In recent weeks, American politics have stopped resembling a democracy and started looking more like a Manson family group chat, with a flag emoji right next to the “pile of poo” emoji in our bio.
First it was the Young Republicans (you know, the nerds who used to wear ill-fitting sports jackets and drone on about budgets) who were caught on Telegram saying things such as “I love Hitler,” calling Black people “watermelon people,” and joking about gas chambers and rape. Hilarious, right?
Then came Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s now-aborted nominee to head the Office of Special Counsel, who texted that he has “a Nazi streak” and that Martin Luther King Jr. Day belongs in “the seventh circle of hell.”
But the moral rot isn’t exclusive to Republicans. Not to be outdone, Democrat Jay Jones (who is currently running for attorney general in Virginia) was caught with texts from 2022 saying another Virginia lawmaker should get “two bullets to the head,” and that he wished the man’s children would “die in their mother’s arms.”
Charming.
Meanwhile, in Maine’s race for the U.S. Senate, old posts on Reddit reveal that Democrat Graham Platner — oysterman, veteran and self-described communist — said that if people “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history.”
What we are witnessing is a trend: Bipartisan moral collapse. Finally, something the two parties can agree on!
Keep in mind, these are not randos typing away in their parents’ basements. These are ambitious young politicos. Candidates. Operatives. The ones who are supposed to know better.
So what’s going on? I have a few theories.
One: Nothing has really changed. Political insiders have always done and said stupid, racist and cruel things — the difference is that privacy doesn’t exist anymore. Every joke is public, and every opinion is archived.
It might be hard for older generations to understand, but this theory says these people are merely guilty of using the kind of dark-web humor that’s supposed to stay on, well, the dark web. What happened to them is the equivalent of thinking you’re with friends at a karaoke bar, when you’re actually on C-SPAN.
For those of us trying to discern the difference, the problem is that the line between joking and confession has gotten so blurry that we can’t tell who’s trolling and who’s armed.
Two: Blame Trump. He destroyed norms and mainstreamed vulgarity and violent rhetoric. And since he’s been the dominant political force for a decade, it’s only logical that his style would trickle down and corrupt a whole generation of politically engaged Americans (Republicans who want to be like him and Democrats who want to fight fire with fire).
Three (and this is the scary one): Maybe the culture really has changed, and these violent and racist comments are revelatory of changing hearts and worldviews. Maybe younger generations have radicalized, and violence is increasingly viewed as a necessary tool for political change. Maybe their words are sincere.
Indeed, several recent surveys have demonstrated that members of Gen Z are more open to the use of political violence than previous generations.
According to a survey conducted by the group FIRE, only 1 in 3 college students now say it is unacceptable to use violence to stop a speaker. And according to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, “53 percent of those aged 18-34 – approve of one or more forms of hostile activism to bring about change.” This includes “threatening or committing violence, and damaging public or private property.”
Of course, it’s possible (and probably likely) that some combination of these theories has conspired to create this trend. And it comes on the heels of other trends, too, including the loss of trust in institutions that began somewhere around the Nixon administration and never reversed.
Put it all together, and we’ve arrived at a point where we don’t believe in democracy, we don’t believe in leaders, and we barely believe in each other. And once you lose trust, all that’s left is anger, memes and a primal will to power.
Worse, we’ve become numb. Every new scandal shocks us for approximately 15 minutes. Then we scroll to another cat video and get used to it.
Remember the Charlie Kirk assassination? You know, the gruesome murder that freaked us all out and led to a national discussion about political violence and violent rhetoric? Yeah, that was just last month. Feels like it was back in the Eisenhower administration.
We’re basically frogs in a pot of boiling political sewage. And the scariest part? We’re starting to call it room temperature.
Most people know that a higher credit score is better — but how much better? What does it really cost to fall just one tier below?
The average credit score in 2025 is 715, according to Motley Fool Money research. Yours might be above that, or below. And while a few points here or there may not change how lenders treat you, once the gap widens, the financial impact gets real. Especially when you’re moving between major credit tiers.
For example, a credit score of 680 sits at the lower end of the “good” range, while 740 breaks into “very good” territory. Both of these scores aren’t too far from the national average, but they unlock very different rates, terms, and perks.
1. Mortgage rates: A small score gap can cost tens of thousands
Let’s start with the biggest loan most people ever take on: a mortgage.
Suppose you’re applying for a $400,000, 30-year fixed mortgage. Here’s how your credit score might affect the interest rate you’re offered:
Credit Score
APR
Est. Monthly Payment
Total Interest Over 30 Years
680
7.00%
$2,661
$558,036
740
6.25%
$2,463
$486,633
Data source: Author’s calculations.
Total difference: over $71,000
To be fair, a lot can change over a 30-year mortgage. If your credit score improves down the road, you may be able to refinance into a lower rate and save money over time. But this example shows just how much a lower score can impact your finances right now — especially if you’re locking in a loan with today’s rates. Even a small bump in your score before applying could lead to serious savings.
2. Auto loans: Higher monthly payments, even on smaller balances
Auto lenders are also score-sensitive. According to MyFICO, here’s the rate difference you could expect with different credit scores, based on a 60-month new car loan:
680 score (prime): ~9.963%
740 score (prime): ~6.695%
On a $35,000 car loan, that difference could cost you an extra $55 per month, and over $3,300 extra in interest over the life of the loan.
Even though both of these scores fall into the “prime” range for FICO® Scores, there’s quite a big difference in the rates that are offered.
3. Insurance premiums: A hidden cost many don’t realize
In many states, your credit score plays a role in how much you pay for car and home insurance. It doesn’t show up as an interest rate — just a higher premium.
According to Motley Fool Money research, drivers with poor credit often pay more than double what those with excellent credit are charged. Even a modest difference, like $50 more per month, can add up to over $6,000 in extra premiums over a decade.
Most of the best credit cards (including travel cards, 0% intro APR cards, and big cash back cards) prefer applicants with higher credit scores.
That doesn’t mean you’ll be approved or denied strictly on your score (I’ve been denied for some cards even with an 800+ score). But when your score is lower your approval odds typically drop.
That also means missing out on premium rewards rates, long 0% intro APRs, or welcome bonuses worth $750 or more. These can be incredibly valuable perks. But you need the credit score to unlock them.
Raising your score is worth it
Here’s the bright side: moving from a 680 to a 740 (or higher) isn’t some impossible leap.
Many people can see a 40- to 60-point boost within a year or two by practicing good credit habits. Here are a few that make a huge difference:
Paying down credit card balances (lowering your utilization)
Setting autopay to never miss a due date
Not opening or closing too many accounts at once (and keeping your oldest cards open to improve history length)
Asking for a credit limit increases on existing cards slowly over time
By far the biggest factor is making sure your bills are paid on time, every time.
Even small tweaks can have a big payoff. The difference between “good” and “very good” credit could be tens of thousands of dollars over your lifetime.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars says Israel is committing genocide.
Israel has engaged in systematic crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in Gaza, according to a resolution by members of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.
The group says there is clear intent to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip – by bombardment, starvation and forced displacement.
The assessment comes months after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes.
And there’s a case at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide.
So what tangible results can come from this new accusation?
Presenter:
James Bays
Guests:
Andrew Gilmour – Former United Nations assistant secretary-general for human rights
Ori Goldberg – Political analyst specialising in the Middle East
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Jim Ross has had a long and fruitful career as a Democratic campaign strategist. Among his victories was electing Gavin Newsom as San Francisco mayor.
Tom Ross has enjoyed similar success on the Republican side. He counts Kevin McCarthy’s election to the Legislature and, later, Congress, among his wins.
The two are brothers who, despite their differences, harbor an abiding love and respect for one another, along with an ironclad resolve that nothing — no campaign, no candidate, no political issue — can or ever will be allowed to drive a wedge between them.
“Tom’s the best person I know. The best person I know,” Jim, 57, said as his brother, 55, sat across from him at a local burrito joint, tearing up. “There’s issues we could go round and round on, which we’re not going to do.”
“Especially,” said Tom, “with someone you care about and love.”
That sort of fraternal bond, transcending partisanship and one of the most heated political fights of this charged moment, shouldn’t be unusual or particularly noteworthy — even for a pair who make their living working for parties locked in furious combat. But in these vexing and highly contentious times it surely is.
Maybe there’s something others can take away.
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The Ross brothers grew up in Incline Village, not far from where Nevada meets California. That was decades ago, before the forested hamlet on Tahoe’s east shore became a playground for the rich and ultra-rich.
The family — Mom, Dad, four boys and a girl — settled there after John Ross retired from a career in the Air Force, which included three combat tours in Vietnam.
John and his wife, Joan, weren’t especially political, though they were active and civic-minded. Joan was involved in the Catholic church. John, who took up a career in real estate, worked on ways to improve the community.
The lessons they taught their children were grounded in duty, discipline and detail. Early on, the kids learned there’s no such thing as a free ride. Jim got his first job at the 76 station, before he could drive. Tom mowed lawns, washed cars and ran a lemonade stand. The least fortunate among the siblings wore a bear suit and waved a sign, trying to shag customers for their dad’s real estate business.
To this day, the brothers disdain anything that smacks of entitlement. “That’s our family,” Jim said. “We’re all workers.”
Like their parents, the two weren’t politically active growing up. They ended up majoring in government and political science — Jim at Saint Mary’s College in the Bay Area, Tom at Gonzaga University in Washington state — as a kind of default. Both had instructors who brought the subject to life.
Jim’s start in the profession came in his junior year when Clint Reilly, then one of California premier campaign strategists, came to speak to his college class. It was the first time Jim realized it was possible to make a living in politics — and Reilly’s snazzy suit suggested it could be a lucrative one.
Jim interned for Reilly and after graduating and knocking about for a time — teaching skiing in Tahoe, working as a sales rep for Banana Boat sunscreen — he tapped an acquaintance from Reilly’s firm to land a job with Frank Jordan’s 1991 campaign for San Francisco mayor.
From there, Jim moved on to a state Assembly race in Wine Country, just as Tom was graduating and looking for work. Using his connections, Jim helped Tom find a job as the driver for a congressional candidate in the area.
At the time, both were Republicans, like their father. Their non-ideological approach to politics also reflected the thinking of Col. Ross. Public service wasn’t about party pieties, Jim said, but rather “finding a solution to a problem.”
Jim, left, and Tom Ross have only directly competed in a campaign once, on a statewide rent control measure. They talk shop but avoid discussing politics.
(William Hale Irwin / For The Times)
Jim’s drift away from the GOP began when he worked for another Republican Assembly candidate whom he remembers, distastefully, as reflexively partisan, homophobic and anti-worker. His changed outlook solidified after several months working on a 1992 Louisiana congressional race. The grinding poverty he saw in the South was shocking, Jim said, and its remedy seemed well beyond the up-by-your-bootstraps nostrums he’d absorbed.
Jim came to see government as a necessary agent for change and improvement, and that made the Democratic Party a more natural home. “There’s not one thing that has bettered human existence that hasn’t had, at its core, our ability to work collectively,” Jim said. “And our ability to work collectively comes down to government.”
Tom looked on placidly, a Latin rhythm capering overhead.
He believes that success, and personal fulfillment, lies in individual achievement. The Republicans he admires include Jack Kemp, the rare member of his party who focused on urban poverty, and the George W. Bush of 2000, who ran for president as a “compassionate conservative” with a strong record of bipartisan accomplishment as Texas governor.
(Tom is no fan of Donald Trump, finding the president’s casual cruelty toward people particularly off-putting.)
He distinctly remembers the moment, at age 22, when he realized he was standing on his own two feet, financially supporting himself and making his way in the world through the power of his own perseverance.
“For me, that’s what Republicans should be,” Tom said. “How do you give people that experience in life? That’s what we should be trying to do.”
It took a physical toll on Jim Ross, Newsom’s campaign manager, who suffered chest pains and, at one point, wound up in the hospital. Was the strain worth it, he wondered. Should he quit?
“The only person I could really call and talk to was Tom,” Jim said. “He understands what it is to work that hard on a campaign. And he wasn’t going to go and leak it to the press, or tell someone who would use it in some way to hurt me.”
That kind of empathy and implicit trust, which runs both ways, far outweighs any political considerations, the two said. Why would they surrender such a deep and meaningful relationship for some short-term tactical gain, or allow a disagreement over personalities or policy to set things asunder?
Jim lives and works out of the East Bay. Tom runs his business from Sacramento. The two faced each other on the campaign battlefield just once, squaring off over a 2018 ballot measure that sought to expand rent control in California. The initiative was rejected.
Though they’ve staked opposing positions on Newsom’s redistricting measure, Proposition 50, Jim has no formal role in the Democratic campaign. Tom is working to defeat it.
The brief airing of their differences was unusual, coming solely at the behest of your friendly columnist. As a rule, the brothers talk business but avoid politics; there’s hardly a need — they already know where each other is coming from. After all, they shared a bedroom growing up.
Jim had a story to tell.
Last spring, as their mother lay dying, the two left the hospital in Reno to shower and get a bit of rest at their father’s place in Incline Village. The phone rang. It was the overnight nurse, calling to let them know their mom had passed away.
“Tom takes the call,” Jim said. “The first thing he says to the nurse is, ‘Are you OK? Is it hard for you to deal with this?’ And that’s how Tom is. Major thing, but he thinks about the other person first.”
He laughed, a loud gale. “I’m not that way.”
Tom had a story to tell.
In 2017, he bought a mountain bike, to celebrate the end of his treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He’d been worn out by six months of chemotherapy and wasn’t anywhere near full strength. Still, he was determined to tackle one of Tahoe’s most scenic rides, which involves a lung-searing, roughly five-mile climb.
Tom walked partway, then got back on his bike and powered uphill through the last 500 or so yards.
Waiting for him up top was Jim, seated alongside two strangers. “That’s my brother,” he proudly pointed out. “He beat cancer.”
Tom’s eyes welled. His chin quavered and his voice cracked. He paused to collect himself.
“Do I want to sacrifice that relationship for some stupid tweet, or some in-the-moment anger?” he asked. “That connection with someone, you want to cut it over that? That’s just stupid. That’s just silly.”
What’s the difference between Harvard and UCLA when it comes to fighting President Trump’s attacks?
It may come down to how much Gavin Newsom wants his shot at the White House.
Harvard appears to be on the brink of caving to the president’s demands around claims of antisemitism and a host of issues that most would describe as policies for inclusiveness and diversity, but which Trump derides as “woke,” whatever that means.
The storied university may pay out a huge settlement — rumored to be about $500 million — to pacify an administration increasingly bent on domination of American institutions. Armed with that success, the president has targeted UCLA by freezing more than $500 million in federal grants and demanding a payout of about $1 billion.
“We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom on this extraordinary public institution,” Newsom said recently. “We are not like some of those other institutions that have followed a different path.”
Let’s hope that’s true.
Technically, the University of California is run by the Board of Regents, of which Newsom is a member. But Newsom has so far appointed or reappointed several voting members, and you’re not going to convince me that the rest will go rogue on this decision on how to battle for the soul of UCLA, one of the most important the board will ever make.
And deciding to capitulate not only looks bad, but has terrible consequences that would dog a candidate Newsom. Not to mention crippling California as a whole.
Harvard may hold a place in the American psyche as the best of the best, but when it comes to actual impact, UCLA and the University of California system are in an entirely different league. More than 1 million Californians hold a degree from a UC, with about 200,000 currently enrolled across the system. Each year, UCLA alone contributes more than $2 billion to the local economy, and adds to the body of human knowledge with its unparalleled research in ways that money cannot quantify.
“With all respect to Harvard, the University of California dwarfs Harvard in terms of size and scale and the impact on the country,” state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) told me. “When you look at the UC just in terms of science and healthcare and helping to birth Silicon Valley, helping to birth the pharmaceutical industry, the UC has a cultural, educational and economic relevance unlike any other institution on the planet.”
The stakes are simply higher for California. Harvard, a private university, can not only withstand more financially, but ultimately matters less. UCLA, with great respect to UC Berkeley, is the “people’s university,” as Zev Yaroslavsky puts it. He’s a former L.A. County supervisor and current director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
“There is a difference between a Harvard and a UCLA, or UC Berkeley or UC San Diego or University of Michigan,” he said, and if the president managed to extract his pound of flesh, “it would bankrupt the No. 1 public university in the United States.”
The problem is this is a lose-lose situation. If the university settles, it is going to be forced to pay a tribute of hundreds of millions of dollars. While it may be able to lower the purposefully debilitating $1 billion Trump is demanding, it will still pay a price that damages it for years to come. But at least it will know the number.
If the university doesn’t settle, it risks years of litigation with no certainty of an eventual win.
On Tuesday, a federal court in a separate lawsuit ordered the administration to unfreeze more than $80 million in funding that is currently being withheld. But even with that win, the entire UC system remains in jeopardy of the president’s agenda, and there is no reason to believe the Supreme Court would side with California if or when the case made it that far.
But even if UCLA were to settle, what’s to stop Trump from coming back next year for another bite? As Yaroslavsky points out, give a bully your lunch money once, and they’ll keep coming back for more.
“There’s always a temptation to negotiate and work it out,” said Wiener, the state senator. “I don’t think that that’s an option here.”
Neither do I, though the business-minded decision would be to cut a deal. But we also have a larger issue to consider.
Education is resistance to authoritarianism, and crushing it has long been a goal of the far right. Point being, educated, free-thinking folks often prefer diversity and democracy.
“We have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country,” he said. And here we are.
If the university of the fourth-largest economy on the planet signals that it can’t stand up to this, what university will risk it?
“California needs to say, ‘No, we’re not going to give him control over the UC, we’re not going to pay him taxpayer dollars as extortion,’” Wiener said. “If California can’t say no, then I don’t see who can.”
So once again, California — and Californians — are a line of defense. It’s up to us to let our leaders know that we don’t want our taxpayer-funded universities to cave to this assault, and that we expect our governor to fight.
The second in an occasional series of profiles on Southern California athletes who have flourished in their post-playing careers.
The expansion Los Angeles Angels were just 5 months old in September 1961 when the team called up three minor leaguers who would come to define the fledgling franchise’s early years.
Jim Fregosi, a teenage shortstop, would go on to make six All-Star teams and win a Gold Glove. Right-hander Dean Chance, who turned 20 that summer, would win Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards and lead the American League in wins, ERA, shutouts and innings pitched. And Buck Rodgers would catch for nine big league seasons before managing at the minor and major league level for the Angels.
But only Dan Ardell, a light-hitting first baseman who was called up with them, would do something that had never been done before on Sept. 20 against the Detroit Tigers. In his first big league plate appearance, Ardell blooped a single to right field, only to see pinch-runner Ken McBride get caught rounding second base to end the game.
“I’m the only one to only get one hit. And the one hit was a walk-off loss,” he said. “Not easy to do.”
There were few witnesses since many in the crowd of 3,116 at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium had left long before the ninth inning. Ardell would appear in six more games, four as a pinch-runner, and make six more plate appearances without a hit, striking out twice, walking once and dropping down a sacrifice bunt to finish with a .250 lifetime batting average.
It wasn’t good enough to get him a plaque in the Hall of Fame but you can still find him listed there, alongside the other 20,964 men who have played in the majors.
“It’s a very low number,” Ardell said, acknowledging the accomplishment. “Very low.”
Yet more than six decades later, Ardell looks back on his month with the Angels with neither delight nor disappointment. He has gone on to live a rich life, one that has included well-paying jobs in banking and asset management, a 41-year marriage that produced four children and six grandchildren, and absolutely no regrets about a baseball career that was so short it’s remembered mostly for a teammate’s base-running blunder.
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1.Jim Fregosi during a game in Anaheim in 1965.(Transcendental Graphics / Getty Images)2.Dean Chance won a Cy Young Award with the Angels.(Associated Press)3.Rich Rollins of the Minnesota Twins swings and misses as Angels catcher Buck Rodgers catches the pitch in a 1962 game. All three players were called up to the Angels in September 1961 along with Dan Ardell, whose career only lasted seven games.(Hy Peskin Archive / Getty Images)
“I never had a desire to be a major league ballplayer,” said Ardell, a retired real estate executive who made $1,250 for his big league cameo. “I loved playing baseball, but once I started playing professionally, I was bored. I was disinterested.”
In fact, the bookish Ardell probably never should have been there at all. But after winning the College World Series as a sophomore at USC, he accepted a $37,500 bonus to leave school five semesters short of a degree to sign with the Angels.
Still, he hedged his bets just the same.
“They wanted to give me $35,000 and I said I need $37,500 because that would give me the $500 a semester [tuition] at ‘SC that I needed,” Ardell said.
The newly born Angels had just two minor league teams, so Ardell was sent to the Dodgers’ Class D farm club in Artesia, N.M. His manager was Spider Jorgensen, whose big league debut in 1947 had been somewhat overshadowed by teammate Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color line that day. Since Jorgensen’s equipment never made it to the ballpark, he played third base that day using an infielder’s glove he borrowed from Robinson.
The team Jorgensen managed went 48-78 and finished last, 29½ games out of first in the Sophomore League — so bad that Sports Illustrated came to New Mexico to document its mediocrity. Ardell finished that first season with more strikeouts (32) than hits (30) in 125 at-bats, but he was big, left-handed and played first base — three attributes that were enough to get him a trial with an Angels team that entered September 30 games behind the league-leading Yankees.
“I basically played second string at ‘SC,” Ardell said. “So I go from second string to Class D ball — which wasn’t as good as our ‘SC team — to the big leagues all within 60 days. At age 20, it was an incredible roller coaster.”
It was a ride he quickly tired off. He didn’t drink and he was about to get married, so the frat house atmosphere of a professional baseball team wasn’t one he partook of. After three more minor league seasons, he retired at 23.
“I learned a lot about myself,” he said of those three mostly unhappy summers.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t do it. It was that he didn’t want to do it. Being a big league ballplayer may have been some kids’ dream, but it wasn’t his.
“I got no satisfaction out of it. And I was bored,” he said. “It just wasn’t that interesting to me once I had to make my living doing it.
“If you don’t love what you’re doing, if you don’t appreciate and like what you’re doing, it becomes hard work.”
At 84, Ardell has an easy smile and a quick, self-deprecating wit he employs often. He’s still at his playing weight of 190 pounds, but he says he’s lost 2 inches off a frame that once rose to 6-foot-2. And he no longer moves with the speed or grace that allowed him to steal seven bases in his first minor league season.
There is no memorabilia, no remnants of his short-lived career in his hillside home in Laguna Beach’s Bluebird Canyon, about a half-mile from the Pacific Ocean. He gave his gloves away during a garage sale shortly after he quit playing and a grandson took down the few pictures he had hung on the wall.
After retiring with a .252 average and 45 home runs in 389 minor league games, Ardell went back to college, then studied real estate, working for Union Bank and Wells Fargo. He eventually started a real estate asset management company with his twin brother Dave, an equally talented baseball player who played at UCLA, where he was the team captain.
After retiring with a .252 average and 45 home runs in 389 minor league games, Dan Ardell returned to school at USC, then studied real estate, working for Union Bank and Wells Fargo.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
That anyone remembers he played at all is both flattering and befuddling for Ardell, who receives about a dozen autograph requests in the mail each year.
“I mean, how do they even know my address?” he asked.
Still, he answers every letter. Some fans send old photos or baseball cards that are necessarily homemade since Ardell never got a Topps bubblegum card of his own.
“In those days anybody who signed a bonus, Topps would sign,” he said. “So they came to Artesia, where I was playing, and said ‘we want to give you a Topps card. And we’ll pay you five bucks’.
“I said, ‘I think I need 10.’ So I’m the only only major leaguer who never had a Topps card.”
Which isn’t to say Ardell has no mementos from his career. A fastball he didn’t see on a poorly lit field in San José slipped under the bill of his batting helmet and struck him flush in the head one night.
“I woke up the next day. You could see the seam where the baseball hit. I still have a dent,” he said with a chuckle, pointing to a spot in the center of his forehead.
It wasn’t until three decades after he walked away from the game that Ardell came to appreciate what he had accomplished — and only then after marrying Jean Hastings, who would shortly become a nationally recognized baseball academic and writer.
Ardell and Hastings — a Brooklyn native who had always been a baseball fanatic — were living in the same Orange County neighborhood when a mutual friend suggested they go out on a date.
“She had just read ‘Ball Four,’” Ardell said, referencing Jim Bouton’s book about the raunchy, less-seemly side of baseball. “So she said no, baseball players are to look at, they’re not to touch.”
Dan Ardell says he receives about a dozen autograph requests in the mail each year, with some fans sending old photos or homemade baseball cards since Ardell never got a Topps card of his own. “I mean, how do they even know my address?” he said.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
She went on the date anyway, then married Ardell a couple of years later in 1981. Jean, 79, died in 2022 after a short, ferocious battle with leukemia, but in the more than 40 years she spent with Ardell, she slowly rekindled his love for a game he had all but forgotten.
They went to conferences and symposiums, where Jean spoke on the magic and the poetry of baseball. They visited the Hall of Fame, traveled to Arizona for spring training and attended countless Angels games, watching on TV the ones they couldn’t attend in person.
“It was definitely part of her,” grandson Garrett Tyler said.
Jean not only helped Ardell put his baseball career into perspective, she helped put his life in perspective. Shortly after they married, “I decided to have a mission statement,” Ardell said. “And my mission statement was to make a difference in the lives of others.”
“Ten years later,” he added “I changed it to make a positive difference.”
He saw that desire at work in Jean, a political liberal who, in addition to her baseball writing, also worked with a nonprofit called Braver Angels that seeks to bridge the political divide by bringing Democrats and Republicans together. It was a philosophy she lived by marrying Ardell, a lifelong Republican who cast his first presidential vote for Barry Goldwater but later drove a car sporting a “Republicans for Obama” bumper sticker.
Ardell was already working with Opportunity International, a global nonprofit that alleviates generational poverty by microfinancing community projects both in Southern California and abroad. But now the bridge that he and Jean built became apparent through the difference being made — not only in those affected communities, but in his own soul as well.
Tyler said he grew up playing catch with his grandfather, who attended all his Little League games. But it was his grandmother who told him about Ardell’s professional career.
“He was always a little bit reluctant to talk about it. My grandma was the one that kind of opened him up,” said Tyler, 25, who followed his grandparents into baseball, where he works as manager of concessions for the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the double A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I’ve talked to him a lot about that. He told me that he just didn’t have the confidence. He knew that he was good, but I don’t think he really understood it. I don’t know if he necessarily misses it or feels like he missed out. I think he was more appreciative of the journey that it took him on and how he’s evolved into a different love for baseball.”
As he has grown older, Tyler said that’s the part of his grandfather’s journey that has stuck with him; the mission statement part that says it’s not about the destination or the accomplishments, but about the influence you have on those you meet along the way.
In that way, he said, Ardell’s short career is now having an outsized influence.
Tyler mentions a friend who is basically playing for free, stranded below the longest rung of the minor league ladder. But he still puts on a uniform every day.
“He plays for the love of the game and just because it’s all he knows,” Tyler said. “One of the things that Dan asks me that I ask my friend is, ‘do you like what you’re doing?’ And at that point it’s not about your career longevity or how much money you’re making.
“As long as you’re happy playing and you’re making ends meet, then go for it.”
Ardell wasn’t happy playing, so he walked away. Three decades later with the love and support of a wife who saw baseball not as a sport but as a metaphor for life, as a game where the goal is to get home safely, Ardell began to understand the magic, too.
His one month in the majors led him to a career prosperous enough that he could help others, one that still fills his mailbox with letters from fans and one that has given him the wisdom to counsel other 23-year-olds to keep putting on the uniform as long as it fits.
Make a positive difference in the lives of others.
“It was a very inconsequential part of my life that was very consequential to other people,” Ardell said of his one month in the majors.
Ray Montgomery is just three weeks into his interim tenure as Angels manager. And as his responsibility grows, he’s well aware that so does the pressure.
“All blame, no credit,” he said Monday as the Angels began a seven-game homestand before the All-Star break. “And I get that. That’s just how it goes.”
Since taking over as manager on June 20 for Ron Washington — who will remain on medical leave until the end of the 2025 season — Montgomery has guided the Angels (44-46) to an 8-8 record entering Tuesday.
They’ve had the good: taking two of three from the Braves in Atlanta last week. And they’ve had the bad: getting swept by the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre over the weekend.
Montgomery said he understands the expectations aren’t what they were a few years ago — when the Angels lost 89 or more games from 2022 to 2024 — and that the Angels aren’t so far away from their first postseason berth since 2014 thanks to their young core having a few seasons under its belt.
“We’re not here to develop, although that’s a piece to what we do,” Montgomery said. “We’re here to win. And for the Angels, it’s important for us to have an opportunity where we are.”
If anything, there’s a case to be made that the Angels could be over .500 if a few plays had gone their way. Since Montgomery took over as manager, the Angels are 2-5 in one-run ball games, including all three games in the Toronto series.
When asked what the Angels need to do or adjust to end up on the other end of those one-run contests — of which they’d been 17-11 across the full season — Montgomery pointed to big swings and specific plays.
“You can point to the big hits, I get it, but you can also point to the execution on smaller plays, too, that prevent runs,” he said. “We made some mistakes in those games.”
The Angels got one of those big plays on Monday night. Nolan Schanuel drew a walk-off walk for a 6-5 victory over the Rangers, wiping away miscues such as a dropped third strike that led to a score-tying RBI double.
Montgomery, in his fifth year with the Angels — fourth as a member of the coaching staff — turned to a decision he made in Atlanta last week as proof that one moment can change the game.
Against the Braves last week, Yusei Kikuchi had been brilliant. The Japanese left-hander was two-thirds into the sixth inning of his then-scoreless outing. Instead of keeping Kikuchi — at 100 pitches — in to try to finish off the side as he worked through the Braves lineup for the third time, Montgomery pulled the left-hander in favor of right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn with two runners on base.
It backfired. Sean Murphy, who struck out twice against Kikuchi earlier in the game, hit a three-run home run to give the Braves a 3-2 lead, an advantage that would turn into an 8-3 loss.
“If I leave Kikuchi in Atlanta, right, and he gets a guy he handled pretty good during the game, we may sweep that series too,” Montgomery said. “[Games are] magnified now — I get it.”
Decisions like those are where Washington and Montgomery’s managerial strategies may differ. Washington, a longtime MLB coach, comes from an era of giving starting pitchers a longer leash (it goes hand in hand with the Angels using just five starting pitchers so far in 2025).
Montgomery, who comes from a scouting background in his post-playing career, may value analytical strategy more — holding pitchers from facing a lineup a third time through the order and playing matchups more.
Angels catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who has played for new-school managers that emphasize analytics such as Kevin Cash, as well as old-school managers such as Terry Collins, says Montgomery toes the line in between both managerial styles.
“He’s got a good feel,” d’Arnaud said. “He trusts the staff, which is really good, and also trusts the bullpen, which is also really good. He has really good communication with every player, lets them know when they’re playing — which is more of a younger thing — and so it’s a mix of both [new- and-old school].”
Strategy could be the difference between Murphy facing Zeferjahn rather than Kikuchi. Strategy may be the difference between a win and a loss — or staying in contention for an American League wild-card spot.
“It’s tough to say,” right-hander Jack Kochanowicz said when asked about the difference between Washington and Montgomery. “You feel like each game is different. It’s hard to really put an identity to either one of them, especially since Ray’s so new to it, too. It’s a small sample size.”
For Montgomery, he said he’s not going to dwell on the could-have-beens. Squarely in the chase — and in the zone between the franchise deciding between buying and selling at the trade deadline — he’s just happy the Angels are in the conversation.
“If you told us coming up on the All-Star break, that we were in the mix a couple games above or below .500 — and I’m not ignorant of the fact that we’ve cost ourselves a few games, we should be a little better than we are — I would be happy with where we sit right now,” Montgomery said.
American mum-of-three, Erin Monroe, recently travelled to Portugal for the first time ever, and was quick to notice the different way children behave in the European country compared to in the US
16:48, 09 Jul 2025Updated 16:49, 09 Jul 2025
An American woman was shocked when she realised a big difference between kids in the US and in Portugal (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)
Exploring new corners of the globe is a fantastic opportunity to gain insights into diverse cultures and lifestyles. However, an American mum was taken aback by the contrasting attitudes towards children during her recent trip to Portugal.
Erin Monroe and her husband embarked on a journey from JFK airport in New York for a child-free holiday. This marked Erin’s first ever international travel experience, and she shared her anticipation and nerves with her 249k TikTok followers ahead of their Portuguese getaway. Once settled in the European country, Erin quickly noticed a significant cultural difference, which was that children’s behaviour varied greatly between Portugal and the US.
“I’m gonna be that guy right now, but my husband and I are in Portugal right now. And I’ve never been to Europe in my life, so this is a new experience for me,” Erin said at the start of her video, which has since amassed over 1.1 million views.
She continued to share that she is a mother of three children aged 12, 10, and six, who remained in the US while she and her husband enjoyed their holiday. However, she expressed her regret at not bringing them along after learning about the child-friendly culture in the country.
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“And the culture around kids is so different here than it is in the States. Like the kids are just everywhere, they’re just a part of everything,” Erin said.
She went on to describe how she and her husband had enjoyed their dinner at an upmarket restaurant in Cascais, Portugal, the previous evening. Despite the sophisticated setting and atmosphere, she was pleasantly surprised to discover that children had spontaneously begun a football match in an open space by the restaurant.
“And there were just kids playing soccer at this little open area next to the restaurant. And I loved it,” Erin said. “They were just playing soccer with each other and then the other interesting thing, and this has happened several times here, there are so many different languages spoken here.”
She then claimed that amongst the eight youngsters kicking a ball about, she could distinguish at least four different languages being spoken.
“There was one older kid who was actively translating for the other kids who didn’t speak the same language. And it’s so interesting to me. Like, the language barrier isn’t really a barrier, especially for kids. Like, they don’t care, they’ll just play together,” she told her viewers.
Erin carried on with her observations, noting: “And the adults, are the parents were like watching, but like drinking their wine and eating their bread and like hanging out.
“I love it here. Are you kidding? I need to bring my kids here right this second,” she exclaimed.
The video’s comment section quickly filled with people sharing their experiences of Portuguese culture, especially regarding children.
One commenter shared: “I still remember all the random friendships that I made when we were out with my parents, kids that we were instant bff for those three hours that we were at dinner and then we never saw each other ever again.”
Another person questioned: “This is how kids learn to socialise. How do they learn it in the States?”
Meanwhile, a third individual expressed their appreciation for French customs, adding: “I love in France seeing teenagers go out to a civilised dinner together.”
“The general public was admitted to new Los Angeles County Museum of Art for the first time on Friday night — not to look at art but to listen to music,” wrote Times music critic Albert Goldberg in 1965. Exactly 70 years and three months later, history repeated itself.
Thursday night was the first time the public was allowed into LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries. The occasion was a massive sonic event led by jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington. More than a hundred musicians spread out in nine groups along 900-foot serpentine route of Peter Zumthor’s new building, still empty of art.
The celebration, which drew arts and civic leaders for the first of three preview nights, was far grander than the concert on March 26,1965, that opened LACMA’s Leo S. Bing Theatre the night before the doors opened to the museum’s original galleries. That occasion, a program by the legendary Monday Evening Concerts in which Pierre Boulez conducted the premiere of his “Éclat,” helped symbolize an exuberant L.A. coming of age, with the Music Center having opened three months earlier.
Monday Evening Concerts had been a true L.A. event drawing local musical celebrities including Igor Stravinsky and showing off L.A.’s exceptional musicians. The mandolinist in “Éclat,” for instance, was Sol Babitz, the father of the late, quintessential L.A. writer Eve Babitz. Boulez, an explosive composer, eventually turned the 10-minute “‘Éclat,’ for 15 instruments” into a 25-minute orchestral masterpiece, “Éclat/Multiples,” and left unfinished sketches behind to extend that to a full hour.
Kamasi Washington performing Thursday night.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Washington turned out to be the ideal radical expansionist to follow in Boulez’s footsteps for the new LACMA, with a resplendent enlargement of his 2018 half-hour EP, “Harmony of Difference.” The short tracks — “Desire,” “Knowledge,” “Perspective,” “Humility,” “Integrity” and “Truth” — employ nearly three dozen musicians in bursts of effusive wonder.
For LACMA, Washington tripled the number of musicians and the length. What some critics thought were bursts of bluster, however enthralling, became outright splendor. Introducing the program, LACMA Director Michael Govan called it an event that has never happened before and may never happen again. I got little sense of what this building will be like as a museum with art on the walls, but it’s a great space for thinking big musically and, in the process, for finding hope in an L.A. this year beset by fires and fear-inducing troops on our streets.
Washington is one of our rare musicians who thrives on excess. He has long been encouraged to aim toward concision, especially in his longer numbers, in which his untiring improvisations can become exhausting in their many climaxes. But that misses the point. I’ve never heard him play anything, short or long, that couldn’t have been three times longer. His vision is vast, and he needs space.
In the David Geffen Galleries, he got it. The nine ensembles included a large mixed band that he headed, along with ensembles of strings, brass, woodwinds and choruses. Each played unique arrangements of the songs, not quite synchronized, but if you ambled the long walkways, you heard the material in different contexts as though this were sonic surrealism.
A crowd gathers to watch Washington on Thursday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Acoustically, the Geffen is a weird combination. The large glass windows and angled concrete walls reflect sound in very different ways. Dozens of spaces vary in shape, size and acoustical properties. During a media tour earlier in the day, I found less echo than might be expected, though each space had its own peculiarities.
Washington’s ensembles were all carefully amplified and sounded surprisingly liquid, which made walking a delight as the sounds of different ensembles came in and out of focus. A chorus’ effusiveness gradually morphed into an ecstatic Washington saxophone solo down the way that then became a woodwind choir that had an organ-like quality. The whole building felt alive.
There was also the visual element. The concert took place at sunset, the light through the large windows ever changing, the “Harmony of Difference” becoming the differences of the bubbling tar pits nearby or the street life on Wilshire or LACMA’s Pavilion for Japanese Art, which looks lovely from the new galleries.
Govan’s vision is of a place where art of all kinds from all over comes together, turning the galleries into a promenade of discovery.
LACMA Director Michael Govan addressing the crowd Thursday night before Kamasi Washington performs.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Musically, this falls more in line with John Cage’s “Musicircus,” in which any number of musical ensembles perform at chance-derived times as a carnival of musical difference — something for which the Geffen Galleries is all but tailor-made. Nevertheless, Washington brilliantly demonstrated the new building’s potential for dance, opera, even theater.
The museum may not have made performance a priority in recent years, but Washington also reminded us that the premiere of Boulez’ “Éclat” put music in LACMA’s DNA. Seven decades on, Zumthor, whether he intended it or not, now challenges LACMA to become LACMAP: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Performance.
A British man who travelled to Canada to see his wife for the first time was left amazed by the size of the houses in the Toronto area – but many locals were quick to tell him ‘the truth’
A British man experienced a big cultural shock when travelling to Canada (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)
Rayhaan, a Brit who recently jetted off to Canada to meet his partner, has gone viral on social media after sharing his first impressions of Canadian homes, which he found astonishingly different from those back in the UK.
The astonished traveller took to TikTok to post a video from the car as he headed to his wife’s home in the Toronto area – a clip that’s now racked up over 1.4 million views. Used to the more modestly-sized homes in the UK, Rayhaan couldn’t help but express his amazement at the size of the local houses during his drive as they travelled through a residential neighbourhood.
“F**k me are these not mansions?” Rayhaan said at the start of his viral TikTok video, as the camera pans over several grand detached properties boasting multiple storeys and integrated garages.
As they continue driving by the residential neighbourhood, he stated: “That’s a mansion in England. Then, oh, another mansion. You’re telling me these ain’t mansions?”
In disbelief, Rayhaan questions his partner behind the wheel, who quickly denied his statement that the homes were mansions, prompting him to say: “What do you mean no? Look at the state of these houses. You’re telling me they ain’t mansions? […] F**king hell. Mansion ones.”
** Caution: The accompanying video contains strong language. **
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As they continued to drive past through the neighbourhood, they continued to pass several similar houses that were all large detached homes with built in single or double garages, multiple storages, and included a large driveway and front gardens. Some homes also had porches that wrapped around the side of the home.
“This is a madness, I’m telling you, yeah. The houses here are insane,” Rayhaan said to his viewers. “I just can’t get over it. This is just f**ked, it’s just stupid. It’s absolutely stupid. What is going on bro?”.
“I don’t know why she’d come to England,” he said.
Viewers quickly chimed in with their thoughts, with many pointing out that these were not typical Canadian homes.
“I’m canadian, those…are NOT standard houses, those people are wealthy,” one viewer insisted, while another added: “Those are definitely NOT average middle class houses.
“They’re priced like mansions now so let’s just call them mansions and be done with it,” another commented wryly.
A British expat also weighed in, saying: “As a British man in Canada I can confirm this is true… but after living here for five years it’s sad to say that these are just average homes with million $ price tags which is ridiculous and what makes it worse is that these homes are made out of cardboard literally not even worth that much at max they should be $350 K..”
A fellow Briton remarked: “In South England they build a house like that, divide it into 4 terraced houses and sell them for 400k each.”
Marta Budzyska moved to Madrid in 2022 after having lived and studied in Italy for years – but there’s one thing she just can’t get her head around when it comes to Spanish culture
A woman who moved to Spain shares one big cultural difference she ‘can’t get used to’ (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)
Spain remains a top holiday hotspot for UK sun-seekers, with a staggering 17.8 million visits from Brits in 2023. That year, Spain emerged as the favourite escape for British holidaymakers, commanding an impressive 21% of all overseas jaunts by those from the UK, according to stats from the Office for National Statistics.
It’s also believed that thousands of Brits each year also make the sunny Spanish shores their home. But having soaked up Spanish sun and culture beforehand doesn’t necessarily mean that people looking to make the country their home won’t come across a few surprises when moving to their new country.
This was exactly what happened to Marta Budzyska, a Polish woman who moved to Madrid in 2022 after years of living and studying in Italy.
Marta thought she was fully clued-up on Spanish and Mediterranean ways of living before moving to the Spanish capital. However she quickly encountered one aspect of daily life in Spain that continues to baffle her – and it has nothing to do with the sunshine.
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Marta turned to her TikTok account to share her major cultural shock since moving to Spain.
“One thing that will never stop surprising me about Spain is that they go to eat so freaking late,” Marta said in her video.
She continued to explain that she’d gone out for dinner with friends the previous evening, but that their booking hadn’t been until 10pm. Even then, people arrived more than half an hour late, which she said is a common occurrence in Spanish culture.
“And you know you have to think about the order, gets some starters, the main meal. And literally it took so much time,” she said, explaining that they were eating until midnight.
“And I’m not complaining, it was so much fun, I love it,” she said. “I love to live fully with another culture where I’m living or where I’m at, like at holidays. Spain is my home now, but like, that is just so funny and I think it’ll never stop surprising me.”
Marta went on to advise tourists: “So if you go to Spain, just don’t be necessarily on time. Stick […] with easy and chill, it’ll be better for you.”
People quickly took to the comments to share their own experiences, with many Spanish people relating to what Marta had to say.
“As a Spanish this is so true haha,” one viewer wrote. A second person said: “It’s shocking haha. How do you even work the next day.”
A third person also confirmed that similar eating habits also existed in Italy, but that the times could differ between 8pm and 10pm depending on what area of the country you were visiting.
Have you experienced eating dinner at a later time when you’re on holiday? Let us know in the comments.
DOES it feel like you’ve tried everything in your quest to lose those final pounds?
While the world is obsessed with Ozempic-like fat jabs, not everyone wants to resort to injecting drugs to shed weight. But what’s the answer when all the fad diets have failed?
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Not a fan of the idea of injecting yourself to lose weight? There are all sorts of drawbacks of jabs to considerCredit: Alamy
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Fat jabs aren’t the only way to lose weight quicklyCredit: Alamy
As a nutritionist with over a decade of experience, I’ve seen it all from quick fixes to restrictive plans that rarely deliver long-lasting results. I’m not alone – most professionals in this space would agree that rigid diets don’t work long-term.
But here’s what does…. Rethinking your approach to weight loss and health by focusing on sustainable habits known as diet ‘anchors’.
Anchors are a common concept that many wellness experts (myself included) use with our clients. Think of them as an antidote to fad diets that don’t hold up over time.
Like the name suggests, these fundamental vows help keep you grounded and consistent. They are easy to weave into your daily routine, making them sustainable, unlike rigid rules that come with most diets. They become so ingrained that they become natural, which is the key to success.
Many of my clients come in thinking they need to overhaul their diet overnight, but when it comes to health, it’s actually the small, steady shifts that have the biggest impact.
So if you’re fed up of complicated calorie counting, are struggling with flagging energy levels or can’t seem to stick to the new gym routine, try implementing these tried and tested non-negotiable rules to flip the weight loss switch…
1. BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS
It may be the first thing you eat, but breakfast sets the tone for the whole day. The food choices you make have an impact on your blood sugar levels.
Slurping a bowl of milky cereal or a chowing a syrupy stack of pancakes might hit your sweet spot, but sugary breakfasts send your blood sugar levels on a rollercoaster.
What this means, is that after they spike your blood sugar, you soon experience a crash. It results in a mid-morning energy dip and cravings for the biscuit tin come 10am.
Make sure your breakfast choices lean more towards savoury, protein-rich meals to feel fuller for longer with no nasty blood glucose crashes.
Feeling Full Naturally: Top 5 Foods That Act Like Weight Loss Jabs
Protein takes more energy to digest than fat or carbohydrates, which means it slightly increases calorie burn, whilst keeping you feeling fuller for longer.
Panfried mushrooms with melted cheese on toast, anchovy and tomato bruschetta or eggs cooked shakshuka style are a protein-fuelled start to the day.
But if you’re limited on time, or on-the-go, try:
Boil a couple of eggs the night before and serve with salad leaves or wholemeal toast. Make a veggie frittata which can be eaten cold.
Whizz together a bowl of fruity overnight oats. Pop some oats in a mason jar and cover with milk. In the morning, add a sprinkling of seeds (which are high in plant-based protein), your favourite fruit and a drizzle of honey.
Combine plain Greek yoghurt with berries and top with mixed nuts or chia seeds.
Nibble a protein bar with a piece of low-sugar fruit such as an apple or pear.
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Eggs are a great protein source to eat at breakfast. You can cook them in the morning, or cook a frittata to eat cold at workCredit: Getty
2. COLOUR, NOT QUANTITY
Variety is the spice of life, so if you’re eating the same foods day after day you’ll hit a boredom wall and risk nutritional deficiencies.
To avoid this food rut, rotate the colours on your plate, aiming for a total of nine different shades every day.
For example, sneak diced courgette and colourful peppers into bolognese sauces, make use of frozen bagged vegetables into casseroles and soups and add a side salad to your lunch.
When you lose inspiration, find new recipes on social media; it’s saturated with accounts showing how to make meals that hit all the spots; healthy, delicious, cheap and quick.
Try doubling up on everything you make for a week or two, so that you can freeze portions. That way you always have a healthy meal when you’re in a hurry.
8 simple swaps to boost your fibre intake
Feel fuller for longer and support your digestion – both helpful for weight loss – with more fibre. SWAP:
White pasta for whole wheat pasta
White bread for wholemeal or seeded bread
White rice for brown rice or quinoa
Potato crisps for popcorn (air-popped)
Breakfast cereals for oats or whole-grain cereals
Snack bars for Vegetable sticks with hummus
Fruit juice for whole fruit
Mashed white potatoes for mashed sweet potatoes or parsnips
3. UP AND OUT
Kicking back on the sofa and flicking on Netflix might be your current go-to after dinner, but gentle exercise after eating is a science-backed no-brainer weight loss hack that us nutritionists swear by.
A short walk within a 60-minute window of finishing your meal can help with weight loss as well as ward off disease. It makes all the difference in how your body absorbs carbohydrates.
A 2023 study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine showed that 20 minutes of walking straight after eating helped muscle cells use glucose more efficiently from the bloodstream which reduces insulin demand and boosts weight loss.
No time to walk, or stuck at the house? Pace up and down the stairs – set a goal and see if you can increase how many flights you can do over time – or get some chores done around the house.
4. SPICE AND NICE
Lots of us have to make a conscious effort to cook things from scratch. It’s easier to grab ready-to-eat meals for the family, but this is certainly not the best way to lose weight.
If there’s one thing you can do to liven up meals that you’re cooking from scratch – and keep your diet on track – it’s adding flavour. So, include at least one herb or spice at each meal.
From adding blood-sugar balancing cinnamon to porridge, topping green smoothies with anti-inflammatory golden turmeric and being extra liberal with herbs like sage, basil and parsley in pasta sauces, getting in the habit of seasoning will help to elevate your meals both in taste and nutrition.
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Cinnamon is a great alternative to sugar for porridge or yoghurt – and it helps to keep blood sugar levels balancedCredit: Getty
You can use dried herbs and spices or buy fresh. To keep costs down and wastage low, you can now buy pre-chopped herbs, as well as onions and garlic, in the frozen section.
Want to take it one step further? Create your own little herb garden on a sunny windowsill. Basil, thyme and mint are all super-easy varieties to grow at home.
5. SELF-WORTH REIGNS
Sustaining motivation to workout and eat well can be difficult at the best of times, but anchoring your thoughts to your goals is the best way to keep your get-up-and-go firing. Keep in mind that success is about consistency, and it’s those small wins that add up over time.
Mantras can help to reinforce your diet choices, so put pen to paper and make up a few that resonate with your goals.
Some of my personal favourites include “your choices today build results tomorrow”, and “nothing changes unless you change it”.
Self-worth can often shatter on fad diets, but with diet anchors you feel shaped by your positive health choices, so when you do smash one of your micro goals, be kind to yourself.
Even something simple like getting your nails done, or pampering yourself with a candlelit bath, can help to keep motivation high. And if you do fall off the wagon? Don’t beat yourself up for it, every day is a new day with new possibilities to better your health.
6. PLATE ART
Learning to become meticulous about how you organise your plate is a simple yet powerful anchor that can help to speed up weight loss, and keep those stubborn pounds off.
To build the perfect plate, it’s important to re-think the way you serve your food; Fill half your plate with non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and peppers as these are high in fibre and contain a hefty dose of nutrients.
Next, dedicate one quarter to protein – this includes foods like eggs, poultry, red meat or tofu to help support muscle health and promote fullness.
Finally, split the remaining quarter between healthy fats, (including avocado, nuts, and seeds), along with complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, wholemeal pasta or sweet potato as these help to sustain energy whilst providing essential nutrients.
The order in which you eat your food can also make a difference to weight loss – it’s a concept called ‘food sequencing’ and can help to improve your body’s insulin response to food.
To practice food sequencing, eat your non-starchy veg first, followed by your protein and healthy fat sources. Save your carbs until last to help minimise blood sugar spikes and aid fullness.
How can you make sure you are eating a balanced, filling and nutritious plate at every meal?
Think of your plate divided into different food groups – protein, carbs, fat and fruit and veg.
Protein: David Wiener, training and nutrition specialist at AI-based lifestyle and coaching app Freeletics, told The Sun: “Aim for one to two palm-size portions of lean protein in each meal.”
Protein includes meat (chicken, turkey, pork, beef), beans, peas, lentils and fish.
The NHS Eatwell Guide says to choose lean cuts of meat and mince, and eat less red and processed meat like bacon, ham and sausages.
Aim for at least two portions (two x 140g) of fish every week, one of which should be oily, such as salmon, sardines or mackerel.
Carbs: Carbohydrates should make up about a third of your plate, or a fist-sized portion.
The Eatwell Guide says: “Choose higher fibre or wholegrain varieties, such as wholewheat pasta and brown rice, or simply leave the skins on potatoes.
“There are also higher fibre versions of white bread and pasta.
“Starchy foods are a good source of energy and the main source of a range of nutrients in our diet.”
Fat: Generally the advice is to think of fat like a thumb-sized amount on your plate.
The Eatwell Guide says: “Remember all types of fat are high in energy and should be eaten in small amounts.
“These foods include chocolate, cakes, biscuits, sugary soft drinks, butter, ghee and ice cream.
“They’re not needed in our diet, so should be eaten less often and in smaller amounts.”
But a small amount is still essential for the diet. Try and eat more unsaturated fats (avocado, nuts, olive oil), which are healthier than saturated fats (butter, hard cheese, sour cream).
Fruit and veg: David says: “Make sure you also get lots of colourful fruit and vegetable carbohydrates too.
“Aim for at least five of these portions a day.
“One to two fist-sized portions of fruits and vegetables with every meal is generally recommended.”
Fruit and veg can be fresh, frozen, tinned or dried. You can roast, boil, steam or grill veggies.
The UK pauses trade talks as the EU threatens to review ties with Israel.
Israel is facing condemnation from some of its strongest allies over its increasing aggression in Gaza.
The UK is cancelling new trade talks and the EU is reviewing old agreements, while both are imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The two powers say they cannot stand by while Israel expands military operations, increases air strikes and starves Palestinians in Gaza with its total blockade.
But critics are asking why they did not step in before.
Will the new measures be imposed?
And most importantly: Will any of this change the reality on the ground for the Palestinians?
Presenter:
Folly Bah Thibault
Guests:
James Moran – Former EU ambassador to Egypt and Jordan
Yossi Mekelberg – Senior consulting fellow at Chatham House
Zaid Belbagi – Managing partner of Hardcastle Advisory and political commentator
Amid ferocious Israeli attacks on Yemen, ostensibly in response to Houthi attacks on Israel, surprising news from the United States seemed to shake matters briefly.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a ceasefire had been agreed between his country and the Houthis, claiming the Houthis had bent the knee and this was a victory for the US.
He also praised the Houthis for their bravery and resilience.
This meant the US would no longer be bombing Yemen, and the Houthis would stop firing at ships in the Red Sea in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.
There was no mention of Israel in Trump’s announcement – a sign, to many, of a possible chill between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Houthis, for their part, made it clear that the deal does not extend to Israel and they would continue their attacks until Israel allowed aid into Gaza, ending the starvation it is imposing on the people there.
Israel left out?
Israel has been launching attacks on Yemen, claiming it wants to deter the Houthis, who took control of Sanaa in 2014 and already fought a years-long war against the internationally recognised Yemeni government.
Israel’s most recent attack, on Sunday, bore an eerie resemblance to how it has operated when bombing the trapped population of Gaza, issuing “warnings” to people in three Yemeni ports in Hodeidah governorate to flee, with less than an hour’s notice.
Whether this escalation is a reaction to the announced US ceasefire remains to be seen, but many analysts have spoken of a widening rift between Netanyahu and Trump.
Netanyahu has reportedly expressed his frustration with Trump’s Middle East policy in private conversations.
He has been publicly against the US administration’s talks with Iran, claiming there is no diplomatic way to resolve differences with Tehran, yet Iran and the US have continued their talks.
He went on to blame Iran for the Houthis’ attacks, claiming Israel’s attacks are a message to the “Houthis’ sponsors”.
Trump, for his part, has seemed unconcerned.
“It’s worth noting Trump didn’t say anything about [Houthi] attacks on Israel, which seem to be continuing amid this escalation,” Nicholas Brumfield, a Yemen analyst, told Al Jazeera.
“In [this] case, it’s a US drawdown because the Houthis haven’t been attacking international shipping,” Brumfield said. “They’ve been attacking Israel. The US has been doing its thing, and the Houthis have been targeting US ships.”
After Israeli attacks on Monday and Tuesday, which killed at least three people and wounded 35 others and damaged Hodeidah Port and Sanaa Airport, the Houthis promised retaliation.
Journalists take pictures of a plane Israel destroyed at Sanaa International Airport on May 7, 2025 [Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]
That kind of statement is typical of the Houthis, who have managed to weather more than a decade of attacks by forces with far superior military capabilities.
Air strikes by the US and United Kingdom on Yemen in early 2024 were unable to stop the Houthis’ attacks on Red Sea traffic.
Years of air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government taught the Houthis to keep their military infrastructure agile, analysts told Al Jazeera.
A senior US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera that recent US attacks on the Houthis have pushed leaders underground after the killing of some key military commanders.
However, unlike under US President Joe Biden’s administration, the attacks under Trump have been indiscriminate and have led to more civilian deaths. More than 250 people have been killed by US attacks on Yemen since mid-March, including at least 68 people at a centre housing detained African refugees and migrants in late April.
Experts told Al Jazeera that despite the increased ferocity of those attacks, the Houthis have not been deterred.
“The Houthis aren’t going to stop,” Brumfield said.
Israel still striking
The Houthis have made their stance clear vis-à-vis the agreement with the US and the continuation of attacks on Israel, which has also made clear that it plans to keep attacking.
“The stated aim is to deter [the Houthis] or deplete their military capabilities to the point that the Houthis cannot target Israel any more, but these are both very unrealistic goals,” Hannah Porter, an independent Yemen analyst, told Al Jazeera.
Israel already considers that it has diminished the capabilities of two of its biggest foes, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, over the past 19 months.
But trying something like that on the Houthis would be a vastly different challenge, she said.
“Israel has probably not gathered the amount of intel on the Houthis that they have on Hamas or Hezbollah, so tracking and targeting leaders will be harder,” Porter said.
“More importantly, the geographic area is much larger in northern Yemen, meaning that there are far more potential targets.”
“The terrain is a factor, too,” she added. “Northern Yemen is very mountainous with plenty of places to hide people and weapons.”
For now, Israel and the Houthis seem intent on continuing their exchange of attacks. And the first to suffer will be the people of Yemen.
Israel struck numerous targets in recent days in Yemen, including Sanaa’s airport and the port in Hodeidah, which experts said is likely to exacerbate Yemen’s dire humanitarian situation.
Israel destroyed at least three civilian planes in the attacks.
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on Sanaa on May 6, 2025 [Adel al-Khader/Reuters]
Yemen is already suffering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than 18.2 million people require humanitarian assistance and protection services, according to the United Nations.
More than 17.1 million Yemenis suffer acute food shortages, and about five million are on the brink of famine.
While analysts said Israel’s attacks on ports will not be a “knockout blow”, they are among a matrix of factors that leave many Yemenis in an increasingly precarious position.
“The humanitarian situation will just get worse,” Raiman Al-Hamdani, a Yemen researcher with the international development company ARK, told Al Jazeera.
“Destroying the two main ports of northern Yemen, where the majority of the population lives, coupled with the FTO [“foreign terrorist organisation”] designation with cuts to the aid system around the world and the deteriorating economy … is a recipe for [unprecedented] humanitarian disaster.”
“[Israel’s attacks] are a continuation of its strategy. It’s out of spite, targets civil infrastructure and the policy of creating human suffering,” Al-Hamdani said.
Both sides seem unwilling to stop, however.
“I cannot see anything quite good coming out of this unless the war Israel is waging on Gaza comes to some form of truce,” Al-Hamdani said.
