IF you cross the Tamar Bridge from Devon, there is a pretty riverside town that is often dubbed the Gateway to Cornwall.
And the destination that sits on the waterfront has lots to see from historical cottages to a cosy award-winning pub.
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The town of Saltash overlooks the River Tamar and sits on the Cornwall, Devon borderCredit: AlamySaltash is the first town you reach if you cross the Tamar Bridge or Royal Albert BridgeCredit: Alamy
Saltash is found on the western banks of the River Tamar right on the county’s natural border with Devon.
Thanks to its location, it’s known as the ‘Gateway to Cornwall‘.
Saltash is the very first town in Cornwall anyone will come to if they cross the border over the Tamar Bridge.
It’s also accessible by the Royal Albert Railway Bridge which is known as one of the UK’s Brunel Bridges – as it was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
It was voted Pub of the Year for 2025 by CornwallLive.
The pub sits on a hill with a view of the Royal Albert Bridge if you sit in the large beer garden.
Most read in Best of British
It was selected by a public vote where Cornwall’s pub lovers voted for their favourite place to drink and eat.
Throughout the year, the pub hosts events like Murder Mystery evenings, Music Bingo, discos, quizzes and lots of live music.
The Two Bridges Inn has been voted Cornwall’s Pub of the Year 2025Credit: Facebook/@The Two BridgesOut the back is a huge beer garden with views of the bridgesCredit: Facebook/@The Two Bridges
Of course there are ale and cider festivals throughout the year too.
Visitors can explore the town on The Saltash Heritage Walk which is a series of trails exploring the town’s history.
It focuses on the area near the river and its connection to Elizabethan times, the Norman church, and Tudor architecture.
Someone who took on the walk wrote on Tripadvisor: “There is plenty of history to see in such a small town, lots of old-worldy buildings if you venture down most nooks or crannies.”
One historical attraction in Saltash is Mary Newman’s Cottage.
The a grade two listed cottage was built around 1480 and is even said to be the home/birthplace of Sir Francis Drake’s first wife.
Inside it’s authentically furnished and visitors can look at traditional Tudor tools, costumes and games.
They are often described as being in the ‘forgotten corner’ due to their secluded location on the Rame Peninsula.
The adjoining villages aren’t visited by tourists as much as the likes of St Ives, Port Isaac, Mevagissey, and Mousehole.
But both villages have beautiful shingle beaches and cosy looking cottages.
The banks of Cawsand have plenty of rockpools to explore, and when the sea is calm, boats can be hired for another adventure.
During thesummerseason, a vintage ice cream called Cawsand Bay Vintage Scoops on the promenadenextto Cawsand beach to serve iced treats.
The village of Kingsand has another of the area’s favourite beaches.
The bay is well sheltered so it’s perfect for swimming, and it’s dog-friendly all year round.
The two village were historically separated by a stream, with Kingsand in Devon and Cawsand in Cornwall.
This division continued until 1844, when the boundary was adjusted, and Kingsand officially became part of Cornwall as well.
Both have a rich history of smuggling and fishing, you can even see remains of old pilchard cellars from the late 16th century on the shoreline beyond Kingsand.
The Cornish town of Saltash is known as the ‘Gateway of Cornwall’Credit: Alamy
That’s the question surrounding Rebel Wilson this week, as she stares down the barrel of yet another legal wrangling — while passionately claiming she’s a “whistleblower” fighting for justice.
Rebel Wilson stares down the barrel of yet another legal wrangling while claiming she’s a ‘whistleblower’ fighting for justiceCredit: GettyThis week, on 60 Minutes Australia, the star broke her silence on the legal battle she is fighting surrounding her feature film directorial debutCredit: 60 MinutesRebel said she had been the target of ‘incessant . . . bullying and harassment’ by the producers of her comedy musical, The DebCredit: Getty
This week, in a bombshell TV interview, the 45-year-old broke her silence on the legal battle she is fighting surrounding her feature film directorial debut.
The star, who was born and raised in Sydney, told 60 MinutesAustralia she had been the target of “incessant . . . bullying and harassment” by the producers of her comedy musical, The Deb.
It comes just 18 months after Rebel accused Sacha Baron Cohen of inappropriate behaviour on the set of another production — which he denies — and eight years after a landmark defamation battle.
Now, with her star showing signs of waning Down Under, have the endless litigations and allegations destroyed Rebel’s career?
In the latest real-life drama, the producers of The Deb — Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden — launched their legal action after Rebel claimed they had embezzled film funds.
She also accused Amanda of sexually harassing lead actress Charlotte MacInnes on set.
Charlotte, who denies she made claims of sexual harassment, is suing Rebel for defamation after the latter implied she had “changed her story” and was backtracking to save her career.
Rebel says the producers’ complaints against her are “an attempt to sling mud at [her] reputation”, and that all the muck and mess surrounding the project has been her “worst nightmare”.
‘Smear campaign’
She is now countersuing the producers, accusing them of financial misdeeds, misconduct and coercion.
She claims she had been subjected to suppressive measures, saying: “They locked me in a room and forced me to sign documents. I was like, ‘This is like the KGB.’ ”
The producers vehemently deny Rebel’s allegations, which she initially highlighted in an Instagram video in July 2024.
In the original clip, Rebel accused them of “bad behaviour”, “embezzling funds” and of perpetrating “inappropriate behaviour towards the lead actress”.
She subsequently claimed it was Amanda Ghost who had taken things too far with Charlotte. Rebel alleged Amanda had “asked [Charlotte] to have a bath and shower with her and it made her feel uncomfortable”.
In an extra layer to the mudslinging, both Charlotte and the producers have also accused Rebel of being behind several websites allegedly created as a smear campaign, which have since been taken down.
What is very clear is that she is not as loved here in recent years as I think she expected to be
Eleanor Sprawson, a journalist based in Australia, on Rebel Wilson
These websites accused Amanda, who is of Indo–Trinidadian heritage, of being akin to “the Indian Ghislaine Maxwell” and referred to her as a “full pimp” who was “procuring young women for the pleasure of the extremely wealthy”.
Rebel has denied any involvement in a smear campaign or the creation of websites against her legal foes, claiming she was heavily involved in getting them removed.
The cases rumble on and Rebel remains undeterred.
Not only does she stand by her story and appears willing to fight to the end, she is also loudly promoting new projects on Instagram and is looking forward to seeing The Deb finally hit screens in Australia in January.
The producers of The Deb are now suing her for defamation, breach of contract and sabotageCredit: instagram/thedebfilmThe 45-year-old Australian actress previously accused Sacha Baron Cohen of inappropriate behaviour on the set of another production, which he deniesCredit: Alamy
Rebel’s history suggests she is not someone to be provoked.
In 2016, Rebel — who found global fame in 2011 comedy Bridesmaids, before her scene-stealing turn as Fat Amy in 2012’s Pitch Perfect — set fire to the media landscape in Australia after launching a legal battle against Bauer Media.
In a landmark defamation case, Rebel sued the publisher over a series of articles published in 2015, that accused her of lying about her age, real name, and details of her upbringing, to advance her career.
Rebel said these stories had painted her as a serial liar and fraud, and had caused her to lose major film roles in Hollywood. She added that they had been perfectly timed to harm her as her career peaked post-Pitch Perfect.
Initially, the judge ruled in her favour, granting her $4.5million (£2.3million) — the largest defamation payout in Australian history — which she vowed to donate to charity and film projects.
But a later appeal saw the damages reduced to $600,000 — and Rebel was also ordered to pay 80 per cent of Bauer’s appeal costs.
While the appeal court upheld the initial verdict, it found the actress had not proved she had lost specific Hollywood roles solely because of the articles written about her. Another appeal followed — this time from Rebel — but the courts didn’t budge on the reduced payout.
Standing outside the High Court of Australia in November 2018, the actress told reporters: “To me, it was never about the money, but about standing up to a bully and I have done that successfully.”
Such a stance — pushing back against oppressors — is what Rebel has always argued she is doing. More so, perhaps, than the average celebrity — because, as time has passed, Rebel has continued to set the cat among the pigeons.
Last year, she hit the headlines again, as she released her autobiography Rebel Rising — taking to Instagram to identify Sacha Baron Cohen as the unnamed “massive a**hole” that a controversial chapter of the book centres on.
The Borat actor had directed and starred opposite Rebel in their 2016 movie Grimsby.
Rebel claimed she had been pressured to perform a “lewd act” that was never in a script.
Reflecting on the filming process, Rebel alleged Sacha made repeated, inappropriate requests to her, like: “Just go naked, it will be funny”.
She said she had felt “bullied, humiliated and compromised”.
‘The boy who cried wolf’
While no legal action was taken by either side, Sacha slammed the claims as “demonstrably false” and argued that all evidence — including film footage, production notes and eyewitness statements — contradicted her account.
The book was published in its entirety in the US, but was partially redacted in the UK and Australia — with any mention of Rebel’s allegations against Sacha blacked out due to the legal risk of defamation.
In March 2024, Rebel railed against her suppressors, writing on social media that she would not be “bullied or silenced by high-priced lawyers or crisis PR managers”.
And now she is doubling down on that promise, thanks to her latest public battle.
So, where does that leave Rebel, who, ten years ago was considered to be one of Hollywood’s funniest women.
Eleanor Sprawson, a journalist based in Australia, where Rebel initially found fame, says the temperature has changed towards the actress in recent years.
Rebel first found global fame in the 2011 comedy BridesmaidsCredit: Getty
“What is very clear is that she is not as loved here in recent years as I think she expected to be,” Eleanor explains.
“She was loved, way back 20 or more years ago when she was in a comedy series called Pizza, and I think people were excited for her when she took off in Hollywood.
“So when she presented a local show called Pooch Perfect, TV executives definitely thought they were on to a huge winner: ‘Local girl turned Hollywood star returning to do humble Australian TV’-type thing.
“But in fact the show bombed — and it bombed literally when people were locked in their houses because of the pandemic, with nothing to do EXCEPT watch TV. I think it proves that Australians have not taken her to their hearts.”
She adds: “She certainly did herself no favours by slagging off that old show Pizza in her memoirs. This show is very fondly remembered about a kind of class of people who don’t get much exposure on Australian TV in general.”
No one in the industry will want to work with her in the future if this behaviour is kept up. They’d be scared of legal issues or defamatory language
PR expert Quincy Dash
Meanwhile, Rebel could be seen as fighting causes that matter. In 2021, she donated $1million to the Australian Theatre for Young People.
She’s certainly combative, but has needed to be. In 2022, she came out as gay by posting an Instagram photo of her and her then girlfriend, now wife, Ramona Agruma.
Rebel revealed she’d had to “rush” her coming out after The Sydney Morning Herald contacted her representatives for comment on the new relationship
The actress also had to face constant scrutiny over her fluctuating weight, which — while she previously said made her the go-to funny girl.
But, as PR expert Quincy Dash tells The Sun, her litigious and provocative behaviour sometimes makes her seem like “the boy who cried wolf”.
He warns that “no one in the industry will want to work with her in the future if this behaviour is kept up. They’d be scared of legal issues or defamatory language.”
As it stands, Rebel is pushing ahead, and will next be seen in the Sky Original festive film Tinsel Town next month.
But as for her once-glistening career, she’s going to have to really ask herself: Does she really have a cause worth fighting for?
The star also hit the headlines when she released her autobiography Rebel RisingCredit: PA
Defenders: Georgia Brown (Sporting Club Jacksonville), Jenna Clark (Liverpool), Nicola Docherty (Rangers), Leah Eddie (Rangers), Sophie Howard (Como), Emma Lawton (Celtic), Rachel McLauchlan (Brighton & Hove Albion), Amy Muir (Glasgow City).
Midfielders: Erin Cuthbert (Chelsea), Freya Gregory (Newcastle United), Sam Kerr (Liverpool), Kirsty MacLean (Liverpool), Maria McAneny (Celtic), Miri Taylor (Aston Villa), Caroline Weir (Real Madrid).
SACRAMENTO — The day after the last out-of-town TV news bureau was shut down and state capital correspondent Ginger Rutland and her producer-husband Don Fields were fired, the couple got a panic call from their former employer, KRON-TV in San Francisco.
It was the first week of November and real news–not that stuffy, dull legislative dross that blows through the halls of the state Capitol–was happening in Sacramento.
“They wanted us to go out and cover the body search at the landlady’s house. You know the one who was accused of doing in all the old men?” said Fields. “Everyone wanted that story. Nobody wants to know about budgets or bills that might raise their taxes or ruin their water.”
Indeed, TV stations throughout the state–including KABC-TV Channel 7, KNBC Channel 4 and KCBS-TV Channel 2 in Los Angeles–dispatched correspondents to Sacramento that Friday afternoon in November to cover the Dorothy Puente “Arsenic and Old Lace” case, because not a single out-of-town TV station in California now has its own bureau here.
“It’s an absolute outrage,” said Harry Snider, West Coast director of Consumer’s Union. “We have a state that is supposed to have the 10th largest economy in the world and not a single TV station covering how it’s governed.”
With the shutdown of the KRON bureau, only TV reporters from Sacramento’s own stations cover legislative news on a regular basis.
“California is only one of three states in the country that don’t provide live coverage of debates in their state legislatures. Wyoming and Montana are the others,” said Tracy Westen, a USC professor who is writing a book on media coverage of state and local government in California (see accompanying article).
“Democracy is eroding in California,” Snider said. “Government does not work for the people, and the reason government doesn’t work is that public officials are able to escape the spotlight of public attention.
“All of them, from the governor on down, know that they can ride out a print story or a radio sound bite on the Michael Jackson show. But none of them want to be caught giving away the farm on the six o’clock news in Los Angeles or San Francisco.”
While TV stations have been pulling out, the state’s newspapers have been increasing capital coverage, according to a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco). Currently, 30 newspapers and wire services have bureaus here.
Both Gov. George Deukmejian’s office and state Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti’s office are disturbed by television’s departure from the scene.
“The shutdown of the KRON bureau really is the culmination of a very disturbing trend,” said Kevin Brett, Deukmejian’s press secretary.
“What will be missed will be the original reporting and investigative reporting,” said Bob Forsyte, Roberti’s press secretary. “That kind of reporting can only be done with sustained coverage from a bureau. The viewers will miss what will only come to them now through the print media.”
KNBC News Director Tom Capra said the decision to shut down its bureau six years ago was based on financial considerations–determining how limited resources should be allocated.
“The real crux of this is the expense,” he said. “It costs about $100,000 a year to have someone in Sacramento. I would rather spend that money covering the news in Southern California. I’d a helluva lot rather have a bureau in Orange County or even Riverside than in Sacramento.”
Capital veterans such as Rutland and Fields, who have been in Sacramento for 10 years, and KCRA-TV’s Steven Swatt, who has been reporting state government news for nearly 20 years, say the benign neglect of Sacramento can’t be blamed on rising costs.
“Logistically and economically, its’s easier and cheaper than ever before,” Rutland said. “We’ve got videotape. We’ve got satellites. The fact is stations don’t do it because they’d rather put crap on the air.”
“It’s greed,” Swatt said. “You’ll see them send up people for things like the body search or a plane crash, but why aren’t they here when the Legislature’s trying to raise taxes or the CHP wants to upgrade its radar or there are hearings being held on changing school textbooks or day care?”
When he headed the Sacramento bureau for KNBC a decade ago, Steve Mallory says, it used to cost about $250,000 a year for an out-of-town station to maintain a capital bureau.
“Most stations like to have their own person on the scene, but if they can’t, they’ll take anything they can get,” said Mallory.
That’s what Mallory is banking on, at any rate. Last summer he created the Northern California News Satellite service to fill the void left by the TV exodus from the state capital. So far he has 13 subscribers, including KNBC, and several other stations and networks that buy his daily satellite video feeds on a spot basis. Both KCBS and KABC have bought stories from him, he said.
“If they get it for one-tenth the price from us, they’ll take it,” said Mallory, who, like a newspaper wire service, spreads his costs over a number of clients. “Public service isn’t the prime concern of television news anymore. The bottom line is.”
That doesn’t mean he offers second-rate goods, Mallory maintains.
“We’re their bureau in the state capital,” he said. “Our stories are written for a general statewide audience unless we get a specific request from a subscriber to do something. But we give them what they want.”
A recent typical NCNS news day involved covering a press conference on a new drunk driving bill, comment from Gov. Deukmejian on the Armenian earthquake, dedication of the state Vietnam Memorial and a plan authored by the state Department of Social Services to pressure absentee parents to make their child support payments.
“When the story broke about the woman who planted the people in her back yard, we dropped everything else,” Mallory said “It was the only story we did for three or four days. It was the only one our clients wanted.”
Fields is not surprised.
“Why try to inform the public about issues that are going to affect their lives when life can be made so much easier dealing with a car accident or an unexplained shooting or some bizarre thing on ‘Entertainment Tonight’?” he asked.
KNBC’s Capra maintains that his station gets all the state legislative news it needs–from wire reports, selected satellite feeds from Mallory’s NCNS, its Sacramento sister station and elected officials downstate for a visit to their constituents.
If a bill is controversial or of particular interest to Los Angeles audiences, Capra does what his rivals at KCBS and KABC do: He sends a reporter to Sacramento upstate for a few days to get the story.
“There’s not much in Sacramento that we don’t know about,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with the way Sacramento is covered and I don’t think we’re doing a disservice to the public by not following a bunch of rich lobbyists around. How many times can you cover that story?”
Snider’s answer is fast and angry: every day.
“It is amazing to me that legislators spend $100 million every two years to seek legislative office and TV stations don’t think they’re important enough to cover,” he said.
The voters are the ultimate losers, according to Swatt and Rutland.
“All the surveys say that 66% of the population gets its news from the TV,” said Swatt. “If they don’t even know what’s going on up here, that’s frightening.”
“We live in a democracy where public opinion is far more important than ever before,” said Rutland. “The Field Poll and other polls influence legislators. And the initiative process puts more and more power directly into the hands of the public. But the public doesn’t know what’s going on.”
LIAM Gallagher isn’t a fan of sharing his food – just ask Paul Gascoigne.
The Tottenham and England legend told FourFourTwo about snaffling a steak from the Oasis rocker – and it didn’t end well.
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Paul Gascoigne has recalled the moment he stole Liam Gallagher’s steak — and sparked a fiery showdown with the furious rockerCredit: News Group Newspapers LtdLiam grabbed the extinguisher after Gazza snaffled his steakCredit: Getty
Recalling a run-in during the Nineties, Paul said: “I was in a restaurant and a guy said, ‘Liam Gallagher’s over there’.
“I went up to him, he was sitting on his own having a steak.
“He said, ‘F***ing hell sit down mate, how are you doing? Do you want something to eat?’
“I said, ‘No I’m not hungry, I’ll have a drink though’. He went for the drink and I ate his f***ing steak. He went f***ing off at me, going ‘Where’s my f***ing steak, man?’ I went, ‘I’ve ate the c***t.
Taylor Swift’s handwritten letter to Liam Payne, supporting his solo career, is to be auctionedCredit: Reuters
A handwritten letter from Taylor Swift to Liam Payne supporting his solo career is going up for auction.
She gave the late One Direction singer the note ahead of his performance at Capital’s 2017 Jingle Bell Ball.
Taylor headlined the annual bash at London’s O2 Arena. Liam, who died in October last year, was also on the bill.
The letter reads: “Liam, long time no see.
“I’m so excited for you, you’re crushing it out there.
“I’m obsessed with Bedroom Floor.
“It’s so cool to see you from afar.
“I’m always cheering you on.
“Good luck tonight!”
Speaking on the red carpet at the event eight years ago, Liam revealed Taylor also sent him a “lovely little hamper of new Reputation gear”.
He added: “She’s got very good handwriting if she did write it.”
British auction house Omega Auctions will sell the letter on December 2.
It is expected to fetch between £5,000 and £10,000.
Gabriella Cilmi is returning to music after 12 years, recording a new albumCredit: Instagram
Gabriella Cilmi is back, 12 years after her last album.
She had a string of hits in the late Noughties with Sweet About Me, Warm This Winter and On A Mission.
The Aussie singer, who is name-checked by Ed Sheeran on his 2011 song You Need Me, I Don’t Need You revealed she has been living in the English countryside and is returning to music.
She said on TikTok: “I’m super-excited to announce I’ve recorded a new record.
“We recorded it under the full Harvest Moon and it was a magical experience, going back to basics, playing live.”
Ellie: My break-up torment
Ellie Goulding opens up on her marriage breakdown to Caspar Jopling as she releases new song DestinyCredit: Getty
Speaking about her new song Destiny, Ellie said: “I first heard this track when I had recently separated from my husband.
“This was at a really turbulent time for me because I was trying to navigate what felt like a separation of all separations.”
The singer added to NME: “It was a marriage, not just a relationship.
“I didn’t know what else to do other than make music.”
Ellie and Caspar tied the knot in 2019.
They had their son Arthur in 2021, but sadly separated in 2023.
Emeli Sande was joined by acts including Boy George and Ali Campbell of UB40 at a charity gig for victims of Hurricane Melissa.
They played A Concert For Jamaica, at Koko in Camden, London.
DJ Robbo Ranx praised Jamaicans for standing strong after being battered by the storm.
Much of the island is still without water or electricity.
Aussie accused of Ari scare
Australian-born Johnson Wen boasted about meeting the pop star at the event, when in actual fact he scared the living daylights out of ArianaCredit: AFPAriana was thankfully protected by the one-woman muscle machine that is Cynthia ErivoCredit: AFP
New Delhi, India – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet late Wednesday described the car explosion which jolted New Delhi earlier in the week as a “heinous terror incident, perpetrated by antinational forces”.
The Indian government’s words, two days after a slow-moving car blew up near the Red Fort, an iconic 17th-century monument in New Delhi, killing at least 13 people and wounding several, have since led to questions about how it might respond, raising concerns over the prospect of a new spike in regional tensions.
Earlier this year, in May, the Indian government had declared a new security doctrine: “Any act of terror will be treated as an act of war.”
That posture had come in the aftermath of an intense four-day air war between India and Pakistan, after India blamed Islamabad for an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 civilians.
Now, six months later, as India grapples with another attack – this time, in the heart of the national capital of the world’s most populous country – the Modi government has so far avoided blaming Pakistan.
Instead, say political analysts, New Delhi’s language suggests that it might be veering towards intensifying a crackdown on Kashmir, at a time when Islamophobia and anti-Kashmiri sentiments have skyrocketed across India in the aftermath of the car explosion.
Ambulances are kept on standby on a blood-spattered road at the blast site after an explosion near the Red Fort in the old quarters of Delhi on November 10, 2025. At least 13 people were killed and 19 injured when a car exploded in the heart of the Indian capital, New Delhi’s deputy fire chief told AFP [Sajjad Hussain/AFP]
A crackdown in Kashmir
Even before the blast in New Delhi, police teams from Indian-administered Kashmir had been carrying out raids across the national capital region, following a lead from Srinagar, which led to the seizure of a significant amount of explosives and arrests of nearly a dozen individuals.
Among the suspects are several Kashmiri doctors – including Umar Nabi, a junior doctor who is suspected of being the driver of the car that exploded – who were serving in hospitals in satellite towns outside New Delhi.
Since the explosion near the Red Fort, police in Indian-administered Kashmir have detained more than 650 people from across the Valley as they dig deeper into what sections of the Indian media are describing as a “white-collar terror module” that had gathered enough explosives for the biggest attack on India in decades, if members hadn’t been arrested.
Police teams have raided several locations, including the residences of members of banned sociopolitical outfits.
Indian forces on Thursday also demolished the home of Nabi, the alleged car driver. In recent years, Indian authorities have often demolished homes of individuals accused of crimes without any judicial order empowering them to do so, even though the Supreme Court has ordered an end to the practice. Rights groups have described the act of demolishing the homes of suspects as a form of collective punishment.
Students of medicine and practising doctors in Kashmir are also increasingly facing scrutiny – more than 50 have been questioned for hours, and some have had their devices seized for investigation.
“There is a sense of complete disbelief among all of us,” said a junior doctor at a government-run hospital in Srinagar, the capital of the federal territory of Indian-administered Kashmir.
The doctor requested anonymity to speak, fearing repercussions from the police.
The 34-year-old has seen conflict in Kashmir up close, treating injured protesters firsthand for weeks on end, during previous clashes with security forces. “But I never thought that we would be viewed with suspicion like this,” he said, adding that the explosion that killed 13 in New Delhi was “unfortunate and should be condemned”.
“It is unreal to us that a doctor can think of such an attack,” the doctor said. “But how does that malign our entire fraternity? If a professional defects and joins militants, does it mean that all professionals are terrorists?”
Security personnel check for evidence at the blast site following an explosion near the Red Fort in the old quarters of Delhi on November 11, 2025 [Arun Sankar/AFP]
‘Away from Pakistan, towards an enemy within’
India and Pakistan have fought three wars over Kashmir since the nations were partitioned in 1947 as the British left the subcontinent. Today, India, Pakistan and China all control parts of Kashmir. India claims all of it, and Pakistan seeks control of all of Kashmir except the parts held by China, its ally.
After the April attack in the resort town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, India had launched missiles deep inside Pakistan. Modi claimed that the attacks killed more than 100 “terrorists”. Pakistan insisted that civilians and soldiers, not armed fighters, were killed. Pakistan, which had rejected Indian accusations of a role in the April killings in Pahalgam, hit back.
Over four days, the nuclear-armed neighbours fired missiles and drones across their contested border, striking each other’s military bases.
When the Modi government agreed to a ceasefire on May 10, it faced domestic criticism from the opposition – and some sections of its own supporters – for not continuing with attacks on Pakistan. The government then said Operation Sindoor is “only on pause, not over”.
Six months later, though, New Delhi has been significantly more cautious about who to blame for the Delhi blast.
“There is a lot of due outrage this time, but there is no mention of Pakistan,” said Anuradha Bhasin, a veteran editor in Kashmir and author of a book, A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370, about how the region changed under the Hindu majoritarian Modi government. The Kashmir administration has banned her book in the region.
“This time, it is not about a crackdown on Pakistan,” she told Al Jazeera. “The public anger is being directed away from Pakistan, towards ‘an enemy within’.”
She said the Modi government appeared to be aware that finger-pointing at Pakistan “would create pressure from the public to take [military] action” against the neighbour.
Instead, she said, “public anger can be assuaged by creating any enemy.”
Gayatri Devi, mother of Pankaj Sahni, who died in a deadly explosion near the historic Red Fort in the old quarters of Delhi, reacts next to Sahni’s body outside his home before the funeral, in New Delhi, India, November 11, 2025 [Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters]
‘Pandering to domestic gallery’
Analysts point to the Modi government’s use of the term “antinational forces” to describe the alleged perpetrators of the Delhi attack.
That’s a phrase the Modi government has previously used to describe academics, journalists and students who have criticised it, as well as other protesters and dissidents. Since Modi took office in 2014, India has continuously slid in multiple democracy indices for alleged persecution of minorities in the country and its crackdown on press freedom.
To Sumantra Bose, a political scientist whose work focuses on the intersection of nationalism and conflict in South Asia, the Indian cabinet resolution was significant in the way that it shied “away from naming and blaming Pakistan, which was a rather reflexive reaction for decades”.
After the fighting in May, the Indian government learned, the hard way, Bose said, that “there is no appetite and indeed no tolerance anywhere in the world for a military escalation in South Asia.”
Bose was referring to the lukewarm global support that India received after it bombed Pakistan without providing any public evidence of Islamabad’s links with the attackers in Pahalgam.
Instead, India was left disputing the repeated assertions of United States President Donald Trump that he had brokered the ceasefire between New Delhi and Islamabad, even as he hosted Pakistan’s army chief, praised him, and strengthened ties with India’s western neighbour. India has long held the position that all disputes with Pakistan must be resolved bilaterally, without intervention from any other country.
The contrast in New Delhi’s response to this week’s blast, so far, appears to have struck US State Secretary Marco Rubio, too.
Reacting to the Delhi blast, Rubio said “it clearly was a terrorist attack,” and “the Indians need to be commended. They’ve been very measured, cautious, and very professional on how they’re carrying out this investigation.”
India’s new security doctrine – that an act of terror is an act of war – “was a dangerous, slippery slope”, said Bose, who has also authored books on the conflict in Kashmir. His last work, Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century Conflict, published in 2021, is also banned in Kashmir.
The doctrine, he said, was aimed at pandering to Modi’s “domestic gallery” – a way of showing muscular strength, even at the risk of “serious military escalation” between India and Pakistan.
Now, by using terms like “white-collar terrorism”, analysts said Indian officials risked blurring the line between Kashmiri Muslims and armed rebels fighting Indian rule.
“The term doesn’t make sense to me, but it does put the needle of suspicion on young, educated Muslim professionals,” said Bose.
“The fact has been for decades that militants come from all sorts of social backgrounds in Kashmir – from rural farming families, working-class backgrounds, to educated professionals,” Bose argued. “If anything, it reflects the discontent that has been in the society across the groups.”
Bhasin, the editor from Kashmir, said the Indian government’s posture would lead to “adverse economic impact for Kashmiri Muslims and further ghettoisation, where they find it harder to get jobs or a place to rent”.
A supporter of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds a placard during a rally expressing solidarity with the Indian armed forces, in Srinagar, on May 15, 2025, following a ceasefire between Pakistan and India [Tauseef Mustafa/AFP]
‘Everyone is so scared’
Kashmiris across India are already facing the brunt of hate and anger following the Delhi blast.
Since the bomb exploded on Monday in New Delhi, Indian social media platforms have been rife with rampant hate speech against Muslims.
Nasir Khuehami, the national convener of a Kashmiri student association, has spent four days fielding calls from Kashmiri Muslims.
“Across northern Indian states, Kashmiris are being asked to vacate their homes, there is active profiling going on, and everyone is so scared,” Khuehami told Al Jazeera, speaking from his home in Kashmir.
This is only the latest instance of this pattern playing out: An attack in Kashmir, or by a Kashmiri armed rebel, has often led to harassment and beating of Kashmiri Muslims – students, professionals, traders, or even labourers – living in India.
Khuehami said “to end this endless cycle of crises for Kashmiris” – where they are detained at home and abused outside – “the government needs to take confidence-building measures.”
Otherwise, Khuehami said, the Modi government was marginalising Kashmiris in India. By doing that, he said, India would be playing into the hands of the very country it accuses of wanting to grab Kashmir: Pakistan.
ADAM Peaty has cancelled a two-day event in the US after receiving sinister threats amid his explosive family feud.
The Sun today revealed how Adam was escorted off a plane from his stag do by five police officers over concerns he might be assaulted.
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Adam Peaty has cancelled a two-day event in the US after receiving sinister threatsCredit: Shutterstock EditorialThe Sun first told this week how a secret feud between Adam and certain members of his family had implodedCredit: Instagram
Olympic champion swimmer Adam, 30, was due to fly to the US this weekend for a two-day training clinic with aspiring swimmers who signed up to his AP Race company.
He founded the business in 2019 to provide clinics to athletes across the globe.
Adam was expected to fly to Orlando, Florida, for a two-day session on November 15 and 16.
The website is still advertising Adam as attending and said: “Adam and the AP Race Team cannot wait to be heading to the USA for our first ever American Clinics.
And today insiders told The Sun how Holly, the daughter of celebrity chef Gordon, had called cops over concerns for Adam’s safety while he was on his stag do in Budapest, Hungary.
A source explained that Adam had received a series of “increasingly threatening” messages while away with friends – prompting Holly to get the police involved.
A friend said: “The issues that have been reported don’t stem from hen do or wedding invitations; it goes so much deeper.
“Things escalated over the weekend when someone became increasingly abusive and threatening over text.
“Adam was trying to enjoy his stag do and was getting freaked out by it all.
“He then received a threat that he’d be met off the plane.
“He told Holly who called the cops after consulting with her family.
“Gordon and Tana have been 100 per cent supportive of them in this.
“The police were sufficiently concerned that they went to the airport to accompany him through passport control, baggage area, arrivals hall and into a waiting vehicle.”
Olympic champion swimmer Adam, 30, with his mum and fiancee HollyCredit: InstagramAdam was set to celebrate in Vegas ahead of marrying Holly RamsayCredit: Instagram
WOULD you believe it that one village in Suffolk used to be as big as London, and just as important?
On the east coast of England is a village that years ago used to be one of the country’s biggest trade hubs, but due to coastal erosion has been lost to the sea.
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The village of Dunwich was one a thriving port town – but it was swept into the seaCredit: AlamyIt’s been dubbed the ‘Lost City of England’Credit: Unknown
Dunwich in Suffolk sits 13 miles down the coast from Lowestoft, and in recent history has been called the ‘Lost City of England‘ or even Suffolk’s answer to Atlantis.
During the medieval period, Dunwich had a main port which was a huge hub for international trade in what was the Kingdom of East Anglia.
Dunwich was even the capital of the Kingdom of the East Angles in the Anglo-Saxon period.
At that time, Dunwich was home to around 3,000 people – the same number that were in London.
It would trade goods like wool, grain and fish, but problems began in the 14th century after a number of huge storms.
Significant storms in 1286, 1328 and 1362 caused a huge amount of damage, destroying buildings.
It washed the port and a large amount of the town into the sea, including around 400 houses and eight churches.
Sonar images have even revealed a number of old buildings and streets sitting 30 feet below the sea.
After this, the medieval port was lost and so Dunwich became what it’s known as now, a coastal village.
There’s very little of the original Dunwich left now, but one ruin that’s still on land is the Greyfriars Monastery.
This isn’t the original though as that was also destroyed by a storm in 1286, the ruins visible today are from the “new” friary that was rebuilt in the late 13th century.
These are reportedly haunted with some visitors saying they spotted mysterious lights, and even ghosts at the friary.
If you want to learn more about Dunwich’s rich history, there’s even a museum dedicated to telling the history of the village from Roman times to the present day.
But today, most people visit Dunwich to spend time on its stretching beach which in 2021 was named as one of the UK’s best-kept secrets.
Just down the coast is Dunwich Heath, known for its wildlife like Dartford warblers, woodlarks, adders and antlions.
Greyfriars Monastery ties the village back to its medieval rootsCredit: AlamyYou can find out more about the history of Dunwich at its museumCredit: Alamy
The beach and surrounding countryside are owned by the National Trust, which runs a beachside tearoom called Coastguard Cottages where you can pick up hot and cold drinks, snacks and light meals.
There’s also a children’s play area on the beach, and cafes and pubs in the nearby village.
Favourites on Tripadvisor include The Ship Inn Restaurant, Flora Tea Rooms and The 12 Lost Churches.
For more exploration, further up the coast is the pretty seaside town of Southwold, or travel south to Leiston and Aldeburgh.
Today, the town still celebrates its rich history and has a literary festival each year.
Locals also boast about the town’s fish and chips, with The Suffolk recommended by Michelin.
Along the high street, instead of arcades you will find clothes boutiques, antiques shops and independent book stores.
One stop to head to is O&C Butcher – a 130-year-old clothes store selling top brands including Barbour and Gant. The town is also known for being the home of famous composer, Benjamin Britten.
Today, during the summer months, visitors can head to his home, The Red House. Britten shared the home with Peter Pears and it is nestled in a five acre garden, with a farmhouse, gallery space, shop and cafe. And there is a historic cinema in the town too.
It doesn’t look like your average cinema from the outside, as it features timber framing.
The beach itself boasts both shingle and sand and backs onto the town, making it the ideal spot for adventuring to after exploring the town.
On the beach you will also find The Scallop – a sculpture that is a tribute to Benjamin Britten.
The Timesrecently named the seaside town the best in the UK.