Nadia Sawalha explains her swollen appearance as she details her painful health condition after a discussion with Dr Zoe which has left her face feeling ‘bruised’
Jessica Clarke Digital Reporter
16:41, 30 Oct 2025
During the show on Thursday, 30 October, Jane Moore asked Nadia the reason she had her glasses on(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX)
Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha is suffering from a painful health condition as she opens up about her appearance and her experience chatting to Dr Zoe Williams.
During the show on Thursday, 30 October, Jane Moore asked Nadia the reason she had her glasses on and opted for a no-makeup look. Nadia joked that in the past, if she wore her glasses, then people would think she was hungover, before she explained that her face felt ‘bruised’ due to her stress levels.
She discussed how she thought it was an allergy at first before explaining: “It just feels a bit bruised, but lovely doctor Zoe came and saw me, I had my own session with her in my dressing room, and I said to her ‘honestly Zoe I think it’s stress’ and she agreed.”
Nadia explained how Zoe suggested taking deep breaths and taking a bit of ‘time out’. Nadia went on to say that she hadn’t cried properly in about ‘two or three years’, saying: “I cry a little bit and then I stop. I honestly think it is that. When we get stressed, why do we think it doesn’t impact our body?” She went on to thank Zoe and said she was a ‘special woman’.
The Loose Women panellist also shared a video on her Instagram page where she revealed her sister couldn’t believe she was going on live TV ‘looking like that’. Nadia revealed her sister said she looked like she ‘had three bottles of sauvignon blanc’ and had ‘fallen asleep in a hedge’.
Fans rushed to send their well wishes as one person wrote: “Bless you Nadia I hope it clears up soon it looks uncomfortable”, while another added: “Ohhh Nadia I love how strong and humble you are. You’re beautiful inside out even with puffy eyes. Hope they get better”.
It follows after Nadia recently opened up on her 23-year marriage, revealing that it nearly ended over her husband’s intense jealousy. The 60-year-old married husband Mark Adderley in 2002 and has previously opened up about hurdles in their relationship.
Nadia spoke in the past about her husband achieving sobriety after struggling with alcohol for many years and being diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder and depression back in 2021. Now, the TV personality has revealed that after quitting alcohol, Mark began to suffer with jealousy.
Nadia told the ITV show: “My kids hate it what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger but I think that it probably has with Mark and I. I think about when things have been really tough in our marriage and we’ve thought, ‘God we’re not going to get through this’ but then we do.
“For him, it definitely would have been points through my menopause when I was a screaming banshee nutter. I was very difficult, I was awful.”
As for his behaviour that she struggled him, Nadia said: “He’s been brilliant with his sobriety and then after the sobriety, after he got sober, he cross-addicted a lot to jealousy and the jealousy was just awful. It was so bad.
“When we went to couples’ counselling, I said that unless you do some work on this, we’re not going to survive it. It’s something that’s made me love him even more that he’s done work on that.”
As the partial government shutdown grinds on, with no end in sight, Catherine Cortez Masto stands ready to end it right now.
The lawyerly senator from Nevada is one of just two Democrats to repeatedly vote with Republicans and Maine’s independent senator, Angus King, to have the federal government up and running.
She’s not only bucking her Senate colleagues with her contrarian stance, but also placing herself squarely at odds with the animating impulse of her party’s political base: Stop Trump! Give no quarter! Now is the time! This is the fight!
Cortez Masto evinces not a flicker of doubt.
“I have been very consistent about the cost of a shutdown and the impact to Americans and the fact that I believe we need to work in a bipartisan way to find solutions to what we’re seeing right now, which is this looming healthcare crisis,” Cortez Masto said from Washington.
“And I think we can do that by keeping the government open. I don’t think we should do it by swapping the pain of one group of Americans for another.”
Unlike the Democrats’ other defector, Pennsylvania’s quirky Sen. John Fetterman, Cortez Masto hasn’t developed a reputation for partisan heresy, or antagonized party peers by playing footsie with President Trump and the MAGA movement.
Despite her temporary alliance with the GOP, she’s unstinting in her criticism of the president and the Republican stance on healthcare, the issue at the heart of the shutdown fight.
“Of course we need to stand up to Trump’s attacks on our families and our country,” she said. “I’ve been one of the most vocal opponents of Trump’s disastrous trade and tariff policies.”
Her split with fellow Democrats, she suggested, is not over ends but rather means.
It’s entirely possible, Cortez Masto insisted, to keep the government open for business and, at the same time, work through the parties’ differences over healthcare, including, most imminently, the end of subsidies that have kept insurance costs from skyrocketing.
It comes down to negotiation, trust and compromise, which in Cortez Masto’s view, is still possible — even in these rabidly partisan times.
“That’s what Congress is built on,” she said. “Congress is built on compromise, working together across the aisle to get stuff done. I still believe in it.”
Although she noted — with considerable understatement — “there are those in the administration and some of my colleagues” who disagree.
Not to mention a great many Democratic activists who believe anything short of jailing Trump and dispatching the entire GOP-run Congress to a far-off desert island amounts to cowardly capitulation.
Cortez Masto, a former state attorney general, was first elected to the Senate in 2016, replacing the onetime Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, after the Democrat retired.
Six years later, when she sought reelection, Cortez Masto was widely considered Democrats’ most endangered incumbent. She was not nearly as powerful or prominent as Reid had been. Inflation was raging, and Nevada was still suffering an economic hangover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her opponent was a middling Republican, Adam Laxalt, a failed gubernatorial candidate and one of the architects of Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 election. He also seemed to harbor a soft spot for the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters.
Still, Cortez Masto barely beat him, winning by fewer than 10,000 votes out of more than 1 million cast. In retrospect, the result could be seen as a harbinger of Trump’s success in carrying the state after twice losing Nevada.
Cortez Masto next faces reelection in 2028, which is politically ages away. By then, the shutdown will be long forgotten. (And presumably long over.)
Her focus, she said, is the here and now and, especially, the shutdown’s economic effect at a time Nevada is already feeling the negative consequences of Trump’s trade and immigration policies. Las Vegas, which runs on tourism, has experienced a notable slump, and Cortez Masto suggested the shutdown only makes things worse.
That, however, hasn’t deterred Nevada’s other U.S. senator, Jacky Rosen, who has repeatedly voted alongside nearly every other Democrat to keep the government shuttered until Republicans give in.
“Nevadans sent me here to fight for them,” Rosen said in a speech on the Senate floor. “Not to cave.”
Asked about the fissure, Cortez Masto responded evenly and with diplomacy. “She’s a good friend.… Our goal is to fight for Nevada and we are doing it,” she said. “We both are doing it in different ways.”
So, negotiation. Bipartisanship. Compromise.
What makes Cortez Masto think Trump, who’s run roughshod over Congress and the courts, can be trusted to honor any deal Democrats cut with Republicans to reopen the government and address the healthcare crisis she sees?
“Well, that’s the rub, right? We know what he’s doing,” she replied. He’s “flouting the law when it comes to … taking the role of legislators and appropriating funds at his own whim…. So, of course, no, you can’t trust him.
“But he is there. What you got to figure out is how you work together with Republican colleagues to get something done.”
Cortez Masto noted, dryly, that Congress is, in fact, a separate branch of government with its own power and authority. Republicans have ceded both to Trump and if they really want to solve problems, she said, and do more than the president’s bidding, they “need to come out and do bipartisan legislation to push back on this administration.”
“We’ve got to govern,” Cortez Masto said. “We’ve got to work together.”
The Short family decided to move their lives on Mauritius
A family have left the UK behind, moving 6,000 miles to Mauritius in a bid to “escape the rat race” and now they say it’s like being on “a permanent holiday”.
Adam Short, 44, and his wife, Tara, 38, took their two children – Spencer, nine, and Xander, four – to Mauritius for a holiday in November 2024. After returning to their Sheffield home and resuming their 8am-6pm workdays, they yearned for a “slower pace of life”.
The Short family are happy with their move, despite living costs being very similar in the two countries. They feel their new life is worth it because of Mauritius’ beautiful beaches, hot summers, friendly neighbours and increased family time.
They say they dpon’t miss the UK’s gloomy weather, long working hours and never-ending traffic jams.
Have you swapped the UK for a home abroad? We’d love to hear from you, whether you love it there or regret the move. Email [email protected]
Tara, a CEO, and Adam, a car sales business owner, decided to rent out their four-bedroom UK home and booked one-way tickets to Grand Baie in July. With nothing more than five suitcases, the parents and their sons embarked on their new adventure.
They made a pact that if they weren’t happy after two years, they’d return to the UK. However, after settling into a rented four-bedroom house with a pool, just a stone’s throw from the beach, it doesn’t look like the family will be heading back anytime soon.
The two lads are attending an international private school costing £5,000-a-year, while both the parents say they can continue running their UK businesses flexibly from Mauritius.
Adam said: “Back in the UK, we weren’t being a proper family – we were just existing together. We were desperate to get away from the rat race. We thought there had to be a better standard of life out in Mauritius – and there is.
“We work less hours because we can be more productive. The kids finish school at 2.30pm so we can go to the beach or in the pool together. We enjoy as much family time as we can. I get asked every day on social media how we managed to do this – but it’s achievable if you just commit to it.”
The parents began mulling over relocating to a different culture after realising they were barely spending time with their own children.
Adam said: “I used to say to my friends, ‘I feel like I don’t know my kids.’ I would see them every day, but it was all rushing around, getting them ready for school, tea, bed.”
Being ahead of UK time means the parents can complete several hours of work before any of the UK teams begin their day – leaving them feeling more efficient without interruptions. They’re also able to work flexible hours throughout the day, allowing them to take afternoons off to spend quality time with their sons after school.
Despite being outsiders, the Short family say they’ve been welcomed. Adam said: “Everyone is so lovely – we’ve been invited to a meal at a Mauritian family’s home this weekend. Mauritian life is very family-focused which is what we want.
“On the weekends, you go down to the beach and hundreds of families are out all having barbecues with little gazebos. When you walk past, every family will invite you to join them and share their food. All the kids play together. It’s lovely.”
Regarding expenses, Adam explained that whilst some items cost more in Mauritius – others work out cheaper.
He believes that overall, the relocation hasn’t resulted in financial savings – but they enjoy a superior quality of life for their outgoings.
Adam said that a weekly grocery shop costs £200, plus an additional £20 spent on fresh fruit and vegetables at the market. Since the majority of food and beverages are brought in from abroad, alcohol prices in tourist-orientated eateries mirror those found across the UK.
Dining at local Creole venues can prove far more budget-friendly. Adam explained: “At a local Creole place, you can get a nice meal with a bottle of South African wine for £40. Touristy spots near the beachfront, you’d pay £100-£120 for that.
“The supermarkets are expensive because things are imported, but the fresh fruit and veg at the market is so much fresher and cheaper. We have rotis for breakfast now instead of cereal – a type of flatbread-like street food – and you buy them from the street sellers for about 20p each. So when you first get here, you assume everything is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be.”
On the whole, the family are besotted with their fresh start – with Adam confessing they’re currently too engrossed in the local culture to dwell on what’s going on in Britain.
Match of the Day’s Joe Hart talks about his experience playing under Ange Postecoglou at Celtic to explain why he should be given more time at Nottingham Forest despite a winless start.
The road to find steady work in Hollywood is more fraught now than ever before. The entertainment industry is in the throes of a seismic transformation, as traditional jobs are vanishing, and AI threatens to completely upend the way visual media is made and consumed. Fortunately, Ada Tseng and Jon Healey are here to help.
The writing team, both former Times editors with extensive experience covering show business, have written “Breaking Into New Hollywood,” a how-to guide like no other. Healey and Tseng interviewed hundreds of insiders both above and below the line — gaffers, casting directors, actors, writers, stunt people and many others — to provide an extensive, wide-screen view of how to break in, and what it’s like when you actually do find that dream job.
I sat down with Healey and Tseng to discuss their new book.
Ada Tseng, left, and Jon Healey.
(Ricardo DeAratanha; Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
This is the most comprehensive how-to guide for Hollywood careers I’ve ever read. Where did the impetus for the book come from?
Ada: The book started as a Hollywood careers series at the Los Angeles Times, when Jon and I were editors on a team that specialized in writing guides and explainers. As we were thinking about how to be useful to L.A. Times readers, I pitched a project to help people who were interested in getting a job in Hollywood. A lot of people come to L.A. starry-eyed with big dreams, but the film and TV industry can be pretty brutal.
As journalists, we’re Hollywood outsiders, but we had access to hundreds of professionals who were generous enough to share what they wished they knew when they were starting out. We see it like this: On behalf of the people who don’t have connections in the industry, we cold-emailed people, asked for informational interviews, picked their brains, listened to stories of what they did to build a career — and did our best to consolidate their most practical pieces of advice into an actionable guide.
Jon: A lot of folks I interviewed had similar origin stories in this respect: They knew that they wanted to work in the industry in some capacity, but they didn’t know what exactly they could do. So it made sense to do a book for that sort of person — a guide that would show an array of possible career paths to people who didn’t know what role they wanted to fill.
I feel like “How to Break into the Business” books in the past have tended to focus on positive outcomes rather than the struggle. Did you want to temper expectations, or at least make sure people think things through very thoroughly before jumping in?
Ada: We just wanted to be honest. The glamorous fantasy of Hollywood is so intoxicating. But if you’re going to work in the industry, you need to navigate the day-to-day reality of it. I don’t think we were trying to encourage or discourage anyone. I’d hope that some people would read the chapters and think, “This seems doable, and now I can make a plan,” while others would read it and think, “If I’m honest with myself, I’m someone who needs more stability in my life.” Because it’s not just a career choice. It’s a lifestyle choice.
Jon: Right, this was about expectation-setting and reality-checking. The very first interviews I did in this project were of Foley artists. An expert I interviewed said there were 40 to 50 established Foley practitioners in the U.S., and 100 to 200 folks trying to get into the field. That’s a very tough nut to crack. Then there are the Hollywood unions, which present a catch-22 to anyone trying to join their ranks — they have to do a certain number of hours in jobs covered by union contracts, but union members get first crack at all those gigs.
Your book also covers jobs above and below the line. I think many people don’t even realize how many different career opportunities exist.
Ada: There are two things we heard over and over again. People would say, “It’s incredibly important to understand what all the different departments do.” And they’d also say, “So many people — even our own colleagues in the industry — don’t understand what we do.” So we wanted to encourage newcomers to learn about all different types of jobs in Hollywood and how they work together.
Jon: Talking about the emotional components is about setting expectations too. The vast majority of people who work in Hollywood, from A-list actors to entry-level grips, are freelancers. That’s a tough life of highs and lows, and you have to prepare for that mentally as well as financially. People have to hustle for years to establish themselves, and that takes an enormous capacity for rejection. On top of that is the physical toll the work can extract, especially on the folks involved in setting up and tearing down sets. Part of the point of the book is to tell people with Hollywood dreams that they’ll need to gird themselves emotionally and physically for the work.
You also broach the subject of money and who makes what. Another novel idea for a book like this.
Ada: We consistently heard from people that it takes 5 to 7 years to make a living — and that’s if you’re successful. So unless you come from wealth, how you pay your bills when you aren’t booking gigs is an integral part of breaking into — and achieving longevity — in Hollywood.
Also, the money varies widely — depending on experience, how big the project is and other factors, but it’s good to understand the basic minimums dictated by the unions, as well as whether you’re interested in a career path where you can expect to have yearly full-time work – or if 30 weeks of employment a year is considered a really good year.
Jon: The hardest parts to write for me, and probably for Ada too, were the sections telling people in certain fields that they were expected to work for free. Happily, the industry seems to be getting better about that, albeit because it’s been forced to do so.
Ada: Although, it’s not even that you aren’t making money. You have to spend a lot of money, whether you’re taking classes, buying equipment, submitting your work for fellowships — getting your own plane tickets and hotel rooms to go to events to network or promote your work. You’re basically investing in yourself as a business.
Your sections on AI are eye-opening.It is not necessarily a career killer but, in fact, might boost employment, right?
Jon: I like to give a super long answer to this question that cites the long history of industrial revolutions, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll just say that technology has always been crucial to the film and TV industry, and innovations over the years have ended some livelihoods while creating others. AI tools can allow filmmakers to be more efficient, just as digital cameras and LED lights have done. That inevitably means fewer jobs per project, but also should result in more projects being green-lit. And as digital tools and streaming services eliminate barriers to entry in music, so can AI eliminate barriers to entry in film. Advocates of AI believe there will be a net increase in jobs, and time will tell whether they’re right. But there’s no question that the jobs in film and TV will be different.
Ada: This was another hard part to give advice about, because AI is rapidly evolving and there’s a lot of well-founded fear about the jobs of our generations that will be eliminated. But this book is for the next generation, and aspiring creatives need to treat AI as part of their toolkit.
Was there any common thread that runs through all of the interviews you conducted with professionals?
Ada: Everyone is deeply committed to their crafts, but what they’re most passionate about is storytelling. What I mean by that is: A costume designer, of course, is passionate about clothing, but if their main priority was beautiful clothing, they’d be a stylist or a fashion designer. Costume designers are passionate about using clothing to create a character and tell a story. Similarly, if a set decorator’s main passion was creating beautiful homes, they’d be an interior designer. But a set decorator wants to use the furniture, decor and objects to help you understand the protagonist’s backstory.
Jon: Even the most accomplished crew members and producers we talked to said they looked at their jobs as advancing someone else’s vision, not their own. They learned early on not to get invested emotionally in their best ideas because someone else — the director on a film, the showrunner on a TV series — would be the judge of which ideas to use. That’s really humbling.
What do you think is the most profound change in Hollywood as it continues to transition from theatrical and TV into streaming?
Jon: Streaming has proven to be a huge boon to long-form storytelling, at least from the viewer’s vantage point. You’d still have “Succession” without streaming, but you don’t have the quantity of “Succession”-level shows without the investment and competition from the likes of Netflix, Apple and Amazon. But the economics of streaming series are very different from those of a long-running broadcast TV show. There are fewer episodes, which means less pay for writers, actors and crew members over the course of a year. And residuals are lower for those who are entitled to them. Meanwhile, after a steady rise in the number of scripted shows released in the U.S., the volume fell sharply in 2024. So it appears that peak TV may have peaked.
For movies, the pandemic gave studios a preview of the post-theatrical world to come. Nevertheless, the industry is still struggling to come up with a coherent approach to streaming. So much of a movie’s marketing is still tied to theatrical releases, and multiplexes and studios continue to fight over how long a new movie should wait before it hits the streamers. And I wonder if there isn’t a lingering stigma for movies that are available immediately for streaming, similar to the one for movies that went straight to DVD.
Ada: It’s not just streaming. Everything that we consume from our phones — from social media content to podcasts to gaming livestreams — is not only competing with mainstream Hollywood but also becoming part of the same big entertainment ecosystem.
But on the flip side, it’s never been more possible for aspiring creatives to bypass traditional gatekeepers, make their own projects, connect directly with audiences and build their own revenue streams — even if it’s never going to be easy.
Son Heung-min says his choice to leave Tottenham was the ‘most difficult decision’ he’s had to make in his football career, after the striker announced he would be departing the club after ten years in North London.
LAS VEGAS — Wearing horn-rimmed glasses, a light blue suit with a UCLA lapel pin and tan wingtips, Nico Iamaleava settled into his seat on an elevated platform in front of about 30 reporters.
“How’s everybody doing?” the new Bruins quarterback asked casually inside the convention center hall late Thursday afternoon, giving no hint that this was the most pressure he had faced since an attacking Ohio State defense sacked him four times in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.
These reporters were almost as relentless. For more than 25 minutes during the final Big Ten media day, they peppered Iamaleava with questions about his decision to leave Tennessee on the eve of its spring game for a program with a lesser pedigree, prompting UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar to take Iamaleava’s spot in what essentially amounted to a college football trade.
What was Iamaleava’s motivation in making his move? Was his dissatisfaction with Tennessee’s name, image and likeness package a factor? Did he have to take a pay cut to come to UCLA? What was it like dealing with the fallout from jilted Tennessee fans?
While failing to offer many specifics, Iamaleava patiently engaged every question, the Southern California native saying he was driven by a desire to play for a top program closer to his family in Long Beach.
“Ultimately,” the 6-foot-6 quarterback had told a small group of Los Angeles-based reporters earlier in the afternoon, “it came down to me wanting to be back home, you know, be back home next to my family while still competing at the highest level.”
In an exclusive interview with local media, Nico Iamaleava said he’s “never been pushed like this by a staff before,” in response to my question about his best moments at #UCLA so far. pic.twitter.com/ZEFITAg0Or
Iamaleava pinned the timing of his departure from Tennessee on “false reports” about financial demands that “made me not feel comfortable in the position I was in. But, you know, in the back of my head, I always wanted to come back home and be closer to my mom, be closer to my dad.” Tennessee was reportedly set to pay Iamaleava more than $2 million to play for the Volunteers this season.
Declining to discuss his new NIL deal at UCLA, Iamaleava said he was focused on football and academics while trying to revive a program that has not won a conference championship since 1998.
“The realistic expectation for us,” Iamaleava said, “is to bring championships back to Westwood, and, you know, the first day I stepped into the locker room, I felt that from every guy in there, that they’ve got a chip on their shoulder and that they want to go out there and prove people wrong.”
Iamaleava will have to do it wearing a new number after attempts to get his preferred No. 8 — retired in honor of Troy Aikman — failed, leaving him with No. 9. He said he’ll proudly wear the number to represent his seven siblings and two parents whom he credited for his humble nature.
One of those siblings is now a teammate. Freshman quarterback Madden Iamaleava, who verbally committed to UCLA before signing with Arkansas, flipped his allegiance back to the Bruins in the spring after his older brother decided to come home. Depending on how he fares in training camp, Madden could become Nico’s top backup.
“I think he’s ready, man,” Nico said of his sibling. “My little brother was a bonus from me, you know, for him to come home with me. And just being a helping hand to him in anything he needs, I think, was the biggest thing for me.”
If everything goes as planned, Nico acknowledged, his stay at UCLA will be a short one. Should the Bruins win a lot of games and Iamaleava further establish himself as a top NFL prospect, the redshirt sophomore will move on after this final college season.
“This is a year where, you know, I’m really trying to get out after,” Iamaleava said. “So, you know, I’m going to give my all to UCLA, and, you know, if I have the year I want, you know, I want to get out.”
Everything about Iamaleava’s stay might have an accelerated feel. He said he received the offensive playbook after signing in April and has participated in player-run practices since arriving on campus in June, quickly impressing his new teammates with not just his talent but also his savvy.
“He’s good at looking off people,” linebacker JonJon Vaughns said of Iamaleava’s ability to deceive a defense, “and his arm is big, it’s powerful.”
There will be no easing into a training camp that starts next Wednesday in Costa Mesa given that UCLA opens the season exactly one month later against Utah on Aug. 30 at the Rose Bowl. The strength staff has already provided Iamaleava an indication of the high expectations he’ll face on the field.
“I’ve never been pushed like this by a staff before,” Iamaleava said, “so I’m excited to go to work for these guys.”
Calling it “a fun challenge,” Iamaleava said he was trying to quickly absorb a pro-style offense that he described as “a little more condensed formations” than what he ran at Tennessee. The chance to play for offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, who has a history of immediate success with new quarterbacks, has invigorated Iamaleava.
“He’s a high-energy guy,” Iamaleava said of Sunseri, “and I wanted to go play for him the first day I met him.”
Praising his entire wide receiving corps, Iamaleava said he had already developed good chemistry with Kwazi Gilmer, Mikey Matthews, Ezavier Staples and Titus Mokiao-Atimalala. He’s gotten to know the offensive linemen through a bowling outing that also included the quarterbacks.
“He’s a great person,” right tackle Garrett DiGiorgio said. “He’s got a good heart, and he really cares.”
Not always. Iamaleava said he tuned out social media during his departure from Tennessee, shielding himself from the vitriol. He found solace in video games such as NBA 2K25 and UFC.
“I was playing a lot of video games with my friends and my cousins, man, and, you know, really paid no mind to it,” he said. “Sometimes I had no idea [what was happening]; my cousins would come and tell me about stuff they would see and I was like, ‘I don’t care.’ So, you know, I think a lot of that just comes with, you know, protecting your peace.”
Later, as he rose from the platform and thanked reporters, Iamaleava appeared fully zen. After all the speculation about his future, he’ll have the final say on the field.
Allegations against MasterChef presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode were upheld, and they both lost their jobs on the BBC programme, which has aired in various guises since 2005
06:27, 24 Jul 2025Updated 06:39, 24 Jul 2025
John Torode and Gregg Wallace had presented MasterChef for 20 years (Image: BBC/Shine TV)
The BBC has stressed it wants to “properly recognise” the MasterChef contestants by airing a series filmed last year before allegations against Gregg Wallace and John Torode were upheld.
But they filmed a series last year before these claims were upheld, and the BBC has decided to air this to honour the amateur chefs involved. However, the futures of the celebrity series and the Christmas special, again both already filmed, remain unclear as yet.
Reacting to the news on Wednesday, one former MasterChef worker said the decision to go ahead showed “a blatant disregard for the people who have come forward”.
Speaking to BBC News, she warned it was “a total reversal of so-called firing from MasterChef – how can you be fired by your work is still made public? While a gap in the prime time schedule is not ideal, for integrity they should have found other series to go into those slots.”
Gregg and John, pictured last year, will feature in the series of MasterChef due to air next month(Image: BBC/Shine TV)
However, the BBC said in full: “After careful consideration and consultation with the contestants, we have decided to broadcast the amateur series of MasterChef on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 6 August. MasterChef is an amazing competition which is life-changing for the amateur chefs taking part. The focus of it has always been their skill and their journey.
“This has not been an easy decision in the circumstances and we appreciate not everyone will agree with it. In showing the series, which was filmed last year, it in no way diminishes our view of the seriousness of the upheld findings against both presenters. We have been very clear on the standards of behaviour that we expect of those who work at the BBC or on shows made for the BBC.
“However, we believe that broadcasting this series is the right thing to do for these cooks who have given so much to the process. We want them to be properly recognised and give the audience the choice to watch the series.
“At this stage we have not taken a decision on the celebrity series and Christmas special, which was filmed earlier this year, and we will confirm our plans later in the year.
“Most importantly MasterChef is a brilliant, much-loved programme which is bigger than any one individual. There are many talented, dedicated and hard-working people who make the show what it is. It will continue to flourish on the BBC and we look forward to it returning stronger than ever in the future.”
The statement followed news last week that Torode’s contract on MasterChef would not be renewed, as confirmed by the BBC and production company Banijay UK.
Torode, who celebrated his 60th birthday on Wednesday, confirmed he was the subject of an allegation about using racist language that was upheld as part of a review carried out by law firm Lewis Silkin into the alleged behaviour of his co-presenter Wallace.
Moira Dingle has thrown several punches throughout her years in Emmerdale. But Natalie J Robb, who portrays her, remembers one real-life fight that left her injured.
Emmerdale legend Natalie J Robb revealed she was once involved in a huge fight
She’s survived a brain tumour, kept Cain steady through the heartbreak of Nate’s death, and somehow held her family together.
Emmerdale’s Moira Dingle is about to face even more drama. “It’s all kicking off,” says Natalie J Robb, who plays the farmer. “She’s still in recovery, her tumour was only diagnosed last year.”
Moira has stood strong for hubby Cain, who’s still reeling after the discovery of Nate’s body in a lake. “She knows what it’s like to lose a child, so she knows the pain he’s feeling,” Natalie says, referring to the death of Moira’s daughter Holly. “But there’s just so many different emotions going on.”
Guilt is one of them. Before Nate’s death, he was beaten by Cain – fuelled by a rumour that Moira tried to kiss him. Believing Nate and Moira’s old affair had sparked again, Cain lashed out. “That fight they had,” Natalie says, “Moira believes she caused it.”
Moira is well-known for her intensity and her strong temper and fans often tell Natalie they wish they had Moira’s fire. In some ways, Natalie gets it.
Raised just outside Glasgow, she was a tomboy in a farming community. “There were more boys than there were girls. I didn’t get on with girls,” she admits. “I was into playing football.”
But life was tough early on – Natalie was picked on by other girls and sometimes, it was brutal. “I was walking home from school one night,” she says.
“I had a bit of a black eye, my lip was bleeding. My mum said, ‘Come with me.’ She dragged me to one of the girls’ house and said, ‘You’re going to fight her one-to-one.’”
The fight was stopped before it escalated but the lesson stuck. “I was terribly shy and quite sensitive,” she says. “But I’ve definitely changed. Maybe Moira has helped.”
Joe drops a bombshell on Moira, leaving the future of her farm in the balance
Now, the Dingle-Barton clan is about to be dealt another blow. Joe Tate’s gunning for Moira’s land, hoping to hand it over to Kim Tate, his step-grandmother.
“Moira can be a bit crazy, fierce and protective,” says Natalie. “But she’s a fair woman when it comes to farming and her business. What they’re trying to do to her is awful, it’s really bad. Her hands are tied.”
Butlers Farm is already struggling but losing it would leave Moira and Cain homeless. “The outcome is going to be much worse,” Natalie says.
“Ultimately, she thinks they’re going to have to sell. But Joe tells her fibs about her being a tenant farmer. She’s going to try to do everything to save it. But working with Joe? He gets right under Moira’s skin.”
As pressure mounts, Cain also locks horns with his brother Sam – who works for Kim and is friends with her through wife Lydia. Things boil over when two intruders are found hiding in Moira’s barn. Cain blames Joe, and tensions erupt.
“I go to punch Joe Tate, but as I do that, I punch Lydia in the ear,” Natalie says. “It’s very convoluted but it creates a big rift betweenSam and Cain.”
Luckily, the off-screen atmosphere is far calmer. Natalie and Jeff Hordley (Cain) have been filming together for over a decade. “We can work together with our eyes shut,” she says.
“We have a nice friendship and a good working relationship. But it was also nice to work with Ned Porteous, who plays Joe,and do things with Home Farm. It’s been talked about for a while, they’ve always wanted this land. They want the land for access, they don’t care about the farm.”
For Natalie, the storyline hits close to home. “I’ve got some farmer friends, they said that is the way it’s going a lot of the time. They’re making a lot of tenant farmers so they work their land,” she says.
“But they don’t have the same responsibility. It’s not theirs anymore, which is really sad. Farmers are a different breed, they have a different mindset and they don’t have time to mess around. They’re survivors. Even Jeremy Clarkson realises now how hard it is.”
If you’re a fan of taking your holidays onboard luxury cruiseliners to travel the world and experience far flung destinations, you might want to pay more attention to the type of jewellery you choose to take with you
Wearing a black ring could come with its risks, apparently (Image: Getty Images)
Cruises are an increasingly popular way to enjoy a trip away from home to visit multiple destinations during one holiday. You only have to unpack once and get to enjoy all the onboard amenities, activities and fine dining right on your cabin doorstep every day.
You could be an experienced cruise traveller or be considering the option for your next vacation but it seems there’s a whole lot more that goes on behind the scenes than you might expect.
When it comes to choosing what accessories you take with you, it may, or may not – depending on your preference – pay to be wary of packing a certain type of jewellery.
Be careful if you wear a black ring…(Image: Getty Images)
According to one cruise worker who sailed the seas for 10 years, if you wear a black ring or jewellery with a pineapple theme, you could be approached by people with a preference for a particular type of lifestyle.
Lucy Southerton, 28, from Birmingham has plenty of knowledge about what goes on in the darker corners of the huge ships and has shared her experiences on her YouTube channel Cruising as Crew.
An upside down pineapple is a sure sign of a swinger(Image: Getty Images)
In one video from 2023, she claims that “swinging is a popular pastime” onboard the floating hotels – and suggests it could be because cruises offer an “enclosed population of people”.
Couples who enjoy swapping sexual partners, use certain techniques to identify other potential companions onboard, according to the former cruise worker.
Lucy shares her experiences of working on cruises on her YouTube account (Image: Cruising As Crew)
One of them is by displaying the upside down pineapple symbol in some way. “Some people put the upside down pineapple on their cabin door,” Lucy says. “Some people wear an upside down pineapple like a hat or brooch.”
But there’s also a more “inconspicuous” way to alert others to your desires than dangling a spiky fruit from your person – and that’s by wearing a black ring on your right hand, apparently.
Although as Lucy points out, this more subtle sign can have its issues. “Imagine if you went up to someone and you’re like [in a suggestive voice], ‘Hey, I can see that black ring on your right hand,’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah it’s just a black ring on my right hand’. You can never really be sure whether that’s just something they like to wear, or if it’s a signal,” she warns.
Swinging is apparently quite popular on cruises(Image: Getty Images)
According to Lucy, the third signpost that someone is a swinger open to offers is a male and female sign with “a third gender sign in there”. She also shares an “embarrassing story” about how she came to realise the significance of the pineapple. Revealing that a long time ago she used to work in a ship’s spa, she said a couple came in for a couple’s massage.
When she went back to the treatment room after they had got dressed to tell them about aftercare such as drinking plenty of water, she noticed they were both wearing silver upside down pineapple necklaces. “They weren’t like this bright yellow upside down. They’ve very subtle, very, very nice,” she recalls. “And I was like, ‘Oh I love your necklaces. I think it’s so cute that you’re both wearing matching necklaces. That’s really sweet, but why the pineapple? Like what does that represent to you in your relationship?’.”
The couple who she had built up a rapport with after treating them a few times, burst out laughing. “They were like, ‘Look, we’re swingers and this is how people can identify us as swingers,’.” Intrigued, she went on to have a conversation about it with them where they told her the terminology used within the community.
There’s even a terminology used within the swinging community(Image: Getty Images)
Apparently, a unicorn is a woman who wants to swing on her own and swing with another couple. “They’re basically like mythical creatures,” she says the couple informed her. “They don’t exist and if you find one then you’ve hit the jackpot.”
A rhino is a single man willing to swing, while a mermaid is a married woman who wants to swing with a couple on her own. The word ‘play’ means sex, so you may say you don’t play on the first date. Rainbow means they don’t discriminate on gender and will swing with “everyone and anyone”. While ‘DDF’ is drug and disease free.
Comments on Lucy’s video, which has had over a million views, were suitably amusing. “Thanks for the info on the up side down pineapple. I will be placing a sticker of one on my brother and sister in laws cabin door on our upcoming cruise. Boy will they be surprised:),” joked one.
Another shared: “I’ll never forget the amount of attention I got in the buffet on my first ever cruise – I bought shorts that had loads of little pineapples in all different directions – I innocently thought they were just ‘nice and summery’ – how wrong I was… Ha!”
A third wrote: “Jee whizz, I will have to make sure my pineapple earrings are pointing up,” while a fourth revealed: “My partner bought me a nice black ring for Valentine’s Day. Damn…I’ll have to have a chat with her.”
An airport worker has said you shouldn’t put anything on your bag to identify it – and there’s also one food item you should never take with you while travelling
Losing luggage is one of a plane passenger’s worst nightmares(Image: Craig Hastings via Getty Images)
A baggage handler has spilled the beans on why holidaymakers should think twice about using ribbons as suitcase identifiers. Many travellers attach some sort of marker to their luggage to swiftly spot it at the baggage reclaim, but an airport worker has highlighted why this common practice could actually be counterproductive – and might even risk suitcases not making their flights at all.
The worker warned: “Ribbons people tie onto their suitcases to help identify them can cause issues with the bag being scanned in the baggage hall. If the bag can’t be scanned automatically it can end up in manual processing, which could mean your bag doesn’t make it to the flight. Take old stickers off the bag, it can cause confusion with the scanning process.”
Further to that, the insider advised against packing marzipan, as it shares a similar density with explosives and could lead to matched luggage and owners being removed from their flights.
It comes as the Department for Transport is yet to axe the 100mL liquid limit, despite the fact that advanced CT scanners have been installed in a number of UK airports. In addition to the strict regulations around liquids – which also include gels and aerosols – there are restrictions on a number of substances and electronic devices that passengers can carry into the cabin.
The UK government website outlines a full range of items that are prohibited from hand luggage and hold luggage. Here is a full breakdown of every item passengers may be asked to remove from their bags at security in UK airports.
Liquids
How much liquid you can carry in your hand luggage and how it should be handled depends on your departure airport. That said, the UK government website states: “Airport security staff will not let anything through that they consider dangerous – even if it’s normally allowed in hand luggage.”
At most airports, you cannot take liquids in containers larger than 100ml through security. This still applies if the container is only part full.
Liquids include the following:
all drinks, including water
liquid or semi-liquid foods, for example soup, jam, honey and syrups
cosmetics and toiletries, including creams, lotions, oils, perfumes, mascara and lip gloss
sprays, including shaving foam, hairspray and spray deodorants
pastes, including toothpaste
gels, including hair and shower gel
contact lens solution
any other solutions and items of similar consistency
You cannot carry frozen liquids in your hand luggage – this includes frozen breast milk. Additionally you can only carry formula milk/cow’s milk, sterilised water for babies, soya milk for babies and baby food in your hand luggage if the baby is present.
Personal items
You should contact your airline in advance if you plan to travel with a large musical instrument. You may need to make special arrangements like buying an extra seat.
Mobility aids are permissible but will need to be security screened first. Other personal items like corkscrews, knives (with a sharp or pointed blade and/or blade longer than 6cm), large scissors (with blades longer than 6cm), non-safety matches, fireworks, flares and other pyrotechnics, including party poppers and toy caps and cigarette lights are not permitted in hand luggage.
Medicines, medical equipment and dietary requirements
Travellers are allowed to carry essential medicines of more than 100ml, including liquid dietary foodstuffs and inhalers in their hand luggage. As well as medical equipment, if it’s essential for your journey
However, you may need to carry proof that the medication is prescribed to you (for example a letter from your doctor or a copy of your prescription) if it’s in liquid form and in a container larger than 100ml.
If you are taking medicine out of the UK, ask your doctor or pharmacist whether your medicine contains a controlled drug. If it does, check the rules for the country you’re going to with the embassy before you travel. Again, you will need to prove it’s yours with either a prescription or letter from your doctor.
Airport staff might also need to open the containers to screen the liquids at the security point.
Electronic devices and electrical items
You can only take certain electronic devices and electrical items on flights to the UK. Some airlines might also have different restrictions so you should check with your airline before you travel to understand what is permissible in your hand luggage.
Make sure your electronic devices are charged before you travel. If your device does not switch on when requested, you will not be allowed to take it onto the aircraft.
Sports equipment
Heavy bats and sticks (including baseball, softball and cricket bats), golf clubs, darts, walking/hiking poles, catapult, firearms (including replica firearms), harpoons or spear guns, crossbows, and martial arts equipment (including knuckledusters, clubs, coshes, rice flails and nunchuks) are not permitted in hand luggage.
Work tools
All the following tools are not permitted in hand luggage:
Tool with a blade or shaft longer than 6cm (for example chisel)
Drill and drill bits
Stanley knife
Saw (including portable power saw)
Screwdriver
Hammer
Pliers
Wrench or spanner
Bolt gun or nail gun
Crowbar
Blowtorch
Chemicals and toxic substances
You cannot take any of these items as hand luggage or in the hold:
oxidisers and organic peroxides, including bleach and car body repair kits
acids and alkalis (for example spillable ‘wet’ batteries)
corrosives or bleaching agents (including mercury and chlorine)
self defence or disabling sprays (for example mace, pepper spray)
radioactive materials (including medicinal or commercial isotopes)
poisons or toxic substances (for example rat poison)
biological hazards (for example infected blood, bacteria, viruses)
materials that could spontaneously combust (burst into flames)
fire extinguishers
Ammunition
You cannot take any guns or firearms (including air rifles and starting pistols) as hand luggage. You may be able to take them as hold luggage – check with your airline before you travel.
You cannot take any of these items as hand luggage or in the hold:
blasting caps
detonators and fuses
imitation explosive devices (including replica or model guns)
mines, grenades, and other explosive military stores
fireworks and pyrotechnics
smoke canisters
smoke cartridges
dynamite
gunpowder
plastic explosives (including black powder and percussion caps)
Actress Samantha Womack has opened up on her exit from EastEnders as she revealed it was not her decision to say goodbye to her beloved Ronnie Mitchell role
20:28, 28 Jun 2025Updated 20:28, 28 Jun 2025
Samantha Womack has opened up on her brutal soap exit(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes)
Samantha Womack has hit out at soap bosses for being “rejected” as she reflected on her exit from EastEnders. The actress, who won over fans with her portrayal of Ronnie Mitchell, made her debut on the BBC soap in 2007.
She appeared alongside Rita Simons, who played her close sister Roxy. Tragically, the beloved sister duo were brutally killed off after Ronnie’s second wedding to Jack Branning.
The decision for both Ronnie and Roxy to bow out of Albert Square came when Sean O’Connor took over as executive producer. Now, Samantha has revealed she felt “rejected” by the new boss as she confessed it was not her or Rita’s decision to leave the soap.
Ronnie and Roxy were killed off the soap(Image: BBC)
She admitted: “I don’t really understand what happened, one producer was leaving and another was coming in, I don’t know what went on.” Leaving Walford felt like Samantha was “losing a family” as she struggled to come to terms with life without it.
Samantha compared the loss to a “bereavement” and revealed it made her lose “stability”. “But the thing that was the most painful – and it really was painful – was that me and Rita loved feeling like we belonged there,” she told the Daily Mail.
“Then to be rejected, and I know that’s emotional but that’s what it was, it hit us both so hard.” However, Samantha has been able to look at it differently now time has passed.
She said she is now thankful as leaving the soap opened up doors for other opportunities. Since leaving EastEnders, the actress has focused on her theatre career and landed a number of high profile roles.
In 2019, she travelled around the UK for The Girl on the Train and also played Morticia Addams in the musical, The Addams Family. She has since moved to Valencia.
Samantha has reflected on her time on the soap(Image: Getty Images)
“I feel so much more enlightened,” she told the Mirror. “I know myself better, I feel humbler, I feel calmer.” Samantha added: “After my year-and-a-half of treatment, I started turning down a lot of stuff – and I didn’t have the bank balance to match that confidence, trust me.”
Having announced she was cancer-free in December 2022, Samantha explained: “It was me saying the word ‘no’ and my bank account creaking.
“But there was empowerment in that because I thought, ‘OK, I need to go through this, spend time with myself and figure out stuff that I’ve never figured out – maybe stuff I’ve buried under a rug.’”
The Macmillan Support Line offers confidential support to people living with cancer and their loved ones. If you need to talk, call us on 0808 808 0000.
A flight attendant says birdsong is now being played in plane toilets to hide embarrassing “toilet sounds”. Esther Sturrus posted a video to TikTok to demonstrate the new feature.
She posed in the mirror and showed the speaker inside the toilet. The 24-year-old, who has worked for Dutch airline KLM since 2020, laughed as the sound of birds chirping filled the air. The sound has been installed on the brand new Airbus A321neo.
Since the summer of 2024, KLM has gradually been replacing their Boeing 737 with the model, according to their website. “[The birdsong] definitely catches people by surprise the first time,” said Esther, who is from Rotterdam.
“You’re expecting the usual hum of the engines or total silence, and instead you’re suddenly surrounded by chirping birds. The idea behind it is to make the onboard experience a little more soothing and enjoyable, even in the smallest and most unexpected places.
Esther Sturrus (Jam Press)
“The birdsong gives a sort of spa-like vibe. Let’s be honest, it also nicely covers the classic toilet sounds, so it might just be functional too. I found it unusual and amusing and just had to capture the moment.
“It’s little touches like these that show how much thought can go into even the tiniest details of a flight experience.”
Esther often reveals secrets of the skies with her 222,500 followers on TikTok. And the 24-year-old attracted 21,300 views with her latest video.
Esther recorded the sound which has beenm described as ‘mindful’ (Jam Press)
Her followers loved the new feature, and some viewers said they’d even had the sounds installed in their own homes. Ronald said, “So nice, we have this at home too.”
KLM Airlines said: “Very mindful.”
“I’m the type of person who just falls asleep on the toilet with such a calm sound,” added Giovanni.
A fourth viewer joked: “Next flight bring bird food.” “This is what we have at home,” another person added.
Dawn Morwood, co-director of Cheap Deals Away, has laid out all of the many reasons why she refuses to use complimentary toiletries when she is staying in hotels
09:51, 23 Jun 2025Updated 09:52, 23 Jun 2025
Hotel toiletries might not be what they seem(Image: Getty Images)
A hotel insider has explained why she never used complimentary toiletries when travelling.
While hotel toiletries might seem like a convenient perk, Dawn Morwood, co-director of Cheap Deals Away, warns that what’s inside those bottles isn’t always what it appears to be. “Travellers often assume hotel toiletries are safe and fresh, but the reality can be quite different,” she explained.
Dawn says that when it comes to hotel amenities, it pays to be cautious. One of the biggest concerns is bottles that have been tampered with or refilled with cheaper alternatives.
“I’ve heard from travellers who’ve found bottles with broken seals or products that smell completely different from what the label suggests. Some hotels cut costs by refilling branded bottles with generic products, or worse, bottles that haven’t been properly cleaned between uses,” Dawn said.
The practice of refilling luxury-branded bottles with cheaper alternatives is more common than many travellers realise, particularly in budget accommodations looking to present an upscale image. Dawn claims that some hotels reuse containers without adequate cleaning. Dawn has encountered reports of bottles containing residue from previous guests’ use.
Travel expert warns against using hotel’s complimentary toiletries for unexpected reasons
“You might think you’re getting fresh product, but some hotels simply top up bottles rather than replacing them entirely. This creates a hygiene nightmare,” she added.
Hotels sometimes prioritise appearance over actual product quality, focusing on making the product look expensive and luxurious. “In some cases, the actual product will separate or change consistency, suggesting it’s been sitting there far longer than it should have,” Dawn said.
Dawn shares the red flags that should make you avoid hotel toiletries entirely:
1. Broken or missing seals: Check pump dispensers and bottle caps for signs of tampering. “If the seal looks damaged or there’s residue around the cap, don’t use it,” Dawn advises.
2. Unusual consistency or colour: Products that appear watery, lumpy, or discoloured are major warning signs. “Shampoo shouldn’t look like water, and lotion shouldn’t have chunks floating in it,” she says.
3. Strange smells: “Trust your nose. If something smells off, chemical-like, or completely different from what you’d expect, step away.”
4. Sticky or grimy bottle exteriors: “Clean hotels maintain clean toiletry containers. If the outside of the bottle feels sticky or looks grimy, imagine what’s inside,” Dawn warns.
5. Generic or handwritten labels: Professionally branded products should have proper labelling. Handwritten labels or generic stickers are immediate red flags.
Dawn added: The safest approach is always to bring your own toiletries. Personal care products are exactly that – personal. Your skin and hair are used to specific formulations, so switching to unknown products can cause reactions even when they’re legitimate. But beyond that, you have complete control over quality and hygiene when you pack your own.
“I know the concern is always luggage weight, but there are smart ways around this. Invest in a set of travel-sized containers that meet airline regulations – usually 100ml or less. Decant your regular products into these before you travel.
“Alternatively, a lot of brands now offer travel miniatures of their full-size products. You can also look for solid alternatives like shampoo bars, which don’t count toward your liquid allowance and often last longer than you’d expect. The peace of mind is worth the small extra effort in packing.”
Qantas’ Travel Insider’s network has shared their top tips for packing ‘smartly’, including how to properly select and pack one essential item you are sure to need on every holiday
A travel expert for Qantas calls this one item their “biggest space enemy” when packing (Image: Getty Images)
A group of Travel Insider writers for Qantas have divulged their best jet-setting secrets and name one space-sucking item you should avoid packing. Dubbed the “biggest space enemy”, this common travel essential should be packed in wisely and sparingly.
Qantas’ network of travel experts shared their space-saving packing hacks to help you fly like a pro. One of the key insights shared by an expert is to “only pack three pairs of shoes” at the most.
“Shoes are my biggest space enemy when it comes to packing efficiently,” shared the expert. But they provided excellent advice about which three types of shoes you should limit yourself to when packing.
Choose your airport shoes wisely: they should be comfortable and save space in your luggage, ideally(Image: Getty Images)
“I always try to apply the rule of three: one pair for going out, one pair of flats for day and one pair of running shoes for walking around and exercise (I’m usually wearing sneakers on the plane, which I can then wear day or night).”
The Travel Insider network shared a whole host of other exceptional tips to keep top of mind next time you’re packing. Another key tip was to keep your shoes in shower caps when travelling.
“Enclosing your shoes in the one–use plastic shower caps that are complimentary in most hotel rooms prevents the often–dirty soles making contact with your garments. Plus, they’re not as bulky or inflexible as shoe bags” advised one writer.
Other great tips include saving skincare samples to ensure a full suite of products on any trip – that stay within liquid and weight limits. As well as lining the edge of your baggage with your belts as opposed to rolling them up which takes more valuable space. Qantas’ travel experts also remind air travellers to pack “smartly” for easy access to essential items.
The Qantas Travel Insider team also share tips on how to pack belts and headphones(Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Keep all the items you know you’ll want for the flight – tablet, headphones, wrap, passport, pen – in a separate pouch inside your carry–on bag. It’s easy to grab before you stow your bigger bag in the overhead locker and not only means you can settle into your seat faster but stops you having to get up and down to retrieve things you may have forgotten.”
If you struggle to decide what items deserve pride of place in your hand luggage, the experts at Flash Pack have you covered. The social travel platform has created an extensive list of the key items you should keep in your hand luggage.
Apart from your passport and travel documents, Flash Pack advises passengers to always travel with a spare pair of socks and underwear in their hand luggage to ‘prepare for the worst’.
Full checklist for carry-on essentials by Flash Pack
There are lots of items people are prohibited from bringing onto a cruise ship, but one company has added a popular travel accessory to the list leaving travellers confused
05:00, 18 Jun 2025Updated 13:40, 18 Jun 2025
Passengers have been left confused over the popular item being banned(Image: Getty Images/Glowimages RF)
Carnival Cruise passengers have been left baffled by a new rule that has seen people be banned from using one specific item onboard. There are certain items people are forbidden from bringing onto a cruise ship including candles and heating appliances, but now people are confused over the newest item added to the list.
The luxury cruise liner announced that passengers are now no longer able to bring handheld fans to certain areas on the ship, as noted in a cabin letter given to everyone as they first board the ship. The popular travel accessory for many is an essential in hot destinations, and the ban has left many people worried about it.
The letter states: “For safety reasons, handheld fans are not permitted in the nightclub or any indoor dance floor.” In a video message, Carnival Cruise Line’s brand ambassador John Heald, addressed the rules. The ambassador stressed that only handheld fans – paper fans ‘made of cardboard’ – are banned from the indoor dance floor.
The popular travel accessory has been banned from certain areas on the ship(Image: Windstar Cruises)
The cruise company further addressed the confusion and detailed that guests will still be allowed to bring small electric handheld fans onboard Carnival Cruise Line ships and Heald added: “Are fans allowed on board? Yes they are.
“We have not changed any rule regarding the fans that some of you like to have in your cabin. The electric fans – no bigger than 12 inches – they are allowed, of course. Please make sure they are in good working order. But you can, of course, continue to bring fans.”
And although some guests were confused by the rules, Heald added that the majority of passengers had reacted positively to the letter.
There are a number of items banned from being taken on a cruise ship, and rules can differ for each company but many of the banned items are outlawed for health and safety reasons. And cruise operators aim to stop fire, accidents and even violent incidents. This explains why baseball bats are certainly not permitted on board because they fall into an offensive weapons category
Bizarre items which cannot be taken include a skateboard or roller skates which are banned aboard a Princess ship. Another cruise liner operator Costa Cruises lists tattoo-making kits among its banned items. Other items such as balloons or handcuffs cannot be taken aboard a P&O Cruises ship.
There are also restrictions on personal alcohol which can be brought aboard, but many believe this is more about the operator wanting to make money in the cruise ship’s bars. Bags are scanned before being delivered to your cabin. Items which have been blacklisted will be confiscated and luggage access delayed. Worse still, you could be prevented from boarding.
Rules on cruise lines and can change quickly and each operator’s list of banned items varies. Royal Caribbean has now said no to multi-plug outlets in a new restriction. It’s vital to check with the cruise line if unsure.
It helped seal Bath’s first league title since 1996 and their third trophy of the season, having won the Premiership Rugby Cup and Challenge Cup.
Scotland international Russell was influential in the victory, kicking 13 points and intercepting Handre Pollard’s pass to race towards the line before flinging the ball inside for Ojomoh to finish under the posts in the 50th minute at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Asked why he gave that pass rather than scoring himself, Russell told BBC Radio 5 Live: “He’s a kid from Bath that grew up watching his dad [Steve] lifting this trophy. Giving him a little bit of limelight in the final was nice.”
Ojomoh, 24, joined Bath Rugby when he was six years old before moving to Chippenham RFC aged nine. He then joined the Bath Rugby Academy at 14, with his senior debut coming in 2019.
His father Steve, 58, won 10 trophies with Bath in the 1990s, including five league titles, before joining Gloucester in 1998.
He won 12 England caps and played four times at the 1995 World Cup.
It was Russell’s first league title since the Pro 12 success with Glasgow Warriors in 2015, with the 32-year-old joining Bath in 2023.
“It’s not sunk in yet,” Russell added.
“Winning the Challenge Cup was brilliant but at the start of the year the goal was to win the Premiership. It’s 10 years since I won it at Glasgow in my second season there, and now I’ve won it here in my second season.”
The Handmaid’s Tale dovetailed neatly as the series ended
The Handmaid’s Tale (Season 6): Official trailer
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from The Handmaid’s Tale series finale
Elisabeth Moss, the leading lady of The Handmaid’s Tale, has shared her thoughts on the show’s final moments and the hauntingly memorable last scene, reports the Mirror US.
In a poignant full circle, the series concludes with June Osborne (portrayed by Moss) in the Waterfords’ residence, echoing the very first episode’s ending.
June embarks on recording her narrative, a harrowing testament to Gilead’s atrocities that have remained hidden from the world.
The series signs off with the powerful line: “My name is Offred”, a stark contrast to her declaration in the debut episode: “My name is June.”
Echoing the inaugural episode, June once more peers directly into the camera lens, offering a knowing smile.
Moss, dissecting this pivotal moment in an interview with Gold Derby, explained: “Her mom points out she needs to tell it for her daughters. … She has to go back to the beginning, and she has to tell the whole story, and it started as Offred.”
June Osborne reclaimed her name Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale series finale(Image: HULU)
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This act of reclaiming her handmaid identity was crucial for June to recount her experience truthfully.
Moss, who also directed the finale, revealed a behind-the-scenes anecdote about the final line. She aimed to replicate the same tone used in the first season’s voiceover.
Yet, fate played its hand when Moss realised she had forgotten this detail just 10 minutes before filming the crucial scene.
Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne in The Handmaid’s Tale(Image: HULU)
In a frantic rush, the star of Mad Men and Top of the Lake hastily purchased and downloaded the Hulu app on her phone to revisit the original scene.
She replayed the sequence repeatedly and committed its rhythm to memory, remarking “it worked” and was “incredible” in enhancing her final scene’s delivery.
Reflecting on June’s return to the Waterfords’ abode, Elisabeth Moss shared that she “didn’t have to think too much” about the setting because she intimately “felt all the things” her character experienced.
“There had been so much that had happened in that room, and I was so happy to be back in a better place, and in a place where I was ready to bring this story to a close, at the same time that June is starting to tell it,” Moss articulated.
The Handmaid’s Tale final scene mirrored the closing moment of the series premiere(Image: HULU)
While The Handmaid’s Tale has come to an end, the saga continues as The Testaments gears up for production with Bruce Miller, the original showrunner, at the helm of this forthcoming series.
Moss remains connected to the fabric of the drama, taking on the role of executive producer, with the fate of June’s appearance presently shrouded in mystery.
The Testaments diverges from its predecessor, fixating on youthful characters navigating Gilead’s oppressive regime even from the seemingly privileged echelons of society.
Ann Dowd will revisit her role as Aunt Lydia, revealing that her character has been transformed by the Boston uprising as seen in The Handmaid’s Tale.
New talent leads the pack in the upcoming series, including Chase Inifinti and Lucy Halliday, who will step into the roles of Agnes/Hannah and Daisy/Nicole respectively.
The Handmaid’s Tale airs on Channel 4 and Prime Video in the UK on Saturdays
In something of a grand gesture, Caleb Williams stood at a lectern Wednesday to explain that excerpts from an upcoming book were old news. A year after scheming to avoid playing for the Bears, he is committed to turning around the franchise.
Leaping from the USC campus to the top rung of the NFL draft a year ago, Williams aspired to be like John Elway and Eli Manning.
Just not in the way one might expect.
Sure, he wanted to lead a team to multiple Super Bowl titles like those two quarterbacks, whose career statistics were remarkably similar. Both played 16 years in the NFL for only one team — Elway with the Denver Broncos and Manning with the New York Giants — and both passed for 50,000 yards and 300 touchdowns.
But Williams, egged on by his father, is described in American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback by ESPN journalist Seth Wickersham as entertaining creative ways to spurn the team that held the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft.
Just like Elway and Manning had done.
Elway proclaimed his refusal to play for the Baltimore Colts after they drafted him first overall in 1983, leading to a trade to the Broncos. Manning refused to play for the San Diego Chargers after being drafted first overall in 2004, forcing a trade to the Giants.
However, Williams was unsuccessful in his effort. The Bears drafted him and he pledged his allegiance to them while enduring a rocky rookie season in which he was sacked more than any other NFL quarterback and the team struggled to a 5-12 record.
Yet he felt compelled to hold a news conference at the Bears training camp in Lake Forest, Ill., to explain why he entertained thoughts of spurning Chicago and instead landing in, say, Minnesota. Williams admitted he and his parents discussed ways to dodge the Bears.
Williams couldn’t speak for his father. Carl Williams told Wickersham that “Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die,” and consulted with Manning’s father, Archie, a former NFL quarterback who had helped strategize his son’s trade from the Chargers to the Giants.
But Williams made it clear he is all in with new Bears head coach Ben Johnson and the franchise’s commitment to turning around its fortunes. He said he changed his tune about Chicago after meeting with Bears brass ahead of last year’s draft.
“After I came on my visit here, it was a … deliberate and determined answer that I wanted to come here,” Williams said. “I wanted to be here. I love being here.”
“I wanted to come here and be the guy and be a part and be a reason why the Chicago Bears turn this thing around.”
“This thing” is a franchise that hasn’t posted a winning record since 2018 and whose all-time leading passer is the middling Jay Cutler. The Bears’ most renowned quarterback is Sid Luckman, who helped them win four NFL championships in the 1940s while passing for a paltry 14,686 yards in 11 seasons. They won one more pre-Super Bowl title, in 1963, and have won only one of the LIX (59) Super Bowls, in 1985.
No wonder Carl Williams was against his son — a Heisman Trophy winner at USC in 2022 — getting locked into what amounts to a five-year rookie contract with Chicago. That son, now a 23-year-old man, said he no longer responds unquestioningly to his father’s marching orders.
“I shut him down quite a bit,” Williams said. “He has ideas and he’s a smart man and so I listen. I always listen.
“I’m very fortunate to be in this position in the sense of playing quarterback, but also very fortunate to have a very strong-minded father. We talk very often, my mom and my dad are my best friends, so being able to have conversations with them to understand that everything they say is also portrayed on me.”
Wickersham’s book will be published in September. Another excerpt describes Williams as becoming enamored with the idea of playing for Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell after they had a predraft meeting.
But the overriding theme of his four-minute opening statement at the news conference was that he is focused on becoming the best quarterback possible for the Chicago Bears. He’d prefer that everyone just forget that he had misgivings a year ago.
“We are here focused on the future,” he said, “we are here focused on the present and really trying to get this train going, picking up steam and choo-chooing along.”
If Kamala Harris runs for California governor, the job is essentially hers for the taking.
So goes the common wisdom.
After all, she’s a household name, which is no small consideration in a state as vast and politically inattentive as California. She has a coast-to-coast fundraising base and a record of winning statewide contests going back to 2010, when she was first elected attorney general.
Unlike others in the crowded race for governor, who are likely to drop out if Harris jumps in, L.A.’s former mayor said he’s not budging.
In fact, Villaraigosa insists he wants Harris to run — just so he can beat her and, he says, send an anti-elitist message to those Democrats who have their noses in the air rather than eyes fixed on hard-pressed voters and their myriad frustrations.
“I think she’s been OK that we’ve been a party of just people that drive a Tesla and not a Toyota pickup, or ride a bus like my mother did,” Villaraigosa said. “I think she has no idea what it means to buy a carton of eggs and spend $12 at Ralph’s.”
Harris is “the face of that party,” he went on, warming to the heat of his smoldering rhetoric. “The party that thinks that people that don’t have a college education are stupid. The party that believes that … people voted for Trump just because he’s a great used-car salesman and not because what he was selling resonated with people that work every day. The people who shower after work. Not before.”
As Harris uses the summer to decide her future — retiring from politics or running again for president being other options — no Democrat has been as brash and bold as Villaraigosa when it comes to assailing the putative front-runner and erstwhile leader of the national party.
“She could say she didn’t know,” Villaraigosa said, elaborating on that initial volley during a lengthy conversation. “They can’t prove that she did. But last time I looked, she had lunch with him pretty regularly … She had to have seen what the world [saw] over time and particularly in that debate. The notion that she didn’t? Come on. Who’s going to buy that?”
That sort of talk is more typical of, say, Fox News than a candidate bidding for the support of fellow Democrats. Villaraigosa, a former labor leader who’s gotten crossways with teacher unions among other party mainstays, professed not to care. If anything, he said, he’s been encouraged by the response.
“For every one of those people” — upset by Villaraigosa’s remarks — “there are three of them, maybe not as high up among Democrats, who are saying the same damn thing. That’s why this got so much traction … Since Vietnam, people don’t believe in government anymore. They don’t believe in their leaders. And every time we lie or misrepresent … [or] hide the truth from them, their support and their belief in our institutions” diminishes.
Harris would have plenty of time to push back on Villaraigosa’s depiction, should she choose to run. In the meantime, what’s notable is his eagerness to take on the former vice president, positioning himself as the most vocal and assertive of her potential gubernatorial rivals.
Others have taken a few pokes.
“No one should be waiting to lead,” former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter told The Times’ Seema Mehta after entering the contest in March.
Becerra echoed that sentiment when he announced his candidacy in April. “Watching what’s unfolding before our eyes made it clear this is not a time to sit on the sidelines,” Becerra said.
But that’s comparatively weak tea.
“If she wants to come in the race, she should come in now,” Villaraigosa taunted. “Let’s debate. What are the challenges facing our state? Where are the opportunities? Where do we meld them together? How do we make this a better state for our kids?”
During the 40-minute phone conversation, starting in his car and finishing after Villaraigosa arrived home in Los Angeles, he toggled between criticisms of Harris and statements of good will toward a one-time political ally.
The two have known each other, he said, since the mid-1990s, when Villaraigosa was a freshman assemblyman in Sacramento and Harris was dating then-Speaker Willie Brown. He supported her run for attorney general — “I did three press conferences” as L.A. mayor — and was quick to back her as soon as Biden stepped aside last summer and Harris became the Democratic nominee.
“I supported her,” he said. “I got behind her. Her husband” — former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff — “has thanked me a number of times when he’s seen me in person.”
The disagreement now, Villaraigosa said, is over the direction of a party he sees unmoored from its history as a champion of the middle and working classes and too beholden to interest groups that make up its patchwork coalition. Harris, he suggested, is the personification of that disconnect from Democratic tradition.
“At the end of the day, what I’m arguing for is, let’s get to the place where we’re focused on getting things done and focused on common sense,” Villaraigosa said, citing, among issues, his support for Proposition 36, the anti-crime measure that voters overwhelming approved last November. The vice president, he noted, refused to take a position.
But don’t, he said before hanging up, take his attacks on Harris the wrong way.
