Tetiana Bubynets collapsed on the asphalt after a Russian drone exploded at a gas station in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.

Despite the violent shockwave and blast of drone shrapnel produced by the attack on July 6, the 18-year-old accounting student had no visible wounds except for a nosebleed.

She was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead shortly after, alongside two other civilians, aged 41 and 48.

One of her lecturers, Tetiana Melikhova of Zaporizhzhia National University, said Bubynets was an only child and that her mother “lost the meaning of life” after she died.

“She couldn’t speak. At the funeral, she just lay on the coffin; she couldn’t let her child go,” Melikhova told Al Jazeera.

The strike that killed Bubynets was the first recorded case of Russia’s use of a fully autonomous attack drone powered by artificial intelligence (AI), according to a New York Times analysis.

While drone strikes have hammered Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukrainian officials who examined the wreckage found the unmanned vehicle to be unlike others.

In place of an antenna, it featured an AI-powered minicomputer sold commercially by US technology company Nvidia, which rendered it capable of directing itself to the type of target it was programmed to spot – likely propane tanks in this case – lock on to it and proceed to strike.

AI-powered drones are the tip of the iceberg as Russia and Ukraine race towards boosting tech infrastructure aimed at coordinating reconnaissance and attack, according to analysts.

“It’s not about a drone having AI in it, and then seeing something and striking,” Marina Miron, researcher at the defence studies department at King’s College London, said. “Rather, it’s the drone seeing something, communicating to a software complex which knows how to map the GPS coordinates on a live battlefield map, and notifying the closest artillery unit.”

Referred to as reconnaissance-strike architecture, these unified battlefield management systems act like a central command. They track the location of friendly forces and identify enemy positions.

AI acts as the accelerator, instantly processing massive amounts of data collected through sensors in drones or any other military products, including interceptor missiles or artillery units.

The tactical advantage on the battlefield is given by the system’s ability to compress the kill chain – meaning coordinating and distributing the intelligence to military assets on the ground to find, track and destroy targets in a matter of minutes.

In such an ecosystem, AI-powered automated drones are just pieces of a broader puzzle.

Ukraine is known to be developing its system, which it named DELTA. Following operational trials in late 2025, Russia has been rolling out its version, the Svod Tactical Situational Awareness Complex, to front-line units.

Both sides claim that once the battlefield data is processed, a decision support system (DSS) presents a military commander with options to choose from, keeping a human in the decision-making loop, said Miron.

“In how far that is true is, of course, impossible to find out,” she added.

Acknowledging full AI autonomy would provoke ethical and legal questions.

Even if humans were to retain final decision-making authority, research has shown AI systems subtly shape choices, predetermining outcomes.

“Under time and pressure, commanders often do as AI suggests,” said Miron, whose research focuses on military AI and remotely piloted and autonomous systems.

Towards full automation

Coordinated AI-powered military systems are the next frontier of modern warfare, said Serhiy Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian Ministry of Defence adviser on loitering munitions, known by his callsign Flash.

“That’s what it will all come to,” he posted on his Telegram channel on July 1. “Navigation, search for a target, and attacks will be fully autonomous.”

Drones with some autonomous capabilities are already being deployed at scale.

Heorhii Volkov, commander of Ukraine’s Yasni Ochi drone strike unit, said this is currently mostly used in the final phase of long-distance strikes, where first-person view (FPV) drones are likely to lose radio connection due to electronic warfare or the curvature of the Earth.

The use of AI in so-called last-mile operations solves this battlefield hitch. If the signal is lost, an integrated AI-enabled onboard module takes full control of the unmanned vehicle, autonomously locks on the target and carries the strike to completion.

Yaroslav Azhnyuk, founder of Ukrainian technology company The Fourth Law, which develops AI-powered autonomy software for unmanned vehicles, said Russia and Ukraine were working to deploy a wider range of autonomous systems.

“This is not simply a race to demonstrate a fully autonomous drone. It is a race to make autonomy reliable, affordable and deployable at scale,” Azhnyuk told Al Jazeera. “Electronic warfare, increasingly long engagement distances and the growing number of drones are making human-controlled systems less sufficient. Autonomy solves exactly these constraints.”

Azhnyuk believes autonomy will become a game-changer over the next six to 12 months.

“The decisive advantage will belong to the side that can deploy reliable autonomy across tens or hundreds of thousands of systems, not just demonstrate it in prototypes,” he said.

Kateryna Bondar, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), noted the dangers of AI’s reliance on algorithms.

“The system doesn’t understand what it’s doing; it’s just following the algorithm and the rules which people created,” said Bondar, who works at the CSIS’s Wadhwani AI Center. “AI has to be trained to recognise targets and engage these targets,” but writing code that distinguishes between a bus and a tank is easier than between a Russian and a Ukrainian soldier.

Additionally, cost-effective FPV drones have low-quality cameras and their resolution can be lowered further by adverse atmospheric conditions.

Military units using autonomous systems therefore “delegate the decision to a very imperfect technology that cannot distinguish between a civilian and a military person, combatant or non-combatant”, Bondar said.

“This is why there is a conversation around who makes a decision and who has responsibility for mistakes and errors.”

RIYADH: The performing arts in the Kingdom is undergoing a transformation driven by cultural investment, new venues, international collaboration, and a growing network of local professional and academic institutions, making it tempting for young Saudis to pursue.

While academic study in the field is comparatively new, Saudi theatrical production is not. The Kingdom has long produced recognized theater throughout the Gulf and regionally, but many practitioners studied overseas.

Today, Saudi Arabia is localizing the education of its creative talent through academic and professional training in the country.

Since 2020, Saudi has dedicated a Theater and Performing Arts Commission to regulate and develop a sector encompassing theater, dance, circus, improvisational comedy, street performance, ballet and opera.

Not only through training but also national competitions and workshops.

Undergraduate programs are offered at King Saud University, Princess Nourah University and most recently the Riyadh University of Arts. While the Royal Institute of Traditional Arts provides postgraduate and diploma-level education, Scene Institute, and Ithra have further professional training.

As Saudi universities begin their academic year, many students are continuing their conventional degrees. Other creatives are pursuing their passions academically, making the most of the opportunities the Kingdom has to offer.

Osama Almutairi, a final-year Bachelor of Arts in Theater student at King Saud University, spoke to Arab News about the feasibility of his academic choice.

“My love and passion for the arts, particularly theater, naturally led me to this specialization.”

Theater was not his first choice. “I initially considered studying political science but was accepted into theater as part of the first cohort at the College of Arts,” he said.

“Despite my initial interest in pursuing a conventional degree in the humanities, the continuous development of Saudi Arabia’s arts sector encouraged me to take this step.”

Saudi Arabia has been taking proactive measures while localizing performing arts scholarships.

The Ministry of Culture has been running a fully funded Cultural Scholarship Program that supports creative specializations at 278 approved institutions across 15 countries, including performing arts.

One beneficiary is Majed Al-Muwallad, an actor and theater teacher at Afaq Academy, who completed his Bachelors in Theater Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London.

“I travelled to London in 2021. During my studies, I participated in several theatrical productions, ranging from small projects to larger, more academically oriented university productions.

“I had loved acting since I was about 14 years old. I loved films, acting, stories and dramatic texts. When the scholarship opportunity appeared, I thought: ‘Why should I let this opportunity pass?’ I decided to take it.”

Al-Muwallad said he left a job at Aramco to pursue his childhood dream, although members of his community were uncertain about his unconventional choice.

“They were not sure about the professional opportunities available or where such a career could lead,” he said.

“It was a major career change, and leaving Aramco to pursue acting was an unfamiliar idea. People do not usually leave Aramco to become actors,” he added.

Now that he has graduated and is teaching Saudi youth to act, Al-Muwallad believes it was a good decision.

He is even considering pursuing a master’s degree in the performing arts, specifically in performance design. For him, the opportunities are not limited to acting. He hopes to build on his studies in costume, lighting and set design.

“Every theatrical production needs design. It requires a set, costumes and lighting. Rather than limiting myself to the acting and performance side of theater, I would like to develop expertise in design and contribute to the audience’s overall visual experience.”

Almutairi believes perceptions will continue to change as Saudi artists demonstrate the value of academic training.

“The future is wide open for the arts and artists. Society’s perception will continue to change as academically trained Saudi artists demonstrate their ability to represent their communities and country.

“This change is already becoming evident, with society playing an increasingly important role in supporting the success of Saudi artists nationally and internationally.”

For Al-Muwallad, theater should be approached holistically — not only as a career or degree, but also as a journey of self-discovery.

“I learned a great deal before I even began teaching the students. I had to learn how to communicate theatrical knowledge and present information in a way students could understand.

“The experience has taught me a lot about communication and how to identify students’ talents. Theater teaches communication and helps students discover themselves.”

Al-Muwallad encourages young people in Saudi Arabia to pursue their passions academically. “My advice is not to treat university as merely a stage that you pass through and finish,” he said.

“Students should engage with the experience deeply and benefit from it in every possible way.”

He said soft skills can be learned through theater, including communication, emotional intelligence and teamwork.

“Another piece of advice we were always given in London was to always ask questions. A question produces an answer, and that answer often generates another question.

“Asserting that openness and eagerness to learn is vital to a good actor, theater itself is founded on curiosity.

“Students should watch a wide variety of theater and explore different traditions, including Arab, English, Greek and Russian theater, as well as influential approaches such as Russian (theatre practitioner Konstantin) Stanislavski’s.”

On Saudi having a relatively emerging academic orientation to performing arts, Almuwallad sees it as a big opportunity rather than a challenge or a barrier.

“Saudi Arabia is still developing in this field, which means students now have an opportunity to participate in shaping it. What they create can become visible and make an impact relatively quickly.”

“Students should recognize that they are important. They should not treat themselves as secondary characters in this development. They have the opportunity to play a central role because the field is still new.”

For Saudi youth choosing an arts degree over a safer, conventional path, there is an opportunity to turn passion into a profession, and ultimately shape the nation’s creative scene.

KILLER drug fentanyl has long had a vice-like grip on the US, devastating everyone from high profile celebrities to everyday families across the country.

Just today it was revealed that actress Hayden Panettiere, who died last month age 36, had allegedly taken a pill laced with fentanyl before she passed away.

The mum-of-one was found dead of a suspected overdose of oxycodone at a luxury AirBnB in South Carolina on August 17 just days before her 37th birthday.

Cops are said to be “zeroing in” on her alleged long-term dealer from whom she is suspected to have purchased several black-market prescription drugs from.

Toxicology reports are still pending but, according to the US news outlet, the working theory within law enforcement is that it was the suspected fentanyl-laced oxycodone pill killed Hayden.

But she is far from the first celebrity to have succumbed to the drug.

TRUE MONSTER

Questions behind Netflix’s Lizzie Borden drama…’killer cover’ & ‘abuse probe’

WEB OF LIES

I overdosed just to get into hospital – what it’s like living with Munchausen’s

Others include music icon Prince, who died age 57 from an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2016, long before many had even heard of the drug.

Rappers Mac Miller and Coolio, rock star Tom Petty and actors Michael K Williams and Angus Cloud all lost their lives to the drug, while singer Demi Lovato survived but was left with life-changing side effects.

And the fentanyl crisis is showing no signs of going away as dealers use it to lace other drugs to maximise their profits.

A former NYPD chief of detectives James Essig explained: “Fentanyl is relatively cheap while heroin is expensive. 

“You take a kilo of heroin and then add in a tiny bit of fentanyl and stretch it out for more profitability.”

Fentanyl is an opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.

Opioid addiction became rife in America during the 90s when pharmaceutical companies flooded the market with super-strong painkillers.

But when the government began to crackdown in the 2000s, the Mexican drug cartels spotted a gap in the market and moved in with heroin, and before long they started adding fentanyl to juice up its potency.

Raymond Donovan, former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) chief of operations, says: “That really started the wave of the opioid crisis that we are in now. 

“Very quickly it went from increasing the strength of heroin to pure fentanyl. You had kilos coming across the south west border.

“The Mexican cartels started buying fentanyl directly from China, pressing it into pills and then selling it as if it was a known opioid, like something that was made by a scientist in a laboratory, but it is not, it is a fake pill.”

It was two years after Prince’s death when investigators finally released their findings.

They had found counterfeit Vicodin pills in his house, laced with fentanyl – but police were unable to establish who had provided the drugs.

Prince’s death put fentanyl in the headlines, but it wasn’t long before another famous name was tragically linked to the drug.

The following year rock n roll legend Tom Petty was found dead – and two forms of illicit fentanyl were found in his system. 

He was also using a medically supplied fentanyl patch for pain caused by a fractured hip.

His family released a statement saying they wanted his death to act as a wake-up call in a bid to save others from suffering their heartbreak.

But the opioid crisis was only just starting. In 2018 more than 30,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses – up by 10 per cent – and in July that year singer Demi Lovato almost lost her life.

The star had been open about her struggles with drug addiction and had been in and out of rehab.

Entertainment journalist Chris Witherspoon explains: “Despite years of sobriety Demi Lovato went out with some friends in Hollywood, ran into a dealer she knew and she got some heroin that was laced with fentanyl.”

Speaking about her ordeal Demi said: “I had three strokes, I had a heart attack. I suffered brain damage from the strokes. I can’t drive any more.

Her survival was down to being given the drug Narcan in hospital which helps to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

It was a huge wake-up call with celebrities including Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Ariana Grande sending her public messages of support.

But another celeb was not going to be as lucky as Demi. Just two months later rapper Mac Miller was found dead at the age of just 26.

Like Demi he had been open about his own struggles with addiction, writing about it in his music.

Investigators discovered he had been looking to buy oxycodone, but ended up with something laced with fentanyl.

Miller’s drug dealer and the men who supplied him with the drugs were later jailed.

But it isn’t just celebrities that have fallen victim to the fentanyl crisis sweeping America.

Thousands of ordinary families have been left grieving the deaths of their loved ones, too.

Matt Capelouto lost his college student daughter Alex to the drug in December 2019.

“We didn’t know anything about fentanyl at the time,” he says. “Lots of things were going through my head and this was a period of shock.”

Alex, 20, had contacted a drug dealer on Snapchat looking to buy the prescription painkiller Perocet.

But what he, in fact, delivered to her was counterfeit pills made with lethal doses of fentanyl.

“My daughter took half of one of these pills before going to bed and my wife found her dead in her bed the next morning,” says heartbroken Matt. 

“I wanted to find out who this drug dealer was. Who sold my daughter death?”

They eventually got into Alex’s phone and discovered the identity of the drug dealer.

But the family were told that the dealer was unlikely to face any charges as California does not have a death by dealer statute that holds dealers responsible for users’ deaths.

But the case was taken over for federal prosecution, which has a different burden of proof, and the dealer, Brandon McDowell, was charged with one count of distributing fentanyl resulting in death and jailed for nine years.

Matt says: “Locking up a drug dealer won’t bring my daughter back, but it will save someone else’s child.”

Michael K Williams, star of TV series The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, was the next celeb to lose their life after taking fentanyl-laced heroin in 2021.

He had been open about his battle with addiction, and just five days before his death spoke on a podcast about how acting offered him a road to recovery.

Two weeks after he passed away the New York City Medical Examiner said he died from an unintentional overdose from a deadly mix of drugs including fentanyl.

In April 2023, drug dealer Irvin Cartagena pleaded guilty to selling the mix of heroin and fentanyl to Williams that resulted in his death. He was jailed for 10 years.

In September 2021 comedian and presenter Kate Quigley went to a party in Venice, California, where she and her friends thought they were using cocaine, but it contained fentanyl.

Kate passed out, fell over and was unconscious for 17 hours. She woke up disorientated, unable to move her legs, and then made a harrowing discovery.

Three of her friends were lying dead; comedian Fuquan Johnson, Natalie Williamson and Enrico Colangeli had suffered fatal overdoses.

The dealer was never identified.

Washington Post reporter Nick Miroff says: “One of the many tragedies of the fentanyl epidemic in the United States is this repeat of mass overdose events.

“A group of friends partying together and they think they are buying cocaine or some other drug, and they don’t know that what they are buying is laced with fentanyl and because they don’t have any opioid tolerance, they drop dead. 

“So that’s why we have seen horrible crime scenes with three, four, five adults on the floor at a party where they have literally died in a couple of minutes.”

In July 2022, cops discerned a shocking new twist in the fentanyl story. 

The drug was now being used as a weapon by robbery gangs, and a famous fashion designer was one of their victims.

Katie Gallagher, who had designed for Rita Ora and Lady Gaga, was found dead in her bed.

Police told her parents that Katie had died from an overdose – but she had been murdered.

Detectives had uncovered a robbery crew that was using drugs laced with fentanyl to incapacitate victims before using facial recognition technology to open their phones and empty their bank accounts.

Police believed Katie had been given what she thought was cocaine, but it was laced with fentanyl.

Police arrested and charged Kenwood Allen, 33, in relation to five deaths and a drugging and robbery spree targeting a total of 21 victims. 

He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

In September 2022, rapper Coolio became the next victim of fentanyl. 

At first it was thought he had died of an asthma attack, but the medical examiner’s report revealed he had died from an accidental overdose of heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl.

The authorities are struggling to stop the flow of fentanyl from Mexico into the US.

The drug is so compact and so potent that it is easy for the cartels to smuggle it across the border.

In 2023, Homeland Security launched Operation Blue Lotus to try to stop the flood.

And the US targeted the Chinese suppliers that were selling fentanyl to the cartels.

But despite the Government efforts the fentanyl crisis continued to spread across America and claimed the life of yet another of Hollywood’s brightest stars.

Actor Angus Cloud was just 25 when he died at his family home in California.

He shot to fame playing a drug dealer in the hit series Euphoria. But his own struggle with addiction after suffering an ankle injury and losing his dad to cancer made him vulnerable.

He was found to have died of an accidental overdose of a cocktail of drugs, including fentanyl.

YOU’VE probably strolled past the Tower of London at least once – but did you know it’s the city’s oldest tourist attraction?

Parts of it have been open to the public since 1661, and it’s just started a new tour to meet eight of its feathery residents.

Called the Ravens Experience, the new early morning tour gives visitors a chance to meet all eight permanent residents, and early access to the tower itself.

The ravens are very important to the Tower of London as the legend is that if the birds ever leave, the country will fall to ruin.

Dubbed a ‘truly unique early mornings experience’, the new tour starts at 8.15am.

It begins with a 45-minute talk from a Yeoman Warder (a guardian of the Tower of London) about the ravens – before the cage is opened.

TOP MARKS

Cheap all inclusive hotels with brilliant Tripadvisor ratings – from £299pp

ISLE BE GOING

Sun Travel’s favourite islands from Europe’s Caribbean to a £2 wine paradise

Visitors can learn more about the ravens named Harris, Jubilee, Poppy, Edgar, Georgie, Chaos, Henry and Poe.

There’s a chance to take pictures and see them being released into the tower too.

The ticket also includes early entry to the Tower which means you skip the admission queue and are first in line as the Crown Jewels exhibition opens

And ticket holders get access to all public areas of the Tower of London.

Tickets for adults are £90, children between 5-16 are £50.00, concession tickets are £70 and under 5s go free – you have to book the tour in advance.

Building work first started work in 1078, so the historical attraction has been standing for almost 950 years.

Parts of it were first accessible since 1661 when the Crown Jewels were first put on display.

Other events at the Tower of London include Halloween special when the past will ‘creep back to life’.

There will be special visits from the ghostly past residents including a poet, pirate a queen, an astronomer – even a bear.

The Halloween trail is more family-friendly than scary and will take place between October 24 and November 1.

For those on Universal Credit, general admission tickets cost £1 each.

It was recently announced that the Tower of London will undergo a £70million project as it opens community spaces and learning centres.

CHEAP all inclusives aren’t just for Brits lucky enough to afford foreign holidays – there are some great value breaks with free food and drink in the UK too, if you delve deep enough.

Pay one price upfront and all your food, drinks, snacks and entertainment is provided on tap, meaning you can leave your wallet and your worries in your room – the issue is, most people have no idea they even exist.

All across the UK, secret staycation packages have started popping up with food and drink offers included in your booking.

The Sun’s Travel team have found some fab deals to book now, including autumn half term holidays and frugal festive breaks:

All prices are per person per night.

Butlin’s, Bognor Regis, £28pp a night

Famous for its family-friendly facilities, Redcoat entertainment and huge indoor waterpark, Butlin’s is now offering even more value for money with their new all-inclusive food and drinks bundles.

Available in Bognor Regis and Skegness, savvy guests can choose from a variety of packages starting with the budget-friendly Food Court deal, which includes both a buffet-style breakfast and dinner served in a sit-down restaurant.

Expect full English breakfast, an omelette bar, plus cereals and pastries and tea, coffee and juices.

Dinner options include a nightly roast option and dishes like piri-piri chicken and lasagne, as well as a salad and dessert bars – and it’s eat-all-you-want.

These cost £25.95 per day for adults (age 15 up), £15.50 for 6-14 year olds and £7.50 for 2-5 year olds, under 2’s go free.

You can also upgrade to slightly fancier options like Off-Peak Premium Dining, a time-restricted package in The Deck, The Yacht Club and Coast restaurants.

These cost £33.95 per day for adults (age 15 up), £19.50 for 6-14 year olds and £9.50 for 2-5 year olds, under 2’s go free.

All offer buffet-style dining, but with additional grill, pasta and wok stations.

Or there’s the premium DineAround package that lets you pick whichever resort restaurant you’d like to dine in, instead of being given a designated place to eat.

This includes family favourite, The Firehouse Grill – which serves burgers, nachos and chicken platters.

The DineAround package costs £36.95 per day for adults (age 15 up), £22 for 6-14 year olds and £10.50 for 2-5 year olds, under 2’s go free.

As part of the Showtime Bundle, all-inclusive drinks can also be included on all-dining packages, with alcohol served from 11am (only sold on certain holiday dates). 

Enjoy Madri lager, Bacardi Rum and Gordon’s Gin at Bognor’s all-inclusive bars like the Beachcomber Inn and Hotshots, as well in restaurants and show venues like Centre Stage and Studio 36.

The food and drink bundles on Showtime Breaks start from £28 per person, per night for a family of four.

This includes mid-week festive breaks. Butlins.com

Parkdean Pendine Sands, Carmarthen, £26pp a night

One of the best things about an all-inclusive holiday is not having to cook, and Parkdean Resorts have just launched an add-on dining package in several of their parks.

At various locations, including Pendine Sands in South Wales, you can now go all-inclusive with your stay.

Packages start from from £80 per adult and £30 per child (under 12) per break (Monday to Friday only).

The deal includes breakfast, lunch and dinner in the on-site restaurant, a dedicated kids’ menu, and unlimited hot and cold drinks all day (although, sorry folks, booze is extra).

Unlike Butlin’s, the all-inclusive deal at Parkdean includes three meals a day and is usually a sit-down meal rather than a buffet.

You can expect dishes like Churrasco steak and fries, katsu curry, pizzas, salad bowls, as well as milkshakes, soft drinks and Costa coffees.

The downside is it’s only available Monday to Friday and the very few dishes – chicken and rib combo, for example – that are priced over £19.99 will add a £5 surcharge.

While booze is extra, you can get a pint of Carling for £5.95 or Madri for £6.55, while a glass of Pinot Grigio is £4.30.

However, as all holiday-parkers know, you can still bring your own drinks or buy some in the resort supermarket to drink on the deck of your caravan once the kids go to bed.

Warner Hotels, Norton Grange Coastal Village, Isle of Wight, £114.50pp a night (adults only)

With hotels, holiday villages and resorts dotted across the UK, Warner Hotels specialises in adults-only holidays.

Several properties in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight now offer all-inclusive deals that include alcohol, which is brilliant for couples and friends wanting a stress-free stay.

With Christmas coming up, you can also get the deal on Warner Hotels’ themed breaks, such as the Turkey and Tinsel weekend.

These can sometimes be cheaper than standard breaks like Weekend Live with Motown and Soul, where you pay more for specialist entertainment.

However, all breaks include some kind of evening entertainment, such as live tribute acts to Tina Turner, Celine Dion and George Michael.

All three-and-four night breaks include half-board accommodation, all entertainment, and a variety of alcoholic drinks from 6pm until midnight.

At Norton Grange, meals are served in the Market Kitchen restaurant, where you have buffet breakfasts with hot food bars and omelette stations.

For dinner, guests can enjoy three-courses with chef specials like rump steak and king prawns, as well as salad bars, carvery stations, wok show kitchens.

If you get peckish in the afternoon, you can also add a classic afternoon tea for £22.50 per person, served in the lounge.

Be aware that drinks are only included from 6pm to midnight, but include brands Carling lager, Doom Bar Cask Ale, Bell’s and Gordons.

But the rule is single measures only and only two drinks per guest, per round.

Get the deal: Warner Hotels, Lakeside Coastal Village, Hampshire, £259 per person for a two-night break. warnerhotels.co.uk

Potter’s Resorts, Hopton-on-Sea, Norfolk, £209pp

Often voted the best holiday park in the UK, Potter’s offers a slightly elevated experience, which is refelected in the price.

Family-run Potter’s was the first UK’s all-inclusive holiday and is hugely popular with Brits.

Potters Resorts have two locations – Five Lakes in Essex and Hopton-on-Sea in Norfolk, famous as the home of World Indoor Bowls Championships.

Both resorts offer three or four night breaks, including four meals a day, all soft and alcoholic drinks and a daily activity programme.

Five Lakes has a golf course – and both locations have a West End-style show each night.

While most breaks in both parks are adults only, there are some family-friendly dates offered at Hopton-on-Sea. 

With four meals on offer every day, there’s little chance of going hungry.

At Hopton-on-Sea, all meals are served in the elegant The Garden restaurant, with its domed ceiling, or the Gallery, which is a little more intimate.

In both resorts you can expect a full cooked breakfast buffet, a three-course lunch, with dishes like scampi and fries, chicken tikka masala, and salads and cold meats.

For dinner, you can order dishes such as deep fried filo prawns and steamed fillet of cod, as well as a nightly carvery.

Then, if you’re still hungry after all that, the chefs offer a late-night dish every night from sausage rolls to bowls of chilli.

All-inclusive drinks are available from 3pm on arrival day to 10.30am on departure day and you can expect brand-name spirits like Jameson’s whisky and Bacardi Rum, as well as draught and bottled beers, wines and plenty of no-alcohol options too.

Plus, when it’s too early for a tipple, try one of the barista-style coffees with your favourite syrup.

Get the deal: £629 per adult, £479 for 10-17 year olds, £379 for 3-9 year olds and £30 for under 3’s for a three-night break this October half term. pottersresorts.com

Z Hotel Gloucester Place, London, £55pp

Fancy an all-inclusive city break? Look no further.

Spread across a row of restored Georgian townhouses in the heart of Marylebone, Z Hotel Gloucester Place is within easy reach of Regent’s Park, Madame Tussauds and the Wallace Collection, while Oxford Street is a short bus ride away.

Standard rooms are smart and comfortable, however, it’s well worth upgrading your stay to the Z Club experience.

Few people know this, but if you book a Z Club Junior Suite, you’ll get complimentary breakfast, an all-day snack menu, afternoon cakes, a cheese buffet each evening, plus unlimited wine, fizz, cold beers and soft drinks.

Snacks like ham and cheese toasties, chicken and avocado sandwiches, a cheese board are available from the moment you check in at 3pm until late into the night.

Packets of crisps and nuts are also complimentary. There’s also a nice terrace garden to enjoy a sundowner or two, including a good selection of wines like Malbec, a pale pink rosé and two different white wines.

Cans of pop and cold bottled beers and ciders, including Punk IPA and Peroni are also on offer.

Get the deal: Rooms are priced from £110 per room, per night thezhotels.com

Ennerdale Country House Hotel, Cleator, £79pp a night (adults only)

After a hike around the hills and fells of the Lake District, this classic country house hotel near Ennerdale Water is a real treat.

Great Little Breaks offer two-night stays throughout the year at Ennerdale Country House Hotel, a Grade II listed house with five acres of landscaped gardens and Italian fountains.

It includes bed and breakfast, lunch and dinner on both days, unlimited tea and coffee, plus free-flowing house wine, draught beer and soft drinks between 6pm and 10pm each night.

Meals are served in the Fountain Room restaurant, which overlooks the hotel’s beautiful gardens.

Breakfast includes a full English and a simple buffet with pastries and cereals, lunch is soup and a sandwich, while a two-course dinner from the ever-changing table d’hote menu often includes dishes like fish and chips, and herb chicken.

However, if you fancy something like steak off the a la carte menu, you’ll be charged a supplement.

Get the deal: From £159 per person for a two-night stay based on two adults sharing. (Over 25s-only). greatlittlebreaks.com

Lavender Hotels Collection, £32.25pp

The Lavender Hotels Collection is a trio of properties across Lancashire, each offering value all-inclusive packages.

Higher Trapp is a country house with panoramic views across the Pendle Valley, the Old Mill has a similar vibe but with a leisure club and a pool, while Everglades in Widnes is a little more contemporary.

An overnight stay includes a £25pp dinner allowance, drinks including unlimited house wine, draught beers and branded spirits from 6pm until 11pm, plus a full English breakfast in the morning.

If you are visiting with kids, the £25 dinner voucher isn’t extended to them, but kids meals start from £8.

All inclusive drinks include SRS lager, Magner’s cider, house red and white wines, and some branded spirits like Gordon’s Gin and Bells whiskey.

Drinks are only served in the Resident’s Bar between 6pm and 11pm –one glass per person, single measures only.

Guests can book the AI Ultra package for another £12.50 and get upgraded draught beers like Stella Artois and Guinness, flavoured Whitley Neill gins and Fever Tree mixers, as well as more premium wines like Baco de Seta Prosecco and Berri Estates Merlot.

At Higher Trapp, dinner is served in Fitzy’s Restaurant, a cosy space with beautiful views over the Ribble Valley. The £25 meal allowance will get you a 8oz steak and chips, but note that sauces like béarnaise, or brandy and pepper will cost you an extra £4.

Other meals come in around £16 to £19 mark, which allows a little wiggle room for extras. At the Old Mill, you’ll dine in the Sir Robert Peel restaurant on the first floor, which has lovely high-beamed ceilings.

The meal voucher here includes a starter and a main, but some dishes like curried mussels and lamb shank do attract an additional charge.

Get the deal: From £129 per room, per night (currently offering 25% off all autumn breaks) lavenderhotels.co.uk

TWO picturesque UK train routes will close for a number of weeks as part of a £22million upgrade.

The first route to close will be the West Highland railway line, which is well-known for being used in the Harry Potter films, from November 9 to 17.

The picturesque train journey which links Glasgow to Oban and Mallaig and crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct, will undergo a £13million upgrade.

Work will be carried out between Helensburgh, Fort William and Mallaig and includes repairing parts of the track.

There will be replacement buses during the closure period.

Gerry McQuade, capital delivery director at Network Rail Scotland, said: “The West Highland Line is one that people really depend on, whether they’re travelling to work, visiting family or exploring some of Scotland’s most spectacular scenery.

Read more on travel inspo

CHEAP BREAKS

UK’s best 100 cheap stays – our pick of the top hotels, holiday parks and pubs

SO FLY

Our fave beach hols under 5 hours from UK with Caribbean dupes & £2 bottles of wine

“This work is about making sure the route continues to provide a dependable service for the communities and visitors who use it every day.”

And it isn’t the only route in Scotland that will close for an upgrade.

The scenic Kyle Line between Dingwall and Kyle of Lochalsh will close for three weeks starting at the end of November.

No trains will run between Dingwall and Kyle of Lochalsh from November 28 to December 18.

Work will be carried out on the Carron Viaduct, as well as Inverness Station.

The £9million project is expected to take a few weeks with four miles of track being renewed.

McQuade said: “The Kyle line is one of Scotland’s most scenic and important routes, connecting communities across the Highlands.

“This £9m investment will allow us to carry out a significant amount of work in a short period of time, helping us keep the railway safe, reliable and resilient for the future.”

SACRAMENTO — President Trump and the Republican Congress have unintentionally provided California state government with the financial means to subsidize — help save — endangered local news reporting.

Now it’s up to Gov. Gavin Newsom to capitalize on the unanticipated gift.

He can sign or veto legislation to end state tax breaks for large corporations paying top executives $1 million-plus salaries and, instead, provide tax breaks for struggling California news outlets employing local reporters.

The state legislation would conform California law to a little-known provision of Trump’s “Big Beautiful” tax bill that eliminated corporate deductions for execs’ compensation exceeding $1 million.

California newsrooms — print, broadcast, digital — would receive an estimated $43 million in tax credits for employees’ wages. There’d still be a net $15 million left over for a small state revenue boost.

I’ll admit to feeling a bit squeamish about this.

First, it’s a conflict of interest, arguing that a governor — whom my colleagues and I write about often — should shovel public dollars into our profession.

Second, why should state government and taxpayers be asked to subsidize a private enterprise that’s flailing in the marketplace? Especially one that prides itself in being an impartial watchdog over government actions and politicians’ behavior. The dog shouldn’t be begging for food from the critters it watches.

Well, one answer is that state government provides tax breaks for lots of interests, including Hollywood movie studios. We’re allotting $750 million annually in tax credits for films produced in California.

And there’s a bill on the governor’s desk to offer $100 million annually in tax credits for post-production work, such as editing, sound mixing and visual effects.

That’s all fine. What would California have become without a healthy Hollywood? I don’t want to imagine.

Newsom also recently provided $3,500 rebates to first-time electric vehicle buyers, benefiting Tesla and other EV makers. It was “investing in our future,” the governor explained.

OK, but subsidizing local news reporting is investing in democracy. Robust coverage of city halls, school boards, Sacramento politicians and the like is essential for self-government.

And that journalism is in free fall all across America as exploding technology and social media opportunism have altered news consumption, mostly bypassing local communities and often spewing misinformation.

So this legislation, AB 2222 by Assemblyman Christopher Ward (D-San Diego), reaches far beyond just helping the troubled news industry. It’s about more than providing media outlets with financial incentives to retain and hire local reporters. It’s bolstering democracy.

Independent journalism is a pillar of democracy, providing citizens with reliable, fact-based information about how their elected representatives are performing their duties, fulfilling their campaign promises and cozying up to special interests.

You’re not going to glean that information from the politicians. You’re going to get mostly self-serving spin — government propaganda — whether it emanates from the White House, the state Capitol or the local mosquito abatement district.

That’s why the nation’s Founders protected press freedom in the Constitution’s 1st Amendment.

Thomas Jefferson famously wrote: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Of course, that was early in Jefferson’s political career, before he became vice president and later president. He ultimately turned into a harsh press critic. For example: “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”

Jefferson, like countless politicians ever since, apparently carried a huge chip on his shoulder because of reporting on his job performance that ticked him off.

Newsom is a master at attracting friendly national news coverage, especially on cable TV. But he naturally shudders at more critical coverage by Sacramento beat reporters.

As of this writing, the governor hadn’t publicly disclosed how he feels about the local reporter tax credit bill.

His finance department, which crafts the state budget, opposed the measure when legislators were considering it. The state would “not [be] receiving any incremental economic benefit to justify the expenditure,” its analysis read.

Again, even if that were true, citizens and democracy would benefit.

Also, the analysis contended, the tax credit would likely “provide windfall benefits” for news media owners “rather than encourage new hiring activity.”

That’s not quite accurate. Anyway, it could discourage layoffs and save reporters’ jobs.

Late last week, the McClatchy newspaper chain — owner of the Sacramento Bee and several medium-sized California papers, plus dozens across America — announced massive newsroom layoffs.

Since 2002, more than 12,000 local journalism jobs have been lost in California, according to the bill’s sponsor, the advocacy group Rebuild Local News. More than 3,500 newspapers have closed nationwide.

Many communities have become “news deserts.”

When that happens, fewer citizens turn out to vote, tax money gets spent more carelessly and political corruption increases.

Under the legislation, California media outlets — big and small — would be granted modest tax credits for each employee covering state and local news. There’d be $20,000 for up to five full-time positions and $15,000 for each of the rest. On top of that, there’d be an additional $15,000 for every new full-time job that’s created. Part-timers would be entitled to $7,500.

“National news outlets would be excluded. So would partisan ‘pink slime’ sites controlled by political action committees,” says Matt Pearce, policy director for Rebuild Local News, a former Los Angeles Times reporter and newspaper guild leader.

It would be the most ambitious program of its kind in the country. New York, Illinois and New Mexico currently offer local news subsidies.

“It’s about civic infrastructure and the foundation of democracy. We’re teetering toward autocracy,” says former state Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda), an ex-mayor who has long pushed for stronger local news coverage.

This bill won’t save local newsrooms. But it may give them breathing room while the big thinkers try to concoct a more profitable business model for democracy’s watchdog.

What else you should be reading

The must-read: Architect of billionaire tax tried to ‘extort’ support for the measure and targeted women, union reports find
Money (That’s what I want): Becerra backers with business in Sacramento spend tens of millions boosting his gubernatorial bid
The L.A. Times Special: Will ‘Coxon Day’ save us from AI destruction?

Until next week,
George Skelton

—
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Whereas players in sports like football earn a salary based on a contract with the team that employs them, and athletes in individual sports like tennis and golf can earn a great deal from prize money at major tournaments, athletics competitors rely much more heavily on personal sponsorships and endorsements.

That is because they are paid no direct annual salary, and the only standardised prize money on offer is $50,000 (£37,000) for winning gold in one of the 48 track and field events at the Olympics.

That prize money was only introduced at the 2024 Games in Paris, and is paltry compared to the potential millions in winnings on offer in other major sports.

Some nations – including the USA – also choose to pay athletes who win medals from their own resources, but Britain does not.

Instead, athletes are awarded funding and grants by UK Sport, with the majority of the money coming from the National Lottery.

UK Sport ranks athletes by how likely they are to win medals at major events, and gives more funding to those whose chances it believes are better.

Athletes typically use that funding to pay for training camps, equipment, travel and, in some cases, personal support staff like physiotherapists, nutritionists and chefs.

So why would athletes be instructed to wear national team kit at the Ultimates?

The Ultimate Championship is billed as three fast-paced evenings with a record $10m (£7.4m) prize pot on offer for the biggest stars in athletics.

The condensed schedule and focus on star names is designed to appeal to viewers on television and social media – the latter likely playing a role in the focus on short, sharp bursts of action which can capture attention online.

Most viewers of athletics are used to watching athletes compete while wearing national kit at the Olympics and World Championships. Put simply, the use of a national kit makes it easier for the casual viewer to quickly spot who they should be rooting for and feel invested in the action.

But Kerr’s comments have highlighted the fact that something which may well improve the viewing experience can be felt as a direct financial negative by the athletes themselves.

With the next edition of the Ultimate Championship set to take place in September 2028, shortly after the Olympics in Los Angeles, the battle between brands and country could continue to heat up.

During a recent visit to the Shizuoka Cancer Center, a leading medical and research institution in Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture, I found myself confronting two realities at once.

The first was an impressive expression of modern medicine: advanced treatment, exacting research and an institution seeking to connect clinical care with pharmaceutical innovation. The second was quieter but more powerful. Nearly every patient I passed was facing cancer and beside most stood a relative whose life had also been changed by the diagnosis.

A hospital may contain some of humanity’s most advanced knowledge. It also contains some of its oldest fears.

In such a place, medical excellence is anything but an abstraction. In a hospital, every scientific advance eventually arrives at one person in a vulnerable moment. Every diagnosis enters a life filled with memories, relationships, responsibilities and hopes. Illness inhabits one person but its consequences touch a family and a community.

This is where any serious consideration of health resilience should begin.

Health resilience is not one program within transformation; it is part of transformation’s capacity to serve human life

Dr. Ghazi Faisal Binzagr

The term is commonly associated with the ability of health systems, including hospitals, to withstand emergencies: pandemics, natural disasters, supply shortages or sudden pressure on medical capacity. These capabilities are indispensable. COVID-19 demonstrated, however, that a health emergency does not remain within healthcare. It also moves through families and schools, work and travel, economies and supply chains, and ultimately into the heart of national decision-making and security.

Yet a health system may remain operational while the health of society deteriorates.

Health resilience must therefore mean more than keeping institutions functioning through crisis. It must encompass the ability of a society to cultivate health before illness, respond intelligently when illness arrives and preserve dignity and meaning when medicine cannot restore the body to what it once was.

Such resilience is not created by strong institutions standing apart. It grows when their knowledge and capabilities remain connected — to one another and to the human being they ultimately serve.

Not far from the cancer center, at the University of Shizuoka, I encountered two practical examples of how such connections are cultivated.

Japan and Singapore are very different yet each has cultivated something approaching a national miracle

Dr. Ghazi Faisal Binzagr

Students of pharmaceutical sciences were being trained in the administration of medicines, including injections, although many would never perform such procedures professionally. The purpose was not to blur professional boundaries but to prevent pharmaceutical knowledge from becoming detached from human experience. A medicine is not only a compound to be formulated, tested or dispensed. It eventually enters a living body, carried by trust and accompanied by consequence.

Nearby, the university’s botanical garden, used in pharmaceutical, nutritional and food studies, extended the same principle in another direction. If the training connected medicine to the person who receives it, the garden connected modern science to the living world from which much medical knowledge first emerged. It did not ask students to choose between inherited observation and scientific rigor but to understand how one can inform the questions the other tests.

The cancer center, the pharmaceutical training and the botanical garden were not simply three interesting encounters. Together, they revealed that health resilience depends not only on the strength of individual institutions but on their capacity to remain connected: to the person who suffers, to the professional who carries responsibility, to the society in which illness occurs, and to the sources from which medicine continues to learn.

Saudi Arabia’s transformation gives this understanding immediate relevance. Vision 2030 has widened the connections through which the Kingdom understands progress, while COVID-19 revealed how inseparable health is from the economy, education, mobility and national security. Health resilience is not one program within transformation; it is part of transformation’s capacity to serve human life.

The burden of chronic disease makes this urgent. Diabetes affected an estimated 5.3 million Saudi adults in 2024, with an age-standardized prevalence of 23.1 percent. At such scale, illness cannot be treated as a succession of isolated clinical episodes. It is a continuous human reality and care must learn to become continuous with it.

Behind those numbers, in Saudi Arabia today is a person who can sleep while their glucose levels continue to be monitored. As family members rest nearby, readings can reach health institutions, helping reveal change, anticipate risk and guide care. Technology does not replace the concern of those beside that person; it allows the health system to join them in caring, extending institutional capability into the home without displacing the relationships that make it a place of belonging.

But continuity cannot begin only after diagnosis.

Through my years with the Saudi Sports for All Federation, I have witnessed how accessible movement, rooted in families, neighborhoods and communities, can turn health from something medicine repairs into something society creates. Health transformation, Sports for All and the Kingdom’s quality of life ambitions shape the same human life from different directions.

The encounters in Shizuoka formed part of a larger Japanese lesson. Japan’s longevity is a civilizational achievement but it is also requiring the country to reconsider care, independence, community and purpose. Its value lies in the knowledge it continues to accumulate: how to support older people within their communities, connect medical and long-term care, use technology to strengthen human presence rather than replace it, and ensure that years added to life remain years of contribution and belonging.

Japan’s use of robotics offers a striking example. Wearable systems can assist movement, surgical robots can extend the physician’s precision and robotic avatars can enable people confined by illness or disability to participate from afar. The machine matters but the deeper achievement is human: preserving agency and belonging when physical strength changes form.

Saudi Arabia is shaping new systems while its population remains comparatively young; Japan is adapting established systems as longevity transforms society. Their differences make them valuable to one another. The opportunity is not simply to transfer solutions but to discover how health systems can remain technically advanced, socially connected and fully human.

My years in Japan have reminded me of another country I have visited and studied repeatedly for more than a decade. Singapore’s achievement lies not in one health program but in its practice of national transformation: balancing access, quality and affordability while connecting health to housing, mobility, economic sustainability and quality of life.

What has impressed me most is the movement between scale and detail. National objectives provide direction; close observation reveals where policy must be refined. Concepts are tested against daily life and reconsidered whenever progress in one field creates consequences in another.

Japan and Singapore are very different yet each has cultivated something approaching a national miracle — not perfection but a distinctive capacity built from history, necessity and human effort. Saudi Arabia brings its own: the energy of a society transforming at exceptional speed, technological ambition joined to enduring family bonds, and a vision placing quality of life within national progress.

The invitation is larger than an exchange of best practices. It is for societies to bring their finest qualities into a deeper relationship. No country contains the complete wisdom the future requires. Through the quality of their connections, nations may create possibilities that none could produce alone.

These reflections return me to where they began: the Shizuoka Cancer Center and to the unsettling lesson cancer itself offers about change. Life depends upon change: cells divide, organisms adapt and societies renew themselves. Yet not every change serves life. Growth detached from the order that sustains the whole can become destructive.

The analogy must not be pushed too far. But it raises a question at the heart of every national transformation: How can change strengthen the whole rather than advance one part at the expense of others?

Speed is not, by itself, evidence of progress, nor is the accumulation of technology or wealth. A healthy transformation holds together economic sustainability, good governance, security and a quality of life that reveals what they are ultimately for. Its measure is whether the whole has grown more capable of sustaining human life — especially when life becomes vulnerable.

For vulnerability is not a temporary defect that successful societies will eliminate. It is part of being human. We begin life dependent upon others. Many will encounter illness or disability. Those who live long enough will experience some loss of physical capacity. A society reveals its understanding of progress not only in how it celebrates strength but in how it accompanies people when strength changes form.

Arabic and Islamic tradition offers a name for the wisdom such a society requires. The physician was often called “al-hakim,” the wise one. The word implied more than command of remedies. It joined knowledge with judgment, the body with the person and the act of treatment with responsibility for the balance of life.

Perhaps the future asks us to enlarge this meaning beyond the individual physician. The wisdom of al-hakim may become a collective quality: science exact enough to determine what can be done; judgment broad enough to ask what should be done; and societies humble enough to place their finest knowledge in one another’s service.

For we are embodied beings but we are not bodies alone. We are memory and relationship, aspiration and responsibility, matter and spirit. Medicine can preserve life and relieve suffering. Society must help ensure that the life preserved can still find belonging, dignity and meaning.

The future of health will not be decided only by what medicine becomes. It will also be decided by what society remembers a human being to be.

GENEVA: The United Nations rights chief called Monday for countries and “frontier” artificial intelligence companies to act urgently to rein in a technology he warned posed “unprecedented risks”.

In a letter sent to countries and AI developers and shared with the media, Volker Turk cautioned that the world was “on the cusp of irreversible change, affecting not just us but generations of humanity to come”.

“The current race towards ever more powerful AI is a step change towards greater existential risks to every aspect of our lives.”

He sent the letter at a time when worries over the risks of “superintelligent” computer systems have been on full display, after a researcher publicly resigned from leading AI firm Anthropic over fears that the technology could escape human control.

Another Anthropic employee, who did not resign, stated publicly that “we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans”, and that he thought the chances were greater than “10 percent within the next decade”.

Amid the outcry, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called Saturday for AI companies to “pace the frontier” — or coordinate a slowdown in the technology’s development, with his chief competitors, xAI’s Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, publicly supporting him.

“In today’s world, we are almost entirely reliant on a small number of powerful companies to make the right choices on Al development for all of humanity,” Turk lamented.

“I call on States and companies to mobilise urgently through multilateral fora to chart a path for action to govern advanced, frontier AI models, grounded in international human rights law.”

The Loose Women panel touched on the recent video showing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new life in the UK.

The ITV star didn’t hold back.

During Monday’s Loose Women, presenter Christine Lampard spoke about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s move back to the UK with their two children after spending six years in America. Recently, the Duchess of Sussex shared a glimpse of their new lives on social media in a compilation of videos.

Christine highlighted that Meghan and Harry have been accused of hypocrisy in the past, having stated they wanted a private life and then giving snippets into their lives online.

The ITV star shared that the Duchess of Sussex has turned the comments off on the post as she asked the panel, “Is it time to let the couple live in peace?”

Kelly Brook commented, “I think when you have to turn the comments off, I think you know that she’s already expecting a backlash. There’s nothing in that video that I wouldn’t share on social media after a lovely weekend in the countryside.”

Meanwhile, panellist Coleen Nolan didn’t hold back on sharing her thoughts as she remarked that people need to leave them alone. She said: “For me, your question on whether we should just leave them alone and let them enjoy life, from my point of view, yes, absolutely.

“For people that are out there constantly criticising, constantly sla****g off, don’t follow it, don’t look at it, block it. Get it off your timeline. If you don’t want to see them, don’t see them, but there are equally people who will love seeing that.”

The ITV star shared she thought it was nice to see and has ‘no issue’ with Harry and Meghan. She added that while there’s an argument to be had about people putting themselves out there, it doesn’t give people the right to slam anybody.

She added: “There are things that I don’t like on social media, I will unfollow it or I’ll block it, or I’ll have my say about someone or something, but it will be to my family around the kitchen table, I wouldn’t dream of doing that on social media.

“So, it really, really offends me, and certainly, they’ve had their fair share. Some say, ‘they deserve it’. Maybe they do, but have that conversation privately. They’ve got people out there that love them, family and all of that, I just think it’s awful, just leave them alone.”

In the sweet video shared online, people got to see their children, Archie and Lilibet, chasing a flock of deer in the countryside.

Another snippet showed the couple holding hands, whilst one clip showed Harry teaching his children how to catch a fish, and another showed Lilibet sitting by a roaring fire.

Loose Women is available to watch on ITV weekdays from 12:30pm.

A family theme park near a seaside town with more than 30 attractions and tickets starting from £16, has been named the UK’s best for this year, but not everyone has heard of it

With the warm summer days a distant memory, thoughts are turning to how we can spend our time when the weather isn’t dependent. Theme parks are a great option, with any worries about the weather quickly vanishing as you whizz around an exhilarating ride or venture around the colourful site packed with attractions.

The UK is brimming with entertaining and family-friendly theme parks, whether you’re an adrenaline junkie or want a day out that’s suitable for all ages. While we’ve all heard of Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Legoland, they’ve been pipped to the post by a lesser-known attraction for the title of the UK’s best theme park.

Pleasurewood Hills near Lowestoft in Suffolk was crowned ‘Theme Park of the Year’ for under 1 million visitors, in this year’s UK Theme Park Awards, presented by AttractionTickets.com. Located near the Suffolk coast between Corton and Gunton, the biggest theme park in East Anglia has 30 fun-packed rides and attractions across its 59-acre site, from family favourites to thrill-seeking ventures.

Some highlights include the park’s wild mouse roller coaster, Marble Madness, the Jolly Roger, a stomach-churning drop tower, and the water flume ride, Water Fun Factory. But that’s just the start of their offerings, with plenty more rides that are suitable for all ages.

There’s Woody’s Wheel to savour the coastal vistas, the Flying Elephants, the pirate ship, Shiver me Timbers, the small coast, the Egg-Spress and Wavebreaker, and an exciting waterslide down a winding course. In addition, visitors can watch a sealion or colourful bird show, before visiting the indoor soft play area, Woody’s Cub House, take a drive in a safari car, and ride the carousel or Woodland Express.

Elsewhere, Pleasurewood Hills’ flagship roller coaster is the towering Wipeout, which stands more than 130ft high and whizzes guests around its twisting, turning, looping, and rolling track, before reversing on itself for the “ultimate backwards thrill”. However, it’s currently closed after it broke down over the summer, leaving riders stuck on board for up to three hours, with it expected to reopen by the end of October.

Following this, one of the theme park owners, Freddy Stokes, said their ‘Theme Park of the Year’ award had not been something “we were expecting to win”. The UK Theme Park Awards were based on public votes held prior to the issues with the Wipeout ride.

Pleasurewood Hills is open from 10am until 4pm on Saturday and Sunday during off-peak seasons, and additionally opens Monday to Friday during the October half-term, with opening times varying. However, you don’t have long to visit as the theme park will close for the season on Sunday, 1 November, with an opening date for 2027 yet to be confirmed.

Online tickets for the Suffolk theme park start from £16 per person, while they can also be purchased on the door from £29 per person. For more information, visit the Pleasurewood Hills website.

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

WASHINGTON — Philippine President Corazon Aquino, given a rousing reception, told a joint meeting of Congress today that if she fails to negotiate peace with communist guerrillas threatening her government she will not flinch from “taking up the sword of war.”

“I will not stand by and allow an insurgent leadership to spurn our offer of peace and kill our young soldiers and threaten our new freedom,” Aquino said.

Aquino was greeted in the House chamber by enthusiastic applause and cheers from the members of Congress, many of whom sported yellow flowers in their lapels. Aquino wore her trademark yellow suit, like the ones she wore so often during her campaign for the presidency earlier this year.

Many visitors in the gallery, and several members as well, chanted “Cory, Cory, Cory” for half a minute as she entered the chamber.

Several members later said her speech had been so well received that it could mean more U.S. aid for her nation. Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill said it was the best he had ever heard on Capitol Hill.

‘Hit a Home Run’

Senate Republican leader Bob Dole said he told Aquino she had “hit a home run” with Congress, and said she replied: “I hope the bases were loaded.” Impressed senators and House members called her speech “brilliant,” “eloquent,” “magnificent” and “moving.”

She opened her speech with a tribute to her husband, Benigno S. Aquino Jr., a human rights activist whose murder in Manila in 1983 after years of exile in the United States swelled the widespread disenchantment with the government of Ferdinand E. Marcos and eventually led to his downfall.

Her husband’s death “was my country’s resurrection in the courage and faith by which alone they could be free again,” she said. “And so began the revolution that has brought me to democracy’s most famous home, the United States.”

Aquino’s speech underscored her policy of negotiating with the communist New People’s Army guerrilla movement and, if the talks fail, waging a vigorous war against the insurgents.

“I must explore the path of peace to the utmost, for at its end, whatever disappointment I meet there, is the moral basis for laying down the olive branch of peace and taking up the sword of war,” she said.

“Still, should it come to that, I will not waver from the course laid down by your great liberator,” a reference to Abraham Lincoln and his determination to fight the Civil War.

‘Whatever It Takes’

“Like Lincoln, I understand that force may be necessary before mercy,” she said. “Like Lincoln, I don’t relish it, yet I will do whatever it takes to defend the integrity and freedom of my country.”

She said the aim of the negotiations is “to bring the insurgents down from the hills and, by economic progress and justice, show them that for which the best intentioned among them fight.” Persuading the guerrillas to stop fighting will be accomplished by “political initiatives and local reintegration programs.”

She said her predecessor, Marcos, set aside democratic rights to wage a war against “a communist insurgency that numbered less than 500.

“Unhampered by respect for human rights, he went at it with hammer and tongs. By the time he fled, that insurgency had grown to more than 16,000.

“I think there is a lesson here to be learned about trying to stifle a thing with the means by which it grows.”

Arsenal will contact refereeing body Pro Ref over the incident in which Ezri Konsa conceded a penalty in Saturday’s win over Sunderland.

Konsa and Black Cats defender Dan Ballard were involved in a physical exchange inside the penalty area in which the Arsenal defender was adjudged to have fouled the Sunderland player for excessive holding.

After the game Gunners manager Mikel Arteta criticised the decision, and it is understood the Premier League champions will hold talks with the professional referee’s body for an explanation as to why the penalty was awarded.

It is understood Arsenal are keen to avoid major refereeing decisions impacting on results and want clarity over how referee John Brooks came to his decision.

Brooks initially awarded Sunderland the spot-kick on the field, and the decision was backed up by the video assistant referee (VAR).

“The referee’s call of penalty to Sunderland for a holding offence by Konsa on Ballard was checked and confirmed by VAR,” read a statement published by the Premier League Match Centre.

But after the game Arteta said: “This is not acceptable at this level.

“I watched it 20 times and I cannot find a way to understand how they think to give a penalty in that situation, or the way the VAR has to intervene.

“So I don’t know what to think. I’m sad that we have to discuss this after such a beautiful game, that at this level has the gravity of that. Because that changes the course of the season and it can cost you the championship.

“At this level, with all the work we put in, this cannot happen.”

Match of the Day pundits Ashley Williams and Thomas Frank both said Sunderland should not have been awarded a penalty, claiming that Arsenal should have had a free-kick.

“I think he’s got it completely wrong,” said Williams. “It’s almost like a perfect hip toss in judo [from Ballard]. In no way is it a penalty.”

DUBAI: British Lebanese actor Razane Jammal has kicked off the awards season with a big win — in style.

Jammal accepted the Best Actress in a Cinematic Role Award at the 17th edition of the Arab Satellite Festival in Cairo, while wearing an all-black gown from Lebanese designer Georges Chakra.

Jammal took to Instagram to celebrate the win, writing: “Incredibly proud to accept the Best Actress in a Cinematic Role Award for ‘Asad.’ Layla is a character very close to my heart because she reminds me of my mother in so many ways. She was a strong-willed woman who was way ahead of her time, who defied social norms and wasn’t afraid to speak up against injustice. A woman who fiercely protected her loved ones and showed up for any person in need, no matter what she was going through. Your spirit is imprinted in Layla mommy, so for you I dedicate this award, my angel.”

Helmed by Egyptian filmmaker and Marvel’s “Moon Knight” director Mohamed Diab, Jammal stars alongside Egyptian actor Mohamed Ramadan in “Asad.”

Jammal, famous for her roles in the Netflix series “The Sandman” and “Paranormal,” is joined by Maged El-Kedwany, Khaled El-Sawy, Sherif Salama and Ahmed Abdelhamid in the film.

The action-romance is set in the 1800s, with 2,000 extras being drafted in for the production. It features large-scale action sequences led by renowned stunt designer Kaloyan Vodenicharov.

In a trailer shared by Jammal last year, snippets from the film showed its lead star being dragged along by a horse, as well as scenes of a budding romance involving Ramadan and Jammal’s characters.

Jammal made a bold statement earlier this month in a striking red gown from Carolina Herrera’s Spring 2026 collection by Wes Gordon at the Murex d’Or 2026 ceremony. The sleeveless design featured delicate spaghetti straps, a rounded neckline, and dramatic side cutouts. She completed the scarlet look with a red clutch and pointed-toe lace heels.

In June, she launched her own children’s book, titled “Lulu and Blu.” Published by Turning Point Books, the story was illustrated by Sasha Haddad, a Lebanese illustrator who graduated from Cambridge School of Arts in 2014.

Tehran, Iran – Another attempt to clinch a deal between Iran and Oman to restore some traffic to the Strait of Hormuz has been set back by a lack of regional consensus on the future of the waterway.

Officials from Iran, Iraq and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations – minus objecting Bahrain – were scheduled to meet in Oman’s port city of Salalah on Monday to confer on new temporary routes in the Strait of Hormuz amid Tehran’s ongoing hot-and-cold war with the United States.

On Sunday night, the region’s officials announced the postponement of the meeting, without giving a new date. None of the stakeholders gave any indication that the postponement was directly linked to recent Houthi and Iraqi militia attacks on Saudi Arabia.

However, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saudi objection was the reason for the postponement, without providing further details.

US media outlets Axios and CNN reported that Saudi Arabia had submitted amendments to the Iran-Oman proposal for Hormuz because it had concerns that the wording would establish a new status quo which would be unacceptable to Riyadh.

It comes days after Saudi Arabia shut down its critical East-West oil pipeline – the kingdom’s key route for energy exports – after drone attacks in the area originating from Iraq. US President Donald Trump said these attacks were likely conducted at Tehran’s behest.

Saudi Arabia has also faced repeated attacks by the Houthis, who took control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast over the weekend.

Hours after the Salalah meeting was postponed, the Saudi civil defence issued alerts for Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran in southern and western parts of the kingdom. The Houthis claimed to have fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at military facilities in Khamis Mushait, in retaliation for air strikes across Yemen, which it blames on Saudi Arabia.

What comes next?

Iran has said it will engage with the US on the future of the Strait of Hormuz and ending the war only if there are tangible moves to lift Washington’s naval blockade on the country and return to the June memorandum of understanding.

With continued disruptions to the passage of vessels through the strait, Iran has signalled that it intends to continue pursuing the bilateral agreement with Oman over Hormuz, which it said was finalised last month.

“In consultation with Oman, in the next step, we will make a decision on how to announce or register the agreement,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters during a weekly news conference on Monday.

When the two countries initially advanced the bilateral deal, Trump threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of US talks with Iran.

Ali Vaez, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at the Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that Tehran wants to use its leverage over Hormuz for regional legitimacy – and ultimately to pressure the US.

“The broader the regional buy-in, the harder it becomes for the US to dismiss the arrangement as an Iranian diktat,” he told Al Jazeera.

GCC states, suffering from a sharp decrease in energy receipts, want ships moving and their economies insulated from a war they neither started nor can end. But Vaez said Washington is unlikely to lift the blockade on Iran even if the region blesses the arrangement between Muscat and Tehran.

“[The US] will find it much harder to sustain a policy that its own partners increasingly see as perpetuating the crisis,” Vaez said

Temporary entry and exit

The Omani-Iranian planned agreement envisions temporary entry and exit routes for commercial vessels in the strait, with Tehran repeatedly stating that this would not mean that the Strait of Hormuz has reopened.

Iran and Oman are the only two countries with territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz. The proposed inbound corridor reportedly goes through Iranian waters, while the outbound corridor mostly passes through Omani waters, with small parts still in Iranian territory.

During Monday’s scheduled meeting, Iran and Oman were supposed to share precise maps and discuss the details of the routes with GCC members Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, and Iraq, which is outside the bloc. The deal could reportedly include voluntary tolls to fund navigation, environmental protection and search-and-rescue operations.

Bahrain, which has borne the brunt of Iranian attacks since the US-Israel war on Iran started at the end of February, said it would not participate in the forum since it would amount to “appeasement”. The Tasnim news outlet, affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed Israel pushed Bahrain to refuse participation.

How does Yemen fit in this picture?

The latest diplomatic movement comes after days of explosive developments in Yemen, when the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, essentially took control of the Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea after a lightning offensive against government forces.

Thomas Juneau, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, said the Houthi advances represent a significant gain for Iran. Its Yemeni allies’ position in the Red Sea offers Iran an important new bargaining chip in future negotiations with the US.

“The Houthis are not a simple arm of Iranian foreign policy. They operate largely based on their own interests, and do not take and execute Iranian commands,” he told Al Jazeera. “But Houthi and Iranian interests are largely, if not always fully, aligned. They cooperate closely on the basis of those shared interests.”

Juneau sees the ability for Iran and the Houthis to potentially partially block traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb – two of the world’s most crucial maritime bottlenecks – would give them tremendous influence over the global economy, and thus the US.

The Houthis are trying to seize the opportunity to “institutionalise the de facto reality of their veto on maritime traffic” in the southern Red Sea and replicate partial Iranian success in doing the same in the Strait of Hormuz, Juneau said.

Iran has stressed that their allies’ gains in the Red Sea cannot be separated from the Saudi-led blockade and attacks on Houthi areas in Yemen since 2015.

“We know very well that continued war between Islamic countries in the region only has one winner, and that winner is no one but the Zionist regime, which is after persisting tensions and conflict in our region and between Islamic countries,” Iranian spokesperson Baghaei said.

THE reboot of the musical Sunday In The Park With George has been axed after both its leading stars Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey dropped out.

The show, announced last year, was set to run at the Barbican in London next summer but won’t go ahead, with organisers instead hoping to launch a version with a different cast the following year.

In a statement, bosses said: “The planned 2027 production of Sunday in the Park with George at the Barbican will no longer proceed as scheduled.

“Empire Street Productions will retain the rights with a view to presenting the production in 2028. Further details will be announced when appropriate.”

Ariana announced her exit from the project as part of her hiatus from showbiz, at the beginning of August.

At the time, a rep for the singer and actress said: “Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour.

Read more on Ariana Grande

one last time

Ariana Grande breaks silence as she takes career break after London gigs

over & Out

Jonathan Bailey QUITS West End show weeks after co-star Ariana Grande’s exit

“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.

“This tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”

At the time, bosses at Empire Street Productions said her role would be recast.

They said: “We wish her nothing but the best. The production will open at the Barbican in summer 2027 as planned, and casting will be announced in due course.”

However, a month later, Jonathan, who she also starred opposite in both Wicked films, also left the show as a result of Ariana’s exit.

TUCKED away in the English countryside is a quiet village that has attracted some big names.

It has pretty cobblestone cottages, traditional pubs all with the backdrop of rolling green hills and no, it’s not in the Cotswolds – but it looks like it could be.

East Dean, a small village in East Sussex, has become the country’s ‘quietest celebrity hotspot’, according to The Telegraph.

Artist Grayson Perry, interior designer and hotelier Olga Polizzi, and Line of Duty actress Gina McKee are all said to call the area home.

It was also once home to Edith Nesbit, the author of The Railway Children.

Most famously, it is the location where Sherlock Holmes retired.

TOP MARKS

Cheap all inclusive hotels with brilliant Tripadvisor ratings – from £299pp

TOP STAYS

Best-rated UK hotels as voted for by guests – with rooms from just £31 a night

The fictional detective said in the last novel, called His Last Bow, that he retired to “a small farm upon the Downs, five miles from Eastbourne”.

Author of the series Sir Conan Doyle lived nearby too.

There’s even a blue plaque outside the house on the green that reads “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective and bee keeper, retired here 1903-1917.”

200 years ago, the village wasn’t exactly a celebrity hotspot – instead it was used by smugglers.

What is now the village pub apparently served as a secret meeting place and retreat for contraband runners.

It’s called The Tiger Inn and sits at the centre of the village on the green and has been described as a ‘quintessentially English pub’ by visitors.

Previously, it’s won Rural Pub of the Year for the South East and has had multiple recognitions from the South East Sussex CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) – including winning Country Pub of the Year.

It serves up very British dishes too from Ploughmans, to fish and chips and sausage and mash.

One visitor wrote on Tripadvisor that it’s “an incredibly beautiful place, one of the best pubs in the South East.”

Another described it as an “amazing village pub on the green.”

It’s not just food – visitors can book a stay at the inn from £90 – or £45pppn.

There are other options when it comes to staying in the village too, including camping at Newhouse Farm Wild Camping which has 72 pitches.

You can pitch on the grass from £30 per night for two adults.

There are also four pods including The Sett, which can sleep up to four people from £100 per night – or £25pppn.

The village is actually quite close to the seaside too – in the car it’s a four-minute drive to beauty spot Birling Gap where you can look out over the Seven Sisters cliffs.

If you fancy taking a walk, you can start at the Tiger Inn and venture towards the sea front which will take around an hour and a half.

For more of a beach, there’s nearby Cuckmere Haven, which is a 13-minute drive away.

The beach was voted one of the best for spring earlier this year thanks to its mild temperatures and incredible views.

TRAVELLERS will soon be able to have a freshly made cocktail on Eurostar trains in a two-floor bar.

Eurostar boss Gwendoline Cazenave has revealed that the new Eurostar Celestia will have a double-decker bar on board.

Speaking to The Times, she revealed that the cocktail bar in Eurostar’s Premier lounge at St Pancras, London, will be “the design of the bar on the new Eurostar Celestia”.

Celestia is the fleet of 50 double-decker trains ordered last year for €2 billion (£1.7 billion).

Inside the lounge, mixologists make more than 300 cocktails a day and visitors can expect to find a variety of seating options from large tables to cosy chairs as well as a large selection of complimentary magazines.

Eurostar Premier travellers, Carte Blanche and Étoile members can access the lounge up to two hours before their train’s departure.

Read more on travel inspo

ALL IN

I found the best value all inclusive London hotel… just £55pp with free food & booze

TRAVEL TIP

The £2.99 SIM hack that can save Brits HUNDREDS abroad

Deliveries of Celestia will begin in 2031 and each train will be able to carry 20 per cent more passengers.

As a result, for the first time there will be more than 1,000 passengers onboard.

The trains will transport passengers from London to Frankfurt, Germany, four times a day and Geneva, Switzerland, three times a day.

Cazenave said: “Because it’s going to be a double-decker, it’s going to be a double-decker bar.

“It’s going to be as exciting as a speakeasy bar. That’s what we’re building, and I hope it’s going to be as nice as this place.”

Eurostar is also launching services to Antwerp from London four times a day from December 14.

The announcement comes as Virgin Trains prepares to launch services from London to Europe by 2030.

Italian firm Trenitalia has also promised high-speed cross-channel services by 2029.

FOR the first time in 12 years, Dubai Airport could be knocked off its top spot for the world’s busiest airport.

It’s set to be overtaken by a hub in South Korea which has indoor waterfalls and peaceful gardens – while London Heathrow stays at number two.

Incheon International Airport could become the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, according to preliminary data from the Airports Council International.

The data reveals that Incheon served 38.4million international passengers during the first six months of 2026 which could see it given the title.

Prior to this, Dubai International held the crown of the world’s busiest airport for international passengers for over a decade.

Last year it saw 96.2million international passengers in one year.

TOP MARKS

Cheap all inclusive hotels with brilliant Tripadvisor ratings – from £299pp

TOP STAYS

Best-rated UK hotels as voted for by guests – with rooms from just £31 a night

But due to the Iran War, footfall has decreased, and it’s predicted to fall outside of the top five.

However, Dubai International is still predicted to have seen 70million passengers by the end of the year.

According to the initial reports, London Heathrow is set to retain second place, recording 37.79 million passengers in the first half of the year.

It came in second place last year with 79.8million international passengers in 2025.

Expected to be in third place is Singapore’s Changi Airport, which has seen 34.53million international passengers pass through in the first half of this year.

Incheon International Airport first opened in 2001 as a hub for northwestern South Korea – about 25 miles away from Seoul and has seen visitor numbers skyrocket.

It has had an increase of 18 per cent this year with some traffic from flights taking different paths due to airspace closures.

South Korea has seen a surge in popularity in recent years thanks to K-pop as well as its fashion and food.

For anyone travelling across, to Incheon International Airport, they’ll find it’s modern and bright with high glass ceilings, plenty of natural light and indoor gardens.

The botanical zones have features like waterfalls as well as vertical gardens with trees and orchids to give it a calming feel.

Terminal 2 is designed to appear like an art museum with rotating installations, sculptures, and even interactive exhibits.

The airport also has a spa and sauna, capsule hotels, children’s play areas – outside is a 36,000-square-meter flower field and plane-spotting park.

One passenger was so impressed by the airport that he called it the “future of travel”.

Another called it “Korea’s most beautiful terminal”.

Incheon International Airport also ranked seventh in Travel + Leisure’s ‘World’s Best Awards’.

These airports were declared the best by readers who voted in their thousands for their favourites in multiple categories for the publication.

Official statistics will be released by the ACI in its World Airport Traffic Report next month.

For all the hysterical outrage that accompanied the announcement of the UK’s measures against illegal Israeli settlements last Tuesday, the world did not end. The reality is that these steps were merely bringing Britain into line with its legal obligation to act against an unlawful occupation and narrow the gaping chasm between the reality on the ground in Palestine and the rhetoric deployed in Westminster.

The reaction of those who support the Israeli settlements — war crimes under the Rome Statute — was frenzied. Anti-Palestinian bodies bellowed outrage. The chief rabbi declared this would be a “dark day for British Jews,” as if somehow they were the target of the measures or the victims of what has been happening. His comments were dangerous as he, along with “establishment” UK Jewish groups like the Board of Deputies of British Jews, blurred the distinction between the actions of the state of Israel and British Jews. This deliberately conflates antisemitism with anti-Israel sentiment.

Others also claimed, with no evidence, that the measures would make British Jews unsafe. The deplorable increase in antisemitic attacks in the UK and elsewhere has never been motivated by British actions against Israel, not least as there has hardly ever been any such action.

In fact, a sizable segment of the British Jewish community welcomed the settlement trade ban or at least accepted it as a reasonable response to the unprecedented building of settlements and frenzy of state-backed Israeli settler violence.

The reaction of those who support the Israeli settlements — war crimes under the Rome Statute — was frenzied

Chris Doyle

The mainstream media coverage was frequently dire. Many columnists depicted British Jews as a victim of the settlement ban. Very few outlets dared suggest that the actions were designed to help Palestinians under threat of ethnic cleansing, forced dispossession and settler pogroms. Once again, the victims were erased from the story.

The other claim was that the US would retaliate against London. This was triggered in large part by the knee-jerk reactions of US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who posted: “The Brits have lost it. The Jew hate of their government knows no boundaries and knows no facts.” He denies it but he probably did not know Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, is a British Jew whose parents were refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe. But Huckabee is an extremist maverick, an ardent Zionist who believes in a “Greater Israel.”

Far from retaliating, the US State Department made clear Huckabee’s comments were not authorized. He had been freelancing again. One official said Washington was “staying out of it.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio was far more measured in his comments. He did not even condemn the British actions. President Donald Trump, who is rarely shy of airing any disagreement, has said nothing. In short, the US has taken zero steps. Trump looks increasingly disenchanted with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not Andy Burnham or Miliband. The president has yet to declare support for Netanyahu ahead of next month’s Israeli elections, as the beleaguered leader hopes.

The settlement lobbies were almost certainly shocked by the 11 countries that joined the UK in confirming they were or would be adopting similar measures. This included France and Canada, meaning three of the G7 states are acting.

Those states yet to adopt the ban have at least condemned the settlements and are not opposing London’s actions

Chris Doyle

Britain was far from isolated, quashing yet another criticism. Those states that have yet to adopt the ban have at least condemned the settlements and are not opposing London’s actions.

In contrast, it is Israel and the US that find themselves once again in a crowd of two. These two states, as they were with the foolhardy war on Iran, align themselves against international law and accountability.

The retaliatory Israeli measures will also hardly dent the British interest. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced the closure of the British Consulate in Jerusalem, the ejection of the British participants in the International Gaza Support Center that oversees aid flows into Gaza and the termination of the British support team that is helping to train the Palestinian Authority.

Note that all these measures hit Palestinians far more than the UK, which is of course the Israeli priority. It means fewer states overseeing aid into Gaza, less support to the PA and, by closing diplomatic premises linked to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, further severs the remaining Palestinian ties to the city.

Expect a raft of settlement announcements shortly. This will be the primary Israeli response to the actions of these dozen states.

Will these measures have an impact? Are they sufficient? Almost certainly not. And the Netanyahu coalition, in election season, will just press the accelerator on the aggression and violence. Other Israeli politicians may get the message: The patience of international actors has finally worn out, albeit decades too late.

These steps should not be belittled. The 12 states have shifted from a declaratory poise to a position of action. For once, the Israeli government is going to have to bear a cost for the occupation that has hitherto not existed.

The message is clear. If Israel behaves like a pariah state, it will start to be treated like a pariah state.

Chris Doyle is director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU). He has worked with the council since 1993 after graduating with a first class honors degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Exeter University. He has organized and accompanied numerous British parliamentary delegations to Arab countries. Twitter: @Doylech

More from Chris Doyle