Aside from your plane ticket, your passport is one of the most important documents you need to travel. But Brits need to make sure their passport’s appearance doesn’t put an end to holidays before they even start.
With fuel disruptions and other global events making the thought of holidays a bit stressful, people need to make sure their passports are valid and free of any additional issues that could prevent them from heading to their destination. These could seem minor, but airport security won’t take chances, and Brits could be out of pocket.
Usually, the main concern for people jetting off on holiday is ensuring they have enough valid months left on their passport. However, minor tears and water damage that seem like small issues may render a passport invalid in the eyes of border authorities – regardless of how long it has left to expire.
According to the GOV.UK website, you must replace a damaged passport immediately. This can typically take three weeks, but it can sometimes be longer, with waits of up to six weeks, so anyone with plans coming up soon should act fast.
What kind of damage will make a passport invalid?
The GOV.UK website lists all of the reasons that could render a passport invalid for travel. These include:
when the personal details or observation page are unreadable
laminate peeling or lifting away from the personal details page
unreadable security details
missing or detached pages
where the front, back or personal details page has been cut
damage or discolouration to any part of the passport caused, for example, by water/chemical/ink spills or tears/rips/bite marks
People who have the blue e-Passport may be found invalid for travel if the perforated passport numbers have been torn or the personal details page is torn, damaged, or cracked. People could also be rejected from passport checks if their passport has a chip or antenna that shows through the endpaper on the back cover of a burgundy e-Passport or the personal details page of a blue e-Passport
Damage that does not need an explanation and won’t render a passport invalid for travel includes:
any damage that is not on the personal details or observation pages
any visas, vignettes or immigration stamps are unaffected by the damage (Passport officers must be happy there are no security features or details missing)
any damage or discolouration to the passport cover and blank visa pages is caused by water/chemical/ink spills/tears/rips/burning/bite marks/writing or drawings
To replace a damaged passport, Brits can apply online here to be processed as quickly as possible. It costs £102 for adults, and customers will need a digital photo and a credit/debit card. GOV.UK added: “You’ll need to ask someone to confirm your identity online if you’re replacing a lost or stolen passport.”
People with travel plans that are sooner than the typical three-week turnaround may apply for a fast-track service at a premium cost. This usually results in an appointment at the Passport Office within a week, with documents often being issued the next day.
This express service comes at an added cost compared to the normal wait time and process. It costs £192 for an adult passport (or £206 for a 54-page frequent traveller passport).
BROKEN Social Scene is more than just a band, it is a community.
The Canadian collective is at the beating heart of Toronto’s freewheeling indie music scene.
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Jill Harris and Kevin Drew perform at the 2022 Ohana Music Festival in 2022Credit: GettyKevin Drew, second left, top row, says the Broken Social Scene ‘invited everybody in without rules’Credit: Supplied
If you attempt to count the combined total of active and inactive members, you arrive at a mind-boggling approximation somewhere between 20 and 30.
“What I love about this band is that it’s an open door,” affirms singer and guitarist Kevin Drew.
Since forming Broken Social Scene in 1999 with Brendan Canning, Drew has been its lynchpin . . . albeit one with an unerringly democratic approach.
“We invited everybody in and we didn’t have rules,” adds the 49-year-old frontman. “And we went out and did our f***ing best.”
Over the years, notable collaborators have included an array of Canada’s finest singers, including solo artist Feist, Amy Millan of Stars and SFTW’s other interviewee this week, Emily Haines of Metric.
Drew cemented his place at the centre of the scene by co-founding progressive label Arts & Crafts in 2003 and has known many of the artists since he was a teenager.
Now, Broken Social Scene are back with their first album in nine years, Remember The Humans, a typically multi-layered affair but one that never loses touch with a winning melody.
Through words and music, it serves as a telling reminder that in this dislocated tech-driven world, we are still mere mortals with very human feelings.
Drew is at home outside Toronto and I’m in London when we hook up for a video call this week.
Before we discuss Broken Social Scene’s welcome return to the fray, he balances his phone on a copy of Irma Rombauer’s hefty culinary classic, The Joy Of Cooking, to bring his face into full view.
He apologises for appearing a bit flushed and says with a big smile: “Sorry, I just took a sauna.”
I quickly discover that Drew is a disarming character with a refreshingly open take on life.
“My dad was from London originally,” he continues. “I said, ‘Hey Pops, I’m gonna speak to The Sun’, and he went, ‘Oh, my gosh, I remember The Sun — it used to have the pin-ups!’ ”
I inform Drew that one of my earliest reviews for SFTW was Broken Social Scene’s self-titled breakthrough third album, released in 2005. “So, we have a long relationship together, which I love,” he responds without a trace of irony.
Introductions out of the way, he’s ready for me to ask why it’s the right time for a new album, as well as a triple headliner tour with Metric and Stars, which is coming to the UK in September.
“We came to a realisation through playing shows after the pandemic that this IS our life,” he says. “This is something we have spent so much of our lives working on.
“We still find much joy in melody and we are part of the muscle memory business now.
“At the age we’re at and with what we’ve achieved already, we made a firm choice to continue.
“Between us all, we have had so much loss of family and friends, but we found that grief made us grateful for what we’ve got.”
Drew is thrilled to be heading out with his comrades from Metric (particularly Jimmy Shaw) and Stars, a trek that summons “the true spirit of what we have been from the beginning”.
Audiences can expect some band-hopping, meaning that Drew can’t really say how many people will be on stage with him.
“I haven’t a clue,” he says. “But I do know there will be a LOT.” The latest chapter in the Broken Social Scene story probably began in 2022 with a 20th anniversary tour of their second album, You Forgot It People, and its songs that still resonate today.
Drew and his fellow travellers realised they might provide some solace in a world where “identity is at war, fear is prominent at every turn” and where “hope is a very tired word”.
He says: “We thought, ‘Let’s do our tiny little protests, let’s continue to demonstrate community’. After all, it’s not hard for us to make music because there’s so many of us.
“Just by being around for 25 years, we have our own sound.”
One song from You Forgot It People — Anthems For A 17-Year-Old Girl, with Metric’s Haines on lead vocals — has acquired a new audience, as Drew explains.
“Thanks to the [2024] film I Saw The TV Glow, the trans community has brought that song into their lives and embraced it.
Broken Social Scene are returning with their first album in nine yearsCredit: SuppliedOver the years, notable collaborators have included an array of Canada’s finest singers, including Emily Haines, aboveCredit: Getty
“It went viral on TikTok, then suddenly all our listens went up. It was the greatest award we’ve ever been given. We were so touched.”
For Drew, it was proof positive that “music helps to build your identity, to find your own people and to express yourself. Right now, that is something to hold on to”.
With its layers of horns, guitars and synthesisers as well as various distinctive voices, new album Remember The Humans is a triumph for freedom of expression.
There’s also a strong feeling of Broken Social Scene coming full circle, enhanced by the return of original producer David Newfeld.
Drew picks up the story: “I moved out of the city, just half an hour away from where Dave had moved 18 years ago.
“He started coming over for dinner and there was a lot of laughter. He’s so old school — still has a flip phone because he doesn’t think smart phones are smart.
“I reached out to him about working together again. I missed his sound and his passion, which were so unpredictable.
“Next thing I knew, I was on a two-and-a-half-year journey of starts and stops — and loss. I lost my mom and he lost his, so we bonded over that.”
It’s clear that the new album’s heartfelt opening song Not Around Anymore is, among other things, a product of their grieving process.
Drew adds: “Dave also latched on to the song And I Think of You. If you put it through headphones, you are hearing his grief over his mom. He records that thing, mixes it and he takes you on a journey.
“His mom was his world — they talked three times a day. Once he’d lost her, I realised it would help him to put love and loss into some of this music.”
We move on to other key contributors, firstly Feist, who resurrects What Happens Now, a song that reportedly didn’t make the cut for Broken Social Scene’s 2017 album Hug Of Thunder.
“Leslie Feist is a different entity because she’s so solo in her success,” says Drew. “There’s us, Metric and Stars, but she became the biggest of all on her own.”
He adds that Feist has “an open invitation” to be part of Broken Social Scene’s endeavours.
“I always tell her, ‘You’re welcome at this home any time you help build it. In fact, you’ve got your own wing!’ ”
Over acoustic strums, atmospheric electronica and occasional swells of horns, Feist’s ghostly delivery turns What Happens Now into a standout moment. “I’m honoured we were able to put it on this record,” says Drew. “It fits the theme.
“I love the cadence of Leslie’s vocals, the way it seems as if she is drowning before she becomes so clear. It’s so Feist.”
Another singer to make a significant contribution is Hannah Georgas, who became involved in Broken Social Scene’s world through being a support act.
Drew says she made Only The Good I Keep her own, and adds: “She neurologically removed my topline [lead vocal melody] — but we need people to have ownership.
“At first, I called Hannah and said, ‘This is great, but I’ve got something I can’t get in’. Two days later, I couldn’t even remember what I was saying and all I could hear was her version.”
Broken Social Scene regular Lisa Lobsinger brought the song Relief into the mix — providing another insight into the band’s democratic process.
Drew reports: “We got this email out of the blue from Lisa saying she kept singing a song in her head while meditating, and she thought it was by Social Scene.”
Lobsinger realised she was making up Relief by herself in that moment, so she submitted it.
“We sent it to the crew, and everyone loved it,” continues Drew. “So, I said, ‘Oh my God, Lisa, let’s do it!’ ”
Before we go our separate ways, Drew leaves me with telling observations about more general topics related to his home country.
Audiences can expect some band-hopping, meaning that Drew can’t really say how many people will be on stage with himCredit: Getty
Much as he appreciates iconic Canadian artists like Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, he singles out some of the lesser-known trailblazers who inspired him — “Thrush Hermit, Sloan, Hayden and Godspeed You! Black Emperor”.
“I say to the younger members of the band, ‘Don’t listen to this man. In fact, don’t listen to men in general — if they have a microphone, they won’t do you any favours, including rock singers!’ ”
It’s a typical comment from someone for whom community spirit means everything.
In Broken Social Scene, decides Drew, “we are empaths, not sociopaths. No one has their identity wrapped up in this band”.
Barely a week ago, a charmed Lakers season screamed three words.
Deep playoff run.
Today, a jinxed Lakers season soberly whispers three very different words.
Shut it down.
With less than a month of games remaining, the Lakers season is done, finished, kaput.
Twisted and torn by the sudden same-day injuries to their two best players, the Lakers are broken beyond repair.
They can’t win without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, and neither is coming back at full strength in time to save them.
They were wholly embarrassed in their first two shorthanded games and will wind up falling to a fourth or fifth seed with a first-round matchup looming against Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.
They can’t beat the Rockets, they won’t beat the Rockets, and the season will officially and quickly and sadly end. It might end in something more palatable than a sweep — maybe they win a game? — but it’s going to end, and soon, and the Lakers need to reinforce their priorities before it does.
Shut it down.
Tell Doncic to stay in Spain for as long as it takes for that magic medicine to cure his strained hamstring. Tell Doncic his MVP-worthy season is DOA. Tell Doncic to begin getting ready for September.
The Lakers don’t need him showing up in three weeks trying to save this season on a limp and a prayer. They don’t need him risking a reinjuring of the hamstring that could affect his summer workouts and bleed into next season.
Lakers star Luka Doncic reacts to a play during a blowout loss to the Thunder in Oklahoma City last week.
(Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
Most experts agree it would be a miracle if Doncic would return at 100% in time to carry them through the first round of the playoffs, which start April 18. The Lakers don’t need him to be a miracle. They need him to be the cornerstone of a franchise that is being rebuilt in his image.
They don’t need him now, when he’s not going to save them anyway. They need him six months from now, to be healthy and in shape to lead them into their next era.
Shut it down.
The Lakers need to say the same thing to Reaves, who they’re going to give a boatload of money this summer to be their No. 2 star for the indefinite future.
They don’t need him to try to play with an injured oblique and make things worse. They don’t need him to gut it out. They need him to sit it out.
The fans aren’t going to like reading this. And the players aren’t going to like hearing it.
Just listen to Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks star who has been shut down since March 15 because the Bucks didn’t want his nagging injuries to worsen and affect either his trade value or his 2026-27 season.
“Like a slap in my face,” he told reporters recently. “I’m available to play today. Right now. I’m available. Do I look like I’m not available? … I don’t know what game is being played right here, I just don’t wanna be a part of it.”
There is no game with the Lakers. Their new Dodger ownership group doesn’t play games. Their goal is to build a franchise that has sustainable success. Pushing all their chips into the middle for a team that doesn’t have a chance in hell is not building sustainable success.
You’ve seen how the Dodgers rest their players for six months to prepare themselves for the postseason, right. Shutting down the Lakers now is sort of this, in reverse. They’re punting in the playoffs to prepare themselves for next season.
Certainly, Doncic would take the news of a shutdown about as well as Antetokounmpo.
“I think he’s, in my conversations with him, he’s motivated to do everything possible,” said coach JJ Redick to reporters. “And I know for him, it’s hard for him not to be on a basketball court. That’s his happy place. And he’s one of the handful of guys that really plays year round. And it’s not just international competition. But he likes to be in the gym. He likes to be working on his craft. And I think it’s hard for him. He wants to get back on the court.”
Lakers forward LeBron James reacts to a play during a win over the Kings last month at Crypto.com Arena.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
And no, LeBron James is not going to be happy either, trying to carry a team that seemingly isn’t trying. So what? Do you really believe he is going to take remarkably less money to stay on the Lakers next season? Do you really believe the Lakers want him back when they will have the cap space to trade for a player like, um, Antetokounmpo?
To leave James alone on a first-round island might be unfair, but the Lakers have kowtowed to him plenty in his eight years here. He’s just going to have to take one for the team, however briefly that team may be playing.
“It was a shot to the heart and the chest and the mainframe with Luka,” James told reporters. “I woke up from my nap and saw that [Reaves] news and was like, ‘S—.’”
You know who else wouldn’t easily accept the news of a shutdown? That would be Redick, who, barely one week after being lauded as the first Laker coach since Phil Jackson to manage consecutive 50-win seasons, now finds himself again fighting for credibility.
Remember last year when Redick took heat for playing his starters the entire second half of a playoff loss to Minnesota?
He’s taking heat again this spring for playing both Doncic and Reaves in the second half of a blowout loss to Oklahoma City that sent both players to the injured list.
Lakers coach JJ Redick directs players during a blowout loss to the Thunder on Tuesday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
When Doncic was hurt the Lakers trailed by 32 and he had already looked injured after grabbing his leg in the second quarter. Reaves, meanwhile, spent much of the first quarter grabbing at his back.
Redick said both players were medically cleared and that they both insisted on challenging the league-leading Thunder in the second half.
“The group wanted to go for it in the second half,” Redick told reporters. “There was nothing leading into that game that would suggest either those guys were ‘running hot.’’’
This was just the beginning of Redick’s bad week.
Jarred Vanderbilt was certainly running hot Tuesday night in a rematch against Oklahoma City after he was benched in the first moments of the second quarter. Vanderbilt accosted Redick on the court and had to be restrained. Redick ultimately responded by benching Vanderbilt the rest of the game and then not-so-subtly ripping him afterward.
“I think for all of us, you know, being undermanned, we’ve got to scrap and claw, we’ve got to all be on the same page, we got to be great teammates, we got to all play hard,” Redick told reporters. “Called a timeout to get him out of the game. And he reacted.”
One has to wonder about Redick’s connectivity with his players if one of them is unafraid to confront him on the court during the middle of a game.
One has to also wonder, again, about Redick’s big-game management style if he would allow his two best players to risk their health during a blowout.
Redick, who signed an extension in September that will keep him under contract until 2030, is not on the hot seat, not yet. But another spring meltdown will not endear himself to new owners who expect their coaches to be the calm face of the organization.
Then again, for everyone involved, there must be some grace granted in the wake of the incredible tension surrounding a team whose dream season just became a nightmare.
End the nightmare now. For the sake of the future of the franchise, shut it down.
JESSIE J has been rushed to hospital following a car injury which left her with fears she’d ‘broken her neck’.
The singer, 37, has undergone an MRI scan following the incident as she updated fans on her health scare.
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Jessie J was rushed to hospital for an MRI Scan following a shock car injuryCredit: instagram/@jessiejThe incident left her with fears she’d ‘broken her neck’Credit: instagram/@jessiejJessie has updated fans on her recovery as she continues to performCredit: instagram/@jessiej
Jessie is currently in China for her No Secrets Tour and suffered an unlikely injury after hitting her head on the roof of a car.
Taking to Instagram, the Price Tag hitmaker shared a clip of her climbing into a black vehicle at her latest concert, whilst admitting she “didn’t mind squashing in the back”.
The video then cuts to Jessie in hospital undergoing an MRI scan after suffering the neck injury.
In an additional update, whilst backstage at one of her shows, Jessie goes on to relay the severity of her condition.
But the star now seems to be doing well and is back performing shows just under a year since her diagnosis.
Jessie J diagnosed with breast cancer in 2025Credit: PAJessie underwent two surgeries during her health battle which included a mastectomyCredit: Getty
