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Match of the Day’s Ashley Williams and Alan Shearer look at the performance of Manchester United’s Amad Diallo and the challenge of fitting him into Ruben Amorim’s system after the Red Devils’ 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest.

WATCH MORE: Late Amad volley earns Man Utd point in thriller at Forest

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Cummins’ injury concerns heading into this winter’s Ashes could be a case of a career about to come full circle – but not in the way Australia’s captain will have wanted.

He made his Test debut as an 18-year-old in 2011 against South Africa, becoming the second-youngest player to take a five-wicket haul in an innings at that time, despite sustaining a heel injury during the match.

But his explosive debut proved to be something of a false dawn. Cummins had to wait six years to make his second Test appearance as a young body failed to withstand the load of fast bowling, suffering repeated stress fractures to his lower back.

Fast-forward 14 years, to the upcoming winter of 2025, and back problems have once again resurfaced, albeit this time as “lumbar bone stress” rather than a fracture. He has not bowled a ball since July.

If back injuries have plagued Cummins’ Test career, periods of fitness have been filled with ebullient excellence as a thoroughbred quick.

The 32-year-old, who was made Test captain in the wake of Tim Paine’s resignation shortly before the 2021-22 Ashes, has taken 309 Test wickets at an average of 22.10.

He is even more formidable in Australia, taking 177 wickets at 19.92, while he has also taken 91 wickets against England in just 19 matches.

In the most recent Ashes series in 2023, Cummins played in all five Tests, one of only two bowlers to do so along with Stuart Broad, taking 18 wickets.

A talismanic leader, Cummins enjoyed a glorious 2023 as captain, taking six wickets in Australia’s triumphant World Test Championship final and starring in their 50-over World Cup final victory in Ahmedabad – both against India.

He is the only captain in Test history to win the World Test Championship, World Cup and an Ashes series.

BRITAIN’S smallest castle, a charming 19th century Gothic turret in the heart of Hertfordshire, has gone up for sale.

The Gazebo Tower is a glorious Grade II listed landmark which dates back to 1833 and is packed with royal-looking features inside its 645sqft of living space.

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Described as a “local icon”, this three-storey tower in Ross-on-Wye looks out over the River Wye and the Hertfordshire countryside.

Inside, each of its circular rooms – roughly 16ft across – has been transformed into a kitchen, a bedroom and a living room.

It also comes with a picturesque roof-top terrace, described as offering 360-degree views of the Black Mountains of Southeast Wales, the spire of Saint Mary’s Church, Chase Wood and Ross-on-Wye’s vibrant architecture.

It’s currently available to buy for £330,000.

Estate agents Hamilton Stiller described it “an opportunity to own a landmark and one of Ross-on-Wye’s most striking features.”

One of the most whimsical touches to the property is how the double bed hides a bath underneath – making the most of the space.

The top floor also includes an en-suite wet room and a spiral staircase leading to a battery-operated roof hatch.

Athletes from the Ross Rowing Club can even often be seen sailing down the River Wye from the windows.

The quintessential market town of Ledbury is only 13 miles away, while trains to London Paddington take two hours.

This tower, once owned by Herefordshire Council, was sold in 2001 when its only floor was accessible by ladder.

Tony Billingham, who won the bid by post, lovingly restored the tower into a cozy, functional home and later opened it to visitors, donating proceeds to local charities.

This isn’t the only house that has caught widespread attention recently.

A seemingly ordinary home has gone up for sale at £400,000, but there’s one very unexpected twist that’s caught people’s attention.

Photos of the property reveal that one of its two bathrooms has been transformed into a home office – giving workers the chance to “do their business” without ever leaving the room.

A three-bedroom home in Walton, Chesterfield, has hit the market for £150,000, appearing perfectly normal from the street – but step inside, and things take a decidedly unexpected turn.

Baffled house hunters have branded the interior “bonkers”, with photos revealing a quirky layout and eccentric design choices that are anything but ordinary.

A charming seaside property with a fascinating backstory has caught the attention of locals and house hunters alike.

Listed for £235,000 in February, the home was purchased by a couple in July after making several visits over the summer.

Nicknamed “the Dolls House” by locals, the petite property is cleverly built in an alleyway between two neighbouring homes and offers breathtaking views of the coast.

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Australia remain hopeful that captain Pat Cummins will be fit for the first Ashes Test against England in November but coach Andrew McDonald says it is getting “tight”.

The 32-year-old pace bowler has not played since suffering a back injury against the West Indies in July. Australian media reported on Wednesday that he will miss the first Test in Perth on 21 November and is doubtful for the whole series.

On Friday McDonald said there was “a lot more positivity” surrounding the skipper’s chances of playing in the opening Test but he would need at least “four, four-and-a-half weeks” of bowling practice to condition his body for the rigours of Ashes cricket. The first Test is six weeks away.

“The reality is, we’re starting to get tight in terms of the times,” McDonald said.

“We’re still optimistic, hopeful, but this time next week, I think we’ll be in a position to get a better gauge on where he’s at.”

McDonald said he would weigh up whether Cummins could be included in the side even if he was a “little bit underdone”.

Cummins has taken 309 Test wickets at an average of 22.10 runs per dismissal.

He is even more formidable in Australia, taking 177 wickets at 19.92, while he has also taken 91 wickets against England in 19 matches.

England vice-captain Harry Brook said it would be a “bonus” if Cummins was to miss out but warned that they could not take any replacement lightly.

“Pat Cummins is a phenomenal bowler and has been for so many years now,” said Brook on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He’s got incredible skill at high pace and if he’s not there it’s a bonus for us.

“But they have got lots of amazing bowlers so I’m sure they’ll draft someone in who is very skillful. We can’t take anyone lightly.”

‘Is there anything worth seeing in Latvia?” asked a bemused friend when I explained my destination. “Other than Riga?” Latvia’s capital is certainly worth a visit: a wonderland of perfectly preserved art nouveau architecture with a medieval centre of narrow cobbled streets and enough quirky museums to satisfy the most curious of visitors – most of whom just come for a weekend.

But a short drive or bus ride east of Riga lies another, more expansive and completely empty, wonderland: a wild, post-Soviet landscape of untouched forests, ecologically renowned wetlands, windblown beaches and crumbling castles. Not to mention the newly restored baronial estates where you can stay for the price of an average British B&B. This region, known as Kurzeme, is almost the size of Yorkshire (population: 5.5 million) but with a mere 240,000 inhabitants.

Kurzeme (also known by its German name, Courland) has 180 miles of undeveloped coastline and a good proportion of Latvia’s 1,200 castles and mansions, as well as the ancient valley of the Abava River, listed by World Monuments Watch as one of “100 endangered unique cultural monuments”.

It also boasts Kuldīga, a Unesco world heritage town, and Liepāja an upcoming European capital of culture (2027) – full of languishing art nouveau architecture, and enough former Soviet collective farms, KGB watch towers and military barracks to remind us that history really is just a breath away.

The Latvian bus system is excellent and extremely cheap but I rented a car for a few days to maximise my time. My tour began in Sabile, a town on the River Abava – whose crystalline, beaver-filled waters flow from Kandava to Kuldīga (Sabile is also home to several vineyards where Latvian wine can be tasted). Here, one misty cacophonous morning, I casually flipped open my Merlin birding app. Within minutes it had identified 25 birds including sedge warblers, golden orioles and spotted fly catchers and I had seen marsh harriers. Apparently such a wide variety is perfectly normal: Latvia’s bogs, wetlands, coastal lagoons and ancient forests (53% of the country is woodland while 5% is wetlands) make it one of northern Europe’s best birding sites.

Just a few minutes’ drive outside town is the Pedvāle Art Park, a 100-hectare nature reserve where storks pick their way through swathes of wild lupins and 195 contemporary sculptures from across the world. Founder Ojārs Feldbergs told me the Abava valley is home to 800 species of plant and animal, as well as crusader castles and Viking graves. “It was once a trading route for amber,” he tells me. “The Baltic Sea is the world’s richest source of Baltic gold, which was transported to St Petersburg and the east through this valley for centuries.”

Later, the bucolic beauty and clean waters of the Abava valley, along with its therapeutic sulphur springs, attracted hundreds of German aristocracy, giving the region a disproportionate number of baronial estates. Though these fell into disrepair during the Soviet era when they became collective farms, tractor houses and pig farms, in the past decade many have been painstakingly restored as boutique hotels.

At Kukšu Manor (guided tour €5), I gawped at lavishly painted ceilings and jaw-dropping frescoes. Here, for €185 for a double room, anyone can live, fleetingly, as a Baltic baron. Just north of the valley, I strolled in the walled gardens, vineyards and frescoed state rooms of Nurmuiža Castle and Spa, an elegantly restored estate where you can dip in a wild swimming lake as cranes and storks fly overhead, and double rooms cost from €80. Alternatively, at Padure Manor near Kuldīga, a reconstruction-in-progress often used for film sets, €40 will buy you a bedroom and access to the musty Soviet library that came with the house.

Kuldīga itself, a charmingly dusty town, became Unesco-protected in 2023, thanks to its 17th-century wooden architecture and striking location above Europe’s widest waterfall, the Venta Rapid – crossed via Europe’s longest brick road bridge. The high street – not a single chain store in sight – includes a needle museum, a renovated merchant’s house, and craft shops where I splashed out on handknitted socks for my kids.

At Pagrabiņš, which locals assured me served some of the best Latvian food in Kurzeme, I slurped delicious salty sour soup known as solyanka with a slice of Latvia’s famously dense, chewy rye bread. Afterwards, a 30-minute drive – including a stop-off at the pink, fairytale Ēdole Castle – took me to Jūrkalne, a pretty and utterly deserted beach of bluffs, dunes and pine trees. Pāvilosta, the latest hotspot beloved of Rigan hipsters, lies to the south: an old fishing village where you can grab a flat white (try Cafe Laiva) and watch the rolling Baltic surf or cycle the EuroVelo 13 coastal track to Liepāja.

It’s here, in Latvia’s third largest city that I end my trip. With its lush parks, sandy white beaches and strollable streets of gently decaying baroque and art nouveau buildings, Liepāja makes a great base for exploring the south-west corner of Kurzeme. I stayed in the historic Art Hotel Roma (doubles from €80 a night which includes access to the hotel’s art collection) and ate as often as I could at an exquisitely restored lodgings once frequented by Peter the Great: Madame Hoyer’s Guest House. Although it’s now a museum, the dining room operates much as it did in 1697.

But Liepāja’s greatest attraction must surely be Karosta, once one of the USSR’s largest submarine bases, and a closed military zone for nearly 50 years. Today, it’s a ghostly swill of pristine coastline, brutalist architecture and graffitied Soviet watch towers, with the gold-encrusted domes of the Russian Orthodox St Nicholas Naval Cathedral gleaming, surreally and extravagantly, from its midst.

To fully grasp Latvia’s extraordinary, violent history, I took a guided tour of Karosta prison, one of only a few former military jails in Europe open to visitors. Here, windowless cells once housed revolutionaries, miscreant soldiers and officers of the tsarist army, the Soviet army, the Latvian army, as well as deserters of the German Wehrmacht and “enemies” of Stalin – many of whom had used their metal buttons to scratch their initials into the concrete walls. A little unusually, Karosta prison offers all-night stays (ranging from €15-60 a night) for anyone not averse to paranormal activities – it’s been voted the most haunted place in the world by Ghost Hunters International. I opted, instead, for a recuperative beer from one of Liepāja’s burgeoning microbreweries, mulling over an intriguing part of the world, far from the usual tourist haunts.

The writer travelled independently using the extensive network of Kurzeme’s tourist information offices and with help from latvia.travel. For information on castle and manor house stays visit latvia.travel

Zohran Mamdani, born in Uganda and raised in New York, is in the lead to become the city’s next mayor. His complex identity has sparked debate in the United States. From questions about race to immigrant experiences, his story is challenging the way Americans think about identity, politics, and who gets power.

It is tempting for a dividend investor to simply select the highest yielding stocks. The problem with that approach is that it exposes you to the risk of dividend cuts if the yield is too high for the company to support.

Which is why dividend lovers also need to consider dividend history as they look at a company. And, when you do that, you’ll find that companies like Pfizer (PFE -0.50%), which has a huge 7.2% yield, don’t match up to companies like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 1.03%), Omega Healthcare (OHI -0.50%), and Merck (MRK -0.03%).

Here’s what you need to know about these three healthcare dividend stocks.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. If you need the money to live, dividend reliability is key

Pfizer is actually a well-run company. Sure, it is facing hard times right now, but it has dealt with difficult periods before and survived. It is highly likely that it will do so again, noting that some of the issues it is dealing with are a natural part of the pharmaceutical industry. For example, patent expirations are on the horizon, and it needs to find new drugs to replace older ones. Investors rightly worry about such patent cliffs, but they aren’t the least bit unusual for drug makers.

That said, Pfizer’s huge 7.2% dividend yield is also a reflection of the downbeat view among regulators and consumers around vaccines. So there’s more to watch here than the normal industry swings. But the same things could, largely, be said of Merck, one of Pfizer’s competitors. The drugs and vaccines in question are different, but the worries are basically the same. You could easily buy either one if you wanted exposure to the pharma sector. Why pick Merck and its less impressive, though still high, 4% yield?

The answer is simple. Merck has a long history of supporting its dividend even through difficult periods. Pfizer cut its dividend in 2009 when it bought Wyeth. The acquisition was good for Pfizer, but the dividend cut was terrible for income investors. If dividend consistency matters to you, Merck wins here.

Data by YCharts.

2. Omega Healthcare has survived the hardest of times

If Merck’s dividend resilience over time impresses you, you’ll probably find Omega Healthcare even more exciting. The company owns senior housing facilities, which were hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. To put it simply, older people in group settings were at severe risk of dying from the pandemic. That had the exact negative impact you would expect on nursing homes and similar properties. And yet Omega Healthcare, a senior housing-focused real estate investment trust (REIT), didn’t cut its dividend like many of its competitors.

It didn’t raise the dividend, either, but it did stand behind the payment, realizing that investors were relying on that quarterly check. That should make Omega’s nearly 6.4% yield look a lot more attractive, even for more conservative dividend investors.

Data by YCharts.

And don’t forget that the pandemic is now mostly in the rearview mirror. The second quarter of 2025 saw Omega invest in new assets, which should help spur growth and post an 8% year-over-year increase in adjusted funds from operations (FFO). With the business looking like it is on the mend, the dividend is likely more secure now than it has been in years.

3. The Dividend King approach

If you are looking to stick to only the most reliable of dividend companies, however, then you’ll want to buy a Dividend King. These are stocks that have raised their dividends for over 50 years. Johnson & Johnson’s string of over 60 annual dividend increases makes it the healthcare stock to beat when it comes to dividend reliability. Of course, investors know how reliable this drug and medical device maker is, so the stock is usually afforded a premium valuation. Right now, the yield is around 3% or so, the lowest on this list. However, it is still higher than the 1.7% yield of the average healthcare stock, making J&J a good pick for investors who place a high value on dividend consistency.

Clearly, Johnson & Johnson has its own warts to consider. For example, it faces all of the same issues in the pharma space as Merck and Pfizer. It is also dealing with a lingering class action lawsuit around talcum powder that it once sold. So even this Dividend King isn’t risk-free. But if history is any guide, you can count on the dividend continuing to be paid through thick and thin.

Don’t just jump at the highest yield

Although there’s nothing particularly wrong with Pfizer, a comparison to Merck, Omega, and J&J shows that a high yield isn’t the only factor you should consider if you are looking for a good dividend stock. If reliable dividend stocks are what you want populating your dividend portfolio, you will clearly want to look past Pfizer’s yield. And when you do that, you’ll likely find that Merck, Omega, and Johnson & Johnson all offer a more compelling combination of income reliability and yield.

England flanker Tom Curry has undergone wrist surgery and will miss the start of the new Premiership season with Sale, but could be fit for the Autumn Nations Series in November.

Curry had an operation on a long-standing wrist ligament injury after returning from the British and Irish Lions’ series victory in Australia and will be absent for the start of Sale’s campaign, which begins against Gloucester on Thursday, 25 September.

But he has an outside chance of being fit for England’s autumn fixtures against Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina.

“You are more likely to see him in an England shirt than you are a Sale shirt,” said Sale’s director of rugby Alex Sanderson.

“His return to play sits him somewhere around the Autumn Internationals.

“But you never know. He has a habit of defying comeback dates and what surgeons say. He’s on good form, healing well, dead positive.”

Curry navigated his way through six matches for the Lions despite his wrist injury.

He revealed he had a new cast fitted in Australia following the Lions’ shock defeat by Argentina in Dublin.

“We had this cast which we had to change in Sydney, because we realised that I wasn’t actually catching many balls,” he said.

“We had this thick one that covered my palm and it was really tough because I had to catch [the ball] with my fingertips. I remember playing in the Argentina game and I kept dropping it.”

England begin their campaign against Australia at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, 1 November.

Ronan Keating had to rush to help Rick after he suffered a coughing fit during an appearance on The One Show

Rick Astley has opened up about his coughing episode on The One Show, confessing he feared he might have to “walk off” during the live broadcast.

The 80s icon left viewers concerned when he began choking and spluttering whilst being interviewed on the BBC programme on Friday (September 5), with fellow musician Ronan Keating rushing to his aid by patting his back.

The incident was discussed during Rick’s appearance on BBC Breakfast on Monday (September 8), reports the Express. Presenter Jon Kay joked, “Rick joins us, and you’ve got some water, because you had a bit of a cough, didn’t you, on The One Show?”

“Yeah, I did indeed,” Rick replied. “So exciting to be about to cough your head off on live TV, sat next to Ronan Keating!”

“We do it all the time, so for people who didn’t see it, what happened?” presenter Sally Nugent asked.

The performer revealed: “The show had started and they had done a shot where the two of us are on the couch, so Ronan’s being interviewed and chatting, and I know Ronan a bit, he’s lovely, he’s great.

“And then I just started to feel I had a tickle, and then, so I’m trying to suppress it, you know, having some water and stuff, and I’m clutching my knees, and I’m thinking, I’m about to walk off live television, even though they’ve just introduced me as being on the couch! But we’re all good this morning. I hope so!”

“I don’t know what it was; it was just a tickle,” he continued.

The star went on: “I’ve only cancelled one gig in the whole of my life, and that was because of food poisoning, nothing to do with singing.”

“So, yeah, so hopefully we’re good.”

Jon suggested that even if the singer ever encountered a problem with his voice, the “show must go on”.

“Yeah, but also I think adrenaline kicks in,” Rick responded. “The amount of times that I’ve not been fully match fit, let’s say, a bit of a cold or something, but I think your adrenaline just takes over. The excitement of doing it still feels like the most exciting thing in the world to me.”

“Well, we’ve got Ronan on standby, just in case you need it,” Jon joked, causing Rick to chuckle.

Rick, 59, also opened up about how taking a hiatus from his career had made him appreciate it more.

“I’ve kind of got away from how kind of ridiculous it is and how full of nonsense it is to just view it as a purely beautiful, lovely thing to do,” he shared. “I don’t really ever get wrapped up in the fame side of it, all the this, that, and the other.”

The star admitted that he was “not really famous” most of the time, as he could visit places like the supermarket without being recognised.

“And that’s amazing because I can go and play an arena and then literally be going on the way home or on the way to the hotel and be completely ignored by people,” he added. “Even sometimes the same people who are in the arena.”

BBC Breakfast is broadcast daily at 6am on BBC One.

KAI HAVERTZ has undergone knee surgery – leaving Arsenal with just ONE fit recognised striker.

The 26-year-old has been out since picking up an injury in training – days after a 30-minute cameo off the bench in a 1-0 opening-day win over Manchester United on August 17.

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SunSport understands that Havertz has shared his time between London Colney and his native Germany, being assessed by doctors to determine the severity of the issue.

And the Gunners have since decided to take precautionary measures with Havertz going under the knife for the second time in six months.

A club statement read: “Further to sustaining a knee injury after our recent game against Manchester United on 17 August, subsequent assessments and specialist reviews with Kai confirmed that surgery would be required.

“Today, Kai underwent a successful minor surgical procedure.

“He will shortly begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme, with everyone fully focused on supporting Kai to ensure he is back to full fitness as soon as possible.”

It means Havertz will miss crunch Prem clashes against Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle, as well as the start to Arsenal’s Champions League campaign next month.

Havertz had a hamstring operation back in February that saw him only return for the final two games of last term, but this minor procedure is not expected to keep him out for a similar period.

It now leaves boss Mikel Arteta relying on summer signing Viktor Gyokeres to lead the line without any back-up for at least the next few weeks.

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CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS

Gabriel Jesus – Arsenal’s third-choice No.9 – is also still on the recovery table, expected to return towards the end of 2025 after an ACL reconstruction in January.

However, Arsenal are confident that they have the squad to deal with the absence, hijacking Tottenham’s £68m deal for Eberechi Eze last week 24 hours after Havertz’s injury news.

Arteta does have options – playing midfielder Mikel Merino and winger Leandro Trossard down the middle for large parts of last season.

The Gunners are also set to be without Bukayo Saka for a number of weeks following the injury he sustained during their 5-0 thrashing of Leeds on Saturday.

While there remains uncertainty around whether Martin Odegaard will be fit to face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.

The Gunners captain was forced off with a shoulder injury in the 38th minute and replaced by Ethan Nwaneri.

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United States Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has announced that the US is to cut funding for mRNA vaccine development – a move that health experts say is “dangerous” and could make the US much more vulnerable to future outbreaks of respiratory viruses like COVID-19.

Kennedy is known for his vaccine scepticism and recently ousted all 17 members of a scientific advisory panel on vaccines at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be replaced with his own selections. However, this latest announcement is just part of a series of moves by President Donald Trump himself that appear to target the vaccine industry and give increasing weight to the arguments of vaccine sceptics in the US.

Trump has previously undermined the efficacy of vaccines and sought to cut funding to vaccine programmes. Public health experts sounded the alarm after his election win in November, warning there would likely be a “war on vaccines” under Trump.

“My main concern is that this is part of an increasingly ideological rather than evidence-based approach to healthcare and vaccination in particular that is being adopted in the US,” David Elliman, associate professor at University College London, told Al Jazeera.

“This is likely to increase vaccine hesitancy … [and] will result in more suffering and death, particularly for children. This would be a tragedy, even more so because it is avoidable.”

What new cuts to vaccine funding have been made?

In a statement posted on Tuesday on X, Kennedy said 22 projects on mRNA vaccine development worth nearly $500m will be cancelled. The main reason, he said, was that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in his Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had reviewed mRNA vaccines and found them to be “ineffective” in fighting mutating viruses.

“A single mutation can make mRNA vaccines ineffective,” Kennedy said in a video statement. “After reviewing the science and consulting top experts, … HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risk than benefits for these respiratory viruses.”

Instead, Kennedy said, the US will shift mRNA funding to other vaccine development technologies that are “safer” and “remain effective”.

Some notable institutions and companies that will be affected by the latest decision, as listed on the HHS website, include:

• Emory University and Tiba Biotech (terminated contracts)
• Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur, CSL Seqirus (rejected or cancelled proposals)
• Luminary Labs, ModeX (“descoped” or weakened contracts)
• AstraZeneca and Moderna (“restructured” contracts)

What are mRNA vaccines, and are they really ineffective against virus mutations?

Messenger ribonucleic acid vaccines prompt the body to produce proteins that help it build immunity against certain microbes. They differ from traditional vaccines that introduce weakened or dead microbes into the body to stimulate immunity. Both types of vaccines have their strengths and weaknesses, but mRNA vaccines are notably faster to manufacture although they don’t provide the lifelong coverage that traditional vaccines might.

However, Elliman said virus mutations are a general problem for any vaccines and present a challenge scientists are still contending with.

“As yet, there are no vaccines in use that have solved this problem, so this is not a good reason for abandoning mRNA vaccines,” Elliman said. “The technology has great promise for vaccines and therapeutics, so ceasing research in the field without good evidence is unjustified.”

The move, he added, could discourage investors and scientists, both inside and outside the US, from keeping up research.

Dorit R Reiss, a law professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who focuses on vaccine law, told Al Jazeera that the decision is “troubling and shortsighted”.

“Procedurally, the decision was done in a very flawed manner. At the least, there should be notice and an opportunity for hearing and explanation under our administrative law, and there was instead a short and cursory X video with no references, no real data,” she said.

The move will not only hurt innovation, she said, but will also leave the country less prepared for emergencies.

What are RFK’s views on vaccines?

The health secretary has long been considered a vaccine sceptic.

Kennedy formerly chaired Children’s Health Defense – an anti-vaccine advocacy group formed in 2007 – until 2023 when he announced his run for the presidency. The organisation has also campaigned against the fortification of drinking water with fluoride, which prevents tooth decay.

During a 2013 autism conference, Kennedy compared the CDC’s childhood vaccine programme to Nazi-era crimes. “To me, this is like Nazi death camps, what happened to these kids,” he said, referring to an increasing number of children diagnosed with autism. “I can’t tell you why somebody would do something like that. I can’t tell you why ordinary Germans participated in the Holocaust.”

In a 2023 interview with Fox News, Kennedy claimed vaccines cause autism. He cited a widely debunked study by Andrew Wakefield, a discredited British doctor and antivaccine activist whose study on the matter has since been retracted from journals. In another 2023 podcast, Kennedy said, “No vaccine is safe or effective.”

Aside from his vaccine scepticism, Kennedy, also known as RFK Jr, has also made several controversial remarks about other health issues, such as COVID-19. He criticised vaccine mandates and lockdown restrictions during the pandemic under former President Joe Biden. He also claimed in a leaked video in 2022 that COVID-19 “attacked certain races disproportionately” because of their genetic makeup and Ashkenazi Jews were most immune to the virus. Several research studies, however, found that social inequalities were major influences on how COVID-19 affected different ethno-social groups because certain people had reduced access to care.

During a congressional hearing in the lead-up to his appointment in Trump’s administration, Kennedy denied making several of the controversial statements attributed to him in the past. He also promised to maintain existing vaccine standards.

What are Trump’s views on vaccines?

Trump has flip-flopped on this issue.

He has previously downplayed the usefulness of vaccines and, in particular, criticised the schedules under which children receive several vaccine doses within their first two years. In his election campaign last year, Trump promised to dismantle vaccine mandates in schools.

In a 2007 interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Trump claimed that an autism “epidemic” had arisen as a result of vaccines, a theory which has since been debunked. “My theory – and I study it because I have young children – my theory is the shots [vaccines]. We’re giving these massive injections at one time, and I really think it does something to the children.”

In subsequent interviews, Trump called childhood vaccines a “monster shot” and in 2015 during a debate among Republican presidential candidates said vaccines were “meant for a horse, not a child”.

In 2015, he told a reporter he had never received a flu shot.

But Trump has also spoken in favour of vaccines at times. During his first term as president, Trump said at a news briefing that children “have to get their shots” after outbreaks of measles emerged across the country. “The vaccinations are so important. This is really going around now,” he said.

Additionally, in his first term during the COVID-19 pandemic, his administration initially downplayed the virus, but it ultimately oversaw the rapid production of COVID-19 vaccines in a project it called Operation Warp Speed.

After Biden became president in 2021, Trump’s camp criticised his vaccine and face mask mandates, which critics said contributed to rising levels of antivaccine sentiment among conservative voters.

Trump also avoided using Operation Warp Speed’s success as a selling point in last year’s presidential campaign. He also did not publicly announce that he had received initial and booster COVID-19 vaccine shots before leaving the White House.

Has the Trump administration targeted vaccines more broadly?

During Trump’s second term, the US introduced vaccine regulations that some critics said undermine the country’s vaccine system.

Furthermore, the Trump administration has cut funding to the US Agency for International Development, which supported hundreds of vaccine development programmes across the world.

• In February, Trump halted federal funding for schools that required students to have what his administration called “coercive” COVID-19 vaccines.
• In May, Kennedy announced that the federal government would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women without giving details about the reasons behind the change in policy. That went against the advice of US health officials who had previously urged boosters for young children.
• In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of a CDC panel of vaccine experts, claiming that the board was “rife with conflicts”. The panel, which had been appointed by Biden, was responsible for recommending how vaccines are used and for whom. Kennedy said the move would raise public confidence, stating that the US was “prioritising the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or antivaccine agenda. However, the move drew condemnation from scientists and health bodies.
• At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration, which also comes under the remit of the HHS, has approved at least one COVID-19 vaccine. In May, the FDA approved Novavax’s non-mRNA, protein-based COVID-19 vaccine although only for older adults and those over the age of 12 who also have underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk from the virus. That was unusual for the US, where vaccines are usually approved without such limitations.
• The 2026 budget proposal to Congress does not include funding for the Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), a public-private entity formed in 2002 to support vaccine distribution to low and middle-income countries. GAVI was instrumental in securing vaccines for several countries in Africa and other regions during the COVID-19 pandemic when it was feared that richer countries could stockpile the available doses. The US currently provides more than 10 percent of GAVI’s funding. In 2024, that amounted to $300m.

Did Trump seek to undermine vaccine research and development during his first term as well?

Yes.

• Trump’s health budget proposals in 2018 and subsequently proposed budget cuts to the National Institute of Health and the CDC would have impacted immunisation programmes and a wide range of life-saving research on vaccines. However, the proposals were rejected by Congress.
• In May 2018, the Trump administration disbanded the Global Health and Biodefense Unit of the National Security Council. The team, which was set up to help prepare the US for pandemics and vaccine deployments, was formed in 2015 under President Barack Obama’s administration during an Ebola epidemic. Later, when the COVID-19 pandemic reached the US, scientists blamed the country’s vulnerability on Trump’s decision.

Chris Woakes says rehabilitation “could be a risk he’s willing to take” to be fit for the Ashes, rather than having surgery on the shoulder injury sustained in England’s fifth Test defeat against India.

The 36-year-old is waiting for the results of a scan after suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder on day one at the Oval.

England had ruled him out of the rest of the Test, but he still stepped out to bat with his left arm in a sling as they chased what would have been a series-clinching victory on a dramatic final morning.

The first Ashes Test begins in Perth on 21 November.

“I’m waiting to see what the extent of the damage is but I think the options will be to have surgery or to go down a rehab route and try and get it as strong as possible,” Woakes told BBC Sport.

“I suppose naturally with that there will be a chance of a reoccurrence, but I suppose that could be a risk that you’re just willing to take sort of thing.

“From what I’ve heard from physios and specialists is that the rehab of a surgery option would be closer to four months or three to four months. That’s obviously touching on the Ashes and Australia so it makes it tricky.

“From a rehab point of view you can probably get it get it strong again within eight weeks. So that could be an option, but again obviously still waiting to get the full report on it.”

A MAJOR high street bank has become the latest British lender to quit the Net Zero Banking Alliance, the bank said on Friday.

Barclays argued that the departure of several global lenders has left it no longer fit to support the bank’s green transition.

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Barclays’ decision to quit the foremost banking alliance focused on tackling climate change follows on from HSBC and several major US banks.

It also raises questions about the ability of the group to influence change in the sector going forward.

The bank said in a statement on its website: “After consideration, we have decided to withdraw from the Net Zero Banking Alliance.”

It added that its commitment to be net zero by 2050 remained unchanged and that it still saw a commercial opportunity for itself and its clients in the energy transition.

Earlier this week Barclays published the first update on its sustainability strategy in several years.

It said the bank made £500 million in revenue from sustainable and low-carbon transition finance in 2024.

Jeanne Martin, co-director of corporate engagement at responsible investment NGO ShareAction called the decision to leave the Net Zero Banking Alliance “incredibly disappointing and a step in the wrong direction at a time when the dangers of climate change are rapidly mounting.”

Barclays said the alliance was no longer fit for its purpose: “With the departure of most of the global banks, the organisation no longer has the membership to support our transition.”

The Net Zero Banking Alliance, a global initiative launched by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, lists more than 100 members on its website – including leading international financial institutions.

A spokesperson for the alliance said it remains focused on “supporting its members to lead on climate by addressing the barriers preventing their clients from investing in the net-zero transition.”

It comes after it was announced that Barclays is slashing interest rates on its popular Rainy Day for the third time in less than seven months.

From August 4, the interest rate for balances up to £5,000 will fall from 4.61% to 4.36%.

The Rainy Day Saver account, which offers easy access to funds, has been a favourite among Barclays‘ 20 million customers.

It is designed for balances up to £5,000, with savers earning the higher rate on the first £5,000 – currently 4.61%.

Savings above this threshold earn just 1% interest, but customers benefit from instant access to their money at any time.

At the current rate, holding £5,000 in the account would earn you £230.50 in interest over 12 months.

However, when the rate drops to 4.36%, this will fall to £218 – a loss of £12.50 per year.

Once boasting a competitive 5.12% interest rate earlier this year, Barclays has steadily chipped away at its appeal.

In February, the rate dropped to 4.87%, followed by another cut in April to 4.61%.

In February, the bank reduced the rate to 4.87%, followed by another cut in April to 4.61%.

Now, just months later, rates are set to drop again, leaving savers questioning whether to stick with the account or explore better options elsewhere.

How Barclay Card Changes Could Affect You

ANALYSIS by Consumer Reporter, James Flanders:

Barclaycard’s change to its credit card repayment structure sounds great if you don’t dig into the details.

After all, Barclaycard says it’s “making the changes to give you greater flexibility each month”.

In practice, it means that if you can’t afford to pay off your balance in full at the end of each statement period, you can repay much less under the minimum repayment option than you have done previously.

If you only pay the minimum amounts on occasion, this is super useful.

But if you rely on this type of repayment plan in the long term, it could will cost you hundreds of pounds extra in interest.

It could also negatively affect your credit file as it’ll take you much longer to clear your debt.

More interest will be applied to your outstanding balance, too, as less is paid down each month.

For example, if you have a balance of £5,000 on a Barclaycard at 24% interest, where you only make the minimum payments and don’t spend on the card.

Under the old “2.5% of the balance plus the interest charged” rule, it would take around 14 years to clear the balance.

In total, you’d expect to pay about £3,500 in interest.

But with the new “1% of the balance plus the interest charged” calculation, it will take over 30 years to clear the same balance.

You’d then end up paying a whopping £8,500 in interest.

Before taking out a new credit card or increasing the amount you borrow, it’s vital to consider the consequences.

You should only borrow money if you can afford to pay it back.

It’s always vital to ask yourself if you actually need to borrow before committing to a new credit card, personal loan or overdraft.

If you use a credit card, I’d recommend that you always pay off your balance in full at the end of each statement period.

Lenders have a responsibility to help customers who are in debt.

If you’re in a debt crisis, your first point of call should be your lender.

They might help you out by offering you a reduced interest rate or a temporary payment holiday – so check in with your lender if you’re struggling.

Shakira Austin didn’t realize how important fashion would become when she entered the WNBA in 2022.

Her introduction to game-day tunnel fashion began at the University of Mississippi in 2020.

“My school started doing their own tunnel fits,” she said. “It was cute, but I definitely didn’t know [the WNBA tunnel walk was] as popping and as big as it is now.”

During the last few years, college and WNBA social media teams have photographed players walking into arenas and to their locker rooms on game day. Tunnel walk fashion now quickly spreads on social media on game days.

The Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese poses on the orange carpet during WNBA All Star Game week in Indianapolis.

(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)

What started as a social media trend that fans enjoyed has become a high-profile chance for WNBA players to show off their personal style and potentially land endorsement deals. A Vogue article published last season declared that “The WNBA Tunnel Is Officially a Fashion Destination.”

Austin has adapted to the spotlight and says she enjoys expressing herself through clothing.

“It gives a little bit of a model essence,” Austin said. “You go through, you pick out your fit for the day, and all cameras are on you, so it’s definitely a nice little highlight off the court before you start to lock in for the game.”

Now in her fourth year with the Washington Mystics, Austin’s sense of style is fully her own.

Without much styling advice from teammates as a rookie, she leaned on her passion for creativity and beauty to guide her looks.

“I’ve just always liked to express myself through beauty — from either masculine or feminine looks,” she said.

At 6 foot 5, Austin has had to work with limited clothing options.

“Being that I am a tall girl, it’s kind of hard to find clothes, so repeating stuff is a big deal for me,” she said. “Also, just making [the outfit] a different vibe each time.”

The Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers poses on the orange carpet during a WNBA All-Star Game event in Indianapolis.

(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)

Connecticut Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa didn’t get comfortable until she partnered with stylist Kristine Anigwe, a former WNBA player and owner of KA Creative Consulting.

“Figuring out, ‘OK, this is my style, this is what I actually like and enjoy wearing. How can I put it together in something that is comfortable and makes me feel confident?’” Nelson-Ododa said.

She describes being a “serial pieces repeater,” choosing to mix and match rather than follow trends.

“Honestly, it’s fashion, there’s like no rules to it.”

Off the court, fashion is now a way for her to show different sides of herself beyond her basketball identity.

“We already have an amazing job like this, and being able to add on by showing ourselves in a different light is super fun,” she said.

Although she doesn’t have the biggest interest in fashion, Sparks center Azura Stevens has seen tunnel fashion evolve into something much bigger.

The Sparks’ Rickea Jackson poses on the orange carpet during a WNBA All-Star Game event in Indianapolis.

(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)

“It’s cool to put together different fits, kind of show your personality through style,” she said. “I am kind of used to it now — it’s just a part of the game-day routine.”

During her time in the league, fashion has become a natural part of the culture.

“It has become a really big thing for it to be like runways almost before the game. It’s a part of the culture now of the [league],” she said.

Stevens’ teammate, veteran forward Dearica Hamby, has had a career full of fashion transitions since she entered the league in 2015 when fashion wasn’t a major part of the WNBA culture.

“Mine has changed over the course of the years,” she said. “For me, I’m sometimes business-like, but overall just really well put together.”

Hamby credits her time with the Las Vegas Aces as the moment she saw the shift.

“I kind of feel like my time in Vegas is when it really took off. We had a really talented photographer who was able to capture our fits,” she said.

Hamby is still learning what works best for her style. One thing she’s noticed: how an outfit looks in a photo matters.

“Sometimes things don’t photograph well, and that’s what I am starting to learn,” she said. “It could look good in person, but it doesn’t necessarily photograph well, so you wanna wear things that are cut and crisp.”

As tunnel walk content grows on social media, so can critiques of players and their outfit choices.

“I’ve definitely gotten flamed before for certain outfits,” Nelson-Ododa said. “Some people are not fans and some people are fans. I really don’t care, as long as it feels good on me, I’m fine.”

“You definitely know that eyes are going to see, and you’re going to be talked about — whether it’s a positive view or negative view,” Hamby said.

What matters most to Hamby is the feeling behind the fit: “Just remind yourself that if you feel good and you feel like you look good in it, that’s all that matters.”

We don’t necessarily need to come up with a wildcard formation that crams all the new signings into the same team.

If all goes well Liverpool will play over 60 games next season, meaning they will need a regularly rotating front line to keep legs fresh and opponents guessing.

Ekitike as a £69m cover option probably doesn’t sound very appealing, but he will arguably be the second-best player in four separate positions for Liverpool – although Szoboszlai, rivalling Wirtz, might say otherwise.

When you consider injuries, the need to rotate for twice-weekly football, and Slot’s tactical adaptations to the opposition, Ekitike could easily tot up over 30 starts in all competitions even if he wasn’t technically considered to be in the club’s best XI.

Not that managers of elite clubs tend to think in terms of ‘best XIs’ anymore – schedules are too busy and injuries too common for that.

In fact, what fans assume to be their team’s best XI rarely actually play together, as many Liverpool supporters know all too well.

The most mind-blowing example of this phenomenon was first highlighted by Duncan Alexander,, external who pointed out that the supposedly-iconic Liverpool XI under Klopp – the one that started the Champions League final – had never played together before that game and never played together after it.

So, how do you solve the riddle? How do you get all of Liverpool’s new signings into the same team? Answer: you don’t.

The Clippers had a need for a playmaker and ballhandler, and they were able to find that “natural fit” with Chris Paul.

Paul spent six seasons with the Clippers, a time when he had plenty of success leading them to relevancy and now he’s back to play his 21st season, which might be his last.

Paul, 40, a 12-time All-Star, agreed to a contract that will pay him $3.6 million next season.

“Chris was a natural fit,” Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, said over Zoom on Tuesday. “His roots with the organization are deep and meaningful. He obviously played a tremendous role in the upward trajectory of the franchise. He wanted to return to the Clippers and we wanted it the same, as long as it made sense with our current roster — and it does.”

Paul has spent his entire 20-year career as a starter in the NBA, playing in all 82 games last season with the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 28 minutes per game while shooting 42.7% from the field.

Over the course of playing in 1,354 regular-season games, Paul has started in 1,314.

Frank said Paul will “slot into our roster as a reserve point guard,” a role the two of them discussed.

“So, we don’t take that lightly when you’re taking on a different role,” Frank said. “And so there were a lot of conversations. You put everything on the table and get everyone comfortable with it. But the fact that Chris wanted to come back, wanted to be at home, wanted to be with the Clippers, we obviously know what his skill set is, but we also wanted to make sure the role made perfect sense from both people’s perspective.

“And so I thought it was a very, very thorough process in terms of how we went about it, just to make sure that everyone knows exactly what we’re signing up for and we feel really, really good about it.”

Playing time also could be tricky at the guard spot with Paul now on board.

James Harden, who averaged 35.3 minutes per game last season, and Bradley Beal are the likely starters in the backcourt for Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. Then there is Kris Dunn, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Paul who could be in the rotation.

“We know that ballhandling was a little bit of an issue for us last year and we wanted to get … Chris was the best guy for the job as long as everyone understood exactly what the role was and we can all embrace it,” Frank said. “And so, we’ve been very, very honest and direct and we feel great that Chris is back.”

Frank said Harden played a big role in the team acquiring Beal. Frank was asked if Harden talked to Paul about returning to the Clippers. Harden and Paul played two seasons together in Houston, from 2017 to 2019, and there were reports that their relationship was strained.

Frank said, “They did.” when asked if Harden and Paul had talked.

“And when talking to James, talking to Kawhi [Leonard] — and we talked about what the role would be — both guys said CP would be the best guy for this role,” Frank said.

Paul and Beal have both worn No. 3 their entire careers. But Frank said Beal will let Paul wear No. 3 and decide later what his new number will be.

“So, it’s awesome that Brad made such a great gesture like that,” Frank said. “And so Chris will be No. 3.”

During his six seasons with the Clippers, from 2011 until 2017, Paul helped the franchise reach new heights. He joined Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to form “Lob City.”

But it sounds as if this will be Paul’s last season in the NBA and it’ll be with the Clippers and it’ll allow him to play in front of his family that lives in the Los Angeles area.

“Well, I think there’s the nostalgic aspect,” Frank said. “But I think the No. 1 question that we always say, is how can he help impact winning? … And yeah, look, there’s the heartstrings part of it, of someone who was such a significant part of the Clippers’ rise to be able to bring it back. Whether this is his last year or not, that’s obviously Chris’ story in terms of what he feels and what he wants. But I think No. 1 is his ability to help impact winning.”

The last 48 hours or so have seemed very un-Tottenham like.

Preparing to commit £115m on Mohammed Kudus and Morgan Gibbs-White isn’t behaviour you’d necessarily associate with Spurs in the Daniel Levy era.

The general feeling around Tottenham and their transfer market spending in recent years has been one of frugality – although those at Spurs would be quick to point out they did spend £55m on Dominic Solanke last season, in a deal that could eventually become a club-record £65m.

Yet you can’t escape the sense that the previous couple of days represents a change in narrative.

If Gibbs-White’s £60m signing from Nottingham Forest goes through – after some late legal issues – it will be the biggest initial fee paid by the club.

Tottenham remain hopeful the deal will be completed despite Forest looking at whether a confidentiality agreement in the player’s contract had been breached. It is also understood the club are claiming Spurs haven’t asked permission to speak to the player.

Heading into the summer transfer window, well-placed sources indicated the club would be limited in the amount they would be able to spend.

But the capture of Kudus for £55m and the potential arrival of Gibbs-White for £60m flies in the face of any such restrictions.

So what has changed?

It is no secret Tottenham chairman Levy has been canvassing for external investment into the club in recent months.

However, BBC Sport understands the current spending on transfers is more likely to be the result of an injection of cash from owners Enic, who are understood to have kept a closer eye on club operations in recent months, rather than any external investment.

There has been talk of overseas investment – particularly from the Middle East.

For fans, of course, the source of the finances is neither here nor there.

All they really care about is the assembling of a team that can eventually challenge for the title and qualify consistently for the Champions League.

In Kudus and Gibbs-White, they would have two players capable of helping fulfil supporters’ wishes.

Both are flair players that live up to Tottenham’s attacking traditions and crucially are players who have Premier League experience.

Indeed, that was the remit for the club’s recruitment team this summer.

The squad is already packed full of exciting young potential, but experience is what new boss Thomas Frank believes it needs.

While Kudus and Gibbs-White are relatively young – 24 and 25, respectively – they are well-versed in the rigours of England’s top-flight.

Kudus has two full seasons for West Ham under his belt, making 80 appearances across all competitions, while Gibbs-White has played in the last three Premier League campaigns for Forest and had prior experience while a teenager at Wolves.

Spurs’ interest in Brentford duo Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo is further illustration of Tottenham’s recruitment remit.

For 46 years it’s been a wonderful ride, the sweetest of sagas, the Buss family treating the Lakers like their precocious child, nurturing, embracing, empowering, transforming them into arguably this country’s most celebrated sports franchise.

But it’s time.

It’s time to give their baby to somebody who won’t be burdened by the family ties or deep friendships that have increasingly interfered with the chasing of championships.

It’s time to hand their beloved to somebody with enough money to keep it strong and enough vision to keep it relevant.

It’s time for the Lakers to… become the Dodgers?

Yes! It’s them! They’re here! Welcome, welcome, welcome! Come on in! Make yourself at home! History has been waiting for you!

This is really happening, the majority ownership of the Lakers is really being sold to Dodgers chairman Mark Walter and his TWG Global group at a franchise valuation of $10 billion, making it the richest transaction in sports history.

To Los Angeles sports fans, it’s worth even more.

For the future of professional sports in this city, it’s priceless.

This is the best thing to happen to the Southland’s sports landscape since, well, the last time Walter’s TWG Global group bought something this big.

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It was 2012, and they bought the Dodgers, and just look what they’ve done with them.

Since 2013, Walter’s team has been in the playoffs every year, won their division 11 of those 12 years, appeared in four World Series and won two of them.

Since 2013, the Lakers have won one title in their only Finals appearance during that period while making the playoffs only half the time.

Mad respect to the Buss family, who oversaw 11 championships while providing the stage for greats from Magic Johnson to Kobe Bryant to LeBron James. But since the death of patriarch Jerry Buss in 2013, the organization has lacked a sustained championship vision and effective championship culture.

Everybody loves Jeanie Buss, who will continue in her role as Lakers governor, but she has grown increasingly out of touch with the demands of the modern game.

Where contending teams are now led by analytics-driven minds, she would rely on old friends like Linda and Kurt Rambis and Rob Pelinka, who became part of the family by being Kobe Bryant’s agent.

Where contending teams increasingly relied on younger players, Buss’ Lakers were always tied to aging superstars, their title hopes crashing around a hobbled Bryant and now buckling under a slowly eroding James.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss with children (clockwise from top left) Jeanie, Johnny, Jim and Janie in 1979.

(Gunther / mptvimages.com)

Since Jerry Buss’ death, the vision-less Lakers have wandered through the NBA desert in search of a strong leader who could build for sustained success.

In Walter’s group, they have that leader.

If the Dodgers are any indication, the Lakers are in for the sort of massive facelift that would make even a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon blush.

There will be money poured into the Lakers’ woefully small infrastructure, more money for coaches, more money for scouts, more money for trainers, more money for the amenities at Crypto.com Arena.

Who knows, maybe even more money for a new arena eventually? Don’t scoff, the Dodgers spent more than $500 million just to put a shine on Dodger Stadium, they will dig deep for that fan experience. They will dig deep for everything.

If there’s an insanely expensive but wildly successful general manager candidate out there — former Golden State guru Bob Myers comes to mind — the new Lakers will buy him.

Jeanie Buss attends a game between the Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks at Crypto.com Arena on March 20.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

If there’s an experienced but costly head coaching candidate hanging around, the new Lakers will nab him.

Although they will be somewhat constrained by the salary cap, the new Lakers will go deep into any tax to buy the best players as long as they can retain their draft picks.

The Dodgers are about winning every year, not just the next year, so expect the new Lakers to covet the future as much as the present.

This is good news for young Luka Doncic. This is not such good news for James.

The Buss family always vowed to do whatever it takes to keep James happy and allow him to retire here. The new Lakers won’t be so sentimental. James hasn’t signed on for next season yet, and maybe this change of ownership changes what once appeared to be a slam dunk.

The new Lakers won’t have the rich heart of the old Lakers. But they also won’t have the old destructive loyalties.

The new Lakers will be only about winning, something Jerry Buss understood and amplified, something which has been sadly lost since his passing.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss celebrates with the Larry O’Brien Trophy after the team’s 1980 NBA championship victory.

(NBAE / Getty Images)

The Buss family was good for Los Angeles, and their stewardship of one of this city’s crown sports jewels should be celebrated.

But it’s time, and it’s perfect that their neighbors down the road have decided to be the ones to spruce up the place.

Before this sale, the only thing the Dodgers and Lakers shared occurred after victories, when both team’s sound systems would blare, “I Love L.A.”

Now they share a championship bank account, a championship vision, and a championship commitment.

Man, I love L.A.

OH, to be a fly on the wall of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s office when news broke that Bruno Fernandes had snubbed a mega £100million bid from Saudi Arabia.

Manchester United’s part-owner could not have believed his luck when Al-Hilal offered to take captain Fernandes, who turns 31 in September, off their hands and give the Red Devils a much-needed cash injection.

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Ratcliffe, who claimed the “bloated” club was set to go “bust at Christmas”, has led a ruthless cost-cutting drive at Old Trafford — culling 450 staff including the much-loved receptionists and also withdrew free canteen food for workers at the ground.

So to have the potential of receiving a nine-figure sum for a player whose legs are only going to get wearier was almost too good to be true.

And it turned out to be . . . but only because Fernandes rejected Al-Hilal’s advances.

Even the offer of tax-free £700,000-a-week wages was not enough to lure the Portuguese star to the Middle East.

Yet Fernandes’ admirable resistance has thrown United’s chaotic transfer plans up in the air once again.

It is back to the drawing board for Ratcliffe and manager Ruben Amorim, who are under pressure to juggle the books with Profit and Sustainability Rules after their failure to qualify for Europe.

Despite Fernandes turning down the Saudi riches, the midfielder could still be a target for European clubs this summer — although the offers are unlikely to be even half the astonishing transfer fee on offer from Al-Hilal.

And even if he stays, Red Devils fans will now be debating where  Fernandes fits into Amorim’s rebuild next season?

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Amorim is wedded to his 3-4-3 formation and his early transfer activity seems to match up.

Wolves’ Matheus Cunha has signed in a £62.5m deal and Bryan Mbeumo is now a £50m target from Brentford, with the duo  expected to play in the attacking positions behind the lone striker.

Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho, linked with Chelsea and Napoli, are other options for the wide forward roles.

That quartet is likely to see Fernandes move further back to one of the two central midfield berths which he fulfilled in the Europa League final loss to Tottenham.

Amorim has other options in the centre of the park, including Manuel Ugarte, Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount.

Casemiro is on big wages, Amorim knows Ugarte well from their time together at Sporting Lisbon and the United boss lavished praise on Mount following his return to fitness towards the end of the season.

While homegrown talent Mainoo, 20, is an intriguing prospect.

So where will Fernandes play on a regular basis? In last season’s disastrous campaign, Amorim relied heavily on  talismanic Fernandes to dig his woeful 15th-placed Prem side out of the mire, netting 19 times in all competitions.

Failed Coutinho moment

Fernandes’ quality and consistency led to the eye-watering bid from Saudi and the  £100m fee will play on Ratcliffe’s mind in their ‘Mission 21’ operation to  knock Liverpool “off their perch” once again.

The Reds went through a similar scenario over seven years ago when they sold star man Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for a staggering £142m.

The transfer fee gave Jurgen Klopp the chance to rebuild as the German used that money to bring in Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, and his new spine delivered the Champions League and Premier League titles.

If Fernandes remains at United then club legend Gary Neville believes Garnacho, Marcus Rashford, Antony and Jadon Sancho must all leave.

Garnacho clashed with Amorim after the Bilbao loss to Tottenham, while the other three have all been out on loan this season.

Neville said: “If players are taking on and questioning the manager in public through social media, the manager has to win.

Neville’s transfer advice

“If the manager doesn’t win, the manager has to leave and I don’t think that’s going to happen this time. That’s happened far too many times before. I think Garnacho will leave purely because of that, I think they’ve had enough.

“Marcus has to leave for him and the club. I think that ship has sailed and he needs to find himself another club.

“It  sounds to me like Villa aren’t going to keep him. I would say for Marcus’ and United’s sake that it feels like that path has come to an end.

“I feel a little bit similarly with Jadon as I do with Marcus. I’d be a bit concerned that Chelsea haven’t made the noises that they’re going to keep him.  United have to make sure they part ways with him.

“Antony has gone to Spain and having seen a couple of players that I played with not do it Old Trafford but do it in Spain . . . I think he’s suited down to the ground and it’s been proven.”

Ratcliffe may have canned hundreds of local staff but he will soon discover it’s much harder to get rid of superstar players who are tied down to huge contracts.

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While Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham are all planning for next season’s Champions League, United are unable to offer new recruits any European football – let alone a place in Europe’s premier club competition.

Indeed, it is now more than three years since United last played a Champions League knockout tie.

Despite a lowly league finish and absence of European football next season, BBC Sport understands Cunha still views United as a big club – and that the player does not look at it as a risk.

Instead Cunha, who turned 26 on Tuesday and is in peak form, is excited by the enormous challenge of reviving United’s fortunes.

There is a feeling the move makes sense for all parties.

Cunha wants to move to a so-called bigger club, while Wolves get more than £60m to reinvest.

Meanwhile, Wolves have already showed they can win matches without Cunha after securing 10 points from the four Premier League games he missed through suspension following a red card against Bournemouth in the FA Cup in March.

United, who are set to allow England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho to leave this summer, need to boost the options available to boss Ruben Amorim.

His side managed just 44 top-flight goals in 2024-25 – a club-record low in the Premier League era. Ipswich Town forward Liam Delap, external and Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo have also been linked.

Cunha has 27 goals in 65 Premier League appearances over the past two seasons and is regarded at United as someone who can make an instant impact, while at the same time add experience to the team.

“United are lucky they still have their historic appeal and reputation as a club, so players of the Brazilian’s quality and potential want to move there,” former England midfielder Fara Williams told BBC Sport.

“If he does, there is no doubt he improves the squad.”