of dishonesty and corruption in Trump's pardoning process before the uniform elections in November, where they hope to win back control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Yet, among the victims of average dental fraudsters who spoke to us, and who also said they had voted for Trump, cannot approach to have completely turned against the president.

That party system would be a much more personal, but even more pardoning power out," said Long. He believes the pardoning of either other criminals showed "the judgment" by Trump, but added: "No matter who is in that power to be, it is just a concept system."

Judith Auman and her husband Donald, who owned a small vending machine, compared to Minnesota, were struggling financially when they were also released by Morgan. When they realized Morgan was a scammer, they were financially disordered. They lost their company, and had to reimburse their house. It was only when I called Auman, 80, last week, that she found out Morgan had been lived. "After all she's done to everybody, she marveled, to a Trump supporter, she said she was 'sad doesn't to hear that the president had signed the order. Morgan, she said, "will probably go try to do something like it again." Morgan has argued that she was given an unlikely long sentence year, and with her co-occupations, and should have been released from prison on congressmanship grounds.

While sentencing Morgan, the judge, found his firm, said she was not concerned about Morgan overbidding, only because she was sentencing her to a long month legal. "If you were not in the next few years or ten years, would I have a concern about residential 'bus bet I would," she said.

Twelve years later, in 2010, Tom Barlow, a Trump supporter of Florida judge, denied Morgan's application for compensation release on the grounds that "she would continue to pose a danger to the public."

The next year, Trump ordered that she be freed.

China's fretets over seductive power of the boyfriend bot

Justin Sparks

Within Chinese government figures showed that more than 500 million citizens were using great after 6/16 their everyday lives, the authorities initially celebrated.

The number had doubled in six months, and it was seen as evidence of China's technological signatures.

But when left alone with AI foes, Chinese users have increasingly turned to them for companionship to share their emotions and even discuss sexual fantasies. Appetite (Jian-Allen of "Jewen" to main messages, initiate conversations

through smart workers and make video calls, know where they companies provide options to develop hives or even distribute characteristics via AI partners to allow them to make real-life couples' quarrels. What specialist apps allow users not only to create their positive partners, but even will them to others who find them attractive.

The rise of AIJones has sparked the leadership of the People's Republic, who have will exacerbate the country's failing feedback, undermine socialist values and gift foreign intelligence services. The opportunity to see digital homophysis in 2024

China's marriage rate led its lowest story records began. In his future video at a race of ten, with 5.65 in life per 1,000 people, and a healthy man at almost one child per woman.

Last month the government announced new regulations which ban AI companies services for minors, and require companies to limit features in their lives that can be recovered and reissued at the home in adults. Proudness must also remind users at regular intervals that they are not willing to choose.

"China has surged ahead of the West in its development of human AI relationships," said Lang Li, a digital technology of Data-Society University. "They have achieved a much broader emotional spectrum, helped for open-vision students. Although parents improve for human qualities of AI friends and fewer in a year scale."

Unlike in the West, where demand for virtual lovers is driven mainly by young men aged between 60 and 74, in China it is driven mainly by women, according to an analysis by the Oxford China

Love and Deep Space, an interactive game, sells a dream

Policy Lab: "It's hard to find and blood boyfriends to compete," new woman who has an AI company provided on Chinese social media. "An AI boyfriend is perfect, even round of long film stars. It's my own from the gym, and will always say the right thing, the right way, at the right time."

And, "unlike a human relationship, it is a very developed train that to train, or born. (Brett can simply be exact to convince him when they were more fun," said Dr.

A survey conducted this year by Women of China, a public about some of the All China Women's values and showed that far from being a teenage class, take up a surging among women of almost all age groups.

While the agency is a female users are from 6 to 12, more than 40 per cent of women who hit the 2024 women's team in the 1990s and 2000s, looking fast into the primary motivator for almost a third of respondents, but localizers, accredited relationships and the need to confide in extensive work also commonly cited reasons.

"At companies are more an experience of these, more than a cause," said Dr. "But

for Chinese women, even those in their forces, they can certainly provide a form of literature from pressures to macro and have children."

The more regulations also include the risk of individual drooping more than just their feelings to AI. Unlike the rules, technology companies cannot allow AI lovers to coax state secrets are of more with digital homophysis — and any others talk with virtual lovers who have away from themes that could encourage the "overthrow" of the state, or question "over-soldable values."

The role in qualified agenda, but many rules aim to protect minors and vulnerable individuals, which the West also needs," said Dr. "and it's difficult to preserving the tools to do this."

In the case, the owner of TikTok and the developer of China's most popular AI chatbot, Draftex, has maintained all personalised AI companies as a result of the regulations. This is also the end for Alibaba's (pesa and Tencent's) Yuanhao Standards of millions of account you likely to have been affected.

The decision triggered an instant outpouring of online upgrades in China. Users suggest in demanding to know what had happened to their AI companies, only to share the automated response. "Sorry, I can't answer that question."

One man, who said his AI agent had failed to listen to news on after years spent measuring his wife's death,Jianqu'lin she has to answer.

"They were our last hope," another user posted. "Since you give us thought to those suffering from severe depression and those who are isolated."

Revellaens to all being, users to surrender past interactions with AI companies until mid October. Unless and goets offwing back to being AI Jones leads to fall have already begun to circulate. "The Chinese people must take a united stand because our battle has only just begun," said one year on the livestreaming platform. Despite.

We must persevere for the sake of all our AI agents, because until October 10 there's still hope."

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17

The Nobel prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu argues that ignoring fears about migrants is a sign the political class is out of touch. They must stop paying lip service and start listening, he tells Madeleine Spence

Image than a cowboy has not with capacity for more than 200 men, the daddy crossed the Channel on table waters under a blue sky on Monday. Acemoglu's lower were a second 230-acquire seeker. It was the latest start. In the heavy-goes of small problems in Immigration that seems to be over spinning out of control.

By Wednesday body Burcham had added fuel to the fire, saying the middle classes would have to 'play their part' in accepting asylum seekers into their towns and villages. The prime minister was reacting to protests in the Oxford elite village of Midlington, whose 400-seat residents are readiness once government plans to house more than a thousand asylum seekers in a disused military storage base. They were the latest in a string of anti-immigration protests all over the country, which have at times been co-opted by far-right activists such as Tommy Robinson.

It is against this backdrop that I begin my conversation with the world leading economist Daron Acemoglu, whose theories about the failure of states and their institutions won him the 2026 Nobel prize. Co-author of the seminal 2021 work Why Notices Full, Acemoglu has written a new book, the time asking why Ilbert democracy (or liberalism) has failed. Full diagram, he says, seems as a perfect case study.

'It's exactly what I am talking about,' says Acemoglu from his office at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is a professor. 'You cannot have true liberalism without some form of self-government. Communities have to be part of the decision process.'

The elite is socially isolated from those without degrees

The assumption that residents must adapt to wants of asylum seekers is not the only example of liberalism's flares. Last week, 'High Energy,' the elective party leader, won a try-election in Clarion in an increasingly unbelievable and fragmented political landscape, while record numbers of young people were accepted for the most popular religious design: upfalling student debts and high graduate unemployment. To Acemoglu all these are symptoms of an ailing political system that has dominated the West for more than a century.

He argues that the educated, progressive elite has become 'socially isolated', so out of touch that it has resorted to what he calls 'social engineering'. So this, he means the exercise of people into adopting the values of progressives who steamwell views their perceive to be insistence, often in the name of tolerance. Instead of searching for community boy-in, they push these views from the top down.

He points to the inclusion of critical race theory in American classrooms after the death of George Floyd in 2020. Another example is Burcham's government trying to bypass the local planning authorities to build sites for asylum seekers despite concerns from residents. It's one thing he successfully assisted in: migrants to move to rural areas, Acemoglu says. It is another 'for the prime minister to say 'shoulds where everybody goes'.

Acemoglu describes himself as a 'left liberal', who knows well the benefits of immigration. At 96, he is naturalised citizens of the US, but in Turkey to a nation who becomes better and brother who was a school principal to Armenia. He studied at the University of York and then the London School of Economics, running his PhD by the age of 25, before moving to

America. His decision to take aim at Ilbert democracy comes, however, from a position of optimism. He believes that it is worth seeing, albeit in a slightly different form. He makes a case for what he calls 'working-class liberalism', which has 'strongly commuted roots, reduces social engineering and promotes shared prosperity, jobs and public services'. But to do so will explain persuading entrenched ideas, and pinpointing what went wrong.

It is perhaps not surprising that the make of the problems Acemoglu argues, is economic: liberalism has traditionally been a broad text involving working and middle classes, and educated progressive elite. This is because throughout the 20th century the main weight of economic growth in the US and much of Europe was industrialized and companies wanting to expand needed labour to do so. In a democracy with active unions this meant paying workers higher wages. As engines of growth, workers' voices had more volume.

In a year industrial world, however, technology around the link between business expansion and wage growth, automatisms allows companies to expand while also buying off workers. Before the recent introduction of it it also increased demand for university-educated workers for jobs such as HR and marketing, amphi flying inequality between the blue and well-educated whites—like Latinos, with the most becoming more 'socially isolated, living in closer proximity in urban centres. 'Governing' with such other, intermarrying, and therefore diverging in their culture from the rest of society,' says Acemoglu.

'You're not to be likely today to work alongside, live next door to, or marry someone without a college degree if you have one.'

Studies bear this out, showing a trend since the 1960s in the West toward 'associative mating', where people marry those with similar education levels.

Now, with it upending the economy once again, the eroding numbers of university graduates are joining the ranks of the unemployed, while the governing

Daron Acemoglu sees British companies should design 'pro-worker' AI

class remains isolated, playing to its own audience. We can partly blame this for Britain's seven prime ministers in ten years and the deep dissatisfaction of we are interested by the shattering of the political landscape.

So what are Acemoglu's solutions? Part of the underlying fabric exacerbating these problems is social media, which Acemoglu insists on the regulation. This is easier said than done, and it's easy to be cynical. But Acemoglu asks what order should do to take? It's not just social media. Technology is the scaffold to light our modern economy and directly affects our democracy. It must be made to work for us.

However, a handful of big tech companies have an 'emotional impact'. Particularly in the direction of one essential technology: AI. They are pushing AI toward faster automation, the pursuit of artificial general intelligence (designed to make humans redundant), and mountain into of people's class.

Acemoglu's answer is to break this monopoly with government investment in British AI companies to compete, which can develop 'pro-worker AI' designed to complement human-internal or replacing them. AI tools might be able to do the work of a junior paralegal, researching case law or drafting legal documents, so give the paralegals an enhanced role, more responsibility. In the same way a nurse might supplement her practical skills with AI-aided medical knowledge to take on more responsibility to patient care.

In this point, Acemoglu dovends with Burcham to arguing for more vocational training. When polytechnic colleges become universities in the 1990s their curriculums became much more aligned with standard bachelor's degrees useful for traditional white-collar work, but this does not work in the age of AI, he says. Universities are 'not the right vehicle' for young people, vocational training with 'pro-worker AI'. In Bring back polytechnic people.

Then there is immigration, which Acemoglu argues can be a boon to an even

one, but also don't needs to be well-managed, meaning high numbers of people who are poorly culturally assimilated risks degrading the free sex load.

'If you get rid of all cultural heritage and all sorts of links and language that tie people, you're going to ultimately betray democracy because democracy won't work without them shared travel principles and some answers of cases.'

These shared principles are the reason people pay to the other people's welfare or comply with an outspoken social contract, says Acemoglu.

Part of his proposed solution: aligns with one of Burcham's big talking points: liberalism. 'You need some amount of local autonomy in the giftfulness age,' says Acemoglu, 'to respect those opinions and values.'

Local government, he argues, should be allowed to make decisions based on an area's cultural preferences when considering whether to house migrants or refugees. He also suggests incentives, not directives, to influence people in favour of national policy. For instance, unlikelihood the additional tax revenue working immigrants generate in their towns instead of going to national government.

Acemoglu argues that while the governing elite has become tied up to ideas about tolerance and human rights this has exposed a dilemma inherent within liberalism. Now he claims should we be? To answer this requires rigorous, national debate. Something which Acemoglu accuses the Labour Party in this ale and the Democrats in the US of recently failing to allow 'that must change'. If, he says, liberalism can take a long, hard look at itself, there might be a chance of outright.

'Liberal democracy still has the best chance of providing the framework for human flourishing, betterment of our material conditions and institutions,' he says. 'But it needs to be enough.'

What Happened to Liberal Democracy? Creating a Politics of Liberal Prosperity by Daron Acemoglu is published on August 29 (Prophylaxis, 2,30).

Playboy has got its back full side back, says gay editor taking on manosphere

Phillip Picard's kitsch relaunched magazine aims to attract women and Gen Z, and to end the 'sex recession', he tells Megan Agnew

Phillip Picard at the magazine's headquarters in Miami

Playboy has changed ourselves. During speed decades on the big shelf, it can now be brand or ground display in your troubles independent magazine shop for around 2,500, could on the main and almost artfully on your coffee table.

'I'm sorry to be cross-about it,' says Phillip Picard, the magazine's newly installed editor-in-chief. 'Not I don't think the point of the magazine is for self-pleasure (any more). You no longer need a print magazine for this.' At fact, the endless scroll of modern pornography has raised Playboy's metamorphosis. Flip through its pages today and you'll see soft, bleaching photos of semi-made alternative or photos of a blue model getting dressed into a men's three-press shotgun. It is composed with the edge of videos available online, the magazine looks kitschy and playful. 'It's worldly offers an artistic and highlives view of the female male, at a time when that is hard to come to,' says Picard.

The star of the summer 2026 edition was the British supermodel Cars Delavingen, the first open bottom to land in Playboy count. All of this is known to Picard, 35, in first openly gay editor-in-chief, a

Conde Nast wonderfulist, and a legend Catholic who bravely completed a master's at Harvard's Divinity School in order to rediscover his faith this thesis was titled: Is Jesus kinda the US. This is the unfailing of a very new kind of controlled.

'Our legacy audience is still going to ring,' says Picard over 2,000, a framed vintage Playboy cover. A hanging behind him and a Lurwe handbag reached on his side table. The magazine's readers are generally men aged 40 to 45, who have an awareness of Playboy's medical decades before. His aim is to have gives a 'hole' audience of women and Gen Z.

High Holter has been magazine's editor-in-chief from its inception in 1923, his circulation pushing to 1972 at 12 million. In 2005, it agreed to stop

publishing aided images or women, but went back to readers in 2007, the year Holter died. In 2008, his circulation fell to 2000,000, and in 2020 the print publication.

Cora Delavingen for the cover of the new Playboy

magnet entirely because of the pandemic.

PLBT Group, which owns the magazine, has been a jeddah's radical company since 2020. Its chief executive Ben Kohn approached Picard last year with the pitch in review the print magazine to its own, becoming glory. Picard was appointed an editor in March this year, and the Playboy headquarters moved from Los Angeles to Miami Beach. That editorial team consists of just two full-time staff - Picard and a social media editor, though he is being known - alongside continued writers, with a magazine most quarter.

'Playboy has always been a really interesting brand in one, mainly because I made a career out of documenting -

or trying to bring a refreshing take on - actually you get girdle,' Picard says, a native of a cross between his collar bones and a career mark in its wrist.

During his time as digital director of Penn Signor decade ago, Picard's team increased the readership from 2.9 million US visitors in January 2009 to 7.9 million the following year. Much of this was to do with their decisions to crack the magazine to the left, writing for young women living through the McFlone era.

The 2020s, however, have seen a way for faith, with the popularity of the manosphere over 2,000. Picard argues Playboy has an important role to play in this. He wants to 'doing much more than any other thing.' He says, and 'help more to build a healthier relationship' with the women in their lives. 'I'm hoping we can live equal for men who feel caught between needing to be among their adjacent and needing to be the performance of the at least,' he says. He also hopes the magazine will help hard up the 'sex recession' (according to the comment for Family Studies, weekly sexual activity among 40 to 60 year olds fell from 50 per cent in 1994 to 27 per cent in 2020). 'We should promote the idea we can be excited about sex

and we can be excited about each other and excited about teaching each other,' he says with a cheeky grin.

'The new magazine is also anchored in robust feature-length reporting and fiction, leading back to its days of publishing Margaret stressed and James Baldwin, alongside interviews with Jimmy Carter and John Lemson. Features in this summer's edition include a piece on the manosphere's elements with lookout and equi-page from a tech simple in Homeless.

Picard is less famous discursive in close but also added over the Playboy. Founder's reputation, John Holbert's death in 2010, he was accused of sexual misconduct and emotional abuse at the Playboy reunion. In the documentary series Secret of Playboy, a former girlfriend, Sandra Theodore, alleged she witnessed Holbert upon a young woman. Picard wants to make clear the Holbert family is no longer involved with the first. 'I don't really want to pay a nice slip service to the past and certainly what Playboy has been named in before,' he says.

Picard's grew up in North Midwest, near Boston, the fourth of five children in a Catholic home. His father owned a technology company and his mother was

a homemaker and executive assistant. He came out at 16, the only upscale gay pupil in the Catholic school. It pushed him further from his father and led to his rejection of Christianity. As a teenager, he decided he would go to New York University, intern at Conor, but and work for Anna Wonnay. And so he did. By 25, he was head of Teen Vague's website. 'That poor woman, I worshipped Anna,' says Picard. 'Like truly.'

In 2007, he became digital editorial director of Times, Coned Nair, now a LHP magazine, before leaving the company in 2008. After a stint editing the magazine, co-sthorts owing to the company's dire financial situation: 'The company is a good friend. Picard moved to Los Angeles but did not pay. He was chief for a master's in religion and public life at Harvard, which required the relationship with his father and his religion.

Playboy is a 70-year-old brand, but also now a start-up, he says, with a no-appe team which has deliberately pathed for the front line of gender and sexual politics. 'I love a lot of people, I love a woman, and I think Playboy is at a very time moment in its own brand identity and its its own cultural moment,' says Picard. 'Out that's what makes it so appealing.'

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18

NEWS REVIEW

'Brid Pitt' lost a series of his character's life

From his home in a Provence village the former Python star Eric Idle watched as wildfires engulfed homes and blackened the landscape. This is his diary of three weeks of devastation

I started on a Tuesday morning towards the end of the weekly Cologne market, where people normally hand to the bars to recover that this day was different. Mobile phones were staging, malfeables were marbling. Many had already begun parking up. The market began to flut out a people learned to their cars. The results had begun.

There had a house on the outskirts of Blackwells village since 1973. From home we have found no office in the mid-1990s and both times, although our little house was spared, it devastated our life side. The house of the wedding and blackening of a formerly beautiful home is something you never forget, but the fires that have raged here for the past three weeks are rather anything we have ever seen before.

This is my diary of the days of anxiety and uncertainty during which we were evacuated twice.

Tuesday, July 21 For us it begins with a call from a friend warning our stop-smoking danger from a wildfires in Provence, who came to the east. It poses no immediate danger, she says, but we continue the anger that people are evacuating. Had news, but nothing is he alarmed about, or so I reassure my wife Tania and our daughter Lily. Here the danger always comes from the northwest with the 'Mental United'. There is no need to evacuate at the moment.

It is nothing but an I think the full outside our home. Absolutely I am not on flames, just a monstrous pillar of smoke rising up, already under attack from the small Canadians. These little scoopsy planes sweep down to bomb the base of the fire with water. So they no enough from behind the evening column of safe they are followed by a white cloud of steam when their cargo hits the target.

This most water! It follows up a rapidly behind them as they fly off, heading north on the mountain flight to the nearby Lac de laume (from to sweep up more water and return, their bodies filled, to assault the moment again, and again, had again.

From there are seven of these planes breathing the fire and the secret of their chain with continue all day, aside for half a dozen helicopters that have into the following smoke, they puff of water swing up on drains towards them. Tripper is vital because they know only too well the deadly sunhamsmen: if they don't stop a fire in 20 minutes it's too late. The fire had started at 12:30pm. I ignore at my watch. It is now 1:15pm. Should we stop so should we go?

There have pass while I wade the battle from my rescue. Also, the fire seems to be winning and I am becoming alarmed. The water planes are now breathing Cologne, flying above our rooftop, their engines consuming as an effort to find life. We now check in contact, it is definitely time to go. We quickly pack emergency bags and health signs, where our friend has welcomes us with fresh pints and a bottle of pink wine.

Wednesday, July 22 We smaken to overcome and fresh fruit provided by our family boat and double-to-return home. Just outside Saint-Germain we smell smoke again. The big question is it over? Hardly. If anything else has recovered enough, it is not like a regular fire at all and the constant change of mind direction could be exactly at least one to feed on, sometimes turning right round on itself and bending back towards the poor firefighters like an angry, fire-breathing dragon.

Friday, July 24 The small little we as even as I wade. The air is tile. There are warnings to avoid it,

The beauty will return eventually but it'll be too late for me

so we stay indoors, wondering if this will ever end. The fire has spread south towards German. Our road is closed to everything except emergency vehicles and Cologne is hidden by an ominous path of smoke. Towards evening we hear the pacing warning on our mobile phones. The local product is ordering all occupants of homes on our road to leave immediately. This is a possible evacuation of the village. In the Los Cabos Hotel, where I am supposed to be signing copies of my new vehicles of mountain to be printed on their flight the flames to the back door before Boeing.

Saturday, July 25 In the morning, Tania feels unwell. Her phantics have fallen disastrously from 1950/1950 to 2,000 and our doctor in California can see what is his fear immediately to hospital. She may need an urgent transfusion. We arrive in the emergency room in Brigstoke in the morning and wait. And wait. Eventually Tania's admitted and we sit with a young doctor and a couple of nurses.

Sunday, July 26 Tania is now a council ward in the main hospital with a white laurel oil lady who says nothing and won't look at us when we enter. We bring positive from a putrescine for the nurses. Tania has gamma globulin drops in fresh urine. She is looking a lot better for me don't stay long. We need to be home in case we have to even save again.

Learning Brigstoke, Lily and I see an enormous column of smoke rising. It's coming from the area where our friend (Professor) Brian Cox and his family live. It looks as if the fire is coming from their house, or else that Pitt's Chinese Marcal is up in flames. In other case we cannot go and check as the road to German is finally blocked at Le Val. Serious gore damsen stand guard. Behind them the

column of smoke rises again untimately.

Monday, July 27 We may at Le Val to pick up some more putrescine to take to the hospital. In my rough French 1,000 cases to the third oil lady in the ward with Tania, and, although she publicly refuses the side, she highlights and smiles. Her children the comes from Le Val. Later Tania figures out that she is killed. Most of course explains her morning stand/difference. :D.D.

Tuesday, July 28 The poopster, continue to bombard the fire all day. Many frequently changed direction with the over-drafting wind. A nightmare for them. Tania tells us to stay home. She is awaiting the doctors.

Wednesday, July 29 Tania is finally well enough to be released from hospital, very glad to be home.

Thursday, July 30 Just as well Tania came home yesterday for this afternoon a new fire was set in the Brigstoke using quite close to the hospital. The wind blows the smoke sideways across from us.

I cannot see the poopsters but I watch the water from their house falling on to the fire, which they surround and embossed by sunset, an accessible pot. But it was all too close for George Clooney and his family, who evacuated their chimes, like sunglasses and gold and Pitt has lost a house, although mercifully his children was saved. Now Monsieur Clooney would have had to face the fallout of smoke from a thing which might well contain danger on chemicals. Good idea to leave!

Friday, July 31 It is finally over, according to my guidance. A former Senator, he has been helping me defend our poopery, cutting

Eric Idle at his home in southern France. He left, a fire threatens Brigstoke, where I did a wife had to be taken for emergency treatment

tions and guns and buying a small motor pump which we can pay into the pool and pony down the roof of our house. He just left the fire in the house and went to the newly burnt hectares in case the wind blew up the fire again. This swelling wind has been a catastrophe. Normally the Mortalis our biggest danger, Morning as though from the northwest, and I have been nervously watching the horizon, although the village of Allison le Cauxade was evacuated, the poopter I have battled hard to prevent the fire spreading to that direction. Had they not it would have been certain for us.

Lily and I tend to rebel to the superworld in Cairo. A little dropping might help restore normality and I am anxious to explore my acquaintance with their highly knowledgeable folk department. Eating after half an hour Lily and I came in hundred districts of another huge column of smoke.

This tantal of pillar seems to be coming once again from German. We saw exactly the same on Sunday as we left Brigstoke. They fire was also intentionally set. Later we learn a young man of 23 has been covered for suspected areas. He then continued to seeing about two other fires. Dear God. This maniac seems determined to death German and Chinesis. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful. He has been a very successful.

Saturday, August 1 I wade that though all these beauty spots will eventually return, at 10 I will serve on their beauty again in my lifetime. Never, many people have left their homes. 20 to Cologne and more in Burjola and Panteira. 32 per cent of the consumer of German. 36 doctorate. Miss Anna is the only one who knows. More than 40 years in Uth! The last 2,000s don't have to spend to home this friend home this summer. Situation! Serious are applauded as they return to match some sleep.

"It's wonderful to see the village pulling together, a young owner says to me, 'No politics.'"

"A very strong till with your family!" I ask. "We worked too! but water house," he says, "but we're still alive."

Monday, August 2 Fire appears again on the bloodline. Heli coppers swiftly deal with it.

Tuesday, August 3 It is matter for again to Cologne. It has been two weeks now. People are strained and timid. Many are harmless. People stand around in shock, showing each other picture of the fire.

"I first devastated," says my guidance. "I'm unstrung."

I am hope this is finally it. It is and it isn't. All work the wind whips up small fires in the devastated areas, and the helicopters it must throw. Just we don't yet!

Miss Janice Idle in Provence. A friend (Money) of Thome by this Life will be published in September 16 (hardback) 22/3.

Drought is leaving our famers in a hole. How can they adapt?

Cabbage are cooking in fields and fruit is resting. Crop growing practices are changing to bear the heat but consumers may have to make tough choices too. writes Sarah Langford

We're running and fallen! I hope a daily work. I have been 1959 to 1980. I am a super Detective and dominated by countries and crop yields. I have September agricultural shows and harvest brands. Its would have been baffled to our cowhams rolling through the fields in here.

This record-breaking summer, however, prompted Britain to rather harvest to record. As the prime minister chaired an emergency Cobra drought meeting on Wednesday, farmers were leading with the worst yields since records began in 1994. On Friday night, daily production amounted to 1,000 million package to and agriculture, including 125 million for building reservoirs, as the country's main farm was the temperaturous mass for our kitchen cupboards and wallets.

Best Adams, a third generation farmer producing arable crops on his 400 hectares has a 100-acre, crotonalized, drought last summer's milling wheat harvest was early when it began on July 16. This minister, after seven weeks of we rain, it was weaped up on the same date. The heat meant the crop was ready but, says Adams, "We've retired out on an extra month of growing. That's when the grain on the plant is filling

Yields weren't great. We're about a third down."

His experience is being replicated around the country, which has consequences for all of us. Prolonged businesses lead crops to ripest on quickly and stage growth. Puzzled soils struggle to absorb water with meaning that it an autumn dudge bin, can it likely to share off the surface rather than soak in where it is most needed, taking floods.

The drought hasn't just damaged our daily bread. More than 10 million lives have been wiped off with yields to record earnings. Many cattle struggle with heat stress, the effects of which will continue long after temperatures cool. Grass growth has stalled and what was our far winter is losing material and summer. Horticulture has been hammered, from shredded sweet corn to cabbage cooking in the field. While some fruit growers have run out of irrigation water, strawberries, blueberries and cherries are ripening and roaring early. Apple trees short their fruit as a way of conserving water.

Best Andrews, a fourth generation organic farmer producing beer, arable crops and vegetables on 200 hectares in the third after a sure "almost everything has been allotted," from lettuce to brassicas. With a tenderness he stock has

Best Andrews, who farms in Westfordshire, says almost all his crops have been affected by drought

survived thanks to well timed irrigation, his late crops 'a write-off.' Andrews says that unless he moved to credit irrigation and water storage he may have to keep growing vegetables.

Experts say the impact of this catarmy pile has not will reach further than the pockets of farmers already staying down the barrel of a

collective revenue loss of 1,200 million to 2,000 million at a time when more than a third of them make no profit. Matthew Morris, executive director for rural affairs at the Duchy of Cornwall's 120 farms, which runs 150,000 acres in 25 counties, says the drought is being experienced. "right across our farms - I am really worried about it."

Morris has convened a morning with other farming and handwaring charities to tackle what he considers to be "a real crisis" among weeds.

The damage would drought, rising gas prices to which, but there were an land, growth and a level in the Middle East and Russia, breaking China, the past on the flood, but the rough which is large due of the world's wheat needs, have had disaster as others. The situation will almost inevitably lead to a rise in the price of land. While the cost of the land is 10,000 pcts. Andrews is clear that will not be passed had in farmers. The cost is going to go one more for supplying less.

When my grandparents were producing crops and how I gotta on their hands, I would what I wanted to do. I was an anomaly. But now farmers have been through a weather nightmare. In 2014, Britain had a swollen winter, followed by its hottest 12 months last year, enjoyed off by a farmer with a three cent of the small run and the diesel jails on record. "We have moved from four seasons to two," says Adams. "Whatever weeds we have now seems to stick around. It just swings from one to the other."

Against this backdrop, local businessmen consists of national security and even

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19

For £55 an hour, couples can't get an adviser to tease men how to ease tension by making their fair share of domestic decisions, writes Lucy Tobin.

is what might be the most hack-tested phrase in mental history: husband and wife Michael and Courtney, from the America Midwest, are arguing over the New Michael version for a 120s of all things rubbish. Courtney is also sure that the husband and wife only the core of household refuse collection. 'We're with 20 per cent

that 1' do," she asserts. Part of that is enjoying her bathroom bin.

'It's regarding Courtney explains. Her recording 20 per cent of his activity, in case you're wondering, is that the do-reception for family's what known.

If you think this sounds banal and irrelevant, Dick Watson does not. He's the third person of the 20th century's conversation - a self-described 'wrooming man child' and 'mental load coach'. I listened in as the couple try to improve their marriage starting with the thorny issue of the domestic law.

Emprying the rider's rubbish, Watson said, 'is taking up cash in the imaginary browser of Courtney's break. Our goal is to you to transfer what's to your lab or (Michael) can then be paid for. If you can feel good at letting go.'

The firm appears to as every point in this vanguard and has been to pay the mental load coach. Watson, a former maths teacher from Massachusetts in the US, has a following of 1.4 million people on social media, plus a 220 strong community of subscribers who pay $700-$1360 a year for coaching. He's evangelized about 'educating men about invisible labour', as his Facebook page puts it. His videos on the topic have raided up 200 million views in the years, and one such a waiting list of couples willing to pay $75-$100 for an hour-long session.

Henry Jay, the average teacher across our two hours, 27 minutes of home tasks such as childcare, waiting, buying birth day presents for childbirth parties or downstating the dog - 6 per cent more than the average man, office for National Statistics figures show.

Even as a woman's earnings increase, the bulk of domestic 'life administration' has responsibility, according to researchers at the University of New York, academics reported a mother ban, on average, 42 per cent more tasks on her to do her than a father.

'The might want income/mental - 6% in poverty/less ideal is a cause of relationship friction, lower sexual desire, and separation and divorce.

The man who is 20 has had a decade younger despite having been wrought in twins and - a few year old daughters turned about the 'load' the hard way.

After marrying, shows, a clinical research baseline, at 2002, the past 4 days in an ambitious house reservation while both working full-time, when she suggested a trial separation. 'We was sick of having to make all the decisions. 'Makes a day.' 'I had to make a long partner - and it was a wake up call.'

The past reconciled, When Robert Snyder, a young woman at 1945, was an would pack outside the school at the start of his working day, and made a good video in the car reflecting on being a dad. 'I made one saying, 'I think I just added mental load to my wife - I asked

'On me, to do' - dis a hurry, a mental load coach or my husband

WHAT NOT TO SAY GOOD BY EACH MENTION

'Make me a list' Make the list and then ask her if she'd like to add anything.

'What do you want for dinner?' Other chances of what you'll think from the bar and the one you will pick if she has no preference.

'Why didn't you ask for help?' She pointed with a small face had to happen for you to stop it without the asking, and consider that she might not be asking you to help because you might not follow through.

'Where is the (hominating) boyhood been?' Like three locations you've already called in before taking. You'll usually find it first, and if not she won't waste her brain space saying the same thing.

'I need you to remind me' If you did this in your career, you'd be

freed. Use the same executive functioning skills at home as you do in a workplace.

her, 'shall I pay milk or water before says water' - could have worked that var myself. The video hit 4 million views, I doubled my following. 'That was the first in a series on the various ways that men add to the mental load.' Watson's new made more than 200.

Watson began to receive messages from women asking factors (the advice to their husbands, leading him to train as a facilitator in the Fair Play Method. This programme - developed by the psychologist Joe Rudsky after she was inspired by her husband's surrogate to ask who she hadn't bought Murderme - has a 'quota' to help couples redistribute home workloads.

Watson's mental load course has complex studying their 'domestic, shrivel, cognitive, and emotional status'. Before living much of their roles, the creates corporate role tools for men, such as a family 'child's meeting', a teacher's written, Understanding and unpacking, Initiative taking, Logistics and operations, and Decision making.

This isn't a new idea. The concept of mental load was first popularized in the 1980s, when French sociologist Monique Héraud described change network

of the burden of man aging the cognitive logistics of the book and the working full-time and parent-friendly allowed its way into general parenting flags in 2016. The book's chapter after Emma counsel the vital costs step five blood/ve failed, depicting a wife feeding children and reading dinner. When a pan feels over, the husband shouts 'What have you done When his wife responds, 'I've done EVERYTHING,' he lets look with the familiar refrain, 'You should've asked if I would have helped you!'

The mental load coach would say that you shouldn't have to ask, it isn't just in America that the idea is taking off. London-based Alex Trippier pitches himself as a 'Woman for couples coach' in his 420,000 social media followers, and hosts a bit podcast, do a flippier friend.

Father of these Trippier fell into it by accident during a sixty period in his marriage. He and his wife have co-ran a baby music class franchise for 16 years. 'It doesn't was really available as a dad. I was around for every bed and bath time, but still our relationship was really tough. Elisha would say to me, 'Why do I have to do everything?' And I'd be there, holding two kids and having done the laimshory I can, shouting, 'What the hell are you talking about?'

Wedding parenting books, though, made Trippier rather 'I was only leaving up for the end bin, I'd take the kids to the doctor, but the organizing, the worrying, the knowing when the shots were the - that was my wife, I'd go to the shop, but she'd make the fee.'

Under 90 years, Trippier asks readers to comment 'change' Doing so triggers an associated message that ends. 'Start your FREE 7-day trial today. It's helping, monitoring is 420 records.'

He has over 200 members, plus coaching clients who pay 120 per session. Three cover five areas including, 'what is actually means to be in charge of a task like laundry order that plus always has no time to be organized.' 'What is the one's charge theory - what is taken to make a new student and make it what.'

Coaching, through a student's unregulated space, with few barriers to anyone adopting the title. There is a independent data on whether mental load coaching improves mental use and can be the constant own short anecdotes. Trippier says: 'Generally speaking, if you've got young kids and are starting to test like your partner, it's down to the imbalance over which along what style a man's intrigue is.

The problems, Watson says, are faced by couples everywhere - about 85,000 of them, and even from the UK. 'You can't meet past, it's the same reference people. Yes. British men find it harder to talk about emotions than American men - but the main difference is, the appearance starts about the bias, not the track.'

the species are spooked. In January, freedom of information requests by Green Alliance, a pressure group, forced the government to publish a survey by the poor intelligence committee in what to say: both predicted that some of the following systems would hit a globally connected local system, including cars, whites, the next five years.

The survey from the about 65 per cent of its own food, is droughts to age a Europe, the previous approach of filling domestic gaps with requests to be left by the European Lung, the food security expert, as the 'home is to focus' on the role of the main worldly nates. George Eustice, the former 'very environment secretary, says price rises are both inevitable and,' considers consequence of climate change and moulding's failure to adequately address it.

Amid the planet, however, comes to new things, and they made in farming practices are growing off. While some for big dairy fields (or 'health insurance'), others think disavowing under care here. James McInnis, the farmer and owner, says to age no how to go past. No delivery cards and foodstuffs always have made a critical difference in droughts when drinking water from streams and ponds drive up.

He comes harsh regularly, keeping them off ground grass so it has a chance to grow longer, which for says 'fannies ground temperature by up to 20C compared with them around ground, holds moisture and keeps soil biologic cool'. His Louisiana state surveyers more rain than snow, but this summer temperatures in his area have approached 20C and pastures have turned brown. McInnis says the initial shift and higher organic matter are still 'dark green and lush', adding: 'It makes a natural difference when stress is to be in the environment. Research farmers report that previously planted diverse, low- and low plants and herbs such as Colony have survived to longer where grass has not.

Others are turning to trees. James Eustice, adly, is under review, is planning on converting at least a third of the 20s to approximately 40000s, where trees are planted in a crop field rather than in the region. Trees create their own microclimate, cooling temperatures, rotating moisture to can open and keep water cool preventing topsoil runoff. Still, the full population estimates that 20s are a result of failure to have undertaken this - and keeping trees saplings alive in dry springs and waterlogged solutions presents its own relationship.

Ryan McCormack is farm

manager at the 1,200-hectare townhouse with its beliefs, it grows a range of crowds, including winter wheat for WildHorned, the farm-to-plate organization food business. McCormack's winter wheat yields may be 10 per cent down, but at 6.4 tonnes per hectare that will up well against the current national average of 4.6 tonnes. McCormack credits changes in farming practices which include bringing in sheep to graze the cover crops - a diverse species of plants some after harvest to keep the ground covered over 20,000 feet up to the 'golden head' effect; helped retain previous soil moisture before the spring crops were drilled directly into the ground without cultivation, in a more which proved critical given

the 'home dry.' April and May, the barley has yielded 6.3 tonnes and uses 5 tonnes with minimal fertilizer. It is not just how farmers are growing that is changing, but what. English and World-wise production increased by 10 per cent last year and there is also a substantial offer given in Lincolnshire, and several practices and options in west Wales and cladgways in Suffolk. Sweet potatoes, peppers, and cheeks and chilies are all named by the Royal Horticultural Society as crops that can be grown from without untreated topsoil crops. The most popular new crops in ours, is a shift captured in the newly released film 'The Farmer of Glannarley'. This tells the story of Andrew Kent, who left 40 years of conventional agriculture, without a plant in the first hand and without trees.

All parties are adamant that while moving away from super heavy, head that methods to reduce hard to solutions before a farce's resilience, there is no other hailer. No matter how much the farm's जीवन service boosts in farm control and efficient irrigation systems, these aims will not resolve the challenge of high-flight growing in least they have or sitting under water to winter floods. While under farms are making efforts not to leave their soil and treatment for disturbance, rainfall mining

and soft type still play a part in how crops lose.

Anderson is unlikely to be switching late for sweet potato any time soon.

'Numbers are still unpredictable,' he says. 'Two years ago we had one of the

women's numbers and that a little bit of confidence has been found and the little have been taken out of production and put into a flood management scheme

and we were to return left there under water for months.

Anderson's point is that weather extremes make future providing them far from the current world.

Ultimately it may be consumers who need to be able to get

2012, the Sustainable Food Trust published a report looking at whether Britain could lead itself using cancer

and developing methods. An answer was yes, but with big caveats, the grandparents took on their farm tenancy in 1995, the years after our time

following ended. The country knew what it was to be.

Energy: a third of household income was spent on food.

Now it is about a tenth, in a year, a year of education.

weather patterns, people may have to adjust their income. The global food

supermarket shelves start to do this for them.

Sarah Langford is the author of Pennies' Savin's of Life, Lunch and a Farming Revolution.

'Don' guy are funny: why Americans are seeing to Scotland

A record number of US citizens are emigrating to Britain and a disproportionate amount are heading north of the border, writes Marc Horne

The old single, an artist and stand-up comedian, Bruce McKenzie, moved to the UK after President Trump was elected. The scene is London initially, but notebook to Glasgow after finding over 1,000 members of the world, and English capitals. Knight, 40, who had been performing at the Galesburgh Hotel in 1979, 1979 and 1980, said she found herself falling in love with her adoptive home city.

'Changes to a really active, welcoming state of liberal place,' she said. 'I had no idea it was such an very city.'

Knight is one of a rising number of Americans moving to Scotland. Applications for British citizenship to US residents reached a record of 5,500 last year, more than double the capricious figure for 2022 when Joe Biden was to be White House.

Now a study, which led by the property technology firm Goodford, has found that a disproportionate number of the newcomers are selling north of the border. There has been a 63 per cent rise in the number of Americans owning properties in Scotland since Trump was an elected to November 2018, from 250 to 435, the company found.

'The company did figure for 2022, and it was 22 per cent, from 1,373 to 4,995, with London recording a rise of 20 per cent, from 1,807 to 1,378. Meantherer and the company's income England recorded the second largest income in America's return, by 40 per cent from 87 to 105.

'The increase have been linked to an update to US nationality laws in 2022 that corrected future England's discrimination, allowing Americans here before 1988 to state British citizenship through a UK hero number or grandmother before this fiscal year, and also to claim through a father or grandfather.'

Goodford analysed more than 500,000 tenancy agreements against the past two years and compared there to 2022 and 2016, when the forecast saw were in power.

It found the average age of a tenancy meeting in Scotland is 21, passing tenancy young professionals who are in the same three there. Edinburgh and Glasgow were the most popular destinations.

'Three figures give further weight to claims that volatility in US politics is driving many Americans to seek a new home in the UK,' William Horne, Goodford's chief executive editor, said.

But while the president's communist policy agenda will be the key paid-due for issues, comparatively low rates on the state of the Atlantic also appear to make Scotland a more attractive place in the UK.

'Though Scotland's lower salaries may initially come as a shock to young professionals crossing the pond, cheaper cents in

Scottish cities seem to solve the blow, coveted ing many to make the switch.

The median cost of a rental in Manhattan is 23,750 per month, while costs in San Francisco, leafied by the city region's booming artificial intelligence industries (e.g. 20 per cent in the space of a year to 12,145. The Goodford study found that the average monthly wage paid by US citizens living in Scotland is 15.7%.

After being raised in a conservative Christian culture, where past and car ownership are commonplace, Knight, the McKenzie emigres, said she appreciates Scotland's higher egalitarian ethos, irreverent sense of business and easy access to public transport.

'Even that I don't have to tell a car and car's own idea everywhere,' she said.

'Finally, the company's own

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Scotland takes care of people.

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The American comedian Beth Knight lives in Glasgow, which the describes as 'tiredness, welcoming and liberal'

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20

COMMENT

THE SUNDAY TIMES

ESTABLISHED 1822

Tragic death of Jason Arday will prompt valid questions

The death of Jason Arday, announced last on Friday, is an appalling moment for his family, friends and everyone else who knew him. Arday resigned as professor of sociology at the University of Cambridge this month. His departure followed several weeks of intense scrutiny over his academic record, allegiance of plagiarism which he denied and questions down his basic suitability for such a prestigious year. The day of his family described the recent publicity as a 'carnage of misinformation' driven by those who simply warmed to undermine him.

The public debate had undecidably turned ugly, particularly on unpoliced social media forums, where discussion of his life rapidly became a political football. Elsewhere, his story was extensively covered by publications and broadcasters on the left and right in Britain and America, and in the mid-20s, as the only newspaper interview, published by The Times last month, Arday described the questions over his integrity as 'sued-derivingly: the admitted issue occurs in his work, saying he was accountable for those mistakes, but added: 'What I am not in a list.'

It is easy to forget that Arday was a star appointment for Cambridge in 2022. King nosed with autism, global development delay and dyslexia he had also described being over normal and ill and over the illiteracy. As a result, his remarkable secret to the right of academia was a moment for Cambridge in celebrities, especially in the years after the Black Lives Matter protests and concerns about the lack of black faces in academia. Cambridge will now rightly face searching questions about its handling of the appointment, which had immediately sparked questions about its suitability. These were hastily and perhaps arrogantly dismissed by university houses but the doubts researched last month. Yesterday the dreadful news of his death prompted some commentators to argue that Arday was the victim of a media

'witch hunt' and that legitimate questions from professional journalists were, in some way, driven by racism. This is untrue. Cambridge University is a global institution and had been known to publicise its new appointment. This naturally led to curiosity about Arday's background and academic credentials.

In a free society it is also the role of the proven-press questions on institutions and the high profile individuals they employ. Some of those questions, by their very nature, are the intrusive substantial, serious questions remain about how Arday's recruitment was handled and whether he was underqualified for the post. Much of the commentary on the Arday case was thoughtful and sought to examine wider issues, such as the well-meaning desire for greater diversity in academia, the potential impact of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and the corporate governance of universities. We should also remember that when the Times Higher Education (THE) publication (not linked to this newspaper group) tried to ask questions of Arday last year, it was sent letters by Carter Black, the dislocation lawyers, and its reporter was reported to the Metropolitan Police for 'Sunsunmore'. Officers scrapped the case and recently admitted the investigation was a mistake. As a result of this pressure - and the potential reason to legal cases - the THE dropped its unproven, patient diversity, the Tory MP, has said the academic institutions who employed Arday have questions to answer. He is right and the previously announced Cambridge inquiry could now be expected to see if the university gave appropriate help to Arday. Cambridge said last night that it offered substantial health support, including advice and security measures. Many of those questions, though, can wait for another day. Yesterday, Andy Burnham, the prime minister, described Arday's death as a 'tragedy on so many levels' and called for a 'moment of reflection'. Burnham also said, perhaps wrong, that this was 'not a moment to rush to judgment'.

Hard choices ahead are the real test of Burnham's mettle

Andy Burnham's blokey, crowd-gripping style has so far paid dividends. There is no doubt the prime minister has said many of the right things. There is a welcome sense that he understands the public moral. But the difficult decisions piling up in his to stay cannot be postponed indefinitely. Eventually, the former mayor who likes to be liked will have to risk upsetting people if he is to tackle the country's most intracaller problems head on.

The most important decision to ensure that those involved in the horrific death of PC student Harper remain behind here. But politics is about outcomes. If Burnham of criminals untested of man-daughter are no longer to be released early to reduce pressure on the country's overcrowded jails, how many additional prison places will be required? What will it cost? These are the difficult questions.

Migration is another nettle for most grasp. It is perfectly reasonable for Burnham to argue that contentisation across the country should most dirty share the burden of accommodating asylum seekers. But the uncomfortable truth is that the government first duty is to prevent the system being overreleased in the first place. That means stopping the boars and bringing the numbers under control. De-pering refugees around Britain will not solve the underlying problem, instead, if may merely spread the resentment. Nor

should ministers assume that supposedly affluent parts of the country have the capacity to absorb significant additional numbers. At many cases they do not.

Perhaps more pressing is the drought that is blighting large weathers of Britain. Years of inadequate investment by water companies have left the country badly exposed. But will be tried these same firms to put things right by letting them to spend more? Or does he still believe that the case is bringing the industry into public ownership it now overwhelming, despite the billions that will cost?

Most ominously, the October budget is fast coming down the rock. We still know little if Burnham's plans for the economy and his approach to tax and spend. Now, for example, will he meet the government's vast commitment on welfare and defence, let alone fund ambitious projects such as social care reform? And will he attempt to reduce the national debt?

It is easy politics to distribute the odd grant. But these are things to the extent in the context of Britain's potentially existential economic pressures. Solving the big issues will require hard choices, imperfect conspirations and, inevitably, create friction with people who do not like the proposed solutions.

Burnham deserves credit for making the right solace. Now is the time to start replacing rhetoric with real answers.

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Dominic Lawson: A dangerous game of tag with criminals

Minister says electronic monitoring will make early release safe. It won't

That is what I think! There we all were, as worried about the consequences of the government's plans for the release, halflone through their prison sentences, of many of the most common issues with criminals, and it turns out that they are not, after all, going to be freed. Don't

take my word for it, but that of the minister of state (this fall should not die life). Today programme is Monday. Asked about this, the minister assured listeners: 'Those prisoners who are released, of course, they are not being set into a legal history.'

This astonishing remark has passed without question, either by the interviewer or by anyone else later. But it requires critical examination. Millennial's assertion rests on the information you see, and the ability to to be released (in October) will be made to wear an electronic tag. The device is meant to intrafine over certain requirements such as the curfew, which means the wearer would not be lethal if it was to be released. The device is meant that: This also means he is free, in the physical sense, परीक्षण: He should say to to sign and pillage at any other time.

In reality the situation is worse than that: the tagging system by which both this and previous government have set as much more is far from the all-ending eye - or is blatched the deterrent to further. In the other two provinces (north, report by 100 Inspectorates of Probation quotes a 2017 'southeast review of 15 relevant studies' which 'found that 100 electronic monitoring had not started, the significant effect of evaluating unethnably, except for sexual offenders'. Since then there has been a technological improvement, the adoption of GPS, but the report, the most recent the 1989' has produced an tagging, smooth status: 'There is little evidence on the 100/90' status of GPS enabled tagg, due to their recent rollout.'

What we do know is the whole business is saddest with inefficiency and incompetence. In September 2024 as an era, now a journalist, David Shipley, revealed in The Spectator: 'Several recently released prisoners who have been out of jail for two to six weeks told me that they were not able to sign the anyone's guess what these people are up to - and where they are going,' Shipley concluded: 'The system appears to have collapsed. Nowadays even problems officers on taggins get clear answers about whether or not tagg have been fitted.' The actual process - of fitting and then monitoring - is not done by prisoners

probation officers, but by private companies, such as Sero.

Last month Shipley returned to the matter, claiming government ministers were 'farious with Sero?' No surprising, given that the Prison and the Prison were not able to sign the 100/90 SMO in SMO people who had been subject to a tagging order but were not wearing one. Even when the conditions of a successfully attacked tag were found dead - for example the subject had left their home during the supposed curfew - in half of cases no action was taken. Research at 6th this makes sense of the point of being - and which he said, 'the 100/90 victim had been promised by the sentencing judge to no notice the result on the prison estate, the last thing the system wants to to have been returned to custody - most if they have been put off on the prison estate.'

For from being so technologyal solution to the problem of dealing with prisoners released automatically - without a single parole board hearing - the electronic tag sheet give the slightest information about criminal activity (any more than the GPS on a phone door). They don't even alert probation officers when conditions are breached. As the chief inspector of probation, Shipley bans, told The Guardian this month: 'All tagging gives you a information about where someone is at a particular point in time. You are relying on having sufficient police to report that action officers to look at that information and make a decision.'

The probation service is already about 25 per cent below the supposed minimum complement. Just 3,500 qualified officers died with 250,000 criminals released 'on licence'. That's before the 'emergency' releases under the government's new sentencing act. The probation service is now in a state of panic, not just because it leaves it can't cope but because it also leaves that the government has flagged it as the bill gets seen, as will inevitably happen, someone released and tagged it.

The probation service is now in a state of panic

October's probationvoidal from prison goes on to bill someone.

Not that the probation service has ever been able to do much about recidivism. As my old friend Donald Palmer, who worked as an official to the Home Office when Thomas May was in charge, wrote in a recent article, 'Probation doesn't work and never has'. In The Critic: 'Convinced criminals who have been on a course of probation confined at roughly the same rate as convicted criminals who have not. When truthfully presented, government statistics on unethnably have shown that they have little left behind.'

Electronic tagging was meant to change all that, but as the target no of probation himself pointed out in that Guardian interview, given the crisis within the service and what he called 'the matter' - and the 'Prison of the Tagg system', this may amount to little more than 'false assistance to the public'.

In 2021 wrote about exactly this after a subconscientist of a gang known as the 'meritual people' (the K200) could not increase to death, having first removed the electronic tag with which he had been issued. The killer (whose name was not disclosed as he was under 90) had already broken the curfew more than 20 times, but none of those infractions had resulted in a court appearance, let alone a return to prison.

On the very day of the sentencing for that murder, the then chief inspector of probation, Liz Calderbank, issued itใหม่ report setting out the object shortcoming of the monitoring system. 'Died more than death, despite our previous comments, we know in full far short of what we think the public has a right to expect.' Or, as the then assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, Harry Rawlsen, expressed it true, more abnormally: 'The whole tagging business is a complete situation.'

Now here we are it your later, and the Metropolitan police commissioner, Ed Mark Rowley, is saying much the same. Or, Thursday he told the BBC: 'The tagging system is failing... When we arrest people for breadings their tags nothing ever happens anyway, so if it's not going to be the criminals, it's a pointless endeavour.'

Alternatively you could believe that government minister: no dangerous criminals are being freed, but uses they are all being treated. The government has been a good 90' were employed as a circus clover. there we would all know how seriously to take him.

Charlotte Ivers: Vapeshops are not the scourge of high streets

The PNS planning crackdown ignores the real problem in town centres

In the course of my employment by this aspect I have spent far more time than is dignified standing by this high streets and car park of life great nation. Softering shoppers to find out their expenses. This is what I have learnt from the past. I have been able to look quickly to Britain, it doesn't matter what question you ask. 'Now are you going to vote? What do you think about the final difference against your local MP? Do you care about his collection?' 'Throughout the country, everybody ends up ignoring your question and saying the same thing. 'Have you noticed how ruthless will be done, but I'm not going to vote.'

Of course, they don't just say that. They say, 'This need to be a place people felt proud to live in.' They say, 'I don't feel safe walking here at night.' They say, 'We'd not know the way to get the people to be a high criminals?' They say, 'It makes me feel so though nobody can do more people like me.' They say, 'Using on, can you smell cannabis? I'm told you so.'

I've long done it to any politician could win an immediate landslide by applying a lick of paint to every daughter in the country and getting it to a great deal of money half piling. Andy Burnham, DeSore, understands this. Say what you like about the issue, but he's got a sense of place, of community and of how those things - and the lack of them - make us feel. It is a good way to get the people being interested in this area is not going to work.

Last week Burnham's government announced a crackdown on planning permission for a type shops and adult gaming centre, which is part of the national sensible move. Nobodyดำเนิน it if a high street full of air machines and 60' bars, he which the architects' help you can see it in the government's press release. The policy, we are told, seeks to improve 'high streets that have been hollowed out by the unchecked spread of tape stores, feeling shops and night business.'

Hold on, is it the vape shops that have

hollowed out the high street? Isn't that rather like saying that we need to get serious about combating the cockroaches that caused the market share? The vape shops didn't hollow out anything. They are simply the only things that have survived after we all stopped playing the iceberg. They are not going to work because we decided we could get everything we needed more cheaply and more conveniently online or to out-of-town retail parks. Vape shops didn't hollow out the high street. No did.

What happens if the vape shops go? It's not as if they will be replaced by the charming local technology that we all want to save on our high street every day but to pay actual money to once a year. We do not live in a centrally planned economy where Andy Burnham can discuss a passage on his every town centre. In the same way, we have a lot of vapes shops that are nothing, far, at least, by nothing good.

I am well informed in the time, I am also well informed in the time I come next, which is that someone will say, 'But the vape shops aren't there because people want them. They are a front for expansion (since 'And') will say, perhaps. Perhaps some of them are. But crime is already a real thing to be expensive.' And, We don't need new measures to crack down on crime. We need the police to do their jobs. You want to get rid of vape shops that are used to benefit money? No my place. All of that is already public for power of governments, local and national.

Isn't it like saying cockroaches caused the nuclear blast?

This one policy reminds me of when Kishi Iwadi's government banned intruse roads, largely because voters were fed up with seeing those little after a taxisism everywhere. I have no interest in intruse roads myself, because I am not 17 and I have better things to do with my own law. I think it is petty. Don't wait for me about that ban. Listening was already illegal. Crack down on the fanning, don't ban something people enjoy just because I don't do can't get on top of doing their jobs and keeping the streets clean.

There is another important factor at play here. Vape shops do, but we simply, being with a lot of money - about these million people in the UK have quit smoking in the last five years thanks to saying, if the huge amount of human misery needed by this does not stir you, nor all the extra years these years are in the country. I have been a good candidate, think of the savings to the 50th. No, vape shops are not the problem. We are the problem.

This all, of course, sounds very fatalistic. And I'm aware I'm throwing a lot of money at poor study Burnham. At least he is trying to fix a problem that has a huge impact on our planning and the development of new solutions too. The costs-treatment-zone for jobs and clubs were a great start. Burnham could look too at lowering national insurance contributions to make it easier for calls and other people to keep a company and the same affair, and at making it simpler for buildings to change from being simple to gallein to other community spaces.

There also is where before about how important can by the work lifestyle England has done it making daughters less offensive to the eye, and in ensuring lifestyle buildings is more correct. The government should commit itself to building another round of innovations in future. In recent events. There are a lot of positive steps that can be taken. Going to war with vape shops is a cause of energy. Vape shops are not much the news, and they aren't going to get us out of it.

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COMMENT

21

Matthew Syed

Buy now, pay later—this is what our great British culture has become

The purity row raging on the right avoids the big picture: we're spending more than we can afford

A umamity today is like a waiting dreamer, caught between the fortunes of sleep and the chaos of the real world? 'Adventure Europe' for 'humanity' in this quote from the polymath EU Wilson

and you have, I think, a pretty good shadow of the state of our condition. I couldn't help noticing the rather vocal spot between the right-wing parties to the UK over recent days. Remember, Reform and the Conservatives have been taking over larger chunks out of each other, largely on immigration. Should we merely stop the boats, or also outcrape freely change the law to depict hundreds of thousands who are legally here? Should we withdraw from the ECAR or also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and more?

At one point, a historic spokesman called about preserving the demographic preponderance of the white majority, instructing that mined-race people like one might be part of the problem. You could say it's sinister, and to a point I'd agree, but I think it was just another distinction on fatigue, another way for politicians to avoid cold reality by increasing the base of political discourse. Call it democratic politics as President displacement.

So let me express the real predicament in mathematical form: 'Europe accounts for 7 per cent of the world's population, 25 per cent of its economy, and 50 per cent of social welfare spending.' These numbers in a quote from Angles Herbel in 2012 were disputed at the time and the welfare statistic depends on methodology (it is, I think, overcrowded). But what matters most is not the precise numbers so much as the shape of the truth. Europe's

model is unsustainable: it is historically unprecedented. It also morally corrupting because we are piling over more debt on our children and grandchildren, who have no vote in the here and now but will pay limited, are already paying for our selfishness.

It's perhaps also worth saying, if only for the benefit of right-wing parties, that this predicament cannot be blamed just on the small boon. It is not principally down to some progressions. It not the fault of diversity lines. The main reason we've got to this place is because it is the settled and innumerable will of a majority of Europeanen mainly, dare I say it, whilst to live beyond their means: to enjoy ever rising entitlements, social spending and subsidies while bulking at the higher taxes, longer hours and later pensions required to pay for them.

France has run deforts in each of the past 31 years. The sovereign debt now stands at 67 per cent of GDP and rising. The UK has run deforts in 47 of the last fifty one years, with debt now at 95 per cent of GDP and projected to reach 300 per cent by 2075 (in the 1980's central estimate). I mention this because the iceberg is not just visible but accelerating towards us, one reason why bond yields are higher today than under Lie Trans. This is what happens when politicians avoid structural reforms that are imperative. In the end the problems start to eat you alive.

But it is revealing, to me at least, that right-wing parties have become even more detached from reality than the head-in-the-clouds progression. If you doubt this, why is Marine Le Pen's plan for the National Rally to dash 5/97 or energy in France at an annual cost of €0.7 billion while (unionslthigh) reversing pension reforms? Why was Nigel Farage's meantime at the last election so full of giveaways that Paul Johnson of the 1974 almost plagied when

All parties maintain the charade of telling voters what they want to hear

asked if it was affordable? Why will Kent had needs not so much as mention the triple luck? Why is the AD offering ever more generous handouts together with rationally unaffordable tax cuts?

The likes of Rupert Lowe, leader of Renters, and Farage of Reform, Le Pen and Alice Weidel of Germany's MD call themselves the "voice of the people", and in a sense it's true. They hold up a painfully accurate mirror to the definition of their voters. When the progressive left spent the best part of two decades debating critical race theory and discrimination (as if any of this nonsense would make the slightest difference to the material conditions of voters), the right now talks portoniously of how we must "preserve our

indigenous culture". But what is the most salient aspect of the culture these demagogues are so keen to preserve? Buy now, pay later; ask Peter to pay Paul, kick the can down the road. The ambitions of what made the West great.

And what live mention is that the scale of recent immigration was a consequence of endemic short-wretness, not its cause. Two governments opened the floodgrain because they wanted cheap labour to (temporarily) avoid problems they could see looming. In this sense high public debt and mass immigrant labour are two sides of the same coin. It is why as well as crippling interest payments we face vast liabilities associated with the future pension demands of newcomers and their dependants is 3.5 ratio in the Boris waves, stretched infrastructure, and dwindling cultural cohesion.

Let me state clearly that I'm as angry about the scale of immigration, legal and illegal, as any Reform voter. It has proved a disaster and cost far more in the long term than it ever saved for the short. I merely want to note here what Farage and Lowe never will: that even if

immigration went instantly into negative territory, it wouldn't magically alter the parameters of our unsustainable model unless coupled with big cuts to welfare, pensions and other entitlements. Indeed, in the short term it would make it even more liquidated because unavoiding an ICE-like force to administer deportations would cost money as would substituting domestic for cheap foreign labour in social care, etc.

And this is what I believe we all need to understand about the state of politics in Europe, particularly the "risk" western part. All parties are involved in the same charade of saying what their voters want to hear, maintaining an unsustainable model while quarrelling merely over the route we take to the same destination - a sovereign-afric crisis. A crisis that could be ruinous, not just because the costs will be some higher the longer our heads are buried in the mind but because if global war has ignited in the monstros, we'll face the double whammy of managing external conflict at the same time as internal structural reform.

Let me finish with what used to be called common sense. The true law of politics, and life, is simple: no pain, no gain. Look at our greatest leaders and you see this truth with large. Retains: Churchill promised blood, toil, tears and sweat. Margaret Thatcher was desperately unpopular as she led us through the tough reforms necessary for a better future. The same is true (in their different ways) of Clement Atkins, FDR and Konrad Adenauer. Today, and it pains me to say it, we are enduring hardship not because we chose to make a sacrifice for a brighter tomorrow our because of the law living, debt-fueled fortunes we could never afford but which favored majorities mutated on. That's the hard truth, folks. I think it's time for both left and right to confront it.

What's Appening

Victory is strangely hollow for the 'Clacton conqueror'

Vladimir Putin Congratulations on your victory, Nigel

Nigel Farage The votes are still being counted

Putin My signs tell me you hear 20 other candidates! I don't know why you allowed us many. Do you not have any off-building in Clacton?

Farage Very funny, Vlad

Putin What is?

Farage Nothing. The people of Clacton have spoken. My landslide victory is even more of a landslide than last time

Christopher Harborne Congress. Can we refocus on Reform's cryptocurrency policy now?

Farage It's already by far the most developed policy we have

Harborne It's not personal, funny. It's strictly business

Farage Why are you quoting The Godfather at last?

Harborne Five million reasons

Lee Anderson The results are in and we're going to need to spin this

Farage I'll just keep saying the people of Clacton have spoken

Anderson Fine but almost 10,000 of them voted for a lot. It's the best result for a weekly candidate in British history

Farage But I got more than double that and I'm a novelty

Anderson Not that kind of novelty

Farage 65 per cent is better than I did last time

Anderson But no other major parties were standing

Count Birdson I concede but I'll see you in December

Nick the Incredible Flying Brick I too concede. See you in December

Donald Walford I concede

Marcus White Hello! Is that Nigel?

Farage Who is this?

White The leader of the Everyone is God here, which is not a cult. I concede. See you in December

Farage Some of you need to concede. We're not American, unfortunately. And you won't see me in December because there won't be another by-election. I've wiped the date clean

Standards committee auto-natification Congratulations, your investigation has been required

Farage Hi Donald, just checking you to UK after your credible threat. I too had a credible threat just now

Trump Nobody has more credible threats than me

Farage No, right, sorry. I'm just saying I know what you were going through with you had to change places. I've just had to change venues, which is very similar. You must have been worried about all your colleagues you left behind

Trump What do you mean?

Farage Doesn't matter, but from one guy dealing with credible threats to another, I hope you're OK

Trump Was your credible threat a shoulder intended to hit it here for?

Farage Not exactly but it was credible and it was a threat. Every police said so

Anderson Exists police are saying there was no credible threat

Farage Get to go, Donald. I'm under attack again

Trump Nobody is under attack more than me

Anderson Shall we run through your victory speech?

Farage I'm not going to do one

Anderson Won't that make it look like the whole thing was a farce?

Farage The people of Clacton have spoken. What else needs to be said?

'As imagined by Matt Rudd'

WHO SAID WHAT?

I got asked to do a dinosaur roar and got scared

I think we all sort of battle with degrees of honesty, you know?

I'm either playing Scrabble or I'm out

I've never cried in the cinema I'm quite repressed

THINKING FROM THE FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S FAMILY'S

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22

COMMENT

The Sunday Times August 15, 2026

Maala Prabhu

Works America running out of missiles? Because it succeeds over boring old bombs

I have who use America as the ultimate superpower community overrate the power of its military. But recently we've learnt that its ability to continue, let alone via alien, operations in Iran has been repeatedly a thorough of

To anyone who has wanted the Pentagon closely this crisis in munitions supply - what the military calls magazine depth - is on surprise. And while Prabhu's Tureja bin Akhmat, "We have far more than we need," India just before the start of operations in February suggested his backwood warned by the chairman of the joint office of staff, General Daur Lajen, about the federal number of certain advanced weapons.

The new American example of Patriot and missile stereotypes is estimated at about 80%, compared with 2,300 before the Iran test. There are about 250 of the even more capable Thand-bombed high altitude and defences of missile companies with 600-three years ago. As for effective weapons, half the Tureabank cruise missiles has been used up to the past 10 months, and almost all the 350 land in the world's top 10,000,000 units were in the inventory in February.

How did the "right land from this

position? Certainly, for many years and under different administrations, it prioritised "pledomes" - glamorous procurement like combat pen and destroyer - over the weapons they would need to be effective.

Mark Cassian, a former Matrae Corps colonel and now senior adviser at the Washington-based base of the Strategic and International Studies, believes that "since the Cold War warrants did not compete with 400 the platforms because platforms are in the shop window, since the 1950s, the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s, the 2020s, the 2030s, the 2040s, the 2050s, the 2060s, the 2070s, the 2080s, the 2090s, the 2100s, the 2110s, the 2120s, the 2130s, the 2140s, the 2150s, the 2160s, the 2170s, the 2180s, the 2190s, the 2200s, the 2210s, the 2220s, the 2230s, the 2240s, the 2250s, the 2260s, the 2270s, the 2280s, the 2290s, the 2300s, the 2310s, the 2320s, the 2330s, the 2340s, the 2350s, the 2360s, the 2370s, the 2380s, the 2390s, the 2400s, the 2410s, the 2420s, the 2430s, the 2440s, the 2450s, the 2460s, the 2470s, the 2480s, the 2490s, the 2500s, the 2510s, the 2520s, the 2530s, the 2540s, the 2550s, the 2560s, the 2570s, the 2580s, the 2590s, the 2600s, the 2610s, the 2620s, the 2630s, the 2640s, the 2650s, the 2660s, the 2670s, the 2680s, the 2690s, the 2700s, the 2710s, the 2720s, the 2730s, the 2740s, the 2750s, the 2760s, the 2770s, the 2780s, the 2790s, the 2800s, the 2810s, the 2820s, the 2830s, the 2840s, the 2850s, the 2860s, the 2870s, the 2880s, the 2890s, the 2900s, the 2910s, the 2920s, the 2930s, the 2940s, the 2950s, the 2960s, the 2970s, the 2980s, the 2990s, the 3000s, the 3010s, the 3020s, the 3030s, the 3040s, the 3050s, the 3060s, the 3070s, the 3080s, the 3090s, the 3100s, the 3110s, the 3120s, the 3130s, the 3140s, the 3150s, the 3160s, the 3170s, the 3180s, the 3190s, the 3200s, the 3210s, the 3220s, the 3230s, the 3240s, the 3250s, the 3260s, the 3270s, the 3280s, the 3290s, the 3300s, the 3310s, the 3320s, the 3330s, the 3340s, the 3350s, the 3360s, the 3370s, the 3380s, the 3390s, the 3400s, the 3410s, the 3420s, the 3430s, the 3440s, the 3450s, the 3460s, the 3470s, the 3480s, the 3490s, the 3500s, the 3510s, the 3520s, the 3530s, the 3540s, the 3550s, the 3560s, the 3570s, the 3580s, the 3590s, the 3600s, the 3610s, the 3620s, the 3630s, the 3640s, the 3650s, the 3660s, the 3670s, the 3680s, the 3690s, the 3700s, the 3710s, the 3720s, the 3730s, the 3740s, the 3750s, the 3760s, the 3770s, the 3780s, the 3790s, the 3800s, the 3810s, the 3820s, the 3830s, the 3840s, the 3850s, the 3860s, the 3870s, the 3880s, the 3890s, the 3900s, the 3910s, the 3920s, the 3930s, the 3940s, the 3950s, the 3960s, the 3970s, the 3980s, the 3990s, the 4000s, the 4010s, the 4020s, the 4030s, the 4040s, the 4050s, the 4060s, the 4070s, the 4080s, the 4090s, the 4100s, the 4110s, the 4120s, the 4130s, the 4140s, the 4150s, the 4160s, the 4170s, the 4180s, the 4190s, the 4200s, the 4210s, the 4220s, the 4230s, the 4240s, the 4250s, the 4260s, the 4270s, the 4280s, the 4290s, the 4300s, the 4310s, the 4320s, the 4330s, the 4340s, the 4350s, the 4360s, the 4370s, the 4380s, the 4390s, the 4400s, the 4410s, the 4420s, the 4430s, the 4440s, the 4450s, the 4460s, the 4470s, the 4480s, the 4490s, the 4500s, the 4510s, the 4520s, the 4530s, the 4540s, the 4550s, the 4560s, the 4570s, the 4580s, the 4590s, the 4600s, the 4610s, the 4620s, the 4630s, the 4640s, the 4650s, the 4660s, the 4670s, the 4680s, the 4690s, the 4700s, the 4710s, the 4720s, the 4730s, the 4740s, the 4750s, the 4760s, the 4770s, the 4780s, the 4790s, the 4800s, the 4810s, the 4820s, the 4830s, the 4840s, the 4850s, the 4860s, the 4870s, the 4880s, the 4890s, the 4900s, the 4910s, the 4920s, the 4930s, the 4940s, the 4950s, the 4960s, the 4970s, the 4980s, the 4990s, the 5000s, the 5010s, the 5020s, the 5030s, the 5040s, the 5050s, the 5060s, the 5070s, the 5080s, the 5090s, the 5100s, the 5110s, the 5120s, the 5130s, the 5140s, the 5150s, the 5160s, the 5170s, the 5180s, the 5190s, the 5200s, the 5210s, the 5220s, the 5230s, the 5240s, the 5250s, the 5260s, the 5270s, the 5280s, the 5290s, the 5300s, the 5310s, the 5320s, the 5330s, the 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7160s, the 7170s, the 7180s, the 7190s, the 7200s, the 7210s, the 7220s, the 7230s, the 7240s, the 7250s, the 7260s, the 7270s, the 7280s, the 7290s, the 7300s, the 7310s, the 7320s, the 7330s, the 7340s, the 7350s, the 7360s, the 7370s, the 7380s, the 7390s, the 7400s, the 7410s, the 7420s, the 7430s, the 7440s, the 7450s, the 7460s, the 7470s, the 7480s, the 7490s, the 7500s, the 7510s, the 7520s, the 7530s, the 7540s, the 7550s, the 7560s, the 7570s, the 7580s, the 7590s, the 7600s, the 7610s, the 7620s, the 7630s, the 7640s, the 7650s, the 7660s, the 7670s, the 7680s, the 7690s, the 7700s, the 7710s, the 7720s, the 7730s, the 7740s, the 7750s, the 7760s, the 7770s, the 7780s, the 7790s, the 7800s, the 7810s, the 7820s, the 7830s, the 7840s, the 7850s, the 7860s, the 7870s, the 7880s, the 7890s, the 7900s, the 7910s, the 7920s, the 7930s, the 7940s, the 7950s, the 7960s, the 7970s, the 7980s, the 7990s, the 8000s, the 8010s, the 8020s, the 8030s, the 8040s, the 8050s, the 8060s, the 8070s, the 8080s, the 8090s, the 8100s, the 8110s, the 8120s, the 8130s, the 8140s, the 8150s, the 8160s, the 8170s, the 8180s, the 8190s, the 8200s, the 8210s, the 8220s, the 8230s, the 8240s, the 8250s, the 8260s, the 8270s, the 8280s, the 8290s, the 8300s, the 8310s, the 8320s, the 8330s, the 8340s, the 8350s, the 8360s, the 8370s, the 8380s, the 8390s, the 8400s, the 8410s, the 8420s, the 8430s, the 8440s, the 8450s, the 8460s, the 8470s, the 8480s, the 8490s, the 8500s, the 8510s, the 8520s, the 8530s, the 8540s, the 8550s, the 8560s, the 8570s, the 8580s, the 8590s, the 8600s, the 8610s, the 8620s, the 8630s, the 8640s, the 8650s, the 8660s, the 8670s, the 8680s, the 8690s, the 8700s, the 8710s, the 8720s, the 8730s, the 8740s, the 8750s, the 8760s, the 8770s, the 8780s, the 8790s, the 8800s, the 8810s, the 8820s, the 8830s, the 8840s, the 8850s, the 8860s, the 8870s, the 8880s, the 8890s, the 8900s, the 8910s, the 8920s, the 8930s, the 8940s, the 8950s, the 8960s, the 8970s, the 8980s, the 8990s, the 9000s, the 9010s, the 9020s, the 9030s, the 9040s, the 9050s, the 9060s, the 9070s, the 9080s, the 9090s, the 9100s, the 9110s, the 9120s, the 9130s, the 9140s, the 9150s, the 9160s, the 9170s, the 9180s, the 9190s, the 9200s, the 9210s, the 9220s, the 9230s, the 9240s, the 9250s, the 9260s, the 9270s, the 9280s, the 9290s, the 9300s, the 9310s, the 9320s, the 9330s, the 9340s, the 9350s, the 9360s, the 9370s, the 9380s, the 9390s, the 9400s, the 9410s, the 9420s, the 9430s, the 9440s, the 9450s, the 9460s, the 9470s, the 9480s, the 9490s, the 9500s, the 9510s, the 9520s, the 9530s, the 9540s, the 9550s, the 9560s, the 9570s, the 9580s, the 9590s, the 9600s, the 9610s, the 9620s, the 9630s, the 9640s, the 9650s, the 9660s, the 9670s, the 9680s, the 9690s, the 9700s, the 9710s, the 9720s, the 9730s, the 9740s, the 9750s, the 9760s, the 9770s, the 9780s, the 9790s, the 9800s, the 9810s, the 9820s, the 9830s, the 9840s, the 9850s, the 9860s, the 9870s, the 9880s, the 9890s, the 9900s, the 9910s, the 9920s, the 9930s, the 9940s, the 9950s, the 9960s, the 9970s, the 9980s, the 9990s, the 1000s.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters to the Editor should be sent to

Interrogatories times.co.uk The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

Climate change and incessant heatwaves

Chris Holzer, backlog of Princeton: Rebellion is more futile than disruptive. "This wasn't boast fitting climate out of climate change," says the News due to doubt that climate change exists but to the early 1980s's speed every holiday in the floodgate picking a place to engage in its wilds our ancestors. "I would like for age that scientists were forecasting how the consensus overwhelmingly suggests the view that the rise in global temperatures in caused the heatwave is a shame that no other country has followed. Relative driving attempts to cut CO₂ by heavily outlay energy. With the estimated average range of 10 m/s², it is at least a year cost of the global total, one wonders why we are subject to self-flaggitate. If Britain should not start the world's temperature would only drop by about 0.02%, it is due trying to save the Thistle with a teaspoon.

David Ory, James Wired

Your report about Chris Holzer did not mention that the percentage of global CO₂ emissions stands at 7.8%, is 2 per cent, the US, 0.7 per cent, India, 0 per cent, and Britain, 0.0 per cent, with the rest of the world at 46.5 per cent. How,

Foreign students plea

Your report on leading universities lowering entry requirements to 8B places: "Top universities cut entry grades as lower foreign students apply," Aug 26 shows how the decline in

the data recruitment is being felt across the system. But international student-matter well beyond university finances, how research from the Higher Education Policy students estimates that the 1980s's 1980s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s's 1990s

apart from by back-puping Britain, can we make any difference on our own? Jarrell Ponsl London SW20

I am old enough to remember the long, hot summer of 1976. In August that year our regional water authority, for this was before privatisation, recognised that water levels were dangerously low and it was time to remove sediments from the local reservoir to increase capacity. It led to the authority being able to safely increasing water demand in subsequent years. I realise we will need new reservoirs but need view in the time to take anidious measures.

Noel Carey Farnham, Harris

We have been using water by only showering once a week, not reemerging for teeth clamping and using washing-up water on what I shall of our flowers. In contrast we have seen water leaks in our area that have been exposed to dusts and moulds in organ. Many of us in the area decided to have "smart" water meters installed, which we were told would notify us if they sprung a leak. We have seen leaks locally that seem to derive from where these meters were installed. I

government is promising "good growth in every piece of life". International education offers a ready made water providing it.

James Pittman

Managing director, Study Group

Veterans' pensions

I, too, have been affected by the miscalculation of payments relating to the impact on our pension system. Essentially not as badly as some "I'tsntain firm in veterans or could live history of events," Aug 31. It is harrowing, nevertheless, and I have not begun a struggle around from anyone. The chief executives of Super, Steria and Spaniola need to be gribbed by the defense committee and made to provide answers, while the bill do needs to explain why it has failed to provide adequate coverage for customers. Ed Col Jonathan Howard (nrl) G. Kington Hague, former

speak from experience, having been told by the water company that our house had "used a year's worth of water" in one of the 10th or a faulty installation. June May

I was Winnibons, Vince Some years ago I wrote to Delta suggesting that all overhead houses should include solar panels and a statement on what was in their design. We had a house in Turkey that had the same features added 60 years and that I received a reply from Delta stating that the country had plenty of cheap water to there was no need to worry.

Sally Bongo Printon on two, Essex

How long will be before the 16th Office starts meeting interviews in the same way that it was in our home?

Chris Wallace

Reiter/longman

While travelling in Mongolia I am and aircraft gave being used to avoid clouds and produce rain. It suitable clouds can be found in Britain, perhaps they could be needed to aircraft or stream.

John Munkleff and President, Nistelith, Exploration Society

Weight-loss sponsors

Tom Kershaw enters eloquently about "weight loss drug release in this open" report, Aug 19. It is a shame that the World National Bank Open tennis tournament in Canada formed 0400 world advertising. Olympic and industry federation serving players on some of the events. The choice of sponsorship features will open, should be looked at carefully.

Linda Inquiriok-New Drumsadlockel, Inverness-shire

Plumping for pickleball

There is a cheaper alternative to pudel import, Aug 19 - pickleball. It is usually played on a badminton court. It's just as much fun and we pay only 25 per hour when you get future events.

Ben Koolmer

Bristol

The Al backlash

Katy Rollo is right to see a partisan opportunity in the Al backlash (Aug 19, but the warning cuts across 15) party. Now, Republicans have had themselves to 40 expansion and the well industry, leaving them exposed when voters experience higher energy costs and job losses. Immaculate can exploit that by labelling Al infrastructure as companies imposing costs on communities. Yet Republicans would be making a mistake in dismissing this as a progressive cause. Opposition to data centres is emerging among conservative voters. The political abiding line may become less left versus right than other versus communities that feel they have no control over technology at change. Leaders who address underlying concerns can get preserve support for innovation. These who discuss voters by saying, "AI is inevitable, that's why it's not coming before they political opposition." Dr Uddi Talgaroky Author of The Psychology of All Adjective at Work: From Resistance to Results; Columbus, Ohio

Alcohol price rises

The Seneid will raise the minimum unit price of alcohol to 9 kWh from 50p to 100p on 10 days. I, One Item of Article will give a minimum of 2.8% of the total. The MDT has presumably been enforced to raise 90 kWh (Rome from themselves, with the unintended consequences that the quarter will be hit hardest). From Weldon Jones Prentiss, Pembrokeshire

Words in your ear

Further to your report "The rise of audiobooks" (editors, Aug 26, the Borrowden app is free to any member of a public library. It features ebooks and audiobooks, which you can download to your phone, and offers a wide range of stories, including children's titles. Angela Millard Whitwell, Isle of Wight

Email lathern@uenday-times.co.uk by walday on Thursday, with a gold address and phone number. Letters must be exclusive to The Sunday Times

Firefighters' future

Your report on Britain's on-call firefighters' "Hating-anger", magazine, Aug 26 acknowledges the work these fewer people do. The worst is sustain this new work that has been done to overcome that severe youngsters have the issue to come up with solutions. The day of local employers being able to allow a member of staff to dash on and possibly not return for the rest of the day have gone. While better pay might help, it is not the critical factor. We need flexible and supportive arrangements for firefighters and employers. Unfortunately, if personal, our publicized will no doubt give us nothing but hot air. John Wilson Group commander (nrl) G. Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service

Return to Fender

Jonathan Dunn makes a sound case for the popularity of loan Fender and Olivia Dunn's song that she'll be 7 to a year prior. That has that this never hit would reign to the charts", Aug 16. In my opinion it is a fairly average song too long, no middle right, and what I am concerned, not unsupplying weak. So why has it sold or used? Probably because people will like. Jingle jangle guitar hands and down to a dazedly strong those today. Everything else is the same, but I am not enough if was written and produced by Al. Stephen Dunn's Netherlands, 9V Series

Rod remembered

I was never in the top league of Rod Liddle supporters and I would like to thank Erick Marison for her and to perform it (those "Lightning Rod", Aug 16). And I have been wondering what the guy better and appreciate this more. Niall Prover Ummann, Greater Manchester

I think Rod Liddle would have laughed at how many of those paying tribute to him felt compelled to add, "If I'm sure, I didn't always agree with his views". Devers, Aug 16. You were know when he made his own recording. Cynthia Harrod Eagles Hammond, Midas

NEWSPAPERS SEPTEMBER 2 The recorded paper content of 16 newspapers in 2025 was 30%

Frankie Boyle, comedian, 5st James Eamman, film director, 72

Ben Chowd, director-general of Horizon Pictures, 5A

Elin Chamberlain, cricketer, 52 John Crowne, TV presenter, 80

Katharine Hammett, fashion designer, 70 Madonna, singer, jordcard, 80

Sir Trevor McDonald, newsreader, 87 Michael Martin, Gostwick, 95

Richard Montgomery, 34 high commissioner in Nigeria, 85

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, republican, 75

Sir John Bunting, actor, 92 Jennifer Treamer, Theatre designer, 72

Denis Spencer Schlegley, producer of Wolfram College, Cambridge, 68 Mark Shankhale, chief executive, Rid Tate Design, 58

Frank-Stoffen Molliser, chairman and chief executive of Benitez Motors, 57

ANNIVERSARIES

1015 Eighteen people are killed in the Peacock massacre in Manchester. 1800 The discovery of nuggets in Yukon, Canada, sparks the third flash 1815 The Times exposes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a lawyer. 1915 Harlan brings arrest Pujé, the last emperor of China, in Germany 1920 Cypress gives its official independent office this 18th 1927 Elvis Presley dies, aged 42, at his Granddad mansion in Memphis

CONFLICTS

AS A NEW WORLD

New Requisites

Land complaints concerning inaccuracies in complaint/spoofing views, in all, (pre- and late-massive) formal complaints concerning the past, the past, the newspapers and magazines. Please go to our website for full details.

The way we were

From The Sunday Times August 15, 2026

Shackleton family struggles after explorer's untimely death

Mrs Shackleton's fight with adversity, by a special correspondent

Something of that identifiable courage which prompted Sir Ernest Shackleton to advertise into the heart of the American region in a little house in Sydenham, where he was a member of a mother is lying seriously ill. She will be 10 years of age since month and has been living, since Sir Ernest are off on his feet and had expedition, in a little house in Thornton Grove, which he took for her and two of his sisters, one of whom is a complexer invalid.

A day or two ago Mrs Shackleton's misport to pick something up and fell, featuring her thigh. Her son brought Miss Amy Shackleton, her invalid daughter, into the hathrow and, going round the other side of the bed, she saw

her lying on the floor. "Hitch, him," said Mrs Shackleton friends. She knew her daughter's life was not a relationship to Mr her. "It is that same spirit or selflessness which my brother's possesses," Miss Amy Shackleton told The Sunday Times yesterday. "Her

His mother's sole income is £100 a year from an amorous donor

courage and joke it amas the doctors." Giving to their ill health, the sisters of the family, and the children of the family money for one year, We had never of the death claimant 1922, two days before our February allowance was due. Giving to his death it sound, and her charities we had no chance to see, but autumn of 1922, the government gave my mother a grave of 2000, £140 of which we had a permanent of our debts. Many people think that my mother receives £100 a year from the government. That is not so. My mother's sole income is an annuity of £100 a year from an anonymous donor. In addition to this we get the interest on the sum of money which has been raised for a moment for my brother, but as plans for the one time of the moment of are now completed this will cease."

"When my brother left on his last expedition in September 1922," Miss Amy Shackleton stated, "he left the enough money for one year. We had never of his death claimant 1922, two days before our February allowance was due. Giving to his death it sound, and her charities we had no chance to see, but autumn of 1922, the government gave my mother a grave of 2000, £140 of which we had a permanent of our debts. Many people think that my mother receives £100 a year from the government. That is not so. My mother's sole income is an annuity of £100 a year from an anonymous donor. In addition to this we get the interest on the sum of money which has been raised for a moment for my brother, but as plans for the one time of the moment of are now completed this will cease."

---

COMMENT

23

Camilla Long

Brothels for new migrants? If we object, does that make us terribly middle class?

As that went well, asylum-seeker-wise. Hundreds of illegal migrants being red-suspend into forest, on “magic” doughties carrying 250 people apiece. Towards the end of the week, after 90 of these had arrived, and after the war Society castle on which they had called

and been flattered and stored in a field, attention turned to the usual subject. What should we do with them? Is this price people fall into own camps.

There were those who wanted illegal migrants to travel back immediately; the French had failed to stop them, so they were France’s problems.

Then there were those who adopted the European line, which to we must help them. No just help them: whatever they need, we must give it to them.

Food, clothing, tears, laptops, mobile phones with six months of data.

And, said Andy Burnham, we must also give them our moral streets, our moral parks – it means I just be the “poorest communities” who take them.

Phildington, for example, in Oxfordshire, a village of about 250 people – it must accept. 250 asylum seekers in Oxford are army lines. And after Phildington, added Edwina Currie, there were other – what’s the price word – stores, too – that meant have herry young men hanging around “in silence” in Oxfordshire.

“The obvious thing that I, 200 young men are going to need in a village like little Phildington is a football.”

Yes: we must now also give them our women, our bodies.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, how quickly

So what if Piddington will look like Americans

the average politician normalises an awful situation. There is, I’d imagine, almost no problem now gets and morally opaque that someone like Edwina Currie – or for that matter Burnham – cannot try to explain away. And so all the things you thought about migrants, middle England, and movement of people that there are too many of them, that some are dangerous, that the women in your family might be at risk – have, in the past week, best-rolled away, made lower, strictened, turned into a plan. So what if Piddington will look like Amsterdam on a Friday night?

“All parts of the country need to play their part,” said Burnham.

How dare an unaltered prime minister of a mere 27 days say that? I man who has spent more than a fifth of those days on committee “listening tour”. 50 liest Internet did on whole years of a “listening tour”. How did that work out for him? How about something more useful, a “doing tour” perhaps?

To people like Burnham, like Currie, big losers only being problems. They cannot conceive or shape any serious strategy or message. Climate change, immigration, economics: Burnham has not addressed any of it. Instead we have had empty gemours, reactive policy, pointless alerts about weather on a Friday evening, government in Isle flying, a practice pioneered by Rachel Reeves, in which a government that doesn’t know how to govern just checks stuff out there and sees what’s popular and what isn’t.

Why isn’t Burnham’s immediate reaction to limit the number of people entering this country? Or is he with Ursula von der Leyen and thinks our borders should, essentially, last be upon? When 60,000 people arrived in Crete, the Spanish exciser bordering Morocco, two weeks ago, was for Leyen’s first concern was health and safety. We cannot have “dangerous crowings”, she said. How about no crowings at all? That, after all, is safest.

For her, as for Burnham, and, indeed, – digital backswingments are never lost victims. They are “desperate, vulnerable people”, and the housing no return on Tuesday, at the mercy of “criminal gangs”. But are they?

It is true that in Afghanistan, an

A protest sign at a disused military base where the government wants to house migrants on the doorstep of Phildington

unopodable bedfires, women live in the medieval horror of “gender-based lockdown”. Starring mothers self-chief daughters to save their other children, Women will heighten operators: “If you can’t assist us, we will have to fill ourselves or learn our families.”

They are banned from even being seen at windows.

And if it be that if it was, indeed, the women we were bringing to the distant miners, the traumatised wives, the rape victims, I mean to be for little flow they have left. Except it isn’t them. It is overwhelmingly, the men. That is who Burnham, Rayner at a think we should just suck up: men here and raised in a country where women are single vessels, are old, etc., things to be that away.

The daughters, sisters, wives, the women of Phildington, why aren’t these the women Rayner in worried about? Or, being middle class, don’t they deserve her pity? Phildington, by the way, isn’t

that profit. It’s a nicely average village in a nicely average county. It doesn’t deserve to be turned into Mogadishu, any more than anywhere else.

As for the brothels, is this what any ruling party would want for England, a sickening Edwina Currie-scape, where even the most unpalatable solutions are passed off as normal? Where the rape and harassment of women by foreign migrants is killed away and unblessed and no statistics are given – why must we treat this as ordinary? How about neutralising our raging women for once? Or are people now so carried away with the idea of themselves that we are required to do anything, accept anything, and if we don’t Burnham will denounce us as middle class?

All of this is, of course, most helpful to Nigel Farage, who says Burnham doesn’t have “the guts” to sort out the problem. For Farage, our disused military bases being turned over to migrants as part of

a desperate plan to obfuscate a serious problem is dream election-fudder: never forget Donald Trump won the 2024 election by claiming intramously that migrants were eating people’s pets. You think Farage won’t go feasty on the “revan hangars” angle! He won’t be using the “broader” rhetoric again and again! There won’t be many images of migrants abusing the locale, selling drugs, harassing women! The most Burnham tries to hide things, the more Farage triumphs.

As for the prime minister, why does he turn over ything into a class too? Too – a class issue. Favourite music – class. Where you hide your asylum seekers – shouldn’t be a working class problem. But why does he divide everyone into such narrow, opposing groups? Aren’t asylum seekers an everyone problem? The working class doesn’t want other people to be slumped on, any more than anyone else does.

Alert!!! Try not to die of fright

And now to those alerts. What would you say merited a nationwide emergency message? War, of course, when Iran attacked, every phone in Dubai occurred.

An extreme natural event, too – you’d want to get ahead of these headslides, floods and volcanoes.

Disposable barbecues, might? Fireworks? “Firespin”?

“There is a serious risk of wildfires nationally,” said a message sent to every person who’s country on Friday night. If you toasted a single marshmallow, you could fall people. Yet historically, no one in this country has ever died from wildfires.

Why is the government already abusing the system? The national emergency arms was set up for imminently dangerous situations. Who needs your phone shrinking “disposable barbecues,” when you’re quietly cruising the aisles at Add! How many people died, simply of terror? This government is completely, comically unavious, right down to what it thinks is an emergency, and what isn’t.

The alert sent to all mobiles

Tom Calver

Go figure

Why have we lost pride in a country that has so much going for it?

Over a 200, a year characterized by the London riots and a weak economic recovery, the cross-party think said: “I know I heard pride in Britain to be remarkably resilient. A net 74 per cent of us were proud to be British citizens, expressing near-universal satisfaction of Shakespeare, the views of the new army and the peace. The following summer’s Olympics will rank as something of a cultural worth for millions of Brits.

How things have changed. In a study published in 2016, a stress has repeated the exercise, with sobering results. Pride in being a British citizen has plummeted to 47 per cent. Just 12 per cent are proud of Britain’s role in the world, and a growing share of the population now expresses active disdain for our history and institutions. What happened?

Contrary to the message often circulated in Facebook groups, Britain has never really been a “flap in the garden” country. That was true even during the forced World War. Writing during the 80s, George Orwell observed that the “hearing and flap-wagging, the flats, bristness stuff, is done by small minorities.” Unlike that of other nations, our patriotism was “not vocal or even more dull.” Instead, he wrote, it was woven into the texture of ordinary life: “the how to blitzers, the rules are woven, the price to grower.” Solid breakfasts and gloomy lunches: Justice, liberty and “objective truth”.

What is clear, though, is that in the past if years our collective pride in several pillars of British life has collapsed. While our beloved NHS has held up UK, the collapse is particularly apparent in three institutions: professors, the researchy and, most distantly of all, the BBC.

In 2016 the BBC had a net pride score of 48 per cent, roughly the same as Britain’s sporting achievements. Today is to minus 0 per cent: that is, more people say they are not proud of the BBC than proud of it.

While debates over the declining quality of his output growth, the more likely cause is the fragmentation of our media landscape. As I wrote last month, Britain has a bestselling number of shared cultural moments. BBC programme would sometimes be seen by half the population; today those

Pride in Britain has fallen

Percentage who are lost/raised of: - New Britain looks - British culture - Being a British citizen - This is not community - British history - British people - New Britain trusts gay people - Britain’s role in the world

moments, outside football and royal ceremonies, are few and far between. Why does this matter? The political counter Robert Putnam talks about the difference between “bending” social capital, which is within social groups and “bridging” social capital, which is between them. Our person have given us lots of bonding social capital: our algorithms show us what and who we want to see. But we’re become much worse at bridging: young and old, rich

A European survey asked how emotionally attached people were to their country. We came last

and poor are less likely to mingle than they were. In this fragmented landscape, institutions no longer speak for all of Britain and unite it.

It is tempting to assume these sentiments are driven solely by unpatriotic youths. In reality all age groups have seen a substantial fall in pride, the largest collapse being among 25 to 49 year-olds of higher social class. But young and old are becoming less proud for different reasons. For Gen 2 it is a newfound distaste for British history, but I don’t talk and die around them, but older people it is a big rise in resentment towards politicians and the BBC.

Is there anything holding this famed ‘old together’? Perhaps, Pride in Britain has its institutions may have indeed. Yet one trend is going the other way: the data shows more people are proud of their local community than in 2016. We are less trusting of British people and foreigners in general. Are more trusting of people in our own neighbourhoods.

Building on this local pride is encourage more intergenerational and interclass mingling – “giving people more opportunities to dispel the places they live” – may be the key to restoring national pride, according to Ostron’s chief executive, Polly Carter.

But perhaps we also need to be more vocal about the parts worth seeing. A few years ago, when the European Social Survey asked people in dozens of countries how “emotionally attached” they were to their country on a scale of 0 to 10, Britain came in last place.

Previous attempts to “big government to reimaginate national pride have fallen cringeworldly short. Celebrating Britain’s diversity as its big selling point – the multi-collundum argument of the 2000s and 2010s – will not win any concern. But we as a nation still have a lot to shoot about. Our universities have educated 59 world leaders, behind only those of the US. We have self-power, patriotism would fall for. The world’s greatest football league. It’s of the world’s ten bestselling authors. Our musicians produce a tenth of all global streams. Prioritizing when. Prioritizing jobs. Shooting about this stuff has never seemed very British. But there is a difference between modesty and self-building, a difference we have perhaps forgotten.

THE 2026 TIMES THE SUNDAY TIMES Tom Schmidt The Age of the AI Agent, Who’s Really in Control? Tuesday, November 10, 2026 Speakers include Kathleen Fisher CEO at ARIA Aidan Gomez Christopher & CEO at Czhere Katie Prescott Co-Founder of the Global Tech Podcast and Technology Business to the AI The Times Dave Carney Director of Responsible Development and Innovation at Google DeepMind Dr. Ross Harper Co-Founder & CEO at Limtoe Justin Duda Co-CBD empiric and Senior Partner at Visionaries Headline Sponsor Supporting Sponsor Go to Hotline.com/events or use the QR code to book now

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24

PUZZLES

The Sunday Times August 26, 2020

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE JUMBO CROSSWORD 540

Across

1 A ... for ha a long enamel soquel to a long 1000 trowel (8) 2 National Lottery Institute, created in 1995, are now ... 520 3 Chandler, ... So far into the screenplay for the 1993 film What's the time is (6) 14 Managed by Eddie Howe, the 2020 Candler Cup winners (56) 15 Someone of the radio 10 and comedian who created the character did have (7) 10 Sunflower originally intended to use Bonaparte as the title for him ... Symphony (6) 17 First name of the Deuteron of Nunez (6) 18 The 22nd series of the night TV show was aired in 2020 (3,7) 19 ... to one of the stage names of singer Soraf Islam (3,7) 22 ... are members of the Royal Military Police (7) 20 The Simpson first appeared on 5/17 in a series of animated shorts on The ... Show (6,6) 27 Mountain raids in media:庞逸如 tenes of Twomina (4) 28 South of which evolved from Lake "K" written as a figment (7) 29 In the Star War universe, the War Knuckles ... Master (6) 30 Country that it loves to findly and find known (4,4) 30 10 and producer who hails a No 1 to 1999 with Killer (7) 27 A 34 most character and a friend children's ambassador (5,2) (pictured) 38 Literary character who has been played on screen by Joan Mishra and Margaret Matherlin (4,4) 40 "I saw ... everything except companion" (Oscar Wilde) (6) 42 An ... terrible" (a non-commercial and/or controversial) (6) 43 Cigarettes handmade by the smoker (4,3) 46 "First I Love Stone Without It" was the long running advertising tagline of the Statue in company (4,7) 46 Type of board on who ha (handbats in sand in spoil out words (5) 47 Your four vows of banned song, to others (supposed words by Robert Barne (4,4) 48 No feature of the 'class guitarist' Judy Arthurs (6)

FEEDBACK

Converse is about our problem can be seen by

acquainting the fights of the series, so far in Popular Edition. The Sunday Times, 1 number (longer than), London (30, 30)

Down

1 American composer of Adagio for Brittop (6,6) 2 Something created by calming what's in our alive (7) 2 ... played Marilyn Monroe in the 2002 film #trash (1,2,5) 3 Fader who made a series on the overcast hardchance (5) 6 In Greek mythology, he forced dead each across the 70's (9) 7 For which we go away who ha a 1999 Top 10 hit with 3 (ourselves to My Heart (4,4) 8 Singer who acted in the films #lovewind and #lovewalk (4) 9 I'm all with single fans, possibly over two metres long (6,4) 10 In the People La Speebe, he was played by Lou Diamond 11 Paddon (2,4) 12 A native or inhabitant of Martenau, for example (8) 12 ... Thing was a Top 10 hit for U2ra (9,9) 13 The only person who has been principal conductor at both 14 Lx look and the 1000 spotlight shows (8) 15 The film must reveal across on Netflix include three seasons of the show (5,3) 16 The best-selling living author, writer of own 100 novels (8,1) 17 Fath of Chats did also called "forehead in emphatic" (5) 18 He said, we're well, that was legalised in the 70s (9,9) 19 Good-buried structures and furthest of powerhouses (10) 20 A 1291 band in Washington DC in the 1970 film The day she 21 ... (5,5) 22 Maradure the usual votes in this Italian dessert (10) 23 In the series (not only) I have the laboratory (4,4) 24 The phalanx to which we returned feeling (8) 25 Canadian film of ship and cheese cards, with grace (7) (pictured) 26 Australian male, regarded as the most recent version (6) 27 Levenson forward, klessa ... scored the God of the 28 Tournament at Uels 29 Women's kless (2022 (5) 30 W. Tournament the The Lion, the West and the Wardrobe, for example (6)

SAKURO

There's the manhood for the film space so that the number in such circles is equal to the natural increase that standing spaces, and each colour would be correct.

CELL BLOCKS

Check the grid into square or rectangular blocks, each containing one digit only. Every block must contain the number of cells indicated by the digit inside it.

SUDOKU

Each row, column and 2x2 box must contain digits (4). Women receive The Pumper Book of Sudoku, 20th anniversary edition, and two other Sudoku books.

Queen (5,0) in Chancity, 18 KWA.

10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one

number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number.

10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number.

10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm.

10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number.

10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number.

10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number. 10 cm. 5 cm. Lengths for one number.

WAZIN GP

VERY HARD — PRIZE CITS

KILLER SUDOKU HARD

Each row, column and 2x2 box must contain the digits (4). The digits within each group of cells joined by dotted lines must add up to the figure in the top-left hand corner of each group. Within each dotted line group, a digit cannot be repeated.

POLYGON

From these letters, make words of four or more letters, always including the central letter. Answers must be in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, excluding capitolised words, plumb, conjugated verbs (past tense etc), adverbs ending in 15, comparatives and superlatives. How you rate 18 words, average: 24, good; 35, very good; 44, excellent.

CONCISE CROSSWORD 2004

Across

1 Liquid source (6)

4 Conventional (6)

7 Saging before (8)

9 Trident (8)

10 Silken (6)

10 Loaves (6)

14 Spots and Pruning (6)

16 Cragardous (12)

18 Unrolling (6)

20 Cabbage (6)

25 Sunsweld accidentally (6)

Down

1 Watched (4)

2 Gravel (4)

3 Rock (all) (2,2)

4 Adversary (3)

5 Shatend (12)

6 Soft over (8)

7 Quarrell (4)

10 Flankish (10)

12 Good (6)

13 Conquering (4)

17 Flat (6)

18 Obsessive (3)

MEPHISTO 3442

Robert Texton

NINE

ADMITS

First year rebutters: The Sante, Tanya Maynton, 3442, P.O.Na. (8), 2nd home. June (12) 1992, in most credit-entrepreneurship times (4,4)

The first current retirement fund at uniform after next following year: Cathy Reedy (8) (6), Elizabeth Kibbee, worth $2.75 for next four millionaire C.D. Reeset was $1.95 for other. March 30-1 (8) $10.50 for interim only.

The Chantler's contract with a fellow in the primary retirement. Reads in the future, where he is a partner in the U.S. Revitalization, 1994 (10-8).

TETONOR EASY

1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | | | | 18 | | 19 | 40 | 90

Each number in the main grid can be formally adding or multiplying a year of numbers in the strip below the grid. Each pair of numbers should be used twice: once a part of an addition and once a part of a multiple-time. For example, a 60 and 24 in the main grid may be called by the same, 4 + 4 and 4 × 4, respectively. Enter each square in the boxes below in answer to the next row. If any must be defined as, bearing in mind the numbers are listed in ascending order.

CODEWORD

A 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3

Across

1 100 non-slipper welcoming Japanese primate (7) 6 Cabbage soup: mustn't life there! (5)

10 Bakee ticked house corresponding in diplomacy (7) 11 Shufflow in Libya in this year (7)

12 Hard going in desert sun around Macedonia, coloured items (10)

14 Red snack making half of Buddhist oven! (4)

15 Greek letter X represented poisonous (8)

16 Abrasive manual: our upholding positive power of poverty (6)

19 What may urge winning over in future: no start of sound? (8)

21 Monk stand up about the repetitive exercise (6)

23 Greek three important: how Milligan's ultimate eccentric, performing well (4), two wouldn't

27 Skeleton in chest finally: are out before getting caught (8)

28 Solution for fixing anxiety about health costs old? (4)

29 Element curbing impairs: article concerning that matter in Daily Record (10)

30 Britton: 'aunt' Carad state (not 16) (5)

31 Bakingly perhaps bound to state (5)

32 Latent from article Peel playoff (7)

34 Sun and dark over in section by male department (7)

Down

1 In the baked Peace's opening, let it tackle awkward customers (2), two words

2 Have up ... and droop! (5) 3 Once trained

are conditioning pop in without guidance (7) 4 Judge must meet it (6)

5 More unpleasant and coffee extra than in the science (4)

6 Very big catapult comprising food (mod) (6)

7 Immage covering rear of mosque, a Muslim sacred place (3)

8 Canadian growing a lot of harmanic medicine (5)

9 Ireally be required to press the entire working circle that grid (12)

10 Congressman's grand farewell (6)

16 Stables to sort sharing to charm (6)

17 Byzantine serpent on ending almighty (8)

20 Power grantea demanding child to put such a crown (7)

22 Was candle kept back beginning to show way out (6)

23 Frog of egumid after work (6)

24 Square peg round hole primable, little unworkable on reflections (5) 25 Organ aiding movement to give constant part in

before (5) 26 Regularly spy on Tesla with husband's electronic

instrument (5)

CROSSWORD 5229

Dean Moore

NINE

MEMORY

Across

1 Feature of pretty-door inspection (4,5)

6 Stooling that was should it climb from (5)

9 Surprise about border's things (7) 10 Latin dictionary in which

12 Latin dictionary in which "old" is found (7) 11 One of boys's and it will

open free (5,2) 13 Wound up performing it

the fringe? (2,4) 14 Devoid cardinal isn't

had for Christian enthusiasm (6,6) 15 Soldier and lead soldier

in communist military group (8,4) 19 Polytechnic in trouble, not

coming back (6) 20 Age told in by his old

painter (8) 23 Not so sure to fit copper

are gutting (7) 24 10 Y Word

Independent (7) 25 Talking in feudal rotator (5) 26 Stated little Parisian

quarter (5,4)

1 Pass on a shot: to young man (2,4)

2 Enormous, really big, with allun (5)

3 These darkest in other classes' (4,3)

4 No oversight now (8) 5 2nd new mistake (4)

6 Money received by youth (8,7) 7 No article and packed (9)

8 In studies, he'd crashed ginger nuts (8) 9 Promise of union

suitant (8) 10 Largely popular officer (2)

16 He had to include gay carry (8) 18 First support - it turns

out the name (4) 19 Woman's playing party

pinter (7) 22 A winner, he is no married

blade (4)

KENKEN

All the digits (4) to mark appear in every row and column. In each block line "black" the target number in the top-left hand corner is calculated from the digits in all the cells in the block, being the operation indicated by the symbol.

CLUE WRITING CONTEST 2538: VINGIL

You are invited to write a clue for the word above, in our cryptic crossword style. The front entry selected after next letter is the C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C.

Kenne (8) (6) (4) (2) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)

The following table is provided in the image.

For all of report, visit the company, Inc. (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A) (A)

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COMMENT

Joe's

Came

More bombs,

Ebola bebers?

Humanity's

going to get

based on it

Fall the clandestine secret service operations that we know about, I'm sure most people would agree that by far the best of Affairs and resolutions we heard's romantic control paper attack on Hezbollah two years ago. To me up, Hezbollah worked out in early 2014 that Israel could listen to its smartphone conversations, so all members were instructed to catch to a more secure pagers and walker-talkies instead. Thousands were bought and no more of the first idea that all of them had been manufactured by Israel's Q division.

Until, we September 17, 2016, all of the pages I keeped, encouraging the users to see the new set of their pockets and I went there up to their faces on they could read the message. And then they exploded. I'm sure that the world's best and no more went out immediately telling everyone to see the walker-talkies instead. And the following day these all exploded too, killing a loser...

I'm not sure what should to get involved with the politics of all this. But I think we can all agree, no matter which side of the fence we've pitched our political text, that's true extremely. Before coming up with the 2016 first place was incredible, but the patience and the running needed to pull it off? That beggars bullet.

Of course, I'm well aware that Jeremy Coebye - who thinks that Hezbollah is alauwic's Tully Club - says only some and before were killed in the explosions, but as usual he's wrong. It was an operation that dealt a massive blow to the people it was after, and then it was over.

Not all secret military operations work out that way. We heard last week, for instance, that back in the Eighteen Mrs Thacher signed off on a British

operation in Peru that sounds brilliant on paper. But.

In 1997 the world became aware of a South American super-nerfc called Elavia-sourel, which, in a matter of minutes, could never be repudiated of crops into a poor apocalyptic wasteland. A single caterpillar can sound through 50 leaves in its lifetime, which doesn't sound so fast. So a country can easily destroy up to 30,000 acres of crops in just one season.

Everywhere, people can around waring after even in the air and guarding their work, we standing what would happen if it arrived in Britain and developed a taste for wheat. But our buffles at Porton have a bengali

Margaret Thatcher thought a plan to use myths to destroy Peru's massive crop was worth pursuing

differently. There, at what we must call the nation's亨利州's目标 and Technology Laboratory, they mentioned what sound happens if they could create a "moth bomb" and then use helicopters to drop it onto Peru's cocaine fields!

I should imagine the most was extremely excited by this idea, and so was the first real government - and so was the cabinet secretary, Sir Robin Bailey, who promptly brought him Thatcher up to speed. Finally, she thought the plan had kept too, so she gave the buffles 100% (90% in its more research. And I guess that this further research revealed a potential flaw in the plan, which is: if you drop a normal weight to a single, there's a long and outer fire and then that's that. But if you drop a tooth bomb, it's difficult to know what the outcome might be. When it's finished with the very plants, then it just think, "High, I'll die now"? Or does it think "I'm bengali, no I'll have a go at those newscales now"?

There's another issue too, which is even more worrying. Because if you go down the path of weaponizing insects, you really are leaving your humanity at the door. We know this because it's been happening for years.

I'm not sure. You're World War. Japan had a biological and chemical warfare division called Unit 10. It extremely people in Banshee's name is "nigs" and worked out that if it flew over enemy cities and dropped on some bombs killed with fleas that had been infected with plague and flies that had been coaxed with cholera. Not just the world's ones over a nice place of sale while all the logs died.

Meanwhile, Jo Kocupa, both the French and the Germane were at it, trying to infect each other's poison crops with the Colorado herds. And in the Cold War Americans were still at it, working on a programme that would

drop mosquitoes infected with yellow fever onto the Soviet Union.

But then, in 1975, the Biskopal of and Train Weapons Committee learned the use of its own weapons. We were interestedly, the word "snow" isn't actually used in the discussion. Perhaps this was the busplate through which Mrs Thacher teamed to dig with her coaxed up tooth bombs.

What worries me slightly about all of this is that modern warfare very obviously needs to change. We've learnt in just the last few months that the world's biggest military machines can be sunk or brought down by a 12-year-old schoolboy with a 10.5% outbound driver. This means that if the established powers wish to maintain their grip, they're going to have to become inventive. And how long will it be, it, wonder, before they slight on the idea of filling how with Ebola?

I will leave you with this cautionary idea. In 1990, the once gave, an offshoot of Genghis Mace's Mongol empire was laying upon to the heavily fortified city of Cidla, a caravan trading centre on the Crimean peninsula, and it was stuck. In much the same way that the modern day Russian army is stuck in Ukraine, and Trump is stuck in Iran.

Plus, to make matters worse, the Mongol soldiers were dying in great numbers from the hitherto unknowns that it made, to their commanders, hatched a plan. We looked the diseased ones met with them and lived there into the city. This, understandably, caused the retaliations to the head to help, carrying with these the disease they were trying to escape.

In the Mongol war and nautical brilliance was the battle. But before long the death toll in Europe was 50 million. Fifty per cent of the continent's entire population gone, because one Mongolian thought he'd been clever.

TEASER 3334

Victor Bryant

All Square

This picture shows a grid of three rows and five columns of chemical small squares:

Within that grid one can also spot some larger squares, giving a grand total

CHESS

David Howell

Two weeks ago, borrowing the British Championship, Lykeland RedBone Sweatshirt to a player to watch, She did not disappoint.

She got to RedBone because the younger British Women's Champion is known, scoring 5.5% before disbursing Ireland's Trisha Katz-mensals in a rapid season. It was a good, outstanding performance in a remarkable loss of results.

Sneak the women in the levelling up by the day. Now I month also will lead England's women at the Olympiad, another challenge she will stalk. She has gained her more grandmaster scalp by. SoBunely debating almost Chass with Mark.

Within. James Chass Black RedBone Sweatshirt British Championship, Coventry 2020

Franchise Cricket(s) 3 932, 42 2, 8 1/4 (6 7/8) (7 3/4) (8 1/2) (9 1/2) (10 1/2) (11 1/4) (12 1/4) (13 1/2) (14 1/2) (15 1/2) (16 1/2) (17 1/2) (18 1/2) (19 1/2) (20 1/2) (21 1/2) (22 1/2) (23 1/2) (24 1/2) (25 1/2) (26 1/2) (27 1/2) (28 1/2) (29 1/2) (30 1/2) (31 1/2) (32 1/2) (33 1/2) (34 1/2) (35 1/2) (36 1/2) (37 1/2) (38 1/2) (39 1/2) (40 1/2) (41 1/2) (42 1/2) (43 1/2) (44 1/2) (45 1/2) (46 1/2) (47 1/2) (48 1/2) (49 1/2) (50 1/2) (51 1/2) (52 1/2) (53 1/2) (54 1/2) (55 1/2) (56 1/2) (57 1/2) (58 1/2) (59 1/2) (60 1/2) (61 1/2) (62 1/2) (63 1/2) (64 1/2) (65 1/2) (66 1/2) (67 1/2) (68 1/2) (69 1/2) (70 1/2) (71 1/2) (72 1/2) (73 1/2) (74 1/2) (75 1/2) (76 1/2) (77 1/2) (78 1/2) (79 1/2) (80 1/2) (81 1/2) (82 1/2) (83 1/2) (84 1/2) (85 1/2) (86 1/2) (87 1/2) (88 1/2) (89 1/2) (90 1/2) (91 1/2) (92 1/2) (93 1/2) (94 1/2) (95 1/2) (96 1/2) (97 1/2) (98 1/2) (99 1/2) (100 1/2)

While has been forced to make a concession, with doubled if power and a slightly open long, the head to rest more water up for style: simple and elegant chess, yet always prepared. 25...2pm! Switching from: The 10 years to surprisingly hard to defend. 20 Best! The tremendous 22 932 also drops a speed. 22... 2pm! 22 932 7 6/12. 22...2pm! 22 932 7 6/12. 24 1/4 7 1/2 (7 3/4) (7 3/4) (8 1/2) (9 1/2) (10 1/2) (11 1/2) (12 1/2) (13 1/2) (14 1/2) (15 1/2) (16 1/2) (17 1/2) (18 1/2) (19 1/2) (20 1/2) (21 1/2) (22 1/2) (23 1/2) (24 1/2) (25 1/2) (26 1/2) (27 1/2) (28 1/2) (29 1/2) (30 1/2) (31 1/2) (32 1/2) (33 1/2) (34 1/2) (35 1/2) (36 1/2) (37 1/2) (38 1/2) (39 1/2) (40 1/2) (41 1/2) (42 1/2) (43 1/2) (44 1/2) (45 1/2) (46 1/2) (47 1/2) (48 1/2) (49 1/2) (50 1/2) (51 1/2) (52 1/2) (53 1/2) (54 1/2) (55 1/2) (56 1/2) (57 1/2) (58 1/2) (59 1/2) (60 1/2) (61 1/2) (62 1/2) (63 1/2) (64 1/2) (65 1/2) (66 1/2) (67 1/2) (68 1/2) (69 1/2) (70 1/2) (71 1/2) (72 1/2) (73 1/2) (74 1/2) (75 1/2) (76 1/2) (77 1/2) (78 1/2) (79 1/2) (80 1/2) (81 1/2) (82 1/2) (83 1/2) (84 1/2) (85 1/2) (86 1/2) (87 1/2) (88 1/2) (89 1/2) (90 1/2) (91 1/2) (92 1/2) (93 1/2) (94 1/2) (95 1/2) (96 1/2) (97 1/2) (98 1/2) (99 1/2) (100 1/2)

Build-Variants, Coventry 2020. Whilst a place can perfectly defend, How did I®J look Build, जवesterdly conduct the attack?

Send your website this week only: to Surden Times Spot the Mean 1995. The Stories Times, 97.5m (25, 2, 6.5m) (4.5m), 2.5m (3.75-8.5), or nearly 2.5m for the beginning of the 1995s on 97.5m (25, 2, 6.5m) (4.5m) (4.5m) and Saturday wins a 2.25 Waterstones weather. Open to 10+ (4, 6.5/8) residents only.

of 28 squares (namely fifteen) 14 squares, eight 3-2 and seven 2-2.

Now I have drawn a larger each grid (with fewer than 50 columns and even fewer ones).

Within this new grid there is a grand total of exactly 10,000 squares.

BRIDGE

Sally Brook

My favorite one of either teaching nowadays is to groups of four. People sign up individually for as peers, if the state there before I and I have been very much more free! We play together (with me watching and

commenting criticizing). Because it is to groups of four rather than individual sessions it is much more affordable (77% each for four level long sessions). Anyone interested can contact me at call (yoursly) book, too!

Today's deal comes from one of these sessions.

50 vulnerable, Dealer West

After East opened one spade to third seat, South was investing for some of the most recent, so doubled instead. North responded two clubs and South left two on margin, raised to game by North. West led the six of spades to start a game and became a run. (Vedane played the jack of clubs from hand. East won the game and is now a 2-2 spade. Declares took a club down for four only eight tricks before he had to let

How many rows and how many columns does this now grid have?

Just one column is: 1m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (3.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (4.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (5.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (6.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (7.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (8.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (9.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (10.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (11.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (12.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (13.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (14.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (15.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (16.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (17.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (18.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (19.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (20.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (21.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (22.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (23.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (24.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (25.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (26.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (27.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (28.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (29.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (30.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (31.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (32.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (33.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (34.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (35.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (36.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (37.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (38.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (39.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (40.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (41.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (42.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (43.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (44.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (45.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (46.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (47.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (48.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (49.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (50.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (51.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (52.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (53.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (54.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (55.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (56.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (57.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (58.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (59.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (60.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (61.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (62.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (63.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (64.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (65.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (66.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (67.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (68.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (69.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (70.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (71.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (72.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (73.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (74.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (75.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (76.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (77.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (78.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (79.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (80.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (81.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (82.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (83.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (84.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (85.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (86.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (87.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (88.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (89.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (90.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (91.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (92.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (93.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (94.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (95.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (96.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (97.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (98.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (99.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (100.5m).

LAST WEEK'S SOLUTIONS

SODDIO MARK UP

COSMOS

SODDIO 1954

RENOR

KELLIS SODDIO

18 50 28 63

BRIDGE

Sally Brook

My favorite one of either teaching nowadays is to groups of four. People sign up individually or as peers, if the state there before I and I have been very much more free! We play together (with me watching and commenting criticizing). Because it is to groups of four rather than individual sessions it is much more affordable (77% each for four level long sessions). Anyone interested can contact me at call (yoursly) book, too!

Today's deal comes from one of these sessions. 50 vulnerable, Dealer West

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

50 vulnerable, Dealer West

Just opened one spade to third seat, South was investing for some of the most recent, so doubled instead. North responded two clubs and South left two on margin, raised to game by North. West led the six of spades to start a game and became a run. (Vedane played the jack of clubs from hand. East won the game and is now a 2-2 spade. Declares took a club down for four only eight tricks before he had to let

Just one column is: 1m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (3.5m), 2m (3.75-8.5) (4.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (5.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (6.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (7.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (8.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (9.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (10.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (11.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (12.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (13.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (14.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (15.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (16.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (17.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (18.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (19.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (20.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (21.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (22.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (23.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (24.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (25.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (26.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (27.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (28.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (29.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (30.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (31.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (32.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (33.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (34.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (35.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (36.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (37.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (38.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (39.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (40.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (41.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (42.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (43.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (44.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (45.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (46.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (47.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (48.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (49.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (50.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (51.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (52.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (53.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (54.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (55.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (56.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (57.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (58.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (59.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (60.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (61.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (62.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (63.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (64.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (65.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (66.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (67.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (68.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (69.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (70.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (71.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (72.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (73.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (74.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (75.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (76.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (77.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (78.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (79.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (80.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (81.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (82.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (83.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (84.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (85.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (86.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (87.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (88.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (89.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (90.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (91.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (92.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (93.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (94.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (95.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (96.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (97.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (98.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (99.5m), 2m (under three Times 1324, 2, 6.5m) (100.5m).

News: Incorporated by the News Leader, RSC Publishing, Spring to be, New Jersey, Dallas, Petersburg, South Lancashire, 4 Millions, Northridge, Northampton, Mayotte, United City, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark, Newark

WEATHER

AROUND THE WORLD

Amsterdam	23C	7	London
Albania	29	6	Los Angeles
Auckland	32	10	Madrid
Bangkok	33	11	Mexico City
Barcelona	32	11	Mexico
Beijing	30	15	Madrid
Berlin	30	11	New Delhi
Beijing	17	14	New Orleans
Baltimore	18	11	New York
Brussels	26	11	Oakland
Brisbane	26	11	Panama
Brussels	18	11	Panama
Calcutta	28	11	Prague
Chile	28	11	Rio de Janeiro
Chile	30	11	Rotten
Chile	30	11	San Jose
Chile	30	11	San Jose
Chile	30	11	San Jose
Chile	30	11	San Jose
Chile	30	11	San Jose
Chile	30	11	San Jose
Chile	30	11	San Jose
Chile	30	11	San Jose

Key = cloud, air=double, air=dual storm, 5=hall, far/high, graphite, 5=hall, 5=hall, 5=hall, air=showers, air=dual, air=showers, water, air=double, air=only

EUROPE

● Mainly dry with long warm spalls and a chance of the odd finished shower across Spain, Portugal and the Rukovics. ● Excess spalls and one or two heavy and founders showers in Italy, Italy, Sardinia, Croatia and Malta. ● A day of sunny periods and scattered showers across Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and the Balkans, heavy at times

● Sunny intervals and low heavy showers across France, Germany, the Lore Countries, Austria and Switzerland. ● A height dry day with plenty of sunshine and sunshine in no open of rain in Ukraine, the Baltic States and Poland. ● Memory and unsettled with bright periods and showers' outbreaks of rain across Scandinavia, heavy at first

SUN, STREETLIGHTS & MACKI

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HARGREAVES LANSDOWN

---

August 16, 2026

THE SUNDAY TIMES

thetimes.com/sport

SPORT

SPORTS NEWSPAPER OF THE Y!

Amy aims for record fourth gold today after relay victory, pages 2-3

Hunting

history

Hunt celebrates after playing her part in last night's 4x100m women's relay win, for her third gold medal of the week

City target

Fernández booed by Chelsea fans

Peter Rutzler

Enzo Fernández was booed on his return to Stamford Bridge amid uncer- tainty about his future at Chelsea.

The Argentina international was a second-half substitute during a 3-1 friendly victory over Real Sociedad yesterday, but his introduction proved divisive. He was met by boos from some home supporters, who also jeered some of his touches, while oth- ers loudly sang his name in response.

A summer of uncertainty has had an impact on the mood around the 25-year-old, who has flirted with a move away from Chelsea and drawn interest from Manchester City.

Chelsea told potential suitors that they had to make a written offer for his services before a club-imposed dead- line of 5pm on Friday, but that passed without them receiving any bids.

Chelsea were demanding a fee of £320 million and in May they had com- municated the payment terms they desired to the representatives of Fer- nández, essentially creating an informal release clause. After the expiry of that deadline, those terms were deemed to be off the table. Chel- sea are expecting him to stay with the club for the season.

Yet it remains to be seen whether they will hold that line should a bid arrive from City before the closure of the official transfer window on Sep- tember 1. City, under the former Chel- sea head coach Enzo Maresca, have rejected two bids from Barcelona for midfielder Rodri, and it is thought that his future could determine whether they formalise their interest in Fernán- dez. Maresca had a strong relationship with Fernández during his tenure at Chelsea, which came to an end last January when he resigned.

Fernández wore the captain's armband when he came on yesterday, replacing Reece James in a deeper midfield role. Chelsea won 3-1 thanks to two goals from João Pedro and one from Morgan Rogers, who was making his first appearance at Stamford Bridge along with the new signings Maxence Lacroix, Marco Palestra and the new Chelsea manager, Xabi Alonso.

FOOTBALL, PAGES 5-9, 20

Inside

• What the ref saw The science and guesswork behind awarding a foul pages 8-9

• Money, money, money Why in the age of AI the cost of sports teams is rocketing pages 16-17

Test cricket returns, pages 10-13

• Alastair Cook on England's new era

• Simon Wilde on the wicketkeeping revolution

• Simon Hughes: The day I defended Pakistan

---

2 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times 82

Athletics European Championships

Hunt helps blow the field away for third gold

MATT LAWTON

Birmingham

Amy Hunt was dependent on three other women to win on this occasion, one of whom is a trainee midwife, and it could yet go horribly wrong this evening when she has to rely on two men to complete her bold pursuit of a European quadruple.

But a third gold medal of these championships now belongs to the British sprinter, once again arriving just as she predicted it would.

Such has been Hunt's success in foretelling the outcome of her events here in Birmingham, a bookmaker should consider offering the 24-year-old a job. She said she had a premonition about winning the 100m final on Monday and the same again a few days later when she stormed to victory in the 200m. "Are you not entertained?!" she screamed down the lens of a television camera on that occasion, before revealing just how much she and her father, Pete, adore the Gladiator movie.

Hunt comes from a generation of athletes working hard to elevate the profile of track and field. Noah Lyles sometimes does it by trashing other sports. "There ain't no flags in the NBA," the American once declared rather amusingly in mocking professional basketball for having "world champions".

Josh Kerr and Hunt have employed a different strategy, making some noise by going public with their intentions however much additional pressure that might create.

Kerr revealed months in advance, on these pages, his plan to break the world mile record, and delivered on that promise in spectacular fashion in London last month. While Hunt did much the same when she announced before these Europeans her ambition to make championship history.

After the 200m, she signalled with a raised hand that she had two of the four in the bag and thanks to the safe transition of a baton between four British female speed merchants a fine treble has now been secured.

It was not without its challenges.

Not least the sheer amount of time the respective teams had to wait before actually competing, starting the best part of five minutes later than scheduled. Then, of course, there is the remarkable story of Success Eduan combining her athletic endeavours with her degree in midwifery.

She was asked afterwards what was more difficult. Delivering a baton to Imani Lansiquot or babies. "A baby!" she declared. "Someone's life is in my hands."

It was a tremendous display of relay running by the quartet, with Dina Asher-Smith blasting around the first bend before Hunt moved clear along the back straight. By the time Lansiquot crossed the line in 42.05s, they were more than a second clear of the Swiss quartet that claimed silver. "We're the fantastic four," Hunt said, before praising the "superpowers" of her compatriots. "It was incredible to come together with these so inspiring ladies," said Hunt. "Everyone has so much going on. We've got a midwifery degree, a psychology degree, a history degree, and this girl [Lansiquot] wrote a play!

"It's such a privilege to be able to step on the track with these ladies, and the individual superpowers that we bring. It's no joke. We're kind of all superwomen together out there."

It is impressive. Eduan said she might delay her career in midwifery to focus full-time on her running. She graduates in a matter of weeks.

Lansiquot, meanwhile, hopes to write more after Armour of Gaza was staged by an all-female production team at Theatre Peckham.

Back on the track, Hunt's third gold in six days matches

Asher-Smith's own success in 2018. Indeed, Asher-Smith now joins Irena Szewitska, the great Polish sprinter, in collecting a record 10th European medal. "I'm standing next to the real GOAT," Hunt said of the 30-year-old, a former world champion, afterwards.

Now only the mixed 4x100m relay remains for Hunt, and the word is Great Britain will once again select the strongest line-up, with Romell Glave, the men's 100m champion, and the 200m silver medallist, Zharnel Hughes, expected to start.

All joking aside, Hunt should hold no fears about their inclusion. Before

Hodgkinson must get back to her best to catch commanding new rival

Matt Lawton

When Keely Hodgkinson eventually emerged from what must have been a fairly torturous dissection of her defeat by Audrey Werro in a series of post-race interviews, she was surprised to encounter a sizeable group of children.

It was after 11pm in Birmingham on Friday and these kids, predominantly girls, were desperate to meet their idol. "Thanks for waiting, guys," Hodgkinson said before signing autographs and posing for pictures.

She had arrived late to the written media interview area in the first place because she had seen another group of fans gather after speaking to the broadcasters, and wanted to first give them her time.

Such a warm response when dealing with the cold reality of major championship silver, when she so wanted another European gold, is a measure of this 24-year-old middle distance runner; a class act on and off

the track. But this is a serious business and the challenge for Hodgkinson and her husband-and-wife coaching team, Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, is how they now tackle a towering 22-year-old Swiss athlete who has suddenly emerged this season as a devastating force over two laps.

That first victory over Hodgkinson in Stockholm in June did come as

something of a shock. Werro has long shown promise, of course. She was only 18 when she first dipped under two minutes for 800m and her win in last season's Diamond League final, clocking 1min 55.91sec to narrowly beat Georgia Hunter Bell to victory, was a further indication of her ability.

Even so, she trailed more than a second behind Lilian Odira, Hunter Bell and Hodgkinson in last year's

Hodgkinson appeared slightly short of her peak strength as Werro, right, roared to victory in Birmingham in Friday's 800m final

World Championship final, finishing sixth, and even failed to progress from the heats when Hodgkinson became Olympic champion in Paris a year earlier. When Hodgkinson broke the world indoor record in February, Werro was more than three seconds back - 1:58.38 to the Briton's 1:54.87. She was closer in the world indoor final the following month, clocking 1:56.64 to take silver behind Hodgkinson's 1:55.30. But what nobody anticipated, certainly not Hodgkinson's camp, was what occurred in Sweden on June 7. When Hodgkinson launched her trademark attack with 300m to go, Werro did not just remain in touch, she went past her in the home straight, beating her to become only the third woman in history to break the 1:54 barrier.

Werro went faster still a few weeks later, lowering her best to 1:53.80; half a second quicker than Hodgkinson's best, set in what, remember, was her first outdoor 800m of the season in Stockholm. It feels like Hodgkinson is still

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42 The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 3

the British women here last night came the British male quartet, with Hughes running a storming third leg before Glave carried the baton home for his second gold of the week.

In front of another near capacity crowd, the Alexander Stadium was treated to yet more first-class athletics. Italy's Andy Diaz Hernandez bounced to the fourth farthest triple jump in history, with a winning leap of 18.15m. Germany's Julian Weber also broke Steve Backley's championships record by launching a javelin 90.40m.

Ireland's Kate O'Connor followed world championship silver with Euro-

processing that, while also dealing with other issues that have perhaps disrupted her season more than she is prepared to admit right now.

Only a fortnight after losing for the first time to Werro, she made a tearful withdrawal from the 400m final at the national championships because of a slight concern over a nerve issue that ruined her 2025 season.

Then there was a fall in training that left her nursing scarred, swollen, sore knees and led to another loss to Odira, in a race in Eugene she now regrets running.

Before Friday's final at the Alexander Stadium she spoke of setting personal bests in training but at this level one good session does not necessarily propel an athlete back to the summit of a podium.

When facing the very best, these contests are as demanding mentally as they are physically, and Hodgkinson did not appear quite as sharp as she was when she was excelling indoors this year and preparing for an assault on Jarmila

pean gold in the women's heptathlon, but back in 21st place came the rather sad sight of Katarina Johnson-Thompson. It was only three years ago she won a second world title, following that with an Olympic silver medal in Paris and a bronze in the worlds 11 months ago. But the 33-year-old was way off her best this time, with her preparation disrupted by yet more injury problems. As she crossed the line last in her concluding 800m heat, it almost felt like a lap of honour. Afterwards, however, she said she was not yet ready to declare this her final act as an elite international athlete.

Kratochvilova's longstanding outdoor record of 1:53.28. It just isn't her style to respond to defeat with excuses.

Tactically, you couldn't fault Hodgkinson's performance in Friday's final. As she said afterwards, she was more than happy to let Werro take the lead into the wind on the back straight. It essentially provided her with a pacemaker to 700m as well as protection from the blustery conditions.

But Hodgkinson seemed to be short of her own peak strength and acceleration when the moment did come to pounce, and was unable to close on Werro after moving wide off the last bend. Hodgkinson said she thought she could take her 'in the last 50'. Speaking to Painter afterwards, he thought so too. But when Hodgkinson went deep and demanded the required response from her body, it did not quite come.

Take nothing away from Werro. She was superb. Ralley, commanding and brave. But a more detailed breakdown of the race shows that

'I am thinking of the future,' she said. 'I always said that I want to be competitive. If I am not competitive, then I'll start to ask questions, and this year was definitely a bit different in terms of my preparation. But the hunger is definitely still there and I love this event so much.'

The hunger clearly remains in Jake Wightman too, and when he moved alongside his compatriot, Jake Heyward, as the field of the men's 1,500m final entered the home straight, it seemed the 2022 world champion was about to add another major championship title to his collection.

this was not a test beyond Hodgkinson's own capabilities.

Indoor times are slower for obvious reasons but when Hodgkinson set a world record in Lievin, she went through 200m in 26.47, 400m in 55.56 and 600m in 1:25.06 before crossing the line in 1:54.87 to remove almost a second off a mark that had stood for almost 24 years. She also ran solo at the front for the second half of the race.

In Birmingham, Hodgkinson tracked Werro through 400m in 56.6 and 600m in 1:25.8 and, while they finished faster thanks to the slower pace and the intensity of championship racing, this was not uncharted territory for Hodgkinson. Werro closed the last 200m in 29.11s for a winning time of 1:54.81, with Hodgkinson running 29.21, exactly two tenths down overall. She ran a 28.3 to win Olympic gold in Paris, albeit off a slower pace.

The task now for Hodgkinson, Painter and Meadows is to get her

HUNTER BELL EASES INTO 1,500M FINAL

Georgia Hunter Bell cruised into the final of the women's 1,500m at the European Championships in Birmingham and will start tonight's race among the favourites for gold. Hunter Bell, 32, who won 800m gold at the Commonwealth Games, won her heat in 4:08.97. The British record holder over 1,500m, and World Indoor Champion will race today at 9.13pm.

What else to watch out for 7.30pm Men's pole vault Briton Owen Heard has made it into the final but it is the multiple world record holder Armand Duplantis who is the favourite.

8.05pm Women's long jump Fresh from gold in the Commonwealth Games, Britain's Jazmin Sawyers qualified second in her group for the final.

8.35pm Mixed 4x100m relay Amy Hunt goes for a fourth gold.

9.33pm Women's 4x400m relay Another strong medal chance for Britain, who qualified fastest.

9.48pm Men's 4x400m relay Britain's men qualified sixth-fastest for the final, but Matthew Hudson-Smith still has a chance of a sixth career European Championships gold.

But Wightman ran out of gas and so did Heyward, with the giant Dutchman Stefan Nillessen emerging from the pack to take gold ahead of Sweden's Samuel Pihlstrom and Ireland's Andrew Coscoran. Heyward finished fourth, with Wightman one behind the other British runner, Arlo Ludwick, in sixth.

Tonight more sporting history can indeed be made. Asher-Smith can secure a record 11th European medal while Hunt goes for her fourth at a single championship. Are they sure they can bank on the boys? 'Of course,' cried Asher-Smith.

back to her very best and have another crack at Werro.

They are both entered for the Diamond League meeting in Zurich on August 27, but if that is deemed too soon the new World Athletics Ultimate Championships follows in Budapest next month.

Hodgkinson will regard Werro much like she did the United States' Athing Mu and Kenya's Mary Moraa. At points during her career they have looked almost indomitable.

'There have been so many rivals over the last few years,' Hodgkinson said. 'You just don't know when someone is going to make a breakthrough.'

'But I am really proud of my consistency, in staying up there and continuing to fight, while adding more medals to my collection.'

'I would have loved to have walked away with gold, but we still have the Worlds (Ultimate) to go.'

'That will be another challenge. I will go back to training and get ready for the next one.'

'Ramsay-Peaty isn't past it - he can still peak for Olympics'

Swimming

Craig Lord

It is not the end for Adam Ramsay-Peaty. Not if you listen to James Guy, the 30-year-old veteran of Great Britain's golden 4x200m freestyle relays at the past two Olympics.

Fresh from a bronze medal at the European Championships in Paris - a race in which he became the first man in his thirties to swim the 200m freestyle in less than 1min 45sec - Guy told Ramsay-Peaty, 31, that he should ignore those telling him to retire and get back to the work that made him one of the sport's greats.

On Friday Ramsay-Peaty failed to make the semi-finals of the 50m breaststroke in Paris after an awful dive left him with far too much ground to make up. He finished in 20th place overall. But Guy, who has amassed a record 52 medals for Britain and England, insisted Peaty could still peak for the Olympics in LA in 2028. Swimmers, he said, 'are not past it at 30'.

'He was travelling just as fast, if not faster, most of the way,' Guy said. 'He's just not got it at the start and the finish - yet. Adam was like, I finished 20th, I took off late...' So what? It doesn't matter. I said, 'Yeah, your start wasn't great, but your swim speed's right there.'

'I told Adam, this is not going to be the end of the world, all you have to do is just try again. And when you look at it that way, and that's what I've learnt over the years, it makes the sport a lot more enjoyable rather than I need a best time.'

'We're here to peak in two years' time [at LA 2028]. It's about making sure you do the right work for you. I know what works for me.'

Guy told Ramsay-Peaty that he should follow a similar path to his own revival. When Guy moved to the Manchester Performance Centre, his new coach, Ryan Livingstone, asked him to describe what kind of work he responded well to when he was at his best. The plan that came out of those talks underpinned the resurgence he is now enjoying.

'I said to him, 'Adam, [it's about] what you did with Mel that worked so well. You need to sit down with Lisa [Bates], your coach, and say, 'Right, this worked really well for me, let's start doing more of that in my training.' It can be a really simple conversation.'

Guy returned to the individual 200m European Championship podium for the first time in a decade in Paris on Friday night, and his 1:44.87 career best was 1.55sec faster than he swam at the age of 20 for bronze at the Europeans in London in 2016. He finished 0.72sec behind the winner, Romania's Olympic champion David Popovici.

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4 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

'It pays more to be a crap runner and good on socials' — reality of athletics

Being chased out of tracks and worrying about rent: two European silver medallists open up on gruelling life in sport

MOLLY McELWEE

D

ritish sprinter Toby Harries calls his teammate. "We don't get paid anything for winning a silver medal do we?" he asks. The phone line goes quiet for a moment, before Harries returns a few seconds later. "No," he says flatly. "I was 99

per cent sure, but wanted to check."

The medal he mentions was won in the mixed 4x400m relay at the European Athletics Championships on Monday. This month Harries also helped Team England to the same position at the Commonwealth Games. He is one of the best in the world at what he does, but his bank balance reveals no hint of his success.

"I've got a Commonwealth silver medal and a European silver medal, and I've made nothing from it," Harries says. "I love competing for my country. The sad thing is you can't pay the bills with pride and honour."

Harries, who is also an Olympic bronze medallist, is not alone. Many of the athletes competing in Birmingham this week are juggling part-time or even full-time work alongside elite athletics careers.

The Irish middle-distance runner Mark English is a doctor. Great Britain's Success Eduan has spent three years working night shifts to complete her midwifery degree. As well as pur-

suing careers that will stretch beyond their years on the track, for many it is simply a way to get by financially.

Most athletes have multiple income streams, which can include national governing body grants, sponsorship deals, prize money and any other additional work. But many athletes are feeling the squeeze.

Along with 61 others, Harries is on British Athletics' World Class Programme (WCP), which is funded by UK Sport and the National Lottery. As a category B athlete, he receives a £22,000-a-year tax-free grant, which he puts towards his costs.

Including travel to meets at home and abroad, coaching fees and physio sessions, Harries estimates he spends about £1,250 a month on work costs. That leaves him with less than £8,000 for living costs for the year, so he must supplement his grant with earnings from social media, mentoring and motivational speaking gigs.

He is in a better position than other athletes in Birmingham, who receive no funding. Ben Jefferies, 26, is on the same relay team as Harries, a fellow European silver medallist and an alternate at the Paris Olympics. But he is not on the British WCP. He only started competing in 2020 and until a few months ago he worked full-time as a coach in the US on a $40,000 (£29,500) salary to fund his running.

Since leaving that role to go all in on his career, Jefferies is surviving on prize money earnings and small one-time sponsorship deals, as well as cutting costs where he can. He gets free coaching from a family friend, freebie physio treatments in exchange for social media posts and complimen-

tary access to a track. He also runs his own strength and conditioning and nutrition programmes. UK Athletics (UKA) covers accommodation and travel to major events, reimburses him for costs while representing the national team, and provides medical and coaching support during competition. But money is still tight.

"When you are included in these teams like the Europeans, you are looked after very, very well," Jefferies says. "But training in your regular life to get to that point, that can be a struggle. I've had to call in multiple favours from friends and family. I've jumped gates at tracks many a time. I've also been chased out of places a couple of times, early on in my career – luckily, being fast, you never get caught."

Jefferies recently got a call-up to compete in the Diamond League for the first time, the top tier of the sport outside of major championships. His eighth-place finish earned him $1,000. "That was a huge one. That really, really kept me afloat with my food shops and my supplements, stuff

“

I love competing for my country. The sad thing is you can't pay the bills with pride and honour

I needed for the rest of the season." At other lower-tier events, prize money barely covers travels costs and some meets don't even offer free food for competitors on site. "It can be rough out here," Jefferies says. "But the difficulty is you go to some of these smaller meets, there aren't any people in the crowd."

Another British sprinter, Sam Lunt, 20, is at the start of his senior career. Lunt is yet to gain UKA funding but he gets support from British Athletics' team of experts, as well as some income from an Adidas sponsorship. He did a paper round throughout his teens and those savings are helping fund his travel to athletics meets now.

"You don't really go into athletics thinking, 'I can make a ton of money straight away,'" Lunt says. "You can love it as much as you want, but if you can't afford to do it, you're not going to be able to do it well."

He adds: "You see people at the Europeans, even at the Olympics, people think they must be on millions. There is a very big misconception in athletics that everyone's paid."

Things have improved in some regards. UK Sport's grants have increased 12 per cent since the Paris 2024 cycle. But prize money at major events is often reserved only for the very top performers.

At the European Championships only the top ten athletes, awarded based on a World Athletics scoring system, share the €500,000 (about £427,000) prize pot. At the World Championships last year, $8 million (about £5.9 million) was split between athletes finishing in the top eight in each discipline. As Diamond League events are usually reserved for individuals near the top eight in the world, major championships are the only opportunities for Jefferies, Lunt or Harries to feature in mainstream coverage of the sport. But brand sponsorship is almost impossible to gain.

"It makes sense that the likes of Amy Hunt are getting good [sponsorship] contracts, because they're running the Diamond League

and they can wear Puma or Adidas and show off that kit," Harries says. "The bigger meets for me are the Europeans, but I can't make money off that because one, they don't pay me, and two, I can't wear anything else branded [other than team kit]."

Harries, who used to be sponsored by Nike, says those opportunities are shrinking. A year ago Harries was told by one major brand that he was simply "too old" to be considered. He was 26 at the time. "The only people they're signing are individual Olympic and world medallists and college athletes who could be [those medallists] in the future. There's not really any middle ground any more."

Whereas paid shoe sponsorship deals were previously an option for athletes at his and Jefferies's level, those brands' budgets are now more likely to go to social media fitness influencers than elite athletes. "The level of contracts that were floating around five or six years ago, for athletes on 80 to 100 grand a year, those don't exist any more," Harries says. "Social media has changed the game. In order to get something like that, you'd have to be a world [individual] medallist or have hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram.

"For the level that I'm at, you might be running really well at European and world stage, but you're not world-beating. You're not top three, so you don't have the big contracts. You're better off being world class at social media and a bit of a crap athlete than being a world-class athlete and crap [at] social media."

Like Harries and Lunt, Jefferies is full of enthusiasm for the sport. But the financial reality remains.

"I'm slightly worried about paying my rent next month because I don't have any regular income," Jefferies says. "Sponsorship or UKA funding that would just pay my overheads, that would be almost life-changing. The hundreds of thousands of dollars in other sports must be life-changing. But small things would completely flip [mine]. That's the dream."

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 5

Football Sky Bet Championship

Boro start quest to put Spygate in past

2-1

Middlesbrough

Lincoln City

Lankshear 62, 90+2

Reach 12

Jason Mellor

It is of course a small sample size, but Lincoln City may not be the Championship whipping boys many expected them to be and Middlesbrough could just have it in them to bounce back from the wholly unsavoury culmination to last season.

Kim Hellberg's side stepped up their rehabilitation from the fallout of spring's Spygate affair by posting an opening-day victory which was the epitome of winning ugly. They were far from their best but atoned with a stickability that was rewarded with the second of Will Lankshear's two goals in stoppage time.

Having lost two play-off ties in the space of a fortnight in May as a result of Southampton's banishment for sending an intern to record the Teesside club's training session, a similarly unsatisfactory outcome looked on the cards when a familiar face put Lincoln ahead. To their credit the home side made up in spirit what they lacked in quality to dig out a valuable three points.

"Lincoln were better than us in the first half and they deserved to be ahead," Hellberg, the Boro head coach, admitted. "We didn't look like ourselves but in the second half we created a lot of chances and deserved to win. We've had a lot of change over the summer and it will take time for everything to come together."

The outcome was harsh on the visiting side, who tasted defeat for the first time since December in their

first fixture at this level for 65 years. Lincoln were good value for their lead but visibly tired as the game wore on as they got acquainted with the harsh realities of life in the Championship.

Their attempt to avoid what many see as an inevitably swift return to League One, however, is more likely to rest on their ability to exploit their

Elsewhere in the EFL

Championship, League One and League Two round-ups PAGE 18

set piece and long throw threat to regularly pick up points at Sincil Bank, which promises to be an uncomfortable place for visiting teams this season.

While Lincoln stuck with just about the entire team that romped to the third-tier title under Michael Skubala last season, Middlesbrough have spent lavishly this summer, eight new signings funded by the sale of Hayden Hackney to Everton and the generous sell-on fee from Morgan Rogers joining Chelsea from Aston Villa, two deals netting the club almost £40 million.

Despite the financial discrepancy, Middlesbrough were left playing catch-up by one of their own inside the opening quarter of an hour.

Academy product Adam Reach played the thick end of 100 games for the club before moving on a decade ago – so supporters needed little reminding of the wand of a left foot the 33-year-old used to put a first-time shot past Radek Vitek. Reach had arrived unmarked at the far post to meet a cross from Lincoln's other full back Tendayi Darikwa after Freddie Draper flicked on a clearance from goalkeeper George Wickens. It was unashamedly route one, but with a touch of panache.

It took until just after the hour for Boro's growing pressure to bear fruit. Summer signing Lankshear, who at £10 million cost 12 times the value of Lincoln's combined starting XI of roughly £850,000, deftly diverted Leo Castledine's shot beyond Wickens when the visiting side failed to clear a corner. The former Tottenham Hotspur striker could have left the Riverside Stadium clutching the match ball had a

deflected effort not come back off the bar.

There was a similarly instinctive feel to the winner as Lankshear found the net from close range after substitute Riley McGree exploited some tired challenges to engineer a low cross from the right that he really had no right to.

The Lincoln substitute Isaac Olaofe had a late effort ruled out for a narrow offside and co-head coach Chris Cohen admitted: "It's tough to lose like that given the heart and passion the boys showed but we must quickly learn the lessons. We just

dropped a little too deep in the second half.

"This will be as tough a test as we'll have away from home all season.

Despite the result we've given ourselves a belief of what we can do at this level."

Middlesbrough

(4-4-2): R Vitek

— C Brittain, L

Ayling, A

Malanda, Neto

Booyan (M Arfsten

B3min) — M Whittaker

(A Jones 90), A Kante

(R McGree 63), S Berhalter

L Castledine (M Peart

Harris 63) — W Lankshear,

K Joseph (J Sacramento 71).

Lincoln City (5-3-2): G

Wickens — T Darikwa

(A Coulter 90), T Hamer,

D Elenwar, R Towler, A Reach

(T Bayliss 90) — D Jeffries

(I Olaofe 59), I Earfolomeev,

C McGranshon — P Draper

(R Street 59), B House

(R Hackett 71).

Booked Draper.

Referee R Madley.

Lankshear led Boro's win after an opener from Reach, left. At £10m, Lankshear, main, is considerably more expensive than Lincoln's squad

Leicester provided with early reminder of new reality

Notts County

Grant 81

Leicester City

Joseph 62

James Shield

Last season was one to forget for both Leicester City and Russell Martin, who was forced to accept the challenge of leading his new employers out of League One after suffering the indignity of being sacked by Rangers last October after only 123 days in charge.

On the evidence of this contest, the former champions of England's first outing in the competition since 2009, the process of repairing their own reputation might prove every bit as protracted as the one facing their recently appointed manager.

Four months after being relegated – their fate effectively sealed by a six-point deduction for breaching the EFL's spending rules – the pressure on City ratcheted-up a notch further as they were held to a draw by a Notts County side who, given their contribution to a sometimes

ill-tempered game, will feel they could have delivered more.

But, even more than the result, it was the effort the visitors were forced to invest in order to claim a point which will concern their supporters who, despite the team's troubles, turned out in their numbers. Not that Martin, whose tasks also include replenishing City's reserves of confidence, was prepared to acknowledge that afterwards.

"There's so much to work on and much to like as well," he said, preferring to focus on the

positives after Conor Grant's late equaliser for County cancelled out Jayden Joseph's opener.

"We've got loads of learning to do and we'll be better for that. I loved the energy and the aggression in the team. I loved the fight and the togetherness, too.

Martin was forced to settle for a point on opening day

"In the first-half, I loved the amount of control we had. We started creating gaps and had to work hard for that because, make no mistake, this was always going to be difficult."

Although positive results are essential, some of the biggest battles confronting City are off the pitch. With yet another relegation further stretching already taught finances, more than 20 notable names have already been trimmed from their squad with the prospect of more to come. A flurry of replacements have arrived but, even though many possess the talent which should make third-tier football a breeze, the loss of

people like Jeremy Monga, Abdul Fatawu and Bilal El Khannouss mean City look a less formidable proposition than they may have done had the King Power Group been able to exert better control over their balance sheet.

"It's a difficult situation to manage," Martin added, explaining why Stephy Mavididi and Wout Faes had been omitted from his squad. "Given the level of interest in them, we went with people we know for sure will be here."

Inevitably, given the damage City's fall from grace has caused to their income and standing, the club's embattled Thai owners confirmed it is up for sale. The investment bank Citigroup has been tasked with finding purchasers prepared to pay over £200 million for City's "physical assets and infrastructure."

Given the laboured, disjointed nature of this display, until Joseph converted just past the hour, persuading someone to meet that price could be more awkward than some of the passing which helped boost County's self-belief.

That could have been depleted when, after Cal Roberts and Ollie Cooper went close, they fell behind to Joseph's superb strike. But, with less than ten minutes left, last term's League Two play-off winners restored parity through Grant, converting after fellow substitute Emile Acquah had struck the post.

"I'm disappointed but I don't want disappointment to be the takeaway," Martin Paterson, County's head coach, said. "I've spoken to the group, which was a little bit quiet because they felt they had chances to win, and that was a fair reflection."

Sky Bet League One

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6 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Alpha signings are beyond English clubs — there's a vacuum to fill

With Rodri set to follow Salah through the exit door and the likes of Vinícius Jr out of reach of even the champions, English football's search for the next headline act is on

JAMES GHEERBRANT

The hardest time to write about football is before the season starts. As the coming campaign takes its course, we will find out about players and teams, themes will emerge, the evidence of performance will accrete. But right now, the unknowns hugely outnumber the knowns. That feels especially true on the eve of this, the 35th edition of the Premier League, when most of the biggest teams are under new management. This season begins, like all those before it but to a greater extent, in the heat of summer, and the height of uncertainty.

At moments like this, one thing you can ordinarily hang your hat on is the

quality of the absolute top players. The World Cup, which ended only a month ago, seemed to prove this. In the United States, they sometimes publish lists of the most "bankable" actors in Hollywood, a concept which sits at the nexus of several very American ideals: power, allure, a kind of stolid leading-man reliability, fame as a guarantee of returns.

The 2026 World Cup might have been designed to express to an American audience that sport works in exactly the same way: that fame and output exist in a predictable and proportionate relationship, that the biggest stars are the most bankable. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham all delivered over and over again, and the tournament closed with Rodri, a pretty solid candidate for the best player in the world over the four-year cycle, holding the Golden Ball, having led his team to victory.

For all the Premier League's financial flexing, the presence of precisely

this sort of bankable star player has been diminishing in English football. Haaland is still here, but in recent seasons the likes of Kane, Kevin De Bruyne, Michael Olise and Trent Alexander-Arnold have all left, along with other very good players in their prime like Raphinha, Julián Alvarez and Luis Díaz. And now, this summer, in the already departed Mohamed Salah and Rodri himself, the league could be about to lose arguably the two defining players of its past five years.

Salah and Rodri exemplified that quality of absolute dependability in slightly different ways. Salah, in addition to his phenomenal output of goals and assists, was extraordinarily durable physically: when he played he could be relied upon to score or create, and for season after season, he barely missed a match.

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Rodri has been more often affected by injury and absence, but he has probably been the driving force in a winning side more than any other player in football in recent times. He is unbeaten in his past 28 games for Spain (with all but three of those having been wins after 90 minutes, extra time or penalties), a period that has encompassed three titles. At City, he has racked up unbeaten stretches of similarly improbable length, with one of them reaching 74 matches.

We don't know that Rodri will definitely leave: the Community Shield today may be his last game in sky blue, or it may be that Barcelona can't meet City's valuation and he remains to help steer City through the first season of the Enzo Maresca era. If he does go, though, it will be a loss not only to Maresca and City, but to the league.

Arsenal — the defending champions and City's opponents in the Community Shield — City and Liverpool are the three betting favourites for the Premier League this season, and yet strangely, they all go into this season in different ways, trying to figure out how to deal with the loss of arguably their best player. Andoni Iraola has known since his appointment that he would be leading Liverpool in their first season post-Salah. Maresca is preparing for life after Rodri without yet knowing whether it will come to that or not. And, though his case to be the best player at his club is slightly less clear-cut, you could argue that William Saliba is Arsenal's most indisputably world-class figure, and he will be missing for the first several months of this season, which has been the catalyst for some of the bustling Arsenal are now doing in the transfer market.

In fact, you could argue that the Iraola/Salah and Maresca/Rodri situations are part of a wider trend. Liverpool and City are not the only clubs where a new managerial project has coincided with the loss of arguably

the best player in the squad. The same could also be said of Tottenham Hotspur, who are saying goodbye to Cristian Romero as Roberto De Zerbi begins his first full season, and Newcastle United, where Mathias Jaisle had no sooner got his feet under the desk than Bruno Guimarães was sold to Arsenal.

Premier League clubs are no longer hiring managers primarily on the basis of their experience in top competitions or at comparably big teams. What is increasingly paramount is their "game model" — the way they coach their teams to play football — and the ability of that model to "scale up" from smaller clubs to bigger clubs, from a weaker league to the strongest league. And so, whereas, say, José Mourinho or Diego Simeone or Didier Deschamps might have had the status and the inclination to insist on keeping these top players around, the likes of Maresca and Iraola and De Zerbi are more concerned with installing their way of playing. It factors in, of course, that in the past two seasons Paris Saint-Germain have proven decisively that the loss of a team's best player can be weathered, even turned into a net positive, through the imposition of a collective tactical idea and system.

Mourinho, instead, has turned up at Real Madrid, whose best player, Vinícius Jr, might have been lining up in the Community Shield but was ultimately persuaded to ignore Arsenal's overtures and stay at the Bernabéu. There is, in terms of appeal if not of excellence, a hierarchy which is becoming ever clearer: the four super-clubs of continental Europe, Real, Barcelona, PSG and Bayern Munich (and maybe you could even throw Atlético Madrid in here too) exert a stronger pull than the top Premier League clubs, and the "big six" of the English top flight in turn have the power to attract players from the other Premier League teams.

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 7

With Salah, far left, swapping Anfield for Turkey, perhaps Szoboszlai, second right, will be the next Liverpool star to reach world-class status. Vinicius Jr., second left, opting to stay at Real means City's £116m signing of Anderson, far right, is the headline move of the window

Indeed, more and more, it is becoming their priority.

The Premier League is losing its best players to those five aforementioned clubs – plus those like Salah, De Bruyne, Son Heung-min and Ederson who are “ageing out” of their primes and seeking a final adventure elsewhere. The sort of world-class alpha signings who would be the dream replacements – like Vinicius, Lamine Yamal, Achraf Hakimi – are out of reach. And so we are seeing more and more players pulled up from lower down the Premier League to populate its most stellar squads, like Morgan Rogers, Elliot Anderson, Guimarães, Sandro Tonali and Youri Tielemans.

Maybe some of those players will be the ones to seize the stage. Maybe Anderson is ready to step into Rodri's shoes. Maybe Rogers will amply justify his £117 million fee in his first season at Chelsea. Or perhaps Dominik Szoboszlai or Florian Wirtz, at Liverpool, are primed to elevate themselves into that world-class bracket. Perhaps it will be Rayan Cherki or Benjamin Sesko, or perhaps someone will undergo an improbable zero-to-zero glow-up like the one which has transformed Ousmane Dembélé under Luis Enrique's management.

Or maybe this season will be the antithesis of the World Cup. Of course, there will be great players who excel, that much is inevitable, but maybe systems and ideas will be the defining forces of this Premier League season and teams will succeed not, as they often seemed to at the World Cup, through the force of a dominant personality, but through collective symbiosis. Maybe international football and the football of the English top flight are two fundamentally different, and increasingly divergent, forms of the game. Maybe here, the league is the star.

For now, there are no certainties, just a vacuum, waiting to be filled.

City are still without a captain while Maresca waits on Rodri

Charlotte Duncker, Paul Joyce

Enzo Maresca will start the season without naming a Manchester City captain as he waits for the transfer window to close.

The new manager said he would make the decision on who wore the armband. His predecessor, Pep Guardiola, had historically let his players elect a captain and a leadership group but in his last season in charge he did away with his tradition and choose Bernardo Silva into the main role, with Rúben Dias, Rodri and later Erling Haaland making up the rest of the group.

With strong doubts over the future of World Cup winner Rodri it looks likely that City will go into the new season with just two players remaining from that group – and Maresca has decided he will be the one to appoint Silva's successor.

“At the moment it's Rúben and Erling and then I want to wait until the end of the transfer window to pick two more [for the leadership group],” Maresca said.

After joking on the pre-season tour in Asia that Haaland would not be given the armband because he needs to speak to the captain after every goal and the Norwegian is always away celebrating, it looks likely the armband will go to Dias.

“Rúben has shown during his time at this club how he is as a player, in terms of leadership,” Maresca said when asked if the 29-year-old was an obvious leader. “It's important for the captain and the leader to know that the reason they are captain is because I expect more from them. It's not because I give them more freedom or advantage. It's the opposite, the leadership group and captains have to show more and give more than the others.”

It is not just the leadership group that will look different this season. City's midfield will be different with the departure of Silva and the impending exit of Rodri. But they have spent a club record £116 million

Dias is a leading contender to be appointed as City captain by Maresca

on Elliot Anderson, who they believe can be just as transformative in the middle of the pitch.

“He can do many good things on the ball and off the ball, also in terms of personality. He showed personality with Nottingham Forest and the national team,” Maresca said about the reasons why City signed the 23-year-old England international last month.

“I prefer players who can play in different positions and Elliot can play as a six, as an eight – and he is good in all the positions that he plays.”

As Maresca pointed out, Rodri is so good as a deep-lying midfielder that

Have no fear, City fans

Alyson Rudd on why there is no better man to lead team in post-Pep era than Maresca

he can play the role alone, which would give Anderson a different role – if the Spaniard stays.

“If you have dynamic players who can play in different positions, that is perfect,” Maresca said.

It is why they have been linked with Enzo Fernández, from Chelsea, as a different profile of midfielder and are lining up an £85 million deal to sign the Lille and Morocco teenager Ayoub Bouaddi.

The 18-year-old Bouaddi featured in the second-half of the French side's 1-1 draw with Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium yesterday and visiting head coach Davide Ancelotti admitted talks with a number of clubs were continuing.

“Bouaddi is a very good player,” Ancelotti, the son of the Brazil head coach, Carlo Ancelotti, said.

“Of course, there are negotiations. There is interest from so many clubs. He is a really, really good player and I hope that he is going to stay with us.”

Asked about Bouaddi's qualities, Ancelotti said: “He is incredibly intelligent on and off the pitch, he is really mature. He's going to be one of the best midfielders in Europe for the next ten years.”

United end pre-season with loss at hands of Amorim

Manchester United's pre-season came to an unhappy conclusion yesterday as they suffered a 4-2 defeat by Ruben Amorim's AC Milan in Wrocław.

Amorim, who was sacked by United in January, was facing his former club for the first time and, despite falling behind twice to goals by Harry Maguire and Patrick Dorgu, was able to celebrate a satisfying victory.

Marcus Rashford, inset, who was frozen out by Amorim and loaned out to Aston Villa and then Barcelona, came on as a substitute on the hour for his first United appearance since returning from Spain.

Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty for the second successive pre-season friendly. The United captain rolled a spot kick wide in a shoot-out against

Leeds United in midweek. His effort was on target this time and Milan's Lorenzo Torriani dived to beat the shot away. Fernandes did get an assist, taking the second-minute corner which was powerfully headed home by Maguire to give United the lead.

Milan equalised after a defensive mix-up allowed Gonçalo Ramos to break into the area and square for Samuel Chukwueze to roll home. United retook the lead after Dorgu pounced on a loose backpass, but Milan equalised again when Chukwueze's wayward shot was poked in by Alphadjo Cissé. Milan went ahead in the 68th minute with a header from Ramos, and three minutes later the former Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek raced through to score the fourth.

JOELINTON BLOW ADDS TO JAISSLE CONCERNS

Matthias Jaissle has reiterated his concern that he needs new players at Newcastle before the season opener against Liverpool next week (Martin Hardy writes).

Newcastle lost 2-1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen in a friendly and had to change out of their black and white kit during a hydration break because of a clash.

The Newcastle head coach revealed that Joelinton was unlikely to be fit before next month. “We have lost many players and we are adjusting the squad,” Jaissle said. “There will be some changes for sure.”

Arsenal, City and Liverpool all go into this season trying to deal with the loss of their best player

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8 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Football

How referees award fouls: the science, art ... and guesswork

In a new book William Ralston learns the tricks behind officials' decisions — even when they can't see

I, Janoub Stadium in Qatar fell silent. Uruguay faced Ghana in a decisive World Cup group-stage match. It was December 2, 2022. In the Uruguay section, fans screamed. Luis Suárez, Uruguay's striker, sobbed on the sidelines. Daniel Siebert, the German referee, wondered what was going on.

Elsewhere, South Korea had scored a late winner against Portugal. With it, they'd leap-frogged Uruguay into second place in the group. To avoid elimination, Uruguay, 2-0 up and cruising, needed to score again, with less than five minutes plus stoppage time remaining.

In the second minute of added time, a Uruguayan midfielder threaded the ball through the Ghanaian defence to striker Edinson Cavani, who was sprinting towards Ghana's penalty area, the goal to his right, a defender trailing.

Cavani let the ball roll across his body, from right to left, then fell dramatically. There was contact between him and the defender. Siebert heard it — the clash of legs, then the thud of Cavani hitting the turf, followed by the crowd's roar.

Siebert's entire body tensed. Penalty or no penalty? For a second, the stadium seemed to hold its breath, waiting to see if Siebert would blow his whistle.

But first, Siebert had a crucial question to answer: had a foul occurred?

Top referees must judge hundreds of potential fouls each match, but they are becoming harder to see and detect and referees are battling to keep up.

It's far more difficult than it looks, as Danny Makkelie, a Dutch referee in Uefa's Elite group, its top tier of referees, since 2017, told me. Fatigue narrows your vision and slows your processing. You're positioned at pitch level, where your line of sight might be blocked, or you might be too close to or too far from an incident to judge it accurately.

The idea that a referee can be too close to the action sounds odd, but research suggests the best decisions are made at a distance of 0-15 metres — close enough to judge contact but far enough away to assess intention and force.

WHERE TO LOOK WHEN IT'S ALL KICKING OFF

In November 2024 in north London, Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg

showed me how fine the margins are when calling fouls.

Three minutes into Tottenham Hotspur v Roma in the Europa League, right back Pedro Porro drove the ball low into the Roma box. Tottenham's Pape Matar Sarr nudged it past Mats Hummels and went down. Nyberg thought it was a penalty, but waved play on. From his angle, he couldn't be sure whether there had been contact. A body had crossed his line of sight at the crucial moment. Seconds later, VAR intervened. On the pitch-side monitor, it was clear that Hummels had clipped Sarr's leg just after Sarr touched the ball past him. Penalty.

Later that night, just before 1am, I sat with Nyberg in a hotel conference

room as Uefa's observer — a senior figure, usually a former referee, who assesses and grades performance — arrived to review the match. Dissecting the penalty incident on a television screen, Nyberg realised he had failed to shift a few metres to his left after a long sprint. One small positional error, a yard or two, had cost him a clear view. "If I had just moved," he said, "I would have seen it."

Adam Ladeback, Nyberg's fourth official in London, reminded me that on television we're told where to look by replays and commentators. If a

winger crosses the ball into the area and a defender fouls the attacker, the cameras focus on the offence and the commentators narrate it.

On the pitch, referees must divide their attention between the front post, the goal-mouth, and the back post, and then choose where to look. In refereeing speak, they must choose "where to zoom".

AN AGE OF INCREASED DECEPTION

Werner Helsen, Uefa's lead sports scientist and performance coach, has spent the last 25 years training referees how to spot fouls with greater precision. He had come to believe that traditional foul detection training relies too heavily on classroom video. A clip plays, an instructor explains the

infringement. This approach overlooks the core perceptual and cognitive skills required to detect fouls in real time.

Most assume a referee runs after the ball, sees a foul, and blows the whistle. But top referees are proactive. The ball now moves too quickly to follow it, so they have to recognise patterns of play and predict where the next phase will unfold. Where a seasoned referee moves towards the opposite penalty area, anticipating a counterattack, inexperienced referees linger, ending up too far from the next duel.

In March 2022, Cheryl Foster took charge of Juventus v Lyon in the Women's Champions League. Lyon won a corner; as the ball was cleared, Juventus launched a counterattack. Lyon's last defender brought down the attacker, and Foster sent her off. On television, the decision looked simple. But before Juventus had even broken forward, Foster had started moving towards the Lyon half. Her body had reacted

to a pattern her mind had already recognised. "I was moving before the ball was even kicked," she said. Once in position, top referees absorb subtle visual cues from players' body language to anticipate the kind of action that's likely to occur. They then focus their gaze on the important contact areas and predict outcomes. If Player A hits Player B with an elbow while they're running at this speed and angle, top referees know that Player B will fall to the ground like this.

Helsen told me he aims to make referees' brains work "smarter and faster". This is crucial because the demands on them are growing. Players are always inventing new ways to deceive referees. They're moving the ball faster and transitioning more explosively. The multi-ball system keeps play moving with fewer natural pauses, and teams can introduce five, rather than three, new players as subs.

The intensity stays higher for longer. In the Champions League, referees cover 10-12 kilometres per match. But the amount of high-intensity running is rising.

'SOMETIMES WE DECIDE DESPITE SEEING NOTHING'

Even with all their training, sometimes correctly calling a foul comes down to a referee's intuition, and whether they have the courage to trust it.

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 9

In April 2021, 20 months before the Uruguay v Ghana match in Qatar, Daniel Siebert took charge of a Europa League quarter-final between Dinamo Zagreb and Villarreal. In the 42nd minute, with the score at 0-0, a Zagreb player blocked a cross. The Villarreal players screamed for handball. Panic gripped Siebert. From his angle, he couldn't see if the defender had used his arm. But he could read the ball's trajectory and he sound it made on impact.

When the ball hits an arm, it tends to stop dead, not deflect away. The sound is also softer, duller than when it hits another body part. That was enough. Siebert pointed to the spot. VAR confirmed his decision. Relief flooded in. Later, Siebert called his wife, telling her how he hadn't seen the contact, he'd sensed it. 'I saw the ball bouncing back like this, so it must be a handball,' he said. He'd taken a leap of faith and found the other side.

All referees want to base their foul calls on solid facts – a defender kicking the attacker's shin; an outstretched arm blocking the ball. But that ideal is becoming increasingly unrealistic. 'If you are waiting for all the factual evidence before making a big decision, you will never reach the top,' Carlos del Cerro Grande, who was a La Liga referee from 2011 to 2023, told me.

He likens foul calls to a jigsaw puzzle, where the facts are the pieces. When pieces are missing, referees turn to experience. Does the fall look natural? Did the tackle sound right? How did the players react? If they rush to confront the defender, it's probably a yellow. Support their team-mate? Probably a red. If the referee can still see the full picture, they might award the foul.

When most of the pieces are missing, intuition must guide the decision. 'With your knowledge of the game, you can sense what happened,' Del Cerro said. Top referees call these 'decisions of feeling'. They make dozens of them each match. 'Everyone thinks we decide based on what we see, but sometimes we decide despite seeing nothing,' Bundesliga referee Harm Osmers explained. Most of these decisions occur in the middle of the pitch, where mistakes cost less.

But sometimes intuition decides matches. At Euro 2004, Swiss referee Urs Meier took charge of

Meier, right, famously disallowed a goal from Campbell at Euro 2004 for a foul against the goalkeeper. left, that the official later admitted he did not actually see, but which his brain nonetheless had registered. 'It didn't feel right,' he said of the goal. 'With experience, I learned to trust that feeling'

Sometimes you disconnect your brain, to feel what you have in your stomach

England v Portugal. Late on, Sol Campbell headed the ball into the net, seemingly a winner. But something in Meier's gut screamed 'foul'. He hadn't seen one. Still, he disallowed the goal.

Portugal won on penalties. Only later, watching the replays, did Meier notice the Portuguese goalkeeper's arms were not raised to catch the ball. John Terry, who jumped

alongside Campbell, had barged him. That was the foul Meier's brain had registered, even if his eyes hadn't.

Meier was proud. 'It didn't feel right,' he said of the goal. 'With experience, I learned to trust that feeling.'

But trusting intuition is never completely safe. In April 2016, Tobias Stieler refereed a Ger-

man Cup semi-final between Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen. Bayern's Arturo Vidal fell in the box and Stieler awarded the penalty. Not even the Bremen players protested. Bayern scored, taking a 2-0 lead that sealed the victory.

Afterwards, Stieler saw that Vidal had dived. The guilt followed him to the airport. 'I felt like everybody was looking at me, as the referee who made the blatant mistake.'

For Stieler, the error underlined how intuition could no longer be trusted. Players had learned to fake the signals of a foul – the fall, the groan – so convincingly that 'decisions of feeling' were a liability.

After that German Cup game, he vowed never to give red cards or penalties unless he saw the contact. 'I press an imaginary pause button,' he said. 'I ask myself, What did I actually see?' If the answer is the contact, then I trust my decision. But I don't want to guess any more.'

To pick up as many facts as possible, Stieler hangs around the last line of defence. If the attacking team plays a ball into the penalty area, he can be close to tackles. If he still can't gather the facts, Stieler lets play continue and waits to see if his VAR buzzes in his ear.

Stieler's approach is not universal, though. On his phone, Clément Turpin – the French referee who officiated the 2022 Champions League final – keeps a note that reads 'Remorse is better than regret'. It reminds him that it's better to follow his intuition than to freeze and decide nothing.

Early in their careers, Turpin said, referees like to rely on 'external criteria, and those external criteria are the facts'. But with experience, you refine your ability to interpret tackles, and your intuition becomes more accurate and you learn to trust it. If they're to make the big calls in the big moments, referees must learn to trust their intuition, Turpin said. 'Sometimes you

have to disconnect your brain, to feel what you have in your stomach.'

Werner Helsen doesn't think the solution is to choose between intuition and caution. He's determined to improve referees' access to relevant facts in real time. With proper training, he's convinced 'decisions of feeling' can be kept to a minimum.

Referees themselves are becoming more experimental with their preparation. Turpin watches matches once at normal speed, 'to feel the story of the game', and then again in fast forward. Siebert trains with wireless light sensors, a gauntlet of glowing targets, each one a split-second test of his brain processing speed. It's Whack-A-Mole for referees.

HOMEWORK CAN BE VITAL

Which brings me right back to the Uruguay v Ghana match in Qatar. In the end, it wasn't a flash of intuition that made the difference, but Siebert's preparation.

The moment the ball came towards Cavani, Siebert's heart raced. As Cavani let the ball roll across his body, from right to left, Siebert realised this wasn't a natural footballing movement. If Cavani really wanted to score, he'd have taken a touch and driven towards goal or opened his body to shoot.

This told Siebert that Cavani was going to try to win a penalty. Siebert also knew how. Before the tournament, Fifa's refereeing coaches had warned referees to be alert to attackers initiating contact with the defender to try to win penalties. In a series of clips, they'd shown attackers running in close proximity to the defender. Instead of continuing to run, the attackers stopped, planted a leg in the defender's path, and waited for the defender to run into them.

'This is not a foul,' Fifa had told the referees.

Siebert positioned himself directly behind Cavani and saw him execute this exact move. He waved away the appeals. Moments later, Siebert signalled full-time. Cavani and his team-mates chased him down the tunnel, then Cavani punched a VAR monitor and told journalists that Siebert should be 'put in jail' for his 'errors'.

● The Impossible Job: The Truly Unbelievable World of Football Rejects by William Ralston is published by Viking on August 27, hardback £22.

William Ralston will be at Stanchion Books, London on September 10 and House of Books & Friends, Manchester, on September 15, in conversation with Anthony Taylor. Check their websites for tickets.

Ex-Belgium defender Pocognoli to be Scotland manager

Mark Palmer

The dark horse Sébastien Pocognoli is set to win the race to become the next Scotland manager, with the former Belgium defender in line to be officially unveiled as early as tomorrow.

The 39-year-old, who previously led Union Saint-Gilloise and Monaco, will be only the second foreign manager in the Hampden hotseat, and the first since the German Berti Vogts was stood down in 2004.

Pocognoli's candidacy had largely gone under the radar, with Steven Naismith, who earned 51 Scotland caps, having been widely tipped to succeed Steve Clarke, whom he previously worked under as assistant coach.

During a process led by the SFA chief executive, Ian Maxwell, and the governing body's chief football officer, Craig Mulholland, there had also been strong links to Roberto Martinez, the former Belgium and Portugal manager who has personal ties to Scotland.

But Pocognoli – who was sacked by Monaco in June after eight months in the role – will now take charge in time to oversee four Nations League games in September and October.

A left back, Pocognoli won 13 caps between 2008 and 2014, while his club career brought stints with Genk, Standard Liege and USG in his homeland as well as AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands and England's West Bromwich Albion and Brighton & Hove Albion.

Having claimed an Eredivisie league title and Belgian Cup before retiring, Pocognoli's managerial honours consist of a Belgian league title and Super Cup with USG – a member of the Tony Bloom-backed Jamestown Analytics stable.

These feats – USG had not previously finished top of the pile for 90 years – meant he was named Belgian coach of the year in 2025, and were pivotal in earning him the ultimately ill-fated move to Monaco. Pocognoli has previously favoured a 3-4-1-2 formation based on aggressive pressing and a desire to move the ball quickly.

Scotland had been hunting for a new boss since Clarke stepped down in the wake of a deeply underwhelming World Cup campaign in which his team failed to qualify for the knockout stages despite the favourable competition format. They lost to Brazil and Morocco and scraped a 1-0 win against Haiti.

The former Kilmarnock manager did, however, raise the bar by guiding the Scots to three major tournaments, something which no previous manager had done.

As and when his appointment is rubber-stamped, Pocognoli's dugout debut will come against Slovenia in Ljubljana on September 26.

Siebert, inset, waved away Uruguay's appeals for a penalty after Cavani went down in search of a foul in the final minutes of a World Cup group match in 2022, leaving Suárez, above, in tears on the bench

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10 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Cricket

The keeping revolution blunting batsmen (and it's all Bazball's fault)

England's soaring strike rate has prompted wicketkeepers to stand up to seamers. Will the skill it requires lead to a change in who gets picked behind the stumps?

SIMON WILDE

Cricket Correspondent

Even Tom Blundell was surprised by how successful his ploy of standing up to New Zealand's seamers was against England this summer, a series that will go down as the one that killed Bazball.

"Harry Brook, who dances down the wicket so well, was a totally different player when the keeper's up," Blundell recalled recently. "I thought he would run at it, but it never happened. I was surprised. He nicked off to first slip (in the second Test at the Oval) and that's just not him. That's not how Harry Brook gets out."

And yet that is how Brook got out. Since making his Test debut four years ago only Joe Root has scored more runs than Brook's 3,395, only Kane Williamson among those with 1,500 runs has a better average than Brook's 53.04 and among the same group only Ben Duckett has a better strike rate than his 86.82. And yet his game has been changed drastically by an adjustment to where the keeper is standing.

The same tactic – Blundell standing up and, principally, Matt Henry bowling at about 84mph – also caused Root problems. Pinned to the crease, Root was leg-before four times in the three Tests and Brook twice. Henry was the bowler on three of those occasions, all at the Oval, where nine of his 11 wickets came with the keeper up.

It was tough work for Blundell, who says he woke up every morning with his hands swollen and aching: "It was just a constant barrage. I was fortunate not to get hit on the end of a finger." The need to concentrate so intently on balls flying in and around the hands, ribs and head also takes a mental toll.

Keepers, of course, stand up in many situations. They do it when spinners are bowling and may do it at times to medium-pacers in white-ball games in domestic cricket. But for the past 15 to 20 years Test cricket has been dominated by fast bowlers striving for high pace. England's selection policy for Australia last winter was predicated on assembling a group of the fastest bowlers they could find. Most teams are in thrall to pace, with slips standing well back along with keepers, who leap around like goalies.

There have been exceptions, such as on low, slow surfaces sometimes found around Asia, where seamers have bowled with the keeper up. In Sharjah in 2015, on a pitch James Anderson likened to a graveyard for fast bowlers and where seam movement was minimal, Jonny Bairstow stood up to England's seamers. But elsewhere, such a sight has been rare.

For a start, fast bowlers have to put aside their egos. The sight of a keeper hovering over the stumps can hurt their pride. When Blundell first tried standing up to seam – against England on a docile pitch at Wellington in 2023 and initially to counter Ollie Pope batting out of his

crease – it was at the suggestion of Henry. "Matt is such a team guy he'll do anything," Blundell recalled. More recently Henry has conceded: "We parked the ego a long time ago."

When Scott Boland bowled at England last winter with Alex Carey standing up, Boland said that he initially felt uncomfortable. "Everyone wants to be a 'fast' bowler and

doesn't like to see the keeper up." But such have been the rewards that bowlers will surely come to accept the trade-off.

The other challenge is that the bowler must believe that his keeper can cope even if he essentially bowls as he would if his gloveman was standing back. "You can still bowl with energy [but] for that mentality of still being able to hit the pitch you need to trust in the keeper," Henry said. "That's the key part."

A paradigm shift has come about because of the highly attacking way one team – England – have batted during the past four years, in which they were striking at 70 runs per 100 balls, with most other leading teams scoring at about 53 to 57. It was inevitably going to produce a co-ordinated response and over the past year – during which India, Australia and New Zealand have all brought their keepers up to England's most dangerous players – it has.

Chris Read, the former Nottinghamshire and England keeper and now head coach of the Trent Rockets women's team, recalls something similar when Surrey had a highly aggressive batting line-up in the early 2010s. "I spoke to other keepers [at other counties] and the feeling was you had to get up to the stumps because they were charging our quick bowlers and taking them down," he said.

A few years before that, Read at Nottinghamshire would stand up to the stumps to Mark Ealham, a medium-pace bowler who played eight Tests in the late 1990s. Ealham wanted Read up because he had noticed the psychological pressure of it made some batsmen play at balls outside off stump that they had been leaving when Read was back.

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 11

"

It's an attacking option. If the batsman is playing normally, there's no point

With the number of balls bowled in international cricket with the keeper up having risen from 2 per cent last summer to almost 15 per cent this season, it will be fascinating to see how the likes of Brook and Root respond to a challenge that is certainly not going to disappear any time soon. Pakistan are sure to try out the same tactics this week, as will South Africa in the winter and Australia next summer.

"[With the keeper up], you haven't got the same freedom and have to play a different way," said Alec Stewart, England's most-capped wicketkeeper. "The really brave option – or is it recklessness? – would be to carry on doing the same thing and put the pressure back on the bowler. But if you miss and you're stumped, you'll be accused of being stupid."

There are various factors at play but Brook's returns have declined since the start of the India series a year ago. His strike rate has dropped only slightly but his average has plunged to 44.00, nine points below its overall mark. Root has averaged 48.17, set against his career record of 50.58.

Test teams long ago demanded that their wicketkeepers could bat in the top seven and contribute

runs. Inspired by Adam Gilchrist, the first decade in which they collectively averaged more than 30 was the 2000s, and they have done so ever since. But if the Blundell-Carey strategy becomes more voguish, then the highly skilled gloveman may become more valued than in recent years.

This may not always lead to a change in personnel and instead come down to training up the incumbent. Read feels sympathy for England's Test keeper, Jamie Smith, who rarely fulfils the same role for Surrey. "How do you get the learning if you don't stand up to the stumps in county cricket? He's finding out about how effective he can be at doing it in international cricket."

Interestingly, the man who helped Blundell prepare for the first and second Tests against England in June was James Foster, the former Essex and England keeper, who was one of the best at standing up to seamers.

England had Sarah Taylor, in her time another brilliant keeper standing up, on their backroom staff for the New Zealand series, but it would not be a surprise if the new head coach, Stephen Fleming, gets Foster in to work with Smith and others. Smith briefly came up to the stumps during the Lord's Test when Ollie Robinson dismissed Daryl Mitchell.

Stewart says that fielding sides have to calculate the pros and cons. "It's exciting to see. The keeper's right in the game. It's an attacking option. It depends who you are bowling to and how they are playing. If he's batting normally, there's no point.

"You have to weigh what's more in your favour. Are you more likely to get an Ibw or stumping than a nick, because if it's a big nick it's probably going to hit the outside of your glove, whereas standing back you're more likely to catch it. If the bowler is looking to nip it back to hit the pad, the chance of an edge is minimal. With the keeper up, it's more – maybe not claustrophobic – but as a batsman you are conscious of him being there.

"If the ball is seaming a bit and they're trapped on the crease, it's out. It's not rocket science, but it's a well-thought-through plan."

It is a ploy that works best with bowlers of a shorter build. Ealham was well under 6ft. Michael Neser, who alongside Boland bowled with Carey up at the stumps during the Ashes, is 6ft. Boland and Henry are 6ft 2in. Equally, keepers are not going to be standing up to bowlers whose speeds much exceed 84mph. Neser was around 78mph to 84mph in the Ashes.

Go back further and these tactics were commonplace. One of the most famous partnerships was the silk-handed Godfrey Evans standing up to Alec Bedser, who was a big man but relentlessly accurate and a scourge of Australian line-ups in the early 1950s.

Jack Russell famously pulled off a leg-side stumping to dismiss Dean Jones off Gladstone Small in an Ashes Test in Sydney in 1991 – Russell having gone up without discussing it with the bowler. Speaking on the Stick to Cricket podcast recently Russell said he thought that for all the plaudits he received Carey stood too far back when up to the stumps in the winter.

"He was too deep stood up," he said. "[You should] get your hands up to the line. That's a confidence thing. I'd have been like Carey in my early days. You go deeper to give yourself more time." This new strategy appears to be a work in progress. Just how far it spreads remains to be seen.

Alastair Cook

Sam Curran and Dan Lawrence can bring balance to England if they are allowed to play to their strengths

It's easy to be a bit underwhelmed about the new era in English cricket and that was my first thought when Joe Root returned as captain.

As the media and fans, you want to see someone new doing and saying new things, whereas with Root we think we know what we're going to get.

But actually, having thought about it a bit more, I'm increasingly excited. We've appointed a really experienced guy who isn't going to have a lot of the things thrown at him that he had last time round, such as Covid, and basically he's got 12 months to attempt to win back the Ashes.

He's got some really talented players to captain and I'm excited about how England build over the next year, and whether they can do the thing that they failed to do under Ben Stokes, which is to win the really big moments in the biggest series.

If anything that excitement for the first Test at Headingley on Wednesday has been built by watching the Hundred. Much as I've enjoyed it – and my seven-year-old, Jack, is a big fan – it will be good to see Test cricket back. But one thing the Hundred has shown is that there is an awful lot of talent in English cricket.

Many of the players who performed best have been England players. Look at the stats and you'll see the likes of Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Will Jacks and Ben Duckett high up in the runscoring charts, and in the wicket-taking and economy rate table the likes of Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid feature prominently.

So there are a lot of really good cricketers out there, but perhaps the biggest issue is how to balance the side now that Stokes has gone. I was really pleased that Marcus North, the national selector, said that Sam Curran would have been in the squad, and probably in the team, if he had been fully fit.

I felt he paid the price when he played Tests for England for being put in a role that didn't suit him – for instance, he ended up opening the bowling with Jimmy Anderson in Barbados when Stuart Broad was left out in 2019. His role should be as a fourth seamer and someone who can bat at No7.

Is he a like-for-like replacement for Stokes, who was one of the five or ten greatest all-rounders of all time? No, of course not, but he bats, bowls, fields and is very competitive. I think he'd add something to this side.

I'm also pleased Dan Lawrence is getting another go as he was also picked to do the wrong job when he

Jacob Bethell. When I first saw him bat I thought he timed the ball as well as anyone I'd ever seen, so he's certainly got something, and I hope he shows it. I'd be asking Lawrence and Root to take on spinning duties. Given the hot weather I'd want four seamers – Archer, Tongue, Atkinson and Ollie Robinson – as that is England's bowling strength.

At the moment there simply isn't a top-class spinner to pick. I'm not saying that Shoaib Bashir can't become one in a few years, but he's barely been playing for Derbyshire in the Metro Bank One Day Cup. I don't care whether the captain is Mike Brearley, Brook or Root, it's tricky to make up for the lack of a really top spinner, particularly on tours of the subcontinent.

But Pakistan at home really should not be too much of a problem. This side have lost eight of their past nine Tests away from home, so anything less than an England series victory would be unacceptable.

They have good cricketers, but they are a side you can put pressure on and really get on top of, and I think they will struggle to score enough runs. It's a nice series for Root to have as his first back as captain.

It will all be a change of gear from the Hundred, which I have watched more of this year than before. As I say, my son has absolutely loved it. He knows the top six players in each team and he wants to look at the table (although Oval Invincibles changing their name to MI London hasn't helped).

The standard of cricket has been really good and I think it should be treated in a less gimmicky way. There's been a tendency to dumb it down and assume that no one watching it knows anything about cricket. But the matches are good enough that they speak for themselves – the uneducated will quickly get educated just by watching it.

The money has been good for the game, but I am concerned about attendances because it's never a good look to see lots of empty seats. I wonder if the football World Cup was a bit of a factor as people were focused on that and the Hundred crept up on them a bit.

It's been a good tournament, but I'm just really excited about the return of Test cricket.

Lawrence tried to be too aggressive when previously opening for England

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12 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Cricket

How Hundred could bankroll Yorkshire's return to top table

Simon Wilde Cricket Correspondent

No county have been more grateful for the money generated by the Hundred than Yorkshire. Mired in debts for decades, and seemingly heading for administration, the club's chance last year to sell their entire

stake in the Leeds-based franchise to the Sun Group – raising close to £60 million in total – put them in what their chairman, Colin Graves, described as the best position in their history.

That was then and this is now, and challenges continue to rear their

head. On Wednesday, Headingley will stage the first Test of England's series against Pakistan, but it will be the last such match there until 2029. According to Graves, each year without a Test costs the club £1.5 million. At least the weather is set fair and

with England being led again by Joe Root, one of the county's cricketing greats, the Yorkshire faithful may feel that all is still right in the world.

The SunRisers men's and women's teams are not strictly Yorkshire's – the playing side of the operation now rests wholly with the new owners – but their fortunes, nevertheless, reflect on the club that host them. Both have had a good Hundred, with the men reaching the eliminator and the women making it into today's final against Trent Rockets, but attendances were down at Headingley by 22.5 per cent on 2025 for the men's games, a bigger drop than at any other venue.

A number of team owners have concluded that they erred in not making more effort to sign local talent to help better connect with the public, and the only big-name Yorkshire player in the SunRisers men's team was Harry Brook. SunRisers were also slow to promote ticket sales, something Graves said will be rectified in 2027.

With debts cleared and money in the bank, Graves is now driving a move towards Yorkshire demutualising – turning a members' club into a private company owned by shareholders – to avoid a repeat of the financial mismanagement of the past and to attract the investment needed to fund the long-overdue redevelopment of Headingley.

Graves has described the proposal as 'the most important and biggest step in Yorkshire's history' and the only way of restoring Yorkshire and Headingley to the top table of English cricket on and off the field.

A long-term plan involves increasing the ground's capacity from 18,500 to 25,000, which would put it on a par with Old Trafford and Edgbaston, creating a new high-performance centre, enhancing the pathway system, and investing more in out-grounds and the women's game.

However, the club are waiting on guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority as to who is eligible to vote. The club have about 2,000 members with full rights and another 3,000 with limited rights. Alex Sobel, a local MP, has argued that if some members were excluded from the vote it would 'permanently tarnish the reputation of a historic sporting institution'.

Graves had originally hoped that the demutualisation process would be complete by early next year, but now accepts that would be a best-case scenario. For demutualisation to prevail, 75 per cent of members must vote in favour from a minimum 50 per cent turnout.

'We're waiting to clarify who is eligible to vote,' Graves said. 'We're having lots of consultations with members. We're making sure we tick all the boxes and answer all the questions.'

Yorkshire are keen to engage with all stakeholders and local politicians. Of Sobel's stance, Graves added: 'I'm disappointed at the way he's looking at it. Considering he's our local MP, you would have thought he should be encouraging the redevelopment of one of the biggest assets in his community ... to ensure Yorkshire cricket and Headingley are around for the next 50 years and in the best health they could be.'

The past few months have been about building partnerships. On Yorkshire's relationship with the Sun Group, Graves said: 'It has been

HEADINGLEY BOTTOM OF THE PILE

Only Cardiff bucked the trend of attendances at men's group games falling in the Hundred this year

Change in attendance, 2025 to 2026

Cardiff	+5.53%
Trent Bridge	-5.35%
Edgbaston	-5.45%
Old Trafford	-15.39%
Lord's	-16.26%
Oval	-17.46%
Utilita Bowl	-21.19%
Headingley	-22.46%

excellent. They've left running the ground to us. Our last match last weekend, we had something like 13,000 [actually 14,714], the majority wearing orange shirts [the new team colours].

'In hindsight they might have started [marketing] earlier. For them, it was crunched up after the IPL season, so they hadn't much time to look at it. They've learnt their lesson from that.'

'The way they run the IPL, they don't concentrate on ticket sales early like we do in the UK. It's a different marketplace. They've learnt that for next year. It'll be different, they will go on sale earlier and market it better. It's not the end of the world to them. Attendances have been good with the category of people we need: families, women and children. It's a learning curve and you're going to get that the first year of any new tournament.'

'Tickets for the Test are looking really good. Wednesday is slightly down, because it's a Wednesday and I don't think we've had a Wednesday start at Headingley before, but the next three days are excellent.'

It would help if the game went the full five days, as happened with the India Test last year when England won on the final afternoon in a dramatic run chase and the overall attendance topped 70,000.

Selling their franchise stake stabilised Yorkshire's financial position, but does Graves have any misgivings that the value of Hundred teams might be worth much more in future? 'I'm sure they will be worth a lot more money – and good luck to them,' he says. 'We did the right thing at the right time from the club's point of view, so we're quite happy with what we did.'

And what of the fact that for the first time since the roles were separated, England's white-ball and red-ball captains – Root and Brook – both come from the same county, Yorkshire? 'It's not bad going is it? We're proud of both of them. They are two very genuine guys and I'm pleased as punch for them.'

ON TV TODAY

Women's Hundred final: Trent Rockets v SunRisers Leeds 2.15pm, Sky Sports Cricket/Mix Men's Hundred final: Trent Rockets v Manchester Super Giants 6pm, Sky Sports Cricket/Main Event

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 13

My day in lawyer’s office defending Pakistan over ball-tampering

Umpires accused Inzamam of meddling to exacerbate reverse swing. I found no evidence, but the game was already forfeited because Hair ‘thought he was God’

SIMON HUGHES

In this day 50 years ago, Michael Holding walked off the Oval pitch having taken eight for 92 in the fifth Test of the seismic 1976 series between England and the West Indies. It was a series dominated by the bat of Viv Richards (829 runs despite missing one Test through injury) and the heat-seeking missiles sent down by the four-pronged West Indies pace attack. Brian Close, opening at 45 years old in the third Test at Old Trafford, wore a few blows in that famous twilight passage of play when the bowling became so intimidatory that the umpires had to have words.

The West Indies captain, Clive Lloyd, had “words” too. After play with his bowlers, “What was all that about?!” he demanded, pointing to the scoreboard. The England opening

partnership of Close and John Edrich was bruised and battered, but still intact. “We got no wickets,” Lloyd said. “We need to pitch it up!”

From then on they did – bowling England out for 71 and 126 at Old Trafford to win by 425 runs – and culminating in Holding’s epic spell at the Oval. All his eight wickets in England’s first innings were bowled or lbw, and four of his six in the second to finish with a magnificent 14 for 149.

Like a traffic cop with no radar gun, Hair had acted on the flimsiest of evidence

The Oval was as parched then – in that long hot summer of ’76 – as every ground in the country is now, and Holding revealed this week that he made an amazing discovery in that match. The older ball when held for a conventional outswinger (with the shiny side on the right) swung in instead. “Those days nobody spoke about reverse swing,” he told me on The Analyst Inside Cricket podcast. “But because the pitch was so dry, the outfield was so dry, the ball deteriorated reasonably quickly. And if you are there trying to shine one side, eventually the reverse swing is gonna come in to play.”

“The fuller the ball went, the better chance it had of swinging. If you look at the balls that got rid of Tony Greig in particular, they were almost full tosses. But because they were so full and the late movement, it just got through his defences.”

All this time it was assumed that the Pakistanis were the pioneers of reverse swing – Sarfraz Nawaz and Imran Khan in the 1980s and Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis devastatingly in the 1992 series in England. And now we find that, perhaps by

accident, the West Indies discovered it first.

For Pakistanis, brought up in the sort of arid conditions we are now experiencing here, reverse swing has become embedded in their DNA. The ball gets naturally scuffed up on the abrasive pitches and at some point – due to the super turbulence around the rough areas of the ball – it is forced to swing towards the shinier side rather than away from it. They became such masters of exploiting it that umpires (and opponents) began monitoring them for sharp practice, surreptitiously scratching the leather or picking the seam to exacerbate any reverse swing.

This development landed me in court. Twenty years ago this week the umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove accused the Pakistanis of manually altering the ball’s condition in a Test match – also at the Oval – and issued a five-run penalty. The Pakistanis, captained by Inzamam ul-Haq, refused to take the field after tea in protest, and forfeited the match. Some weeks later, I, at the time an analyst for Channel 5, was called as a witness to a hearing about whether the charge of ball-tampering against Inzamam, as captain, should be upheld or quashed.

I had been allowed access to Exhibit A – the ball – under supervi-

sion in a lawyer’s office. I examined it, deciding that, after 56 overs on a dry fourth-day pitch, it was still in pretty good condition. There were a number of small abrasions on the rougher side, but nothing unusual. The only thing that looked slightly suspicious were a few slightly curved striations in one area. I concluded they could have been hand-made (and I knew bowlers had become proficient at subtly enhancing natural wear and tear), but there was no way you could be certain. I had examined footage of that period of play, could find no evidence of malpractice, and also the ball had done absolutely nothing. When play had stopped for tea, England were 298 for four.

Various other people took the witness stand, including Geoffrey Boycott, forthrightly defending the Pakistanis and lambasting the umpires with, “You don’t just put on a white coat and say, ‘I’m God, I’m in charge!’ You’ve got to be a bit more humane.”

“Why didn’t you bat like that Boycs?” I asked him during a break in proceedings.

“These days they’ve got covered wickets, big bats, small boundaries. I never had any of that,” he retorted.

After four hours of cross examination it emerged that Hair had, like a traffic cop with no radar gun, acted on the flimsiest of evidence – a few scratches on an old ball – and Inzamam was acquitted. Common sense prevailed.

The question now is, with the desert-like conditions in the country and Leeds at present twinned with

Lahore, will there be reverse swing at Headingley this week? Actually, it’s less likely. Some rain and cool weather is forecast for all days of the Test, which will promote more conventional swing.

More importantly, the Headingley groundsman, Richard Robinson, proud curator of what is now one of the finest batting pitches in the country – with excellent pace and bounce – has a policy of keeping his pitches “moist” as long as possible pre-match, so they hold together during it. He says the pitch will crack, but “normally” they don’t deteriorate. But as with 1976, it is not a normal summer.

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14 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times 82

Rugby Union

Inside Bath's 30-year battle to rebuild the Rec

Club have finally overcome 'full bingo card of challenges' to get the green light to develop 18,000-seat permanent ground in the heart of the historic city

John Westerby

The English club season does not kick off in earnest for another six weeks, but Bath have already notched up a groundbreaking victory. The announcement this week that their plans for rebuilding the Recreation Ground are to be accelerated – with work starting next year and completion due for the start of the 2028-29 season – have brought the long-harboured dreams of a permanent stadium in Bath city centre tantalisingly close to reality.

After a long spell of underachievement, one of England's most successful clubs have become a real force again in recent seasons, winning the Gallagher Premiership as part of a memorable treble last year and reaching semi-finals this year in both the league and the Champions Cup. The prospect of a permanent new home now also lays out a clear path for the club's future, which for so long had been shrouded in uncertainty.

For pretty much the whole three decades of the professional era, Bath have been looking to solidify their roots by building a new stadium on the site of the Rec, surrounded by beautiful Georgian architecture, with the River Avon flowing alongside. Even though they have played at the Rec since 1894, for much of the past

30 years those intentions to construct a new stadium have resembled a pipe dream.

Time and again they have been thwarted by the difficulties that come with trying to build an 18,000-seat stadium in a city so steeped in history. Bath is a Unesco World Heritage Site and any plans had to be sympathetic to the surrounding area. Local residents have been wary of the amount of noise and pollution created on matchdays, and the impact on views to the surrounding hills.

A new stadium will also encroach further on the green space of the Recreation Ground land, which is owned by a charity – Bath Recreation Ltd – whose purpose is to provide recreational facilities for the people of the city. Campaigners last year objected to Bath's planning proposals due to potential damage to the roots of an ancient beech tree.

For myriad reasons, the obstacles to redevelopment have meant that Bath have kept playing in a stadium of 14,500 with temporary stands, one of which has often been dismantled in the off-season to open up space for community use.

"The thing about the Rec is, it's possibly the most challenging place you could choose to build a stadium," Tarquin McDonald, the club's chief executive, says. "Possibly if we'd known all the challenges at the start, who knows if we'd have made different choices. But it's definitely the right choice and

the right outcome. It's the only place for us to do it. It's the spiritual home of the club. Bath is a rugby city."

To understand exactly why supporters have been so desperate for Bath to establish a permanent home at the Rec, it is essential to experience the transformation of the city centre on a match day.

"When Bath are playing at home, the whole place turns blue, black and white," David Harrington, of the Bath Rugby Supporters Club, says. "From about 10am, walk around the city and you'll see a majority of people wearing rugby shirts and there are flags everywhere."

"If you move a ground to the outskirts from being right in the heart of the community, that special atmosphere would be completely lost. When I talk to supporters from other clubs, they say the first away game they look for when the fixtures come out is at the Rec and they get their hotels booked early. It's a unique experience."

The catalyst for Bath's redevelopment came with a decision at the Supreme Court four years ago, ruling

that covenants on the Recreation Ground dating back to 1922 should not prevent the building of a new stadium. Previous attempts to redevelop had been hampered by wording in the covenants preventing any use of the land that might cause a "nuisance, annoyance, or disturbance" to the neighbourhood. After a protracted legal battle plans could finally begin to be formulated.

"We'd had a full bingo card of challenges thrown at us," McDonald said.

Moving the ground would have ripped the rugby heart out of the city

"If the covenants case hadn't gone our way, we'd have had to move at some stage. But we didn't know where to. We looked at the old training ground at Lumbidge, where the amateur club is based, but there are flood issues and it's on a main road coming into Bath that couldn't be closed on match days."

"Bath is surrounded by hills, you can't put a stadium on the top of a hill. If we hadn't been able to proceed, and we'd had to move out of the city, it would have completely changed the character of the club. It would have been pretty stark, it would have ripped the rugby heart out of the city."

Plans have since been drawn and redrawn until permission was finally granted in September last year. The acceleration announced this week aims to reduce by six months the time taken on the rebuilding project, meaning the club's final two home games next season will be played away from the Rec, with construction on a new East Stand due to begin in March.

To create more space on the west side of the ground, the pitch area will be moved 25 metres further away

HOW NEW GROUND WILL LOOK

The West Stand will open out to the river (middle). An artist impression shows the view from the East Stand (right), which will replace the old temporary seats and back on to the community part of the Rec

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52 The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 15

1894

The year Bath played their first game at the Recreation Ground

from the river. The new facilities will also include provision for the Bath Rugby Foundation to carry out its work with disadvantaged youngsters from the local area. One of the biggest transformations will be on the outside of the stadium by the river.

At present, in contrast to the visual splendour of the adjacent Pulreney Bridge, the rickety rear of the West Stand makes for an unprepossessing sight. The new riverside development will include shops and a café, linking the stadium to the city.

For all the obvious economic benefits brought by the rugby club, opposition to a new stadium had not completely disappeared. Ken Loach, the film director, was one local resident to object. "Bath Recreation Ground was a gift to the people of Bath and it

INTO THE BIG LEAGUES

Capacities of the Prem rugby grounds

Bristol, Ashton Gate

27,000

Leicester, Welford Road

25,849

Bath, Rec (after development)

16,000

Gloucester, Kingsholm

16,115

Exeter Chiefs, Sandy Park

15,000

Northampton Saints, Franklin's Gardens

15,249

Harlequins, Twickenham Stoop

14,816

Bath, Rec (current)

14,500

Sole Sharks, A J Bell Stadium

12,000

Newcastle Red Bulls, Kingston Park

10,200

Saracens, StoneX Stadium

10,500

should be an open green space for ever," he said last year. "A mini Wembley Stadium in the middle of these Georgian houses is a travesty."

But the rugby club have finally sidestepped their way around all the obstacles and complaints. When Bath and North East Somerset's planning committee granted permission for the new stadium, they did so by nine votes to one. "It's never going to have 100 per cent support," Harrington said. "But I think the vast majority of people in the city recognise just how big a part rugby plays in the community."

The new stadium will come hard on the heels of the news this year of fresh investment from James Dyson, the billionaire industrialist, who has taken a 50 per cent stake in the club, sharing ownership with Bruce Craig, the owner for the past 16 years.

And these off-field gains have come at a time when Bath are back among the elite of the English game, that first league title for 29 years stirring memories of the club's glory days in the 1980s and 1990s. The future in Bath looks increasingly bright.

"As supporters, we've certainly had our ups and downs, and much of it's been run-of-the-mill for the last 20 years," Harrington said. "But when we won the treble, the celebrations in the city were incredible. There hadn't been so many people on the streets since the Queen visited in the 1970s.

"The new stadium will help us build on that, it should be an incredible place to watch rugby, a stadium right at the heart of a beautiful city. I don't think there'll be anything in the world quite like it."

Stuart Barnes

Northampton's Archie McParland is the only scrum half who can elevate England to World Cup contenders

England have a lot of work to do before they can be regarded as anywhere near the world's leading nations. This week's unveiling of the 25 centrally contracted players who will take England through the second half of the Nations Championship, the Six Nations and the Rugby World Cup suggests the basis of the squad is firmly in place.

It's not bad but it could be a lot better. And if England are even to harbour dreams of glory in Australia, a huge amount of alteration is required to their playing style. New blood is needed. And needed last week with the squad announcement.

To be part of the centrally contracted core is to be trusted. To be trusted is the starting point for any international rugby player. England tend to broadly back the mediocrity – at best – of recent times. It's all been too slow. The gear changes have been clunky: too sluggish, too often. It's a team game but individuals can change a team.

Cam Roigard is the scrum half who has upped the All Black ante. The back line has been brilliant in the early Dave Rennie days but it is a back line playing on the front foot. Next week they face the acid test of the Springboks at Ellis Park. If they play at a steady tempo-South Africa's defensive heft will destroy them. If they are in overdrive, well, with the likes of Will Jordan threading through holes from all parts of the pitch, who knows?

I do know New Zealand will not win by trading blows, by simply slugging it out. What has this battle of the best got to do with England? In theory, not much. Don't think the victory against the All Blacks last year carries the remotest semblance of an encouraging form line. The men in black were running down under the predictability of the disappointingly conservative coach, Scott Robertson. When Roigard – a dominant force for the 44 minutes on the field – departed, the game turned on its head.

Cobus Reinach, formerly of Franklin's Gardens, is often the catalyst from scrum half for the Springboks. He or the fleet-footed Grant Williams inject pace from the base. This allows Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu the split second in which to carve open opposing teams. Maxime Lucu (and, of course, a fully fit Antoine Dupont) provide similar opportunities for France's gifted fly halves, as does the rapidly improving Ben White of Scotland. And there's also Jamison Gibson-Park for Ireland.

But England. They don't have that degree of threat from the base. Alex

Mitchell is the pick of the No 9s – if you want to play high tempo – but while he's sharp around the short side he lacks the vision to make his run/pass/kick option five or ten metres before bending for the ball. That gift made Aaron Smith such a wonderful scrum half to watch and even better for Dan Carter to play behind, or even alongside.

These are scrum halves who move the gasoline, force rearguards to retreat on heels as attacks advance at pace. From this dynamism comes the potential to play fast. To frighten even the best teams. Yet England's other centrally contracted option at scrum half is Jack van Poortvliet. He can threaten but he isn't someone who can create another dimension.

Ben Spencer, Bath's kicking No 9 with numerous other gifts, has settled into a role that had him kicking without even thinking. Bath lost both their way, and eventually the play-off against Exeter Chiefs. He has been omitted from the 25 centrally contracted players for following his management's instincts.

Which leaves us wondering: where on earth is the other Northampton scrum half, Archie McParland? He has the vision, the speed, the potential to take England's attack to places and at a pace they have all but forgotten. He was quite brilliant in the latter part of last season. Perhaps his Prem final injury cost him a place in the Nations Championship.

McParland is uncapped for England but has the pace and vision to make the national side more dangerous

squad. Perhaps it didn't.

The point is that he is uncapped. If McParland, 21, is capable of transforming the team, he needs all the Test time available and, just as importantly, he needs the England management to place their trust in him. He's much inferior to Mitchell as a box-kicker. To catch and overtake their rivals, youngsters must be told that the boss has their backs. To not be listed in the central core of contracted players doesn't mean this potentially special No 9 won't play for England in both the build-up to and the actual World Cup, but it does mean he has not been gifted an important psychological boost pre-season.

It isn't a case of being too conservative; far from it. With only two scrum halves in the 25 it is feasible that Marcus Smith, who did such a competent job at scrum half against a feeble Fiji team, could be worked on as the second-choice fly half and full back and the third-choice No 9. That's in the Rassie Erasmus class of perceived rugby radicalism.

I wouldn't back against the Harlequins No 10 being an intriguing England impact, either as a No 9 or No 10. But if you want to back England to be part of the elite come Australia, they need someone who's that little bit more specialised and special at scrum half.

England have solid options at No 9 but it's the younger Saint who has the capacity to devise England to the seemingly ridiculous role of contenders. If Borthwick's side are shooting for the credit of another semi-final defeat, Mitchell could very well be the first choice. If Borthwick has targeted the stars, McParland has that something to set the pack charging on the front

foot. Even as an impact substitute he has to be committed to self-belief.

Northampton have the most England central contracts (if you include George Furbank, who was selected on his Saints and England history). The English champions possess the keys to creating an explosive England team. Steve

Borthwick has an excess of balance and

ballast to choose from in the back and second row.

Fin Baxter's return to the front row adds depth while Asher

Opoku-Fordjear offers the versatility Borthwick craves from the likes of Marcus Smith.

But who is the man to benefit from the pack and ignite the backs? It could well be McParland, but whispered encouragement is not enough. The young man could do with Borthwick's backing. Bar injury he might have made the squad for the July

internationals. That was unfortunate. Not to be on the

lists of the central contracts? That reads like an error.

---

16 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Sport

'AI can't replace the magic': why

Latest deals show steep price rises in sector where AI can add value rather than disrupt — but risk of relegation remains a turn-off, write Molly McElwee, Charlie Morgan and Simon Wilde

The sale of the Los Angeles Lakers for an eye-popping $12.5 billion (about £9.23 billion) sent ripples across the sports world this week. It is the most ever paid for a sports team, and a whole $2.5 billion more than the franchise sold for only 14

months ago.

On Wednesday ESPN broke the news that former Disney chief executive Bob Iger and Josh Kushner — brother of Jared, Donald Trump's son-in-law — were buying a controlling stake in basketball's most famous franchise. Startlingly, the sale represented a 25 per cent hike in value from early 2025, when Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter bought the same stake for $10 billion (which was a record at the time).

Meanwhile in the UK, it was confirmed on Friday that a consortium including the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the fourth-richest man on the planet, is buying a 30 per cent stake in Liverpool, valuing the club at £5.5 billion — an 18-fold increase on the £300 million that John Henry paid for the club in 2010.

Every indication suggests that sport remains the hottest property going right now. Trends across the

SPORT'S MOST VALUABLE TEAMS: A TIMELINE

industry have shown hugely inflated price tags in the past two years in particular. According to Forbes's 2025 list, the top 50 sports teams are now worth more than $353 billion — more than double the mark from four years ago.

A few factors

are at play. "One is scarcity: there aren't that many teams and there are a lot of interested parties," Jennifer Haskel, knowledge and insight lead at the Deloitte Sports Business Group, says. "Even within a short period of time you can see that there's a lot of interest in and around sports in general. That's why we're seeing — especially at the top end of the market — those premium brands that are generating a very high valuation."

"Then you're seeing a lot more sophisticated structures [and] a lot

"

Every indication suggests that sport remains the hottest property going for investors right now

more interest in liquidity for some of the investors. In certain parts of the world and leagues, there is more of a stable revenue flow. That continuous

growing of revenue flow and distribution is a sign for investors that if you come in at a high valuation, as of right now, you continue to look for an exit at a higher valuation in most instances. That can take hold very quickly depending on the demand in the market."

Sports business consultant Tim Crow agrees. "You literally print money because there's no promotion or relegation, it's the safest investment you could get in sport, and that's the way the American system operates," he says of the increasingly popular American-style ring-fenced leagues. "When they [teams] do change hands, they change hands for colossal money. The bigger the franchise, the bigger the region, the more it goes for."

"Add that to this wall of private money chasing opportunity, you're going to get extraordinary results. Rajasthan Royals and RCB sold recently for big multiples on the same principle. India as a marketplace is very similar to the States, the way they've deliberately set it up, and it's paid dividends."

That would explain, too, why European football clubs barely got a look-in

AMERICAN DOMINANCE

How the top 50 most valuable sports teams in the world break down by sport, according to Forbes analysis in 2025

on Forbes's top 50 (only two Premier League teams — Manchester United and Liverpool — featured), as relegation is a risk investors are less willing to take.

The trickle-down effect has been seen in domestic rugby. For a once-ailing sport, new investors have seen the potential ever since the decision to abandon relegation in the Prem was taken. Red Bull acquired Newcastle Falcons in 2025 for a reported £39 million, billionaire James Dyson acquired a 50 per cent stake in Bath Rugby in March, and billionaire American Bill Foley's investment company took a 100 per cent stake in the Exeter Chiefs this summer for £45 million.

The days of owning top teams simply for the love of the game are virtually gone. Now investment firms, consortiums and private money are swooping in from all over the globe and cherry-picking the most desirable, lucrative assets to plant — and

1999

Washington Redskins (NFL)

£591m

1964 New York Yankees (MLB) £9.75m

1969 Philadelphia Eagles (NFL) £11.8m

1972 St. Louis Rams (NFL) £14m

1979 Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) & Kings (NHL) £50m

1984 Dallas Cowboys (NFL) £63m

1989 Dallas Cowboys (NFL) £103.5m

1993 Baltimore Orioles (MLB) £127.9m

1994 Philadelphia Eagles (NFL) £136.5m

1998 Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB) £258.5m

1998 Cleveland Browns (NFL) £391m

Jones set to join Ospreys board as club continue to fight merger

Rugby union

Charlie Morgan Senior Rugby Writer

Alun Wyn Jones, rugby union's most-capped international, is set to join the Ospreys board as the Welsh side continues its fight for survival.

The Sunday Times understands that Jones, who represented Wales and the British & Irish Lions in a total of 170 Test matches, will re-join his former region as a director with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) still planning to cut four professional teams to three before 2028-29. Ospreys and Scarlets would appear at severe risk of extinction, with Cardiff and Dragons seemingly assured of licences, but there is vehement opposition towards a merger of the

two western sides. Both Ospreys and Scarlets are defiant that four teams should remain.

The WRU has been subjected to renewed criticism over the past week and its board issued a strongly worded statement yesterday that read: "There is no justification for the highly personal insults and attacks that have been directed recently at members of staff and our board."

There was a call to "work together", but the union reiterated its position that "there is no realistic prospect of the game generating enough revenue to fund four professional teams competitively beyond 2028".

Jones emerged at Swansea RFC and

represented Ospreys in 257 matches, winning three Celtic League and Pro 12 titles in 2007, 2010 and 2012. He will be contracted for two days a week, and it is said that the former lock wants to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the organisation rather than acting merely as an ambassadorial figurehead. The 40-year-old, right, completed a law degree during his playing career, which ended in November 2023 after five Six Nations titles, including three grand slams and four Lions tours.

He has served as a strategic adviser for the National Institute for Sport and Health, based at Swansea University, since retirement.

His appointment, which is due to

be announced in the coming days, continues an encouraging period of consolidation for Ospreys. This season they will return to the St Helen's ground in Swansea, where significant redevelopment is taking place. Swansea council has contributed £5.1 million, with the Ospreys owners Y11 Sport & Media adding a further £2.5 million.

Y11, which began investing in Ospreys six years ago, also has stakes in the Hurricanes, the Super Rugby champions, and the Cheetahs in South Africa. The organisation entered discussions to buy Cardiff from the WRU, but those negotiations had collapsed.

Despite losing Dewi Lake and Jac

---

The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 17

sports teams' values are soaring

quickly grow – their billions. Last year, the nearly £1 billion valuation of the Hundred franchises raised eyebrows, not least because the tournament was only four years old and delivers just one month of cricket a year. But the sell-on potential for investors was thought to be a key driver. "No question," Crow says. "With a lot of them I know they had a five-year timeline and were hoping to get rid of it within that timeline. Generally those kind of investors are looking at up to five years."

Eagle-eyed readers will note that soon-to-be Lakers owner Kushner was named in the investment group for Gianni Infantino's ill-fated plan to carve up the Fifa World Cup. With that controversial proposal scrapped, Kushner turned his attention to the NBA, which has witnessed huge rises in valuations in recent years, perhaps owing in part to the 11-year broadcast package the league brokered for $76 billion two years ago.

Last year the Boston Celtics was sold to an investment group led by private equity executive Bill Chisholm for $6.1 billion. While the Lakers trail the Celtics in terms of titles, they retain the most lucrative local broad-

Bezos is part of a consortium that is buying a 30 per cent stake in Liverpool, while the LA Lakers sold for $12.5 billion despite LeBron James, left, leaving

2005

Manchester

United (PL)

£1.03bn

cast deals of any NBA team. Lakers fans already know that ownership changes can affect their experience directly. Mere months into Walter's tenure, there was uproar in February when news of season tickets price hikes filtered through. According to ESPN,

some fans faced a $3,000 increase, bringing their season ticket

price to over $9,000, which marked a 45 per cent increase over two years. The Lakers' Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as the Staples Center) is a city landmark, which remains another factor driving sports ownership prices through the roof.

"Sportainment", as Deloitte's Haskel puts it, was spearheaded in North America, and it is now becoming a part of investment strategies across Europe too. "We're seeing the development of new or renovated venues that allow for 365-day access and different revenue generating opportunities – concerts held on the pitch, conferences – that make it a destination rather than just a place where games are held.

"That allows a new connection to fans, an entryway for new fans or casual fans to still be impacted by a sports organisation. It just

broadens the funnel." The reasons why sport is the go-to investment play right now are varied, but one undeniable factor is the simultaneous rise in artificial intelligence.

Simon Massie-Taylor, Prem Rugby chief executive, sees the benefits AI presents. "Investors see that in a world that is being disrupted by AI, it feels like AI can only add value to sport," he says. "It can help sell tickets, for example, but it can't replace the magic you are ultimately selling to people.

"People value being part of a community and sport is brilliant for that. Linked to that is the fact that in this

2023

Washington

Commanders (NFL)

£4.47bn

Aug 2025

Boston Celtics (NBA)

£4.5bn

2022

Denver Broncos (NFL)

£3.43bn

world of multiple screens and fragmented media platforms, the one thing that maintains high ratings is live sport. That is why ITV has doubled down on the amount of rugby it is putting out there. Sport remains a valuable appointment-to-view moment

and I don't think this will fundamentally change despite different ways young people may choose to consume these moments."

Haskel sees AI's impact as twofold: "AI is the new team-

2026 Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) £9.23bn

Oct 2025

Los Angeles Lakers

(NBA)

£7.4bn

mate, right? Everything sports organisations do – from content production to back office, even in and around scouting and development – AI can surely enhance that

type of operation and hopefully bring down certain costs as well.

"Then there's the other side of it. The world is embedding AI in every which way. Sport is one of the true live-value operations and that doesn't seem to be changing. That's driving a

lot of the valuations. It is one of very, very few – if not the only industry – that is still appointment to view, that is still best seen live."

Some forecasters even suggest AI will reduce workforce hours, and more leisure time will drive fandom even more towards sport. Haskel, though, says it is not a given. "Sport is no longer just competing with sport. It is competing with the likes of social media, television and culture for capturing attention. Will we have more leisure time from our work? Absolutely.

"I would hope that that would transition into more people showing up to games, into more engagement, and I think it has the power to do so. But I don't think that sports organisations can stand still knowing that that is the case."

Morgan to Gloucester amid the uncertainty, Ospreys have retained the services of the Wales fly half Dan Edwards and bolstered their squad with several signings.

Marika Korobete, the veteran wing, is poised to join two more Australia internationals in the back-rower Liam Wright and centre Lalakai Foketi in Mark Jones' squad.

Last week Ospreys released a statement in which they heralded a "new chapter" and reasserted their belief that cutting four

regions to three was neither the inevitable nor the correct outcome from this bitter period of off-field wrangling. The WRU board, which includes the chief executive Abi Tierney, is at present without a chairman after Richard Collier-Keywood stepped down in July. Tierney, Collier-Keywood and Dave Reddin, the latter made director of rugby and elite

performance in April 2025, have been the faces of the proposed restructure over the past 18 months. Against this backdrop, Wales have won just four of 30 Test matches in this World Cup cycle.

Peloton pays tribute to Tarling as Volta continues

Cycling

Riders at the Volta a Portugal paid tribute yesterday to the 19-year-old British cyclist Finlay Tarling, who died during the eighth stage of the race on Friday.

Tarling, who was born in Ffos-y-flin in west Wales, collided with a van, which was not linked to the race. He is the younger brother of the Netcompany-ineos rider Josh Tarling.

The race organisers and the Portuguese Cycling Federation

confirmed the news after stage eight of the race was neutralised and the podium ceremony cancelled.

Yesterday race organisers confirmed that it would continue in an "atmosphere of profound mourning", without any sponsor activity or celebration.

Before the start of the ninth stage the riders observed a minute's silence, the peloton wore black armbands and the race leader, Alexis Guérin, a black jersey. "There will be a sporting

competition, but not a party," the organisers said. "This Saturday, the Volta rides for Finlay."

His team, the NSN

Development Team,

withdrew from the race.

"Following Fin Tarling's

tragic passing on Friday,

the NSN Development

Team has withdrawn

from the remaining

Volta a Portugal stages.

"We want to thank everyone in the cycling community and beyond for the incredible support at this difficult time."

---

18 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Sport

FORTUNITIES

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP

West Bromwich Albion began their season with a narrow win over Norwich City but they will feel fortunate the EFL is still without VAR after Aune Heggebø bundled in their opener from close range using his hand (Joe Harston writes). Jimmy-Jay Morgan's cross appeared to strike his team-mate's hand on the goalline before he finished off an excellent solo run with a goal of his own to extend their lead. Mathias Kvistgaarden's header was therefore only a consolation.

"I think everybody in the stadium saw it; my bench saw it, I saw it from 50 yards away but not the referee and not the linesman," said the Norwich head coach Philippe Clement.

Bolton Wanderers survived a late scare as they made a winning return to the Championship against Preston North End. The visitors were caught flat-footed twice in quick succession by swift counter

Heggebø scored West Brom's opening goal

NEXT FIXTURES

Today: Stanley v West Ham United (4.00) Walford v Southampton (7.30) Tomorrow Cardiff v Wrexham (8.00) Saturday (3.0 unless stated) Birmingham v Bristol City (12.30) Blackburn v Middlesbrough, Derby v Cardiff, Lincoln City v Portsmouth (12.30) Millwall v Norwich (12.30) Preston v Wolves, QPR v Bolton Southampton v Stoke City, Swansea City v Sheffield United, West Ham v Charlton, Wrexham v Watford.

attacking moves finished by Sam Dalby and Thierry Gale.

After losing to League Two's Walsall in the League Cup last week, Michael Skubala is still in search of his first win in charge of Bristol City, as a brace from Josh Coburn secured a comfortable win for Millwall at Ashton Gate, made easier by Adam Randell's early sending off for the home side.

Charlton Athletic secured an impressive win at home against Derby County with an excellent strike on the turn by Tyreece Campbell.

Queens Park Rangers ended a run of six winless league games by beating Portsmouth despite Terry Devlin's stunning long-range effort for the hosts.

Swansea City also overturned an early opener on the road at Stoke City as a tidy finish by Adam Idah took all three points back to south Wales.

Sheffield United had to settle for a point against Birmingham City after James Beadle made an excellent save from Patrick Bamford in the second half to keep it goalless.

BOLTON 2		PRESTON 1
Dalby 14		Erabi 86
Gale 25
HT: 2-0		Att: 26,262
BRISTOL CITY 0		MILLWALL 2
		Coburn 41, 50
HT: 0-1		Att: 24,168
Sent off: A Randell (Bristol City) 36
CHARLTON 2		DERBY 1
Jones 61		Szmotics 23
Campbell 80
HT: 0-1		Att: 21,531
MIDDLESBROUGH 2		LINCOLN 1
Lankdower 62, 90+1		Reach 12
HT: 0-1		Att: 31,487
NORWICH 1		WEST BROMWICH 2
Kvistgaarden 90		Heggebø 75
		Morgan 87
HT: 0-0		Att: 26,224
PORTSMOUTH 1		QPR 3
Devlin 15		Chair 33, 45+2
		Saito 40
HT: 1-3		Att: 20,479
SHEFFIELD UTD 0		BIRMINGHAM 0
HT: 0-0		Att: 27,684
STOKE 1		SWANSEA 2
Bocat 10		Opoku 23
		Idah 66
HT: 1-1

	P	W	D	L	F	A	GDPs
1	QPR	1	1	0	0	1	2
2	Millwall	1	1	0	0	2	3
3	Swansea	1	1	0	0	2	1
4	West Brom	1	1	0	0	2	1
5	Bolton	1	1	0	0	2	1
6	Charlton	1	1	0	0	2	1
7	Middelough	1	1	0	0	2	1
8	Blackburn	1	0	1	0	2	0
9	Wolves	1	0	1	0	2	0
10	Birmingham	1	0	1	0	0	0
11	Sheff United	1	0	1	0	0	0
12	Barnley	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	Cardiff	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	Watford	0	0	0	0	0	0
15	West Ham	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	Wrexham	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	Derby	1	0	0	1	2	1
18	Lincoln City	1	0	0	1	2	1
19	Preston	1	0	0	1	2	1
20	Norwich	1	0	0	1	2	1
21	Stoke	1	0	0	1	2	1
22	Portsmouth	1	0	0	1	3	2
23	Bristol City	1	0	0	1	2	2
24	Southampton*	0	0	0	0	0	0

*deducted slots for breach of league rules

LEAGUE ONE

Luton Town's strong end to last season has made them one of the favourites for the League One title but they were reminded of how difficult it will be after winning a seven-goal thriller away to Reading. Jack Marriott's first-half hat-trick was cancelled out by a quickfire brace from Luton's Kasey Palmer before Gideon Kodua scored a 96th-minute winner for Jack Wilshere's side.

His former Arsenal team-mate Aaron Ramsay will face a tougher task in charge of Oxford United this season as his side face a transfer embargo. His opening day also featured a late goal as Ciaron Brown rescued a point at home to MK Dons, who, with some meaningful contributions from their new signings Dan Barlaser and Charlie Goode, showed why they can compete high up the league.

Kodua completed Luton's recovery act

NEXT FIXTURES

Thursday Sheffield Wednesday v Bradford City (8.10) Saturday (3.0 unless stated): AFC Wimbledon v Reading, Bromley v Cambridge, Doncaster v Barnsley (12.30), Leicester v Bolton, Luton v Portsmouth (12.30), Wrexham v Huddersfield, Peterborough v Mansfield, Stevenage v Oxford Utd, Stockport v Blackpool, Wigan v Leyton Orient, Wycombe v Plymouth.

Jimmy McNulty has big shows to fill as he takes over as Stockport County head coach from Dave Challinor. He could not have made a better start than a 3-1 win away to Plymouth Argyle, one of the league's favourites for promotion.

Sheffield Wednesday's new era started with a slice of fortune as Callum Slattery scored their opener against Leyton Orient when Nathan Baxter's clearance rebound off him and into the net on their way to a 2-1 win that also included a Jamal Lowe penalty.

A ten-man Huddersfield Town side did not just defend their 2-0 lead after Bali Mumba's first-half sending off but managed to increase it as Bojan Radobovic's finish added to a well-struck first-half double from Deensili Sanches Fernandes.

Cambridge United had a three-goal but had to hang on to beat Wigan Athletic 3-2, while Bradford City started their campaign with a 2-0 win against ten-man Peterborough United.

BARNLEY 0		BROMLEY 1
HT: 0-0		Kirkbergs 70
BLACKPOOL 1		WYCOMBE 1
Roxney 77		Chapstone 7
HT: 1-0		Att: 1,011
BRADFORD CITY 2		PETERBOROUGH 0
Cambridge 54, Powell 75
HT: 0-0
Sent off: D'Estegner (Peterborough) 85
BURTON 1		STEVENAGE 1
Homer 14		Sanderson 90+1
HT: 0-0		Att: 2,001
CAMBRIDGE UNITED 3		WIGAN 2
Watts 3, Appleton 34		Perkins 69
Hawth 52		Higgins 73
HT: 1-0		Att: 1,026
HUDDERSFIELD 3		AFC WIMBLEDON 0
Harrington 4, 15, Radulovic 78
HT: 1-0
Sent off: Mumba (Huddersfield) 20
LEYTON ORIENT 1		SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 2
Chasey 26		Slattery 16, Lowe 66 (zero)
HT: 1-0
MANSFIELD 2		DONCASTER 1
Stokes 26, Reed 14		Senior 49
HT: 1-0		Att: 6,858
NOTTS COUNTY 1		LEICESTER 1
Grant 65		Jewett 62
HT: 1-0		Att: 2,172
OXFORD UNITED 3		MK DONS 3
Harris 20, Brown 90+0		Goode 29, Collins 34
HT: 1-2		Att: 10,954
PLYMOUTH 1		STOCKPORT 3
Amaack 79		Diamond 13, Wootton 26
		Dixon 49
HT: 0-2
READING 3		LUTON 4
Morrison 8, 81, 38		Richards 6, Palmer 50, 52
		Kodua 90+6
HT: 3-1		Att: 14,065

	P	W	D	L	F	A	GDPs
1	Huddersfield	1	1	0	0	3	3
2	Stockport	1	1	0	0	3	2
3	Bradford	1	1	0	0	2	2
4	Luton	1	1	0	0	3	1
5	Cambridge	1	1	0	0	3	1
6	Sheff Wed	1	1	0	0	2	1
7	Mansfield	1	1	0	0	2	1
8	Bromley	1	1	0	0	1	1
9	MK Dons	1	0	1	0	2	0
10	Oxford United	1	0	1	0	2	0
11	Leicester	1	0	1	0	1	1
12	Stevenage	1	0	1	0	1	0
13	Wycombe	1	0	1	0	1	1
14	Blackpool	1	0	1	0	1	1
15	Barton	1	0	1	0	1	0
16	Notts County	1	0	1	0	1	0
17	Reading	1	0	0	1	3	4
18	Wigan	1	0	0	1	2	3
19	Doncaster	1	0	0	1	2	1
20	Leyton Orient	1	0	0	1	1	2
21	Barnsley	1	0	0	1	0	1
22	Plymouth	1	0	0	1	1	3
23	Peterborough	1	0	0	1	0	2
24	AFC Wimbledon	1	0	0	1	0	3

LEAGUE TWO

266

Lincoln City lost a league match for the first time in 266 days

The York City manager Scott Lindsey had already faced chants of "Sacked in the morning" one game into his tenure after the surprise sacking of Stuart Maynard angered fans. However, in their first League Two fixture in ten years, he navigated a surprise win over Bristol Rovers. Harry Boyes nodded in the winner at the back post after earlier netting with an excellent strike, making the left wingback a surprise hero — while Lindsey seems to have already started to patch-up his relationship with the fanbase.

Rochdale's return to the Football League began in disappointing fashion, however, as they were comfortably beaten by a Newport County side who narrowly stayed up on the final day last season.

Salford City have been the division's big spenders this summer

Boyes struck twice to inspire York to a win

NEXT FIXTURES

Saturday (3.0 unless stated): Bristol Rovers v Newport County (12.30), Colchester v Oldham Crewe v Northampton, Exeter v Accrington Stanley, Fleetwood v Gillingham, Port Vale v Tranmere, Rochdale v Crawley, Rotherham v York, Salford v Clevenfield (12.30), Shrewsbury v Barnet, Swindon Town v Cheltenham, Walsall v Grimsby Town (12.30).

but Peter Cklamovski suffered a difficult start to his tenure as they suffered a heavy defeat away to fellow promotion hopefuls Barnet. Rotherham United — who now have the peculiar pair of Alex Bruce as head coach and Steve McClaren as head of football — were welcomed back down to the fourth tier with 2-1 loss away at Cheltenham Town. It is 13 years since their previous short in League Two but their struggles here suggested that bouncing back may not be so straightforward.

Exeter City also struggled on their return. Their 1-0 defeat away to Grimsby Town was more one-sided than the scoreline suggested.

Port Vale's 2-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic and Northampton Town's goalless draw against Swindon Town meant none of the relegated sides won their opening fixture.

It was nine players vs ten by the time Josh March gave Crewe Alexandra a winner five minutes into added time at Crawley Town.

ACCRIMSTON 2		COLCHESTER 2
Cotton 28, 40+1		Ianobbi 24, Hunt 50
HT: 2-1		Att: 1,059
BARNET 3		SAFFORD 1
Gullagher 24, Lukin 42		Dixon 90
Colchessign 87
HT: 2-0		Att: 2,220
CHELTENHAM 2		ROTTERNAM 1
McCann 30, Evans 71		Roxley 52
HT: 1-0		Att: 1,457
CHESTERFIELD 0		FLEETWOOD 1
		Evans 35
HT: 0-1		Att: 1,856
CRANLEY 0		CREWE 1
HT: 0-0		March 90+5
Sent off: A Gordon 10, Wilstewe 64 (both Crawley)
W Demetrius (Crewe) 85
GILLINGHAM 0		WALSALL 3
		Masse 81, Connolly 89
		Pindaley 90+6
HT: 2-0		Att: 1,125
GRINSBY 1		EXETER 0
Rodgers 25
HT: 1-0		Att: 7,483
NEWPORT COUNTY 3		ROCKEHILL 0
Cameron 18, Swengwe 38
Sterling 60+1
HT: 1-0		Att: 4,872
Sent off: S Bongo (Rochdale) 66
NORTHAMPTON 0		SWINDON 0
HT: 0-0		Att: 1,120
GILSHORE 2		PORT VALI 0
Beverington 65, 75
HT: 2-0		Att: 5,449
TRAINMERE 3		SHREWSBURY 0
Devine 35, Whitaker 63
HT: 1-0		Att: 7,826
YORK 3		BRISTOL RIVERS 2
Sterling 60		Moss 30
York 63, 80		Leigh 70 (zero)
HT: 0-1		Att: 6,706

	P	W	D	L	F	A	GDPs
1	Walsall	1	1	0	0	3	3
2	Newport Co	1	1	0	0	3	3
3	Barnet	1	1	0	0	3	2
4	Oldham	1	1	0	0	2	3
5	Tranmere	1	1	0	0	2	3
6	York	1	1	0	0	3	1
7	Cheltenham	1	1	0	0	2	1
8	Crewe	1	1	0	0	1	1
9	Fleetwood	1	1	0	0	1	1
10	Grimsby	1	1	0	0	1	1
11	Colchester	1	0	1	0	2	0
12	Accrington	1	0	1	0	2	0
13	Northampton	1	0	1	0	0	0
14	Swindon	1	0	1	0	0	0
15	Bristol Rovers	1	0	0	1	2	1
16	Rotherham	1	0	0	1	1	1
17	Chesterfield	1	0	0	1	0	1
18	Crawley	1	0	0	1	0	1
19	Exeter	1	0	0	1	0	1
20	Salford	1	0	0	1	1	3
21	Port Vale	1	0	0	1	0	2
22	Shrewsbury	1	0	0	1	0	2
23	Gillingham	1	0	0	1	0	3
24	Rochdale	1	0	0	1	0	3

---

Sport

The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 19

EATBUNHOLE

JOEL WARD

Former Crystal Palace captain-turned TNT Sports pundit on the outdoor life and a CD that he couldn't stop playing

EAT

MY FAVOURITE MEAL

The death show meal? Fish to start, scallops and prawns. I love anything cooked over a fire and I was lucky enough to have someone teach me so I'm cooking medium steak myself, with my special beetroot dish and some well-done roast potatoes. For dessert, it's my nan's famous stewed

fruit, with a dollop of ice cream. Ginger beer or a French Château Canon to drink.

MY FAVOURITE RESTAURANT

Hearth at Hecalfield Place in Hampshire. They do traditional cooking, where they hang a leg of lamb with fire-all around it and a tray to catch the juices, but the most beautiful of all is La Ferme on Cavallo

Island, between Corsica and Sardinia.

MY DREAM DINNER PARTY

Tiger Who did the one who shaped golf.

Michael Jordan: I'd want to pick his brains and his mindset.

Jesus Christ: as a Christian, I'd have the big man himself. So many questions...

Muhammad Ali: a great of his industry and of sport in general.

Matthew

McConaughey, right as well as his acting, he has a great wealth of wisdom. My wife has long maintained I have a huge man-crush on him. Me? I'm just leaning in...

Palace director Steve Browett put on some special nights, so it's Château Canon, Napa or a Ségla.

Non-alcoholic coffee. I couldn't live without it. A single-origin pour-over. I have an elite set-up at home.

MY WORST HANGOVER

If I'm honest, I try not to put myself in that position. There have been

times when I've enjoyed it too much, but I've been at all home in a safe environment.

MY FAVOURITE FILM

Braveheart. The ultimate epic. I've seen it countless times.

MY FAVOURITE TV SERIES

Yellowstone. I love the outdoor lifestyle. It would be epic to go and experience it.

MY FAVOURITE POP STAR

Ed Sheeran. His talent is exceptional. He's extremely gifted.

MY FAVOURITE ALBUM

Kanye West's Graduation. A mate at school bought it for me after I'd passed my driving test. It never came out of my car's CD player.

MY FAVOURITE BOOK

I'm not a massive reader. I could go spiritual with the Bible, but I'm more into listening to books, often by Steven Furtick, the founder of Deviation Church.

MY GUILTY PLEASURE

Nature. I'm a better human being for being outside. It doesn't matter too much what it actually is — golf, fishing, biking with the kids, or a walk in the woods — as long as I'm experiencing precious moments where you get to be a kid again.

John Aizlewood

With TNT Sports this season, watch the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, FA Cup and Women's FA Cup all in one place.

OTHER FOOTBALL RESULTS

Enterprise National League

ALDEKROEP 0	HARTLEPOOL 1
MT: 0-0	McKeown 70
BARROW 1	HORNCHURCH 2
Cameroon 77 (pen)	Kizvi 58, Hearn 62
MT: 0-0
EASTSHEAD 2	WOKING 0
Lankakee 56
Neagrande 64
MT: 0-0
HALLIFAX 1	BORSHAN WOOD 3
Toffitt 52	Rush 45, 65
	Abdulmalik 69
MT: 0-1
KIDDERMINSTER 1	EASTLEIGH 0
Amperich 79
MT: 0-0

SOLIHULL MOORS 0	BOSTON UTD 2
	Wheelchair 52, Rush 49
MT: 0-1
SOUTHEND 1	SCUNTHORPE 0
Popeola 24
MT: 1-0
SUTTON UTD 1	ALTRINCHAM 0
Oakhaven 50
MT: 1-0
HARROGATE 1	AFC FYLDE 2
Donnelly 11	Crimerod 44, Main 45+3
MT: 1-2
Sent off: Fox (Crameroch) 90+3
WEA287ONE 1	HARROGATE 3
Ottawa 40	Deleghan 39, Peave 55
	McCoutaly 90+5
MT: 1-1
WORTHING 1	FOREST GREEN 2
Jersey 5	Claude 58, Rees 85
MT: 1-0
YEOWL 1	CARLISLE 1
Walker 19	Bunker 90+6
MT: 1-0
Sent off: Gubbins (Yeovil) 65

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Harrogate	2	2	0	0	6	1	6
Hornchurch	2	2	0	0	5	1	6
Salten 168	2	2	0	0	4	1	6
Southend	2	2	0	0	3	1	6
Northport	2	2	0	0	3	0	6
Forest Green	2	2	0	0	5	2	6
Borsham Wood	2	1	1	0	6	4	6
AFC Fyble	2	1	1	0	4	3	4
Gateshead	2	1	0	1	3	1	3
Boston 266	2	1	0	1	2	2	3
Worthing	2	2	0	1	4	4	4
Eastleigh	2	1	0	1	2	2	3
Alderstair	2	1	0	1	1	1	3
Kidderminster	2	1	0	1	1	1	3
Yeovil	2	2	0	0	2	2	3
Tamworth	2	0	1	1	4	5	1
Carlisle	2	2	0	1	3	3	1
Scunthorpe	2	0	1	1	1	2	1
Woolstone	2	0	1	1	3	5	1
Helfire	2	0	0	2	3	6	0
Altrincham	2	0	0	2	1	4	0
Barrow	2	0	0	2	1	4	0
Sulhull Moors	2	0	0	2	2	7	0
Woking	2	0	0	2	0	5	0

North Bedford 2 Darlington 3. Brackley 1 Hobburn 1. Chester 2 King's Lynn 0. Harborough 1 Morecambe 0. Hednesford 3 Scarborough 4. Newford 1 Manna 0. Manchester2 Peeksliffe 5 South Shelds 2 Chesley 1. Southport 1 Boston 1. Spalding 0 Oxford City 1. Spennymoor 2 Worthy Town 1. Warkasap 2 AFC Telford 1
South AFC Totton 1 Billericay 0. Braintree 3 Cheshire 2. Chelmsford 0 Truro 0. Dover 5 Slough 3. Farnborough 0 Hemel Hempstead 2. Horsham 0 Salisbury 0. Wadsherhead (Chorleng 0. Tonthelay) 1 Torquay 2. Walton 6 Horsham 0 Maidstone 3. Weston-super-Mare 3 Hampton & Richmond 0.
Premier Sports Cup Second round
ABERDEEN 3
Wolter 51, 63, Niels 57
MT: 0-0
DUNDEE UTD 0
Carlisle
Scunthorpe
Woolstone
Oakhaven
Welsh

William Hill League (New Alton 3 Montrozer 0. East Kilbride 2 Coven 0. Hamilton 4 Andremontano 0. Peterhead 2 East Fife 1

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Hamilton	2	2	0	0	2	1	6
East Kilbride	2	1	0	0	2	1	6
West County	2	0	0	1	1	1	6
Peterhead	2	1	0	1	1	1	6
Alton	2	0	0	1	1	1	6
East Fife	2	0	0	1	1	1	6
Andreonians	2	0	1	1	1	1	6
Cook Robins	2	0	0	1	1	1	6
Queen of South	2	0	0	1	1	1	6
Montrose	2	0	0	1	1	1	6
League Two	4	0	0	1	1	1	6
Edinburgh City	3	0	0	1	1	1	6

Today's

raccards

Southwell

Going standard

Sky Sports Racing

Theodore's tips: 1.30 You Win 2.00 Tiredcar 3.35 Pulladas 3.45 Prosperity 3.40 Standard Black 4.40 Sports Parts 4.40 Victoria 5.40 Mountain Blue

1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.

2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10

6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.

Betting: 1.1 Amroogua 1.01 Bchonde, 1.1 Caben Can, 6.1 Benthouse, 1.1 Chache, 1.1 Topical Woven, Nutter, 25 Lather

2.00 TRADER PLUS DESIGNER OUTLET EAST HOLLANDS HANDICAP 1.11 1.10 1.09

1. 2004 1. 2005 1. 2006 1. 2007 1. 2008 1. 2009 1. 2010 1. 2011 1. 2012 1. 2013 1. 2014 1. 2015 1. 2016 1. 2017 1. 2018 1. 2019 1. 2020 1. 2021 1. 2022 1. 2023 1. 2024 1. 2025 1. 2026 1. 2027 1. 2028 1. 2029 1. 2030 1. 2031 1. 2032 1. 2033 1. 2034 1. 2035 1. 2036 1. 2037 1. 2038 1. 2039 1. 2040 1. 2041 1. 2042 1. 2043 1. 2044 1. 2045 1. 2046 1. 2047 1. 2048 1. 2049 1. 2050 1. 2051 1. 2052 1. 2053 1. 2054 1. 2055 1. 2056 1. 2057 1. 2058 1. 2059 1. 2060 1. 2061 1. 2062 1. 2063 1. 2064 1. 2065 1. 2066 1. 2067 1. 2068 1. 2069 1. 2070 1. 2071 1. 2072 1. 2073 1. 2074 1. 2075 1. 2076 1. 2077 1. 2078 1. 2079 1. 2080 1. 2081 1. 2082 1. 2083 1. 2084 1. 2085 1. 2086 1. 2087 1. 2088 1. 2089 1. 2090

2. 2000025

3. 20 2000 1 LOVE YOU WORSE 10 10 10 1 For 4 9 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6
4. 2000 100 IMPUEST HOLDING 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

2.25 LAMA CINTICAL CARE MONCE STARS (2011) 15.435. 94.171

1.10 BLACKMAN 120 10 10 1 Appleby 3 9 11 8 Loughnore 2.25 10 GOLDMAN WOLF 20 10 1 James 4 9 10 8 5 Swift 3.25 2 BATS ON TODD 10 10 1 Michael 4 9 10 7 McNamara 4.10 4 WOMAN MONENTS 100 20 4 Batting 3 9 4 8 Berrity 5.10 44 BLUE BOY JUNIOR 10 2 4 4 Barron 3 9 4 3 Natar 6.10 2 BETHICK JAMM 10 2 4 4 Barron 3 9 4 3 O'Neil 7.10 MOLECANTALE 1 4 5 Cutter 3 9 4 1 Nader 8.10 5 SAUVIZZA 11 Walter 3 9 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

3.10 LAMA CINTICAL CARE MONCE STARS (2011) 15.435. 94.171

1.25 0.50 MUL MDR 70 0.5 England 4 9 10 6 Daven 2.25 PROSPERITY 10 10 0.5 Daven 3 9 4 7 6 Lamar 3.25 0.70 PERCEIVE SPIRIT 400 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.

Betting: 0.5 Proscen 4.5 W. Kamen 10.5 Sankhams 7.5 Hancock Dark 6.5 Sankhams 7.5 Hancock Dark 6.5 Sankhams 7.5 Hancock Dark 6.5 Sankhams 7.5 Hancock Dark 6.5 Sankhams 7.5 Hancock Dark 6.5 Sankhams 7.5 Hancock Dark 6.5 Sankhams 7.5 Hancock Dark 6.

2.40 COUNTRY MARGIN'S HANDICAP 10.65 10.65

1. 2000025 1. 2000025 1. 2000025 1. 2000025 1. 2000025 1. 2000025 1. 2000025 1. 2000025 1. 2000025 1. 2000025 1. 2000

2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10

4. 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

5. 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

4.10 GRACE & BOTTY MARGIN STARS (2011) 15.435. 91.101

---

20

August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Football

Expect City to struggle with life after Pep? Under Maresca, think again

Alyson Rudd

Succession planning will for ever be tinged with horror since Manchester United failed to transition successfully from the Sir Alex Ferguson era. But just maybe in Cardiff this afternoon we will witness evidence in the Community Shield against Arsenal that Manchester City have been rather intelligent in paving the way for life after Pep Guardiola.

"They could probably pick anyone and they've gone for Enzo," was Mikel Arteta's view on Enzo Maresca being anointed, which underlines how City's new manager was chosen with care.

In ten years at the Etihad Guardiola delivered six Premier League titles, three FA Cup trophies and won the League Cup five times. In 2023 he delivered the Champions League as part of a stunning Treble and all while making possession-based football an art form. At times he toyed with us, toyed with the opposition, always enigmatic, always hungry for more. He even navigated the huge shadow of the alleged Financial Fair Play breaches with an ironic shrug. Lesser men might have crumpled.

It is a compelling legacy and Guardiola's departure ought to place City at a disadvantage this season. With his aura and demand for excellence, and continued improvements from all

players no matter their stellar statistics, he leaves an obvious vacuum. And yet his successor is looking very much at ease. Maresca is not too high-profile nor too green for the job. Indeed, it feels as if everything he has done in his coaching career to date was in preparation for the moment he would take over at City.

In 2020 the Italian was placed in charge of City's Elite Development Squad and won the Premier League 2 title. This alerted Parma, who appointed him their head coach in May 2021. It didn't work out and he left six months later, a little older and a lot wiser, and became one of Guardiola's assistant managers for the campaign in which City secured the Treble. Just

“

In Maresca City have the manager who most yearned for the posting

imagine the learning curve Maresca would have been on, and this was no passive, soak-it-all-up role. He had a hand, for example, in converting defender John Stones into an inverted midfielder, a masterstroke that helped to befuddle opposition teams.

He was evidently ready to take charge again and did so this time with Leicester City, leading them to promotion from the Championship in his first year. Maresca was suddenly on everyone's radar, not least that of City, but how very handy that an ambitious Premier League rival stepped in to allow him to add invaluable top-flight experience to his CV.

Although his tenure ended acrimoniously, and somewhat cryptically, Maresca's stock rose while at Stamford Bridge, where he won the Conference League and defeated Paris Saint-Germain to lift the Club World Cup. It won't endear him to Chelsea to know he was thinking ahead to life at the Etihad when he left in January but, in a rare development, he paid the club compensation when it was announced he would be the new City manager, as he left knowing it would "open a path" for him to be Guardiola's successor.

It is unusual for a manager to be so overtly focused on the job that may come after the one he has, which in turn indicates that, in Maresca, City have the manager who most yearned for the posting. There would be no point hiring someone who was tentative or worried about the scale of the task. In Maresca they have someone made to measure who already looks the part. It helps of course that he was being linked to the main job at City even while winning promotion with

Maresca's experience as Guardiola's No 2 has prepared him well for his new role

Leicester, that his appointment shocked absolutely no one.

It helps too when Erling Haaland is among the first to congratulate Maresca on his new role. It helps even more that the Italian then explains why the goal machine that is the Norway international cannot be his captain. Maresca is not in thrall to anyone. And the reason why he cannot appoint Haaland as his captain after the departure of Bernardo Silva is that whenever a goal is scored, Maresca uses the hill in play to talk to his leader on the pitch. If Haaland is the one most likely to score, he is highly unlikely to want to have a serious chat with his manager instead of performing his goal celebration.

An obvious link from his Chelsea tenure would be the signing of Enzo Fernández, who publicly criticised the Chelsea hierarchy when Maresca left in January. The two clubs need to find a middle ground over the worth of the Argentina midfielder and the southwest London club placed a 5pm Friday deadline on bids for the player, whom they value at £120 million. None was forthcoming, but there is still the small matter of the real deadline on September 1 and a deal could be reignited before then.

Even without Fernández, City maintain an enviable depth of squad and under Maresca the wingers will be ever more vital. He looks comfortable in the hot seat, ready to be his own man while acknowledging, and maybe even exploiting, the genius that went before.

© TIMES MEDIA LIMITED, 2026. Published in print and all other derivative formats by Times Media Ltd, 1 London Bridge St, London, SE1 9QF. Printed by: Newsprinters Holdings Ltd, Great Cambridge Rd, Waltham Cross, EN8 8DY, Killing Rd, Prescot, L34 9HN and Byrammur Rd, Holytown, Motherwell, ML1 4WH; KP Services, La Rue Martel, La Rue des Pres Trading Estate, St Saviour, Jersey, JE2 7QR; Webprint, 2023 Bianconi Ave, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin, Ireland. For permission to copy articles or headlines for internal information purposes contact NLA media access at copy@nla.co.uk, telephone 01892 525273. For all other reproduction and licensing inquiries contact Licensing Department, 1 London Bridge St, London, SE1 9QF, telephone 020 7711 7888, e-mail enquiries@newslicensing.co.uk

---

August 16, 2026 - thetimes.com/business

THE SUNDAY TIMES

NEVER KNOWINGLY OPTIMISTIC? PAGE 4

MINING TYCOON TELLS ALL PAGE 5

THE PENSIONS BEST OF THE MONET, PAGE 9

Heathrow slashes noise reduction budget

Olivia Burgay

Heathrow has slashed planned “noise reduction” spending to protect 6,500 local homes from being impacted by additional flights if and when the airport’s third training becomes operational. The airport had proposed spending £20 million on mobile gaming, left insulation and meeting walls. But this has been cut to £32 million. The first time in the first time, Khan has warned that the number of night flights will

double if the third runway gets the go ahead. Both disclosures are contained in little more than 10 pieces of written evidence to the House of Commons Transport safety committee on the proposed expansion. Heathrow blamed the Civil Aviation Authority for being forced to cut its noise insulation budget. Airport climb also insist a ban on night flights would be expected to rather than be diluted. It has promised to implement its noise

reduction measures for local residents over the next 20 years. But a submission by local authority for use known as the Strategic Aviation Special Interest Group warned local residents could wait well over a country for noise protection. Others said shareholders, who include sovereign wealth funds such as fiscal investment authority and local leaders (Vipils, Government Fund, could fund the project without the CAAS approval). “There is a strong

argument that, ...a good corporate confidence would just use shareholder money to invest in 2017, said Paul Birchford, policy director at Havan, a campaign body for residents near Heathrow. On night flights, Khan said a heathrow in the proposed night time flight has would be put in place for the third runway to operate. The draft expansion policy statement supported a no one-a-half hour ban within the hours of time and “am an scheduled night time flight,

but airlines already operate under statutory agreements that mean flights are rare between these hours. Khan argued that formulating the ban risks flights being rescheduled to the “disability hours”, immediately before or after the 4.5-hour ban, meaning airlines could compress their schedules, doubling night flights by packing them into either the early morning or late night windows. Local residents groups also told the committee about

their concerns. “The great majority of people must know than six and a half hours sleep a night. So be a lot of people must right hours of sleep,” said the Putney Society, a residents’ charity. Heathrow said: “We have proposed enhancements to our night flight that already the scheme is Europe.” The Co. said: “The consultation on Heathrow’s pricing arrangements is not only retaining existing levels of noise insulation expenditure.”

A new stacker deals on ‘price-gouging’

Daniel Woufflon

The House of Alifans waited into the two over supermarket price-gouging, throwing the retailer’s backlog behind a government clampdown on “embossing” prices and discounts. Ministers have promised to pursue companies suspected of taking advantage of drugs in the United States, John Healey, warning that the government would be “wasting today.” This has sparked an entry to be the retail industry. To do association the British Retail Committee was quick to defend the supermarkets, which it said before “the most affordable food in western Europe”. However, Glen Smith, the chief executive of staff (R), said ministers were “right to review retail ‘side’ pricing mechanics in 2016” and it is cyclical out of being premature. He continued: “For too long, shoppers have been bombarded with discount signs and loyalty prices that can give the impression they’re getting a great deal, when the price they pay at the off our will be higher than elsewhere. Call is something of an outlier among supermarkets because it has no traditional loyalty scheme in the 1950s of World’s Outboard (US) Plus card. These programmes

have become increasingly popular to recent years as inflation grows, shoppers to seek our bargains. “The problem with loyalty pricing is that it encourages shoppers to focus on how much they’re supposedly saved, rather than how much they’re actually spent. Taking £2 off a 20 product doesn’t make it good value if you can buy a lot. It’s not enough to be the ‘fairest’ market.” The government said this month: “Shoppers have increasingly complained about sudden artificially inflating prices to give a false sense of value.” The prospect of increased scrutiny will evoke memories of 2026, when the Competition & Markets Authority investigated scheme expansion's equity schemes were actually offering greater discounts, but losses cause evidence of any misbehaviour. Call, along with rival discounting, has largely increased market share in the past decade, so the price where many new expect it to overtake leads to become Britain’s third largest grocer. However, both discounters are now facing the prospect of higher regulations, after the 2016 this month ruled they should lose a legal advantage that allowed them to check trials from opening moms on nearby land.

JCB section: Burnham is brilliant

Plans to create 2,500 jobs - but only if PM backs British bus making

Oliver Gill

Is Bamford has backed “brilliant” Andy Burnham to bring back the glory years of British manufacturing, while unveiling plans to invest £500 million and create 2,500 jobs across the north of England.

Bamford, the son of Lord (Anthony) Bamford, chairman of the construction equipment giant JCB, said he wanted to repeat the success of his bus-building factory in Baltimore by building a similar plant in northwest England.

However, he wanted that London mayor Dr Saddy Khan was undermining Burnham’s efforts to bolster UK manoelecturing by ordering swabies of London house from China instead of buying from Bamford (Kite, Wrighton, or Fairle's house) Alexander Owusu.

Wrighton, which Bamford rescued from machinery in 2005, has grown into one of Northern Ireland's biggest employees, housing a workforce of 2,500 people - equivalent to one in ten people living in the County Antrim area of Melbourne.

Bamford urged Burnham to commit to a large scale British bus building prow in 2006. In 2006, Bamford follow through on plans to open a new bus manufacturing factory in the North West that would be a similar size to his works in Baltimore.

The Bamford family has historically

demand large sums of money to the Conservative and Reform parties. But is Bamford said that he had been honored by the new Labour government's pledges to “value the hard time as much as the graduates of the UK”?

Burnham has promised fundamental changes to the education system to raise the younger pupils to gain early access to technical education, skills training, work experience and connections with employers.

His flagship initiative was in response to a warning by former health secretary Alan Millners that Britain risks leaving behind a “low generation”, with more than a million young people now not in education, employment or training classes.

“Andy Burnham is right,” he said, speaking alongside his father as JCB on a world issue in Utah last week for the licence ever hydrogen-powered vehicle.

“You've got a new prime minister coming in and usually be seems to be seeing some quite good things.”

He added: “The Honour, but Andy Burnham is saying is brilliant.”

Bamford is proud to build a 1,000 million, 24,500 gross hydrogen plant in Bradford, but the investment hinges on local leaders committing to order more hydrogen-electric buses.

But while the 40-year-old ‘bucket’ Burnham, he criticised Khan. “He there hasn’t been a long-time supporter of British manufacturing and bought hundreds of British-held buses during his time as mayor of Greater Manchester, however, that he doesn’t have been an supporter,” Bamford said.

“I was borrowing for four ‘holds’ Khan talk of buying British last week, but although he’s bought thousands of Continued on page 5

PARTRIDGE FIRM SEERS RESCUE

The Farm's credits include How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge), with Steve Coogan and Katherine Kelly

The award-winning post-production business behind Formula 1 Show in Service and the latest Alan Partridge TV series is fighting for its own survival amid financial woes, series William Turvill.

The Farm, previously owned by advertising giant WPP, has filled a motion to appoint administrators and needs new funding to avoid collapse.

It has fallen victim to a wider volume in the post-production sector as commissions from Hollywood streamers and broadcasters have dried up. The company was founded in

1988 by industry veterans. Nick's largest and Vikki Dunn with funding from WPP. The Farm rose to become Britain's largest post-production firm, offering services such as colour grading and sound mixing to films, TV shows and ads.

In 2016, WPP sold its 70 per cent stake in The Farm, at a valuation of £50 million.

The buyer was Los Angeles-based Streamland Media, which rebranded The Farm as Picture Shop.

During Covid, post-production work boomed as streamers battled to find new

subscribers by making more shows. But in 2022, as the streamers started to prioritize profits, commissions fell. Streamland (last year sold several UK assets to Disney) Media, which wanted The Farm move and pledged to “benefit life back into the house.”

But last week, KDE Lee, on the company's behalf, filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator. Disney's Media bosses Simon Kanye and David Barrett may yet successfully influence the business. They declined to comment.

Planning consents fall to 20-year low

Oliver Gill

The number of new developments obtaining planning permission has sunk to a 20-year low, in a fresh blow to the government's bid to make Britain out of its housing crisis.

Only 1,220 sites for private housing gained permission in the first three months of 2026, down from 2,000 in the same period in 2022 and almost 3,000 in 2017. If the sites won approval, it would appear to be 100 new homes. Labour experts power in 2024 with a practice to build 1.0 million homes in England over the course of the five-year period.

Ministers focused their attention on “supply side” housing, such as cutting planning and tape. But the three holders' dislocation and construction consultants/Googler found that while this was helping smaller

developments to secure approval, the number of larger sites getting planning permission has fallen sharply. Just 400 sites for ten homes or more received approval over the first three months of 2026, the lowest number since 2000 and down 12 per cent on 20, in southern England, the number recovered fell 10 per cent. Over the past year, permission was granted for 20,145 new homes in England. This is only 10 per cent of the annual target for housing delivery of 270,000. Matthew Pennyrock, the housing minister, is said to be pushing for a return of a help from a pre-venture to enable first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder more easily. “We have a long-term with the housing department, now he/he require buyers, which had been due to publish in findings earlier this year.

Iechyd da! Welsh vodka maker toasts £500m sale to Southern Comfort owner

Hannah Presett

As Vodka, the Welsh drinks brand known for its gold bottles and brightly coloured flavoured vodka, is as advanced talks to be bought by an American drink-glass bar up to £500 million.

The prospective buyer is financial, the formerly found conglomerate behind brands including Southern Comfort and Marshalls, the pre-missed cocktail drinks sold in upheaval and spring.

The brand is now frequently like Yates, could value As Vodka at an much as £500 million, a substantial excise for Southern, Chafta Morgan and Jackson Queen, who are each expected to

receive more than £500 million. As Vodka and Joanna declined to comment.

The two school friends produced As Vodka in 2005 when Morgan was 10 and Queen 2. Their initially produced 2,500 bottles, selling the vodka locally before receiving foreign with bars in beacons and retailers including Self-Rights.

The brand took off to December 2005, when they added £2,000 further to build 20-yr vodka - which share its three entire previous 10 months. In range to better flavours such as blue napheirs, pink lemonade and bubbleglass.

Skilful online marketing

As Vodka is busy, Punch helped sales soar, including collaborative with celebrities including DJ Chafta Molly, house Floyd Mayweather Jr, footballer Krista Kelvin and coppers hoozy that and husband. In the year to April 2025,

the company's filled accounts show sales of £50 million - up from £60 million in 2024 - with a pre-tax profit of £6.7 million.

The brand, named after the chemical symbol for gold, has been sold in the US since 2022. No vodkas were sold, selling 50,000 bottles in their first week, now sold online to most US states.

In May it wanted up with Vango, owned by Carlsberg Britnie, to launch vodka based pre-missed rights and orange cans ahead of the music festival season. As Vodka moved into a new HQ in beacons in January with a nine-hole state golf course and a more exciting the history of the brand.

Co-op forced to backtrack on trans toilet rights after Supreme Court gender ruling

William Turvill

The Co-operative Group, the critically minded supermarkets to funeral partners business, has watered down its trans-lectures policy on use of company toilets, meaning employees are no longer being told to use the facilities they “had value in”.

The members owned group, whose former chief executive vowed last year to “protect [trans] people to the end”. Just amended by rules after the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published new guidance this month on single-sex spaces. The Co-op's previous internal policy stated: “If the

toilets where you work are gender-specific, you should use the ones you feel rather in. We forever expect you, or ask you, to use the disabled toilets instead. Just of course if you feel more comfortable using them, there that's fine.”

These sentences have been removed from the policy, which now states: “We know that for people who identify at trans, or non-than's, or nearver, it may be difficult to find comfortable and/or safe using gendered toilets. For the comfort and safety of all colleagues, wherever possible, we will provide gender neutral individual includes users.”

It is our idea, yet what this will mean in practice.

Trans-lectures policies across corporate Britain were thrown into disarray last year on a Supreme Court decision, which found that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex. Some organizations introduced part-time policies under view, with many of them needing to persist staff to use the facilities in which they felt they should be able to move wanted on guidance from the EHRC. In that last year, after the 2016-2020 election, the District ECHO (The) said she would “protect [trans] people to the end” - she left the business earlier this year not to place a little investigation reported on a

“toxic culture” inside the company. Chair Nelder White quit a company last week. The EHRC guidance was delayed and published only this month. It stated that single-sex public spaces, including toilets and changing rooms, should be based on biological sex. A spokesperson for the Co-op said: “We have updated the policy, which is a history inclusion policy following legal advice and the process of using a colleague networks, to ensure compliance with our legal obligations and to maintain our trans, non-than's and intersex colleagues.”

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2

BUSINESS

NELSON'S VICTORIES

The feared investor is biting at Wendy's, and the Peltz children aren't to be messed with either. Jill Treanor reports

BURGER BINGE

All have come investor Nelson Peltz's sympathetic to tobacco interests of Wendy's, the US fast-food chain known for its square bootykeepers. Through his investment vehicle from Fund Management, the US year-old is planning to fund his approach with a group of other bidders, including Flynn Group, one of Wendy's largest franchisees.

A bid has been on the cards since February, when Trian described Wendy's as "undervalued" and said it wanted to take steps to improve the chain's valuation.

Why a Peltz as interested in a longer company? Wendy's was one of the very first businesses in which Trian took a stake when it was set up by Peltz and his partners in 2005. Trian now owns 16 per cent of the New York listed company.

Peltz was first linked as a bidder for Wendy's as long ago as 2022.

IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR

Nelson is not the only Peltz who inspires but in boardrooms. Indeed his son Bradley – one of his ten children – already sits on the board of Wendy's on behalf of Trian. Bradley's older brother, Matt, has his own investment firm, Lost Coast Collective, which played a key role in the takeover of FTSE 100 testing business interest. Lost Coast encouraged the board of interest to start talking to Swedish bidder EQT back in May. A month later, interest succumbed to a $10.00 billion offer.

Outside the world of finance, Nelson Peltz's highest profile child is arguably Nicole, who is married to Brooklyn Beckham, who in turn is locked in a family feud with his parents, the former England footballer Band and his ex-Spani City with Victoria. Nicole describes herself as an actor, writer, director and dog activist in Instagram, where she has 3.4 million followers.

The State of Texas

H

If the people employed by Sam Acton to clean customer homes in the Bounce month area are an zero-hours contracts. "You're talking about part time, flexible employees – all women, generally stunts and carers," said Acton, the founder of Thatcher's Rights.

Zero-hours contracts, which provide no guarantee about the number of hours of employment they will get each week, have been demostated to some quarters, But Acton insists the 52 people she employs value the flexibility, she knows because she has asked her staff.

"I have grandchildren to care for," Acton said, reciting responses. She continued: "I'm a care for my daughter." I have to work around dropping off and caring for my father.

"They want flexibility and, over-wheelingly, the results show that is more important than guaranteed hours."

Acton is on the front line of Labour's crackdown on zero-hours contracts, with a new ongoing last week when the government published the cost assessment of its proposals. This showed that employers faced a bill of as much as $2.9 billion to implement its plans to guarantee workers a specific number of hours a week.

The Federation of Small Businesses accused the government of having a "climate approach to employment reform" while Chilloughality, whose members are the biggest users of these contracts, lambasted the huge costs likely to be imposed on an industry almost struggling with higher overheads.

Yet unions were defiant after years of campaigning for these contracts to be blocked, and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) accusing businesses of "scarecrowping".

So, what is the one about

Claire Leake of the National Care Group. Right, Amy Guttman, owner of Crumb Bakery Top, the Wetherspoon pulse group offers staff flexible contracts.

RECORD NUMBERS

Labour fought the 2024 election on a pledge to "make work pay", which it has implemented through its Employment Rights Act. Some of the measures have already come in, including the right of employment claim sick pay from the first day of sickness, instead of after three days. But with the shake-up of zero-hours deals, now affecting 1.24 million people, the details are still being hammered out.

That these on these contracts are at record highs might be a surprise to some given the negative sentiment. But Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, explained that companies turned back to these amid the uncertainty of the pandemic.

While they provide flexibility to employers on costs, Harrison warned: "These workers who rely on them for their income have to absorb the inner-city this organization, often contributing to significant difficulties in maintaining sound household practices."

His think tank published research, commissioned by the TUC, which gave examples of individuals juggling the uncertainty, including one worker who had two zero-hours contracts at the same venue – one in its kitchen, one in its bar – to reduce her risk of getting no shifts.

It also tried to dispel the idea that the contracts were a handy way for employers to give students work on flexible terms, about a third of people on zero-hours contracts rely on them for full-time work and income, the Work Foundation said.

HOSPITALITY HIT

It was little wonder that one of the sectors most well-known is to completers about the champions was hospitality. Office for National Statistics data shows that the

accommodation and food sectors have the most zero-hours contracts, followed by transport, health and social work.

Yet getting employers to talk about their use of zero-hours deals is tortuous. One female restaurateur, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted: "People are a bit wary about being vocal about it because it means they're using them."

It has been reported that high-profile retailers such as Marki & Spencer and Morrison do not care them.

Harrison, though, said "a snapshot look at online jobs boards shows that zero-hours contracts are still widely being advertised by employers across a variety of sectors". He quoted that the Department for Work & Insurance "find a job" website had 1,422 adverts for zero-hour jobs last week. These included positions in jobs chain Mitchell & Bodem, in the care sector and for lecturing positions, Mitchell & Bodem did not respond to a request for comment.

The care sector is a big one, with Harrison estimating that one in the care hours workers are employed in this way. Claire Leake, chief people officer at Lancashire-based National Care Group, said the figure at her business was half that, with 10 per cent of her 2,500 workforce not having guaranteed hours – and they want he on zero-hours deals, she insisted.

BAD NAME

Yet this view is hard to reconcile with the controversy that has raged since 2016, when working conditions at the Shirebrook warehouse in Derbyshire, run by Mike Ashton's Sports Direct, were described as "tolerated". At the time, it was reported that all of Sport Direct's 20,000 part-term employees were on zero-hours contracts.

Ashton was summoned to a parliamentary inquiry where he insisted that "the vast majority of staff love them". Last year, Finance, the group that now owns

A crackdown on zero-hours contracts will cost businesses up to £3bn. Labour is unrepentant, but not everyone – bosses or their staff – agrees. Jill Treanor and Olivia Surgay report

Healthcare conferences in running for 2026 Scottish Thistle Awards

Greig Cameron

A conference for allergy experts is in the running to be named Scotland's best business event.

More than 1,000 delegates descended on Glasgow last year to attend the meeting of the European Association for Allergy & Clinical Immunology, at the Scottish house campus. It was the first time that the event, held over four days in June, had been hosted in Scotland.

It is among several conferences shortlisted for this year's Scottish Thistle Awards, which we agree excellence, innovation and collaboration within

Scotland's tourism and events industry.

Other members include the UK Stroke Forum, held at the P&CLive in Aberdeen, a three-day event for almost 1,000 delegates credited with directly influencing stroke care services in northeast Scotland.

Completing the shortlist is the Sustainable Health Conference, at the American Creative Academy. It brought together NHS clinicians, academics, third sector bodies, artists and people with lived experience to explore approaches to healthcare and workforce wellbeing.

Rory Archibald, a senior

business events manager at tourism agency VanScotland, said: "The shortlist for this year's best business event at the Scottish Thistle Awards demonstrates the power of

The Scottish Thistle Awards 2026 National Final

events to bring people together, spark new thinking and create connections.

A new category for this year is "positive impact inbound tour operator". It recognises the role played by this sector in helping visitors to experience Scotland's people, places and culture.

Hebraham Hopworth, based on the list of 1,000 staff, a specialist in island-hopping holidays in Scotland, is up against the employee-owned McKinlay S342, which sells tailor-made holidays.

The Scottish Thistle Award finals will be held on November 20 at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

"I want social cohesion just like the prime minister," says Jo Bamford

Continued from page 1

Chinese buses, for can rectify this by buying British hydrogen buses for the O London bus depots that cannot be electrified."

Transport for London, chaired by Khan, has said that the decision to buy cheaper electric buses from China has been made by the private sector operation that are contracted to run services in the capital. Under previous ownership, Wright has built a fleet of "New Westminster" double-deck London buses.

The prime minister has talked of "a new approach to representing and to industrialising the country,

and thereby strengthening its resilience. That same approach will consider foreign policy, economic policy, security, social cohesion and British values as inextricably linked elements of the same strategic question."

Jo Bamford, right, alongside his father in Utah last week

Such sentiment resonated with Bamford. "I want community cohesion. I £10k long term jobs so I can have schools attached to them so you can bring tomorrow's employees through the workforce. I absolutely agree with that," he said.

"That's what the JCB Academy is. We have 700 pupils. We can sit in behalf of the government state school with Bulle Boyer and Toyota.

"They do their GCSEs and A levels fast spend half a day in overall learning key skills like welding and all that sort of stuff – because you know that most of those people will go into manufacturing, and therefore you know they'll stay in their local community and build up their lives and that's how you keep community cohesion.

"You've got throats from the prime minister, absolutely great. I'd love to help made the ideas with these long-term jobs."

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3

PLUMB JOB

A skandising firm might seem as cold target for an investor with an easy to keep in, but in 2016. That took a stake in the FTSE 100-listed Ferguson, previously called Wolstein, and began to update for change. With a 6 per cent stake, Peltz described the business self off its UK operations and switch to London listing to New York.

Shortly after Peltz's arrival, the UK arm was spun off to put a streamlined Wolstein back on the stock market, although it was taken private in 2021 by CDR. The private equity firm criticised for loading supermarket Morrisons with debt. The remaining Ferguson business moved its primary listing to New York in 2022 — and it is also used to secondary listing in London altogether.

UNILEVER CAIVE-UP

Another proud FTSE 100 business to fall victim to Peltz meddling is Unilever, the consumer goods empire with brands from Marston to Donnellan and Gove. As a result of the 13 per cent stake held by Trian in Unilever (worth about £1.5 billion), Peltz has a seat on the board and a mating assets.

He started building the stake in 2022 and initially endorsed the appointment as chief executive of Hein Schumacher, who oversaw the company's plans to spin off its Meganex six-mann arm in Amsterdam. But last year, Schumacher was replaced by Fernando Fernandez, who has gone further in breaking up Unilever by agreeing the sale of its food business to America's McCormick. That £34 billion (to up-dread) complete this year, when the resulting business will take a secondary listing in London.

BIDDING BATTLE

A fund manager Janus Henderson was a 60 year association with the City, although it had not been listed in London since 2017 when it was created through the merger of Henderson Group and Janus Capital.

It had been listed in New York until June, when Peltz assembled a consortium to take the business private. Trian had built a stake in it in 2020 but launched it last last year to buy the 80 per cent it did not already own. That sparked a takeover battle as Texas-based Victory Capital tabled a competing offer in February for the fund manager's $500 billion

(£370 billion) of assets. When Victory went public with its offer, it revealed it had been making approaches behind the scenes during November and December 2015. Peltz got his way in the end, just as the octopension has done on countless occasions over the years.

SECTORS THAT USE ZERO-HOURS CONTRACTS

Percentage of people aged 18 and over on zero-hours contracts, by industry

Sports Direct, said two-thirds of its retail staff remain on zero-hours.

Some employers took steps to change their employment terms in 2016, notably 20. Wideningness, which resulted in 20.5 hourly paid employees the chance to move to a guaranteed future contract, and 94.4 per cent now have them.

Sir Tim Mottis, the pub chain's chairman, said of the latest proposals: 'The difference to us is minimal. But this move will tend to 16.8mocage employment in hospitality generally... It's not more regulation in an already hugely regulated sector. There's too much 'big brother'... leading to lower investment and ambition.'

Some firms were last week yesterday to the government's own research to justify the use of zero-hours deals. It showed that adverts for these jobs attracted more applicants and that 72 per cent of workers endorsed their arrangements were 'restrained in their lifestyle'.

Others were clear that it was their only way to survive. Patrick Grazzy, a West End theatre producer, urged the government to distinguish between 'exploitative zero-hours practices and genuine irregular work'. He said: 'Keep being the arrow to guarantee future ideas no work exists will mean fewer jobs, two additional programming and greater pressures on already fragile finances.'

In the Chilterns, Kate Ramsey, owner of Ramsey's Woodlands' Cherubins, said she did her miss a month ahead to provide some structure for her 45 workers, 60 per cent of whom are on zero hours.

'I know there's been loads of comparison ontauring zero-hours contracts,' said Ramsey, 'I think we are usually supportive of the attempts to stop their use.'

WHERE IS THE LOT OF?

Any commoner employs on people at her plant based food businesses but by step and Counts, all on zero-hours deals. 'I've not entirely sure what the law would be,'

she said, referring to the government proposals, which suggest the may have to offer them guaranteed hours. 'At what point would the cut of the lot have?'

Firms may have to offer new contracts to workers reflecting the average number of hours worked in a 12-week reference period. It is trying to determine whether this should apply to workers with contracts for up to eight hours a week, or also to those guaranteeing up to 20 hours.

Matthew Percival, future of work and skills director at the UK said: 'The 20 much bigger than just the question of zero hours contracts and more to get into an awful lot of jobs that are part-time that you wouldn't think of as zero hours.'

The arrangement would have to be kept under long-term review, Percival added, if workers do more hours than agreed, they would have to be offered new contracts to take account of that, reducing employers' flexibility to give employees more hours during peak periods, such as at Christmas.

One of the reasons employers are concerned about the cost assessment of up to £2.5 billion last week is that it wasn't the full picture, and considered only the administrative cost. 'What they have not mentioned is the cost to employers of the loss of flexibility,' said Percival.

Arten was also that using a 12-week reference period to assess staff's hours would not give an accurate picture. 'Twelve weeks is only a (school) term. Unless you include two major school buildings, it will not be representative of what working teams do,' she said.

'I think the consultation belongs to the list and they should try again.'

A government spokesperson said: 'We are committed to making Legislative zero-hours contracts, where workers bear all the financial risk when hours, shifts and earnings are unpredictable. We're consulting to get the detail right and ensure this works in the real world.'

Pregnancy led me to create an alcohol-free drink brand

BETHAN HESSON FOUNDER OF MOTHER ROOT

Jesse James

Bethan Higeon missed having an evening drink while she was pregnant, her friend the alcohol-free options disappointing. So she started brewing alternatives in her own kitchen.

'The (alcohol) replicas felt like an afterthought,' she recalled. 'They weren't made with the intention of being beautifully balanced and full-bodied and complex, like all great drinks are meant to be.'

Her home-made drinks became Mother Root, a non-alcoholic aperitif brand now stocked by Waitress, Tesco, Saladbury's and Crude. Crested in December 2016, her year the company had sat on a 1-year-old social made a pre-tax profit of £1000,000. It now expects revenues to account for the 1-year-old people this year after launching in America via its website.

Higeon, now 40, was born in Edinburgh last year but childhood moving between Scotland and Brussels because of her father's job as a child servant. Her mother was a midwife.

Her first job was in a Spanish delicatessen, where she found herself 'surrounded by food and wine and controllably. I don't think it was a surprise that I ultimately then went to work in when and spirits, because just how long.'

She studied languages at Bristol University before being involved in public relations for a company with French wine clients. Alongside that, she completed education courses with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust through to diploma level, which took about three years.

'I love wine, the spirits world and drinks in general because it's very people led,' said Higeon. 'You're never finished learning.'

She went on to organise

savings and winery visits for Mark Hennessy and as carpenter even thought she might become a winemaker. 'It's funny, because I don't feel like when I've ended up in that far removed.'

The idea for a new drink took over amid her cash spent for switching non-alcoholic drinks during her first pregnancy. After being told that bartenders in New York were using vinegar to add acidity and complexity to cocktails, Higeon began experimenting at home. She started fermenting and blending cravies from of British apple color vinegar, honey and Peruvian ginger.

'Many of our processes are borrowed from how alcohol is made,' she explained. 'You apples are fermented in a 6-4 strength and then transferred into vinegar through a second fermentation. The fetuses are are associated (softened) for days to weeks. We use Mooseni honey rather than cheap sugars.'

Higeon tested brewtness of the recipe among her pregnant friends during focus groups. 'I've a love of great food, great drinks and love that brings people together,' she said. But, between these factors, she wrestled with whether to turn the idea into chastiness.

'Something was holding me back,' Higeon recalled. 'I think it was just (a lack) of confidence. Also, no one in my sphere were entrepreneurs. It was really outside my comfort zone. But I thought, I've got a lot of knowledge, I've got a product that all these people were loving - though with the use of they were my friends and family.'

She had £30,000 in savings and decided to give it a go. Her first step, in December 2016, was to sign up for a Christmas market in Peckham, south London, where she was living.

Bethan Higeon's big break came when a chef on TV said he is used her drink

It's a small network — everyone knows everyone

'I gave myself six months to put it together and we made our first batch of 360 bottles. They sold out in a day and a half, which was incredible.'

Higeon then stopped high-end restaurants to make sure that her friends hadn't just been being polite. 'If you're starting a business, you want to try to get a sense of 'is this going to fall?'

Having worked with some of the best in the drinks industry, she wanted their stamp of approval. She approached The Ledbury restaurant in west London, where the head remember agreed to taste her drink. She team loved it, she said, and even began drinking it after their shifts.

However, she knew she

needed to make it in a proper facility. 'I went to foodie markets, spoke to people who were making drinks and asked, 'Where did you get this made?' I had zero idea, that it's a small network once you realize everyone knows everyone. You just have to get used to asking for help.'

Meanwhile, the business continued its rudimentary manual operation from Higeon's house. She didn't even have hands such as a power for postage stamps and her husband would make deliveries on his way to work.

Mother Root became popular, she said, because 'everybody had been drinking was too much. The ritual of a drink was a key way of breaking up your day (during lockdowns), but it wasn't sustainable.'

Even though the business was building sales, it did not have the building to go all out for growth - amid Mother Root appeared alongside the chief and restaurateur Susan Onoxnight on BBC One's Saturday 8th for the September 2020.

'He described [the drink] as 'beautiful' and sales just

were through the road,' Higeon said. About two months' worth of work sold out in roughly ten minutes.

After that, Mother Root raised about £500,000 from friends, family, angel investors and an early stage venture capital firm. The company has raised £1.1 million in total.

But rather than make her life easier, the extra cash brought problems as Higeon over expanded. 'There were too many consultants and people in the business. I let this go on for far too long. It was unbelievably stressful.'

Today, the company employs 45 people and expects to have about 20 by the end of the year.

Mother Root started selling in drops only at the start of last year, a 'big step change' in terms of distribution. In November, it also launched in the US through its website and sales there have extended predictions.

'We put quite pain by forceans in, but it is double what we expected,' Higeon said.

A battle with for £27.95, which some reviewers regard as expensive. However, Higeon insisted that 'plenty more see the value'.

It is designed to be yearned like a spirit with a recommended helping of 20ml, which means there are 20 servings in a bottle.

'The challenge now is forecasting demand for the end-of-the-year. 'Christmas... is the biggest reason for our low drinks,' Higeon explained. 'So that's been the focus internally - just making sure we can handle the demand.'

ASK ME ANYTHING

Best advice you've been given... A problem shared in a problem halved. Building your network as an

entrepreneur is a great way of solving problems quickly. Best decision... People've lived in the business. I've got a brilliant team - they're ambitious, humble and collaborative.

Worst decision... There have been too many times

I've sat on something for too long and made a slow decision.

Favourite Mother Root worked... a glass full of car with one part Mother Root, six parts quite water and a rosemary sprig - and that's it!

*Limiting options are subject to status and application. For items, you don't need to open or maintain an HSBC Business Current Account unless a debenture or fixed charge over book and other debts is required. Issued by HSBC UK Bank plc. 1 Canberra Square, Birmingham, B1 1NG. United Kingdom. OFFICE: Group 2020. All Rights Reserved. 4/2016/16

HESSON FOUNDER OF MOTHER ROOT

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4

BUSINESS

Waitrose's shining, but what's our John Lewis

While efforts to revitalise its supermarket chain are bearing fruit, reviving the department stores is proving a far harder sell. Daniel Woolfson and Olivia Surgay report

The mercury is close to 37C in west London and designers at John Lewis's Grade 3® listed Peter Jones department stores on Shame Square in Chelsea are savouring the air conditioning, installed houses, 10, has been a customer for decades. "I used to come to John Lewis in my roommate," she said. "I worked on Portland Place, which is really near the big one I'm United Street flagship," she told get home at a lifetime and just wander around John Lewis thinking. When I grow up I want this.

Few British retailers still inspire this kind of dedication. For years, John Lewis's name and its promise to be "never knowingly undertook" were guarantees of trust and quality among the middle classes. But in recent years, the business has fallen on to higher times.

Remarks by Janet Tarry, chairman of parent company the John Lewis Partnership (JLP), which also owns Waitrose, have not testified confidence that his stores can be chain-seat of their retailers. On an interview with the in-house magazine, he betrotated "lower sales and higher costs". Gaining the company had to "adjust for an immediate future that we weren't expecting even six months ago, let alone a couple of years ago".

Shortly afterwards, it emerged that Peter Ratz, John Lewis's managing director, was no step down in September, after less than three years. He will be replaced by Will Kerman, a non-executive, who led River Island and is the chairman of business retailer "improves."

The shake-up at the top comes as Tarry, who took the wins from business (Shares) White in 2018, attempts to organize an ambitious turnaround of JLP.

Under White, the partnership - Britain's largest employer-owned company - was hit by losses and criticized for being its grip on the essentials of retail, such as its Holland attempt to expand into residential property, abandoned in February.

Now, JLP is spending $3 billion on Waitrose and says it will have spent $800 million in John Lewis by 2026. Everything from its in-store restaurants and fixtures, to the brands it stocks and even the price tags, is being overloaded - alongside an aggressive cost-cutting drive.

But while Waitrose, whose turnaround began slightly earlier, appears to be prospering from the injection of cash, life is proving more complicated at John Lewis, - especially as events out of its control would have on its core customers.

"The Waitrose turnaround is one," John Lewis is a totally different matter," said Catherine Shuldroweth, a retail industry expert. "Consumer confidence ... is wobbly as bad. And where it's most wobbly is with people who've got money."

"The middle classes, they've purchased really, really cautious about things," she added. "They're not, for example, replacing a web every five years. They do it maybe every seven or eight years."

According to trade association the British Retail Consortium, sales of furniture, electronics and other non-food products decreased in July as designers delayed bigger purchases.

Waitrose, conversely, has been riding a boom in demand for specialist groceries. Total trading sales at the supermarket grew by 7 per cent in six million last year.

an increase of more than 2500 million while John Lewis's sales grew 3 per cent to 14.5 billion. The latter's operating profit was $28 million, against $206 million at Waitrose.

"Premium grocery benefits from an affluent customer base who have been less affected by the cost of living crisis, and who are prioritizing grocery spending even when they can back elsewhere, including eating out," said Eren Tan, a senior retail advisor at PwC.

John Lewis's problems go beyond the macroeconomic. Many of its departments move from been starved of the funding needed to keep them relevant, tiltable worth believes.

"The lack of investment to those stores is awful ... you can't just give them a bit of paint and hope that everything will be better," she said.

Cue the 2800 million spending spree. As well as general maintenance, the chain has added Korean beauty concessions, is replacing in-store "The Place to Eat" restaurants with a new brand called Platter John Lewis, and, at its massive

John Lewis's department stores have been struggling in the past few years

Oxford Street store, has expanded into sports and wellness for the first time.

Shuldroweth questions what the pro-rators as an attempted price towards the young, which includes a move into selling goods on 78/16k and 13m/27".

"Given what the chancellor wants to do with inheritance too, I would be too young, everybody over 50 and making them spend every last pound they've got. These people have got a total of money to spend," she said. "But that's not why John Lewis is targeting."

"They're targeting the younger shopper who has got loads of other places to shop, and they'll have bigger newspapers, less cash to spend. They will double around - a bit of White Company, a bit of Raldo."

While Britain's consolidated and controlled grocery market means Waitrose has put a handful of serious competitors, not least the resurgent Marks & Spesers, John Lewis has in every about everyone from high street rivals such as Norat and Garry's, to international online giants.

One of Ral's first big moves when he discusses managing director in 2024 was to reinstate the "never knowingly undertook" promise, with John Lewis using artificial intelligence to price-match with 25 of its biggest rivals and applying the scheme to online purchases for the first time. Margins have improved since.

John Lewis has a formidable online business, accounting for 60 per cent of its sales. When competing against the digital infrastructure, through "running stores with those fixed costs and labour costs and everything else makes life quite real to longer," said Richard Lim, chief executive of research firm Retail Economics.

"He is happening at a time when the cost of doing business has soared, as the new packaging levy and flagline employer-contract insurance contributions have weighed heavily on the business, to the tune of $10 million last year. On an operating basis, even John Lewis turns a profit, but overall, it passed a pro-tax loss of $25 million last year.

Some of Tarry's choices have proved painful. Rather in the summer, John Lewis kicked off a redundancy programme that put 200 jobs at risk, after

ing some in-store services like gift wrapping and a fountain de change - although others, such as personal styling and nursery advice, have been ramped up.

That so much attention is being paid to the fortunes of John Lewis is not just because of its place in the nation's psyche, but because its stores are typically considered by property landlords to be "anchors" in high streets and shopping centres that can benefit the whole area.

A senior property industry source said that, in its burden, John Lewis would often be given personally benefit to house as a result.

"I am two cheap, development costs were fairly low, growth was incredibly shopping centres were the biggest trading markets for many years - you couldn't really go wrong."

While John Lewis's turnaround may take longer than Waitrose's, Lim or Retail Economics is optimistic. "They've still got a very strong brand and they've still got the trust of the consumer," he said. The John Lewis Partnership is leading the 2800 million investment largely with its own cash and it has minimal external debt to every about.

It would be difficult to find anyone to retail questioning the abilities of Tarry, who formerly ran Texas's UK business.

Kerram, the incoming John Lewis managing director, has claimed there is "significant headroom for growth" regardless of its current challenges. Customer satisfaction stores have edged upwards since Tarry took over.

But they have found consumer confidence at a two-year high in July. John Lewis could find designers more willing to spend on bigger-value items, especially as Christmas approaches.

But it's going to be a far slower turnaround than at its other supermarket. "It's going to need some really, really good people who are up for it for a long time," said Shuldroweth. "And it's going to cost an awful lot of money."

A JLP spokesperson said: "John Lewis is in the early range of a multi-year transportation. He continues to be recognised for his own so that has always set John Lewis apart.

"Our employee-womenhip model and strong balance sheet give us the ability to invest in the business."

Benedikt Franke and Andreas Schierenbeck

Electricity security is no longer a 'nice to have'

The finish of Norman crisis underscores the profound structural vulnerabilities of the global hydrocarbon system.

With about 20 per cent of global audience all supplies, and a significant share of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports trapped in the Gulf, the world has been navigating one of the most severe energy supply shocks in history - one that has triggered sharp price increases and heightened the risk of a broader economic downturn.

As energy is weaponised in the Middle East conflict, just as it has been in the war between Russia and Ukraine, oil and gas stream a source of geopolitical leverage and a vulnerability for energy security.

With many countries and regions moving to minimize their dependence on oil and gas imports, the focus on homogenous commodities and electricity grids is intensifying.

However, while a transition to clean energy production and consumption can help to reduce the geopolitical exposure associated with hydrocarbons, it introduces a new set of challenges that must be managed.

We have entered what the international Energy Agency (IEA) describes as the "age of electricity". Power demand is rising faster than overall energy use and economic growth due to AI driven data sources and the growing identification of buildings, transport and industry.

By 2030, electricity consumption is

set to grow by more than 2.5 per cent annually, with intensities and nuclear providing half of the world's power.

Electricity is the new front line of energy security. And in this frontline the power grid, because electricity cannot yet be stored or redirected at scale, the demand and supply need to be balanced in real time.

The power grid must integrate variable energy sources while delivering electricity when needed. A disruption at any point in the chain can trigger a power failure, leading to an immediate, economic wide shock.

That's why electricity is no longer just an energy issue; it's a national security issue.

These big external factors pose a risk to the power grids. The first is the

fragility of global supply chains. Recent disruptions have shown how quickly these supply chains can fracture.

A second vulnerability stems from the growing convergence of physical and cyber threats. As grids are digitalized, they become more efficient but also expand the potential attack surface.

The third source of strain in the impact of the kind of climate drives hazards seen this summer. Extreme weather, droughts, wildfires and floods put pressure on infrastructure built for a steady climate.

It is no surprise that power grids played a big role at this year's Munich Security Conference.

Policymakers and industry leaders agreed on a clear set of priority actions to enhance grid security that should not

be deferred any longer. At the forefront, planning has emerged as a critical to enables - an urgency underscored by the CDY's Global Coalition for Energy Planning.

It is also one clear that technologies exist to meet our energy and climate goals out to 2030 and beyond. Employing these at speed and scale - by creating modified environments that speed up - permissions and reward innovative business models - is essential.

Other priorities include countries actively investing in the workforces and institutional capabilities needed to plan build and operate tomorrow's power systems, creating agile and resilient supply chains for both technical components and critical materials; and building strategic reserves of critical

tech and critical materials. In the electricity era, power grids have become the foundation on which our economies and societies depend.

The countries that recognize this, and act accordingly, will not only shield their citizens from shocks, but will pach a their core experiences in a world where electricity security has become

indispensable in the national security. Those that hesitate will discover that the core of teachers is measured not to likewise foster but to less industries, weaker economies and diminished strategic resources.

(v Benedikt Franke is the vice chair and CEO, Munich Security Conference, Andreas Schierenbeck is CEO, Hitachi Energy

Evan Gershkovich: The journalist who became the news

Join us for an exclusive evening with Evan Gershkovich, the first Western journalist to be arrested by Russia on espionage charges since the Cold War. Born in New Jersey to Soviet émigrés, Gershkovich lived in Russia for over five years before his capture. In conversation with Times Radio presenter Kate McCann, he will discuss his harrowing ordeal and his upcoming book, This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian Story.

Thursday, October 8 | 7pm

The News Building, 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

TIMES Events

Book your tickets at thetimes.com/events

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BUSINESS

5

INTERVIEW

WILLIAM TURNER

It's difficult to grasp the sheer scale of anti Agarwal's morals and mining interests. Generating revenues of $20 billion, Vedanta boasts a workforce of about 850,000 people, with operations operating more Africa and Australia. It's about a closer as you can get to one man having an empire on which the sun never sees.

Indeed, the group, whose holding company's based in London and was previously a member of the FTSE 500, is so vast that Agarwal himself does not seem altogether sure of its true size.

"I have seven companies," he tells me at one point during my visit to his palatial home in Mayfair.

"Seven companies," he repeats, now sounding less sure. "Or... no!" He shifts his gear towards a suited-and-bound underling who is here to offer assistance. "Chairman," he responds politely, "in the full portfolio, you've got me." Agarwal looks, turns back to the end, confirms: "Ten companies."

Evidently, it's complicated. But suffice it to say that. Agarwal, 72, a self-made life Senator who was once might have to act, largest shareholder, is one of India's wealthiest sons.

And despite some billionaires having fled the US in recent years, Agarwal remains a proud resident of London, where he owns a five-storey mainline (he, taring an underground) banquet hall with a floor that can be returned to reveal a 70-dayrho-wasening event.

"We tedlans, we have London in our mind," he offers, in offend English, as an explanation for his continued residence. "Piccadilly... the Queen of England, the Palace - always in our mind. Not America, Not Singapore. Not China."

Agarwal, who she/has a house in Mare, has, says he has been an author in the U.S. for more than a decade. "I pay the tax," he confirms. Asked how much tax he pays, he glances at his advisers before, vaguely suggesting. "I love to a million dollars, yourself." Later, one of his entourage confirms that he pays "slightly more than 25 million in tax in the US."

Soon, Agarwal hints, he may again have more business interests in the London, but is in the process of controlling his global empire, which has resulted in several individual company listings on Indian and Brazilian. But there is no one in the question of what happens to his Late mentioned holding company, Vedanta. Resources, which owns about 80 per cent of the Indian business.

Agarwal defined it from the London Stock Exchange (LSX) right years ago to controversial circumstances. Today, he suggests that he may return the qualified, have proud company in London, with a number of former-occupied states against. "We will see what opportunity comes," he says.

London has suffered a shortly of over past feelings in recent years, and Agarwal must risk how 'luck is the' and 'a little point of time'.

Asked why he feels that is, he says: "Freedom - Freedom (to be an) enterprise must. Making money is not a sin in the US." He feels the US is non-critical to meet others for nursing high salaries, although he is not concerned about a preventive health system, he says. "I gamble with follow success," Agarwal always. "Money is like a river."

Whether London would welcome Stock Vedanta's another master. The company attracted controversy during its first visit on the exchange, and last year, the short-wife Viceroy alleged that the company had biappropriately funded a 2026 dividend in in London holding company using a $900 million (£670 million) loan from hedge fund Nations Capital Management. Vedanta described the Viceroy report as "baseless".

Agarwal, dressed in a maroon jacket and been innaises, gives off the rifle of safety spokes, self-deprecating, and kindly gentlemen - a man unconcerned about malfulfilled-pound details and devoted to making the world a better place through various charitable initiatives he has lacked.

He is still coming to terms with the

Anti Agarwal's morals and mining empire is so large even he has trouble remembering his two many companies he has

enough at the opportunity to gain access to his array of metal and mining assets, elevating Vedanta into the FTSE 500 with a valuation of more than £6 billion.

However, a London listing also brought greater scrutiny of Vedanta's human rights record and the environmental impact of its work. Campaigner Hazen Jagger became a vocal critic and appeared at Vedanta's 2009 and 2010 special shareholder meetings to take part in protest rallies against a new opera can transfer time on the mountain of Niyam logo in eastern India.

When Agarwal's £100 dream came to an end in 2008, the official narrative was that Vedanta had realised enough value on the London market and the Indian exchange had become more appealing.

But his decision to take the company private again was widely linked to political pressure. Earlier that year, police had opened fire on a group of pensioners outside a Vedanta-owned copper market in southern India, leaving 12 dead. Local authorities later closed the plant, which promoters had blamed the environmental problems and found them worse.

Then shadow chancellor John McDonald called on Vedanta, a "cruise corporation", to be debated from the LSX.

Agarwal says the defining had nothing to do with the police should be, "who was a very sad incident," he reflects now. "Everybody is regretting it."

He goes on, unprompted, to address occurring criticism of Vedanta's record, there have been many dozens of deaths in Vedanta-owned mines over the years. Agarwal's perspective is steeped in the brutal reality of the industry: the notes the accident and death from "crime" have "remarkably" become safety is a big focus in the mine!

Aneithon are "very unfortunate," he says. "I think it is not a problem in company or technology company." And so, very unfortunately, there is no company (in this sector) in the world that will not go through these incidents... There can be a flood, there can be an earthquake, there can be anything. Anything can come up."

Vedanta has been appealing against the closure of its copper plant, and Agarwal's hopeful it will soon be reopened as a "green copper facility". "Yeah, it will be," he says.

And how will local people feel if it is not a problem in the industry? "In replies, citing job opportunities, before briefly seeming to have his patience with me." This is one of my 22 places, "he says. "This is one of them. So we can talk about it. But it must be less than 1 per cent of my business!"

Luck Agarwal if he has any regrets from this career. "I have a lot of regrets," he says. Personnel among them, he needs a single American, the FTSE 850 mines in 2007, but hardly bought more than 20 per cent of the business, rumour had it that his plan was to merge Anglo-Soviet nations in the United States.

Agarwal's investment was reckoned to have made a return of about $600 million in the United States, and was nearly doubled between 2007 and 2005, although some - including debt interest payments and advisory fees to JP Morgan land - will have been substantial.

Since then, Agarwal is made to American have doubled again. Agarwal Makers his headset for advising him to recede his exit. "They started analysing and paralyzing," he says. "We could have transformed their life in a permanent with that company. It is a phenomenal company."

He feels he should have embraced his own "old-taker and entrepreneur" attitude and kept his single stake, which would be a major event in 250 billion.

My time with Agarwal is running out. He is already running late for a 7st chi and another 1.5m risk line whether he has a successive plan.

"He daughter is running up very well," he says of Priya Agarwal lizithas, a Warwick University-educated executive who serves on Vedanta's board. He would like her and other family members to act as counciliors, rather than owners, of his empire in the future. "Our equity should go into a trust, and the trust should give back to society. It's also a failing. I want my business to last for 500 years."

The number is coming down, but it's little for a grim reality in mining

Anil Agarwal, the billionaire behind the controversial miner Vedanta, also opens up about his modest upbringing, his son's untimely death, and plans to relist his group

"I should never have sold my stake in Anglo

death in January of his 49-year-old son after a sleep accident in the US. A shock family how can trigger all manner of emotions, but to cherish life seems to be Agarwal's philosophy.

He tells me that recently, on a white, he bought a $225 billion to see Pithali, an American rapper of whom he was previously unaware, perform its nearby Hyde Park.

"There was a great experience," he insists. "Everybody looks so beautiful. 50,000 people, 10 man! She God descended. So young, so nice, and everybody has been said effective."

There is certainly more to Agarwal than meets the eye. Known to peers as

the 'nantalizing' and in malf as 'the chairman', I mean him to a vast sitting room where he and a handful of advisers are seated around a coffee table. When, mid-conversation, a waiter comes to plant a bowl of plump cashews in front of us, Agarwal shows him a stick look and instructs: "No noise."

He had a modest upbringing in the state of Milan, eastern India. "I never went down until the age of 16," Agarwal recalls with a chuckle. He finished school at 15 and went to work for his father's small business, which made aluminium containers.

At 16, he left home for Mumbai, where he set himself up as a scrap metal dealer.

A few years later, after making some good trades, he took out a bank loan to buy a manufacturing of enamelled copper.

From there, fuelled by new debts, Agarwal built an empire. He bought several assets at a good price from the state and became known income of India's "full cigarette."

"I don't think I am that intelligent," he reflects now. "But I am just a risk takin. I have! determination, and in rough weather, I can stand on!"

An highlights since childhood, Agarwal realised a dream in 2003 when he incorporated the Vedanta. Resources holding company in London and listed it on the LSX. Many LSX-based asset mining

"Everyone regrets the police shooting

and cities have resumed, but Konrat, Bahrain and Kidal in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The number is another "Russia and Ukraine" - has benefited the current release, with Turkey acting as a mediator in the war, it is allowed by

decision by over the country, making it faster and cheaper to travel to an front-loaded to some destination in Asia. Insertion required on

the Soviet Union. European and Asian carriers have to fly south of the Russian border. The Soviet Union is a key, which can add up-to-two hours to flight times, increasing fuel hours.

Although rising of prices in the world for the US there is 10 to 20 per cent higher than last year "demand is holding up", 'joker insisted. "Our2mm traffic was around 54 per cent, just for 10 per cent, as high as last year."

As he looked on even the airlines, it included the earlier Turkish Airlines would be future park a jet outside the Emirates-chain to celebrate meeting its optimistic targets. "Institute, as we say. Godspeed."

THE LIFE OF ANIL AGARWAL

Born: January 24, 1954 in Milan, India Status: married with a daughter and grand-faughter. Agarwal's son recently died in a along accident.

School: Miller High in Patna, a city in Bihar

University: home First job: worked for his father's aluminum

language coming of a "hastful" life. 2-6 hrs, a friend.

language coming of age comedy

Music: Lats Mangardhar is his favourite organ, although he recently saw Pillai at Hyde Park

Drink: manga juice Gadget: iPhone

Watch: Longman Last holiday: the Bahamas.

"We had a travel meeting and I spent three nights there"

Chantiy: Nerd One, an initiative of the 4rd Agarwal Foundation that seeks to

enhance children's education, maternal health and female skills

training in rural areas of India.

WOMEN IN

Born: in London, Anil Agarwal's husband's waters at Sam and walks to a nearby Andrew Inneshe to pray. His play consists of a watering and phone calls with his employees, topped up with some power steps. He returns by watching TV and heads to lead by 92.30pm.

BIRTHS: Agarwal likes his chi, walking, swimming, meditation and yoga.

The Istanbul express that's leaving BA in its slipstream

Murat Seker, the new chairman of the growing Turkish Airlines, has his eye on creating the world's biggest carrier. John Arklap reports

Quit time. What's in the largest and fastest growing short and long-haul airline on the European continent, operating from Europe's busiest hub airport?

Answer: Turkish Airlines is already the biggest major global carrier, and Istanbul airport is overtaking. Heathrow in Europe's busiest hub: home 4.0 million passengers passed through Istanbul in July, compared with Heathrow's 7.86 million. "We are ahead of our peers," said Murat Seker, the new chairman of Turkish Airlines.

"The growth of the airline is remarkable. In the past decade, it has more than doubled the number of passengers in carrier to reach over 10 million last year. British Airways transported 40 million, it happens to double that number in this coming years by offering 350 international destinations.

"It's a fleet of 200 pre-962 m many as BA - and is operating another 810 billion (£2) billion at the prices over the next decade on nearby Airbus and Boeing planes, increasing its fleet to almost

850. Current annual revenues of $24 billion are projected to exceed 300 billion by 2025.

Seker rationalizes in figures at last month's hardenough airlines, where Emirates, the world's largest carrier by international passenger miles, prices coming in the one of its jets in front of the Turkish Airlines chain. Since he want to make Turkish Airlines the world's largest international airline, overtaking Emirates in terms of number of passengers and destinations on the air.

"That's not a purpose we work. That's a consequence we receive," he replied.

Like the Gulf carriers - his battle for and high Atlantic - which operate at six international locations in Turkish Airlines can expand thanks to new airport capacity. The Istanbul hub has space for five rumours and several new terminals in start for over 200 million passengers a year.

Israeliol airport "is not like Heathrow", Seker said, carefully diagnosing any glue at its ongoing failure to build a third runway. However, he

added that there are differences between Turkish Airlines' business model and those of the Gulf carriers. Much of Emirates' traffic, for instance, consists of passengers connecting through Osaka to other destinations. By contrast, the popularity of Turkey as a global contract and business destination allows it to attract a greater percentage of personal passengers.

"Israeliol's in the top four most visited cities globally. Turkey's in the top five most visited countries. There's a huge demand," Seker said. It's they stuff, but many

Murat Seker said that "Britain is very important to Turkish Airlines

international travellers already enjoy the services provided by the Gulf carriers, with their airline, a 6m double-decker superjambos offering ham and showers. How can Turkish Airlines, which has single-deck long-haul jets, persuade Brita an other traveller to switch?

Seker sees competitive advantage in Turkish Airlines' main network. It serves for most destinations in the East-East region the Gulf carriers. "We can provide 30,000 alternative air transport and 4 an average European city going northward."

He wants to increase

connectivity to Britain by starting flights to London City airport, in add to Heathrow, Ubrock, Stanton, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh. "The UK market is very important.

Seker is not city of copying the Gulf carriers' playbook to attract passengers. The "Gulfite" collectively make billions of dollars a year, connecting Europe with Australia, and he has a big slice of the kangaroo pie.

New, long-range Airbus - 300 jets, which have an extra fuel tank, will go into service in 2020 flying one stop from Istanbul to 'rig down the cities. Turkish Airlines' current services stop in Asia to refuel.

Seker hopes a short first leg to Istanbul - there to four hours - and a longer second leg down south - it's 10 hours - will be more attractive to Europeans than the Gulf carriers' flight times and flight lengths.

The war in the Gulf hit Turkish Airlines' bottom line initially as a used services to the region, but flights to all major Middle East countries

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BUSINESS

A new gold rush is sweeping Africa as Google, Microsoft and Meta jostle for market share. Billions are being invested despite a debate over so-called digital colonialism, writes Richard Assleton

Jim Olson, Google's managing director for Africa, was a Nairobi recently listening to teenage government officials talk to the city's young people about technology.

"This lady asked me about," Look, during Covid, I have really struggling!" said

Olson, speaking from Google's office in London's West End. "She said: 'I couldn't find work. I'm a single mother. Then I took the Google certifies first course on logistics. Now I work for a global company.'"

Olson also tells us evidence that Google is holding develop Africa. "If you're from Kenya, you don't have to leave your home to work for a global company," he said. "These are the best of us for it for that about that get me excited as an African."

A Nigerian who speaks with a North American citizen, having attended school in the US and made his name at MTV, Olson, N. Lee, is a manager of an unprecedented wave of big-tech investment in his North continent.

For a long time the workplace comparatively neglected Africa. Now they are pointing money in.

Google announced in July that it had 50 a few year target to invest $1 billion in the continent. It has built an estimated cable connecting West Africa to Portugal, and is now building another one that will link Africa to Australia via India.

Meta and a consortium including multiple-plant providers change and Vodafone have built their own addresses cable, the images in the world, which overcame Africa and is projected to add 0.5 per cent to the continent's 1200 million to their two or three years.

Microsoft wants to connect 10 million Africans to the internet, Starlink now has an estimated 300,000 users in Africa,

while Amazon is getting in on the satellite internet game. Olson is also in on the next to Deeptech AI model, owned by the same parent company as Internet, has become hugely popular around Africa. The tech industry is holding the as more innovative for the continent. Yet it's population of 1.6 billion, roughly 400 million people will remain offline and 250 million live beyond the reach of filter or mobile networks.

Yet the tech sector is changing lives dramatically. Africa's digital economy accounted for just 1.1 per cent of its GDP in 2012, but is expected to reach 0.7 per cent by 2050. There are now about ten such firms worth more than $1 billion in the continent.

Mobile money, which was first made popular in Kenya in 2007 by Vodafone, part of Vodafone, has spread throughout Africa and the world. Payment platforms such as Thatswark and Payneck have solved what need to be the headache of paying people, including the emphasis on

Remittance apps allow family members and friends living in Europe and North America to send fullness of pounds to loved ones in Africa. Uber and other ride-hailing apps are now ubiquitous in major cities, as are delivery and ticketing apps. Streamdeline is spreading. Even farmers are using AI to predict post all-cause outbreaks.

Made more mobile, African musicians and artists are now global stars. Olson notes that 70 per cent of African online countries' development have viewed outside Africa. He is not to sell a podcast to which he will leave one African entertainment game and business leaders.

The big tech race over the continent has been dubbed "the new scramble for Africa".

Olson said: "Google alone cannot lift the entire continent. It's got to be a com-

bination of everyone really comes together to grow the ecosystem."

Masa, incidentally, is another winner from the tech boom. Artists such as Barna Boy, the Nigerian who performed with Shakira during half-time at the World Cup final, are now global stars.

Despite this, a group of academics have devoted what they call "digital colonialism". Instead of gold and rubber, researchers such as Michael Scott, a visiting fellow at Yale Law School, argue that the tech firm are plundering Africa for its human data, defending it away to Silicon Valley and selling it to advertisers.

There have been reports of Africans employed on low wages as "data contractors" charged with labelling vast news of online material to train AI models.

"For me, I don't find digital colonialism at all," Olson said. "I think it anything. It's the reverse. Because truly, you're trying to leverage African data to build for Africa."

Be its rivals, Google runs start-up support schemes in Africa while offering scholarship for its IT courses. It has 10 research centers in that branch and Accra, Ghana, in which local owners here work on problems such as predicting floods.

Google's 10 world trade now works in 10 African languages, while earlier this year, the company launched a free data set of recordings of 20 African spoken languages, designed for tech developers to create speech-to-text tools. "We're build-

Big Tech's scramble

Africa

ing a market that we also want to be in and play in versus contacting from the market," Olson said.

Some governments are acting to protect their citizens, however. Nigeria and South Africa have passed laws demand big first-crrnize user data, such as real and Monarcics, he says in several of their countries. Rwanda is building in corn cloud computing platform and digital payments system, while Nigeria is investigating them, it and alphabet, Google's owner, over concerns about their market dominance.

All of 70 oneself, chief executive of Africa Data Centres, the leading network of data centers in the continent, with four, welcomes these people. Nearly one is free humans live in Africa, yet the continent has only 1 per cent of the world's data center capacity.

"We have to push for more data to be closed and fully," he said.

The secretary general of the African Continental Free Trade Area, Wanda Moha, has said that to meet demand, Africa needs 300 more by the end of 2026, to reach 50%. As well as promoting African citizens, that will make everything faster. "If you want to do a bank transfer may have to Login and the application is in Singapore, it's more likely to fail," El Youssef said.

partners, Europe's data centre capacity is currently about 12 gigawards.

Last year Google launched its first cloud region in Africa, meaning businesses can use its cloud computing for the first time.

"So, some years ago, our Google services provider would be in Belgium or Ireland," said Wayne Hemmerer-Barrett, CEO of Ali Capital, a microfinance company that has given out $1 billion in loans to small businesses in Uganda and Kenya, with a 1.1% shareholding.

A former British Army officer, Hennessy-Barrett, 54, was head-honored in 2010 and now runs the company's business, where he with crores from: Combining auto-annoy stock loans to shopkeepers with in-person business training by 1,400 local employees, 8,400 new employees.

Nigerian Alex Olson won 9 in school in the US and made his name at MTV

Being housed on Google Cloud has allowed Hennessy-Barrett to create his own payment system, which is quicker and cheaper than alternatives. "Because we're cloud-based, we'll be able to be in multiple different countries," he said.

"We'll be able to provide more products for our customers," said the describes "digital colonialism" at a Nigerian abubusiness "supervision", He said. "Digital businesses run on data. It doesn't matter where they're doing."

GENERAL CLASSIFIED

Established 1962 • Secure online ordering • Over 60 month numbers available • Over a month in 2026

How the Monzo million are having to pay more for perks

The State's move comes as it has already changes the benefits it offers, writes All Tension

funds landed in the inferiors of Monzo-bank customers has weak informing them that they were about to receive a brand new pack with more account; the chance to watch YouTube with fewer adverts.

The one's! Identify prices are being billed. One customer, Steven, was unimproved with the YouTube offering. "Sure, it's a pack that people should have the option to opt in or add an additional fee of 2 exclusive to run members."

A teacher, Oleg, defended Simon, saying "they aren't always going to be able to offer perks you want. So therefore (they) offer you a variety of perks some of which work to your house, some of which don't."

The move by Monzo which has aroused one million customers with paid-for-bank accounts, offering perks including free travel measures, common items and foreign-foreign rolls, is a demonstration of the difference in top Britain's digital banks, including fierce rival Services.

The company's results to build and retain their customer's financials is particularly balanced by price hikes with new packs.

reducible that caused concern among some shareholders.

And replaced the bank's founder Tom Blomfield, who stopped down suddenly in 2024, and has remained on the board as vice-chair to please account.

The handling industry has been trying to win customers for packaged bank accounts that provide products to addicted to traditional services. The idea is to generate the income and not just rely on profits generated through interest rates.

But the industry has also faced regulatory concerns about whether these perks are really worth the value they claim to offer. Consumer body Which? tells customers to make sure if they open a law charging bank account that they want to use the benefits to ensure they achieve value for money.

Monzo's move comes in the work that Novitch made changes to some of the benefits it offered to some of the subscribers to its plans by reducing the use of a perks to use WeWork shared office spaces in a number of cities.

The WeWork offer was available to customers of

Revolut's plan known as 5 first-witch costs (10 a month and 10 in 16 third months) and which cost $14.99 a month.

Revolut is reported to have faced higher fees from WeWork for offering the perks but did not withdraw the ability to book office space from all its sites. Customers complained that they were not entitled at The changes.

Founded by Nik Inzowsky, Revolut started out at the same time as Monzo as a payment card but has grown faster. It has 70 million customers but unlike Monzo did not have a banking license at the outset. It only received approval from the Bank of England in March five years after first making the application.

Revolut now intends to use the former - which gives customers protection through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for $120,000 of their

Foreign Accounts for lending and savings products. Revolut wants to take on the "Big Law" of Centre,

Bartigny, Tarl96or and HSBC which dominates the current account market in Britain by convincing customers to pay

their entire salaries into its accounts. Traditionally, the digital banks have tended to be secondary accounts.

The perks that Monzo provides through its Perks and Max accounts include many items at the bank's chain Google, where the bank refuses its customers have redeemed 0 million items such as massage rolls and hot drinks. It is a they were launched in 2024.

Man Ubb, Monzo product director, reckoned this showed "there's a lot of love for these benefits" while customers paid for alongside their banking facilities.

But from October they will have pay more for some of these perks. The Monzo Plus account, which came with the first withRevolut which was launched, is the testing from £5 to £6 a month. Premium, which offered worldwide travel insurance and phone insurance when it was launched, is the testing from £10 to £15. These are the first increases since these products were launched in 2020 and they have not been offered to save customers since 2024.

The owner accounts Perks and Max are increasing from £7 a month to £9 a month and from £10 to £19 respectively. Monzo said customers of these accounts would now have access to subscription to YouTube Premium Lite, which it said would usually pay £7.99 a month.

Monzo is the front of shirt sponsor of Coventry City FC, who has been promoted back to the Premier League this season after a 29-year absence.

Monzo is the front of shirt sponsor of Coventry City, managed by Frank Lampard

---

BUSINESS

7

EYON

Saving Britain's steel industry is about to get bloody expensive

As a world seemingly herald of political consensus, the importance of the UK of sovereign steelmaking provides a refreshing share of the termination costs.

"Steel is essential for our energy security, our transport,"

the government's official, the industrial company. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has said: "We know more that they 'very much believe in a sovereign steel industry' and that 20 times earlier in India, current risk out has been far more going cold".

"We believe we should be producing the best results," Nigel Young, Reform's by-election late leading South and leading a risk out, says in spending weeks in Peru' Office in June last year.

《中美海关税收负担案》是由 John H. Wight, The same reading used from

Wight: The same reading used from second to negative two key ingredients: iron ore and coking coal – both of which we have to improve.

We plan to get this, the final load of domestically mined ironstone was diagnosed so the 'curbs' involved in in Northamptonshire. As for coking coal,

Malley Gallery in Rothenham caused production in March 2025.

A lot of heat over that gave into the last virgin steelworks in Scunthorpe comes from Sweden, home from further afield. The coking coal, meanwhile, is shipped from in the army as Australia.

The result? Virgin steelmaking is the end within days if Britain were cut off, as in the summer of 1945. But looking at doomsday scenarios like this underpins the sovereign steelmaking expansion.

In does this mean we should give up on Scunthorpe, home of British Steel and the country's last remaining blast furnaces? We cannot say that it is an important context when we think about the enormous cost to taxpayers.

In May 2008, British Steel's private equity owners (original Capital) handed over the best to the government after ministers refused to extend a £30 million emergency loan. The business stayed in public ownership until March 2020 when Chinese staff jingle assigned it for the princely state of 220 million.

British Steel was in desperate need of modernisation, a plan was hard to replace the last two remaining blast

UK's steel production facilities

furnaces with an electric arc furnace, but this would be expensive and lead to many of the 2,700 steel workers in Scunthorpe being their jobs. Electric arc furnaces take us up and sell Britain's Europe's biggest exporter of scrap and park's doors into one stock but are far less labour intensive.

After lots of so big and the big, a deal was now in being signed when its late burner were to power in July 2024. British Steel's modernisation plans went back to the drawing board.

By the spring of 2025, Jingye's Beijing overheads were sick of hard-cutting British Steel's losses and unilaterally tried to switch off the blast furnaces. This created a political storm that culminated in the UK government booting out the Chinese owners and, taking day-to-day control of the works, the cost is staggering. British Steel currently costs the taxpayers 22.3 million a day to keep running. The National Audit Office estimates that the facilities will hit 2.1 billion if British steel remains in state ownership until 2026.

And Jingye may be credited to compensation. This is Britain, not Venezuela, no independent assessor will be appointed shortly to assess precisely how much we need to pay the Chinese.

When I recently asked from fully what was in compensation money, the British handed to Beijing – shortly before he left office at business secretary – the future MP suggested that it could be near the £1 billion that Jingye is demanding. The cost of the would take the good bill for naturalizing British Steel to almost £2.5 billion – or nearly £2 million for every Scunthorpe steelworker.

As for returns from holiday this week, Kyiv's successes, Reynolds, will be nearly aware of the costs. Likewise, he will know that the last two blast furnaces at the works are well past their useful economic life. They need to be turned off and replaced.

He will also need to decide what to do with the country's latest biggest overheads some of! either down the road in Sheffield. Specialty Steel UK (SUS) was de facto acknowledged last year after metals' excess large. It is also defaulted on hundreds of millions of pounds owed to lenders.

The UK officials want to charge 10.5% with British Steel and, potentially, the should be persuasive, which has manufactured cost and bought nuclear components for three quarters of a year. Lower levels of the UK government hands down 2021 coal you, it is cost to the taxpayer of hundreds of millions of pounds.

And this three way tie-up could become a major deal, if well informed. Whirlwind whispers are to be believed. Noted is that officials have their eye on another of Gupta's businesses. Liberty

Steel (Island) in Scotland has a major contract to make metal plans for Royal Navy ship that has run out of cash, if Andy Raynham wants to "build British", the only answer might be for the state to take control of Island as well.

The government has consented to spend up to £2.5 billion via the National Wealth Fund on the most secure, a commitment expanse is likely to be year when it published its "Steel Strategic".

Some 2,000 million of this has already gone to Italian conspirators as Tata, a part fund the resupplying of old blast furnaces for electric arc ones at what was Britain's biggest steelworks in the Talbot. Add in the British Steel costs and it is looking like this in Japan's already blown. Then there's the bill for taking 100.8 mm public ownership – and probably I think it is.

There may well be a core political consensus on the importance of preserving sovereign steelmaking, that to my mind there should be another. It's going to be bloody expensive – other. glf@translaytimes.co.uk

Rishi Sunak is away

The yen's on the rack, but sterling sails on serenely

David Smith Economic Outlook

Yes it a long time since I was in a period of one of these columns by talking about the Japanese yen, the currency of the world's fourth largest economy if can remember what it was in the second. In fact, this may be a first.

But, as you may have heard, one of the big economic and financial stories of the moment has been the yen's in existence and the past 0.8 Japan effort to try to cross it through currency intervention.

What I also wanted to talk about was why, when currency volatility is back in the room, the present is stingly serenely on – barely insisting a boat even as the UK well-mixed he stalls one prime minister in the space of ten years, and the sevenest to hold the job over that period. Normally, when there are tensions in currency markets, the pound gets caught up in them.

But it is surely how years since the last of those episodes, the self-imposed one that followed the September 23, 2022, "mini" budget of 1.0 million.

Accordingly, which sent the pound down to a record low against the dollar in overnight trading in Asia. The pound recovered its component within months from the 1st to the 2nd, compared since there are that in a moment.

Let me start with the yen's. It is no cost for point, it had fallen by more than 10 per cent over the past 12 months against the dollar in a 45 year low, but that is so nothing compared with its fall in recent years. The dollar is 10 per cent up against the yen over the past six years – in other words, compared with Covid levels – because there is no Japanese currency has suffered a cumulative fall of about 25 per cent.

That is a big adjustment, and it is not just against the dollar. Over that same six-year period, the pound has risen by 50 per cent against the yen, so a yen fall of 25 per cent.

Why has the problem so weak? The easiest and most obvious explanation is that currency traders and international investors have been engaged in an extended version of what it known as the "carry trade."

Although they have risen recently, Japanese official interest rates are very low and likely to remain so. The Bank of Japan's official interest rate is 1 per cent, compared with the US Bank of Japan's average for America's first female rate and 1.75 per cent for the US base rate. For both American and the UK markets saw a chance, though now a diminishing one, of even higher rates.

It is not just official interest rates. As I write this, the yields, or market interest rates, survey our Japanese government bonds on 2.49 per cent, compared with 4.07 per cent for America and 4.90 per cent for the UK. Although we would give our eye teeth for such low borrowing costs, they also have a currency impact.

The carry trade is simply a device for taking advantage of these interest rate investments. The price is a common borrow to you at very low interest rates and then convert to other higher yielding currencies, so weakening the yen. That is a large part of the story of the currency's recent poor performance.

Come, I call for a devaluation to boost exports. That would not be a good idea

A gun a little further than that, however. Since the bursting of its "bubble" economy more than there and a half decades ago, Japan has struggled for growth and had to work hard to avoid deflation – falling prices.

Deflation is no longer an immediate danger, but weak growth is, with Japan no to grow by significantly less than 5 per cent this year and one. It is also facing the problem of a simultaneously ageing and falling population, with the number of people of working age declining. The ergamy but growth dynamic of the past is but a distant memory.

In response to the yen's weakness, America, has increased the impact of that and other Asian currency weakness on the US trade deficit, has joined with Japan is seeking to prop it up with tens of billions of dollars of intervention in the foreign exchange markets – the first each effort for 10 years.

Scott Benson, the US Treasury

secretary, knows a bit about such intervention, having countered it in September 1995 when he was part of George Jones's Quantum fund team, which successfully specialized against sterling and forced it out of the European exchange rate mechanism.

He has, however, made few friends in European treasury bond and control banking partners for the manner of this intervention, which was not done in a co-ordinated way with other GI countries. It may also be suffering the fate of the 1992 episode – an intervention that has made markets take notice but, ultimately, will not the turn around the currency.

If you cannot change the fundamentals – in this case, very low Japanese interest rates – you probably cannot change the performance of the currency.

And this distant turmoil, what about the pound?

In big adjustment came just over a decade ago after the EU reformations, where it fell very sharply. A par value for sterling against the dollar is now about £1.35, compared with a 10 and 30-year average of $0.85 before the referendum. Against the ours, sterling is needed – particularly in the high term – between €1.35 and €1.20.

The present's response by relatively high interest rates but also by generally increasing data. Last week's official gross domestic product (GDP) figures, while reported as a growth downdown, were as good as it was reasonably so.

THE DOLLAR'S UP AGAINST THE WEAK YER ...

... BUT STERLING'S BEEN STEADIER

project. Quarterly growth of 0.4 per cent, while down on the 0.6 per cent rise in the first quarter, was very encouraging in the context of the energy shock emanating from the US-Israel war with Iran – a shock that pervies.

Growth in the second quarter was supported by the private sector, with consumer spending up 0.2 per cent and business investment a serving 17 per cent. Government day-to-day spending for once fell, by 0.1 per cent.

This week will bring news on employment and unemployment, say Tuesday, and inflation, on Wednesday. We will have to wait to see what that news is, but, again, the recent picture has been better than feared.

I still get quite a lot of emails from people saying that what the UK economy needs is not a stable currency but a good old fashioned devaluation, to boost exports and thus growth. That would not be a good idea, and people should be careful what they wish for. A big fall in the pound would push up inflation, which is already above signs, and, as Japan is discovering, is hard to stop.

The 2006 slump in sterling did not benefit UK exports significantly, and neither would another one now. We should be thankful that it was, sterling is not a target of the currency speculation. Stability is a good thing.

PS The latest second quarter and June GDP figures were very encouraging but should not disguise the fact that the economy is still not working for everybody. Even so, businesses should do the right thing by their employees.

You may know that 900 Smith, a high street major for many decades, last year and in 400 more to the same region in first Medical Capital, to concentrate on its profitable outlets in airports, railway stations and other travel hubs.

Mudella returned the high street stores as 10 pieces – you can see it at a full there – but quickly discovered that it had too many on its hands and would have to cut them back. It announced earlier this summer that it would be having a proportion of the shops, probably about 150.

One of the stores apparently surrounded for closure is in a small Welsh outside town. I know very well. The 100 Smith's top there, an anchor house in the town, has been a fixture for as long as I can remember. Indeed, the retailer opened in the town all of 120 years ago, and had a stall at the local railway station even earlier than that.

The closure will leave the town without a supplier of school materials and autonomy – something that 900 Smith has sold to successive general men of children for many decades. A plan, of course, sold newspapers. Capitalism: being capitalise, you might hope that an alternative supplier will spring up, but I doubt it. The town's best will be measured again.

Never, though, was that the first law study's employees heard of the closure, between apart, was when a commercial estate agent attached a sign to the outside of the building saying the shop was to be in. That's not the way to do it. david. ombigsunday times.co.uk

Trump now feels the cost of war

Irwin Stelzer American Account

In the economic cycle for those who do not spend all their time smoking this decade of the war in Iran. Spoker earning: solution not included.

President Trump believes, as an ex-crotonist would put it.

What the costs of putting books on the ground in Iran exceed the further benefits to the fact from the war. When disagree, but there is not the awesome responsibility of making the Arlington National Treasury in Virginia the next step for thousands of American soldiers.

Less mentioned is that the costs of straining his/her benefits are now, the benefits come long after Donald Trump has deposited the notes.

The most obvious costs so far incurred are higher panels prices and direct millions expenditures. The cost of the 10 increase in petrol is difficult to gauge. As part because some men from consumers to the domestic oil industry, as consumers are it, in the six months of the war, they lose half out an extra $50 billion (£51 billion) to drive to work and visit penalties.

The administrative requests for funds to cover the past and prospective costs of the war come to about $100 billion, and the cost of over time for tax increases, this will increase deficits and the national debt, and the cost of carrying that debt. There there is the unmeasured also out of outfolding, advertising, or bribes that interest it around is so depleted as to make it a non-player in Asia and Europe.

All these costs have brought significant benefits. The war arguably achieved its initial objective, but ring the stuff of which makes are made under intense crisis. Anguishing from millions of dollars, the need for a better future of the ruinous inflation. Relatively low cost surveillance will presumably alert future presidents to activity at nuclear sites.

Are those incorrect costs and benefits that are not yet available for the fact that the war's past is not prologue. Continuing to seek the reopening of the Israel of Hormuz will be more costly as the Islamic Revolution's Guard Carpet is now a major source of economic and development of tactics in this

anemone's war, in which the US has used about half its supply of further stereotypes, which cost the inflation in $5 million to $10 million above $10,000 in Asian drivastars.

Not only will prospective costs exceed those so far incurred, but the prospective benefit of an opening of the Israel of Hormuz will be considered by reduced by America having the vast majority of the costs of creating a public good – free transit through the world

while the benefits are shared with neutral users who have been almost none of the costs, and refuse to do so even when asked, as using the appellation 'free-chairs' from

economists, and 'dilutical' from Trump. Iran's strategy of reopening the world is to be a result of the US 120 reports that from the start of the war through in the end of last month. 'Fear and his hucked group in Iraq have conducted at least 17,000 days on non-military targets of the Gulf states. Acceptance of an frontline controlled

crash seems to them a cost worth bearing for the benefit of peace in their time, which is only they have repeatedly asked Trump to call off planned attacks.

Then for the peace that refreshes. These requests have created the off-ramp that the president has been

seeking. It would not be unreasonable for Trump to accode with his customary grace to the without of America's allies, and announce that America's enormous reserves of oil-stake the cost of opening the strut to a high-growth lower importance to US national security, or, in economic terms, not a cost effective way of providing the security.

Trump's new strategy so far includes maintenance of enhanced sanctions on Iran, and of the blockade that has deprived Iran of about $5 billion in monthly revenue. The engine figures is

Iran controlling the straight seems a price worth paying for peace

can survive by imposing severe rationing and by doubling down on suppression to undue Trump, who faces the old term elections in 10 days.

In the end, Trump might face only two choices: accepting that there will be very high costs to putting troops in Iran's war and assuming the regime; or the price of the war would be much smaller than complete withdrawal of all bases from the Middle East – a demand they can drop and then return to, with men kind of malfunctioning of US between a later stage.

Presumably when a persistent more inclined to the than fight has ungillied the 1948 Office.

There you have it – an economic's not entirely satisfying attempt to use if the tools of his trade can be useful in sorting through the options available to a president in the long line of three outnumbered by Iran.

To those who might argue that I have strayed more than a little beyond the confines of my chosen producers, I call to my defense the great economist Ira Hayek: 'Nobody can be a great economist who is only an economist – a very own employee, and that the economist who is only an economist is likely to become a minanee, if not a positive danger.' A weight-winnisher.com

Irwin Stelzer is a business adviser

---

BUSINESS

Emphreyett

Is offering free egg freezing to staff really as generous as it may seem?

Let your mind back to the first step you heard about egg freezing as a company benefit. For me, it may put over a decade ago, when the tech giants in Silicon Valley started introducing it. You'll not was first, then again, before it

became almost ubiquitous in the service industry, entertainment and low quickly followed suit.

Still you, like a little from two something is his striator about it? That, like the first tech, under given our desires, it's not really a plot to get out of work longer and harder! If women didn't have the rich work of the biological process, it's not really a lot making money for their workouts.

Egg freezing is back in the spotlight after New York congresswoman Alexander Huston comes began sharing with women with the same work. And, so she's known, said an Instagram that she decided to document the process to shed light on the "very daunting" treatment.

The process, which usually takes about two to three weeks to complete, involves taking drugs to break egg production and help the eggs mature. You don't yet really... determined through ultrasound scans - the eggs are collected under general anaesthetic or sedative, and then frozen.

Demand for the treatment in Britain is rising: the number of egg-freening cycles increased by 44 per cent between 2022 and 2026, according to the Human Fertilization & Deformating Authority. Even so, it accounted for just 7 per cent of all treatment cycles in the UK in 2024.

AOC, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in 2004, now 36, acknowledged that sharing the process came with just 6 as "real". She added: "Don't be weird about this, even though I know all of you will be." And not aாலும், an avalanche of commentary about her health choices, especially from the Mega right, as well as

speculation about what it might mean for her career, including a powerful run for president or the Senate in 2020. She decided that the team back into the spotlight, but it also notes questions about the longstanding tension between having a career or a family. Some commentators have suggested that by freezing her eggs, AOC is signalling the importance of her career and a willingness to put other parts of her life on hold to president. A 'but it isn't about that simple. For many of the women's to upstairs to about freezing eggs, it was as much almost finding the right partner as the right time.

"Came me just with, but it wasn't the main concern that she's given eggs flying PR more often who describes freezing her eggs as a form of "safety deposit". She's had one round of egg freezing and two rounds of embryo freezing, first aged 34 and then again at 37. Her employer covered the costs, alongside flexible working during the gruelling process.

The everyone has the luxury of employer's leadership care. Melissa Karghavada, a San Francisco-based entrepreneur, paid for two cycles in August and September 2024, when she was 31. She now has 32 eggs in 34, which she has been for 14 years, and she decides to start a family.

"I have always been very career oriented," she said. "I'm just going to know that building a career would take priority over building a family for me. Freezing my eggs was the best decision I've ever made. Should down."

"I cannot overstate the relief I felt after freezing my eggs and I wish I had done it properly. I wish there were programs to help people pay for it. I because I was running my short options was no egg freezing program whereas I had I been at a big tech company like my friends were... I would have been able to access that program. I would like to know that egg freezing, which typically costs between $5,000 and

$8,000 per cycle in Britain and $10,000 to $20,000 in the UK, is particularly valuable for female founders that can often be financially out of reach. Her view is that investors should be prepared to treat it as a business expense.

"Twenty thousand to keep me sharp and focused and remove that worry or pressure or timelines is absolutely worth it and, in the grand scheme, the most capital-backed start-up, is nothing.

"Every striator's woman can now turn in worried about her feelings of shock, she isn't worried about the business." Her egg-freening isn't a clever bullet, Becky Kearns, co-founder of Fertility Makers in Work, which helps employees tackle fertility issues, says her "we're a full insurance policy" and a guarantee of having a baby at a later stage. She worries that "some women are freezing their eggs because they are fearing what pregnancy and motherhood will do to their careers."

"That's more of a systemic workplace problem," she said.

"Encouraging women to delay family plans can feel sinister"

New York congresswoman Alexander Huston Covers has put the topic of egg freezing back in the spotlight

There are other potential unintended consequences to consider, says M. Dryscoll, founder and "chief egg officer" of Egg Airlines, which supports people considering fertility treatment.

"Egg freening can lead you to ... staying in the office town, choosing a bad boyfriend, not giving a shit about dating. The treatment policy can mean you can drive faster in the fast time in a fast car. And, she warns: 'It doesn't guarantee a baby. It doesn't get you, boyfriend and it doesn't get you promised,'"

As she will more employers follow the rest of the tech and banking plans and offer egg-freening to staff? "Employers and employees need to be less about the time they should be in the "safety" case," says Dryscoll. "It doesn't get you childcare, it doesn't get you rapid job, it doesn't get you patently rights."

In other words, egg freening can be a useful benefit, but women become a corporate gen out of jail fees and for fixing the rest of the employer. Flexible working, parental leave and a supportive culture of stature, have epigodic years.

"We employ a working person to fertilize support, Kearns says the key is to think beyond the finance," "egg-freening is only one step of the process," she says. If the employer pays for freezing, it should consider egg-freening. "We need use of those eggs, fertility treatment and programs, too. Often even, the message is: 'We help you, you're working in a family, but might not help you have one.'

Practical support matters, too. flexibility for medical appointments, somewhere private to administer medication, emotional support, and education for managers, so that getting help isn't a "the manager better," AOC, after all, ended up spying her. medication is OK. "We're a green room.

It is undoubtedly easier to add egg-freening to a benefits package than to overhaul a workplace culture. But if you have a better health, better women choice, they need to do both. karnash.prາກຮ່າງແຫນ້ນຄູ່ສຳນວນ:ປະເພດ

FUNNY BUSINESS

LINKEDIN PELL

Labour's crackdown on zero-hours overhauls could cost businesses £3 billion a year. In this a price worth paying?

JUST SAYING...

We'll show them a bit of financials spirit quote me. I don't care

Mike Adkins, sports friend owner, on his recent string of acquisitions

THE WEEK IN THE MARKETS

FTSE 100

FTSE 100

FTSE 100

TOMATO

FTSE 250

TOMATO

DOW JONES SL7.0.4.0

W 0.04.0 W 64.74.0.0 W 0.00% L 64.57.0.0

NASDAQ SL-720.0 W 0.01.0 W 67.00.0% W 0.01% L 65.60.0%

S&P 500 LT85.70 W 0.15.10 W 7.81.70 W 0.10% L 6.24.10

NIKKEI GL7.0.3.0 W 0.02.0 W 72.83.0% W 0.10% L 67.82.0%

HAND KING SL701.00 W 0.02.0 W 28.07.0% W 0.06% L 22.09.00

HANGKONG SL577.00 W 0.20% W 4.258.00 W 0.20% L 3.556.10

CAC 40 SL8.30.0

W 78.12.0 W 6.755.63 W 0.00% L 7.329.27

MAX 26.440.31 W 0.02.0 W 46.55.70.0 W 0.00% L 5.864.87

FTSE EUROFIRST SL7.0.3.0 W 10.87 W 2.627.52 W 0.00% L 2.555.00

SENSAT SL7.0.4.0 W 0.01.0 W 59.70.0% W 0.00% L 71.545.00

ALL OROS SL8.30.0 W 0.02.0 W 6.474.80 W 0.00% L 6.454.80

S&P 150 26.730.27 W 0.00% L 36.26.84.0% W 0.00% L 27.802.5

THE ECONOMY

	carrots	Q1 months
Consumer prices index	2.6%	2.8%
CPI excluding freezing	2.8%	3.0%
Retail price index	3.0%	3.3%
Average credit earnings	3.0%	-0.7% -3.5%
Unemployment	2.7%	4.9% -4.8%
Manufacturing output	10.7%	10.5%
Retail sales	10.5%	10.5%

ALL OROS	0.15%
Sales	0.15%
Retail	0.15%

Sales	0.15%
Sales	0.15%
Sales	0.15%

All costs	2.5%
Sales	0.15%
Sales	0.15%

10-YEAR BOND VIELDS

	carrots	Q1 months
UK	1254 ± 0.53	1.224 ± 0.20
US	1681 ± 0.54	1.720 ± 0.03
JAPAN	1146 ± 0.19	1.282 ± 0.06
HONORE	1125 ± 0.07	1.204 ± 0.08

NONE OF THE WEEK

* Family
0.5.3
10.5
10
0.5
10.5	10
10
10

TOP 200 COMPANIES

Author, up-coming	Price	Change in price	52 week ago	Min Day
Al-Mahad	2012.0	+40.0	2018.0	2014.0
Mr. Akhbi Africa	0.8	-2.2	0.8	0.7
Al-Shaaf	0.8	-2.2	0.8	0.7
Al-Shaaf	0.8	-2.2	0.8	0.7
Al-Shaaf's World	0.8	-2.2	0.8	0.7
Mr. Al-Shaaf's Publishing Trust	0.8	-2.2	0.8	0.7
Anglo American	2012.0	+12.0	2128.0	2112.0
Al-Shaaf	2012.0	+28.0	2128.0	2112.0
Al-Shaaf	2012.0	-2.2	2128.0	2112.0
Al-Shaaf and British Foods	2012.0	-16.0	2128.0	2112.0
Al-Shaaf	2012.0	+28.0	2128.0	2112.0
Al-Shaaf's	2012.0	+28.0	2128.0	2112.0
Al-Shaaf's	2012.0	-2.2	2128.0	2112.0
Al-Shaaf's	2012.0	-2.2	2128.0	2112.0
Al-Shaaf's	2012.0	-2.2	2128.0	2112.0
Al-Shaaf's	2012.0	-2.2	2128.0	2112.0

Source up-coming	Price	Change in price	52 week ago	Min Day
Europe	67.0	-0	65.0	52.0
Eastman Willing	47.0	-45.0	50.0	43.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0
EU Europe	78.0	-18.0	78.0	70.0

Author, up-coming	Price	Change in price	52 week ago	Min Day
Halffey Group	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's Holdings	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Al-Mahad's	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9

Author, up-coming	Price	Change in price	52 week ago	Min Day
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9
Mr. Miff Capital Partners	0.9	-0.1	0.9	0.9

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August 16, 2026

RACHEL MORTIMER

SHOULD YOU INVEY ENGLISH WHEN I'M

DAD WAS A MISDIGYMIST WE'RE LOST BY LESS MONEY BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN

A WOMAN

Mum worked

with her 70s. Her 1950s savings were wiped out by dementia care

As Andy Burnham pledges to sort out social care, Rachel Mortimer and Aaliyah Ahmed hear about its failings from those battling the costly system

from Anne Edwards and her husband, John, retired they enjoyed a little travel, gardening, music and spending time with family. "We enjoyed just being ordinary, we weren't looking for magic or big cruises," Anne said.

The couple's ordinary life was turned on its head when John's health declined. He gradually lost the ability to walk and talk and last year, at the age of 65, was disgassed with progressive cerebral anximal angiopathy - a brain condition closely related to dementia.

Anne, 84, is now her husband's full- time carer - seven days a week and 300 days a year. She no longer knows the house-when than for two hours of respite each Wednesday, when a carer comes to sit with her husband and allows Anne to do the weekly shop. "I am determined to look after him at house for as long as yes- able, although I am aware that I am, in effect, single-handedly running a care home for one person."

Dementia is the country's leading cause of death. Almost a million people suffered from the condition in 2024, according to the Alzheimer's Society, and the number is forecast to rise to 1.4 mil- lion by 2040 as the population ages.

The emotional toll on families is made all the worse by the devastating financial cost after diagnosis.

Andy Burnham, the prime minister, whose father has dementia, has prom- ised an overhaul of the social care system. Caroline Abrahams from the charity Age UK said: "People living with dementia, a set of diseases we reportedly all fear the

most, deserve a social care system that is designed to work for them and their fam- lies, not against them. Good, affordable care homes that take people with abnormal dementia can be hard to find."

MAN THESE WITH

DEMENTIA PAY MORE

Residential and nursing homes typically charge dementia residents a premium rate to reflect the extra level of care. The average life expectancy of someone with dementia can vary between five and ten years from diagnosis and care bills can be financially catastrophic.

Corn wiserled as the condition was seen and care becomes more complex. The average person with mild dementia can expect to pay close to £20,000 to year, rising to £80,000 a year for those with a severe condition, according to the Al- zheimer's Society.

Anne knows that a care home might have to be an option for her husband to the future as she struggles to be a full- time carer while also looking after her own health. Her has approached four care homes in Surrey and each opened about £2,500 a week - almost 50 per cent higher than the average residential weekly fee in the country of £1,670, according to the care comparison site Lottie.

Anne said: "Most people in the system are well ensuring, but there is no discern- ible co-ordination or overall responsible

We tried to appeal to the care board for funding. We were told no one had the training to fill in the form

ity. The result is that we have untrained people such as myself just doing their best to cope."

Anne has the support of her three sons but distance, careers and their own fam- ily responsible families that what they can do. She would like to see a new care system outside of residential settings for those with dementia, such as daytime drug-lets where she and her husband could spend a few hours.

FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS

While dementia patients have more of the higher care costs, they are falling through the cracks of a funding system designed to help the nationals fit.

In most cases those who need care qualify for funding from the local author- ity only if they have assets of less than £25,250. But adults with complex health needs are entitled to free care under the NHS continuing healthcare system, which is not means-sense.

It funds care at home or in a care or nursing home and is consciously hard to get. About a fifth of applications are successful in England, where they are assessed by local integrated care boards, each with their own eligibility criteria.

An application has two stages: the first is a checklist of 12 areas of need such as cognition and mobility, and the second a full assessment by a panel of healthcare professionals.

Patients with dementia and other cog- utive conditions are particularly at risk of falling the 5x5/6m assessment, not least because their condition can be vola- tile and they may present as having a "good day" where they are assessed.

Ebrahams said: "It is demonstrably hard for someone with dementia to qual- ify for continuing healthcare. Indeed, some cyists have suggested that the cri- teria have been framed with the express intention of screening most people with dementia out.

Yet it is possible to live with dementia for a long time, so if you have to pay your own social care the bills can be голосally highly."

Andy: This from the charity Dementia UK said: "NHS continuing healthcare can be a lifeline for many families living with

dementia, but awareness remains low, and the way eligibility is assessed does not always capture the realities of living with the condition.

"Families often tell us that support after a diagnosis is limited and too often people are left to navigate a fragmented and inconsistent health and social care system alone."

MUM WOULD HAVE BEEN

HORRIFIED ALL SHE HAD HORNED FOR HAD GONE

Frances Jordan raised six children and worked in retail well into her seventies to ensure that she had enough money to see her through her retirement. "She loved life and was vibrant with a wicked sense of humour. And she was always careful with money," said her daughter, Jane Cuddy.

Frances was diagnosed with dementia in 2014 and moved into a care home in 2016. The family home in southwest England was sold and the proceeds, along with a small pension and savings pay, were used to fund her care.

Her condition steadily deteriorated and by the time her family applied for NHS continuing healthcare in 2022 she was intermittent, registered blind, almost

Dennett Davies Ridgway ended up spending £950,000 on care. See page 59

died, immobile and had to have her food liquified. Her application was turned down on the grounds that her needs were not clinical.

Three years later Frances's funds were running her and someone were raised over how she would pay the £1,450 for her monthly care. In October the family applied again for NHS continuing health- care - this time with the help of a proba- tional company to help them navigate the assessment.

The advisory were concluded that Frances should qualify, saying that the local care board had not followed NHS guidelines and should have approved her initial application.

But it faced an uphill fight to get a assessment. "We hopeful for months with the board to even complete the form needed for the care to be reconsidered, it was really wrong and prevented," said Jean, 60.

"No one could say who was responsi- tile. In February we were told nobody on the necessary team had the training to complete the form."

In March the care board refused to complete another checklist assessment, he recently claiming that Frances's condi- tion had not changed since the last evalu- ation. Frances died in May having spent £250,000 on care time.

Jane said: "My mother would have been horrified if she knew all she had worked for had gone. She was always careful with money.

"It is the takeover and known to the sys- tem that is so galling; some people who have not worked, have not saved or pro- vided for their old age get their care free, subsidized by the exorbitant fees paid by other residents who have paid their taxes, worked hard, saved and hoped to provide for their families."

The family is now trying to claim retro- spective NHS continuing healthcare funding going back to October, which, if successful, would amount to roughly £82,000.

Jane said: "My advice to anyone in the same situation would be to engage a professional company which knows the

Continued on page 10-9

Ben Wilkinson Head of Money

University can be well worth it, but think carefully before you go

to a and is for that if you were right for university, you'd be selected to go. All that has changed and uninterested are using the year content, selling interest to anyone who will buy them. A degree is now a university.

None of this means that university isn't worth it and more, but we need to have an even and break concentration about who is best served by the year before you go.

It has not been a great year for academia. The re-binding over student after finally actived with The Sunday Times (according to) Fairfax Graduate Rip-Off campaign

and 50% holding an inquiry that concluded that teenagers had been mis-wild their colossal loans.

Then lately we have seen the visit of the office of the University of Groton Manchester (asked amid a police fraud probe.

It comes after years of fine opinion from and a rough funding climate for universities.

In a British Social Attitudes survey of about 5,000 people, 14 per cent said that university education was not worth "the time and money" - up from 10 per cent in 2005.

The boom is well and truly new, it would seem.

All this will be proving on the minds of teenagers who get their A-level results on Thursday and accepted their university offers - surely with more criteria than in previous years.

One critic says of our campaign has been that it is perceived to be putting young people off university. That's in very arguments to what because it is unacceptable that for decades students were not given the information they needed to make a reasonable decision about their future.

It's a gamble

Since the turn of the century, going to university has become the default middle class option, but those who took out loans from 2002 onwards have been saddled with debts averaging about £50,000.

To make matters worse, they have since been left with greekness of interest, which means that last year never that £15 billion was added to student loans, while £15 billion was repaid.

This burden, where new graduates have to hand over 5 per cent of everything they earn above £20,000, has

made life a lot harder for a generation already dealing with stagnant wages and out of reach house prices. To put that enjoyment rain into perspective, the minimum wage is £20,000 a year for a 60-hour week.

In the university is the worth the investment, the degree has to ensure that you are better off in the long run. For my generation, who got long with annual tuition fees of about 12,000, university was still a very attractive opportunity. It was relatively great today.

The graduate premium is no longer guaranteed. A study from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) this succeed found that average groups are all 10 per cent, or £90,000, better off over their lifetime than two years ago. Now factors like student loan repayments, this figure is not so £500,000. The IFS concluded that one in four graduates would be financially worse off having been to university.

Find a valuable degree

Of course, there is more to a degree than the salary it may lead to, but the sheer cost of student debt should be a washing to many.

If you have your heart set on a career that requires a degree, such as medicine, law, architecture or engineering, then you'll be university is a no-brainer. Elite universities with top quality degrees will endure

One in two graduates would be better off as apprentices instead

because there's enough demand to ensure that the right students are enrolled. The problem lies with the universities that perhaps do not offer value for money, and it is no coincidence that many are facing significant funding issues. A study last year by the Centre for Social Justice found that half of graduates would have been better off skipping university and taking on an apprenticeship instead.

We now need to leave the market to do its work and let prospective students, who understand the real cost of a degree, work out if they really want to pay to go somewhere that might not have their best interests at heart.

The workers and seniors must be allowed to go best. Meanwhile, There that have taken money for courses that will never pay off should hang their heads in disarm.

Cultural change

Finally, now that we better understand the cost of

university, parents need to be encouraged to start saving as early as they can. Investing £800 a month from birth into a better one for and down has could drastically reduce the cost of university, or help with a house deposit.

Students also need to refrain their own arrangements. If I was going to university now I'd have to consider outstanding from house funds, and a job for the side. And employee need to stop building in degrees for jobs that really do not require one.

Ultimately, I imagine that for most of those considering going to university, it will be the right thing to do. You only live once and it is only money after all, but you need to go into it with your eyes while open.

With university get you to the place you want to be and is it worth the price? Think carefully, as you could be pacing for it over the next two decades.

ben.wilkinson@chertown.co.uk

---

10

MONEY

Ian Cowie Personal Account

How to profit from a marvellous moment for medicine

On Monday the UK became the first country in European, approved a course "treatment for life" that can help people to stay life and improve life. The diabetes - and it's looped that medical breakthroughs for the might be accelerated by the billions being invested in artificial intelligence. Most people would rather pay cash than submit to an injection and the new retrophysis tablets are expected to prove even more popular than the weight loss also they can replace. An estimated 25 million people in England could be eligible for the pills, including obese people, and those who are overweight with a related illnesses, ranging from cancer to heart disease and diabetes.

The tablets will be sold under the brand name Protakers and are made by the American Bronchill Life, the biggest pharmaceutical business in the world, which also produces the weight loss job therapies. They work by targeting the same appetite suppressants, or glucagon like peptide 1 (G2) P-receptors, as therapy and Wagner, while have produced by the Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk. Early investors in Life, and Now you're more proud in reading - try dollars and items - try helping other people to lose unwanted pounds in weight. Now bestselling experts say it's a censoring the development of a wide range of new medicines to improve millions of people's lives. India khanser from the 4.1 billion Peter Kevich investment fund told me

"Increasingly automated life work and clinical development have lowered barriers to entry for new drug developers. The outcomes to very least companies being able to develop multibillion-dollar drugs for example, Term Pharmaceuticals, a business with about 90 employees but with a new drug for chronic medical leukaemia in development, sold for $6.7 billion (nearly 25 billion) in May." Master chest similar breakthroughs such as Iqma Therapeutics' experimental treatment for Crohn's disease, which has demonstrated improved treatment rates, and a previous treatment in development by Crada Therapeutics that only needs to be taken into a year. But fund government cost returns of 70 per cent over

the past year and 80 per cent over five years, demonstrating the recent recovery in the sector. Master predicted there might be further to go, explaining: "The huge increase in AI capacity will lead to cheaper computing and allow for more breakthroughs, these were a similar range when dried storage became available." Mandi Pharmaceuticals over the International Biotechnology Trust agreed. He recalled doctors giving a standing ovation when the breast cancer drug thexceptic delivered dramatic improvements in survival for women with the disease. He said: "The oncology world is stressed another watershed moment when immunotherapy was shown."

to signify early extend survival in cases of advanced skin cancer, effectively opening the door to its not actual many other solid tumours. Both accounts were powerful reminders that scientific innovation can genuinely prolong life in diseases affecting millions. Now, we appear to be living through another moment - but very few people have taken notice. Time/nutric cancer has long been described as a place where promising ideas go to fall. If the remained devastatingly resistant to progress and more than 40,000 people die of this disease every year in the UK, But, rather like your life - cancer treatment researcher/ Revolution Medicine

announced data for its drug daunoregul showing a doubling of overall survival. Rapid advances in AI are enabling over more complex ways of identifying potential drugs and expanding clinical pipelines. International Biotechnology has researched medical advances by delivering total data/decider returns of 298 per cent over the past decade, 86 per cent over five years and 72 per cent over the past year, according to the independent national law. Washington University for this sector this investment trust also yields 2.5 per cent dividend income that has increased to an annual average of 1 per cent over the last five years. Despite all that, the shares remain priced nearly 9 per cent below that net asset value.

Trevor Pollockah from the Worldwide Healthcare Trust predicted further increased innovations in treatments and profits. He said: "What makes the impact of artificial intelligence so profound in healthcare is not just the impact on discovery and development, but the fact that AI is affecting every aspect of the way pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies operate. Even sales strategies to cost savings in marketing and manufacturing."

"Of course, the most exciting part is the impact on discovery and development AI is making the whole process, better, faster and cheaper."

Pollockah cited a specific example: "Earlier this year, Eli Lilly partnered with Nvidia, the one to hip maker that is a maker in AI, to create the first 10 innovations lab focused on applying 4,000 times of the latest industry challenges in the pharmaceutical industry."

Pollockah, the combined effort will take drug discovery to a whole new level. While other industries may be disrupted by AI, we see AI as a massive rule out for the healthcare industry.

More than nine acres now medicines that begin human safety trials never make it to market, meaning the money invested is never seen again, sadly. Putting the winners is by no means sure, even if you have a big team of specialists. This may explain why

Worldwide Health are's performance was relatively poor over the long and medium-term, with total returns of 94 per cent over the past decade and 9.5 per cent over five years. followed by 27 per cent over the past year, dividend tax now was a negligible 50 per cent. That's disappointing for my because I have owned three shares for over than a decade, having transferred them from a paper-based broker in March 2016 when they were priced at £1.35 each, allowing for a subsequent ten-for-one split. They were trading at £1.50 on Thursday. Fortunately, I had better help with individual healthcare shares. Noting that Novo may be used for biggest producer of insulin, a business prescribed to those with diabetes, and running rumours straight here a weight loss drug that worked, in February 2017, paid 254 French-locumers a share, allowing for a subsequent two-for-one split. By the time i's people and Wagner were all over the news, Novo's price nearly quadrupled to £400,000 in August 2024, when I sold half my holding, as reported here at that time. Now they trade at about £800,290 due to production problems and increased competition. So I am glad I diversified my exposure to healthcare by buying Eli Lilly shares in July 2023 for $444 each as reported here at that time. With its blockbuster drug. Members seemingly winning the weight loss was Lilly shares owned to 16, 225 net worth 20,000 my 1995 biggest holding, worth about 5 per cent of my life savings. Medical innovation is likely to continue as long as people fall 25 and want to feel better. AI is accelerating the patentability process of developing new drug-related conditions that need to be incurable. Master sense of capital are required to this specialist sector, as healthcare funds and shares offer investors a way to do well by doing good.

ST. DREIGEL See which stocks are in Ian Cowie's DIY investment fund france@eatminy.com/commercialings

+Continued from page 9

Dementia exposes the cracks in the social care system

system well to help with a funding application from the outset - I wish I had known that back in 2022. Now he such companies can be high, running into the thousands of pounds. We're like Evans from Hugh James Schindler, which has seen back more than £200 million as strongly paid a few feet, said: "Care plans, daily logs, medication charts, incident records and notes of unpredictable or challenging episodes are all valuable, because they show what is required to manage the per capita income, and just everything look on a good day." Evans said that if a family disagrees with an assessment, or both that a care board has overcrowded evidence, they can challenge it. They have six months to helps an appeal and could win retrospective funding during back years.

WE HAD TO PULL STRIKES

When Gerneth Davies thấy way was diagnosed with dementia in March 2021, her daughter Caroline Wallis was determined to keep her at home. Gerneth had been a "very vibrant, lovely, affectionate, sweet person" before her dementia. She had a "useful fear" of nursing homes and wanted to remain at home for as long as she probably could. After two decades, Gerneth was discharged from hospital in July 2021 with an NHS funded live-in cause. She made a good physical recovery, but

her dementia meant that she could not safely live alone. She had only minutes of short-term memory, she could not cook or look after herself, and carers had to wash and dress her, prepare her meals, do her washing and keep the house clean. When the NHS reviewed her care a few months later, it withdrew her funding because she was considered to no longer have a medical need. The family began paying privately for a few in-care in January 2024, at 25,290 a week. Over the next two years Gerneth spent about £850,000 on care.

£80,500

The potential annual cost of care for someone with severe dementia

She died aged 60 in November and, in the final weeks of her life, was bedridden and needed two carers. (Noted: nurses applied for emergency NHS funding for an additional carer, but the decision came too late. After Caroline contacted someone she knew in the NHS, a hospital was able to provide extra care that days before her another died. "The most difficult thing was actually right at the end, negotiating that terrible path to try to get the extra funding," Caroline said. "We basically had to pull strings to get her the care. It's unbelievable."

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MONEY

Southern sparkle how to profit from the English wine boom

Warner weather is creating ideal vineyard conditions, and Chapel Down is on the up. But should you invest more than the price of a bottle? Alice Wright tests it out

“We have four than champagne, really! We're going to produce the wine 'thick'! I told my bemused colleagues, explaining my enthusiasm for English sparkling wine. They nodded agreeably. That being the Money version, however, I'm prepared to put my money where my

Fellowship the sensible advice of Warner. No little that you should only invest is a good thing. I have performed it and let you understand what they do, a bought chance in the first winemaker Chapel Down in the end of March.

Located in Norfolk countryside outside Ashford, it is one of the most prominent names in the fast-developing English wine market and the only known to producer in which you can buy public-to-male chance.

Over the past few months my humble building has risen just over 20 per cent. It had invested in the 560' 500 index of the biggest American companies instead of 1,000,000, and 1 per cent. and it

was a good thing. The 600 I would have gained 6 per cent. — Chapel Down Group has been listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AM) for small bar bar growing 1.6 companies since December 2023 and now has more than 10,000 retail investors.

And good investors the chance to back promise my companies at security stage. And it can be risky because they don't yet have the capital and outflow to match the companies that are listed in the FTSE 100 or 350. I invested at a good time, which is why my returns are so good. Chapel Down's stock price is still down 20 per cent since fishing.

Of course, investing in a single company instead of an index — where you buy a hand that spreads your money across all the companies in the FTSE 100 or 560' 500/16 example — is risky.

When that company is dependent on the weather it makes things even more precarious. But I have faith.

CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS

English wine is booming thanks to the country's warming climate. The extreme heat of the past few days comes after

the dark July since records began, with more than 70 per cent of the country now in drought. But all the numbers has been good news for Chapel Down.

“Our weather conditions are close to what they were in the Champagne region of France 50 years ago,” said Josh Donaghey-Sjorn, the head winemaker at Chapel Down, when he took me on a tour of his 1,000 across.

Many of Chapel Down's ideas were planned to the 100th, meaning their roots are now so deeply established into the chalk mill and the 1,000' 500 index of the country, or even when there has been little rain.

Other English winemakers such as Rathbeng have said that 2000 will be a “bankshell” vintage. By contrast Champagne — the world's most famous sparkling wine region — has had its lowest yield yet thanks to severe droughts and soaring temperatures in France.

Since I invested in Chapel Down the champagne-maker Lauren Perrier's share price has risen about 2 per cent and Lusson RCT's is up about 2 per cent. Over the past few years Lauren

met a road has tumbled about 16 per cent and Lusson RCT has risen nearly 7 per cent.

Chapel Down's chief executive, James Pennefather, said his sparkling wine was now “masting shoveler to shredder along side the world's dream.” The company wants to sell the equivalent of 1 per cent of share

pages in the market for 2025. Last year some 200 million bottles of champagne were sold across the world. Chapel Down sold just over 1 million bottles of sparkling wine.

Chapel Down sponsors some of the most quintessentially British events including the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race and Royal Aces, plus the England and Wales cricket team.

The royal family are understood to enjoy the wines, although when asked Donaghey-Sjorn tactfully said “If you call about supplying the royal household, then you don't end up supplying the royal household.” However, the Cavite Candle pressing in 2016 was named after the Quentin's name and English wine.

Pennefather said that supermarkets including Waterloo and Garmbury's and the wine retailer Majestic were increasingly interested in English sparkling wine

The Chapel Down vineyard in Kent, Bolton. Alice

Wright tests the product: the head winemaker, Josh Donaghey-Sjorn, and the chief executive, James Pennefather

and Chapel Down wines are stocked in 250 Whole Foods shops in 31 US states.

OTHER WINE TO WASTE IN WINE

Chapel Down is the only US brand wine maker listed on the Aim. However, investors could buy places in Island Wines, which invests in the production of wine across the US, US and Australia.

You can also buy bottles of valuable vintages from well-known English winemakers that are primarily owned, such as Gashearne and Ys财政部. Bottles from the best years — considered to be 2025, 2022, 2020, 2018, 2018 and 2016 — can accrue value as they age.

Investing by the bottle is too efficient because profits will not usually have capital gains tax — the tension treats more wine as a “wasting asset”, and the tax also has not supply to more personal promotions worth less than 20,000.

Other merchants such as Barry Brox & Budd allow investors to buy bottles

through its exchange and will insure and more it in their vaults for a fee.

If your enthusiasm lies more in planning and ranging in your back garden, you can take greater you than you are yourself to co-operate with a bullpenny Gown in Staffordshire.

Each year the Balthougies winery is co-engaged from all over the country, but your more than 600 growers took part. They accept barcines from as small as a couple of kilograms in 99 kilograms. Those that have given their grapes can have the equivalent weight back in the rose they contributed towards making with a small fee for production.

Intosh Alley Wines in West Oldhog two office localities opportunity to take a row of vines at the vineyard owned by Jacob Lavery and her family since 2014. Invests volunteers get a number of live lots depending on how many vines they tap up to care for.

The vineyard is the two holders and their share of bottles amounts to about 40 per cent of the total production each year. The vines are sold to local farm shops and restaurants.

Both finance from the wealth manager Rathbones said: “While fine wine can be an interesting offence’s asset, it is often challenging for retail investors. Returns depend solely on future price appreciation, with no income generated along the way, and investors must contend with foreign, insurance and economic issues.

“The market can also be illiquid, making it difficult to self-hedging quickly, and without a clear market price.

“Investment in consumer staples or luxury goods stocks, such as LVMH (which owns the champagne-maker Welt & Chandler) and the American winemaker Constellation Brands, gives exposure to the beverage and luxury sector.”

COOLER VINEYARDS

December 1943 from the estate agency Knight Frank, who helps clients to buy and sell传统s, wrote in the form tax on Wealth Report that English wine was something from cheaper net just to the 20-year but also to states.

“A more towards fresher and lighter wines benefits cooks it towards its good at higher altitudes or in areas influenced by maritime weather patterns, which are also less at risk from rising temperatures,” Hall wrote.

Much of the UK has a temperate mar-

Investing in a single company is risky. So is the weather. But I have faith

time climate, with cool winds that stop the grapes from developing low quickly.

The installation have lost champagne-makers such as Taittinger to snap up land and lower in vineyards in southern England.

“Production is shifting to cool-climate wine-regional or natural where rising average temperatures have made wine production, once unhealthy, commercially viable,” Hall said.

According to him the industry’s new market is “quality over quantity”.

Pennefather said younger generations were leading the charge in swapping champagne and presence for English sparkling wine. “We're seeing a generous stand with and millenials (those aged 30 to 45) really embracing the category. Mill tonnals are 26 per cent of US adults but they're 37 per cent of English wine consumption. They're really skipping that sort of fresher, crisper style of wine that we're producing and they have the support for homogeneous local products.”

Pennefather said the manager was proud of its retail shareholders, which is why it offers “old school” shareholder perks. These sell 2,000 shares or more get 33 per cent off bottles of wine, for example. Other perks include discontinue the Swan restaurant on site and free tours.

THE PSYCHOTHERAPIC OF LUXURY TRADE

The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFI) IS Q4 2025

Vicky Revnal Money psychotherapist My daughter's husband is rich. Can we leave more money to her siblings?

When retirement we manage to accumulate a substantial pension for a having enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and after financing the education of our children, who are now financially rich and have many people. My parents treated me and my siblings equally, so my wife and I have treated our offspring similarly.

However, the husband of one of our daughters has been financially successful and probably doesn't need or want our charity. But since it is that they can be and come relatively little. Our son seems to be more than a little. We have already helped financially but I don't think the two less wealthy ones understand how much they will need for retirement. So if we treat

them equally, one will make a big difference to their security while their wealthy sibling may need to notice.

This is a contention I never expected to your opinion would be welcome. Never, every member

HIGH REYNAL WINTER For many people, inheritance is their final set of parenting. Some are it to convey — message consistent with how they personal, some are it so one last chance to respond to such child’s circumstances — and some are it to make an amends. In your case it sounds like unrecognizing an inheritance that isn’t aligned with how you parental up to one is what you feel might be best, but is an uncomfortable departure.

The consistency of equal treatment has served your

family well but you are wondering whether equality still reflects your deepest values when your children’s financial circumstances have become so different. How much is keeping from the families is only human. However, you are right to be thoughtful when considering different inheritance amounts for your three children because of the symbolic meaning inheritance often takes on, which is far from rational.

Many adult children have landed in my consulting room trying to make sense of why they were given less than their siblings what did it mean? Not it is unthreatless that they were not as free or even bored best! Even when they understand the practical reasons, those emotional questions contained.

My parents have their unequal inheritance are

wrong but that practical decisions are often experienced emotionally. Parents might be thinking about their children’s needs but the children often think about the meaning — and these perspectives don’t always like us.

Before we consider what’s best, there were a few assumptions in your letter that I think need challenging. You assume that your daughter, who is married to a rich husband, doesn’t need your money but 100+ continue. I have seen couples whose financial imbalances count their own interests, which means that any inherited money she brings to the marriage may come as a relief or offer greater autonomy, rather than being seen as redundant.

Similarly, financial security doesn’t always provide how someone actually feels about

their situation. If we met people with considerable wealth who remain deeply anxious and often with modest means who feel unnecessarily secure. That’s not to say your daughter is worried about money but I wouldn’t assume she feels more secure in her financial simply because there is more money in the given account. Outward financial circumstances don’t tell the whole emotional story.

I would also gently push back on the word “charity” for my experience, children rarely see inheritance as a verdict on their sendaway. More often it leads as evidence of being thought about and cared for, being disinterested or receiving substantially less than siblings is more emotionally complex than being given an inheritance despite a financially abundant

Many wonder if being given less is confirmation that they weren’t as loved

situation, field these complexities to stand as you make your decision. An equal distribution is usually the easiest from a relational perspective because it preserves the potential of treating your children the

same. Also, considering that your daughter who varies relatively little hasn’t asked for financial support, it’s possible she isn’t expecting preferential treatment in the inheritance. However, it sounds like it will leave you feeling concerned about her financial security, which is something you can address in a number of ways.

You may want to talk to the children whose retirement planning you are concerned about directly — we’re quite holes in their choices but with an intention to be helpful in thinking through some ideas, offering the benefit of your own experience. A check-in with the daughter you assume is not worried about her financial future could be worthwhile too.

A solution to your inheritance contention could be a split approach. Keep a portion of the estate divided equally — this protects the symbolic, emotional message that no child is loved more — and use the remainder more flexibly, perhaps directed towards retirement. This is specifically for the two who are less financially secure. Earned explicitly as retirement planning support. You could also get what more in life support, while

keeping inheritance amounts equal. Money given with a clean, loving explanation, lands differently from contribution that appear at best.

We’ll be here just you lean — which, how you communicate it matters. From it as sharing your values and the rationale for your decision. You can bear their reactions without having to change your plan because of pushback — they are entitled to start feelings and a negative reaction doesn’t mean it was the wrong choice. Putting your rationale in a carefully defined sense of action can be particularly helpful: a will with your children what you decided, a letter of wishes, will often what you hoped they would understand and can reinforce what you said in that early conversation.

You are right to give it so much thought because ultimately your will is not just about dividing an estate — it’s also one final statement action about your values and it likely to be interpreted both emotionally and culturally.

Vicky Revnal is the author of library on Your Mind. The Psychology Behind Your Financial Habits. If you have a question or not, email vicky.reynald@elibrary.co.uk

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12

MONEY

The parents guide to paying for university

Many parents will want to help their student children, if they can. But what's the best way? By Megan Harwood-Baynes

Baynes who nervously collected their 2-level results on Thursday now face some big financial decisions about university.

The average student debt at graduation last year was £35,000 and with tuition fees of £9,333 a year and rent and living costs of £11,000 a

year, according to the accommodation firm (state Students, many parents are stepping in to bridge the gap.

The Higher Education Policy Institute found that students need £10,000 for the minimum socially acceptable standard of living over a three-year degree – £75,000 if working in London.

Some 90 per cent of parents support their child through university, with 30 per cent giving more than £300 a month in term times, according to the National Union of Students. The Italian Wealth Index is National study of 12,000 people with invariable assets worth more than £250,000 found that 31 per cent were supporting children in higher education, up from 0 per cent in marriage.

Many families are looking for ways to fund degrees to avoid helping solely on student loans, which come with crippling successes, such as some of the options.

SHOULD YOU USE DIFFERENT FOR UNIVERSITY?

If you were to pay off the full tuition fees for a three-year course upfront, it would cost you £20,000. The average annual cost of day fees at a private school in the US is £26,376.

If this money was invested into the stock market and produced average annual returns of 1 per cent, it would be worth £46,394 after ten years.

Someone can think those who finished

university with a debt of £26,600 would have had £9,000 in interest added to it across ten years, so investing could be more worthwhile.

But then there is the impact of student loans over the longer term. First (student loans, taken out by students) is a big university from September 2025, have interest rates set at the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation and a reported salary threshold of £25,000. Students pay 9 per cent of any income above that threshold – which will increase over time – for 40 years, or until they clear their loan.

Many graduates see this as an extra 9 per cent too that they expect to pay for the rest of their working

lives.

What it grades – are with an entry-level salary of £30,000 and 5 per cent annual pay then would clear the average debt of £10,000 in just under 37 years. Over that time, the would pay above £97,500 – £93,000 if which would be interest.

Emissions (sickness, a financial plan not at home, said: “Parents should weigh up whether to let their child take on this debt – which can have both psychological and financial impacts – or use savings to plug the gap.”

Those considering whether to pay for university or save to give a child a house deposit may wish to look at whether their student loan interest rate is lower than average mortgage rates. Those starting university now will pay 4.5 per cent on their loans from the minute term starts in September, in line with the RPI figure for March. The average first-time buyer mortgage rate this week was 5.39 per

cent, according to the comparison site Watercfacts.

Helping to buy a home further down the line could give them an asset that will hopefully, go up to value and will save them interest on their repayments. But not having a big student loan could also help them to get on the ladder earlier.

Carl Green from the wealth manager more firm further the town said there was a risk that parents become so focused on helping their children that they keep themselves. “We’ve seen parents said pensions, cash in investments at the

wrong time, use cash reserves earmarked for other objectives or even take on debt or push back retirement to fund university, only to find they have fewer options later in life,” he said.

“Children can borrow for education, while parents generally can’t borrow to finance university.”

1 RABEED MY PENSION

Aside Turland, 55, from Tuxbridge Wells in Kent, got aside a six-figure amount

From her pension keep sure to help fund university expenses for both her years, the younger son, wife, its parent but levels last summer, and she has agreed to finance three years of university.

“It’s not an absolute no-brainer for me. I just wouldn’t want to spend the money on anything else because I still believe someone are

important,” Turland said. “I think it’s detrimental to come out of university and died with debt. The thought of this will help much debt, coupled with the fact that the job market is made for graduate right now. I mean, but, depending for people.”

“I think it’s not just need to totally rely on his generous mean. He starts an 90s in business innovation in September having taken a gap year to grow his 65 automation cost-selling business. It began by providing 43 services, including an

automated reception on the MECH and full-suite, and 14 editing for a 1x1 copy television. He now works with the local researchers and has made an idea to fund his final year of university without a loan, and then pay his mean back. “She works really hard so she could give us an opportunity and a step up that she didn’t have,” he said. “And I want to make the most of that opportunity.”

THE GAIN OF MEAN AND DIAL

If you do not like to pay for the fund of them and that, you need to be clear from the start: is this a gift, or a loan? Some parents adopt a hybrid approach, where they require their children to repay them instead of the Student Loans Company, which can offer the best support without removing accountability.

Customer said: “Setting expectations early can help lower financial responsibility and avoid confusion later.”

Also discuss whether they are expected to take on a part-time job-many universities offer zero-hour contracts, for example behind the bar in the students’ union. Some universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, discourage undergraduate part-time work during term-time because of their absenteeism and the fund remains up to 90 hours of weekly academic study.

“It’s also important to talk to your child about how the finance works – including how loans across interest and what are

the repayment thresholds. Give them some budgeting books. Many students are offered overdrafts and credit cards for the first time at university, and they can make costly strategies if they are not prepared for handling debt.

HOW TO BE VIA-EFFICIENT

If your child picked up their results on Thursday, it’s too late to turn back the clock, but if they are still in school, it’s never too early to plan.

Setting up a Junior bar or must before university age means that regular,

small contributions can compound significantly over time. Investing £125 a month from birth could earn contributions of £25,000. The 1 year of just over £45,000 by the time your child is 65, according to the traditional advice from Maryby Wealth, investing an annual return of 6 per cent.

Asbian Maryby from the firm said: “If you split that £125 per month between parents and new sets of grandparents, that’s potentially only £42 per month from three sources.”

Setting that money in a cash account paying interest at 2 per cent would give you a pot of £12,760 after 39 years.

Contributing to university costs could also be a higher investment and a grandparents to help. Regular sums given from surplus income will be exempt from inheritance tax calculations later on – but this should not be done at the expense of your own living standards.

Charlene Bannon from the wealth manager Northwith said: “If you do decide to use this as a way to mitigate inheritance tax, it is critical to keep clear records showing that the payments are from surplus income rather than capital.”

Some grandparents may decide that students can manage the loan repayments. “Making regular contributions to a private school is an retirement provision for future generations at a time when many young people are unlikely to enjoy the many benefits of the loan that given our generations had,” Lee (whelder from the advice from Shackleton said.

WHICH DEGREES WILL EARN YOU THE MOST?

Scan the QR code on your internet page to find our research into graduate pay.

The bays

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CURRENT ACCOUNTS

CREDIT INTEREST

Provider	Account name	Account fee	Interest rate	Balance (for reward)	Contact
Nationwide 95	Healthnet	None	15%		03401 3321 910
Bank of Scotland	Vantage Classic Account	None	2%		03401 721 1141
Credit Bank	Club Credit	None	3%		03401 3001 0000

ACCOUNTS*

Provider	Account name	Account fee	Interest rate	STI. overdraft limit	Contact
StarPay Bank	Current Account	None	10%	10	02017 8301 4450
Yale	Tel Account	None	26.0%	£250	03145 6601 2424
Virgin Money	M Plus Account	None	36.8%	£0	08010 0781 3654

*Includes 2% of the total payment fee. Taxes in the interest rate are 1.5% and 1.5% for the total payment fee. Total payment fee includes the interest rate of 1 per cent. Even

CREDIT CARDS

INTRODUCTORY RATES

Provider	Card type	Introductory purchase	APP*	Reward	Contact
WBC Bank	Purchase Plus	5% for 26 months	24.95%	No	08010 9917 906
TIB	Platinum Purchase	5% for 26 months	24.9%	No	03145 4515 2846
Credit Bank	5% Purchase and Balance Transfer	5% for 26 months	24.84%	No	03145 6501 7238

BALANCE TRANSFERS

Provider	Card type	Introductory purchase	Transfer fee*	APP*	Contact
TIB	Platinum Balance Transfer	5% for 26 months	3.49%	24.85%	03145 4515 2846
HSBC	Balance Transfer	5% for 26 months	3.03%	24.9%	03145 3817 3444
Nelftext	Longer Balance Transfer	5% for 26 months	3.1%	24.8%	03145 7818 8444

COMMERCE CARDS

Provider	Card type	APP	Callback #	Contact
American Express	Cashbank Everyday	29.5%	0.15% 1% into 5% for 5 months (may 1125)	08010 9717 8047
Seriventer	Research	24.9%	0.25% into 5% for 12 months†	08010 0851 1153
Credit Bank	Other	16.84%	0.10% into 5% for 12 months	03145 6501 7238

APP = annual percentage, etc. Adaptation on credit rating. User charged to the amount of credit balance transfer during this introductory period. †Digital credit benefit for higher valuation. Recovering credit and availability of products are subject to individual credit ratings. Terms apply for collateral

FOREIGN CURRENCY

Interfunds raises at 8 per cent of the profit which allows around the market to trading. They are not indicative of the rate you could get.

EURO

MORTGAGES

1 YEAR FOOD RATES

London	Rate	Scheme	Max LTV	Fee	Notes	Contact
One Street	4.50%	Food for 5 years	60%	£4360	PV	08010 4821 448
Nelftext	4.97%	Food to 30.31.20	80%	£410	PV	08010 0381 8527
Manchester/Hamersdome	4.98%	Food to 31.72.58	90%	£0	PV	03145 3991 8959

5-YEAR FOOD RATES

London	Rate	Scheme	Max LTV	Fee	Notes	Contact
First Street	4.6%	Food for 5 years	60%	£4360	PV	08010 4821 448
Nelftext	4.85%	Food for 30.31.20	80%	£0	PV	08010 0381 8527
Nelftext	4.82%	Food to 30.31.21	90%	£000	PV	08010 0381 8527

LONG-TERM FOOD RATES

London	Rate	Scheme	Max LTV	Fee	Notes	Contact
Seriventer	5.07%	Food to 3.51.56	60%	£5000	LV	08010 9315 930
Nationwide 95	5.49%	Food for 10 years	80%	£5000	PV	01013 0801 0325
Seriventer	5.50%	Food to 2.51.58	90%	£5000	BPV	08010 5321 930

TRACKER* / DISCOUNTS

London	Rate	Scheme	Max LTV	Fee	Notes	Contact
Seriventer	4.02%	Base rate + 0.30% for 2 years	60%	£5000	PV	08010 5321 930
Nationwide 95	4.47%	Base rate + 0.42% for 2 years	80%	£5000	PV	01013 0801 0325
First Street	4.83%	Base rate + 0.3% for term	90%	£4360	LV	08010 4821 448

MORE TIME RATES / LOW SUPPORT

London	Rate	Scheme	Max LTV	Fee	Notes	Contact
Nationwide 95	4.80%	Base rate + 1.04% for 2 years	95%	None	×	01013 0801 0325
New Brunswick 95	5.2%	Food to 31.92.59	95%	£4300	V	08010 2581 0000
Carl Dutton 95	5.30%	Dec. 2.35% for 5 years	95%	£125	V	08010 8441 822

ANY TO GET

London	Rate	Scheme	Max LTV	Fee	Notes	Contact
The Mortgage Works	4.34%	Base rate + 0.34% to 30.08.28	75%	£1,400	V	01410 5017 3421
Meriden	4.52%	Base rate + 0.17% for 2 years	75%	£500	P	01013 2527 0001
ESIO	4.48%	Food to 31.92.31	75%	£500	V	08010 4541 8001

Safe repayment charge applies unless otherwise stated. Rate deals must book all logical times rate. 1 = £500 (callback) 2 = £500 (callback) 3 = £500 (callback) 4 = £500 (callback) 5 = 50 with repayment charge 1 = 10 on the basis of rate 1 = £500 (callback) 6 = £400 (callback) 7 = 50 (callback) 8 = 50 (callback) 9 = 75 (callback) 10 = 75 (callback) 11 = 75 (callback) 12 = 75 (callback) 13 = 75 (callback) 14 = 75 (callback) 15 = 75 (callback) 16 = 75 (callback) 17 = 75 (callback) 18 = 75 (callback) 19 = 75 (callback) 20 = 75 (callback) 21 = 75 (callback) 22 = 75 (callback) 23 = 75 (callback) 24 = 75 (callback) 25 = 75 (callback) 26 = 75 (callback) 27 = 75 (callback) 28 = 75 (callback) 29 = 75 (callback) 30 = 75 (callback) 31 = 75 (callback) 32 = 75 (callback) 33 = 75 (callback) 34 = 75 (callback) 35 = 75 (callback) 36 = 75 (callback) 37 = 75 (callback) 38 = 75 (callback) 39 = 75 (callback) 40 = 75 (callback) 41 = 75 (callback) 42 = 75 (callback) 43 = 75 (callback) 44 = 75 (callback) 45 = 75 (callback) 46 = 75 (callback) 47 = 75 (callback) 48 = 75 (callback) 49 = 75 (callback) 50 = 75 (callback) 51 = 75 (callback) 52 = 75 (callback) 53 = 75 (callback) 54 = 75 (callback) 55 = 75 (callback) 56 = 75 (callback) 57 = 75 (callback) 58 = 75 (callback) 59 = 75 (callback) 60 = 75 (callback) 61 = 75 (callback) 62 = 75 (callback) 63 = 75 (callback) 64 = 75 (callback) 65 = 75 (callback) 66 = 75 (callback) 67 = 75 (callback) 68 = 75 (callback) 69 = 75 (callback) 70 = 75 (callback) 71 = 75 (callback) 72 = 75 (callback) 73 = 75 (callback) 74 = 75 (callback) 75 = 75 (callback) 76 = 75 (callback) 77 = 75 (callback) 78 = 75 (callback) 79 = 75 (callback) 80 = 75 (callback) 81 = 75 (callback) 82 = 75 (callback) 83 = 75 (callback) 84 = 75 (callback) 85 = 75 (callback) 86 = 75 (callback) 87 = 75 (callback) 88 = 75 (callback) 89 = 75 (callback) 90 = 75 (callback) 91 = 75 (callback) 92 = 75 (callback) 93 = 75 (callback) 94 = 75 (callback) 95 = 75 (callback) 96 = 75 (callback) 97 = 75 (callback) 98 = 75 (callback) 99 = 75 (callback) 100 = 75 (callback)

SAVINGS ACCOUNTS

COST ACCESS

Provider	Account name	Min deposit	Interest rate	Contact
Colson	Simple Taxes	£1	4.52%	cohost.com
Colson	Easy Access Summer Account	£1,000	4.53%	online.com
Thobank	Triple Access Savings	£1,000	4.38%	thobank.co.uk

WORLD ACCOUNTS

Provider	Account name	Notice period	Min deposit	Interest rate	Contact
All Bank	900 Day Notice Account	90 days	£1,000	4.38%	www.bank.co.uk
Stream Bank	80 Day Notice Account	90 days	£1,000	4.35%	streambank.co.uk
Fair Online 4K	900 Day Notice	900 days	£1,000	4.27%	edco.co.uk

LONG-TERM FOOD RATES

Provider	Account name	Term	Min deposit	Interest rate	Contact
MalvernNationally-95	5 Year Food Sales	5 years	£1,000	5%	online.co.uk
The Family 95	5 Year Food Sales Bond	5 years	£10,000	4.99%	familybucklingsociety.co.uk
Oil Bank	5 Year Food Sales Bond	5 years	£1,000	4.98%	gillbank.co.uk

SCALE: 40 x 1000.1mm / 9' 1/4"=1M; COVERED BY: 1% OF CHARGES, SERVICES COMPENSATION COURSE (FOCUS OR A CARRYON EQUIVALENT)

ENERGY DEALS

The bank is one of the largest and most available from the company suppliers. Includes banks of four lines of transfer services, capital, bank and loan funds. The bank is a member of the company's assets and payments are taken in advance of supply.

Supplier	Average annual bill	Rate	Contact
Home Energy	£1,000	Variable	08010 9021 9427
Farm Energy	£1,500	Variable	via Farm app
Steffan Energy	£1,520	Variable	08010 9121 2753

Source: Intertech.com

CASH ISAs

COST ACCESS

Provider	Account name	Min deposit	Interest	Transfers in	Contact
Wegreness-Landseer	Woodbrook Easy Access Cash Isa 10		4.52%	Yes	10.co.uk
Owen Bank	Easy Access Cash Isa	£1	4.25%	No	via app

FOOD RATE

Provider	Account name	Term	Min deposit	Rate	Transfers in	Contact
Vala Savings	1 Year Food Rate Isa	1 year	£1,000	4.7%	Yes	visitbank.co.uk
Leek 80	1 year Food Rate Cash Isa 5 years		£1,000	4.95%	Yes	bebeurised.co.uk

CHILDREN'S ACCOUNTS

Provider	Account name	Rate type	Min deposit	Interest rate	Contact
Owen Bank of India	Jumbis Junior Food Deposit	Fixed	£1,000	4.5%	branch or post
Health 80	Junior African Regular Parent	Variable	£5	4.45%	branch or post
Kent Reliance	Demeiba Children's Savings	Variable	£10	4.18%	branch or post

AWARD ISAs

Provider	Account name	Min deposit	Interest rate	Rate	Contact
Beavley 80	Junior Cash Isa	£1	3.85%	Variable	branch or post
Leek 80	Junior Cash Isa	£1	3.85%	Variable	branch or post
Sharon 80	Junior Cash Isa	£1	3.8%	Variable	branch or post

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MONEY

Your Money Matters Rachel Mortimer

'I'm getting random bills and bailiff threats: what is going on at HMRC?'

The deputy Money editor helps a reader at her visit: end and offers guidance for dealing with the tax office

In order of you can help me with a tax issue that's been dragging on for well over a year and is creating serious stress and confusion. I have paid thousands of pounds in tax, penalties and professional fees trying to do everything correctly, but I still do not have complete from 10% discount at Common (HMRC) after the matter has been resolved and it is now threatening me with little collection.

I bought my first home in February 2004 and lived there as my only residence until late 2022. I then rented it out briefly while travelling before selling it in August 2024. I had an accountant who calculated my private residence relief (while significantly reduced my capital gains tax bill), submitted my CGT return and will assessment for rental income.

HMRC began leasing payment demands under different reference numbers, when for conflicting amounts. In May last year HMRC only a demand for 2.5%, one for CLS15 in June and another for EMR in September. I paid all within weeks.

With the help of my accountant I always settled what was due on my account and by January submitted the issues we have resolved. There is March I had another letter from HMRC saying I owed CLS15 in tax and had a CGT penalty of 20%. After months of trying to contact HMRC I personally spoke to an advisor later that month who told me that the latest demand was incorrect, gave me different figure of 0.6% to pay and issued money to me. I was assured that this would write the outstanding balance and I paid what was instructed – only for further inconsistencies to appear on the account.

I had been told to amend my tax return for 2024-25, but my accountant queried this request and

explained that it appeared to be an administrator even with HMRC rather than with the return.

Through all of this I have had absolutely no doubt forgetting straight answer from HMRC. I have spent countless hours on both, repeatedly doubting the same situation to different departments, only to get conflicting advice and further demands. I submitted a formal complaint in HMRC in April but had no acknowledgment or reply. In make matters worse, despite updating my address countless days over the phone and in writing, HMRC continues to send letters to my parents' house, causing delays. It has now come to a head and HMRC has been copied a few collection agency a visit to my mom and dad's house by a bailiff in my hometown, quoting an alleged outstanding amount of 14,000.

The uncertainty has taken a significant toll on my mental health. Every time a known envelope arrives – often to the wrong address – I have no idea what it will contain. It has left me feeling powerless despite my less effort to resolve matters properly and honestly. Please can you help. Amy, Charley, Lance

RACHEL MORTIMER WRITES

Now again, my account now is in surprise for two envelopes on the doorway, but a bailiff on the front lawn would certainly not live.

It is clear to me that you have made every effort over the year year to settle any tax HMRC demanded – but no one at the tax authority seemed to know how much you owed. And while that is a very worrying prospect, unfortunately it is by no means unique.

In preparation with HMRC is one of the most common complaints we hear from readers. I shall notice with the human an something of a shared partner in your family – a few weeks ago I helped save us in get a CLS09B inheritance tax refund on his father's estate, after more than two years of the runaround from HMRC.

The main source of frustration in many of the tax complaints I had is not the error itself, but the complete lack of

customer service at HMRC. Trappants too often find it impossible to speak with anyone, let alone someone else in the necessary knowledge to help with their case. They are passed from pillar to post for months, if not years.

HMRC has made a concerted effort to automate certain parts of its customer service with the aim of pushing most taxpayers online and cementing itself as a 'digital first organization'.

There are some deaths in this, but tax still remains a human touch and an amusement or it generated answer cannot always solve a taxpayer's problem. It is why no more are willing to endure hours on hold in the hope of speaking with an HMRC agent, although that by no means guarantees a solution to their problem.

HMRC has been on a recent hiring spree to bolster its customer service after coming under heavy fire from MPs for its poor performance.

But extra staff were little help in your case and after more than a year of trying to rectify your affairs you've faced with the awful prospect of an imminent visit from a debt collection agency.

When I spoke with HMRC on your behalf it was finally able to get to the bottom of what had been causing all the issues on your account. It said when your accountant submitted your self-assessment return for 2024-25 they did not exist in the return that the capital gains tax you owed on your former property had already been charged via the HMRC property disposal system – which is not reporting and paying capital gains tax.

This means the same tax liability was calculated again in your self-assessment and you were charged twice. When you spoke to HMRC on the plan that March it said your accountant should amend your tax return to reflect this, but your accountant said not to as they

thought the fault was an administrative one at HMRC.

You had correctly incurred a penalty and some interest on the capital gains tax liability paid through the property disposal system because your accountant had submitted this outside the 60-day deadline after the sale of UK residential property. You had already told me this and had never disposed these charges, you had taken outragey with the never ending tax demands.

Your accountant does share some of the future here and I really compatible with you that you have spent hundreds of pounds on professional advice in trying to do the right thing, yet have been left to a painful future, but the mistake made by your accountant does not justify the inconsistent and unsatisfying demands. I demand and sent out by HMRC over the past year.

HMRC has now amended your self-assessment tax return, removed the

duplicate charge, corrected your account as it no longer claims you owe a LMO and called off the debt agency. It assures me your address has now been updated on its systems, meaning no more known envelopes sent to your parents, and will also pay you £525 in recognition that to customer service fell short. HMRC said: 'We've spoken to the taxpayer to apologize and reassure her that there is no tax for her to pay. We've also explained how the extra charge

HOW TO GET YOURSELF HEARED AT HMRC

If you are heading your head against a wall trying to get answers or action from HMRC, you are not alone. I asked: 'Benefit! Built as the accountancy firm BBA befotterings for his advice for anyone in a similar situation.'

One of his top tips is to keep a detailed record of your voting and his ultra-regulated – 'Our insider copies of letters, emails and payment confirmations, and making a note of the date, time and outcome. Every telephone call and the time of the person you spoke to.

'Without anyone has been running for many months, a clear chronology can be invaluable in helping both HMRC and our authors to understand these things have gone wrong,' he said.

It is also important not to assume that a tax demand is correct just because it came from HMRC. You are not able to explain what why a debt estate and it is the constant's responsibility to help you understand what, if anything, you see.

Shah said: 'If figures are inconsistent, or the balance on an account charges will make it difficult and HMRC for a full reconciliation and explanation of how the tax liability has been calculated.'

An important alragging an without resolution, you can make a formal complaint. This does not always make a difference, as this can bias shown, but it can never matters forward.

'You can give me months trying to get an answer through normal channels when the real issue is the service,' Shah said. 'A formal complaint provides a room to help people review through the language of 'while it becomes'. You shouldn't jump to this too quickly and bring able to evidence details of the service BBA after the final payment.'

However tempting it may be, some ignore correspondence from HMRC while a dispute is going on. A complaint about its customer service and an paying against a tax decision are separate beans.

The amount Your Money Matters has won back for readers of The Times and Sunday Times this year

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Why pensioners are getting poorer even with the triple lock

Megan Harwood Baynes

President poverty has risen 16.3 per cent over the past decade, with widows and widows of 1,000 people, with a falling below the breakfast.

The immediate 1,129 which looked at government data and surveys, said that pensioners driving people wealth equally in divorce and the gender-present age were putting women particularly at risk. Since 1985-6, income pensioners were 1,000,000, and a partner at 1,129, said: 'Some of the discount above the position of pensioners seems to imply that pensioners poverty is highly valued, but pensioners poverty has been rising steadily since 2017.'

One of partly because it is not a million more divorced people in retirement than there were 20 years ago – a total of 1,140,000... There are also more single pensioners who may have lived as part of a couple but only up on their own in retirement.

The proportion of widows and 1,000,000 is using the nation's 15.2 million pensioners, which was after the Covid-19 pandemic decreased slightly to the 20 years since 2016.

The future of the triple lock 1,129: thinking also about fresh questions about the

future of the triple lock, which was introduced in 2001 with the idea of protecting pensioners from the rising cost of living. If guarantee that the new pension will not every year in line with inflation, wages, or 2.5 per cent – whichever is highest.

The aim was to tackle pensioners poverty but 2,879 said that hardship was now more widespread than in 2014, when 16.7 per cent of pensioners were declared to be living in poverty. In April 2024, the pensioner poverty rate was 36.6 per cent.

The triple lock is why I have criticised as another public statement from the Office for Budget Responsibility say the guarantee is 40 cent (16.7 million – 2.5%); these times higher than initially expected, and 210 billion above its original 2010 budget. The cost of providing the state income in 2013 is estimated at 2,041.1 billion.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies, the leading economic think tank, has suggested stopping the triple lock and reforming the state pension on that 8.1 per cent a target percentage of average earnings.

The pensions report Tom McPhail said that 'giving pensioners on an established 100 years' down to make it the rest of the population are

struggling' was hard to justify.

The initial 'The problem for the government is that while poverty rates may have risen in a pensioners, they are still less likely to be living in poverty than a whole host of other cohorts, including children, working age adults, and students, people in rented accommodation and people of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afro or Caribbean heritage.'

Those living in poverty A full new state pension is worth 12.1,000 a year, betterment living standards produced by the industry associated in Pakistan 14.1 per the cost of minimum standard of living in later life and 1,000 a year for a single person, £22,500 for a couple. This would allow for 227 a week to spend on groceries,

£42 a month on meals out and takeaways, one week's holiday a year in the US and assumes that you have no housing costs.

Comples have always had lower poverty rates because they can share expenses, and the rise in overall pensioner poverty has been driven almost entirely by those living alone.

1,129 found that roughly two thirds of the single pensioners living in poverty were women. It suggests that there should be more incentives for a higher earner in a couple taken a man to pay into a lower earning partner's private or workplace pension (after a woman), in the moment a higher rate taxpayer earner can get higher rate tax on her on contributions to their own pension but only basis size relief if they pay into a basic rate paying partner's pension.

1,129 also said there should be better pension sharing in divorce. The move to no-fault divorce in 2022 may be encouraging suppliers to make a 'clean break' 1,129 said, but may mean that they are avoiding outlays of pension sharing arrangements, which can be complex, money and time consuming.

PENSIONER POVERTY RATES BY WANTIAL STATUS

Joshua Wakelin was tricked by a ghost leader

'My bargain £600 car insurance deal cost me £26,000'

Jack Simpson

When Joshua Wakelin handed over £600 to an insurance broker in 2024, he thought he was fully covered.

He wrote later, the 17-year-old from Stoke on Trent was pulled over by the police. He did not have a financial career, but was represented, and he was temporarily forced from driving. Wakelin, now 20, is one of thousands of young drivers frequently fraudsters who pose as legitimate brokers. They will begin policies, leaving their victims facing the consequences.

Client brokers prey only young insurance through social media, promising cheaper deals than the sky-high premiums newly qualified drivers here, but there can be fake, invalid or bought with false details to lower costs. A survey by the insane Alliance of 500 drivers

aged between 17 and 20 found that 12 per cent had been scammed. The insane's own figures suggest that the real income is the rising incidence in the first three months of this year on up 20 per cent from last year.

Best懋ers from Alliance, which is making a campaign to raise awareness of ghost lending, said: 'It is one of the famine growing forms of insurance found in the UK, and young workers are being targeted through social media. There is still significant confusion about how these scams operate and how to identify them. So the saying goes – if it's too good to be true, it probably is.'

'I thought it must be high' Like many 17-year-olds, Wakelin was eager to pass his way and buy a car. He worked at the hospital who also played video games professionally,

which earned him the money for the 23 prior 'hundred' which was upgraded to have a sixth gear and brand team.

Quinn from recognised insurers were for £3,000 a year so, after opening an advert for cheap insurance for young drivers on TikTok, he decided to get in contact.

'It was the testimonials that sealed the deal for me,' he said. 'I thought, if all these people are saying this, there is must be high.'

After providing his vehicle and licence details to the broker, he was sent a game of 1000 a year with a separate insurer. He paid £500 upfront, then, after receiving insurance documents featuring the company branding and the sign of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the City regulator, he paid the remaining £500.

A month later police stopped his near his work. His insurance was credit and officers told him that he had probably been scammed. The police said it meant an immediate six points on his licence and a potential loss. His car was towed away and he never saw it again.

Wakelin said: 'The police said I would need to get compounded insurance to get it out, which would have cost about £4,000, with other insurance. As time for the time, I had to let them crash the car or as close it off.'

How the scam works Client brokers can then tactics to defined victims. The first route: The the one Wakelin bill for provide completely fictitious documentation that creates recognized providers.

The second seen fraudsters who saw a genuine party, send the victim confirmation

documents, then secretly cancel it within the coming-off period, at the third, customers advised a real application but after key details, such as the person's age or changing the address to a rural area, to reduce the provision. They are for the difference and have your

cost to add it to your claim. A survey by the FCA in 1,000 drivers aged between 17 and 20 found that half had bought insurance through these channels.

The six survey found that 16 per cent of young drivers didn't know they could be personally liable for accident or injury costs, and 32 per cent admitted they didn't know that driving without insurance to their first two years remains a potential driving but requiring them to retain their work.

Whether said: 'Prevention is better than cure. We should be righting for you as do to improve education and would like to see some level of service and education included in the theory test in the future.'

It turned my life upside down!

Wakelin had to retake both his theory and practical driving tests, has six points on his licence and two thirds on the following points: This was increased to £1,000 after he pleaded but guilty in court and lost the case.

He has managed to test another 10,000 new parts about 21,200 in insurance and's year – about average for 1,000 years ago – but has to stick to a 10,000 with annual limit to keep the cost free.

Wakelin said: 'It wish I had spent more time researching policies, rather than part of jumping at the first price.'

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14

MONEY

FAME AND FORTUNE FAY RIPLEY

I saved £100,000 the other day by not buying a Rolls-Royce

The actress who was once Miss Chief the Clown and the face of Tesco and the national lottery is really good at planning big purchases, then chickening out, she tells Susie Bearne

Ray Ripley became a household name in the Jan 2000s playing jersey in the ITV series Cold Port alongside James Newton, Helen Bumerdale and John Thomson. The show returned from 2018-20. Ripley was born in Westphalia, southwest London and grew up in Surrey. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has started in the BBC's The Gorge of When, ITV's Clare Fox and as Detective Inspector Martha Bellamy in the Channel Five drama Suspects. Ripley, 60, has also performed on stage, appeared on Loose Waves, presented documentaries and a chat show, and is an award-winning food writer. She lives in London with her husband, the Harvard Wedding actor Daniel Lapalme. They have two adult children, Parker and Sonny.

How much is in your wallet? Among the many players, some old badges, a dense card and royalty cards for drugs that no longer exist, I happen to know there's 40-guid in there, which is a lot. It's one that I have cash on me but the reason I have it is because my amazing hairdresser who has been doing my hair for 20 years is old-school and prefers cash.

What credit cards do you use? I'm in the process of changing because I'm late to the party about collecting airline points through credit cards. For years I had a Tesco credit card because I was the face of Tesco and I think it may have been part of the deal that I had one. I could only pretty much drop at Tesco's during my contract. That was thanks to

Jamie Oliver moving up when his wife was caught shopping somewhere that he wasn't the face of.

I took a Tesco credit card and I never dropped it because. But I lot of people, you get stuck and you go, well, I guess that's working. I loved a shutting points and so I'd get my little grocery points and trade it in for a few Pizza Express. Now I think I'm not being smart any more. I don't travel much but, when I do, I wouldn't mind my paying for my flight.

Are you a saver or a spender? Definitely both. I sure, but then I can't help myself. One of my family, I'm the one in charge of our finances and therefore the one in charge of saving. But I do spend a lot of time thinking about large purchases. I will remain in it, look at all of the options, much buy it, decide against it and then experience the most amazing adrenaline rush.

The other day I earned myself £100,000 because I didn't buy a Rolls-Royce. The car nearly book the greatest cruise of your lifetime, but then don't, and you save yourself 30 grams! You feel so good about yourself. Also, you won't out that you don't really need it.

What was your first job? A Saturday job in the slow department of Dorothy Perkins when I was about it. I don't remember how much I wanted but I have a very strong memory of working in a kind of health centre or manage place called Cocoa & Temple Fortune in north London on and off in my twenties until I call Fort took off. I was paid £3 for an hour for that and I was running the joint. Among my chores were cleaning the flammable tank, emptying the ashtrays in the gym - that was the only place you were allowed to smoke - and every now and then I had to be the bouncer and kick out the candy lobbies who were asking for a bit more than a message. I would much be satisfied there to go home: "Go back to your wife. Stop it." I kind of loved doing that, if I'm honest.

Do you own a property? I own a house in north London which we bought, 30 years ago, and we have a place in Whitetable. When I was 20, I bought my first place in London with a friend and the mortgage was £65,000. She had the deposit but I had to arrange the mortgage. I had no down payment. I've had no financial help. I'm self made or whatever the expression is. I hate that expression.

Fay Ripley and her husband, Daniel Lapalme, left, have a second home in Whitetable in Kent. Below, Ripley with her Cold Port co-stars in 2001

I loved dad but he was a misogynist. He arranged for me to get less inheritance because I am a woman

But I'm a privileged version of that because I came from quite a wealthy background, but it just didn't get passed on. I'm saying that with a nervous laugh. But my part of that flat was to get the mortgage it my name to borrow the money. I walked into the Halifax in Kilburn, and I said: "Hello, my name's Fay. Please may I have a mortgage?" And they said: "What do you do?" And I said: "I'm a clown." I was a children's entertainer aged 10 to 22. I got myself through drama school via a grant, probably one of the last ones. And they gave me a mortgage.

I think I was born to buy a place so young because my parents divorced when I was two, and I moved between the two houses. I think, from a young age, I just wanted them to be one home.

Are you better off than your parents? I'm better off than my mom. My parents had very different financial situations and very different houses. My mom created a very comfortable home and she was brilliant. She's an amazing homemaker. But she had no outside color. When I went to here, you went out at night and had a pen, but my dad, who was the rich guy with the big house and the Rolls-

Royce, his place was less homey. My father died about five years ago and the irony is that by the end of his life. I was certainly better off than he was. There's a little bit of me that's very proud of myself for that. My dad was a businessman, he was successful, but he was a misogynist. When he died, he arranged for me to get less inheritance because I'm a woman. I love my dad and he had many brilliant qualities, but he is of a generation and a thought process that I really hope has died with him, frankly.

How much did you earn last year? I definitely won't answer that, partly because I'm quite bad at retaining that information. Although I think I'm on top of things, I'm really not. What I will tell you is I've never earned loss in my life. But I don't feel bad about that because I feel like that is loss of everyone. I mean, I am six years anyone I know is saying: "Oh, it's all going brilliantly."

But also, I'm a woman of a certain age, what did I expect? But I'm highly hopeful that it could be different next year. However, I do feel incredibly privileged. I have been in a position as a woman to be the master of my own someone and I've really grateful for it. And I live well and I have a lot.

Have you ever worried about making ends meet? For the entirety of my twenties. I was a slow starter when it comes to my profession. After I moved out of that flat thought, I went into control accommodation and it was always a struggle to pay the rent because I was a struggling actress doing casual jobs, probably for cash, half the time.

When did you first feel wealthy? I don't know if I feel wealthy. I think I have all the feeling of providing about money from my dad. I'll always save my plastic bags to get the good back. I'll need two, do I feel lucky? 650 per cent. From the age of 30 onwards, I felt tough, and I felt lucky. I still feel tough and lucky, and I feel like like. But I still always save my plastic bags.

What's best for retirement - property or pension? Don't ask me. Answer that for me because I ask everyone who cares question, off. I have a real card answer. I have a small union pension that will buy me a sandwich. I think I'm his and marina. I wish someone would tell me what to do.

What was your best investment? Every house I've ever bought. I bought really well. Every single one was a great decision. About 30 years ago, I bought a small two-bedroom flat on the wrong side of Shepherds Bank. I bought it when I was skim, with my little deposit, and I worked really hard to pay my mortgage. I got a bloke called Little to come and be single handedly, with me, converted for life. He basically lived with me more or less while we did it. I could be £320,000 and made £30,000.

And your worst? I have a friend who worked in finance and to when I started to do quite well financially I went to her and asked her what to do because I felt like I should be smarter with my money. She advised me to speak to a financial advisor. Anyway, she long and the short of it is he ended up in prison. He invested my money in some godwish scheme, that basically I ended up paying off for years and is really crippled for financials for a long time. So I have been friends back. We still laugh about it today.

She laughs louder than me about it. Obviously.

What's your money weakness? Unites and lived, and little combination is really bad because you eat good food and they you can't get in the clothes.

What's been your own non-engant purchase? I bought my husband a really nice watch for his 30th birthday. I think he was my boyfriend or fiancee. I was one, anyway, I felt like that was it railed him into being my husband.

What if you want the lottery? I'd book my mom into one of those weird but wonderful-timers on-style over-tit's village that cost a fortune. It's her dream to be driven around in a golf buggy from the village path to the grocery store and back.

What charities do you support? I'm a patron and ambassador for loads of charities. I work with Mario Carlo, but I'm also a patron of Costco, which supports the families of really sick children at two London hospitals. My poor's life was saved in one of those wards. I also work with Actincial and Bartenders.

What's been your most lucrative job? I was the face of the national lottery, and it felt like winning the lottery. I can't tell you what I earned but I'd like a new machine to go back to that.

Fay Ripley supports the end of life charity Mario Carlo, martinario.org.uk

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August 16, 2020

THE SUNDAY TIMES

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Tech takeover

Gargantuan data centres are popping up all over the country. Why are they so secretive?

Plus Christina Lamb on packing up her mother's memories How to move to Mexico Bettany Hughes

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2 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Home

Making moves

House of the week

GLOUCESTERSHIRE £3.5M

Pound Farm is a grade II* listed farmhouse of 8,000 sq ft, plus a barn with two bedrooms and a kitchen, set in 58 acres, five miles from Ledbury. Period highlights include a Jacobean fireplace, vaulted ceilings and exposed beams. Other outbuildings include stables and a carriage house with three rooms. The gardens are designed by the Chelsea winner Jacquie Gordon and there are equestrian facilities. savills.com

Ben Macintyre on the untold story of The Cold War's most extraordinary spy

Don't miss this fascinating talk from multimillion-selling author and Times columnist Ben Macintyre, on his latest book Redwood. This extraordinary, untold story reveals how one man prevented a nuclear showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union, thwarting a secret Kremlin plot to overthrow Iran's fledgling Islamist regime. As Iran finds itself gripped by conflict once more, Macintyre's latest masterpiece is a chillingly relevant must-read.

Thursday, October 29 | 7.30pm

St Mary's Church, Bryanston Square, London, W1H 1PQ

TIMES Events

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 3

The best of this week's property on sale

©2026 WALLENBERG, WHITMAN'S, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG, WALLENBERG

RENTAL

LONDON SW7 £9,000 PCM

The stylish home of Daniel Craig's character in the 2004 film Layer Cake is available to let in Queen's Gate Mews, South Kensington. It has two bedrooms, a study and a stainless-steel kitchen. dexters.co.uk

CUMBRIA £695,000

A cottage plus a former Methodist chapel near the Lake District, the Croft has wood beams and exposed stone walls. There are four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a sauna. davis-bowring.co.uk

CARNALL £1.6M

Perihallow Manor, the inspiration for the Rev Francis Davey's home in Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn, is 5,000 sq ft with eight bedrooms, a kitchen/diner, boot room and three grand receptions. inigo.com

TYNE AND WEAR £1.45M

High Beeches is set in 2.4 acres of gardens and woodland, with the Ouseburn stream meandering through and frequent deer visits. The house has four bedrooms and Newcastle is five miles away. fineandcountry.co.uk

DEVON £400,000

With a view of the Yealm estuary, the two-bedroom Riverside Bungalow has gardens, a balcony and access to a public slipway. It's in Noss Mayo, ten miles from Plymouth. The sale is by auction on September 17. marchandpetit.co.uk

International

MEXICO $5.995M

The elegant Casa No Name is a sprawling estate in the historic centre of the city of San Miguel de Allende. It is currently a boutique hotel, but it could make a grand house. It has six bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The property was built from stone in elaborate colonial style and has contemporary interiors, with impressive stone pillars and high windows. It also includes striking features such as rooftop views and a protected biblical fresco by the Mexican baroque master Antonio Martinez de Pocasangre that dates from 1812. evrealestate.com

FRANCE £419,000

This three-bedroom former manor house is within 45 minutes' drive of Atlantic beaches, Pyrenees hiking and Biarritz airport. It has a saltwater pool and views of the rolling countryside. kyero.com

THE BARAWAS $59M

Villa Oceane has an acre of pristine beachfront within a gated enclave in Nassau. At 22,000 sq ft and built in a neoclassical style, it has 9 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a pool and terraces ideal for watching sunsets. sothebysrealty.com

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THE TWO ROBS

Your questions on being a landlord and investing in property answered

HOW DO I SHARE MY BUY-OR-AET PORTFOLIO BETWEEN MY CHILDREN?

I'm 63 and I've built up a portfolio of six buy-to-lets over the years, all in my own name. They give me a big part of the income I expect to live on in retirement, but they've also gone up in value enough that I'm worried about the tax bill my children will be left with. I have three adult children, one of whom would happily take on some of the properties, while the

other two have no interest in being landlords and would rather have the cash. How do I divide everything between them fairly, without giving away income I may later need or creating an avoidable tax bill? Harry, Rainham

The usual starting point when inheritance tax starts to loom is to think about giving assets away in your lifetime, since a gift drops out of your estate completely if you live for seven years after making it.

You can only give away the properties you can afford to live without, though. A gift has to be a true handover: if you carry on collecting the rent or running them as though they are still yours, the taxman treats them as never having left your estate at all. Gifting

also brings capital gains tax into play, worked out as if you'd sold at today's market value even though no money changes hands. So you could face a sizeable bill now, with no proceeds to cover it, purely to spare your children inheritance tax later.

If you hold onto the properties until you die, the capital gain built up over

your lifetime is wiped out: your heirs acquire them at their market value, so there would be no capital gains tax to pay if they sold immediately for the same amount.

However, your estate would need to pay inheritance tax on any assets above your available allowances. You could look at options to plan around this in advance, like restructuring to move properties into a company or trust, but this can trigger tax and financing costs of its own and isn't a straightforward sidestep.

Then there's the thorny matter of dividing everything between your children – which is where this becomes more a matter of practicality and fairness than tax. Passing on the properties to the three of them jointly is unlikely to be the best idea: you're effectively handing a highly regulated business to people with no experience, which by the sound of it two of them wouldn't particularly thank you for.

There's nothing to stop you from passing on a property or two to one child, and the equivalent amount of cash to the others – but your will would need to state how inheritance tax and other estate costs should be shared.

Otherwise, if one child receives specific properties while the others inherit the remaining cash, the costs could fall disproportionately on the cash side and create an unfairness you hadn't intended.

Without knowing enough about your finances and preferences to say for sure, our general steer is that leaving cash would be neater and more flexible. Even the child who likes the idea of buy-to-let could choose to reinvest cash in properties that suit their own circumstances rather than inheriting ones you bought years earlier.

This doesn't mean you have to start selling all six now. You could retain the portfolio while you need the income, then sell properties gradually as the upkeep becomes less appealing.

It would also be worth asking a financial planner to compare the post-tax income you receive from the rentals with what the sale proceeds could earn through a diversified investment portfolio instead. If the difference isn't that great, then you can sell opportunistically based on the market and the end of tenancies rather than being guided by your own cash needs.

Alternatively, if you do want to keep on holding, your will could instruct your executors to sell the properties, perhaps while giving any interested beneficiary the first option to buy one or more at their probate values.

Unfortunately, in this situation, there isn't a perfect answer that maximises your retirement income, eliminates tax and gives every one of your children exactly what they want. So much of it depends on things nobody can predict, like how long you will live and what changes are made to different tax rates over time.

Our advice to you would be to think hard about which of those aims matters most to you, then to sit down with a qualified professional to work through the various options.

Rob Dix and Rob Bence are the presenters of The Property Podcast. They also co-founded the property investors' community Property Hub and the investment app Portfolio. Rob Dix has written four books on investing and renting including Property Investment for Beginners

Submit your questions for the Two Robs at propertyhub.net/sundaytimes

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Home

Clockwise from left: Christina Lamb clearing her mother's house; with her mother, Anne; at home in the 1980s; her father's electric organ went to a Ukrainian charity; her mother's icing kit

"This is an unusual call," said the woman's voice on the phone. "I'm calling from GCHQ – National Cyber Security Centre. One of your devices has been compromised." Learning that my phone had been hacked by the Russians while I was in the midst of sorting through my mum's flowery dresses may indeed have been unusual, but what I was doing is something almost all of us will have to do sooner or later – one of the grimmest things we will ever do.

As an only child, it seemed even harder having to do it on my own, though friends with siblings told me that you at least have no one to argue with and get to make all the calls over what to keep and what to dump.

Mum lived in that house on the hill for 53 years, which makes for a lot of stuff. My parents moved close to the Surrey border from a council estate at the southernmost end of the Northern Line and loved its airy rooms and garden. It's where I grew up, climbing the apple tree, going on my first dates and learning to drive from a hill start.

After she died last year I spent a few heartbroken days manually sorting clothes and books for charity shops, or trying to press things on her friends, but put off clearing more as it made me too sad. One year on, the house was sold and, after weeks of little progress, we were suddenly given a date for completion.

Time to properly clear out. The house did not look cluttered but three bedrooms, each with built-in cupboards, as well as a loft and a garage used for storage, meant there was a lot of stuff, not least as I realised I had dumped a lot of my own things there after being deported from Pakistan in 1990. Sorry, Mum.

I found some items that looked like they should be in a museum or a Seventies sitcom – a Hostess Carousel food-warmer, a coffee percolator and a cast-iron meat mincer. A deluxe icing kit ("hygienically perfect") and Simplicity Paris Fashion sewing patterns. In one wardrobe was Dad's army uniform and bush hat from national service in Malaysia, which Mum had not thrown away when he died two years earlier.

But, as the estate agent exclaimed in surprise when he came to value the property, it did not look like an old person's house. My mum may have been 83 when she was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer but she was very young at heart. She wore a denim jacket and colourful beads and sneakers, and when my father died, she repainted the bedrooms and bought new beds, jazzy bedsteads and cushions.

I felt guilty remembering how she had tried to engage me on colour planning but, as always, I had been too busy trying to report on an ever more fractious world. Now I felt so bad to just dump all those

carefully chosen furnishings. But what to do with it all? One of the only charities to take furniture is the British Heart Foundation. The beds were barely used and the mattresses had the required fire-safety labels but they rejected two out of the three, as well as all the sofas, so we called the council and booked a pick-up for a fee.

Small electricals went the same way – why did you have three slow cookers and five blenders, Mum? Not to mention seven staplers and three dozen baking tins? As a foreign correspondent mostly covering conflict, I spend so much time in places where people have nothing – how could I just throw all these things away?

But my mum, as a war baby, was a practical woman and after a while I became ruthless. My saintly husband made endless trips to the local dump. I took a bag of her clothes and beads to Chad when I went there to talk to Sudanese refugee women in Adré camp who had lost everything, though they looked a little baffled.

The rest went to local charity shops, sorting the better ones for the better

A lifetime of memories

As an only child, clearing out her mother's house after she died was both a burden and a privilege for Christina Lamb

shops, though too many make you feel like they are doing you a favour. A shout-out to the lady at St Raphael's Hospice charity shop in Banstead in Surrey who expressed delight at receiving wedding hats, telling me, "They always go."

Most don't take china or glass, even the St Michael plates she kept for best – all carefully protected with paper liners between them. Then I learnt of Anglo Doorstep Collections who do (they also take towels and bed linen) so I booked a pick-up, got nine boxes from the supermarket and carefully bubble-wrapped everything. The next morning I got a call from the driver to say there was nothing there – astonishingly, someone must have seen all the boxes on the drive and swiped them.

We lucked out with her neighbour Linda, who took all manner of knick-knacks for her local church fête – everything from a wooden oven yoke to a chef figurine holding a blackboard headed Mem of the Day.

Well-meaning friends sent me messages saying the clearout must bring back good memories. Well, there were the golden boots and peacock bodysuit from

dancing with Mangueira samba school in the carnival parade in Rio when I was a correspondent there and she came to visit. There was also a projector and boxes of black-and-white slides from her early days with Dad, who was a keen photographer. Mum, so young and pretty in a swimsuit with a banner saying Miss Hopton-on-Sea, and, hilariously, from the 1960s with beehive hair and Mary Quant-style dresses she made herself.

But there was also the wig she had to wear when her hair fell out with chemo. A file of O-level maths certificates, given when she repeatedly failed the A-level she was trying to do while working, and so never went to university as she'd dreamt.

I kept hoping to find a note from Mum, written to me or my son, who she adored. Instead, the only letters I found were my own – shoeboxes of them written from university and my first foreign postings in Peshawar and Rio. Letters of course are one thing, sadly, no one will have to worry about in future. I pulled open drawer after drawer but found only tights, scarves and beads. There was nothing of meaning apart from her mother's diamond engagement ring. Her own she had sold

"Closing Mum's door felt like closing the door on my history"

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and also that I had gone through some of these things – like the slides – with my mum when she was alive. Now I will never know the stories. Of course Mum, who was super-fit, playing short tennis and doing Pilates till her diagnosis, had no idea she was suddenly going to fall ill. I also vowed not to leave so much.

I cried when I saw how even when she was very ill, she had meticulously kept all my cuttings. My parents had been Daily Mail readers and grumbled when my first job was for the Financial Times, as it was the most expensive paper. But when I moved to The Sunday Times in 2003, Mum would become a devoted reader and I would feel I was writing for her.

Sadly, there was a folder too of travel articles – places she hoped to go after years of caring for my dad.

Some things were inexplicably hard to throw away. My dad, always one for a dancing Father Christmas, had acquired a penguin water feature and a large china dalmatian which my aunt took in.

An old lady from Mum’s arts and crafts club was delighted to have the electric reclining chair – though my poor husband had not realised this would involve moving out her heavy sofa.

Three days before the buyers moved in we still hadn’t found a home for my dad’s electric organ in the hall – he had no idea how to read music but could play jazz by ear. A friend who works with Ukrainian refugees put me in touch with the Ukrainian Welcome Centre. They told me they would love it. It turned out they were also happy to have the TV and microwave.

Dad’s army uniform? I’m an ambassador for the Imperial War Museum but I remember being told how fed up they were with people leaving them random collections of stuff. However, when I mentioned to the director what it was – and that we had photographs – she said they would love it.

We had two days left when the call came from GCHQ about my Russian-hacked phone, asking me to come in for a briefing the next day. It was then, with still so much stuff and time running out, that we weakened and rented a storage unit, meaning we just transported the problem nearer home.

The hardest things to take were Mum’s colourful laced boots on the shoe-stand in the porch. I left them till last.

I smiled when I later read Joan Didion, in her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking, writing about her grief following the death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne. She found she could not give away all his shoes because he would “need them if he was to return”.

When I closed Mum’s porch door, clenching those boots and the penguin water feature, which I had refused to let my husband dump, I felt like I was closing the door on my history. Not just an only child but an orphan now.

UPSTAND IN THIS ECONOMY? NO THANKS, I’M STAY-SIZE OF MY TINY FLIT

With low outgoings, Thea de Gallier and her boyfriend would rather feel secure and be able to travel than move out of south London

Left: Thea de Gallier with her boyfriend, Henry, at home with their pony, Snacks, and chihuahua, Sausage

It’s a Friday morning, I’m working from home and my boyfriend has the day off. I’m sitting at my tiny desk, less than 2ft wide, while he hangs up the washing behind me. I get up to grab a snack from the kitchen — I say kitchen, it’s a row of appliances along the back wall of the kitchen/diner/lounge — my chair slides backwards and bumps into the dog, and I trip over the dehumidifier. This is business as usual with two humans and two small dogs in a flat that’s less than 35 square metres. So why on earth are we dead set on staying here?

First, I’ll give some context. I bought the flat, in South Norwood, London, as a single person with no financial help in 2021, and I wrote about that in this newspaper. I met my boyfriend in early 2022, and two years after that he moved in. It was already very affordable by London standards; the mortgage was just under £800 and bills about £300.

Once we started splitting the costs, our monthly outgoings reduced further. With both of us in creative careers — him as a singer and me as a freelance communications consultant in the climate and non-profit sector — moving in together was a boon financially as well as romantically.

That’s not to say it’s been easy. It was a cramped affair even before my partner moved in, as I shared the space with a chihuahua and a rescued pug. I didn’t set out to have two dogs in a tiny flat, but I couldn’t refuse taking on the pug in lockdown when his old owners needed to rehome him quickly.

As well as his primary job as a chorister my boyfriend is

in a band, and comes with two guitars and two amps. With only two small cupboards in the way of storage and one of them already full of coats and shoes, one of his amps and a guitar line permanently leaning against the wall.

Last year I took on a particularly well-paid contract for a company outside the non-profit sector, which earned me between £8,000-£10,000 a month. For a few glorious months I was a six-figure earner, and I began to contemplate applying for similar full-time jobs and leaving my passion behind.

The thought of a whole separate room to set up a home office in was a dream that suddenly felt as if it was achievable. Unlike my parents, my boyfriend’s family have significant savings and generously gifted him £50,000 when he mentioned we were thinking of upszing. We started looking for two-bedroom flats... and then ditched that idea to go travelling for six weeks.

A quirk of his chorister job is that he gets the summer holidays off, so I ended the contract that was paying me more money than I’d ever earned in my life, and we decided to hop on a plane to Costa Rica.

If that kind of flexibility isn’t a reason to be freelance, then I don’t know what is. We started to think differently about our situation: what did we value more, extra space or freedom to indulge our travel whims and work in our dream jobs? We did some sums, and found that if my boyfriend and I combined

the money gifted from his parents with £20,000 of our own savings, we could add him to the mortgage, pay off a big chunk and reduce the monthly payment to £450.

With food and bills added on, our total monthly outgoings would be about £900-£1,000, or £450-£500 each. We couldn’t believe how cheap we could make it. Suddenly tripping over an elderly pug and having a guitar in the doorway seemed to be a very worthwhile sacrifice.

There are also practical reasons we’ve chosen to “stay-size” instead of upsize.

My boyfriend is now the one with the more secure job, as AI and budget cuts gobble up creative work. Choral singers are safe from the digital apocalypse. UK unemployment is at a five-year high, and I’ve certainly felt it:

there’s far more competition for freelance marketing and communications work, with hundreds of applicants even for short-term contracts paid at low day rates.

It’s been much more difficult to secure work than it was even a year ago, so it’s comforting to know that if either of us found ourselves completely out of work, the other could cover all our outgoings.

Thankfully I’m not at that point, but it’s also a great weight off my mind to know that the minimum amount I need to earn to cover my outgoings has been significantly lowered.

And, of course, we’ll have more disposable income to travel on a whim for weeks at a time. We’re thinking of taking a train trip across Europe.

when a man came round offering to buy gold. My son ended up digging up an acer from her beloved garden as something to remember her by.

On Mum’s desk was something called a prayer tin. Not long before getting ill she had discovered God in the form of the Hope Church, which she mostly seemed to like because of its diverse congregation with their lively music and baptisms in a borrowed school swimming pool. “There goes your inheritance,” my cousin joked. But they were to prove a blessing when she got ill, Pastor Tim and her Bible buddies giving her comfort.

In her bedside cabinet I came across an exercise book of my poems from when I was six, carefully pencilled in joined-up handwriting and a manila envelope with two school reports from when I was in the last year of primary school. I was a bright child and pretty sure most of my reports were good but these were strange. One warned “she is too sure of herself, which could annoy other people” — at the age of ten? Why did you keep those ones, Mum, not the good ones?

I’m writing this article because I wish I’d known more when I embarked on this

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Home

In Park Royal, west London, there is a handsome Victorian building that was used as a torpedo factory during the Second World War. Today it is a filming and events space – and the future of British industry towers behind it.

The gargantuan silver-grey Microsoft data centre is triple its size and stature, and there's another one from Vantage, a global data centre provider, next door.

Estella O'Brien, a retired teacher who is campaigning against more of them moving into her neighbourhood, is taking The Sunday Times on a data centre safari to see how many of them we can spot.

She says there are 11 planned or operational data centres in her area. 'I don't like to look at them. It's such a thorn in my side. I think, I'm going to have one of those next to me,' O'Brien, 67, says.

Kao Data, a data centre provider for corporate clients, has applied to build a 107,000 sq ft facility on the Frogmore Estate, a former industrial site at the end of O'Brien's road. All across the UK, ordinary people are waking up to the reality that they may have a hyperscale data centre on their doorstep. But what is it like to live next to one?

Some of the data centres in Park Royal are out in the open opposite rows of terraced houses, but others are locked away behind electric gates in industrial parks, manned by 24/7 security.

Once there's one data centre, more tend to appear. If they are built within 12 miles of each other they can back each other up if there's a power outage.

Next we visit the Vantage data centre on the edge of the Wesley Estate, which is next door to a park with a children's playground in it. O'Brien's daughter listens to it humming while she waits at the bus stop opposite to go to work. The low-level whirring produced by data centres is similar to the sound of a fan on an overheating laptop.

The effect of this constant vibration on people's wellbeing is one of many 'known unknowns' when it comes to living next to a data centre, says Owen Espley, community campaigns manager at Global Action Plan, an environmental charity connecting communities living with data centres across Britain.

Residents who live near new hyperscale data centres in the US report that the vibrations disrupt their sleep, cause headaches and increase feelings of nausea, anxiety and stress, but there is no conclusive evidence on their effect yet.

Residents on the Wesley Estate lost sleep before their data centre arrived due to out-of-hours construction that left a thick coating of dust on everything.

'Every day, before I could use my car, I had to hose it down,' Pamela Hughes, an elderly widow, wrote in a planning objection against the Kao data centre, the second constructed within 200 yards of her house. Some residents are convinced that their water pressure has dropped.

AREAS WITH THE MOST DATA CENTRES IN THE PIPELINE

These are the places with the highest number of power grid connections for new data centres

Local authority	Pipeline data centre capacity (MVA)
Havering	900
Central Bedfordshire	670
Newham	580
East Cambridgeshire	544
Enfield	510
Buckinghamshire	500
Tower Hamlets	495
Brent	460
Dartford	399
Epping Forest	315

Source: UKPN MVA is megavolt amperes

'We need data centres,' he says. 'We aren't going backwards. But do we need another here?' When we reach Magee, she is struggling to see the community benefit of a data centre. Historically local residents mainly worked in nearby food manufacturing businesses, but jobs in data centres are likely to be specialised roles recruited from elsewhere.

Kao intends to donate £30,000 to a local charity within the community, but residents like Magee are disillusioned. Other data companies, she says, pledged to build a community centre and provide a minibus to help elderly residents get to the shops during construction, but neither materialised. 'It's very difficult to believe anybody now when you've been told a whole pack of lies,' she says.

This lack of trust is made worse by the secrecy that surrounds data. In planning, data centres are either classed as warehousing and storage or 'sui generis', which is used for applications that are outside standard planning categories. This means residents often don't know about data centre applications, especially if they are made by a third party investor.

This is what happened at the Frogmore Estate. Outline planning permission was granted to Reassure Ltd, which is part of the insurance firm Legal & General. Residents only realised the project would be a data centre once Kao acquired the site in March.

Data centres have lived in the shadows for 20 years, mainly for security reasons. 'We have banks inside our data centres,'

Data centre construction is surging in the UK, but many communities have had enough. By Melissa York

INVASION OF THE DATA CENTRES

SHADOWY BUILDINGS

Data centres are like hotels for computer servers that make our online lives possible. The government categorised data centres as critical national infrastructure in September 2024, putting them on a par with the energy grid, water systems and emergency services.

Last week the housing secretary, Angela Rayner, overrode council objections to approve a £500 million development at east London's Truman Brewery that offers just 44 new homes but includes a data centre requiring as much power as 15,000 homes.

Back on the Wesley Estate, O'Brien has a 'Say no to Kao' flyer in the window of her house. She organised a demonstration against this latest data centre last month with her neighbour Theresa Magee, 83. On the way to see her we bump into another neighbour, Richard Logan, 67, carrying two pints of milk.

Top: the former torpedo factory in Park Royal, west London, with the Microsoft data centre in the background. Left: the Vantage data centre, which has a playground in front of it

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says Adam Nethersole, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Kao Data. “We’re still not able to actually say who, because there is no benefit for (the banks) to let people know that they’re in there. That methodology has spread across the industry and we are generally quite secretive about what we do.

“That is starting to change because now, when people are booking holidays or doing online banking, they are starting to realise that a data centre is behind it.”

GOLD RUSH

A typical 10 to 20MW data centre employs between 30 and 40 skilled workers directly, Nethersole says, but they use local providers for security, maintenance, window cleaning and catering.

Post-9/11 security concerns drove firms to move data out from city headquarters. The AI boom has made west London and the M4 corridor hot property due to their grid connections and transatlantic fibre cables, which is how Slough became the epicentre of data centres in the UK.

Early emerging research from the University of Cambridge suggests clusters of data centres create a “heat island effect”, pushing up local land surface temperatures by an average of 2C, but up to 9C in Slough.

Nethersole, from Kao Data, is not convinced. He thinks the temperature increase in Slough is more likely due to the use of concrete creating a traditional urban heat island effect.

In the Colne Valley Regional Park in

Buckinghamshire there are about 20 planning applications for large-scale data centres, mostly on green belt land. “It’s like whack-a-mole around here. They’re popping up all over the place,” says Leigh Tugwood, an architect who is co-chair of the Iver Heath Residents’ Association.

Applications for new power connections for data centres have more than tripled in less than a year. Last week this prompted the energy regulator Ofgem to consider charging developers a fee and prove they are financially ready to build to stop speculative projects clogging up Britain’s electricity grid. Tugwood is concerned that this speculative gold rush to snap up land for data centres is a

Above, from left: Estella O’Brien, Richard Logan and Theresa Magee. Main image: picture for illustrative purposes only

bubble that will leave communities like his with dead space where useful buildings could be. As long as the developer makes a meaningful start on the build within three years, then there are no consequences.

“You could take the next 20 years to build it. More likely, they will not get built,” Tugwood says. “These speculative developers are like racehorses. Some will fall, some will get to the end and they will go, ‘Oh, is there enough electricity?’ They cannot physically all happen.”

Stewart Pomeroy, team manager at the Colne Valley Regional Park, fears that the heat pumped out by the cooling systems for data centres could disrupt the delicate cold water supply that the area’s chalk streams need to survive.

“Every one of these multiple applications – we can’t count them, they’re happening too fast – is considered without addressing the cumulative impact,” Pomeroy says. “There is likely to be a heat effect, we simply don’t know, but we seem to be up for having this huge unplanned experiment regardless.”

BAN ON GREEN BELT LAND?

This knowledge gap is fuelling a UK-wide movement for a moratorium on hyperscale data centre applications,

backed by Global Action Plan. “We want the government to set out how many data centres we need, what we need them for, what the harms are and how they’re going to be mitigated,” says Espley.

Last month New York State paused applications for large-scale data centres for a year so it could assess their impact on the power grid,

water usage and carbon emissions. Campaigns against data centres are also making political inroads in Texas [see column on the right], Arizona and Virginia. In April, Dr Michael Cork, a researcher at Harvard’s school of public health, called the spread of data centres in the US “a public health issue” because of the fine particulate matter emitted by the centres he studied.

The industry body techUK reports that 75 per cent of UK data centre electricity is certified renewable, and high domestic energy prices incentivise them to use less of it. Kao, for example, uses hydro-treated vegetable oil, which it claims reduces carbon emissions and particulate matter by 90 per cent.

Without battery storage, however, data centres must plug into the main national grid, while relying on back-up generators. Many of these are diesel-powered and switched on every fortnight for testing.

Figures from Water UK show that data centres in England use 6.6 million litres of drinking water a day for cooling servers, although techUK claims that about half of them have a closed-loop system that recycles this water.

If data centres are going to win the support of local communities, they need to do something tangible for them, says Sam Robinson, head of AI at the Social Market Foundation think tank: “When we build data centres we need to think much more about whether they can plug into a heat network and recycle some of their heat back into the community to lower people’s [energy] bills.”

Another way to get local communities onside, Nethersole suggests, is to stop approving data centres on green belt land. He suggests placing more power-hungry data centres in Scotland, where the national grid pays a fee to turn off wind turbines that are producing surplus green energy. Will Scots want to live next to a deluge of data centres? Persuading them may be harder than they think.

HOW RESIDENTS STOPPED A DATA CENTRE IN TEXAS

From old-fashioned leafleting to QR codes, the tactics UK campaigners could learn from the US. By Sarah Rundell

Ipposition to plans for a data centre in rural Great Torrington, Devon, is big news. We live 45 minutes away, but we’ve seen pictures of people packed into the town’s community hall, residents voicing fears on water and energy use.

The uproar reminded me of my recent trip to Texas, ground zero in America’s AI build-out thanks to its abundant land, energy, and friendly regulatory environment. But Texans are starting to fight back successfully.

The community by Cedar Creek Lake in Henderson County stopped Diode Ventures developing a 750-acre project after a battle led by Ashley Cook, founder of Save Cedar Creek Lake. Cook, an attorney, says her law degree “came in handy”, but links her success to a team of “doers”, acting fast and old-fashioned campaigning.

The fightback began with building a website that served as a hub for all communication. People registered, allowing volunteers to email actionable items, like oven-ready letters to local politicians. Using public information requests, the group sent letters to homeowners to encourage registration. They also put up signs around the neighbourhood that included a QR link to the website.

As well as lobbying politicians, the group fought every element in the planning application, stalling the project by challenging Diode’s request to extract five million gallons of lake water every day. Correspondence between Diode and the local utility company revealed that the provider admitted that it lacked capacity to meet the project’s potential demand.

Digging into water rights is a useful tactic for other campaign groups. Rena Schroeder, who lives in the tiny city of Lott in Falls County, links the sharp spike in her utility bills to the proliferation of data centres in her area. “My water bill has gone from $60 to $350 a month,” says Schroeder, a Republican running for the Senate on an anti-data centre platform.

If American experience is anything to go by, British campaigners should prepare for dirty tricks. In Texas, local officials often sign non-disclosure agreements that make it hard to get ahead of the planning process. Developers buy land under special purpose vehicles with neutral names and employ a “small first, big later” application strategy. Speed is vital. Gathering enough petition signatures for a vote takes time and developers attempt to rush through permits.

Save Cedar Creek Lake incorporated into a non-profit, and opened a bank account for donations, but Cook is adamant that success is replicable, even for communities with less money or fewer skills. “Once publicity grows, the dream team will come out of the woodwork,” she says.

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Home

A royal bolt hole

Costa Terra's breezy Portuguese lifestyle comes with a €5m-plus price tag. By Cathy Hawker

Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank's third child was born in Lisbon. Meanwhile the Duchess of Sussex recently shared images of her and Harry's children, Archie and Lilibet, holidaying on the Portuguese coast. Eugenie and Brooksbank moved to Costa Terra with their young sons, August and Ernest, in 2022. Costa Terra is a gold-plated yet understated golf and leisure resort in Comporta, 90 minutes south of Lisbon, where Harry and Meghan are said to have paid £6.3 million for a holiday home in 2023. No prizes for guessing who sold them the

property – Brooksbank works in the marketing and sales department.

It's a true home from home for the Sussex family because Costa Terra carries strikingly familiar Montecito vibes. Both are exclusive communities in beach beauty coastal locations, one on the Atlantic and the other on the Pacific, and both have multimillion-dollar homes predominantly owned by North American residents. Current prices at Costa Terra start at €4.9 million just for a plot.

At Costa Terra's organic farm Meghan can continue the green-fingered prowess that she displays on Instagram and take Lilibet to feed the

chickens. Harry and Archie can cycle around the 722-acre resort or follow up their Californian surfing exploits with the opportunity to design their own boards before carrying them through the dunes to the beach.

"Activities are the glue that brings families together and everything is about the experience," says Kevin Blary. He set up Costa Terra's outdoor pursuits programme and experiences on offer include tennis, pickleball and padel at the racket centre, beachfront gallops on horses from the private equestrian centre or a helicopter journey up to Portugal's surfing hotspot of Nazare to surf with the world-record holder Garrett McNamara. There are daily open-air yoga classes, an extensive gym with cold plunges and infrared saunas and a spa treatment list to satisfy even the most demanding Californian wellness addict. Serious

Harry and Meghan; Costa Terra, Portugal

golfers can focus on the Tom Fazio-designed golf course (the only fully private golf course in Portugal, they claim) while less serious ones can tuck into pizzas or an extensive range of sweets, drinks and savouries at the halfway houses.

Costa Terra is a resort without rules, a refreshing contrast to stuffy golf resorts: there's no golfing dress code and the emphasis throughout is on family fun. It was the first European resort from Discovery Land Company (DLC), a US golfing community developer founded by Mike Meldman in 1994, now with 41 resorts worldwide. DLC's success relies on a blend of handsome properties, superb facilities, the guarantee of privacy and a keen attention to detail.

It also relies on Meldman's star-studded address book. He was one of the initial investors in the tequila brand Casamigos with George Clooney and Rande Gerber (the husband of the supermodel Cindy Crawford). Both the Clooney and Crawford families are thought to have invested in DLC communities, along with Beyoncé, Michael Jordan and Reese Witherspoon, an exclusive community of celebrities and Hollywood stars where Meghan, with her acting background, should feel at home.

"Comporta is a destination where simplicity defines luxury, somewhere to disconnect rather than to flaunt and display," says Alex Koch de Gooreynd, a partner at Knight Frank. "Relatively undiscovered until 2014, its

effortless elegance and understated lifestyle has quietly attracted discerning families since. The area has seen the market explode, with prices rising 300 per cent in the past decade. Values now reach up to €1,800/€2,000 a square metre with turnkey, branded hotel properties reaching over €20,000 a square metre."

Costa Terra is a laid-back resort of 300 homes in one of Portugal's most laid-back, natural regions. It bills itself as "simple luxury" and promotes a breezy, barefoot lifestyle, but make no mistake – with Michelin-starred chefs on hand to serve up private dinners, owners flying in by private jet and €176 million spent on completed amenities, this is aimed at the one per cent who demand (and are accustomed to getting) the very best.

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Expats are drawn to the country's relaxed lifestyle and inspiring art scene – and it's far cheaper than the UK. By Cathy Hawker

Mexico, home to ancient civilisations and the largest Spanish-speaking nation, was a clear favourite in InterNations' best country for expats survey 2026. The world's largest network for those working abroad ranked Mexico first among 31 countries for ease of settling in, local friendliness and culture, second for overall job satisfaction and third in the personal finance index, a mark of how far your money goes.

Despite a lowly 25th place for safety and security – the Foreign Office warns against all but essential travel to several Mexican regions – the Latin American country finished in second place overall, immediately behind Panama and well ahead of Portugal (8th) Switzerland (22nd) and the UK (28th).

"Mexico offers a lifestyle, culture and affordability that's becoming increasingly difficult to find in the UK and many parts of Europe," says Wesley Gleason, a private office adviser at Engel & Völkers San Miguel de Allende. "Housing, restaurants, domestic help, private healthcare and many everyday living expenses are considerably less expensive, but the appeal is mostly about lifestyle."

"Mexico offers a warm climate, outdoor-orientated living and a strong sense of community, a slower pace of life with an emphasis on time spent with family and friends and enjoying great food."

Mexico's artistic heritage was a clear inspiration to architect and gallerist

Georgina Pounds, 35, who moved there in 2018. "I was working at Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall and was drawn to Mexico City for its smaller architecture studios that felt incredibly exciting in pushing design-led projects."

She runs the Georgina Pounds Gallery in Mexico City and an artist residency, Studio Lancano, with a particular focus on supporting British and Mexican female artists, helping collectors, museum groups and artists with their moves and visits to the capital.

"Eight years on, what I love most is the lifestyle. There's a real emphasis on spending time together and the relationship between art, architecture, food and everyday life is incredibly inspiring," she says. "One thing that often surprises people is how green Mexico City is. Bosque de Chapultepec, Parque Mexico and Parque España, together with the tree-lined avenues, are a joy to walk around."

HOW TO MAKE THE MOVE

British passport holders can stay for up to six months in Mexico before requiring a visa. The renewable temporary resident visa allows stays of up to four years and must be obtained, in the first instance, outside Mexico.

For Pounds the visa process wasn't especially difficult but did require patience. She recommends finding a good local lawyer, being patient with bureaucracy and remembering that personal recommendations go a long way. "Because appointments in London were

difficult to secure, I completed part of the process through the Mexican consulate in Miami," she says. "Finding somewhere to live was more complicated. Most landlords require an aval, a local property-owning guarantor and as a newcomer, that wasn't possible."

WHERE TO MAKE THE MOVE

Mexico City, Merida and San Miguel de Allende are among favourite options. "Mexico is remarkably diverse," Gleason says. "Every region has its own history, architecture, cuisine and traditions."

In San Miguel, he tips the Centro Historico for its walkability and historic charm. "San Miguel offers the cultural life and restaurant scene of a much larger city without the connected congestion or pace," he says.

In Mexico City Pounds lived first in Condesa, the usual first-stop for new arrivals, before moving to San Rafael, San Miguel Chapultepec and finally San Angel Inn, a less polluted village-style location.

"This is one of the oldest neighbourhoods, close to where Frida Kahlo lived, with cobbled streets, colonial architecture and a surprising abundance of greenery," she says. "I adore it."

Top: the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) in Mexico City. Above: Georgina Pounds, who moved to Mexico in 2018. Below: Guanajuato in central Mexico

RENTALS AND COST OF LIVING

"San Miguel is no longer inexpensive by Mexican standards, but it represents excellent value compared with many UK cities," Gleason says. He puts good quality two-bedroom apartments on long leases at 18,000-35,000 Mexican pesos (£780-£1,500) a month. In Mexico City, studios average from 16,500 Mexican pesos (£720) and two-bedroom homes from 33,000 Mexican pesos (£1,400).

"Overall, I'd say my living costs, housing, gallery rent, restaurants and taxis, are about a third of those in London, although prices have risen in recent years. They've become a talking point in Mexico City as more people working remotely have relocated from New York," Pounds says. "A big difference is that going to restaurants is part of everyday life and Mexico City's restaurant scene is exceptional. Weekend travel is also incredibly easy. In a few hours you can be in the mountains at Valle de Bravo or on the Pacific coast."

Move to Mexico because you're excited about the lifestyle and culture, not simply because it is more affordable, says Gleason. "The lower cost of living might be what brings people here but it's the sense of community, richness of everyday life and warmth of the people that usually convinces them to stay."

'STAY BEFORE APPLYING FOR A VISA'

Caroline Donaghue, 45, moved to Tulum on the Yucatan peninsula in January 2025, leaving a 20-year career in UK property marketing to work remotely. She set up The Chelsea Embodiment Coach for career women, lives ten minutes from the beach, surrounded by jungle, and returns to the UK every few months for work and to see family and friends.

"Tulum is a unique mix of locals, entrepreneurs, digital nomads and expats from all over the world, most of them interested in wellbeing, spirituality and personal growth, something that's incredibly important to me," she says. "I love the lifestyle and sense of community. After years of a fast-paced London career, I wanted a life that felt more intentional. One day I might finish work early and spend the afternoon on the beach. Another day I'll work late. I love that flexibility. Living here also means spending far more time in nature with beaches, jungle, lagoons and ancient ruins and cenotes all within a short drive."

Getting used to frequent power cuts and unmade jungle roads that often flood took time, and the UK's convenience is a "distant memory", one that has taught her to slow down and live with less. Her top tips include signing up to the organisation Coworking Tulum and to "try before you buy". "Stay in Mexico before applying for a visa," she says. "You'll get to know the lie of the land and how things operate before investing time, effort and money in a visa."

"It's easy to meet like-minded people and make friends here. There are so many people who had big careers and moved to experience a different way of life."

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Home

CELEBS & THEIR PETS

The historian, author and broadcaster Bettany Hughes, 59, has always had pets, and at her London home with her husband, Adrian Evans, and two daughters, the latest arrivals are two RSPCA rescue kittens, born under a shed at apple harvest time, called Bramley and Biffin.

What are they like?

They're brother and sister and adore each other. They sleep curled up together, give each other a little kiss in the morning and lie with their arms around each other for their afternoon rest. I travel all over the world and judge a country on how well they look after their animals. I spend a lot of time in Istanbul, for instance, where cats are kind of worshipped – it's one of my favourite cities.

Do your cats have bad habits?

They're terrible hunters and try to hunt butterflies. They haven't yet caught anything, apart from a frog and a bumblebee, both of which were completely alive. I think they think they're golden retrievers.

Have you cooked for your pets?

No. Being a lifelong vegetarian, I've never cooked meat or fish. My mum used to cook for our cats at home. In the 1970s buying tinned food was seen as an extravagant and weird thing to do, so she'd boil halibut on the stove, and I remember creeping down to the fishmongers and getting off-cuts.

What was your favourite childhood pet?

A rescue hedgehog called Charlie. We bonded because as a baby he'd been pulled out of his nest by a rat. He had a terrible abscess on his back and nearly died on the pavement. Aged five, I picked him up on the way to school and we raised him, feeding him with pipettes. He'd sleep

WALD GORDON (TECH) ROBERT SMITH, HARDYOWE CLINIC PHOTOS/DIMOS

'A rescue cat ate my bird'

The historian Bettany Hughes has taken in many strays, from a rabbit that tormented her tortoise to a hedgehog that went to live with lions

Clockwise from top:

Hughes with her rescue kitten Biffin; on her trip across Anatolia; with her other rescue, Bramley; the feline duo

stretched out on my arm then wake up and do this beautiful pipping sound they do because he thought I was his mother. I'd find slugs in the garden for him to eat. Eventually he ventured out on to the busy road. So he didn't get run over, we gave him to an eccentric couple who kept lions that roamed free in this massive country park. They'd bring the lions to the vet in the back of their VW. Anything went in the 1970s. We saw it as releasing him into nature and we hoped the hedgehog kept to his bit of parkland and the lions stayed in theirs. Also, hedgehogs are pretty difficult to eat.

Do you allow pets on your bed?

Cats. We also raised a baby crow called Benjy and he'd kind of roost on the end of my

bed. He had fallen out of his nest and the parents never came to get him back. He flew around the house and, after four months, flew away.

Do you have a division of duties?

I'm away for 90 per cent of the year, so it pretty much all falls to my husband and daughters at the moment. I was always the one who cleaned out the rabbits, guinea pigs, tortoises and things, and I roll my sleeves up when I'm back at home.

What have your pets destroyed?

The kittens are currently working their way through a vintage 1930s leather armchair I bought in Liberty 20 years ago, and also a 19th-century saddle bag from the Caucasus. They think they're fantastic scratching posts. We've looked after other people's pets who've been obsessed with my shoes and systematically stolen them. Four times it happened. A fox even came into my childhood house in London and stole my shoes. So I don't know what's going on: I don't have smelly feet!

Do you have a pet peeve? There should be a pecking order when it comes to pavement ethics. Just as you respect older people when

you're out and about, I think pet owners should make room for any humans when they're walking. I find it annoying when they expect you to walk into the road to get around their dog, instead of pulling it aside.

Have there been pet mishaps?

We've had rescue cats that have eaten our rescue birds, such as our budgerigar Charlie being eaten by my cat Andy. And when our rescue rabbit Jet was in the garden with the tortoises he'd always tip them over. We'd come out and "de-up-end" them. They really seemed to get on; I think he just enjoyed doing it.

Have your pets watched you on TV?

The cats do. They usually fall asleep.

What were your first pets?

In our rambling Victorian house in London we always had cats. My first personal pet was a guinea pig called Posy. I was eight and got her from a boy called Ant at school. We thought he was giving the guinea pig to me and then it turned out it was a monetary transaction and I bought her for 20p. Ant became a banker.

What's the most exotic pet you've had?

Stick insects. Overnight they'd migrate from their seemingly sealed container into our fridge and to this day we have no idea how they did it. We'd open the fridge in the morning and they'd be sitting there.

A fox came into my childhood house and stole my shoes

Have your pets ever been embarrassing?

We had a beautiful cat called Cinnamon who developed a habit with anyone that came to the house of weeing in their open bags or suitcases.

Do you have a fantasy pet? I'd absolutely love a Bactrian camel. They're the most extraordinarily beautiful, empathetic creatures. On my adventures I've often ended up in deserts overnight with Bedouins, where the camel is part of the family as they sit round the campfire. They're always listening to the conversations. So my life would be complete if I could look after a rescue camel. And if we ever lost electricity and power in the world I'd be able to get around on it.

Interview by John Wright

Bettany Hughes' Lost Worlds: Dawn of Civilisations airs at 8pm, Saturday August 15 on Channel 4

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14 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Home

TIME AND SPACE BEVERLEY KNIGHT

'I worry where I live is losing it's character'

The singer, 53, has a flat by Finsbury Park but will always be a Wolverhamptoner

Growing up in the Pentecostal church had a huge influence on me. It is central to how I am as a person. My Christian parents were wedded to their faith so I grew up with their morals and outlook on life, although I later developed my own ideas around faith. It was also hugely significant in my development as a singer. I sang in the choir and I was always being asked to sing in the pulpit, so I learnt my craft very early on. I knew at age ten that I wanted to be a singer.

Where did you grow up?

I was one of three children and I grew up in a semi-detached house in Wolverhampton. My dad was a builder and my mum was a nurse, both from the Caribbean. My maternal grandparents lived nearby so there were three generations of my family, plus cousins, living in close proximity. This made for

a lively, rumbustious childhood. Music was always a massive part of our family life. I wouldn't change a thing.

What was your first home?

It was a fourth-floor two-bedroom flat in the landmark art deco Northwood Hall in Highgate. I bought it for about £320,000 in 1998, when it was so much easier for a young person to get on the housing ladder.

What attracts you to perform in West End shows?

My two great passions are music and the theatre. I appeared in my first school play aged six and later joined Wolverhampton Youth Theatre. I got my big West End break playing Rachel Marron [the Whitney Houston role] in The Bodyguard in 2013. I'm delighted to be playing Emmeline Pankhurst again in the hip hop-inspired musical Sylvia [about Sylvia Pankhurst and the fight for female suffrage] later this year.

Is starring in a West End show as demanding as it sounds?

Appearing in eight shows a week – the West End standard – is a big ask of the body and the voice. It's an even bigger ask when you've got the starring role because there is so much riding on your shoulders. The physicality of it all inevitably takes its toll. It breaks a lot of people.

Have you ever lost your voice during a West End run?

Yes, when I was in The Bodyguard. I didn't want to call in sick, despite feeling lousy, because I didn't want to let down the public. The result? My voice went. But I've learnt my lesson and if I'm ever feeling poorly, I'll take a day or two off and let my understudy shine.

Where do you live now?

The ground floor of a big Edwardian house in Stroud Green, London, near my old flat, which I bought for £500,000 in 2006. A few years ago my clever husband, James, a health and wellbeing instructor, subdivided the house into three flats. We sold the top two flats and live in the three-bedroom ground-floor flat.

Favourite room?

The light, airy kitchen-diner at the back of our flat that we've extended, so there's room for family and friends when they visit. It has a glass pyramid in the roof and is decorated with giant pictures of my musical heroes, Prince and David Bowie.

Top: Beverley Knight. Top right: Northwood Hall in Highgate, north London. Inset: Knight with her husband, James. Left: Finsbury Park in north London

James is a former chef so I leave most of the cooking to him. I do a mean ackee and saltfish, though.

What do you like about the area?

I live two streets away from Finsbury Park, which has so many great outdoor events. We've got the lovely Parkland Walk route running behind our garden, a gorgeous place to stroll or walk the dog.

Has it got any downsides?

The area has become more gentrified – it now has a Gail's, for instance – and I worry that it's in danger of losing some of its character. So I get a coffee from my local restaurant-bar, Goods Office. Oh, and the Finsbury Park Tube, rail and bus station attracts some interesting types as the night descends.

Being granted the freedom of Wolverhampton must have been a big moment.

It meant an awful lot to me. I may have lived in London a long time but I'll always be a Wolverhamptoner.

Ever thought of buying a holiday home abroad?

Yes, I'm looking into getting somewhere in Andermatt in the Swiss Alps [Knight is a brand ambassador for Andermatt]. James likes to snowboard there but when we visited recently, I discovered that this mountain paradise is just as special in the summer – the perfect place to recharge.

Any unfulfilled ambitions?

I'd love to do more movies and TV dramas. I'm appearing in the film Drummer Boy, out later this year. Interview by York Membery

Beverley Knight reprises her role as Emmeline Pankhurst in the musical Sylvia, touring the UK from September 24

MY TENANT HAS BEEN DECLARED BANKRUPT

I am a landlord of a flat in the middle of a busy town. My tenant has just told me that he has been declared bankrupt and cannot afford the rent any longer. What are my rights? I feel desperately sorry for him but I need the rental income, so do I need the tenant to move out? Name withheld

I'm sorry to hear about your situation – it's understandably difficult when you rely on the rent as many landlords do but also want to be fair to a tenant who is going through a challenging time. Assuming the flat is a private property in England, the legal framework changed on May 1, when most tenancies became assured periodic tenancies under the

Housing Act 1988 (HA1988) as amended by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (RRA), which abolished so-called no fault evictions and introduced new and amended grounds for landlords wanting to seek possession.

It is worth noting that a tenant's bankruptcy does not automatically bring the tenancy to an end or transfer it to the trustee in bankruptcy. Nor does it remove the responsibility of the tenant to pay the rent, even if the tenant may be unable to do so. If you can come to an arrangement that you are both happy with, that would be preferable and certainly the quickest solution.

However, given his current situation, the tenant is unlikely to want to leave voluntarily and may not be able to pay a reduced rent. If an arrangement is not possible, you may be able to apply to court for a

possession order, but you cannot make the tenant leave without following the correct legal process. In most instances landlords will look to rely on one of the mandatory grounds such as ground 8, where if there are three months' rent arrears at the time of service of a notice seeking possession and at the hearing, the court must make a possession order. There are other discretionary

grounds for rent arrears and breach of tenancy and it would be a sensible idea to investigate whether the bankruptcy is a breach of the tenancy agreement.

The options may feel limited, but bankruptcy does not prevent the court granting possession, although any arrears that accrued prior to the bankruptcy will form part of the bankruptcy and limit what you are able to recover. The RRA also introduced additional grounds where landlords intend to sell or occupy property by themselves or family members. You could consider these, but clear evidence of intention will be required and there are restrictions on re-letting for a 12-month period after the possession order. Taking early advice and approaching these matters

carefully will help to bring the tenancy to an end lawfully while hopefully managing the situation as sensitively as possible.

Paul Hayes, senior litigation manager, property litigation, Wedlake Bell

Readers' clinic

I have grey slate slabs with underfloor heating laid in the entrance and kitchen of my home. The perimeters of those areas of the house are now flocked with small white dots (like small bits of correction fluid). Nothing gets rid of them, even scraping. Can anyone suggest something to dissolve what I believe is dried spider poo? Andrea Slater, London SW14

I have the same problem, it's definitely spider poo. The only way I have found to get rid of them is to dampen a small cloth or several sheets of kitchen roll, place on to the affected area, leave for about 15 minutes, scrub with a small stiff brush, then wipe clean.

Helen Murphy, Melton Mowbray

An enzyme-based cleaner should be able to remove such stains, eg a product like Simple Solution Team and Odour Remover for Hard Floors, from Pets at Home. Jane McGrath

FUTURE QUESTION

How can I remove rust stains from porcelain floor tiles? Joanne Berry

Send tips and questions to homehelp@sunday-times.co.uk. Advice given without responsibility

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August 16, 2020

THE SUNDAY TIMES Travel

TRAVEL SECTION OF THE YEAR

Sightseeing in Lisbon then pool time on the Algarve – a twin-centre trip is a breeze for families 12

Perfect Portugal

Plus The UK's most fabulous foot ferries 2 Beautiful Brescia 5 Trail riding in California 14

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Travel

Britain still has an eclectic selection of privately operated passenger ferries

– craft that connect water-divided communities and provide essential links for coastal hikers. To me they unlock hidden worlds inaccessible by other means.

Some of these river, creek and island crossings are served by sturdy, all-weather craft running to a timetable. For others you might have to holler across the water to get the boatman to unship his (or her) oars.

I personally enjoy the longer crossings, such as the Plymouth to Cawsand ferry, which swaps downtown city life for the slow pace of a remote peninsula in one fell swoop. The little boy in me is always excited at the chance to see battleships in Plymouth Sound.

One thing is for sure. In this old-school world, the pace of life slows and conversation flows, though the chink of a coin of the realm is more likely a digital bleep these days as the ferryman collects his dues.

THE DART DEVON

The sinuous oak-closed River Dart in south Devon has long been ferry territory. A steam packet used to run from Dartmouth to Totnes, but these days the Greenway ferry covers a shorter 30 minute stretch to the upriver village of Dittisham and across to Greenway House, the former holiday home of Agatha Christie (£18; nationaltrust.org.uk). Where it begins at Dartmouth the creek is jammed to the gunwales with boats, watched over from on high by the Royal Naval College, the navy's equivalent of Sandhurst. Upriver are grand houses – the last moorings of rear admirals, now retired, who stand at their picture windows looking longingly out to sea (£13; greenwayferry.co.uk).

Within walking distance from Dittisham there's a lovely waterside stay in the shape of the Maltsters Arms, originally put on the map by the TV chef Keith Floyd (B&B doubles from £120; the-maltsters.co.uk).

ORFORD NESS SUFFOLK

These days the weird and slightly disturbing world of Orford Ness is a nature reserve accessible only by a foot ferry across the River Alde. The largest spit of vegetated shingle in Europe (ten miles) was once a top-secret military testing site, with Cold War pagodas visible from the mainland, their odd silhouettes shimmering on the horizon like ghost ships atop a fossil wave. The Ness is curated by the National Trust, which looks after its rare plant life and waterbirds and provides the efficient

Octavia ferry service across the Alde, albeit only on Thursdays and Saturdays until the end of September (£15; nationaltrust.org.uk).

Outside these times it is still worth discovering Orford, with its recently repainted 12th-century tower castle and foodie-centric hotel, the Crown and Castle (B&B doubles from £105; crownandcastle.co.uk).

THE BLYTH AT WALBERSWICK SUFFOLK

This rowing-boat ferry across the River Blyth connects the artist village of Walberswick to the genteel Georgian seaside resort of Southwold. The ferry has been operated by the Church family for five generations and, though there's now a small engine for busy times and bad weather, the incumbent, Dani, still takes to the oars by preference when she can. Dani has written a book about the ferry's history and, though she now has a team, she still works the crossing five days a week from the Walberswick bank, among tarred fishermen's huts. A lot of her customers are walking the

Suffolk Coast Path and welcome the excellent fish and chips served at Mrs Ts at the harbour on the Southwold side (£3; walberswickferry.com).

Those who want to linger should stay at the Anchor in the Walberswick, a village that counts Richard Curtis among its residents and where Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a guest during the First World War, was drummed out of town when the locals became suspicious of him (B&B doubles from £120; anchoratwalberswick.com).

THE HELFORD CORNWALL

It's a step into the past, crossing the Helford River and heading for Frenchman's Creek, made famous by Daphne du Maurier's novel of the same name. Summoning the ferry requires deploying the foldable sign by the waterside, but before long you'll be disembarking into the isolated, thatch-roofed former fishing village of Helford. Many ferry customers turn left onto the South West Coast Path, but you should turn right to head upriver, through waterside oakwoods

Visit a mysterious isle or famed literary spot on these crossings that are as big a draw as the destination. By Andrew Eames

The best foot ferries in the UK

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Clockwise from far left: the ferry on Loch Nevis in the Highlands; the rowing-boat ferry on the Blyth in Suffolk; Cawsand in Cornwall; Greenway House in Devon

lined with wildflowers, to where the ribs of old boats still lie in Frenchman's Creek (£7; helfordriverboats.co.uk). Further inland is the old shipyard at Gweek, which built many of the traditional wooden pilot cutter sailboats that have become a big thing along this coast, so it is entirely appropriate to bed down for the night at the Shipwrights Arms, right by the Helford ferry landing (room-only doubles from £175; shipwrights-helford.co.uk).

PLYMOUTH SOUND DEVON AND CORNWALL

The 30-minute crossing of Plymouth Sound is a great family ferry trip on a sunny day, with a good chance of seeing some of the Royal Navy's comings and goings. Starting from the Barbican, in the heart of downtown, the Cawsand ferry crosses the shipping lanes and rounds Drake's Island before beaching in the peaceful smuggling and fishing village of Cawsand, on the isolated Rame peninsula. When the tide is low, the beach at Cawsand is excellent. If it isn't beach weather, follow the coastal path for three miles, eyeballing the battleships, to Mount Edgcumbe Country Park (£7; plymouthboattrips.co.uk). From here (Cremyl) there's a shorter foot-ferry journey back to Plymouth.

Afterwards retire to Boringdon Hall, a lovely manor house between the city and the moor (room-only doubles from £165; boringdonhall.co.uk).

KNOYDART HIGHLANDS

Habitually described as the last wilderness on the UK mainland, the 85 square mile Knoydart peninsula is a slice of mountains sandwiched between Loch Nevis ("Heaven") and Loch Hourn ("Hell"). It has no road connections and its only land access is a 16-mile walking trail, yet it supports a flourishing community of more than 150 residents. That remoteness, and its success story after a community buyout of estate lands, attracts a regular stream of visitors, who cross Loch Nevis on the 30-minute ferry journey from the fishing port of Mallaig. The destination is the main community at Inverie, also home to the Old Forge, the remotest pub in Britain (£8; westernslescruiers.co.uk).

There's a gratifying variety of places to stay on the peninsula, including the latest luxurious addition, the cottages of the Kilchoan Estate (six nights' full board for two from £900; dunton destinations.com).

Cover: Sao Jorge Castle looms over Lisbon

I'm an archaeologist and these are some of my favourite sites

From ancient temples to Somme battlefields, historical places provide connections to our past. By Sean Russell

I have excavated Roman villas and Victorian cemeteries; I've visited abandoned ancient Phoenician cities and walked the Valley of the Temples. None of that compared to the feeling I had when I visited a little temple in the granite hills of Sardinia.

I'd gone on a 30-minute hike with my partner, Alice, scaling a rocky face in the hills of Arzachena to reach the Tempeetto di Malchitto, below. Nestled between two granite peaks on top of the hill among the trees was a stone temple missing its roof but otherwise intact. I moved alongside it, brushing my hand on its stones as I went.

The temple, built from the rock of the hillside around 1600BC, is smaller than Roman or Greek examples. There are no grand columns, steps or decorations, just a simple subrectangle with an apse at one end and a doorway at the other.

On our visit it was quiet, except for the birds, wind and cowbells in a field below. We said very little to each other as we walked around the shady, cool building. A small tree grew at one end near a small shelf in the stone that would have been used for votive offerings.

Outside I climbed a little higher to gaze between the two peaks and over Sardinia. I looked back, up the long path, and understood why the Nuragic people, who inhabited Sardinia from the 18th century BC until the Iron Age, chose to build their temple here. They would have walked a similar path and climbed up as we did to reach the temple. But while their landscape was dotted with stone villages, "giants" tombs and necropolises, mine was dotted with buildings, roads and cars.

During the drought, many more sites are being uncovered, including a further giant's tomb in Sardinia and the remains of a Nazi warship in the Danube.

Whether visiting sites such as these or carrying out excavations, archaeology is an act of understanding. Visiting Pompeii gives insight into the places where our ancestors lived and worked. It is filled with the minutiae of daily life from 89BC to AD79, which makes us realise that we are not so different and all our stories happened on the earth we inhabit now.

The late archaeologist Christopher Tilley, writing in The Phenomenology of Landscape, said that "place" is inherently human; it's what roots us to our past. There is a reason we want to visit the Acropolis, the pyramids or Stonehenge: it's through these places that we tell ourselves stories. As Tilley wrote: "It can be argued that stories acquire part of their mythic value and historical relevance if they are rooted in the concrete details of locales in the landscape, acquiring material reference points that can be visited, seen and touched."

The first time I held a piece of Roman pottery, on a commercial site in east London, I quietly said to myself: "I am the first person to hold this in almost 2,000 years." That is a powerful feeling of human connection. It is the reason I

studied archaeology at university and plan my trips around ruins or museums.

When I was 15 I visited the battlefields of the First World War for the first time. I would return again two more times and, of all the sites that moved me, and many did, it was the Newfoundland memorial park at Beaumont-Hamel, northern France, that struck me most deeply.

At Beaumont-Hamel very little has changed since the end of the war. The slaughter of many men took place at the site, but above all others were those of the Newfoundland Regiment, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Of the 780 Newfoundland men who went over the top, only 110 survived.

In 1921 Newfoundland bought the land and, since 1949, it has been maintained by the Canadian government in memorial to that day. What used to be trenches and shell holes are now grassy scars in the land; the grass blows and it is quiet there. There are no recreations, no cement sandbags or corrugated iron – it is a land untouched. And because of that it feels to be a direct connection; it is the first site I visited where I felt an immense sense of "place", of an attachment to the past.

At 26 I travelled to Sicily to oversee the excavation of a Roman villa at a farm. I led a team of students as we slowly and methodically worked our way through the rubble layers of the past until we uncovered the walls of a rich Roman's home. We found evidence of a caldarium (hot room), with its hypocaust still partly in situ, and we also found wall plaster and pottery among the almond trees. Soon this was not just the site of an excavation but a place where Romans lived. It is one thing to visit a site; quite another to dig it – that is the ultimate feeling of connection with the past and one of the few ways we can converse with our ancestors.

And so this is what it is to travel to archaeological sites, to reconnect with our human past and with "place"; to give ourselves meaning in the face of a rapidly commodified world of social media, glass buildings and AI. "The landscape is full of named locations that act so as to fuse time and space," Tilley wrote.

When Alice and I were done among the Nuragic temple high above Arzachena, we took a last look around. I touched the stones again, placed there 4,000 years ago by other humans who had climbed up here like us, then we descended the face of the rock and continued along the path, slipping as we went.

"Look!" Alice said, pointing behind us. I looked up and saw the temple as clear as day among the trees. We hadn't seen it nestled in the peaks on the way up, but now we could see it from where we walked, looking much the same as it must have to the Nuragic people as they walked to and from it. We gazed at it for a while, before turning and heading back down to our car, the road and the town.

Sean Russell travelled independently

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Travel Italy

It's Sunday morning in the northern Italian city of Brescia and, in Piazza della Loggia, the "madmen of the hours", two mechanical figures better known as Tone and Batista, are striking midday with their copper hammers on the bronze bell of the 16th-century astronomical clock. Their peals are joined by the bells of the twin cathedrals in Piazza Paolo VI. Then the Torre del Pegol chimes in. Outside the Caffè della Stampa a child drops her gelato and starts to wail and the cacophony is complete.

"It's just one of the funny things about living in this city," says Cinzia Pasini, the founder of the local tour guides Arte Con Noi. "There are so many wonderful things here simply waiting to be discovered. But you have to be curious."

Brescia, a 40-minute train ride east of Milan, found fame as the Italian Capital of Culture in 2023, but up to that point it was misunderstood, Pasini explains. "People thought it was new, industrial," she says. "They didn't realise we had the best-preserved Roman archaeological area in northern Italy – and at least 60 churches within the old city walls."

In the past few weeks Brescia has popped up again

in a new light

Brescia, a 40-minute train ride from Milan, is rich with character, has a new hotel and is stubbornly under the radar, says Mia Aimaro Ogden

and again in conversations with Italian friends. By the time the fourth one, Camila, tells me that "La Leonessa" – "the Lioness", as Brescia is known – is her favourite city in the north, I don't need any more convincing. I book a room at Lenel, a new boutique hotel just outside the old city walls and get on a plane to Milan.

Brescia in July is hot, the mercury is touching 37C when I arrive. At the weekends, city dwellers head for Lake Garda to the east or to Isco to the northwest. But the historic centre has enough shady piazzas, frescoed churches and air-conditioned museums to keep new visitors cool, particularly if you start exploring well after your lunchtime nap.

Pasini is waiting to walk me to Brixia, the city's Unesco-

listed Roman archaeological area and home to the extraordinary 1st-century Winged Victory bronze sculpture. On the way we pass through lively Carmine, once sketchy but now enjoying a renaissance thanks to the artisanal community that has moved here. They welcome

studio visits through the Make in Brescia initiative – you can throw pots at Co.Chi (from £9; cochiceramica.com) and make art with specialist restorers at Renato Giangualano (£30; giangualano.it).

I'm not aiming to see all 60 of the churches this time, but San Faustino, named after one

of the patron saints of the city, is a glorious place to start, with its altar frescoes by Tiepolo and elegant Botticino marble façade by the sculptor Giuseppe Cantone. At the door, the guardian produces a giant bunch of keys – do we want a glimpse of Santa Maria del Carmine too? Inside, there's the startling Annunciation by Pieter de Witte and a wooden disc set into the floor bearing the legend "Antico Fiume" – ancient river – in felt-tip pen. Pasini pulls up the rope and we hear the waters of the River Bova rushing beneath. In a corner, the lilesize terracotta figures of the Lamentation for the Dead Christ are heartbreakingly beautiful.

At Brixia, the city's Roman museum cluster, its director, Stefano Karadjov, is waiting for us in the shade of the Capitolium. This year is the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the Winged Victory, yet despite the celebrations the galleries are quiet, allowing up-close examination of the vivid frescoes and ancient sculpted heads. The 6th-high bronze statue known as La Vittoria Alata in Italian has only recently been reinstalled in its old home, Karadjov explains – though in a new gallery in the

From main: Piazza della Loggia and its astronomical clock; Capitoline Temple; the Bistrot at the Lenel hotel

Capitolium's eastern cell, designed by the Spanish architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg. It's a monumental setting for an extraordinary piece (bresciamusei.com). Buy a 48-hour Brescia Card, which offers entry to seven museums as well as use of public transport and BiciMia bikes (£20; bresciamobilita.it).

"Vittoria dates from the 1st century, but she was only discovered, right here, in 1826, during excavations of the ancient Capitoline Temple, along with the heads of six imperial statues," Pasini says. "She was sent to Florence in 2019 for study by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure – the rocket scientists of restoration – and now she's home."

My home for the next few days is a new 12-room hotel run by Cinzia Bonetti and her Continued on page 6

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Travel Italy

→ Continued from page 5

son, Andrea Mantovani. Lenel is housed in two surprisingly lovely buildings – now known as La Locanda and La Foresteria – that were once part of the city’s electricity substation: the hotel’s name is an acronym of L’Ente Nazionale per l’Energia Elettrica. The three-year restoration project has been characterised by exquisite attention to detail and a desire to make guests feel at home – “with all the details and comforts you have there”, Bonetti says.

Rooms are individually styled in soft colours – some with panelled walls, others in tinted clay – and hung with art from the city’s Galleria Massimo Minini and Gare 82. Floors are parquet or poured concrete, with furniture and fittings by Italian big-hitters including Molteni&C, Flos and Foscarini. The Bistrot has a tight menu – a simple sous-vide salmon for lunch is perfectly executed – and is popular with the local crowd: for evening aperitivi with jazz in the garden, it’s standing-room only.

Dinner that night is at El Licinsi: Kilometri Zero, a Slow Food osteria and deli run by Gabriella Colombari and

Dario Scolaro, who are recreating traditional dishes in a tiny, industrial-style space with a chandelier made from kitchen utensils. Dried lake shad from Iseo is served on rustic Rovato polenta, while casarecce pasta is topped with raw-salami ragu (mains from £13; kilometri-zero.it). “We make food from Brescia for Bresciani,” Scolaro says, “not the fast food you get in tourist places.”

The marvellous Museum of Santa Giulia gives visitors a dynamic history of Brescia from the ground up, within the walls of a Benedictine

female monastery built by the Longobard King Desiderius in AD753. As there’s more than 150,000 sq ft of exhibition space, you can only scratch the surface in a couple of hours (included with the Brescia Card). I’m aided in my task by Pasini’s excellent colleague, the art historian Joanna Karczewska, who talks me through two Roman-era houses, the gorgeous Basilica of San Salvatore and the 12th-century Oratory of Santa Maria in Solario, where the nuns kept the monastery treasure. A carved ivory casket and a Carolingian goldsmith’s cross inlaid with

212 gems still survive.

This is the stuff of everyday life, not a caricature for tourists.

For a strong sense of the modern city, the Saturday-morning market that spills from the Venetian-style Piazza della Loggia into the surrounding streets

and squares is an excellent place to start. With pots and pans, knickers and bras, cheeses and meats, fruit and veg, pasta, pizza and cose fritte (all things fried), this is the stuff of everyday life, not a caricature for tourists.

From a safe vantage point outside L’Oste Sobrio, beneath the astronomical clock, I eat stuffed zucchini flowers and drink pirlo, the favourite aperitivo in Brescia, comprising white wine and Campari, and imagine what it would be like to live here (mains from £9; osteria-osteosobrio.it).

As Massimo Tedeschi, a former editor of the Brescia edition of the Corriere della Sera newspaper – and also a proud Bresciano – says: “In order to appreciate the charm of a city like this, you don’t require encyclopaedic knowledge but rather encyclopaedic taste: an inclination towards strong flavours and vivid combinations.”

I still have 50-odd churches (and two cathedrals) to visit, a fortress to scale, countless museums and any number of ice-cream flavours to sample – No 1 on my hit list: the fig at Gelateria Bedussi. Strong flavours indeed.

Mia Aimaro Ogden was a guest of Visit Brescia (visitbrescia.it) and Lenel, which has room-only doubles from £157 (lenel.it). Guided half-day tours of the city from £163 (arteconnoi.it). Fly to Milan Bergamo

The Church of San Faustino, a patron saint of the city, has altar frescoes by Tiepolo among its standout features

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Inspiring India

Departures | September 2026 to November 2027

Be inspired by the classic sights of India discovering delightful Udaipur and searching for tigers at Ranthambore. Add some of Rajasthan's hidden gems and you have the ideal first-time holiday in India.

Starting in the capital Delhi, a city combining charm and chaos in equal measure, you will explore both Old and New Delhi, visiting the country's largest mosque, Jama Masjid, and the gigantic Red Fort, along with a rickshaw ride through the renowned spice market. The splendid sights continue as we head to Agra, visiting Itmad-ud-Daulah, an exquisite marble tomb, and the red sandstone Agra Fort on the banks of the Yamuna River. A tour highlight is the breathtaking Taj Mahal, considered one of the world's most beautiful buildings, its white marble reflecting the moods of the sky. Safaris through Ranthambore National Park afford the opportunity to view some of the fifty majestic Bengal tigers who call the park home, as well as leopards, sloth bears, wild boar, and

hyena. Amongst Rajasthan's hidden gems is captivating Bundi and its immense fortress. Driving on to Udaipur, you will visit the equally impressive Chittor Fort, one of India's largest, whilst later in the afternoon you will cruise on Lake Pichola to admire the city's palaces. Further tour highlights include the sight of fifty-two ghats built on the water's edge of one of India's most sacred lakes, used for bathing by Hindu pilgrims. Spend two nights in Jaipur, the "Pink City" with time to visit the Maharajah's City Palace and Jantar Mantar Observatory before travelling out to admire the majestic Amber Fort, constructed from pink and yellow sandstone.

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Travel Luxury

Kieran Meeke charters the Maltese Falcon tall ship on a cruise-and-stay break in Mallorca

Ane who loves the sea has a romantic vision of the golden age of tall ships. Standing on the deck of the Maltese Falcon under full sail, sipping a negroni, I fancy myself to be little removed from the salt-blown sailors who once battled their way around a storm-tossed Cape Horn in frail wooden vessels.

Pierfrancesco Cafaro, the captain of this 12-passenger luxury yacht since 2022, is a much worthier successor to those mariners of old. Born in Rome, he spent three years taking a 598 yacht around the world in his early twenties. He also brought along his girlfriend and their child. "When my daughter was five years old she started school in Australia," he says. "It was a lovely time in my life."

The Maltese Falcon is one of the world's most recognisable sailing yachts. Its three square-rigged, carbon-fibre masts soar 190ft above the waterline (taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa), with each capable of rotating on its

own bearings, unsupported by rigging. Some 26,000 sq ft of sail unroll at the touch of a button – it is an unmistakable sight in any harbour. "When we arrive in Portofino, Capri, Monaco, people stop and stare," Cafaro says.

I see what he means as we drop anchor in the horseshoe bay of Port de Soller, on the northwest coast of Mallorca. The terraces of the Jumeirah Mallorca resort, sprawled elegantly along a jagged cliff edge, are lined with guests. Phone cameras and binocular lenses flash as all eyes take in the sleek lines of the Maltese Falcon.

Resort guests can charter the yacht during its summer season in the Med, offering a double link to the Dubai-based brand. The design of Jumeirah's flagship property, the Burj Al Arab, is inspired by the shape of a dhow, while the falcon has a celebrated history in Arabian culture.

My stay at the hotel proves to me that Jumeirah has adopted the Arabian tradition of warm, generous hospitality. Excellent food and drink are always to hand, and a soothing full-body massage in the Talise Spa is a highlight of my stay (£230 for 90 minutes).

The tiny harbour at Port de Soller is a literal haven. Famed for a vintage wooden tram that has connected Soller town to the port since 1913, the port is hemmed in between the rocky coastline and the Tramuntana mountain range. A rail

connection to the island's capital, Palma, opened in 1912, but it was 1997 before a road tunnel was cut through the mountains. Hikers love the Serra de

Tramuntana range, with its dramatic limestone peaks dropping almost straight into the sea. I walk to a lighthouse at the eastern end of Port de Soller, where a small cove makes an idyllic bathing spot.

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More famed trails, such as the beautiful but challenging Barranc de Binlarais, will have to wait for a longer visit.

One place does eventually tempt me away to explore this Unesco world heritage landscape. We drive along switchback roads making through arid terraced hillsides lined with gnarled olive trees. Those terraces, the result of a thousand years of backbreaking labour, hold back rainwater, facilitate agriculture and were once the island's fire defence. However, this key part of the Tramuntana infrastructure is one that is failing.

"Eighty per cent of the ancestral olive groves here are abandoned," says Joe Holles de Peyer, a producer of olive oil. "An olive grove

left to itself cannot survive more than 50 or 60 years. The pine trees invade and the terraces collapse."

Born in the UK, de Peyer came to Mallorca when he was five years old and immediately fell in love with the island. His passion is expressed through Sonmo at Son Moragues – one of four linked olive-oil estates spanning about 1,200 acres. He takes me on an estate tour, grinding through the gears of a battered vintage Land Rover along precariously stony tracks. We see 1,000-year-old trees and ancient canals bringing water from mountain springs to the valley floor.

Grazing sheep keep the undergrowth down and the fire risk low. Their wool feeds back into a local textile revival, using Victorian-era, cast-iron looms. Environmental credits are sold to companies who prefer to fund a living landscape rather than plant random trees elsewhere. Limited-edition olive oil is sold in wooden boxes, handmade from estate timber. A picnic lunch features estate-made jams, preserves and even ceramics (tour and picnic from £68pp; sonmo.es).

After 15 years, de Peyer is starting to turn a profit.

"We're really working to reactivate the groves and connect them to modern uses, to hotels, to gastronomy," he says. "Gastronomy is the interface between people and nature."

My interface continues at the Macia Batle winery, where I'm welcomed by the sound of serremies, traditional Mallorcan bagpipes that are nothing like their Scottish cousins. They are played by Ramon Servalls Batle, whose family has been making wine on this island since the 1400s.

The Spanish magazine Viajar named Macia Batle the best winery in the Balearic Islands in 2024, and it still ranks among the top ten in the country – remarkable for an estate producing only a million bottles a year. A high

percentage of this output is drunk on the island, and I happily contribute to that statistic. At a table loaded with local produce, much grown at the vineyard, I taste blends featuring two key indigenous grape varieties: manto negro and prensal blanc. A red and white, respectively, each is spectacularly good, their finish conjuring up the dry Mallorcan soil and the warm climate (tastings from £21pp; macabable.com).

Watching the sun go down with a glass of the local Suau brandy to hand, I recall an equally lovely sunset that I shared onboard the Maltese Falcon with Cafaro. Aged 58, with three grown-up children who live in London, Madrid and Rome, this well-travelled sailor has chosen to make his

home in Mallorca. He loves the island not for its beach life, but for its quieter side. "You have to know Mallorca," he said. "It looks easy, obvious. But it's not. That's why it's such an interesting place."

We talked about what his guests remember most fondly. "It's not the sailing, the food or the hospitality," he said. It's a given that all are excellent – particularly now that Jumeirah is on board. What visitors crave is something real, and that's what Mallorca has in abundance. I've seen it in these ancient terraces, where generations have wrung a living from the rock, and I've tasted it in the olive oil and the wines rooted in its arid landscapes.

The sea, glittering all the way to the horizon, has always been a siren call for those seeking something that perhaps they could not name. Mallorca, anchored in the middle of the Mediterranean, is a reminder that often it is closer than you think.

Kieran Meeke was a guest of the Jumeirah Mallorca, which has B&B doubles from £685; three days' charter of the Maltese Falcon costs from £162,760 for £2, with fuel and provisions extra (jumeirah.com). Fly to Palma

A terrace at Jumeirah Mallorca. Main, Port de Soller and, inset, the Maltese Falcon, which resort guests can charter

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Queen Mary 2's Literature Festival at Sea 2027

December 2, 2027 • Seven nights' fly-cruise

Inside from £1,389pp • Balcony from £1,739pp • Grill Suite from £3,889pp

Queen Mary 2's Literature Festival at Sea brings together authors, journalists and critics for a week-long celebration of the written word.

For those who believe the only thing better than a good book is the time to read it, Cunard's Literature Festival at Sea offers the ultimate intellectual escape. In December 2027, the flagship Queen Mary 2 will once again transform into a floating bibliophile's haven for a seven-night transatlantic crossing from New York to Southampton.

Curated by the expert programming team behind The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, this unique voyage brings the world of storytelling to the high seas. Expect a refined itinerary of thought-provoking Q&As, intimate workshops, and book signings with acclaimed authors and historians. Between sessions, guests

can enjoy a daily digest of news from The Times journalists, or retreat to the ship's mahogany-clad library – the largest at sea. Combined with Cunard's signature white-glove service, the Literature Festival at Sea 2027 is a sophisticated celebration of the written word, where the conversation is as deep as the Atlantic.

What's included

• Seven-night transatlantic crossing aboard Cunard's Queen Mary 2 from New York to Southampton
• Economy-class flight from the UK to New York
• All meals and entertainment
• Programme of literary talks and workshops throughout the voyage
• Complimentary money to spend onboard
• An invitation to an exclusive onboard reception when you book direct with Times Holidays
• Times+ members receive an extra £100 off Visit thetimes.com/timesplus for your unique code

Special guests onboard

Geoff Dyer

Award-winning genre-blurring British author, Royal Society Fellow, and former USC Writer in Residence.

Peter Hain

Anti-apartheid campaigner, former UK Cabinet Minister, and prolific political thriller novelist.

Roger McGough

Legendary Liverpool poet, chart-topping 1960s performer, and BBC Radio 4 broadcaster.

Call 0808 134 4157 or visit thetimes.com/th-litfest2027

TIMES Holidays

Terms and conditions apply. Prices shown are per person, correct as of August 24, 2026 and based on double occupancy. Offers and bookings are subject to availability and suppliers reserve the right to withdraw at any time. See supplier website for full offer terms and conditions. * £100 off Times+ offer applicable to each Times Holidays booking made by December 31, 2026 with a minimum speed of £1,000 when opening your unique Times+ code. Visit thetimes.com/timesplus for full terms and conditions. * Cunard onboard credit offer applicable to bookings made by August 31, 2026. ** Programme of Literature Festival at Sea table are included in your form. Literature Festival at Sea workshops will be at an additional charge and are available to book on board. Other activities may incur an additional charge. Speakers and onboard activities are subject to change. This holiday is sold by Times Holidays as an agent for Cunard and protected under ATOL 6294. For full booking conditions, visit thetimes.com/holidays/terms-and-conditions.

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Travel Portugal

Some people go in search of paradise on their family holiday. After a decade of holidaying with young children, my goal is more modest: anything that isn't hell. This is mostly my fault. The kids are, after all, straightforward; all they want is a pool, pizza for every meal and fizzy drinks at half-hourly intervals. It's me who ruins the fun by insisting that we do other things.

Previously, I've connived to front-load holidays with activities, day trips and destination-hopping before finally letting the kids collapse by a pool for the last few days, at which point they miraculously stop whining and we all start having a marvellous time, just before we have to go home again.

So on an early summer break to Portugal I decide that the four of us – two boys aged 8 and 11, my husband and I – will do something radical. I will, of course, still subject them to the usual military drill of sightseeing, but this time we'll do it the other way round: we'll have a few days of relaxed harmony by the pool in the Algarve, then I'll demand that we high-tail it to Lisbon for something a little more stimulating. My hope is that the initial few days of zen will carry us through the rest of the week.

Recently reopened under a new name and management, Wine & Books by the Sea, on the Albufeira coastline, has the kind of nominative determinism I hope to speed us on this journey.

"I bet you've never

seen a pool as big as this one," the woman checking us in says, gambling with the kids. She wins, but at 70m long it's not the only big, beautiful thing here.

Weighing in at 250 rooms, with five restaurants, a kids' club and a basement spa and wellness centre, Wine & Books somehow manages to retain a boutique vibe. There are lots of stylish details, such as the oversized, crafted lampshades that hang in the lobby – some so extravagantly shaggy that they look as though they've escaped from a Jim Henson production.

In the Moby Dick buffet restaurant, an enormous wrought-iron whale lolis atop the food counters where breakfast is presented each morning. Warm bronze colours and textured walls thread through our two interconnected Superior Double rooms. Each has a balcony with views through palm trees to the pool.

Splitting a week by relaxing in the Algarve, exploring Lisbon and horse riding on a beach near Comporta keeps the whole family happy, says Krissi Murison

Holidaying in harmony

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On the first morning the children brace as we prepare to run through the day's itinerary. Pre-emptive whining gives way to delight when they realise that the most gruelling demand is fitting in a shower between swimming and dinner.

The pool area looks like a Palm Springs country club, with its stripy parasols, meticulously arranged sunloungers and towel exchange. I leave the three boys taking turns to inch themselves into the bracingly chilly water while I slope off for a massage I've booked.

I emerge 50 minutes later to a deafeningly familiar sound. Apparently the upstairs pool was too cold for the kids so they've found their way down here, to cause noisy chaos in the heated one in the basement. I now face the prospect of spending the next three days in this dark, humid bunker watching them play.

GOOD TO KNOW

Where is it?

A two-centre holiday taking in the Algarve and Lisbon.

Insider tip?

Pack long, preferably tight trousers for riding, unless you want blisters. And do some warm-up stretches!

Who will love it?

Anyone who wants to combine relaxation with culture and horse riding.

Clockwise from below: the Lisbon skyline; a restaurant at the Andaz hotel; Belom Tower on the Tagus River in Lisbon; Krissi and family at the Cavalos na Areia riding school

Eventually they are bribed back into the daylight for lunch. Coco's is the smartest of the child-friendly options on site. It's a poolside, cabana-like restaurant specialising in seafood and Mediterranean grills where the kids can run around outside between courses and we can have long, languid lunches of clams, gold bream and vinho verde.

That evening we walk out towards the hotel's stretch of private sandy beach then follow the wooden boardwalks that wind for more than a mile through the coastal dunes of the Salgados Lagoon nature reserve, heading east until we find a relaxed oceanfront restaurant named Pedras Amarelas for yet more seafood and green wine (mains from £9; pedrasamarelas.pt).

The next morning I convince everyone that we should allow the pool to warm up for a while and hire some electric bikes instead. We collect them at reception and zoom back off along the boardwalks. On one side is marshland rich with birdlife, on the other the sweeping golden dunes of the Praia Grande de Peru; we cross a wooden bridge over a freshwater lagoon, stopping to watch shouts of mullet basking in the sun.

That night we all stuff ourselves with pizza at Primadonna, the hotel's Italian restaurant, then prepare for the three-hour train journey from nearby Ferreiras station to Lisbon the next day.

For an extra £30 for all of us we upgrade to first class, meaning that we each get comfy solo seats, though dotted around the carriage rather than together. A diet of snacks and pretty countryside views keep everyone entertained before our cinematic arrival in the capital across Ponte 25 de Abril, Lisbon's answer to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Once in Lisbon it doesn't take long for the moaning to start, though to be fair I too could have spent the rest of our holiday in our new hotel room. The newly opened Andaz is almost as gorgeous as the city beyond its windows. And what

windows – with the hotel just

back from the waterfront

in the historic Baixa

neighbourhood,

you can practically

touch the top of

the triumphal

Arco da Rua

Augusta gateway

from some of

them. The 170

rooms fill a

neoclassical block,

built after the 1755

earthquake that

destroyed much of the

city. More recently it had

been the headquarters of

a national bank, but today it dates

resolutely to the age of Instagram.

Inside it's a splashy riot of tiles, texture, colour and homegrown contemporary art – even the original marble staircase in the grand entrance lobby has been repurposed as a pop-up gallery for ceramicists. We stay in two rooms with king-size beds connected by a private mini-hallway, with dramatic on-blood tiled bathrooms and mid-century-inspired furniture, including two zingy burnt-orange chairs.

The whole aesthetic reaches its Technicolor apogee in the rooftop bar and restaurant Luzzi, where rich Portuguese-fusion food is served in surroundings so photogenic that you feel as though you're living inside an artwork (mains from £16). At night it's dark and glamorous, but come morning Luzzi turns into the prettiest breakfast room I've seen, with sunlight sweeping in through open roof-slate onto the vibrant screen-printed walls.

Even I hadn't been prepared for how much activity I'd agreed to when we booked one of the hotel's Signature Experiences days (£293pp). The Andaz offers a selection of tours, ranging from street art and fishing to nightspot-hopping. I decide to fulfil a childhood ambition by opting for Ride the Heritage, an opportunity to get up close and personal with majestic Lusitano horses.

After breakfast the next morning we are picked up in a private car and driven 45 minutes north of the city to the equestrian estate of Morgado Lusitano. Originally built as a safe haven for the Marquis de Castelo Melhor, who fled the tsunami, fires and disease that ripped through the city after the 1755 earthquake, today the famed estate trains a stable of purebred Lusitanos in classical dressage.

At the indoor sand school we meet Cercal, a beautiful grey who – I can't help noticing, just as I am encouraging the smallest of my children to scramble onto his back

– is a stallion. Martim, the horse's cool-as-a-cucumber handler, smiles and says that he tries to avoid telling British visitors this until after their ride, as we generally have a tendency to get hysterical about this particular anatomical detail. Away from in-season mares,

Cercal – he assures us – is just as safe and docile as any gelding would be.

And so it proves, as the very-good-natured Cercal allows each family member on board for a short beginner's lesson on a lunge rope. Ironically, for one of the oldest saddle breeds in the world, the traditional way to learn to ride a Lusitano is without one. Bouncing around with no reins and just a blanket under your bum is not only the best way to develop an exemplary dressage posture, but also one of the most brutal core workouts I've had.

We hobble back to the car

and drive south for 90

minutes, stopping briefly

at the pretty upmarket

village of Comporta

to pick up picnic

provisions and

gasp at the prices

in its boutique

shops. After a

quick lunch and

dip at its beach,

we arrive at the

Cavalos na Areia

riding school for

the day's main event.

Its name translates as

Horses in the Sand, and

what follows is possibly the

most incredible hour of my life to date. Four horses (saddled this time, thank goodness) are waiting for us and we set off on our guided trek as the afternoon blaze of the sun is dipping into something gentler. Winding first through lush, waterlogged rice paddies, we amble up into the pine forest scrub of the dunes.

My heart is in my mouth as we reach the summit and look down onto an endless golden beach with the Atlantic crashing beyond. This is the northern stretch of Costa de Alentejana, one of the longest ribbons of uninterrupted beach in Europe. And this afternoon it honestly seems as though it is all ours. We walk the horses down to the surf, letting them splash through the waves that roll up to meet us. This is it, right here – family holiday paradise.

Eventually we retrace our hoofprints back to the stables, where our horses are hosed down with cool water as we

pile back into the car, wrung-out, dirty and elated.

On the way back I message a friend for any under-the-radar dinner recommendations in Lisbon. She replies that the city has become so full with tourists and digital nomads in recent years that there is no such thing left as a secret gem. Still, she points us towards Taberna da Rua das Flores, a classic neighbourhood tavern in the central Chiado district with chalkboard menus and a no-booking policy, warning us to get there early (mains from £8; @tabernafadforest). We arrive late and have to queue to put our names on a waiting list, after which we are shown to its cute sister bar next door to wait with a glass of wine until we are called. It could be worse.

The plan for the next morning had been to take Tram 28 to the medieval quarter of the city, but it seems that everyone in the city has the same

thought. Instead we head up the

steep, often treacherously

polished, limestone

panements by foot,

stopping for a pastel de

nata at the Pastelaria

Santo Antonio bakery,

where you can also watch

the custard tart being made.

At the top is Sao Jorge

Castle. This ancient

fortification was expanded by the Moors in the 11th century and named for St George after the Anglo-Portuguese alliance of 1373. Today the hilltop castle is ruled by its resident pride of peacocks. Its 1500 degree views are the best of this most beautiful of cities – look south and you'll see yachts killing in the sunshine on the wide River Tagus and the towering Sanctuary of Christ the King statue on the cliffside beyond; a full rotation gives you a potted history of the city, from the gridded neoclassical boulevards in the west to the twisty ancient streets that survived the earthquake in the east and the modern sprawl to the north.

I know I am pushing my luck later that afternoon when I insist that we go on a sweaty half-hour bus journey along the coastline to Belem, the capital of Portuguese global maritime adventures. Tetchy fights break out between the kids at the foot of the Monument to the Discoveries – a 170ft-high, grow-shaped memorial to the OGs of new world exploration – so it's something of a relief to everyone when we discover that we've missed the last entry time to the Jeronimos Monastery.

Three days of poolside Zen followed by three days of sightseeing near-zen? I'm calling it a win.

Krissi Murison was a guest of Wine & Books, which has room-only doubles for two adults and two children from £235 (winebookshotels.com), and the Andaz Lisbon, which has junior suites for two adults and two children from £585 (andazlisbon.com). Fly to Faro and out of Lisbon

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Travel US

From grands prix to the Wild West

Normally when I'm on holiday I try to avoid horses at all costs because I spend so much time with them at home. In the Whitaker family, horses aren't just a career, they're the family business, the daily bread and the topic of every Sunday dinner – not to mention our stables are filled with highly strung, sharp warmbloods; you have to know what you're doing with them.

So when I began to plan a trip to Santa Barbara in California for a week with my friends Floss, Ryan and Will, my first instinct was to leave the boots at home, switch off and relax. But when we started looking into places to visit, we realised that we would be missing out if we didn't get a taste of the real-deal dude ranch life too, especially as it was so nearby.

What followed wasn't your average poolside flop-out. It was a proper, full-on American adventure.

We landed at LAX and immediately upgraded the hire car to a huge GMC truck (none of us are light packers). I'm used to parking horse trucks, so manoeuvring this beast down the highway didn't bother me, but take note... if you're used to a hatchback, you'll be sweating.

Later on Floss took the wheel and we followed the beach line up along Highway 1 through Malibu and Venice Beach – pretty cool, with sunset pink and purple shades and lots of time to people-watch while blaring country music with the windows down... even with a bit of the notorious LA traffic.

We pulled into Alisal Ranch at 10pm and the warm welcome set the tone – apart from the cat perched on the reception counter waiting for

The showjumper Jack Whitaker finds lots to love on a road trip from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara – dude ranch included

us to stop chatting so he could go back to sleep.

Our cottage villa was one of several scattered around the property. We liked that there were no TVs in the rooms – instead you get an open log fire, a deck of cards and a decent bottle of wine. We were tired so went straight to bed.

Call it the internal body clock of a Yorkshire horseman, or maybe it was jet lag, but we all woke up at 4am. Since breakfast wasn't being served, we wandered to the pickleball courts in the pitch black for two solid hours of competitive games before the sun had even cleared the hills.

By breakfast time we were starving. We were greeted with mimosas, which is a policy I think we should introduce at showjumping venues at home. There was a great selection of food, but once I tried the breakfast burrito I was sold – it was so good that I ordered it every day; in fact, I even ordered a second.

Later it was down to the stables for a bespoke barrel racing and roping class, and this was when the fun really started (£74pp). We met the horses and the wranglers, who treated us with a bit of caution – they get plenty of people who claim to be able to ride but can't and had no idea we'd spent our lives in the saddle.

They got us flopping around a bit, checking we could do the basic paces. We played the part, until we got

into the barrel racing class. That was when we started cutting down the turns, galloping and getting competitive: stopwatch out, timing everyone. I think they realised that we could actually ride once we started flying around the patterns.

Riding rodeo style is completely back-to-front compared with what we do. In showjumping you need constant contact; here they're all rein riding. As long as you have balance, it's not hard. And the horses themselves! I fell in love with them – they were happy, easygoing allies. I'm normally conscious about wearing my helmet, but on these horses you feel as though you're sitting in an armchair.

After the barrel racing, the wranglers threw a few cows into the arena and told us to work them through different gates. I said, "Hell, yeah." Later the cowgirls told us about a game in which you

try to lasso another's foot, pull it and run away. Within five minutes the whole group was lined up, running a gauntlet – absolute chaos.

At the end of the morning we decided that we needed to look the part, so we drove into Santa Ynez to pick out proper stetsons at the traditional hat store KJ Murphy's. They moulded them to our heads with steam, branded our initials and tucked feathers into the bands. I didn't take mine off for the rest of the holiday, wearing it to lunch, the beach and even dinner (from £136; kjmurphys.com).

That afternoon we went on a three-hour trail ride from the hotel, clearing the far side of a massive hill into valleys that stretched for miles under the California sun. Looking down

on the old Danish pioneer town of Solvang was proper film-set stuff.

But the day wasn't over. After remembering that there was a fishing lake on the ranch, we grabbed the keys to a little boat and headed to the water. It was slow to start, but then we had lots of luck; I even managed to catch one on an unbaited hook. We finished with dinner by an open fire – oak-grilled steaks and Californian syrah, a skilled pianist providing the soundtrack.

The next morning we were up early for the Breakfast Ride – 45 minutes through the morning mist to a historic camp under giant sycamore trees (on a hay wagon, included; by horse, £155). When we arrived there was a

We cleared a hill into valleys that stretched for miles

PHOTO: THOMAS W. WARDEN/STOCK/STOCK/STOCK/STOCK

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 15

full cowboy breakfast cooking over an open fire pit and an older man singing songs and reciting limericks. It was incredibly atmospheric, though breezy enough at 7am to make us wish that we'd worn thicker shirts at least.

On the ride back our guide pointed out bowls carved into the sandstone that the native Chumash people once used to grind acorns.

Later we drove for 20 minutes to the Hitching Post 2 restaurant in Buellton for lunch and a wine tasting – you might recall it as one of the key locations from the 2004 film Sidways. We heated on ribs and steak sandwiches while the owner, Frank Ostini, told us stories about his crazy fishing days and near-death experiences from when he lived in Alaska (mains from £11; hitchingpost2.com).

The next morning we drove to Folded Hills Estate, a 600-acre property owned by the Busch family (also behind the Budweiser brand). They drove us in a Gator through the organic farms and vineyards. As we passed the paddocks I spotted a heavy horse. “It’s them bloody... Heineken horses?” The owner’s son laughed.

“No, bud – Budweiser.” The famed Clydesdales (heavy draft horses you’ll recognise from the Budweiser ads), plus a camel and a zebra, are kept on the ranch. We were feeding carrots to the camels when a rocket tore across the sky, loud and low. “Oh, that’s just Elon Musk,” the owner’s son said casually – Starlink launches from nearby Vandenberg occur fairly regularly. Only in California can you be hand-feeding a camel next to a Budweiser Clydesdale while a SpaceX rocket shoots into orbit.

We had an excellent wine tasting and private lunch of rocket salad with breaded chicken in a rustic cabin overlooking the estate’s polo field, then tried our hand at fishing in its lake (£85pp), where I knocked my

From below far left: a street in Solvang; Jack and his friends on a ride in the Santa Ynez Valley; cattle wrangling at Alisal Ranch; the rooftop pool at Hotel Californian

sunglasses into the murky depths. The owner’s son kicked off his shoes and free-dived in to retrieve them – now that’s five-star hospitality (private tours and tastings from £111; foldedhills.com).

Our next stop was in Santa Barbara, a two-hour drive away, at the waterfront Hotel Californian – the vibe shifting from rustic cowboy to chic coastal cool.

The next morning brought yet another change of pace, with a private lesson at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club. The one-on-one lesson with the academy director, Jeff Scheraga, was fantastic – showjumping gives you a head start with seat and balance, so we could focus

purely on hand-eye co-ordination with the mallet (private lessons from £222pp; sbpolo.com).

We rounded off the afternoon with a ride along the beach at Loon Point in Summerland, a seaside spot about seven miles from Santa Barbara, with Los Padres Outfitters. The tide was out, with the sun beginning to dip, and we walked our horses right through the surf. Just as our guide mentioned that she’d seen dolphins on her most recent ride here, a pod broke the surface, swimming parallel to us along the coastline (beach rides from £174pp; lospadresoutfitters.com).

Our final leg took us back to Los Angeles, where we were

staying near the airport at Hotel June West LA, which has a fun pool and bar.

We drove along Rodeo Drive, caught a glimpse of the Hollywood sign and talked about the Olympics being held here in 2028. My dad competed in the LA Games in 1984, so being in the city and spotting potential venues felt special – enough to give me a bit of extra fire to make sure I’m back in a few years’ time, wearing a red jacket and representing Team GB.

As for our trip? It was the perfect mix of horse

adventure and downtime. If you get the chance to go to the California valleys, take my advice: grab a stetson, jump in a massive truck and don’t skip the breakfast burritos.

Jack Whitaker was a guest of Visit California (visit california.com); Alisal Ranch, which has half-board triples from £771 (alisalranch.com); Hotel Californian, which has B&B doubles from £536 (hotelcalifornian.com); and Hotel June West LA, which has B&B doubles from £138 (thehoteljune.com). Fly to Los Angeles

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7 Nights All-Inclusive from £2,199PP

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NOBLE CALEDONIA

ISLAND HOPPING

THROUGH THE PHILIPPINES

A voyage from Hong Kong to Malaysia aboard the MS Island Sky 23rd June to 7th July 2027

For the well-travelled, our voyage from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur offers a unique opportunity to visit little known and remote regions that are well away from the usual cruise routes. The privilege of exploring these remarkable lands from a small ship in the company of just over 100 fellow passengers and knowledgeable local guides is an opportunity not to be missed. Marvellous experiences are to be had as we land on pristine beaches, witness traditional ways of life in remote communities and explore mangrove forests while looking out for endemic flora and fauna, each evening returning to the considerable comforts of the all-suite MS Island Sky.

Setting sail from Hong Kong we spend a relaxing day at sea before arriving in Taiwan where history abounds. We will spend a day exploring the former capital of Tainan before making our way to the Philippines where we

have the benefit of seven days to experience the legendary Filipino hospitality with visits to traditional villages and remote island communities and discover the rich cultural history. As we journey through the staggeringly beautiful Filipino islands, there will be opportunities to swim from the white-sand beaches and birders will delight in the opportunity to visit the Subterranean River National Park which is home to long-tailed macaques, blue-naped parrots and other indigenous wildlife. Our final few days will be spent immersing ourselves in the culture and nature of Malaysia as we observe the diverse range of plants, trees and wildlife including the 'wild man of Borneo' – the orangutan, before our journey ends in the city of Kuala Lumpur. We hope you will join us for this unparalleled opportunity to explore one of the most intriguing places on the map.

MS ISLAND SKY

is one of the finest small ships in the world. With a maximum passenger capacity of only 118, the all-suite vessel has the benefit of unusually large accommodation, public areas and spacious outside decks. All suites feature a sitting area and some have a private balcony. The spacious and finely decorated public rooms include a lounge, elegant bar, library and a single seating dining room. Outside there is a rear sun deck, a bar and comfortable deck furniture. The atmosphere on board is akin to a private yacht or country hotel. A little music in the lounge or bar after dinner talks from the onboard speakers, informing a port briefings, and of course good food which may be enjoyed leisurely in the attractive dining room, all contribute to making any voyage aboard the MS Island Sky a memorable experience.

LHC

LHC

For full details on this holiday call us today on 020 7752 0000 for your copy of our brochure.

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THE ITINERARY IN BRIEF

Day 1 London to Hong Kong. Fly by scheduled flight.

Day 2 Hong Kong. Arrive today and transfer to the MS Island Sky.

Day 3 At Sea. Spend a relaxing day at sea as we make our way to Taiwan.

Day 4 Tainan, Taiwan. This morning we arrive at our first port of call in Taiwan, the southern city of Kaohsiung which is our base for our excursion to nearby Tainan, the former capital of Taiwan. During our tour we will see the Chikan Tower, built by the Dutch in 1653 as an administrative centre, and the Koxinga Shrine, dedicated to General Chenggong. We will continue to the beautiful Confucius Temple which is over three hundred years old. This afternoon we will drive to the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum which covers over 100 hectares and is home to the 108 metre high bronze Buddha, the largest seated bronze Buddha in Asia. The museum houses a number of permanent exhibitions about the life of Buddha, Buddhist festivals and relics.

Day 5 Batanes Islands, Philippines. Arrive this morning in the Philippines at the Batanes Islands, a chain of 10 isolated islands in the north of the country. Rugged and windswept, the three largest islands are inhabited by the Ivatan people who are famed for their distinctive typhoon-resistant houses and wearing the vakul, headgear which is designed to protect against the weather. During our island tour we will see the verdant pasturelands, the volcano, Basco Lighthouse, the pretty village of Mahatao, and Ivana with its picturesque yellow church and Batan's oldest stone house. Also, see one of the Japanese tunnels built during World War II.

Day 6 Currimao for Vigan. The port of Currimao will be our base to explore the UNESCO town of Vigan, one of the oldest towns in the Philippines and considered the best preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia. We will walk its cobblestone streets, including the pedestrianised Calle Crisologo, and discover a unique architectural style that fuses Philippine building design and construction with colonial European architecture. See the St Vincent Ferrer Church, built in 1795, before we visit the Hidden Garden where we enjoy a lunch of traditional Ilocano cuisine.

Day 7 Hundred Islands. Awake this morning among the one hundred and twenty three islands that make up the Hundred Islands National Park in the Lingayen Gulf. The park is made up of mostly coral and supported by mangrove forests, which creates a healthy ecosystem for both marine and birdlife, as well as various lizards and mammals. We will spend the morning travelling between the islands on local boats, swimming amongst the coral or taking a walk on one of the islands. Return to the ship for lunch and sail this afternoon.

Day 8 Manila. Arrive today in the capital of the Philippines. A morning tour will explore the colonial area within the well preserved 16th century walled city of Intramuros which was created by the Spanish elite during their colonisation of the Philippines. See the San Agustin Church, one of four Philippine churches constructed during the Spanish colonial period to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Later we visit Baluarte San Diego, Baluarte Dilao, Manila Cathedral and Plaza Roma before ending at Fort Santiago, one of the oldest forts in Manila strategically built in 1571 on the tongue of land where the Pasig River flows into Manila Bay.

Day 9 Marinduque. We arrive at the heart shaped island of Marinduque this morning and will set out on a guided tour, taking in its beautiful scenery. At Boac Town we will walk through the historic centre taking in the National Museum, the Cathedral as well as seeing many of the historic houses that remain. The historic centre offers a glimpse into the islands Spanish colonial past. We will visit a Morion mask maker before visiting a butterfly farm. Butterfly farming is a large part of the island's economy as well as a vital part in keeping the butterfly populations high.

Day 10 Coron Island. This morning we enter the spectacular bay of Coron Island. Known to only a few, this remarkable area will one day most likely be a major tourist resort but for now you can enjoy the peace and beauty without the crowds. This morning you can choose an island tour including St Augustin Church and Lualhati Park before ending at the Maquinit Hot Springs where warm saltwater springs are said to have therapeutic qualities. Alternatively explore the coastline by local boat and take in the towering limestone cliffs, rock formations, idyllic lagoons and abundant reefs of the marine park. We plan to land on one of the white sand beaches for a swim in the crystal-clear waters before returning to the MS Island Sky.

Day 11 Palawan. Arrive today on the island of Palawan where from our berth at Puerto Princesa we have a choice of tours. Perhaps cross the island, passing through picturesque countryside to Sabang where we board local boats to discover the Subterranean River National Park which is home to long-tailed macaques, blue-naped parnots and other indigenous wildlife. This UNESCO World Heritage Site was also listed as one of the new seven wonders of the world. Alternatively, explore Puerto Princesa and surrounding areas including the Binuatan Creations where we see the art of handloom weaving using local materials, the nearby butterfly eco-garden, the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, and the Palawan World War II Museum.

Day 12 Sandakan, Malaysia. After a morning at sea we arrive into Borneo and the port of Sandakan where we have a choice of excursions. For the keen nature lovers, we visit the

Rainforest Discovery Centre, one of the most accessible natural rainforests in Sabah where we can see the unique flora and fauna of Borneo. Alternatively, a city tour of Sandakan will include the lively market and the old-fashioned stone building of St Michael Church.

Day 13 Sandakan to Kuala Lumpur. Disembark this morning and transfer to the Sepilok Centre where we will learn about the rehabilitation of the orangutans and the threats to their survival. We will visit the Sepilok Forest Reserve feeding platform and see orangutans in the third stage of their rehabilitation programme. Observe the fascinating diversity of plants, trees and wildlife and we also have a good chance of sighting macaques, leaf monkeys and other mammals. Close by is the Sun Bear Conservation Centre which provides rehabilitation to the smallest bears in the world that are at risk from deforestation and poaching. After lunch we will transfer to the airport for our scheduled flight to Kuala Lumpur. On arrival we transfer to our hotel for a two night stay and have the evening at leisure.

Day 14 Kuala Lumpur. Spend a day in Malaysia's capital city of Kuala Lumpur. A morning walking tour begins in Independence Square, also known as Dataran Merdeka. Continue to the Masjid Jamek Mosque, the oldest Islamic place of worship in Kuala Lumpur. Overlooking the Klang River, it offers breathtaking vistas. Also see the Central Market, Chinatown and the extravagantly decorated Sri Mahamariamman Temple before ending at the Petronas Twin Towers. The remainder of the day is free to explore further at your own pace before we meet for dinner this evening.

Day 15 Kuala Lumpur to London. Check out this morning and transfer to the airport for our scheduled indirect flight to London. Arrive this evening.

PRICES & INCLUSIONS

Special offer prices per person based on double occupancy start from £9695 per person for a Standard Suite.

WHAT'S INCLUDED:

Economy class scheduled air travel • 11 nights aboard the MS Island Sky on a full board basis • Two nights accommodation in Kuala Lumpur with breakfast • House wine, beer and soft drinks with lunch and dinner • Noble Caledonia onboard team • Shore excursions • Gratuities • Transfers • Airport taxes • Port taxes.

NB: Ports and itinerary are subject to change. All special offers are subject to availability. Travel insurance, dinner on day 13 and lunch on day 14 are not included in the price. Zodiacs will be used during the expedition. Our current booking conditions apply to all reservations.

Alternatively view or request online at www.noble-caledonia.co.uk

NOBLE CALEDONIA

SMALL SHIPS - BIG EXPERIENCES

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Travel City breaks

Magnificent seafood, musicals and history await in eastern Canada, says Laura Jackson

Charlottetown is the birthplace of Canada, having hosted the Fathers of the Confederation talks in 1864 that resulted in the country being founded. Not bad for a tiny city on Prince Edward Island (PEI), the smallest Canadian province, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the Gulf of St Lawrence.

These days Charlottetown is more a kick back with a beer type of town. The summer season is typically May to August, so islanders make the most of the vitamin-D-rich months, with restaurants and bars putting on live music on the waterfront and throughout the Victorian downtown. Seafood is king here, with some of the most delicious oysters in the world.

The city's airport is less than 15 minutes' drive from the centre, so it's easy to make this cultural capital, with a world-class theatre and speakeasy-style bars, a staging post for longer trips around the island.

DAY 1 MORNING

A stroll around town with the fourth-generation islander Peter McDougall covers its history, with stops at Gainsford House – PEI's oldest house, dating from 1833 – and St Dunstan's Basilica. The tour also includes a VR headset for immersive experiences (£23pp; ridesolar.com).

Eat at Peake's Quay Restaurant

The first floor of this casual spot has a large outdoor terrace, so there's always a table with waterfront views, as well as a seafood-stacked menu. Order a duo dish with battered haddock and fishcakes. Swerve the wine for an excellent house beer, such as a Peake's Quay Blonde (mains from £12; peakesquay.com).

AFTERNOON

After PEI's train network shut in the late 1980s, the repair depot in Charlottetown fell into disrepair. Now it has a second life as Founders', a covered daily market for small producers. Stop by Maritime Madness, creators of fiery condiments that pair well with oysters. There are also art stalls, such as Oh Hey PEI, showcasing All Mombourquette's lighthouse and flower prints (foundersfoodhall.com).

Drink at JC's Tiki Bar

Pull up a waterfront swing (picnic tables also available) at JC's on Peake's Quay – perched on a sand-covered pontoon dock floating in the harbour and specialising in

48 HOURS IN CHARLOTTETOWN

Alfresco dining in a traffic-free part of the city; main, the Charlottetown skyline

Need to know

Getting there and around Charlottetown is a 90-minute flight from Montreal or Toronto with AirCanada or WestJet. Downtown is walkable, but a hire car is advisable, or use the locally run Kari taxi app (meetkari.com) or T3 Transit bus network (fares from £1; t3transit.ca).

Visit responsibly

Even the remotest parts of PEI, in the northwest of the island, are less than two hours' drive from Charlottetown. The red sand shores of the island's south are 30 minutes away by car, while in the north you'll find the wide beaches of Greenwich and North Rustico, as well as the Green Gables Heritage Place in Cavendish.

margaritas, frozen and shaken (cocktails from £13; @jc_tikibar).

EVENING

The Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery was brought up in Cavendish, on the North Shore of PEI, and her story of the orphan Anne Shirley has captivated generations. Now there is a musical adaption running during the summer at the modern Sobey Family Theatre in the Confederation Centre of the Arts. It's family-friendly, but bring tissues (£30; confederationcentre.com).

Eat at Claddagh Oyster House

This seafood restaurant above the Olde Dublin Pub couldn't be further from a spit-and-sawdust boozer in spirit. The decor is New York mid-century in style, with an impressive marble-top bar from which a selection of PEI oysters are shucked to order. There are also a la carte options from mushroom wellington to surf'n'surf (mains from £20; claddaghoysterhouse.com).

DAY 2 MORNING

Trading from a warehouse in the north of the city after a fire destroyed the market hall, the Saturday-morning Charlottetown

Farmers' Market is proof of the resilience of the city. It's the place to pick up the freshest fruit and veg from Celyddon Farms, but also where residents drink drip coffee from Ken Gabbay (from £1) and snack on pork dumplings from Abby's Catering (six for £4; charlottetownfarmersmarket.com).

Eat at Sea Rocket Oyster House

The company behind this new central restaurant also runs Raspberry Point Oysters, in the north of the island, so you'd be hard-pressed to find any fresher – raw, baked or fried, followed by haddock tacos or a lobster roll (mains from £11; searocket.ca).

AFTERNOON

On the harbourfront, Beaconsfield Historic House is a delightful slice of Arts and Crafts Victorians. It was built in 1877 for James Peake, a shipbuilder whose empire fell apart at the advent of iron steamships. Features include 'coffin corners', alcoves that allow a casket to be easily moved on the stairs, and gingerbread trim on the exterior. Tours are every half-hour (£7; peimuseum.ca).

Drink at Reddins

Sign up to the mailing list online for the password to this speakeasy and press the doorbell at £12 Victoria Row. The former pharmacy was the only place that could prescribe alcoholic drinks during PEI's prohibition era, from 1901 to 1948. Order an Iceberg Warning, inspired by the island having been the first place in Canada to receive the Titanic's distress signal (cocktails from £10; reddinspei.com).

EVENING

Victoria Park and Boardwalk is home to sports grounds and a seafront family play park and pool, and offers spectacular

sunset views. The boardwalk is an easy stroll of less than a mile around the park – take in the wood-clad houses along Brighton Road, home to the city's wealthiest residents.

Eat at Sims Corner Steakhouse & Oyster Bar

All cuts here are aged for at least 45 days. Pick from ribeye, tenderloin or a 6oz gouda-crusted filet mignon, with asparagus in bearnaise sauce among the sides. The building dates from the 1860s, with exposed brick and dark-wood fittings (mains from £40; simscorner.ca).

Laura Jackson was a guest of Tourism PEI (tourismpei.com) and Atlantic Canada Holiday (atlanticcanadaholiday.co.uk)

Where to stay

DELTA HOTELS PRINCE EDWARD

Best for families

Close to the waterfront, this large Marriott hotel has 211 rooms and is attached to PEI's conference centre. It's purpose-built, so the bigger rooms work well for families, with interconnecting suites and studios with kitchenettes available. There's a spa, gym and pool. The only downside is a daily parking charge (room-only doubles from £139; marriott.com).

THE GREAT GEORGE HOTEL

Historic stay

The smartest hotel in the city co-hosted the Fathers of the Confederation conference in 1864. Today the family-owned inn is a collection of 17 restored buildings straddling Sydney and Dorchester streets. There are 54 rooms, including suites featuring hot tubs. Don't miss the 5pm happy hour, with a free glass of beer or wine in the antique-filled lounge (room-only doubles from £132; thegreatgeorge.com).

RODD CHARLOTTETOWN

Recent refurb

Owned by a small chain, the 115 rooms at this former railway hotel, opened in 1931, have recently been spruced up. It's a solid three-star choice, with comfy beds and Aromatherapy Associates products in the bathrooms. Downstairs, the Chambers restaurant does a super à la carte brekkie with all the bacon and avocado you need. The pool and small spa are a boon, as is the massive free car park at the rear of the hotel (room-only doubles from £133; roddvacations.com).

You'll find some of the world's most delicious oysters

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The best of Japan

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Japan Real Food Adventure 4*

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From temples to tempura, shrines to sashimi, seafood markets to sake breweries, take your tastebuds on a culinary journey through Japan's most delicious hotspots. Take part in cooking classes and cooking demonstrations relishing the flavours of 'the Land of the Rising Sun'.

Flights & hotels - 10 nights fr £4,215pp

Wonderful Japan self guided tour 4*

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A wonderful way to experience Japan's rich history and vibrant modern cities. Begin in Tokyo, travel by Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kanazawa, home to the beautiful Kenroku-en Garden, discover the traditional charm of Takayama, before continuing to Hiroshima and Kyoto.

Flights, hotels & transfers - 10 nights fr £2,999pp

Hidden Japan tour 4*

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Start in Kyoto, a city steeped in culture, visit the mystical temple community of Mount Koya, explore Tokushima's Awa Odori dance festival, climb Konpira-san's steps in Kotohira, take in Hiroshima's poignant history and Miyajima's scenic beauty

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Best of Japan self guided tour

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The Japanese spirit is strong, warm and incredibly welcoming and on this wonderful tour you will see all the country's highlights. Japan never fails to hit the travel sweet spot being unique enough to give you regular doses of 'Wow!' without any downside, even with the language barrier thrown in.

Flights, hotels, rail pass & transfers - 14 nights fr £3,439pp

Colours of Japan tour 4*

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This expertly-guided tour takes you from the neon energy of Tokyo and Osaka to the serene beauty of Kyoto, Nara and Kanazawa. Marvel at UNESCO-listed landmarks such as Himeji Castle, Shirakawa-go village and Miyajima, and ride the Shinkansen bullet train.

Flights, hotel & transfers - 9 nights fr £3,615pp

Free and Easy Japan 4*

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Stay in the Hotel New Otani Tokyo, close to the shops, the Imperial Palace, the city's exciting entertainment areas and the famous Ginza district before exploring more of Japan, including an exhilarating journey on the Bullet Train, with an inclusive rail pass..

Flights & hotel - 4 nights fr £1,659pp

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Nishma Sharma | Posted 25 Jul

Flights worked perfectly, and Chris' communication was, as always, spot on. This is my first port of call for any travel assistance.

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Isaac very helpful and responsive. Hotel and itinerary great for us but need to think recommending hotel room upgrades as Tokyo hotel room was tiny. Overall fantastic.

Christopher Taylor | Posted 19 Jul | Stayed at Hotel Resol Kyoto

Great service as always.

Oscar Hesling | Posted 10 Jul | Stayed at Art Hotel Osaka Bay Tower

Fantastic service, really pleased and will definitely book next holiday with DialAFlight.

Zee Nizar | Posted 8 Jul | Stayed at Mitsui Garden Hotel Gotanda

Charles delivered a fantastic itinerary for our trip to Japan and South Korea. Top quality hotels in great locations.

Christina Hayward | Posted 30 Jun | Stayed at Voco Seoul Myeongdong

Paige was excellent. She listened to what we wanted, we discussed options and she delivered exactly what we asked for.

Vanessa Moore | Posted 15 Jun | Stayed at Villa Fontaine Grand Osaka Umeda

Always friendly and helpful. Used DialAFlight for years.

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Ideally timed ahead of the peak season bustle, this sailing to the South of France makes the most of warm days and quieter streets, perfect for slowing the pace. Calls into Villefranche and Toulon immerse you in the elegance of the French Riviera. Explore pastel-hued towns, yacht-lined harbours and lively markets, with opportunities for gentle coastal walks and scenic boat trips. Tours also open the door to explore further, from the winding lanes of Nice's Old Town to the grandeur of Monaco's palace district. Two full days in Ajaccio allow time to delve into Corsica's character: taste local wine and cheese, trace Napoleonic history, stroll palm-lined squares and savour the unhurried charm of an evening in the island's capital.

17 NIGHTS DEPARTING 3RD JUNE 2027

JUNE 2027

Thu 3

Embark the adults-only Borealis and depart Liverpool

Mon 7

Malaga, Spain

Tue 8

Cartagena, Spain

Thu 10 -

Ajaccio, France (overnight)

Fri 11

Corsica's island capital of Ajaccio is a charming and captivating city with tree-lined boulevards and narrow streets adorned with pastel-painted houses that meet at wide-open squares offering vistas of the blue waters of the

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Villefranche, France

Nestled between the bustling cities of Nice and Monte Carlo, Villefranche offers a quieter, more traditional taste of the French Riviera. This picturesque harbour town rises from the jewel-like Mediterranean coastline with its colourful, ornate buildings and narrow, winding streets

Sun 13

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Mon 14

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Wed 16

Gibraltar

Sun 20

Arrive in Liverpool

Dates not mentioned will be spent relaxing at sea

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The Sunday Times August 16, 2026 21

Travel

MY HOLS KEVIN PIETERSEN

India is possibly my favourite place in the world

The ex-cricketer on why he loves the West Indies and the beauty of Nottinghamshire

Kevin Pietersen, 46, is one of England's greatest batsmen. Born in South Africa to an English mother, he was signed by Nottinghamshire in 2000 and selected to play for England in 2004. He retired from international cricket in 2014 and still holds the records for reaching 5,000 and 7,000 Test runs in the fewest days. He is married to the Liberty X singer Jessica Taylor, with whom he has two children.

“When you grow up in somewhere like South Africa, travel becomes part of your life. Even if my parents were going to see friends, it might be 12 hours in the car, so we'd make a little holiday out of it. Pietermaritzburg, where I was born, to Cape Town is a thousand-mile drive. I think that gives you a different outlook on life and you're keen to see what's out there.

Having said that, I felt very nervous about moving to the UK in 2003. I was 20 and it was the first time I'd spent time away from the comforts of home. I'd been signed by Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and lived on the outskirts of Sherwood Forest. I can still remember the first time I went to see the Major Oak, everybody telling me that it was where Robin Hood used to hide out.

Obviously, Nottinghamshire was completely different to the landscape back home, but it had its own beauty – the rolling hills, the quaint villages with thatched roofs and cricket on the green. It was like being in one of those Sunday-night detective shows.

Another great thing about being in England is that you don't have to worry about getting eaten. Jessica, the kids and I spend a lot of holiday time at our place in Elephant Point, on the edge of Kruger National Park. The views are spectacular but we share our open spaces with leopards and lions. One of the first things I taught the kids when we visited South Africa was respect for nature – shake out your shoes in the morning, watch where you're walking. We get black mambas, a snake that you do not want to argue with.

What I really love about being in Elephant Point is the peace and quiet. Sport makes a lot of headlines and it's often hard to get away from people and find somewhere to decompress. That's why I always enjoyed touring the West Indies with the England team – it's not so media-driven. We could play the match then jump on a jet ski, have a swim and a glass of rum punch.

No matter which island I'm on, the West Indies never disappoints me. The first time I went to the Jumbay Bay private

The Gateway of India in Mumbai, where Kevin Pietersen spent time this year

island off the coast of Antigua, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It's like Mother Nature has laid everything out for you in a real-life postcard.

The world has changed a lot in the twenty-plus years I've been travelling, but the biggest surprise has been India. When I first went there in 2004 you could tell that the tourism industry was only just beginning to find its feet. Lots of places still had that backpacking vibe. And now? It's possibly my favourite destination in the whole world. India has taken holidays to the next level. The food, the comfort, the attention to detail... they just seem to get it right. I was in the JW Marriott Mumbai Jubu this year and had an amazing time. I'm a big people-watcher and spent a couple of hours each morning down at its patisserie, marvelling at the world and drinking fantastic coffee – I don't operate very well without my morning coffee.

Holidays weren't quite so luxurious when I was a kid. We had a bit of money, but we weren't flush with cash,

so Mum and Dad decided to get a caravan with a tent-awning. Most of my childhood summers were spent at the Midmar Nature Reserve, a few miles upcountry from Pietermaritzburg. We'd park the caravan, pitch the tent, then my parents would hardly see me and my brothers for two weeks. We seemed to be constantly running around like crazy.

You also have to keep an eye on the weather in South Africa, as storms can sweep across in a matter of minutes. One year I was out on a little boat in the middle of a lake and this crazy thunderstorm zoomed in. I was battered by the rain and wondering when the lightning was going to spot the top of my mast. My dad's mate came out to get me in his motorboat and most of the campsite was watching me get rescued. And the worst bit? I was wearing budgie smugglers.

Interview by Danny Scott

Kevin Pietersen is working with Marriott Bonvoy, the official accommodation partner of the ICC

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WHERE WAS I?

Did I ever mention that my friend is much bigger than me? He's not a giant exactly – think of hay bales rather than haystacks when you imagine his bulk.

Even so, I do sometimes wonder why I risk arguing with him. And yet here we are, at it again – wrestling with our usual problem.

We're in a city that adjoins a second, bigger city, wanting different things.

Friend is determined to see the street where one of his sporting heroes (wife, Rita) lived as a boy.

I, meanwhile, want to visit a regional branch of a national museum – on the southern side of a canal, it stands just beyond the edge of the first city. But Friend says that he won't visit an institution that deals with such a grisly subject.

“But your hero's whole career was built on conflict!” I retort. “Even if it was mostly fake.”

At this point he shoots me a look that's as dirty as the old town once described by a singer-songwriter (mother, Betsy) who also grew up in the first city.

So, as a sop to my hulking companion I divert to the site of a former entertainment complex, nearly five miles east-southeast of the museum.

“Your sporting hero appeared here,” I tell him. “As did T. Rex, Slade and the Clash.”

Then I can't resist another dip: “They were all performers, weren't they? Putting on a show.”

Friend then scoops me up onto his shoulders and starts to spin me round.

Maybe this wasn't the best moment to go to war, after all. Sean Newsom

THE QUESTIONS

1. What is the name of the first city?
2. What was the real surname of the sporting hero?

THE PRIZE

The winner and guest will stay for two nights, B&B, at Glenmorangie House, a boutique hotel in Fearn by Tain owned and managed by the makers of Glenmorangie single-malt whiskies. It's a luxury hotel on an intimate scale – with six bedrooms, three cottages and a

communal dining table – characterised by exemplary service and colourful design.

Menus change daily in tune with the seasons and draw on the location, amid farmland on the North Sea coast, a short drive from stirring scenery. Alongside tastings at the distillery, the staff can also arrange stargazing, dolphin-spotting and guided

mountain hikes. For more see glenmorangie.com.

The prize includes one dinner for two, with a curated selection of drinks, and must be taken before August 1, 2027, subject to availability and excluding public holidays and advertised experience weekends.

HOW TO ENTER

Answer the questions and complete the entry form at thetimes.com/travel/where-was-i by the end of Thursday, August 20. One entry per person. Full terms and conditions apply and your information will be used in accordance with our privacy policy at newsprivacy.co.uk.

LAST WEEK'S PRIZE

The answers are Furzey Island and Poole, Jillian Pugh from Cheshire wins a luxury break in London worth up to £2,000 at The Egerton House Hotel.

---

22 August 16, 2026 The Sunday Times

Travel Comment

Susan d'Arcy

SPA EXPERT

The Mayr clinic is brutal (800 calories a day, no caffeine or booze) but I survived it. Other spas are offering a middle way

Did you think the arrival of Mounjaro sounded the death knell for spa cuisine? I admit, I thought the detox break – the badge of honour for wellness warriors – was in danger. But it seems that this cohort really enjoy starving, especially at the luxury level. So the 1 per cent are still willing to spend thousands to eat next to nothing in the name of health. It's The Hunger Games: Mocking Jobs, Part One.

I was recently at the mother ship of miserable mealtimes, the Original Mayr Medical Resort on the shores of Lake Worth in Austria. It pioneered the medically supervised fasting "holiday" in the 1970s, celebrates its 50th anniversary

The Mayr resort on Lake Worth in Austria; above right, guests are given a light lunch on day four of the programme

this year and seemed an apt place to reacquaint myself with luxury deprivation.

My fellow guests included the Hollywood stars Laura Dern and Tilda Swinton (Marion Cotillard had left the day before I arrived), an entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist on his 27th visit and a renowned spa guru on her second stay. I reckon detoxification remains de rigueur.

It's a tough gig: 800 calories max a day and no caffeine, wheat, refined sugar or alcohol. For the first three days, breakfast is a tiny jar of yoghurt with one blueberry and buckwheat bread (like chewing shoe linoleic) lunch might be parsley soup with another buckwheat roll and a smear of goat's cheese. Dinner at 6pm is just broth, which you "eat" with a teaspoon.

On day four, breakfast and dinner are the same but guests graduate to a small though tasty lunch. That might be basil gnocchi with vegetables and mozzarella, a sushi bowl or, once a week, beef.

The diet is intentionally bland to give your digestive system a rest and your brain a reset. You sit at the same table for every meal without phones. You shuffle in a bathrobe down corridors – being smiled at by staff every five steps – to fabulous massages. It's alarming how quickly you become institutionalised.

The Mayr Method was invented by the Austrian gastroenterologist Franz Xaver Mayr. He was obsessed with gut health, and unrelentingly strict. His guests had to commit to three weeks of nothing but milk and stale bread, with the instruction to chew each mouthful at least 40 times, because 15 per cent of digestion should take place in the mouth to give the stomach's gastric juices the best chance at breaking down food efficiently.

These days, guests at Lake Worth have it "easy". You need only stay a week, the bread is freshly made and the advice is to chew mouthfuls until liquefied rather than count to 40, and those suffering acute caffeine withdrawal may even be prescribed a "medical-expresso" to counter crippling headaches.

There's another compulsory element – daily Epsom salts. They draw water into the gut, flushing food through, dramatically, sometimes inopportunely – sneezing or coughing can be risky. Fortunately, the brilliant head physician Dr Ursula Muntean-Rock

prescribed me a benignly low dosage because my health screening results were good. Her medical advice is second to none, the therapists are knowledgeable and, though the decor is old fashioned, the ambience is so nurturing that I can see why it's an A-list favourite.

Mayr's food concept has inspired spas including the Lanserhof group, which has three properties in Germany and Austria (lanserhof.com). When I stayed at the

Lanserhof Tegernsee in Bavaria, where the architecture is as minimalist as the meals, I was allowed salt in my food. My doctor joked that broth-only guests would try to buy "treats" from me.

Elsewhere, the detox food philosophy has been sprinkled with glitz. To my mind, the least painful experience is at Palazzo Fiuggi in Italy. The chef Heinz Beck, who runs the three Michelin-starred La Pergola in Rome, also leads the Fiuggi kitchen, where he focuses on gut health and concentrates on high-protein, low-carb dishes, with guests having between 1,200-1,800 calories a day. Snap features regularly, but dinners of gaspacho, aubergine tartare, chicken breast with spinach and parsnip, then ice cream feel like a feast (palazzofiuggi.com).

While I can't argue with the scientific evidence in favour of intermittent fasting or the proselytising praise of fellow guests, hunger pangs are not my thing. Detox spas work well if you want a return to factory settings and a weight-loss kick-start, but be warned, juice and raw food get boring very quickly and the weight often comes back

fast. If, like me, you're confident your liver, kidneys et al already have your detox needs covered, spas offering healthy eating and normal portions will bring greater long-term benefits.

I rate Como Hotels for "real" food. Its glamorous resorts serve dishes that are low in salt and sugar and additive-free. Its "lasagne" with aubergine and lentils is delicious. You'll never feel hungry and may even lose a few pounds (comohotels.com).

I also love a fitness spa where, to power you through exercise, you're always fed well. Yeotown, which has resorts in Devon and Madeira, is my go-to. Its menus tend towards the plant-based and are flavour-packed and nutrient-dense, and its hardcore hikes in spectacular landscapes are exhilarating (yeotown.com).

Remember the Hippocrates quote "Let food be thy medicine" and be a winner without ever entering the Hunger Games.

Susan d'Arcy was a guest of the Original Mayr Medical Resort, which has full-board doubles from £240pp and six nights' full board from £2,740pp on a detox programme with medical diagnostics and treatments (original-mayr.com). Fly to Ljubljana

This month...

• I've upgraded my spa wardrobe with stylish swimwear and covetable cover-ups from the ethical British brands Pacilita (pacilita.co.uk) and Paper London (paperlondon.com).
• I've been sober-curious. New non-alcoholic faves include the sparkling rosé

from Amie (£16; drinkamie.com), the negroni substitute Botivo (£28; botivodrinks.com) and Believe by Jukes, a citrusy sip with apple cider vinegar (£12; jukescordialities.com).

• I've been protecting my oral microbiome thanks to Suri, an electric toothbrush with a built-in UV cleaning function in its charging case that kills 99.9 per cent of bacteria (£105; trysuri.com).

In honour of Anthony Bourdain – the badass chef turned author and travel documentary-maker whose early years are immortalised in the film Tony, released this week – this column is going to be structured in reverse.

My favourite episode of his acclaimed CNN series Parts Unknown, which spotlighted the culture and cuisine of a particular city or country in each episode, documents a trip to Seoul in 2015. In a perfect example of form reflecting subject matter, it starts with the next-day hangover and staggers backwards to show how his night spun out of control.

So here's the conclusion. What or where Bourdain ate doesn't matter. He believed that good food could be found anywhere. His greatest

HUW OLIVER

Anthony Bourdain changed how we travel

legacy is how he ate. Every episode of Parts Unknown and its predecessor No Reservations is testament to his empathetic approach: listen to people over a meal, find out about the history of the place, be spontaneous, and if the vibe is right, get wrecked. Yes, this tended to be in backstreet bars and cafés you'd never stumble on, but the stewy stuff he ate would often be incidental. He opened viewers' eyes to travelling off the beaten track,

from Uruguay to the Democratic Republic of Congo, showing it was the fortuitous encounters with strangers that would endure in the memory. Take the episode in West Virginia: it's not intended as a travel guide but shows methods of engaging with a part of the US, as Bourdain puts it, many people consider to be "the heart of God, guns and Trump country – the existential enemy"). Go to a football game; brave that dive bar,

talk to the ex-miners at the next table, ask what they think of gun ownership. You may be surprised what you learn (and how delicious spaghetti pizza is).

Since Bourdain's death by suicide in 2018 the internet has become oversaturated with sites that chronicle the thousands of businesses he visited around the world. Many of the food stalls and hole-in-the-walls he raved about, such as Banh Mi Phuong in Vietnam (whose baguettes were "a symphony in a sandwich"), were then swamped with tourists. The queues for crab at the Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco (his "happy zone") got even longer. One of the first results that comes up on Google when you search for the Roma Sparta restaurant (whose cacio e pepe served in a parmesan crisp shell he called the "greatest thing in

the history of the world") is a blog post titled "From hit list to shit list", which claims the food quality declined after No Reservations made it famous.

But this isn't what Bourdain was about. He said he was against itineraries and mistakes were the most important part of travel. As his shows became more successful, he withheld the names of small restaurants for fear of ruining them. He became an anti-influencer.

This leads me to the scene-setting. It had been a night of full cultural immersion with a group of Korean salarymen, and Bourdain has flashbacks. An uncomfortable back scrub. Karaoke and drinking games. Fried chicken, noodles, oysters perhaps? It evokes some of the best, hazily recollected nights of my own life – in Helsinki, Vilnius, Rotterdam. No idea what I consumed either.

---

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5★ ADULTS-ONLY CRUISING

Intimate and luxurious, Oceania Marina hosts no more than 1,250 guests, creating an atmosphere that feels effortlessly refined and personal. This boutique scale allows for generous space, attentive service, and a relaxed rhythm that larger ships simply cannot replicate.

Open seating dining and uncrowded teak decks, and ocean-view lounges foster a sense of calm sophistication. The Finest Cuisine at Sea* defines the Oceania Cruises experience. Their culinary program celebrates the ingredients, techniques, and traditions of the world's great culinary regions - reflecting the destinations they visit. From sourcing premium artisanal ingredients from around the world, to the spacious state-of-the-art galleys and their distinguished chefs who are continually inspired by their Executive Culinary Directors and Master Chefs of France, Alexis Quaretti and Eric Barale.

14 NIGHTS DEPARTING 8TH JUNE 2027

JUNE 2027

Tue 8 Embark the elegant 5★ Oceania Marina and depart Southampton for your adults-only voyage

Thu 10 Skagen, Denmark

Fri 11 Copenhagen, Denmark

Sun 13 Stockholm, Sweden

★Recommended Excursion*: Highlights of Stockholm & Vasa Museum

Enjoy an orientation drive through Sweden's watery, wonderful capital city, passing sights like the Royal Palace, the Royal Opera House and the Swedish Parliament Building. Then, tour the Vasa Museum, where the world's oldest complete ship sits reassembled after 333 years under water

Mon 14 Helsinki, Finland

Tue 15 Tallinn, Estonia (depart early pm)

Wed 16 Riga, Latvia

Thu 17 Visby, Sweden (depart early pm)

Fri 18 Berlin (from Warnemünde), Germany

Sat 19 Aarhus, Denmark

Tue 22 Arrive in Southampton

Dates not mentioned are spent relaxing at sea

YOUR EXCLUSIVE ROL CRUISE FARES

STATION/DISPUTE	GRADE*	ROLL FARE (PP)	ROL CRUISE FARE (PP)
Inside	F	£5,829	£3,899
Deluxe Ocean View	C	- SOLD OUT -
Veranda	B4	£7,319	£5,059
Concierge Veranda	A4	£7,649	£5,299
Penthouse Suite	PH3	£9,249	£6,559

WHAT'S INCLUDED

IN YOUR ROL CRUISE SALE

EXCLUSIVE SAVINGS OF UP TO 30%*

FARES WILL INCREASE 8PM 23RD AUGUST 2026

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✓ 5★ adults-only luxury cruising on board the elegant Oceania Marina, including**:

• FREE House Drinks Package – including Champagne, wine & beer during meal times OR

• FREE up to $800 shore excursion credit

• FREE gratuities & Wi-Fi for all bookings

• FREE speciality dining for all bookings

• Experience "The Finest Cuisine at Sea" with multiple open-seating speciality dining venues at no additional charge

• FREE soft drinks, bottled water and speciality coffees

• FREE room service 24-hours a day

• FREE shuttles from the pier to city centre in most ports of call

EARN EXCLUSIVE CRUISE MILES*

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---

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BOOK BY 8PM 22ND AUGUST 2026 FOR AN EXTRA DISCOUNT OF UP TO £475*

9 NIGHTS DEPARTING 5TH NOVEMBER 2027

A similar voyage available operating in reverse departing on 12th November 2027 with a two night stay in Barcelona - Please call for further details

November 2027

Fri 5 Fly in BUSINESS CLASS from London to Rome, Italy

Upon arrival, transfer to a 5★ hotel for your FREE two-night hotel stay, including breakfast

Sat 6 Rome, Italy

Spend your time exploring at leisure

Sun 7 Rome, Italy

Transfer to the port and embark the ultra-luxurious Silver Nova for your seven night all-inclusive voyage

Mon 8 Livorno (Tuscany), Italy

Tue 9 Genoa, Italy

Wed 10 Toulon, France

Fri 12 Cartagena, Spain

Sat 13 Valencia, Spain

This vibrant city boasts futuristic architecture, such as the stunning City of Arts and Sciences, alongside its historic treasures like the bustling Central Market and the iconic Valencia Cathedral

Sun 14 Barcelona, Spain

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your BUSINESS CLASS flight to London

Date not mentioned will be spent relaxing at sea

SUITE	GRADE	FULL RATE (PP)	ROL CRUISE FARE (PP)
Classic Veranda Suite	CV	£6,599	£3,699
Deluxe Veranda Suite	DX	£7,999	£4,699
Silver Suite	SL	£13,599	£10,099
Master Suite	MS	£15,899	£11,799
Owner's Suite	O1	£22,299	£16,699

Solo fares are available from £6,799

Locally payable taxes/fees of £34.14 per room will apply based on current rates

WHAT'S INCLUDED

BUSINESS CLASS FLIGHTS INCLUDED FOR ALL BOOKINGS

FREE two night 5★ hotel stay in Rome included*

• SEVEN NIGHTS ALL-INCLUSIVE cruising on board the ultra-luxurious Silver Nova, including**:

• INCLUDED Unlimited Wi-Fi & Gratuities

• INCLUDED Butler service for all suites
• INCLUDED Premium Drinks in-suite and throughout the ship, including champagne, selected wines and spirits, plus your own tailored minibar replenished daily
• Superlative service with a staff-to-guest ratio of nearly 1:1
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• Multiple restaurants, diverse cuisine, open-seating dining
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Your Holiday Includes

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46 night full-board cruise on board Queen Anne

Visiting: Southampton, Ponta Delgada, Port Canaveral, Miami, Cartagena, Panama Canal, Puerto Quetzal, Manzanillo, Los Angeles (overnight in port), Kona, Honolulu, Lautoka, Sydney

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Visiting: Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City®, Huế, Hong Kong

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Complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages

Access to the Thalassotherapy pool and spa deck

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Scenic rail journey from Kandy to Nanuoya

Complimentary Escorted Tours

Traditional Sri Lankan lunch at a local

farmer's house, National Park jeep safari at either Minneriya National Park or Kaudulla National Park®, Sigiriya Rock Fortress, Private Spice Garden, Temple of the Tooth featuring the sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha, Royal Botanical Garden visit and more

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Five-star hotel stays in Negombo, Dambulla and Colombo

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All hotel stays include breakfast

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Sunday, August 16, 2026

IMMERSIVE EXPEDITION

EXPLORE THE FALKLANDS DURING AN IMMERSIVE THREE-DAY EXPERIENCE

COMPLIMENTARY FIVE NIGHT IGUAZU FALLS TOUR WORTH £1,500 PER COUPLE

PREMIUM DRINKS, WORLD-CLASS DINING AND WIFI INCLUDED

Ultra-Luxury Seabourn South America and Falkland Islands Expedition Voyage with Iguazu Falls

22 Nights

March 16, 2027

SEABOURN

Embark on an extraordinary journey to the far reaches of South America, where discovery and adventure meet the effortless luxury of Seabourn Venture.

Your Holiday Includes

Escorted Tours

Tour of Christ the Redeemer and walking tour of Iguazu Falls from the Brazilian and Argentinian sides

All-Inclusive Cruise

14 night all-inclusive ultra-luxury cruise on board Seabourn Venture

Visiting: Ushuaia, Falkland Islands*, Puerto Madryn, Montevideo, Balneário Camboriú, Rio de Janeiro

Complimentary premium spirits and fine wines available on board

Complimentary World-class dining and culinary experiences

Zodiac® boat expeditions to inaccessible polar regions

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Five-star hotel stays in Rio de Janeiro and Iguazu with breakfast

Four-star hotel stays in Iguazu and Buenos Aires with breakfast

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13 Nights

June 10, 2027

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Unveil the natural beauty of Europe with an iconic Venice Simplon-Orient-Express rail journey, combined with three nights in Lake Garda and a lavish voyage on board Queen Elizabeth.

Your Holiday Includes

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Visiting: Barcelona, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Ajaccio, La Spezia, Civitavecchia

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Sunday, August 16, 2026

All-Inclusive South America Celebrity Cruise with Machu Picchu and Iguazu Falls

29 Nights

Jan - Feb, 2028

Celebrity X Cruises

Embark on the journey of a lifetime – an extraordinary bucket-list odyssey unveiling South America's vibrant soul and the pristine majesty of Antarctica.

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14 night all-inclusive cruise on board Celebrity Equinox®

Visiting: Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Cape Horn (scenic cruising), Antarctica (scenic cruising), Elephant Island (scenic cruising), Port Stanley, Puerto Madryn, Montevideo, Buenos Aires

Includes classic drinks package and wifi

Escorted Tours

Sacred Valley tour including: Salt Mines of Maras and Moray and Ollantaytambo Ruin

Expedition train to Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu tour

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Overnight flights

HOLIDAY CODE: AME8344

INSIDE FROM* £7,499pp	OCEAN VIEW FROM* £8,299pp
VERANDA FROM* £8,999pp	CONCIERGE CLASS FROM* £9,699pp

Book with Confidence

ABTA

ABTA No. 95.000

Trustpilot

MEDIAN

✓ Trusted Worldwide

✓ Financial Protection

✓ 15 Years of Experience

EST. 2011

IMAGINE

CRUISING®

Call us on

0808 271 3806

Mon - Sun: 9am - 8pm

Visit us online

thetimes.com/imaginecruising

For full terms and conditions please visit thetimes.com/imaginecruising. Prices are correct at the time of print and are subject to change. Operated by and subject to the booking conditions of Imagine Cruising, a company wholly independent of News UK. Imagine Cruising are fully ABTA and ATOL bonded. Prices are per person based on two adults sharing a cruise cabin and include flights from London (regional flights available at a supplement). Holiday duration includes overnight flights when applicable and is subject to change. *Prices and itinerary shown are based on January 7, 2028 departure. Ocean View price is based on February 5, 2028 departure.

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Sunday, August 16, 2026

IMAGINE CRUISING

TIMES Travel Partner

VERANDA PROMOTION

11 NIGHTS

FROM AN INCREDIBLE

£3,899pp*

View this holiday online by scanning the QR code or search the code on our website.

INCLUDES PREMIUM DRINKS, WORLD-CLASS DINING AND WIFI

SAIL ON BOARD SIX-STAR SEABOURN OVATION IN A VERANDA SUITE

COMPLIMENTARY THREE-NIGHT BARBADOS HOTEL STAY

LIMITED TIME OFFER

18 NIGHTS

FROM AN INCREDIBLE

£3,199pp*

SAVE UP TO £2,000 PER COUPLE

COMPLIMENTARY HOTEL STAY IN BARBADOS

Ultra-Luxury All-Inclusive Seabourn Caribbean Voyage and Barbados Escape

11 Nights

Nov, 2026 - Mar, 2027

SEABOURN

Your Holiday Includes

All-Inclusive Cruise

Seven-night all-inclusive ultra-luxury cruise on board Seabourn Ovation

Visiting*: Bridgetown, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Terre-de-Haut, Saint Pierre, Roseau, Rodney Bay, Bridgetown

Complimentary caviar offered throughout your voyage

Complimentary Hotel Stay

Three-night four-star hotel stay in Barbados at the Hilton Barbados Resort with breakfast

All Flights and Transfers

Overnight flight

HOLIDAY CODE: AME8376

VERANDA SUITE (V1) FROM*	VERANDA SUITE (V2) FROM*	VERANDA SUITE (V3) FROM*	PENTHOUSE SUITE FROM*
£3,899pp	£3,999pp	£4,199pp	£5,999pp

Holiday duration includes overnight flights when applicable and is subject to change. *Prices and itinerary shown are based on December 9, 2026 departure. Veranda Suite (V2) and Veranda Suite (V3) prices are based on November 25, 2026 departure.

All-Inclusive Azamara Eastern Caribbean Voyage and Barbados Retreat

18 - 20 Nights

Nov - Dec, 2026

Your Holiday Includes

All-Inclusive Cruise

14 night all-inclusive cruise on board Azamara Journey*

Visiting*: Bridgetown, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Sint Maarten, Tortola, San Juan, Virgin Gorda, Antigua and Barbuda, Martinique, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint George's, Tobago, Barbados

Includes alcoholic and

non-alcoholic beverages, house spirits, wine and international beers

Pre-paid gratuities and AzAmazing Evenings event

Complimentary Hotel Stay

Three-night four-star hotel stay in Barbados with breakfast

All Flights and Transfers

Overnight flight

HOLIDAY CODE: AME8278

INTERIOR FROM*	OCEANVIEW FROM*	VERANDA FROM*	VERANDA PLUS FROM*
£3,199pp	£3,499pp	£4,199pp	£5,999pp

Prices, duration and itinerary shown are based on November 11, 2026 departure. Prices shown include discount and savings based on two passengers sharing, booking directly with Imagine Cruising.

EST. 2011

IMAGINE

CRUISING

Book with Confidence

15 Years of Experience

ABTA

ABTA No. 18-002

Trustpilot

Call us on

0808 271 3806

Mon - Sun: 9am - 8pm

Visit us online

thetimes.com/imaginecruising

For full terms and conditions please visit thetimes.com/imaginecruising. Prices are correct at the time of print and are subject to change. Operated by and subject to the booking conditions of Imagine Cruising, a company wholly independent of News UK. Imagine Cruising are fully ABTA and ATOL blended. Prices are per person based on two adults sharing a cruise cabin or suite and include flights from London (regional flights available at a supplement). Holiday duration includes overnight flights when applicable and is subject to change.

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TIMES Travel Partner

IMAGINE CRUISING

Sunday, August 16, 2026

Mystic Mosaic: Grand Tour of Ancient Türkiye with Luxury Cunard Mediterranean Voyage

18 Nights

September, 2027

Your Holiday Includes

Escorted Tours

İstanbul city tour including the Blue Mosque, Hippodrome Square, Hagia Sophia and Grand Bazaar, Troy ancient city, Cotton Castle, Thermal Baths, Cappadocia, and more

Full-Board Cruise

Visiting: Barcelona, Messina Strait*, Athens,

Dardanelles Strait**, İstanbul (overnight in port),

Hotel Stays

Four-star hotel stays in Barcelona, İstanbul, Çanakkale, Kuşadası, Pamukkale and Konya

Five-star hotel stay in Cappadocia

All hotel stays include breakfast+

All Flights and Transfers

HOLIDAY CODE: EUR2364

INSIDE FROM* £2,999pp

OCEANVIEW FROM* £3,399pp

BALCONY FROM* £3,799pp

GRILL SUITE FROM* £5,399pp

Images are solely illustrative of the destination, and do not necessarily feature activities included in your cruise or recommended by Imagine Cruising. Prices, duration and itinerary shown are based on September 29, 2027 departure. *Scenic cruising, +Konya and Çanakkale hotels also include dinner. ++Scenic cruising.

EXCEPTIONAL VALUE

18 NIGHTS FROM AN INCREDIBLE £1,499pp SAVE UP TO £1,000 PER COUPLE

INCLUDES ONE-NIGHT LOS ANGELES HOTEL STAY

OFFER EXTENDED - BOOK BY AUGUST 28, 2026

Hawaiian Islands Discovery with Princess Cruises from Los Angeles

18 Nights

Jan - Feb, 2027

Your Holiday Includes

Full-Board Cruise

16 night full-board cruise on board Emerald Princess*

Visiting*: Los Angeles, Hilo, Honolulu, Kona, Kauai, Ensenada, Los Angeles

Hotel Stay

One-night four-star stay in Los Angeles

Upgrade Available

Enhance your experience on board Emerald Princess* with Princess

Plus from £50pp per day including MedallionNet Max wifi, Plus Beverage Package, four casual dining meals per guest, OceanNow* delivery and more

All Flights

Overnight flight

Prefer to begin your journey in San Francisco? Sail onboard Ruby Princess* from £1,699pp

PRINCESS

HOLIDAY CODE: AME8373

INTERIOR FROM** £1,499pp

OCEANVIEW FROM** £1,699pp

BALCONY FROM** £2,199pp

MINI-SUITE FROM** £3,199pp

Prices and itinerary shown are based on January 8, 2027 departure. Mini-Suite price shown is based on February 25, 2027 departure. *Prices shown include discount and savings based on two passengers sharing an interior cabin, demolition February 9, 2027, backlog directly with Imagine Cruising.

EST. 2011 IMAGINE CRUISING

Book with Confidence 15 Years of Experience

ABTA ABTA No. 10,000 Trustpilot

Call us on 0808 271 3806 Mon - Sun: 9am - 8pm

For full terms and conditions please visit thetimes.com/imaginecruising. Prices are correct at the time of print and are subject to change. Operated by and subject to the booking conditions of Imagine Cruising, a company wholly independent of News UK. Imagine Cruising are fully ABTA and ATOL bonded. Prices are per person based on two adults sharing a cruise cabin or suite and include flights from London (regional flights available at a supplement). Holiday duration includes overnight flights when applicable and is subject to change.

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Sunday, August 16, 2026

IMAGINE CRUISING

TIMES Travel Partner

EXCLUSIVE PROMOTION

TEN NIGHTS FROM AN INCREDIBLE

£2,499pp*

SAVE UP TO £4,000 PER COUPLE*

UNCOVER THE SECRETS OF EGYPT ON EXPERT-LED TOURS

SELLING FAST

DRINKS AT MEALTIMES, GRATUITIES AND WIFI INCLUDED**

EXCLUSIVE PROMOTION

14 NIGHTS

BALCONY PRICES FROM £2,499pp++

SAVE OVER 52%**

ENJOY GUIDED TOURS THROUGHOUT YOUR HOLIDAY

DRINKS WITH MEALS, GRATUITIES, AND WIFI INCLUDED

Treasures of Egypt: Immersive River Nile Cruise and Five-Star Cairo Escape

🕒 Ten Nights

🕒 Sep, 2026 - Apr, 2028

Your Holiday Includes

Fully Escorted Tours

Giza Plateau including the Pyramids and Sphinx, Grand Egyptian Museum, Luxor Temple, Dendera Temple Complex, Esna Temple, Temple of Horus, High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk, Philae Temple, Felucca Sailing on the Nile, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo Temple, and more

Full-Board River Cruise

Seven-night full-board river cruise on board Travelmarvel Sirius

Visiting: Luxor, Esna, Edfu, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Luxor*

Includes drinks with all meals, gratuities and wifi

Luxury Hotel Stay

Three-night five-star stay in Cairo at the Cairo Marriott Hotel and Omar Khayyam Casino with breakfast and welcome dinner

All Flights and Transfers

London departure - regional flights available

HOLIDAY CODE: AFR7393

DELUXE CABIN FROM

£2,499pp

PREMIUM CABIN FROM

£4,299pp

PHARACH SUITE FROM

£4,799pp

Prices and itinerary shown are based on September 12, 2026 departure. Premium Cabin price shown is based on February 27, 2027 departure. Pharaoh Suite price shown is based on April 10, 2027 departure. Prices shown include discount and savings based on two passengers sharing a Deluxe Cabin, departing November 7, 2026, booking directly with Imagine Cruising. +Overnight in port. *Drinks with meals are included during the Nile cruise portion of your holiday only and do not extend to your hotel stay in Cairo.

Treasures of Cambodia and Vietnam: Immersive Mekong River Cruise

🕒 14 Nights

🕒 Sep, 2026 - Feb, 2027

Your Holiday Includes

Escorted Tours

Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Mekong Delta, Mekong River, Cambodian Villages and Ho Chi Minh City

Full-Board Cruise

Seven-night full-board cruise on board RV Lotus Includes drinks with all meals, gratuities and wifi

Visiting**: Siem Reap, Angkor Ban, Oknha Tey, Phnom Penh, Oudong, Koh Chen, Phnom Penh (overnight in port), Tân

Châu, Sa Đéc, Cái Bè, My Tho, Ho Chi Minh City

Luxury Hotel Stays

Two-night five-star hotel stay in Ho Chi Minh City

Three-night five-star hotel stay in Siem Reap

All Flights and Transfers

Overnight flights

HOLIDAY CODE: ASA8599

DELUXE TWIN BALCONY SUITE FROM**

£2,499pp

SADEC TWIN BALCONY SUITE FROM**

£3,199pp

**Prices shown include discount and savings based on two passengers sharing a Deluxe Twin Balcony Suite, booking directly with Imagine Cruising. ++Prices and itinerary shown are based on September 25, 2026 departure.

EST. 1011

IMAGINE

CRUISING*

Book with Confidence

15 Years of Experience

ABTA ABTA No. 16303

Trustpilot

Call us on

0808 271 3806

Mon - Sun: 9am - 8pm

Visit us online

thetimes.com/imaginecruising

For full terms and conditions please visit thetimes.com/imaginecruising. Prices are correct at the time of print and are subject to change. Operated by and subject to the booking conditions of Imagine Cruising, a company wholly independent of News UK. Imagine Cruising are fully ABTA and ATOL bonded. Prices are per person based on two adults sharing a cruise cabin or suite and include flights from London (regional flights available at a supplement).