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POLITICS

Bentsen, Bush: Little Has Changed : Bid for Conservative Democrats Attempted Once Before–in 1970

WASHINGTON — The Republican snarled that his opponent was a big-spending liberal. The Democrat huffed about the Republican’s loyalty to an incumbent President. The Republican tried against the odds to attract black and Latino voters. The Democrat sought to lasso conservative Democrats tempted to stray over the political line.

This is not George Bush vs. Michael S. Dukakis, 1988. It was George Bush vs. Lloyd Bentsen, 1970, battling for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, in a race that helps explain why Bentsen was tapped as Dukakis’ vice presidential nominee 18 years later.

For one thing, Bentsen won. For another, he fought off appeals by Republican Bush to curry favor with conservative swing Democrats, the same sort who are expected to make the difference this time around.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Those who look at the 1970 race as a key to the candidates’ likely behavior this year will find few surprises. It was, the wags said, a face-off between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The candidates themselves, neither a master of charisma, projected remarkably similar positions on the issues.

“They’re not too different,” said Robert Mosbacher, Bush’s current national finance chairman, who held the corresponding position in the Senate campaign.

Pressed as the 1970 race began to come up with one difference between him and Bush, Bentsen found one: “I am a Democrat and he’s a Republican.”

But there were some distinguishing quirks: Bentsen, worried that he would lose some conservatives to Bush, gained some ground by convincing voters that he was actually more conservative than the pre-Reaganite Bush.

And while the race was nominally between Bentsen and Bush, it seemed at times to be a battle of presidents. On Bentsen’s side was Texas native Lyndon B. Johnson, in the second year of his retirement. On Bush’s was Richard M. Nixon, in the middle of his first term, unspoiled as yet by the ravages of Watergate.

Not a Vitriolic Battle

Surprisingly, given the lack of discord on issues, the race did not degenerate into a sassy or vitriolic personal battle.

“It was really competitive, but there wasn’t any dirty politics or name-calling,” Mosbacher said.

That was reserved for the Democratic primary, a bitter, divisive affair in which Bentsen upset the incumbent, liberal Democrat Ralph W. Yarborough. The primary gave Bentsen a boost of publicity and was the beginning of the end for Bush, who had entered the race assuming he would battle an ideological opposite in the general election.

When he came face-to-face with Bentsen, “it was a whole new ballgame,” said Peter Roussell, Bush’s 1970 press spokesman.

Bush told voters that he, as a Republican senator under the Nixon Administration, could deliver more for Texas, and he accused Bentsen of being the “machine” candidate, groomed by Texas’ powerful Democratic hierarchy.

In a line that would be resurrected in 1988, Bush warned voters against the “big spenders” in Congress, who “recklessly spend the taxpayers’ hard-earned money.” He called for programs to battle air pollution and made forays into the traditionally Democratic Latino and black neighborhoods to corral votes.

Had Better Firepower

But Bentsen was armed with more piercing ammunition.

He criticized Bush’s support of a Nixon Administration welfare proposal, calling the package a “guaranteed annual income.” He also attacked Bush’s support of a 1968 gun-control measure that required dealers to keep records of the sale of guns and ammunition. He called the measure “the first step toward registration of law-abiding citizens’ guns,” a conscience-tweaking issue in Texas. Bush countered that he had voted against every floor amendment that dealt with gun registration.

Johnson entered the fray and told voters that he would vote for Bush for senator–if he lived in Connecticut, the state in which Bush was reared. Added former Texas Gov. John B. Connally–now a Republican–”Texas doesn’t need a Connecticut Yankee like Bush, just a good sound conservative boy like Lloyd.”

Even Bentsen’s campaign slogan–”A courageous Texan with fresh ideas”–reinforced the notion of carpetbagging, although Bush had by then lived in Texas for 22 years. Bush countered with the vague, “He can do more.”

Amid Bentsen’s criticism of the incumbent Administration, Bush stayed loyal to Nixon, calling him “stronger than horseradish in Texas.” The President paid back the favor by flying in for one campaign swing and sending then-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew in for another. But the trips only exaggerated the sense of Bush as an outsider.

GOP Heavily Outnumbered

Ultimately, according to a 1970 aide, Bush was simply unable to persuade Texas Democrats to switch. And a switch was mandatory–in the primaries those years, only 110,000 people voted Republican, while 1.5 million cast Democratic ballots.

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SPORT

Arsenal: How Declan Rice’s role has changed at the Gunners

Oct 21, 2025 Sports Desk

Arsenal, who host Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday (20:00 BST), have changed their style this season to be more direct and play through defensive lines quicker, which has meant Rice moving deeper alongside Zubimendi when starting attacks.

A recruitment specialist working in top level football told BBC Sport how the signing of Zubimendi has complemented Rice’s game.

He said: “It hasn’t changed what he can do as he has done it before, but it [Zubimendi’s arrival] has given him more ability to be an all-rounder.

“He already had the ability to contribute in the holding game but now he is able to excel in attacking phases.

“His ability to take the ball on the half-turn allows his first touch to be always forward when he receives it.

“The attacking role hasn’t phased him. He has grasped it really well and you can tell it’s something he’s always had.”

Rice already has three assists and one goal in his 11 games for Arsenal this season.

For his goal against West Ham, Rice arrived late into the box to meet a bouncing ball and finish well to score Arsenal’s opener in their 2-0 win.

And the recruitment specialist believes Rice, though known for his running ability, does not get the plaudits he deserves.

“A lot of people don’t really give him the credit he is due for his athleticism,” he said. “He is extremely athletic and a good mover.

“He has the freedom to create in the attacking area of the pitch, he is excellent in holding, he is such a fluent player and performs with the freedom he has been given.

“A good player, good passing, but can also be gritty and break up play. He is a commanding midfield player.

“I like the fact that he can dictate the tempo of the game. Really good precision in his actions. He has transitioned seamlessly to a box-to-box player.”

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SPORT

Newcastle: What’s changed since takeover of Premier League club in 2021?

Oct 5, 2025 Sports Desk

Matt Ritchie sensed it.

He knew what could happen if Howe “got hold of them” and “had some firepower”, after previously working with the manager at Bournemouth.

“When I first arrived, I would talk about Eddie Howe and Bournemouth,” said the 36-year-old winger, who played for Newcastle between 2016 and 2024 and now at Reading.

“The lads would say, ‘come on, drop it, he can’t have been that good’. But I’d tell them there was no stone left unturned.

“I was so pleased that they got to sample it. Until you actually see it and feel it, you don’t truly believe you have never worked like that before. It’s the attention to detail, the preparation and the desire to improve – all the things that make Newcastle what they are now.”

It has not all been plain sailing, of course, since Howe’s appointment or the takeover a few weeks prior.

Newcastle, currently 15th in the Premier League, missed out on a number of targets during a draining summer window and lost striker Alexander Isak to Liverpool for a British record £125m.

The club do not have a sporting director after Paul Mitchell left in June, following less than a year in the post.

And the wait continues for announcements concerning the future of St James’ Park and construction of a new state-of-the-art training ground.

But this is a side that ended a 70-year drought to win a major domestic trophy back in March after lifting the Carabao Cup by beating Liverpool.

They have qualified for the Champions League in two of the past three seasons – recording their biggest win in the competition against Union Saint-Gilloise this week – and only Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal have picked up more points in the Premier League since Howe took charge.

“A lot has changed just in terms of the general feeling of the club,” added Howe. “Of course, the team has changed. Naturally, teams progress and change over time.

“The way we’re working behind the scenes as a football club is totally different but, also, if you look around the training ground here, there have been big improvements. That’s what the club needed and still needs.

“We need more, but things will change and gradually evolve over time. It’s exciting times for the football club.”

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POLITICS

Younger, richer and smaller: How California’s era of wildfire has changed communities forever

Sep 30, 2025 Politics Desk

PARADISE, Calif. — When Jen Goodlin visited Paradise six months after the 2018 Camp fire, she thought she was saying goodbye.

A town native, Goodlin was living in Colorado with her husband and four children. She wanted to witness the devastation that wiped out 10,700 homes, including the small white cottage where she grew up, and turned the dense forest of her youth into a bleak landscape. But once she arrived, she was surprised at her reaction. She could envision so much more than the burned trees and abandoned businesses around her.

Here, she saw, her family could live on a big piece of land as they’d always wanted. Her husband thought she was crazy, but they ran the numbers, bought a 1.2-acre vacant lot and put a trailer on the property. A few years later, they moved into a new, four-bedroom house.

“It took the fire to bring me home,” said Goodlin, 43, who now runs a local wildfire recovery nonprofit.

Jen Goodlin, executive director of the Rebuild Paradise Foundation, in Paradise, Calif., in June 2024.

Young families like Goodlin’s are coming to Paradise, shifting the town’s demographics away from the retirees who once lived there. Attracted by cheap land — lots cost less than a mid-range car— newcomers can build a larger home on larger parcels for less than buying a house in Chico, a city of 100,000 people 15 miles away.

Though Paradise’s current population is less than half of what it was, the local Little League already has more kids than before the fire.

Nearly a decade of megafire in California has brought profound changes to recovering communities. Paradise has become younger. Some rebuilt areas have become wealthier. Renters and people on fixed incomes have found themselves pushed to more urban locales. Both devastated neighborhoods and fire survivors face an unpredictable future that, given the recent intensity of wildfires in California, many more areas will have to face.

Reminders of fire are inescapable in Paradise, from the roadside signposts that designate evacuation routes to the alarm that blares at noon on the 15th of every month, a test of the system that will tell everyone if they need to flee once again. At the same time, the activity in the town belies the desolation implied by building data that show only 30% of destroyed homes have been replaced. Dog walkers and parents with small children play in refurbished parks. At lunchtime, construction workers in reflective vests gather around taco trucks.

A deer treks over an empty lot as homes continue to be built throughout Paradise years after the Camp fire.

Local boosters tout that for every year after the fire, Paradise has been one of the fastest-growing communities in California. Another half-dozen homes are being rebuilt each month, according to a Times data analysis.

But as shown in Paradise, the statistics tell only part of the story. The Times found that of the nearly 22,500 homes lost in the Camp fire and California’s four other most destructive wildfires from 2017 to 2020, just 8,400, or 38%, have been rebuilt.

Given the time that has already passed, it’s unlikely that some places — the forests below the northern Sierra Nevada, parts of the Santa Monica Mountains, pieces of old Shasta County mining towns — ever will have the same number of homes as before. In Paradise, it’s essentially guaranteed. Many returning homeowners purchased their neighbors’ burned out lots to build a larger house or simply expand the size of their property.

Instead of simply repopulating these areas, there has been a subtle shift toward living in more urban communities, especially for renters or homeowners who couldn’t afford to rebuild. In Butte County, disaster relief dollars from both the Camp fire and North Complex fire, which destroyed 1,500 homes in even more rural areas two years later, have been funneled toward affordable housing projects largely in Chico and smaller nearby cities untouched by the blazes. Not one such development has been proposed in the North Complex burn scar.

The rationale is straightforward: More people can be housed more safely and sustainably in cities than in mountainous, fire-prone tracts with little public infrastructure. The urban developments also provide access to grocery stores, public transit and other amenities that give them a higher chance of winning state financing competitions and being completed.

Local officials welcome the investments but feel uneasy about what’s happening. Katie Simmons, deputy chief administrative officer overseeing recovery efforts for Butte County, said many rural fire survivors don’t want to move to the city. She called the new developments “displacement housing” that doesn’t address the needs of those in remote areas who continue to “flounder in disaster-caused homelessness.”

As time wears on, fewer and fewer people find themselves in positions to return, sometimes despite extraordinary efforts to allow them to do so.

Palm trees rising over the vacant lot in November 2020 where Journey's End Trailer Park once stood in Santa Rosa.

In Santa Rosa, the 2017 Tubbs fire wiped out Journey’s End, a 162-space mobile home park next to a hospital and the 101 Freeway. A partnership between the landowner, the city and for- and nonprofit developers led to plans for more than 400 apartments on the site, including full replacement of 162 units for low-income seniors.

But it wasn’t until summer 2023 that the first apartments opened. Journey’s End residents, so long as they qualified under the age and income restrictions, could return if they wanted.

Few did. About three dozen expressed interest, 12 initially moved in, six of whom remain.

A lot of her former neighbors from the mobile home park died waiting, said Pat Crisco, 75, one of the Journey’s End residents who came back. Others didn’t want to live in apartments. More had settled elsewhere and didn’t want to uproot themselves again, she said.

Pat Crisco is a former resident of the Journey's End mobile home park that burned in the Tubbs fire.

The stray cats Crisco used to feed at Journey’s End are gone and when the hot wind blows outside her apartment building she gets the “heebie jeebies.” But she feels great about her decision to return. The location is close to the bus, her doctors and grocery stores.

“This is brand spanking new,” Crisco said. “And everything is very convenient.”

Research shows that communities that rebuild more fully tend to end up wealthier than they used to be. Homeowners who come back are the ones able to afford to navigate the process, and brand-new houses in established areas attract outsiders.

Before the Tubbs fire, Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park subdivision was middle-class, with its tract homes routinely going for around $500,000. Nearly all the 1,300 houses lost have been rebuilt. Residents were astounded recently when they began selling at more than $1 million.

Jeff Okrepkie, 46, a Coffey Park renter who used his insurance payout as a down payment for a new home on his old street, said it’s undeniable that the neighborhood is more upscale now, with amenities hard to find elsewhere.

“This is the cliche, Americana, suburban single-family-detached homes,” Okrepkie said. “It’s 1980s-style lots, 1980s-style streets with 2020s-style houses.”

Jeff Okrepkie outside his rebuilt home, second from left, in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa.

What’s happening in Paradise and Santa Rosa provide continually evolving answers to weighty questions: When has a community recovered? And what does recovery even mean?

In 2019, Paradise received a $270-million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric, whose power lines caused the Camp fire. The town is using the money to backfill lost tax revenue. But it won’t last forever.

That’s why local leaders are pushing for a new sewer system as part of an expanded town center to attract restaurants and business that would make more young families want to live there. The lack of one limited the commercial district in the past.

For Paradise officials, recovery is when the community can sustain itself once again.

“It looks like it’s going to serve us for 25 years,” said Colette Curtis, the town’s recovery and economic development director, of the PG&E settlement.

Some residents of communities reshaped by fire have found themselves both drawn and repelled by the place they call home.

Roger and Lindy Brown lived in Paradise with their daughter before the fire and their home burned.

Roger and Lindy Brown had lived in Paradise for 12 years when the Camp fire struck. After the blaze, the Browns rented an apartment in Chico so their daughter could finish her last year at Paradise High School, which held classes in a mall and then a warehouse in Chico.

Roger, 60, worked in heating and air conditioning and had to return to the town often. He couldn’t take seeing the burned-out trees, cars and homes. The couple took their insurance money and moved to a small town in Oregon. From a distance, the upkeep on their vacant lot proved to be too much so they sold that too.

But Paradise pulled at them, especially Lindy, 66. Their daughter never left, attending Chico State, where she recently graduated. Some of their friends had rebuilt. To her, Oregon felt lonely. Paradise, she said, was their community.

Tom and Diane Boatright built back their home after the Camp fire using a modular homebuilding company.

Last year, Roger and Lindy bought a house in Paradise, a newly built, blue, two-bedroom with a white picket fence. The home had all they wanted. Solar power. A large lot. Apple, cherry and peach trees in the back. And they were overwhelmed with the thought of starting from scratch.

They’ve kept a Little Free Library on their lawn stocked with books. In the spring, they traded their extra peaches for eggs from their neighbor’s chickens.

On a recent weekday afternoon, Roger and Lindy stood in their frontyard admiring the finishing touches on their only major construction project. They were replacing some of the landscaping with gravel, a decision that made their home more fire-resistant and cut their insurance costs in half.

Roger still felt unsure about returning. Before the fire, he would go to breakfast with the town’s classic car club every Saturday. The 1971 Chevy Nova Roger had restored was lost in the blaze and the car club was no more.

“It’s never going to be the Paradise it was,” Roger said to Lindy.

His wife turned to him. “It doesn’t have to be,” she said.

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MONEY

Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid Will Have Their Fortunes Changed Forever Today, Sept. 30, Courtesy of President Donald Trump

Sep 30, 2025 Finance Desk

President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” is reshaping the electric-vehicle (EV) landscape.

When a new president enters office, it’s not uncommon for changes to take place, either through the signing of bills into law or via executive orders. Since President Donald Trump was inaugurated a little over eight months ago, we’ve witnessed a slew of adjustments made to Social Security, as well as the passage of his flagship tax and spending law, the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”

While Trump’s big, beautiful bill introduced a number of tax breaks for select groups, including a higher standard tax deduction for eligible seniors from 2025 through 2028, and partial deductions for tips and overtime pay for eligible workers during the same four-year timeline, it also removed some important benefits.

Donald Trump delivering the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.

President Trump delivering his State of the Union address. Image source: Official White House Photo.

Specifically, Donald Trump’s law changes the fortunes of the electric-vehicle (EV) industry and its leading pure-play manufacturers, which includes Tesla (TSLA 0.61%), Rivian Automotive (RIVN -2.15%), and Lucid Group (LCID 0.56%), as of today, Sept. 30.

EV makers bid adieu to an important dangling carrot

Among the laundry list of tax and credit adjustments in the president’s big, beautiful bill is a newly shortened timeline that ends the $7,500 tax credit consumers received when purchasing a qualifying new EV or plug-in hybrid, as well as the $4,000 credit when buying a used EV. This EV credit was available to new vans, SUVs, and trucks priced below a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $80,000, as well as new sedans with an MSRP of no more than $55,000.

Though this credit (officially known as the Clean Vehicle Credit) was initially slated to end in 2032, based on the Inflation Reduction Act, Donald Trump’s big, beautiful bill brings this new EV purchase credit to an end today, Sept. 30. Qualifying new vehicles purchased after today will no longer be eligible for the $7,500 credit.

This EV credit applied to a significant percentage of the vehicles Tesla sells, including its Model 3 Sedan, all-wheel drive Model X SUV, single and dual motor Cybertruck, and multiple variants of the Model Y SUV. While Rivian’s and Lucid’s EVs are generally priced above the MSRP range where tax credits end, both companies had been angling leases of upcoming models as a way to take advantage of the $7,500 EV credit.

This EV credit was akin to a dangling carrot that allowed pure-play electric-vehicle manufacturers to be more price-competitive with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Undercutting traditional ICE vehicles on price is viewed as a borderline necessity with EV charging infrastructure still somewhat lacking on a nationwide basis.

Without this upfront cost advantage, it’s likely that future buyers will opt for traditional gas- and diesel-powered vehicles due to the availability of ICE fueling infrastructure and opportunity cost. Whereas it takes just a few minutes to refuel an ICE vehicle, it can take an hour to a full day, depending on the type of charger used, to juice up an EV.

An all-electric Tesla Model 3 sedan driving down a two-lane highway during wintry conditions.

Image source: Tesla.

But wait — there’s more bad news

However, ending this lucrative tax credit that incentivized the purchase of EVs isn’t the only way Donald Trump’s big, beautiful bill is disrupting pure-play EV manufacturers.

When the president signed his flagship tax and spending bill into law on July 4, 2025, it put an end to corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) fines, as well as retroactively eliminated fines for 2022 model years and all subsequent years.

CAFE regulations represent the standard of how far vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel. These figures, which are set by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, are designed to promote more fuel-efficient vehicles over time and lessen the reliance on fossil fuels. Automakers that failed to meet these standards were subject to fines. With CAFE civil penalties removed, courtesy of Trump’s law, there’s no longer any financial incentive for automakers to meet sky-high mile-per-gallon targets.

This is almost certain to have an adverse impact on the ability of Tesla, Rivian Automotive, and Lucid Group to generate profits.

Government agencies provide automotive regulatory credits to these pure-play EV manufacturers, which sell these tax credits to legacy automakers that are short of compliance targets. For Tesla especially, selling these tax credits plays a key role in its profitability. Without regulatory credits, Elon Musk’s company would have reported a pre-tax loss during the first quarter of 2025.

With the teeth behind CAFE regulations removed by the big, beautiful bill, the market for automotive regulatory credits in the U.S. is going to be severely depressed. It has the potential to expose the fact that Wall Street’s EV darling, Tesla, has been consistently generating more than half of its pre-tax income from unsustainable and/or non-innovative sources, such as selling automotive regulatory credits and earning interest income on its cash.

It’ll also minimize regulatory tax credit revenue for Rivian and Lucid. Whereas Tesla has at least been profitable on a recurring basis for five consecutive years (with the help of automotive regulatory credits), Rivian and Lucid continue to lose money hand over fist as they ramp up operations and attempt to carve out their own unique niches in the automotive marketplace. Despite substantial cash piles for both companies and brand-name financial backing, long-term success is far from a guarantee.

Though I wouldn’t go so far as to say Donald Trump drove a dagger through the heart of the EV industry, his actions are almost certain to thin the herd and make it considerably more difficult for pure-play electric-vehicle makers to compete with traditional ICE vehicles.

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TRAVEL

I got a first look at the new Lego Masters Academy and it’s changed the way I parent

Sep 29, 2025 Travel Desk

We got a first look at the new Lego Masters Academy in Denmark, and with near-constant messages about the dangers of kids in the online world, it gave us a whole new outlook on parenting

At a time where parents are inundated with warnings about the dangers to our kids of the online world and the reduction in free and imaginative play, raising happy and healthy kids can feel daunting. But after a visit to the new Lego Masters Academy at Denmark’s Lego House, I was given a much-needed reminder that all is not lost – and it has genuinely changed how I interact and spend time with my two primary school-aged kids.

We were already a Lego family, with a smattering of neurodivergency all around, but it’s never really been something we’ve enjoyed together, more a solitary pursuit. I’ve learnt there’s a big difference between just whacking up a set by following instructions, and actually sitting down and chatting about how to build the “best castle drawbridge”, or “a fruit bowl with a flat bottom”, to name some recent genuine examples.

There are now several surfaces around our home with various Lego creations on them, and every one of them is an opportunity (which we can’t and don’t always take, of course) to just be together. With the company recently reporting record-high sales figures, I would assume I’m not the only parent with the same idea….

What is the Lego House?

Not to be mistaken with the nearby LegoLAND® Billund Resort, Lego House is officially the Home of the Brick. It’s part interactive museum, part all-you-can-build Lego building buffet, and overall an incredible place to take kids (and adults).

The newly-opened Lego Masters Academy

If you haven’t seen the reality TV show Lego Masters on Channel 4, check it out. It started in the UK in 2017 and has since exploded in popularity, with versions now running in Australia, France, Japan, the United States, Germany, Norway and South Korea, and more.

Teams compete to build the best Lego project, as per the brief, until there’s only one winning team left.

The new Lego Masters Academy at Lego House essentially takes some of the incredible skills you see on the TV show, and breaks them up into teachable segments so even the most basic Lego builder can feel confident veering away from the step-by-step instruction booklets and creating something from their imagination.

What

If you’re not a Lego superfan, you may not know that certain building techniques have names (the Lowell sphere, for example, which is explained in the Level 3 session), but they do.

The SNOT technique is another one, which means Studs Not On Top, and allows the creator to build outwards, on-the-round, and sideways, rather than just stacking high.

What do you do at Lego Masters Academy?

Think classroom learning, but intensely fun. You (and your friends/family), are seated at tables facing a (human) Lego teacher, with a large screen used for instructions above them. The room itself is a thing of beauty, with almost floor-to-ceiling pick-a-brick shelves full of almost every type and colour of brick imaginable.

Both of our ‘classes’ included a mix of guided instructions and free building to a theme – for example, “give your character something to shade them”, and “your figure needs to climb high, build something for them to stand on”.

There are four different levels, focusing on creativity, storytelling, technical building, and teamwork. As of today, Levels 1 and 3 are available to book, Levels 2 and 4 will be coming in 2026.

Level 1 – Family Fun – described as a ‘playful introduction to Lego creativity’. Great for families and casual builders.

Level 2 – Build Me Up – a way to improve on basic building skills and learn how to take things to ‘the next level’.

Level 3 – aROUND the bricks we go – all about refining and improving some of the basic skills (learning the Lowell Sphere and SNOT, for example).

Level 4 – Mastery – perfect for ‘aspiring designers and Lego Masters’ who want to push their skills to the limit.

As well as walking away with some new Lego engineering skills, you’re also able to take home what you’ve built. You might also want to bear this in mind when choosing what pieces you pick to use during the free-build elements of the classes (but don’t let that distract you from the fun of the lesson, the Lego House Store is well stocked with individual blocks.)

Where to eat in Lego House

It’s very easy to take a packed lunch into Lego House and pop outside to eat, but the MINI CHEF restaurant is well worth a visit but we were advised to book our table ahead of our visit.

Diners choose their foods using coloured Lego bricks – red for protein, green for salads/vegetable, blue for energy/carbohydrates – with different shapes identifying different dishes, and the prices are set per meal. It’s a small but varied menu, and adults get to choose from an extra list of dishes (using a special black brick!) and kids get a special surprise if they attach a yellow brick.

The food is surprisingly delicious (our dishes included Scandinavian salmon, veggie meatballs and Danish chicken thigh) and without wanting to ruin any surprises – delivered in an appropriately themed-box via two very special Lego robots.

FYI – MINI CHEF will be temporarily closed for renovations from 27 October 2025 to March 2026.
Prices as of September 2025 – 229DKK adults, 135DKK kids

There’s also the BRICKACCINO cafe serving fresh snacks, desserts, sandwiches and hot and cold drinks.

How to get to Lego House from the UK

You can fly directly to Billund, Denmark, from the UK’s London airports, but will need to transfer if flying from elsewhere.

Alternatively, there are regular flights to Copenhagen, and then it’s a very beautiful and comfortable two-hour train from the city’s main train station, København H, followed by a 40-minute bus ride.

We did this and aside from adding a few hours to the travel time, the trains and buses were so easy to navigate via the DSB app, that it was part of the adventure, rather than an added stress.

What are the best bits of Lego House?

The Experience zones are split into four sections – Red, Yellow, Green and Blue Zones, and each Zone has a huge number of interactive stations where you can build to your heart’s content.

The Lego sea animal aquarium was a big hit for our family, where we got to see our Lego fishy creations swim off into a huge animated aquarium. There’s also a Lego minifigure mood changer, where we saw our built characters come to life and dance on a digital stage.

There’s heavy emphasis on the ‘experience’ elements of the House, it isn’t just a shrine to incredible creations behind glass – but there are plenty of these in the Masterpiece Gallery if you want to see what some of the biggest names in AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego) have created. Prepared to be wow-ed.

The History Collection explores the history of Lego, and includes hundreds of the company’s most popular and famous sets, as well as explanations about how this simple studded brick became so iconic.

What shou

Of course it wouldn’t be a Lego experience without a Lego store. But this one is unique. Here, you can buy sets that are exclusive to the House, such as the famous Wooden Duck, which was one of the first Lego toys made, and dates back to the 1930s.

There’s also the Lego House Architecture set, true to scale and complete with the iconic coloured roof.

Tip – the store is busiest as it nears closing time (the Experience zones close at 4pm, and the House and store close at 5pm). So, if you’re organised and know what you want, consider heading there earlier in the day so you don’t panic buy or miss out. That said, it wasn’t too busy for us and we had plenty of time to create our exclusive Lego House minifigures as well as pick up the exclusive set, and a pack-a-brick box (or four).

How much does it cost to visit Lego House and what time is it open?

Entry to LEGO House : £32
Masters Academy session: From £23 per/person per session

Standard opening hours:

LEGO House: 9.30am to 5pm
Experience zones: 10am to 4pm
Mini Chef: 11am to 4pm

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TRAVEL

Man visits beer spa and is gobsmacked by one thing that ‘changed his life’

Sep 21, 2025 Travel Desk

Going to a beer spa sounds like a dream come true for many people, now one man recently tried out the experience for himself and was left speechless by the one small detail

Christine Younan Deputy Editor Social Newsdesk

11:02, 21 Sep 2025

Beer spas have been around for a very long time(Image: Getty Images)

Spa day with some beer, sure why not? It’s not unheard of that most places in Europe might offer some seriously cheap booze with £1.60 beers. But if you’re looking for pints with a bit of relaxation, you might want to visit this beer spa.

One man recently flocked to Czech Republic’s capital city Prague and booked himself a unforgettable experience at the Bernard Beer Spa. Beer baths have been one of the most popular types of baths since the Middle Ages with a very old and unique spa therapy that uses natural ingredients in the form of hops, yeast and other natural substances.

And at the Bernard Beer Spa, not only are you benefiting from the incredible effects, you also get unlimited booze that happens to promise “energy and health to your whole body”.

In a recent Instagram post, Blaine, who boasts 86,700 followers, had to try it out for himself and was very impressed by it all.

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He wrote: “Soaking in a bubble bath full of beer with unlimited beer on tap is honestly the self-care that I think we all deserve.”

Recommending the Bernard Beer Spa, Blaine recalled how his skin felt “silky smooth” after dunking his body into the booze.

“I had this whole room to myself for an hour,” he added. “You have unlimited beer for the whole hour and you can have as many pints as you can physically drink. You just pour it yourself from the tap besides the beer bath.”

He went on: “They had a sauna and a bed for you to take a nap in and they give you the classic Czech pickled cheese with bread, this stuff actually changed my life bro. I literally came back the next day when they opened just to buy another jar.”

Detailing his first hour at the spa, Blaine said the resort takes you in for a massage then at the end, give you a little goody bag with some of their products.

He concluded: “This was a really cool experience, all the staff are really nice, they treat you well, perfect way to unwind and refresh during a trip.”

Since Blaine shared his experience on Instagram, many people rushed to the comments section as one said: “How is this not in Britain?”

Another added: “This is amazing! Where are the champagne spas!”

So what can you expect at the spa?

First of all, the workers take care of your body from the outside and inside in a “unique way”.

You also get unlimited beer for the duration of the event, guests can just tap their own beer as they wish.

There are also massages available, as well as refreshments and rental services, should you wish to try this out with a group of pals.

For the Beer Spa Bernard package, 60 minutes for 1-2 people costs €125 (around £108). Meanwhile, 90 minutes for the same amount of guests will set you back €189 (£164).

In addition to the Bernard Beer Spa, there is also a range of massages, with 60 minutes for one person costing €75 (£65), or €139 (£120) for two guests.

You can find out more about Bernard Beer Spa by visiting the official website.

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POLITICS

Menendez brothers abuse wouldn’t have changed convictions, judge rules

Sep 16, 2025 Politics Desk

A judge has rejected Erik and Lyle Menendez’s petition for a new trial, ruling that additional evidence that they suffered sexual abuse at their father’s hands would not have changed the outcome of the trial that has put them in prison for more than 35 years for gunning down their parents.

The ruling, handed down by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan on Monday, is the latest blow to the brothers’ bid for release. Both were denied parole during lengthy hearings in late August.

A habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of the brothers in 2023 argued they should have been able to present additional evidence at trial that their father, Jose Menendez, was sexually abusive.

The new evidence included a 1988 letter that Erik Menendez sent to his cousin, Andy Cano, saying he was abused into his late teens. There were also allegations made by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who claimed Jose Menendez raped him.

The brothers have long argued they were in fear for their lives that their father would keep abusing them, and that their parents would kill them to cover up the nightmarish conditions in their Beverly Hills home.

Prosecutors contended the brothers killed their parents with shotguns in 1989 to get access to their massive inheritance, and have repeatedly highlighted Erik and Lyle’s wild spending spree in the months that followed their parents’ deaths. .

“Neither piece of evidence adds to the allegations of abuse the jury already considered, yet found that the brothers planned, then executed that plan to kill their abusive father and complicit mother,” Ryan wrote. “The court finds that these two pieces of evidence presented here would have not have resulted in a hung jury nor in the conviction of a lesser instructed offense.”

Ryan agreed with Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman that the petition should not grant the brothers a new trial because the abuse evidence would not have changed the fact that the brothers planned and carried out the execution-style killings in the family living room.

Ryan wrote the new evidence would not have resulted in the trial court proceeding differently because the brothers could not show they experienced a fear of “imminent peril.”

A spokesperson for the group of more than 30 Menendez relatives who have been fighting for the brothers’ release did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the district attorney’s office was not immediately available for comment.

The gruesome killings occurred after the brothers used cash to buy the shotguns and attacked their parents while they watched a movie in the family living room.

Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was struck five times with shotgun blasts, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor wounded before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.

The petition rejected this week was one of three paths the Menendez legal team has pursued in seeking freedom for the brothers. Another judge earlier this year resentenced them to 50 years to life for the murders, making them eligible for parole after they were originally sentenced to life in prison.

Both were denied release at their first parole hearing, but could end up before the state panel again in as soon as 18 months. Clemency petitions are also still pending before Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The first trial ended with hung juries for each brother. In the second, allegations of abuse and supporting testimonies were restricted, and Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1996.

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SPORT

Newcastle boss Howe reveals how Isak relationship changed

Sep 12, 2025 Sports Desk

Manager Eddie Howe says his relationship with Alexander Isak changed after the former Newcastle striker went on “strike” to force through a move to Liverpool.

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SPORT

The Sports Report: Meet the guy who has changed USC football

Aug 29, 2025 Sports Desk

From Ryan Kartje: A dozen years before he charted a bold, new path for the USC football program, Chad Bowden was living on the pull-out couch of a cramped studio apartment in Hollywood with no clue where his life was headed.

Bowden couldn’t have dreamed up the role he’d one day occupy a few miles down the street at USC, where as the Trojans football general manager, Bowden has infused the program with new energy while putting together the top recruiting class in America.

So how did Bowden rise from that couch to being held up as one of the most consequential arrivals at USC since Pete Carroll himself?

Bowden thought that he might play college football. A few small schools had offered him opportunities to play linebacker coming out of high school in Cincinnati. But Bowden’s father, former baseball general manager Jim Bowden, didn’t think it was the right move. He worried about how his son would handle the rest of the college experience.

“He felt like it was best for me, from a maturity standpoint, to go right into working,” Bowden says.

Which is what led him to the tiny apartment off Highland Avenue. He split the place with Jac Collinsworth, his close high school friend, the two of them packed like sardines into a single room that doubled as the kitchen and dining space. Neither seemed to mind the close quarters. Everything became a competition, with each of them pushing the other.

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From Ben Bolch: Nico Iamaleava is the rare commuter enjoying his time on the 405 these days.

Every pump of the brakes, every maddening mile in traffic that can be more stop than go, puts him closer to hearing his dad’s voice and seeing his mom’s smile.

These are the visits that can fill a young man’s heart, not to mention his belly. During a recent trip home, the UCLA quarterback savored the family recipe of pisupo, a Samoan dish consisting of corned beef with rice.

“I’ve been getting a lot of home-cooked meals from mom and just having them. You know, an hour away has been fun, man,” Iamaleva told The Times after practice Wednesday. “You know, I’ll go to Long Beach as much as I can. But, you know, during this week, I’ve been locked in with the game plan and stuff like that.”

As he spoke, Iamaleava’s hair was tied back with a pink elastic band reading “Team Leinna.” Two years ago, Nico established a foundation to support breast cancer research and awareness after his mom, Leinna, recovered from Stage IV breast cancer.

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DODGERS

From Jack Harris: Thursday might be an off-day for the Dodgers.

But for their most intriguing recent draft pick, it’s also the opening day of a different kind of season.

In the 17th round of last month’s MLB draft, the Dodgers took a flier on University of Missouri pitcher Sam Horn, a 6-foot-4 right-hander with a big fastball, a promising slider and an athletic, projectable build.

Like most late-round prospects hoping to become a diamond in the rough, Horn came with questions. He pitched just 15 innings in his college career after undergoing Tommy John surgery as a sophomore. His limited body of work led to a wide range of scouting opinions.

In Horn’s case, however, the biggest unknowns had nothing to do with his potential as a pitcher.

Because, starting Thursday night, he will also be under center as quarterback for Missouri’s football team.

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Shaikin: How Shohei Ohtani turned the Dodgers into a global entertainment gateway

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Nothing, it seems, commands the attention of Rams fans more than the team’s uniforms.

And on Thursday, the Rams revealed a new “Midnight Mode” uniform part of the NFL’s Rivalries program.

The “near black” ensemble and helmet was designed by Nike and the Rams based on the ethos that “We work hard all night to earn the spotlight,” said Kathryn Kai-ling Frederick, the Rams’ chief marketing officer.

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THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1885 — John L. Sullivan wins the first world heavyweight title under the Marquess of Queensbury rules when he beats Dominic McCaffrey in six rounds. The fight features 3-ounce gloves and 3-minute rounds.

1952 — Dr. Reginald Weir becomes the first Black man to compete in the U.S. Tennis Championships. Weir appears two years after Althea Gibson breaks the color barrier in the tournament and loses in four sets to William Stucki.

1962 — A.C.’s Viking, driven by Sanders Russell, wins the Hambletonian Stakes in straight heats.

1968 — Open tennis begins at the U.S. Tennis Championships. Billie Jean King wins the first stadium match at the U.S. Open and amateurs Ray Moore and Jim Osborne have upset wins over professionals. Moore beats No. 10 Andres Gimeno and Osborne defeats Barry MacKay, each in four sets.

1974 — Nineteen-year-old high school basketball star Moses Malone, signs a contract with the Utah Stars of the ABA to become the first player to go directly from high school into major pro basketball.

1978 — The USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. opens. Bjorn Borg beats Bob Hewitt in the first match 6-0, 6-2 in the best-of-three sets.

1987 — Charlie Whittingham becomes the first trainer to surpass 500 stakes wins when he sent Ferdinand to victory in the Cabrillo Handicap at Del Mar Racetrack.

1993 — Laffit Pincay Jr. wins the 8,000th race of his career aboard El Toreo in the seventh race at Del Mar racetrack to become the second thoroughbred jockey to ride 8,000 winners.

1993 — Brandie Burton’s 20-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff edges Betsy King for the du Maurier Classic title, the LPGA tour’s final major of the season.

2005 — Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova becomes the first U.S. Open defending women’s champion to fall in the first round, losing 6-3, 6-2 to fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova on the first day of the U.S. Open.

2011 — Petra Kvitova becomes the first defending Wimbledon champion to lose in the first round at the U.S. Open, 7-6, 6-3 to Alexandra Dulgheru.

2013 — The NFL agrees to pay $765 million to settle lawsuits from thousands of former players who developed dementia or other concussion-related health problems they say were caused by the on-field violence. The settlement, unprecedented in sports, applies to all past NFL players and spouses of those who are deceased.

2015 — Usain Bolt anchors Jamaica to a fourth successive men’s 4×100-meter title and adds to his record-breaking personal haul of IAAF World Championships gold medals to 11.

2018 — Star quarterback Aaron Rodgers signs NFL record contract extension with the Green Bay Packers; 4 years worth $134m rising to a possible $180m with a record $103m in guarantees.

2018 — Wanheng Menayothin surpasses Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s 50-0 record, beating Pedro Taduran in a unanimous decision to improve to 51-0. The 32-year-old Menayothin (51-0, 18 KOs) won his 10th successful title defense of his WBC minimumweight belt that he won in November 2014.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1918 — The Chicago Cubs, behind the pitching of Lefty Tyler, clinched the National League pennant with a 1-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

1934 — The Philadelphia A’s ended Schoolboy Rowe’s 16-game winning streak with a 13-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

1948 — Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit for the cycle in a 12-7 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Robinson drove in two runs, scored three runs and stole a base.

1965 — San Francisco’s Willie Mays broke Ralph Kiner’s National League record with his 17th home run of the month in an 8-3 triumph over the New York Mets. Kiner had 16 homers in September of 1949. Mays hit a tape measure shot off Jack Fisher.

1967 — Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City A’s hit three triples in a 9-8, 10-inning loss to the Cleveland Indians. Campaneris was the first to have three triples in a game since Ben Chapman in 1939.

1971 — Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves knocked in his 100th run of the season, giving him the National League record of 11 seasons with 100 or more RBIs.

1977 — Lou Brock of St. Louis stole base No. 893, breaking Ty Cobb’s modern record for career stolen bases. The Cardinals lost to the San Diego Padres 4-3.

1977— Cleveland’s Duane Kuiper hit a one-out solo home run in the first inning off Chicago’s Steve Stone at Municipal Stadium. It was Kuiper’s only homer in 3,379 career at-bats — the fewest homers in most at-bats for any player in MLB history.

1985 — Don Baylor of the New York Yankees set an American League record when he was hit by a pitch for the 190th time in his career. Baylor was struck by Angels pitcher Kirk McCaskill in the first inning, breaking the old mark of 189 set by Minnie Minoso.

1991 — Carlton Fisk of the Chicago White Sox hit two homers to become the oldest player in the 20th century to accomplish the mark. He’ll top this by hitting two homers on October 3. Jack McDowell went the distance to beat Cleveland 7-2.

1993 — George Brett recorded his 200th stolen base in Kansas City’s 5-4, 12-inning victory over Boston to join Willie Mays and Hank Aaron as the only players with 3,000 hits, 300 homers and 200 steals.

1998 — Toms River, N.J., wins its first Little League World Series with a 12-9 victory over Kashima, Japan. Chris Cardone hits home runs in consecutive at-bats — including the game-deciding two-run shot.

2000 — Darin Erstad went 3-for-5 to reach 200 hits faster than any player (132 games) in 65 years as the Angels defeated Toronto 9-4. Ducky Medwick of the St. Louis Cardinals did it in 131 games in 1935.

2002 — Mark Bellhorn became the first player in NL history to hit a home run in the same inning from both sides of the plate, in the fourth of the Chicago Cubs’ 13-10 win over Milwaukee.

2004 — Albert Pujols hit his 40th home run and reached 100 RBIs for the fourth straight season to help St. Louis beat Pittsburgh 4-0. He’s the fourth player to start his major league career with four straight seasons with at least 100 RBIs, joining Hall of Famers Al Simmons, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams.

2010 — Brian McCann hit a game-winning homer with help from video replay, giving the Atlanta Braves a stunning 7-6 victory over the Florida Marlins. It was the first time a game ended using a video review.

2018 — Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich went 6 for 6 and hit for the cycle and Jesus Aguilar homered in the 10th inning, powering the Brewers to a 13-12 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. The Brewers had a season-high 22 hits and rallied to take the lead four different times.

2021 — Taylor, Michigan wins the Little League World Series with a win over Hamilton, Ohio.

2022 — Aaron Judge of the Yankees hit home run #50 of the season, to stay just ahead of the pace set by Roger Maris when he hit 61 homers to set the team and American League record in 1961.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

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MONEY

Here’s How Online Banks Have Changed Saving Forever

Aug 29, 2025 Finance Desk

Right now, you can earn 4.30% APY on a Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier account. Learn more below and open an account today.

Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier

Member FDIC.

APY

4.30%

Rate info

Circle with letter I in it.

Min. To Earn APY

$500 to open, $0.01 for max APY

Pros/Cons

Competitive APY
No monthly account fee
Unlimited number of external transfers (up to daily transaction limits)
FDIC insured
Can open an individual or joint account

Deposits and withdrawals can only be conducted via ACH transfer to/from an external bank account (limit to one linked account)
No ATM access
No wire transfers (inbound and outbound)
No branch access; online only

Bottom Line

Western Alliance Bank offers a higher APY than most high-yield savings accounts. Plus, it’s FDIC insured; therefore, deposits are perfectly safe up to applicable legal limits. The main drawback is that accounts don’t have many features. For example, you can only deposit and withdraw funds via ACH transfer to/from an external bank account. This account is solid for those who want a sky-high APY, but don’t mind a bare-bones banking experience.

Disclosure

The annual percentage yield (APY) is accurate as of July 29, 2025 and subject to change at the Bank’s discretion. Refer to product’s website for latest APY rate. Minimum deposit required to open an account is $500 and a minimum balance of $0.01 is required to earn the advertised APY.

Convenience is now the default

Remember when “online banking” felt weird and scary? Those days are gone. Mobile apps from top online banks are easy to use and packed with features. Remote check deposit, instant transfers, bill pay — it’s all there.

Most of us already bank online anyway. Whether you’re with Chase or Ally, you’re using your phone more than you’re walking into a branch. So why settle for low rates when the online-only banks are just as easy to use?

Safety and peace of mind

Online banks don’t have a building you can walk into, but deposits at FDIC-insured online banks are just as safe as those at your neighborhood branch. Up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per account ownership category — it’s the same rule everywhere.

Add in two-factor authentication and advanced security features, and your money is likely no less safe online than it is in a brick building down the street.

Why this shift matters now

Online banks aren’t just a niche option anymore; they’ve changed how saving works for everyone. They’ve raised the bar on what customers expect, and if your money isn’t keeping up, you’re losing out.

If you’re still tied to a branch account, ask yourself what you’re really getting for that trade-off. Because the difference between $10 and $5,200 in interest is the kind of thing that can cover a vacation, pay down debt faster, or pad your retirement account.

You can compare the best high-yield savings accounts here and see which ones fit your needs. It takes minutes to switch, but the payoff could last for years.

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TRAVEL

I was 68 and thought I’d never retire due to £13k debt but one quick phone call changed my life

Aug 9, 2025 Travel Desk

LYING in bed at night 68-year-old Melanie O’Reilly lay awake worrying about how she couldn’t afford to quit her £23,500 a year, 37.5-hour a week job working in a call centre.

She was £13,000 in debt and knew she couldn’t afford to pay the £500 a month repayments to the bank – but she was desperately unhappy in her job.

Melanie O’Reilly, 68, thought she’d never retire due to debt

Her days were spent fielding angry calls from Hounslow residents complaining about council tax and housing benefit.

She had moved from South Africa to England in September 2019 with no savings but found a job quickly due to her past career in office furniture sales.

However, the pandemic hit and in October 2020 she was made redundant before struggling to find a job at a call centre in the local council in Hounslow, West London in February 2022.

“I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was sitting there most days in full-blown migraine feeling like I had sandpaper in my eyes, until I couldn’t see the screen anymore,” Melanie, now 69, said.

“I had been very good at my job in South Africa, and I was excellent at sales.”

“Suddenly I was being micromanaged by a 26-year-old, who would count how many times I went to the toilet in a day, and tell me off if I took 31 seconds on a call instead of 30 seconds.

“The staff turnover was ridiculously high and it started to affect my physical and mental health.”

Melanie, who had previously worked as an insurance PA in London before the move to South Africa, was utterly fed up, and knew she had to retire – but had no idea how she could do so with her mounting debt.

She had lent her son and daughter-in-law, who had also moved to the UK, money for a deposit on a home in Colne, Lancashire – but then disaster struck.

Suddenly her daughter-in-law was made redundant shortly after they had their first child, meaning they couldn’t pay Melanie back as quickly as they’d planned.

Melanie was also dealing with the financial fall out of splitting from her partner and she took out a £15,000 personal loan and she had mounting credit card debt of £3,000.

Worryingly one in three people approaching retirement now have debt, with the average over-65 borrower owing £17,000, according to Money Wellness.

Financial anxiety among the 65 to 74 age group has more than doubled since 2021.

“I had the personal loan, but I was not behind in my payments and I just knew, ‘I’ve got to leave. I have to retire.

“If I don’t, I am going to have a breakdown’,” Melanie said.

“I decided to retire and I did, in April 2024. I called up Lloyds Bank and I said, ‘I’ve got this personal loan with you and I know that a few months from now I’m going to end up not being able to pay you.’

“I knew I had to take preventative measures before I got behind in any of my payments.

“I was hugely concerned about how to get Lloyds Bank to agree to a reduced monthly payment.

“I knew I couldn’t pay them back £500 a month, and I knew they wouldn’t negotiate a new loan with me because I was unemployed, as I was now retired with no real income.”

Lloyds put Melanie in touch with Money Wellness, one of the largest providers of debt advice and debt solutions in the UK.

Money Wellness provides free, confidential support to anyone struggling with money or debt, with support available online 24/7 or over the phone, so people can get help in the way that suits them best.

Melanie still owed £13,000 of the £15,000 personal loan. She called Money Wellness, and they asked her to draw up an income and expense statement.

Advisors went through her statement in detail, making allowances for everything from clothing to haircuts, and calculating how much she could afford to pay back each month to help Melanie put a debt management plan in place.

“They were so empathetic and professional,” Melanie explains.

“We revised the budget down to a manageable figure that I could pay Lloyds Bank back and by the end of it, it felt like this was too good to be true.

“They took the burden of negotiations off my shoulders and it was all done seamlessly for me without me having to worry about anything.”

The adviser told Melanie that they would negotiate the figure she had to pay back directly with Lloyds Bank, to the extent of setting up a debit order.

“After the call, I sat back and wept,” Melanie remembers.

“I was hugely concerned because when I was working at the council, I had people calling me up saying, ‘I’ve got the bailiffs at my door. They’re bashing my door down. What do I do?’

“I did not want to be in that position, and I knew that that is a reality that can and does happen.

“I did not want to go anywhere near being that person who’s got the bailiff bashing at your door. That is why I nipped it in the bud before it became a problem.”

From paying £500 a month back, Melanie now pays back £134 a month, with no added interest.

She lives in a HMO in Burnley so she doesn’t pay utility bills or council tax and receives housing benefits and pension credit.

Her repayments come from a small state pension, pension credit and housing benefits.

She receives £456.64 state pension, £451.56 pension credit and £368.20 housing benefit every four weeks.

She’d had to spend her small private pension on replacing her car after a car accident, and buying essentials like furniture.

Money Wellness reviews her plan annually, adjusting the amount if her income changes.

Melanie feels positive about the future and says the debt advice she received from Money Wellness is “the best decision I ever took”.

“For so long, I’d sat with this worrisome burden, thinking ‘I need to retire but I’ve got this debt. What do I do?’ Then these angels from heaven stepped up and helped me,” she adds.

“I feel as though a mountain had been lifted off my shoulders.”

How to cut the cost of your debt

IF you’re in large amounts of debt it can be really worrying. Here are some tips from Citizens Advice on how you can take action.

Check your bank balance on a regular basis – knowing your spending patterns is the first step to managing your money

Work out your budget – by writing down your income and taking away your essential bills such as food and transport
If you have money left over, plan in advance what else you’ll spend or save. If you don’t, look at ways to cut your costs

Pay off more than the minimum – If you’ve got credit card debts aim to pay off more than the minimum amount on your credit card each month to bring down your bill quicker

Pay your most expensive credit card sooner – If you have more than one credit card and can’t pay them off in full each month, prioritise the most expensive card (the one with the highest interest rate)

Prioritise your debts – If you’ve got several debts and you can’t afford to pay them all it’s important to prioritise them

Your rent, mortgage, council tax and energy bills should be paid first because the consequences can be more serious if you don’t pay

Get advice – If you’re struggling to pay your debts month after month it’s important you get advice as soon as possible, before they build up even further

Groups like Citizens Advice and National Debtline can help you prioritise and negotiate with your creditors to offer you more affordable repayment plans.

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SHOW BIZ

The realities of living with HIV have changed

Jul 21, 2025 News Desk

Living with HIV has changed significantly over the years, thanks to improved treatment options, greater public education, and the gradual dismantling of discriminatory laws — including outdated restrictions on blood and organ donation, barriers to IVF and sperm donation, and the criminalisation of HIV transmission. HIV research and science is continuing to evolve, so it is always important to keep updated on any new developments from novel treatment options to innovative ways to manage living with HIV.

However, it can be hard to know where to start in terms of research and reliable resources and information. That’s why, in collaboration with ViiV Healthcare, we sat down with Dr Tristan Barber and Tom Hayes-Isaacs. Tristan is a consultant physician focussing in the field of HIV, who has more than twenty year’s experience and is the new chair of the British HIV Association (BHIVA). Tom is an awareness activist who began blogging about their experiences of living with HIV when they were diagnosed in 2011, and who now continues this mission of battling misinformation and raising awareness with the charity Saving Lives UK.

Below, Tristan and Tom engage in an in-depth conversation around key topics for people and communities living with HIV, as well as allies looking to get better informed. From changing HIV treatment options to advice for people or communities living with HIV at different stages of diagnosis, navigating the patient/healthcare practitioner relationship, and battling stigma, here are key points you need to know, spoken through by experts with lived experience.

How HIV has changed

“Compared to the 80s when life expectancy was short and there was no successful treatment, the changes in the management of HIV have been incredible” – Tristan Barber

Tristan, as a doctor and researcher, what do you think has changed in the management of HIV and people living with HIV since the 80s?

Tristan: Many people living with HIV can now live their lives normally. Treatment can be as simple as one pill once a day or different formulations and modalities to suit each individual’s need. They can have children, and work in almost every career. They cannot transmit the virus sexually if on treatment with an undetectable viral load on a blood test. Compared to the 80s when life expectancy was short and there was no successful treatment, the changes have been incredible.

We have gone from having regimens where tablets need to be taken multiple times per day to now having regimens which allow for medication to be taken much less frequently. What new treatment options have become available during your career?

Tristan: I have worked in the HIV field for over 20 years. When I started, we had limited treatment options, many with lots of side effects and toxicities. I have worked on and seen the development of new drug classes, particularly the integrase inhibitors which are now in first line treatment options around the world in all major guidelines. I have also seen the development of PrEP, an antiretroviral that can be taken daily or as needed to prevent someone acquiring HIV through condomless sex.

Tom, you were diagnosed 14 years ago, in 2011. How has treatment changed recently since your diagnosis?

Tom: HIV treatment has changed dramatically over the past forty years, but even in the fourteen years I’ve been diagnosed the pace of change hasn’t slowed down.

Back in 2011, I was taking one pill once a day – something that was very important to me to aid with my adherence (taking treatment at the same time each day). Unfortunately, that older medication had some pretty unpleasant side-effects. I’ve changed a couple of times since then, and now I’m very happy and not experiencing side effects on a newer combination pill.

The patient/doctor relationship

“Your quality of life is more important than starting an awkward conversation” – Tom Hayes-Isaacs

From your medical perspective, Tristan, how has the relationship with your patients changed over time?

Tristan: The community has always been at the forefront of advocating for HIV treatment and care. Some key slogans support this particularly ‘nothing about us without us’. To be honest I don’t even use the term ‘patient’ anymore. These are people, people with HIV, and they are experts by experience. I think in many ways HIV has led on person-centred care, placing people and their loved ones in the centre. In many ways this hasn’t changed, as it was true in the early days also, where HIV services stood up for people experiencing stigma, and provided care in a unique way. Now that HIV is more manageable we continue to strive for this despite funding restrictions that may make it difficult for us to always provide everything we would like to.

And what does a good patient/HCP relationship look like in your opinion?

Tristan: It should be open, honest, trustworthy, and never complacent! As HIV is a lifelong condition it needs to be a partnership, with both people working together to achieve the best outcome for the person with HIV.

Tom, with the above in mind, how is your relationship with your current doctor and what do you think makes a good patient/doctor relationship?

Tom: I’m very lucky to have a doctor that is both one of the best in her field, as well as a truly wonderful human being. Although I may only see her a couple of times a year, we chat for ages about what’s been going on in both our lives. The actual time spent on HIV is probably in the minority compared to the amount of gossiping! Regrettably, not everyone has the same relationship with their HIV care team. One of the first doctors I had was a very grumpy gentleman who treated the patients like numbers – not people.

A good patient-doctor relationship must be grounded in honesty and mutual respect. As our doctor you’re asking us to share very personal information about ourselves, our sex lives and more – people aren’t going to do that if they don’t feel safe and respected. As patients we need to recognise that our doctors need us to be onboard and engaged so that we can pick the right treatments and care for the best outcomes.

To both of you, how can people with HIV advocate for their needs?

Tristan: I think the best way is to be prepared! Keep notes between appointments – what isn’t working for you, what problems have you had, what do you need from the appointment at your clinics? If something isn’t working, say so. Feedback always shows that people like seeing the same doctor, who knows their story, but sometimes I think seeing someone new, even if only for one visit, may give a different perspective, result in different questions or referrals, and can be a way to get a different opinion, even if you then revert back to your long standing and trusted clinician. We all work as a team and want the best thing for those we care for.

Tom: Sometimes we all need to be our own advocate and that can often seem daunting, but no-one knows your needs like you do. Understanding more about your condition, your care and your treatment goes a long way towards making you feel empowered to advocate for yourself. You don’t need to be an expert, but knowing the basics will help you and your doctor have a more constructive conversation and hopefully build a treatment plan that fits all your needs.

If you don’t feel you’re getting the level of care and support that you need from your HIV care team it’s important to know that you have options. You can ask to see another doctor or nurse. You can move your care to another HIV clinic. Don’t be afraid to speak out. Your quality of life is more important than starting an awkward conversation.

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POLITICS

How U.S. views of immigration have changed since Trump took office, according to Gallup polling

Jul 11, 2025 Politics Desk

WASHINGTON — Just months after President Trump returned to office amid a wave of anti-immigration sentiment, the share of U.S. adults saying immigration is a “good thing” for the country has jumped substantially — including among Republicans, according to new Gallup polling.

About 8 in 10 Americans, 79%, say immigration is “a good thing” for the country today, an increase from 64% a year ago and a high point in the nearly 25-year trend. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing right now, down from 32% last year.

During Democratic President Joe Biden’s term in office, negative views of immigration had increased markedly, reaching a high point in the months before Trump, a Republican, took office. The new Gallup data suggests U.S. adults are returning to more pro-immigrant views that could complicate Trump’s push for sweeping deportations and other anti-immigration policies. The poll shows decreasing support for the type of mass deportations Trump has championed since before he was elected.

Since taking office, Trump has called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to do all in its power to deliver “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.” His administration has also pushed to limit access to federal benefits for immigrants who lack legal status, sought to revoke the citizenship of immigrants who commit crimes and is working to end birthright citizenship for children born to those without legal status or who are in the country temporarily.

In general, Americans’ views of immigration policies have shifted dramatically in the last year, the Gallup polling shows — including among Republicans, who have become much more content with immigration levels since Trump took office but who have also grown more supportive of pathways to citizenship for people in the country illegally.

The broader trend also shows that public opinion is generally much more favorable to immigrants than it was decades ago.

The vast majority of U.S. adults say immigration is good

Americans’ more positive view on immigration is driven primarily by a shift among Republicans and independents.

About two-thirds of Republicans now say immigrants are “a good thing” for the country, up from 39% last year. And independents moved from about two-thirds last year to 80% this year.

Democrats have maintained their overwhelmingly positive view of immigration in the last few years.

In the time since Trump took office, Republicans have become more satisfied with the level of immigration in the country.

The share of Americans who want immigration “decreased” in the United States dropped from 55% to 30%. While fewer Americans now want to decrease the number of people who come to the U.S. from other countries, more want immigration levels kept the same than want higher immigration levels. About 4 in 10 say immigration should be kept at its current level, and only 26% say immigration should be increased.

The poll suggests Republicans’ sharp anti-immigrant views highlighted before November’s election — which helped return Trump to the White House — have largely faded. The share of Republicans saying immigration should be decreased dropped from a high of 88% to 48% in the last year. Close to 4 in 10 Republicans now say immigration levels should remain the same, and only about 1 in 10 would like an increase.

Much of that Republican movement probably comes from support for the Trump administration’s stringent immigration enforcement, but there are also signs in the Gallup polling that Republicans have become more supportive of pathways to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally and more likely to see benefits from immigration that could be at odds with the Trump administration’s priorities.

More Americans back a pathway to citizenship

Most Americans favor allowing immigrants living in the U.S. illegally the chance to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements over a period of time, the poll shows.

Almost 9 in 10 U.S. adults, 85%, favor a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, and nearly as many say they favor a path to citizenship for all immigrants in the country illegally as long as they meet certain requirements.

That increased support for pathways to citizenship largely comes from Republicans, about 6 in 10 of whom now support that, up from 46% last year. Support was already very high among independents and Democrats.

Support for deporting immigrants in the country illegally has also decreased across the board, but less significantly. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults now favor deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, down from about half a year ago.

Sanders writes for the Associated Press.

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SHOW BIZ

EastEnders’ Kellie Shirley admits BBC soap ‘changed her life’ after financial impact

Jul 10, 2025 News Desk

EXCLUSIVE: Actress Kellie Shirley has revealed how appearing on BBC One’s EastEnders changed her life and helped her purchase her first home following her success

Daniel Bird Assistant Celebrity and Entertainment Editor

15:26, 09 Jul 2025Updated 07:16, 10 Jul 2025

Actress Kellie Shirley has revealed how EastEnders changed her life

Former EastEnders actress Kellie Shirley has praised the show for completely changing her life. The actress appeared on the programme as Carly Wicks between 2006 and 2008, before making her final appearance on September 7, 2012.

Throughout her time on the programme, Kellie’s character faced a string of huge storylines, including fights, romances, and even secretly giving birth to a son behind her mum, Shirley Carter’s, back. Although she’s not been on screens in over a decade, Carly was last mentioned in 2022, following the death of her brother Mick Carter.

As Mick’s mum’s Shirley struggled to cope, she and Carly rekindled their bond and Shirley went to stay with her. Speaking about her time on the soap, Kellie exclusively told the Mirror: “I auditioned for it exactly 20 years ago, it changed my life as an actor because you’ve got a tiny bit of a profile that can open doors for you.

Kellie admits that EastEnders completely changed her life(Image: BBC)

“I’m very grateful for that. I had a really good time there. Matt Di Angelo got in touch with me to ask for some advice,” she said of the friendships she made on the show. Kellie added: “That’s the best thing for me about the show, apart from being able to get on the property ladder.

“There are friendships that have stood the test of time for 20 years. Emma Barton (who plays Honey Mitchell), I always talk to her; she’s a friend for life. I don’t see her all the time, but when I do, it’s great. I’m grateful to the show.” But could fans expect to see Carly back on the show any time soon?

“People always ask me that, who knows?” she said. Kellie went on to say: “Anything’s possible, isn’t it, if they’re bringing people back from 20 years ago. But I’m enjoying my career, the variety, independent films and doing my own writing – that’s something that I really love as an actor. I feel like I’m getting somewhere with it, finally.”

The actress played Carly Wicks on the BBC soap opera(Image: BBC ONE)

Kellie has just written and starred in a short film, Croydon Cowgirl, set in Barry, South Wales, focusing on the life of two lonely strangers. Speaking about the career change, Kellie revealed that she was part of a roundtable with Stephen Graham at a BAFTA Elevate event, who offered invaluable advice.

She said that the Liverpudlian explained that actors shouldn’t moan if they want to play a certain part, and if a script doesn’t appear, they should write it themselves. “It just kind of dawned on me that all the people that I really respect have created it themselves. It was a lightbulb moment.

“I just started writing with a friend of mine, Phoebe Barron, and we work really well together. We’ve got three other projects that we’re working on. Croydon Cowgirl is doing various BAFTA BIFA (British Independent Film Awards) qualifying festivals, we’re developing it into a feature film, which is really exciting!” The actress is also set to play all seven characters in the production, Two, at Greenwich Theatre between August 21 and September 12, with Peter Caulfield playing all the male characters.

The actress is fronting the Omaze Million Pound House draw on behalf of Anthony Nolan

Kellie, who is an ambassador for Anthony Nolan, is now fronting the Omaze Million Pound House draw for the charity. “Ever since I was in EastEnders, I ran the marathon for them in 2008,” she said. Kellie added: “I went to see the amazing work that they were doing with stem cell transplants and I’ve met so many people along the way and different events and really seeing firsthand the work they do.

“They literally give people a second chance of life if you have blood cancer, the proof’s in the pudding. And when you hear people’s stories, you cannot help but have that connection and want to raise awareness and do as much as you can for the charity, because without them, it’d be really quite frightening.

“I think it’s four people every day they help, who have blood cancer and can save their life because of the register.”

Kellie Shirley is an Anthony Nolan Ambassador and is backing the charity’s partnership with Omaze, which is giving away a luxury contemporary home in Cheshire worth £4 million – along with £250,000 in cash – to raise money for the charity. Draw entries are available now on their website. The Draw closes at midnight Sunday July 27th.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

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TRAVEL

Pretty European city frozen in time where ‘prices haven’t changed in a decade’

Jul 8, 2025 Travel Desk

Nestled almost two hours away from Munich and three hours from Frankfurt, Bamberg in Germany, is one of Europe’s most picturesque, well-preserved, and affordable holiday hotspots.

Bamberg Old Town Hall or Rathaus aerial panoramic view. Bamberg is a town on the river Regnitz in Upper Franconia, Bavaria in Germany.

Bamberg’s Old Town Hall from the air(Image: saiko3p via Getty Images)

Tucked away in Upper Franconia, Germany, lies the charming town of Bamberg, a hidden gem that’s a must-visit for fans of beer, Bratwurst, and affordable holiday destinations. Located nearly two hours from Munich and three hours from Frankfurt, this picturesque town boasts a UNESCO World Heritage status and is often hailed as one of Europe’s most beautiful cities.

Nicknamed the “Franconian Rome”, Bamberg is built on seven hills and is steeped in history, with an array of architectural wonders dating back to the Middle Ages. This quaint Bavarian town, home to just under 76,000 residents, seamlessly blends modern life with historic cultural treasures of global significance.

As you wander through the streets, you’ll discover buildings that have stood the test of time, while the town centre is filled with ornate palaces and medieval castles.

History buffs will be captivated by the stunning 13th-century Bamberg Cathedral, one of Germany’s most famous cathedrals, built between 1211 and 1237.

This late Romanesque and early Gothic landmark is notable for being one of the only papal graves in Germany, housing the marble sarcophagus of Pope Clement II.

Another unmissable attraction is St. Michael’s Monastery, a Baroque church boasting a breathtaking “celestial garden” with over 578 flowers and herbs, as well as a terrace offering a panoramic view of the town.

The old town of Bamberg, Bavaria/ Germany, is the largest intact preserved historic center in Germany, and since 1993 registered as a World Heritage Site in the list of UNESCO.

The old town of Bamberg(Image: fhm via Getty Images)

In addition to its rich history, Bamberg is also celebrated for its lively beer culture, boasting 13 breweries in the town and 60 more in the surrounding area, reports the Express.

Beer enthusiasts can sample the city’s famous hand-crafted brews, including the unique smoked beer, Rauchbier, available at local breweries Schlenkerla and Brauerei Spezial.

Beyond its breweries, Bamberg offers a range of local culinary delicacies, such as Schäuferla, a roasted pork shoulder marinated in a meat stock and dark beer broth, served with potato dumplings and cabbage.

Another standout dish is the blue sausages, Blaue Zipfel, which are boiled in a seasoned stock to create a rich, smoky flavour, typically served with sauerkraut, a pretzel, and a pint of smoked beer.

Travel vlogger Wolters World recently featured Bamberg in his YouTube video, “The Best Cheap European Destinations”, revealing that it’s his “favourite city” to visit in Germany.

Germany, Bavaria, Bamberg, River Regnitz and old town hall in spring

Bamberg’s River Regnitz and old town hall in springtime(Image: Westend61 via Getty Images)

He joked that prices in Bamberg have remained unchanged for the past decade, making it a budget-friendly option compared to other German cities.

Visitors can explore the city’s historic landmarks, such as Altenburg Castle, the Old Town Hall, and the 17th-century Neue Residenz palace, with its ornate ceilings, tapestries, and rose garden.

Though it may take a few hours to reach Bamberg by train or flight, the journey is certainly worth it for those who are fans of bratwurst, beer, and history.

Bamberg’s captivating charm and cost-effectiveness make it a popular choice for tourists.

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TRAVEL

‘I went on a solo holiday where a chance meeting changed my life for the better’

Jul 2, 2025 Travel Desk

Jessica Kumah began her journey in the north, exploring Venice, and gradually made her way south to the Amalfi Coast where one meeting changed her life

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Jessica and Andrea found each other in Italy(Image: Jessica Kumah)

A woman exploring Europe returned from the solo trip with something unexpected.

During a trip to Italy in 2022, Jessica Kumah began her journey in the north, exploring Venice, and gradually made her way south to the Amalfi Coast. There, while walking along the boardwalk, she met Andrea, the love of her life. They exchanged numbers that day and have been together ever since.

Jessica told travel booking platform Omio how the holiday took a surprising and heartwarming turn.

“On Thursday, July 28, 2022, I was in Naples. After lunch, as I began walking along the boardwalk, I remember seeing Andrea in a yellow linen shirt, and I smiled…then kept walking. About 40 seconds later, in my peripheral vision, I saw a yellow figure running towards me, and it was him,” Jessica recalled.

“We had a typical conversation that I’ve had quite a few times already throughout my trip- a compliment, where am I from, what I’m doing in Italy, how long am I here for, etc. The only difference was that after our brief conversation, he asked if I wanted to ride around on his motorcycle. Who knew me saying yes would change my life for the better.”

Neither was expecting to meet the love of their lives (Image: JESSICA)

While Jessica had never been on a motorcycle before, something about the offer intrigued him.

“For some reason, I trusted him and felt like I didn’t want to pass up this opportunity. I said yes, and that was pretty much the beginning of everything. He took me around Naples, and we spent the day going to different places that I would never even know how to get to as a tourist,” she continued.

“At every stop, we would talk and get to know more about each other. At that point, his English wasn’t that great, but it was way better than my Italian. The language barrier was a little bit difficult, although we were both being patient and using Google Translate from time to time if there was something either of us didn’t understand.

“By the end of the day, we exchanged numbers and planned to see each other again. July 30, 2022, was my last full day in Naples, and we spent the day together continuing to explore Naples on his motorcycle, getting gelato, and just having a great time. It really all felt like a fairytale.”

Since they met, Jessica and her man Andrea have been in contact every day. “It was evident that our feelings for each other were strong, but of course difficult to navigate since we were so far away from each other. On August 21, 2022, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I believed that it was truly just the beginning of our story, so I said yes. We’ve been together ever since,” she said.

Despite being in a long-distance relationship, Jessica and Andrea have remained committed to making it work, successfully maintaining a schedule to see and spend time together.

“With long-distance relationships, it takes effort from both sides. I’m grateful that my job is flexible, so I’m able to come to Italy quite often. Andrea’s family has made me feel so welcomed, and I’m glad I have them as support. I have a community here – friends, a gym, workers at the stores I also go to, etc. The culture and people in Napoli are amazing and very warm, and I really feel at home here,” Jessica added.

“Of course, it’s not always easy being abroad for long periods at a time, but I do my best to make it work and stay in contact with my loved ones in Canada when I’m away. One of the highlights was when I got my working holiday visa from May 2023 to May 2024. Being able to not have time restraints when visiting Italy was so special for us. The goodbyes get harder and harder, so for that year, we were really grateful to not have distance in our way.”

The couple plans to do much more travelling together, and Jessica shares their hopes and plans for the next chapter of their relationship.

“So far, we’ve gone to Berlin, Bolzano, Rome, and we go south to Calabria every summer. We would love to do much more travelling, and eventually we will together! I’m currently in Italy, and will spend half the summer here, then head back to Canada to spend the second half of the summer there. The future plan is to get married, then I will be the one closing the gap between us and moving to Italy. With his work, he needs to be based here, so it only makes sense for me to move here once we take the next step in our relationship,” she said.

Jessica’s one piece of advice for finding the one is to stop looking for them. “I know it sounds so cliché, but love truly finds you when you’re not looking for it. Look at my situation – on a solo trip, not looking for a relationship at all, just walking down the boardwalk in Naples, enjoying the view and boom – it found me! Enjoy your singleness, do things that make you happy, focus on your wellbeing, and I promise you…When you least expect it, the one will come into your life,” Jessica said.

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TRAVEL

‘Agonising Greece holiday from hell changed my life – I was howling and just wanted to go home’

Jun 24, 2025 Travel Desk

While embarking on her dreamy Grecian holiday, Anna May couldn’t have been more excited. But then, she woke up with a pain she has since likened to ‘full-blown labour’

A nightmare trip to Greece ended up changing Anna May’s life forever(Image: Supplied)

As she jetted off to Greece, Anna May was eagerly looking forward to a week of fun and sunshine with her family, little knowing that she was about to embark on a true holiday from hell.

The family checked into a gorgeous villa near the stunning city of Chania, complete with their own private pool. But their little slice of paradise quickly turned into a nightmare following a horror health scare.

For the first few days, the mum-of-two threw herself into holiday activities, enjoying plenty of dining out and making special memories with her husband and their two sons. A keen swimmer, she even made sure to swim 50 laps of the pool.

Before getting on the plane, Anna, from Wiltshire, had no inkling that anything was wrong whatsoever. The now 49-year-old had noticed she was struggling to lose weight around her stomach, despite leading an active lifestyle, but put this down to being a symptom of perimenopause.

Then, a couple of days into what should have been a dream trip, Anna woke up one morning in “the most horrific pain (she’d) ever experienced.” Anna told the Mirror: “It was like full-blown labour. With no warning. So literally went from like zero to 100 in terms of pain.”

The sporty mum-of-two even swam 50 laps of the pool, little realising she would soon require urgent medical treatment(Image: Supplied)

Being in that amount of agony was terrifying enough, but being in a foreign country made things even more “scary”. With Anna barely able to stand, it was clear that urgent treatment was needed, and so her panicked husband and sons contacted emergency services, while she managed to get to a bed on the ground floor of the villa.

The ambulance arrived, and Anna was “whizzed” through the mountains to the hospital, where the family were, of course, faced with “quite an extreme language barrier”. By this point, Anna was “howling” and “wailing” in pain, but was thankfully well cared for by the medical team, who she remembers as being “incredibly kind and amazing”.

At first, it was believed that Anna was suffering from appendicitis, a condition whereby a patient experiences painful swelling and infection in their appendix, an organ which forms part of your bowel. But then, scans showed something unexpected – a “huge cyst” on one of Anna’s ovaries.

As per information given on the NHS website, an ovarian cyst refers to a fluid-filled sac that develops on a woman’s ovary. A common occurrence, these usually don’t cause any symptoms, and will go away within a few months without any treatment needed.

In Anna’s case, however, the situation was much more serious. Surgery is sometimes required for larger cysts that exceed 10cm, particularly if these are causing discomforting symptoms.

She was rushed across the mountains to the hospital, after severe pain left her unable to stand(Image: Supplied)

As Anna explained, she had “no clue” that the cyst had been there. Medics began preparing her for surgery to have the cyst removed, but being in a country where she didn’t speak the language naturally presented hurdles.

Anna recalled: “Before going into surgery. I had to sign a consent form, and they said to me, ‘We’re so sorry, Anna, but it’s in Greek. So you just have to trust us.’ I was like, I am in so much pain that you know what, I’ve just signed it. I’ve just got to be sorted because this is so horrific.”

After waking up from surgery, there were, unfortunately, further shocks in store. Anna shared: “The next thing I knew, I woke up and they said, ‘Sorry, when we removed the cyst, we also had to remove an ovary as well.'”

Looking back on her initial thoughts at this moment, Anna reflected: “I was just blown away, really. It almost felt like a bit of a dream, because I was like, ‘I can just cannot believe this is happening, you know. Two days ago, I was lying on the beach, now I’m lying in a hospital bed in a foreign country with no ovary.’ And I was obviously in absolute agony, you know it’s major abdominal surgery.”

After waking up from surgery, Anna was in for another shock(Image: Supplied)

By this point, Anna was “desperate to get home” and longed for her own bed. However, there was still a way to go, and doctors kept her in the hospital for a few days before allowing her to leave.

As they’d been due to fly home, the family also had to sort out extending their flights, with the hospital telling Anna that there was “no way” she was fit for travel after undergoing emergency surgery.

Thankfully, Anna says everybody she dealt with during this rebooking process was “phenomenal”, during what was otherwise a “very horrific experience”.

Anna considered: “Actually, I almost looked back on it with quite a lot of fondness because everybody was so kind and I was so well looked after, even down to the staff at the airport being incredible.

“You know, they met me with a wheelchair and they put me on the plane and then they met me in England with a wheelchair, and so you know they were I was very, very well looked after.

“It was just a very, very scary experience, and I think if it had happened and kind of been planned, it still would have been big and scary, but you know, to have been in a country and be completely unexpected was kind of another level, really.”

The nightmare ordeal gave Anna the push to reevaluate her life, and she hasn’t looked back(Image: Supplied)

Once back in the UK, Anna had to take six weeks off from work to recover, and this time gave her the time she needed to reevaluate her career and make some significant changes.

Despite the pain she endured, three years on and Anna is “grateful” for the perspective her nightmare ordeal brought.

Before her surgery, Anna had worked part-time in admin for a company where she says she was made to feel as though she wasn’t “very capable”, despite having run her own businesses for years.

Opening up about the bullying she says she and others experienced at the company, Anna said: “Everybody in the office felt like they were being undermined all the time, and it was really sad actually.

“There were some incredible people working there who all just felt very undervalued, undermined, and very patronised all the time. And I just got to the point that I thought, ‘I’m just not prepared to put up with that anymore. You know, I know I’m capable, and I don’t deserve to be treated like that.’ And actually, nobody deserves to be treated like that.”

A strong believer that everything happens for a reason, Anna used her time away from the office to take stock and ultimately decided to hand in her notice and begin a new path. But not before letting her old boss know exactly what she thought of them.

Nowadays, Anna works as a mindset and manifestation coach and runs an academy, “helping people shift their mindset”. Many of those she works with are those in midlife who are struggling with “feeling stuck” or having low self-worth.

For Anna, helping her clients “shift their perspective on life” has proven deeply rewarding. She noted: “I think my story is a good example of that to be a positive spin on everything and take the goodness out of situations and use it to drive you forward rather than keeping you held back.”

Although she now looks back on her personal Greek saga as an important turning point in her life, she and her family have yet to return to what she describes as a “beautiful” yet “bittersweet” place.

Anna explained: “At the moment, (my sons) aren’t that keen on returning. I think for them it was really hard, obviously, to see their mum in so much pain. It was really frightening for them, and obviously, we’re going away on a beautiful family holiday, and they end up spending their holiday in the ward, checking that I’m okay.

“We will return, we definitely will, but I think it almost needed a few years for us all to kind of get over the experience and connect with the happy memories of it rather than the traumatic event.”

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SHOW BIZ

Britney, Taylor and Beyoncé defined the 2000s and changed pop culture

Jun 17, 2025 News Desk

On the Shelf

Hit Girls: Britney, Taylor, Beyoncé, and the Women Who Built Pop’s Shiniest Decade

By Nora Princiotti
Ballantine Books: 240 pages, $29
If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.

Growing up in a small town in New Hampshire, Nora Princiotti lived two hours away from the nearest mall, so the Scholastic Book Fair was her lifeline to pop culture purchases.

In fall 2003, the then-9-year-old made a beeline to the fair and bought gum, glitter gel pens and “Metamorphosis,” the second studio album from “Lizzie McGuire” star Hilary Duff.

At that time, Duff was “the single most important person in the world to me outside my immediate family,” Princiotti writes in “Hit Girls: Britney, Taylor, Beyoncé, and the Women Who Built Pop’s Shiniest Decade.” “This is the first day of the rest of my life.”

This proclamation is no exaggeration. Duff’s CD was Princiotti’s gateway to the vibrant pop music universe of the 2000s — an era that “Hit Girls” thoroughly examines through the lens of some of the decade’s music icons.

The chronological book opens with Britney Spears reigniting industry interest in mainstream pop after the roaring success of her snappy debut single, 1998’s “…Baby One More Time.” Princiotti subsequently devotes chapters to Rihanna’s world-shifting dance music and savvy use of technology; the scrappy (and occasionally bumpy) pop-punk odyssey of Avril Lavigne; and the complicated relationship between indie rock and pop, exemplified by “American Idol” sweetheart Kelly Clarkson.

She also reexamines with a much kinder eye the music of Ashlee Simpson, whose career cratered after she was caught lip-syncing on “Saturday Night Live,” and then-tabloid fixtures Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

Cover of "Hit Girls: Britney, Taylor, Beyonce, and the Women Who Built Pop's Shiniest Decade" by Nora Princiotti

Princiotti, a staff writer at the Ringer who covers pop music and the NFL and co-hosts the podcast “Every Single Album,” says she was certain which artists needed to be included in “Hit Girls.”

“I had the idea a little bit before the Y2K resurgence that we’ve experienced over the last few years,” she says. “But it was trickling into the ecosystem. And I had this very clear idea that there are all these disparate segments of the pop star world and the version of that world that existed in the 2000s. … Even though that music is different, it all fit together to me really obviously, because I was the fan.”

Princiotti augments her rigorous research with colorful memories from this era, including chatting on AIM (her handle was mangorainbow99), digging up Taylor Swift rarities on YouTube and hearing Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” at a high school dance.

Finding a cohesive story of the 2000s was more challenging. “The question that I had to answer [in the book] was, ‘Other than the audience — and other than having this feeling inside me that a book that covered the rise of Britney Spears also needed to cover ‘Rumors’ by Lindsay Lohan and also needed to cover Ashlee Simpson, because that’s how I lived it — what actually ties these artists together?’”

That uniting thread is Spears. The book deftly traces the parallels between the evolution of Spears’ career and how the decade itself unfolded — from the way her music broadened beyond teen pop (e.g. the electro-disco “Toxic”) to the negative impact the intense tabloid scrutiny had on her mental health.

“She is the artist of the 2000s,” Princiotti says. “If you think of the aughts as a whole, it starts with Britney, [and] she manages to keep it going. There’s so many things that I think just come back to that one woman.”

Princiotti also concludes that the female pop stars of the 2000s helped legitimize pop music.

“There’s something about what all of these women — because it is women in the book — did to chip away at the idea that pop is disposable and unserious music, that somehow got us to this place where it is more often recognized as a serious art form, something that moves culture [and] is worthy of real, deep criticism,” she says.

“You’re seeing every day where there are thesis-driven projects about Taylor Swift and the music of Taylor Swift, and [people asking,] ‘What does she mean to society?’ and ‘What does she mean to culture? The thing that struck me was, ‘Oh, we didn’t have that. It wasn’t like that — and now it is.’”

Nora Princiotti looks off to the side and holds a cup of water at a restaurant.

Given the book’s narrow time frame — “Hit Girls” starts just before Y2K and ends in the early 2010s — the book also takes a different spin on the careers of Swift and fellow superstar Beyoncé.

The latter was newly emerging as a solo artist with 2003’s “Dangerously in Love” after breaking through with Destiny’s Child. Princiotti argues that Beyoncé’s success on the pop charts opened doors for hip-hop and R&B artists, which had a seismic impact on culture as a whole.

Although these genres had started making massive inroads into the pop charts and mainstream music starting in the late 1990s, Princiotti observed in her research that magazine and tabloid covers still largely prioritized white artists.

“While there was a clear relationship between the interest in an artist like Britney Spears’s life and the interest in her music, that feedback loop did not exist for a lot of Black artists,” she writes. “Which meant that hip-hop could dominate popular music while being shut out of the elite celebrity spaces that promote true pop stardom.”

Swift, meanwhile, was an earnest country-pop wunderkind building her fan base one MySpace comment at a time — and even then happened to be a genius at understanding the psychology of fandom and the online habits of her followers.

“I came away with an appreciation of just how early in her career she laid the blueprint of how she would develop her fan base,” Princiotti says. “When it’s all said and done, we will look back at her artistic legacy, yes, as the songwriter of a generation, yes, as the poet laureate of young women.”

“But I do think that the legacy of Taylor Swift is going to start with the communities of people that she brought together within her fan base — and how powerful and sometimes scary and how mobilized that fan community has become, and how she built it to be that way.”

As with Swift, many of the artists in “Hit Girls” remain popular today. Lavigne and Beyoncé are currently on major tours; Clarkson has found success with her daytime talk show; Rihanna is a billionaire business mogul thanks to her brands Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty. And Duff, who now has four kids, starred in the TV show “Younger” and, most recently, the short-lived “How I Met Your Father.”

Near the end of “Hit Girls,” Princiotti explores the ongoing influence of these artists and this decade — from the current crop of young pop stars led by Olivia Rodrigo and nostalgia festivals like When We Were Young to fashion trends such as dark denim, “going-out” tops and butterfly hair clips.

Princiotti herself maintains a love of pop stars and offers solid theories about why this specific era remains such a fascination: a heady mix of nostalgia, second chances and perspective.

“For people like me who lived through at least some of it, it’s the ability to go back a little bit older and wiser,” she says. “We can take the best of it and then reexamine the worst of it with more open eyes. And there’s something to me that’s very satisfying about that.”

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SHOW BIZ

‘I nearly won Love Island – it’s changed a lot in 7 years and not all for the better’

Jun 14, 2025 News Desk

Former Love Island star Wes Nelson has revealed the major changes on the show he has noticed since his stint in 2018 and offered future islanders his biggest bit of advice

Wes Nelson starred on Love Island in 2018

Love Island is well under way and the drama is already unfolding in season 12 of the hit ITV2 dating show. However, one former contestant admits the show just isn’t what it used to be.

Wes Nelson, 27, rose to fame after entering the Mallorcan villa looking for love in 2018. The Stoke native made it to the final with Megan Barton-Hanson, having initially coupling up with Laura Anderson.

But he’s confessed a lot has changed since his time on the show, and it’s not all been for the better. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Wes admitted he doesn’t watch the show these days, but does keep up to date with the drama on social media.

Wes was part of season four’s Love Island line-up(Image: ITV)

Speaking of the show’s changes since his days, he claimed: “I think when we went on it, it wasn’t like a business move. Sometimes you got business from it, and you potentially open doors to a lot of things…

“But then sometimes I feel like people are going on it now with every intention of doing business, which is natural and understandable, considering how many people have come off and done well. So, I think that the main difference is now, is it’s like people care a bit more. I don’t think we cared that much when we were in there. It was very silly, very silly.”

He also joked that the way people are devastated at leaving in recent series has proven to be a big difference over the years. “People are leaving now,” he said, “like we were upset when people would leave and this, that and the other, but people wouldn’t go absolutely bonkers. It was a giggle. It was a case of ‘that was good fun. Let’s go home.'”

Offering his own advice to the current islanders, he insisted the best tactic is to be authentic. “One thing that I will credit myself for is that I’ve never strayed from who I was or my morals,” Wes continued.

“And with that, I feel like it’s not been exhausting to keep up a character, because it’s just been myself, whereas a lot of people can find it difficult to keep up a character and a persona. It’s been like nearly eight years now, so it’s, it’s a long time, but I feel quite happy with it.”

Wes has teamed up with Lipton Ice Tea(Image: Michael Leckie/PinPep)

The Abracadabra singer revealed he has kept in contact with a number of his fellow islanders, saying they are now “closer than ever”. He described how he regularly has golf days with Josh Denzel before joking he has “corrupted” Jack into starting up the sport too.

Following Love Island, Wes has forged a hugely successful music career, which he He has collaborated with a number of big hitters in the industry, including Clean Bandit and Craig David.

And his latest collaboration came with Lipton for their Kombucha launch. Speaking to us from his studio, explained the quirky linkup and catchy tune he created for the product, before revealing his dream musical matchup.

“Justin Bieber,” he confessed. “He hasn’t released a lot of songs in recent years,” Wes went on before joking: “I know he’s working on other bits, but if he hears this, it’s little Wes Nelson a bloke from Stoke – give me a shot!”

As well as his recent special performance with Lipton at Battersea Power Station on Friday, Wes has a busy summer ahead. He has a number of European performances lined up, and is also planning a tour at the end of the year.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

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