forgotten

At the end of Downderry’s shingle and sand, there’s a tumble of rocks and then a long beach stretching eastwards into the distance at the foot of the cliffs. Sitting on the rocks is a man with five raffish dogs that immediately start prowling around me and my partner, Sophie. A wet nose touches my bare calf.

Every long-distance trek has these decisive moments. The South West Coast Path has plenty. Should we stay on the beach, or take to the cliff? What’s the tide doing? And, more immediately, are these dogs going to bite my bum? It has happened to me once before.

“Nice dogs.”

The man shrugs. “They’re all right.”

That’s that sorted then.

“Is there a way up the cliff, off that beach?”

“See the rock?” He points into the far distance where a headland juts out. “Just before that, look for the blue rope. It’s a scramble.” He looks at us, like the director of Poldark assessing extras for a gruelling fight scene with Aidan Turner. “You should manage. Tide’s going out.” He gives a sly grin. “Lovely day for it.”

We thank him and set off. Every journey has its turning points, I reflect, especially when you push off from the safe haven of the guidebook and OS map into the uncharted waters of local knowledge. Boots crunching into shingle, I wonder why he grinned like that. Have we been duped?

I first came to the South West Coast Path as a teenager in 1978 when I heard on the radio that the entire 630-mile route was open. The statistics were what captured my imagination: climb four times the height of Everest, embark on 13 ferries, scale 436 stiles and pass 4,000 signs. That averaged out at one sign every 250 metres, on a path where the sea is always on one side. It was, I told my sceptical parents, impossible to get lost.

With a schoolmate, I hitchhiked to Plymouth where we immediately got lost and spent a miserable night in a concrete underpass. Next day, having hitched to Penzance, we began walking west and made it to Land’s End. It was less than heroic, but over subsequent years I’ve done a lot more of the path, perhaps even most of it. I did not, however, go back to Plymouth. Bad memories. Now I discover that the path west of the city is considered the “forgotten” section, the bit least visited. That intrigues me.

A glance at the map shows how modern road and rail links into Cornwall from Plymouth bypass a sizeable peninsula of land, the Rame, formed by the English Channel, Plymouth Sound, and the rivers Lynher and Tamar. Before those car and train routes were built, travellers bound for Cornwall would usually cross the Rame. They would go down to the city docks and get themselves rowed across the Hamoaze, as this stretch of the Tamar is known, no doubt weaving through a chaotic throng of smacks, sloops, gigs and galleons. In 1811, one such traveller was the artist JMW Turner, who had himself ferried across, then set off walking around the coast, carrying six blank sketchbooks, lots of pencils and a fishing rod. He had been commissioned to contribute to one of the first tourist guides, Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England. We are walking the same route, but in the opposite direction.

Back on the beach at Downderry, having checked the tide times on my phone, we decide to trust in the blue rope. At a point where the cliff leaves only a few feet of shingle to pass, we discover why the helpful dog-owner had grinned. There is a naked man standing in the shallows.

British naturism often seems to feature pot-bellied middle-aged men staring out to sea like goose-pimpled Gormley statues. Battern Cliffs, I discover later, is an informal naturist beach.

Further down the strand, past a couple more quasi-Gormleys, we find the blue rope and scramble up through a beautiful cool forest of holm oaks. The plant life on this walk is a never-ending joy: from the tiny details of delicate ferns and spleenworts to the huge columns of giant viper’s bugloss and this sepulchral forest. Buried within the shade, we find the ruins of a Victorian folly, St Germans Hut, and connect back to the coastal path, strolling in sunshine along the tops all the way to Portwrinkle.

When Turner came here, Cornwall was not the tourist honeypot of today. Just a few years before he arrived, the oracle of what was “picturesque”, the Rev William Gilpin, had denounced the county as being “without a single beauty to recommend it”. Other grandees were equally scathing: “brooding evil” and “hideous and wicked” were among the kinder comments. Turner, however, led the vanguard in reassessment, filling his notebooks with quick-fire sketches that deftly captured the spirit of the land.

After a night in a friendly B&B in Sheviock (the owners take us to their favourite pub, the defiantly quirky Rod and Line in Tideford), we rejoin the path at Whitsand golf course. Soon after that, we encounter the biggest irritation of the South West Coast Path, one Turner never had to contend with: the Ministry of Defence. Red flags are flying over Tregantle Down and we’re forced to use the road. I know the Russians are about to invade and we should get ready, but surely they will be repulsed when they see our coastal Gormleys?

Despite the MoD, the next section up to and around Rame Head is one of the best, skirting secret little sandy coves and finishing along Plymouth Sound into the pretty village of Cawsand. This place has a fine seafood restaurant, The Bay, and some good pubs. (There is also a foot passenger summer ferry to Plymouth if you want to skip ahead.)

We stay the night nearby, then walk through the shady 865-acre Mount Edgcumbe country park. The gardens are filled with camellia varieties, but I’ve just missed the flowers, sadly. Get there in May, I reckon.

Emerging on the Tamar River, we catch the Cremyll foot ferry across the Narrows to Plymouth. If I still have bitter memories of that night in the concrete underpass in 1978, they are soon dispelled. The revitalised Royal William Yard is now home to a brewery, cafes and art studios. The sun is shining and there are warships manoeuvring out in the Sound. We stroll around to the Hoe where, during the summer of 1815, huge crowds gathered to watch a pot-bellied middle-aged man stare out to sea from the deck of another warship, the 74-gun Battle of Trafalgar veteran, HMS Bellerophon. Her cargo was the captured Emperor Napoleon, held here before being shipped to Saint Helena. The crowds cheered, causing outrage in some quarters.

We wander down to the refurbished lido and spot a set of steps and terraces. The sea is full of people swimming out to a couple of floating platforms. I have swum every day of this walk and I do so again. Plymouth and this forgotten slice of Cornwall, I have to admit, has fully redeemed itself.

The trip was provided by Inntravel, which has a six-night walking tour of Cornwall’s south-east coast with breakfasts, luggage transfers and route maps from £1,035

Putrajaya, Malaysia – When Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad turned 100 earlier this year, he marked his birthday by following a lifelong routine of discipline: he ate little, worked a lot, and did not succumb to the lure of rest.

“The main thing is that I work all the time. I don’t rest myself,” Mahathir told Al Jazeera.

“I am always using my mind and body. Keep your mind and body active, then you live longer,” he said.

From a desk at his office in Putrajaya city, south of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, he spent his centenary like most days: penning his thoughts on the Malaysian economy, the country’s political situation and unfolding world events, particularly the situation in Gaza.

Sitting down with Al Jazeera for an interview after recovering from a spell of exhaustion around the time of his birthday, Mahathir predicted that Israel’s ruthlessness against the Palestinian population of Gaza would be etched into world history.

Israel’s killing of nearly 66,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the majority women and children, will be remembered for generations, possibly for “centuries”, Mahathir said.

“Gaza is terrible. They killed pregnant mothers… babies just born, young people, boys and girls, men and women, the sick and the poor… How can this be forgotten?” he asked.

“It will not be forgotten for maybe centuries,” Mahathir said.

Describing the war in Gaza as a genocide that parallelled the killing of Muslims during the war in Bosnia in the early 1990s and the Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II, Mahathir said he was confounded that the people of Israel, who had experienced genocide, could, in turn, perpetrate a genocide.

“I thought people who suffered like that would not want to visit it on other people,” he said. Victims of a genocide should “not want to wish their fate to befall other people”.

However, in the case of Israel, he was wrong, he said.

At the height of his power in the 1980s and 1990s, Mahathir earned a reputation on the world stage as an outspoken voice for the Global South, and a vocal critic of Western imperialism and its contemporary exploitation of developing countries through flows of financial capital.

A staunch and lifelong supporter of the Palestinian cause, Mahathir was also roundly criticised for making “anti-Semitic” statements alongside his tirades against the West, particularly the United States.

But, as he told Al Jazeera, he had sympathised deeply with the Jewish people when the horrors of the Nazis became known after World War II.

Israelis, he now says, “did not learn anything from their experience”.

“They want the same thing that happened to them, they want to do it to the Arabs,” he said.

Now, the only “reasonable” way to address the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people is to implement a two-state solution, he added. But Mahathir said that such a solution – which received a major boost when Palestinian statehood was recently recognised by Australia, Belgium, Canada, France and the United Kingdom, among other countries – is still a very long way off, and he would not live to see it.

“In my lifetime, no. Too short a time,” he said.

China: ‘Number one country in the world’

A survivor of three heart attacks who pulled off a stunning political comeback in Malaysian public life when he was over 90 years of age, Mahathir held power for a combined total of 24 years, and earned himself what is likely to be the unassailable title as Malaysia’s longest-serving leader.

When he was born on July 10, 1925, in the northern Malaysian state of Kedah, the king of England was George V, the grandfather of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and Malaysia was a British colony known as Malaya.

He entered politics in the 1960s and became prime minister from 1981 to 2003 before stepping down, for the first time.

He then made an astonishing return to power in 2018, when he led a coalition of opposition parties to beat the long-governing Barisan Nasional party to be re-elected prime minister at the sprightly age of 92, becoming the world’s oldest leader as a result.

But he stepped down under a cloud for the last time in 2020 after losing support due to political machinations from inside his own political party, Bersatu.

A medical doctor by training, even Mahathir’s critics acknowledged that he laid the economic foundations that transformed Malaysia’s agricultural economy of the 1960s into the modern industrialised state of today, with the iconic twin Petronas Towers crowning the skyline of its thriving modern capital city, Kuala Lumpur.

Despite having lived past the age when most politicians would have retreated from the spotlight, Mahathir at 100 remains as vocal, sharp and acerbic as ever.

He also had some surprising memories of a bygone China and predictions about the future of the United States to share.

Among his prized recollections are his impressions of visiting China in the 1970s, when it was “very poor” and there were few cars on the streets.

Being Malaysia’s deputy prime minister at the time, authorities in Beijing rolled out the red carpet and their “Red Flag” model car to chauffeur him around, he said.

“It was a very big Chinese car which China produced themselves. They called it The Red Flag,” Mahathir said, recounting how that vehicle was among the first to be independently produced by the Chinese.

Fast forward to today, China’s economy has come a very long way, and so too has its thriving car industry, which is giving Western-produced cars a run for their money, particularly with electric vehicles.

China’s surpassing of the US to become the “number one country in the world” is inevitable, he said, due to its huge domestic market and hard-working population.

“It will take China 10 years to catch up with America. After that, China will overtake America,” Mahathir said.

“China by itself is bigger than Europe and America. It’s a huge market. It is quite rich. And Chinese people are very smart in business,” he said, recounting how, as a youth, he witnessed new Chinese migrants to Malaysia take on “very heavy work” to earn a living. Within a generation or two, those families had managed to improve their lives, give their children a good education, and some of their grandchildren had gone on to become quite wealthy.

‘America will not be able to compete with the rest of the world’

Contrasting contemporary China with the US under the presidency of Donald Trump, Mahathir said that Trump’s “tariff war” was “very damaging”, and his plans to bring production back to the US would increase costs and pave the way for China’s further rise.

“[Trump] wants companies to shift their factories to America. The wages are very high there. The work attitude there will be very different from Chinese workers, who can stay for hours and do the work,” he said.

“American workers cannot do that. Anything produced in America in the future, if they do move the factories there, will be costly,” he added.

“America will not be able to compete with the rest of the world.”

Importantly, Trump does not have the time to follow through on his promised economic vision, as it would take a minimum of three to eight years to move manufacturing facilities to the US, he said.

“And Trump will not be president any more after three years,” he added.

Despite being 100 years old , Mahathir walks unaided, exercises daily, goes to work every day and receives visitors.

He uses social media and travels outside of Malaysia whenever he receives invitations to be a guest speaker.

The key to longevity, Mahathir said, is to stay physically and mentally active and not overeat .

“Don’t eat so much,” he told Al Jazeera.

“My mother’s best advice to me was, ‘When the food tastes nice, stop eating.’”

Croydon Airport was once the largest airport in the world and was the UK’s main aerial hub before Heathrow took over – it was also the site of many famous flights

London and the surrounding area has been the setting for numerous extraordinary mega structures throughout the decades.

As Britain navigated its way through the technologically revolutionary 20th century, increasingly spectacular and striking venues were constructed to support these advancements.

Consider Brooklands, situated within Havering borough – this racing circuit was the globe’s pioneering track designed specifically for motorcars as society realised, similar to horses previously, that automobiles could serve sporting purposes beyond mere transportation.

READ MORE: NatWest to close 20 bank branches during October – full list

Nevertheless, Brooklands wasn’t the sole facility created to support technological progress, with airfields emerging across the capital to welcome increasingly massive and swift aircraft. Croydon Airport represented one such location.

Established in 1920 through combining Beddington and Waddon airfields, it subsequently transformed into RAF Station Croydon before shutting down in 1959.

Throughout its 39-year operation, it pioneered standards for global airports, housing the planet’s inaugural custom-built terminal, air traffic control tower and aviation hotel, reports MyLondon.

At its peak it ranked as the world’s largest airport, a distinction currently belonging to Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd International Airport. Furthermore, prior to Heathrow’s emergence, it served as Britain’s principal aviation centre, with Croydon claiming the distinction as the nation’s foremost aerial gateway.

Such was its reputation that shortly following the airport’s launch, The Times christened it “the official Charing Cross of international air travel” in 1920. At its height, the aviation hub provided services to destinations including Paris, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Berlin alongside routes to East Asia, Africa, the Middle East and India.

Additionally, it even provided pilot training with notable graduates, including aviator Amy Johnson and Winston Churchill. The former departed from the airfield at the beginning of one of her most celebrated journeys.

On her way to becoming the first woman to complete a solo flight to Australia, Amy departed before a gathering of 200,000 spectators from Croydon.

During wartime, Croydon served as a vital base for fighter planes protecting British airspace before returning to civilian operations in peacetime, then ultimately closing when Gatwick underwent redevelopment and expansion.

The airport’s primary structures remain today as the Croydon Airport Visitor Centre. While, the Historic Croydon Airport Trust helps preserve the site’s golden era.

Speaking to The Times about celebrated aviator Amy Johnson, volunteer Tony Francis stressed that Croydon Airport represented more than merely transportation.

He said: “It’s all those pioneers who were battling against the establishment of the time. Not only with technology at its leading edge but also breaking down barriers, showing there were opportunities for everybody.”

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Report says ethnic violence has risen as the civil war passed two-year anniversary in the first half of 2025.

Civilians are bearing the brunt as Sudan‘s vicious civil war extends and intensifies, the United Nations has warned.

The UN’s Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said in a report released on Friday that civilian deaths and ethnic violence rose significantly as the war passed its two-year anniversary during the first half of 2025. The same day, reports said that dozens were killed by paramilitaries in an attack on a mosque in Darfur.

The rate of civilian deaths across Sudan has increased, the report says, with 3,384 civilians dying in the first six months of the year, a figure equalling 80 percent of the 4,238 civilian deaths throughout the whole of 2024.

“Sudan’s conflict is a forgotten one, and I hope that my office’s report puts the spotlight on this disastrous situation where atrocity crimes, including war crimes, are being committed,” OHCHR chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

#Sudan crisis deepens amid rising civilian casualties, worsening ethnic violence & humanitarian situation, finds @UNHumanRights report.

States must face grim reality of what has now evolved into a wider protection crisis & use their influence to end this conflict.

Many more… pic.twitter.com/c7OOcLUgdH

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) September 19, 2025

“Several trends remained consistent during the first half of 2025: a continued pervasiveness of sexual violence, indiscriminate attacks, and the widespread use of retaliatory violence against civilians, particularly on an ethnic basis, targeting individuals accused of ‘collaboration’ with opposing parties,” said the report.

New trends include the use of drones, including in attacks on civilian sites and in Sudan’s north and east, which until now have been largely spared by the war, it said.

“The increasing ethnicisation of the conflict, which builds on longstanding discrimination and inequalities, poses grave risks for longer-term stability and social cohesion within the country,” said Turk.

“Many more lives will be lost without urgent action to protect civilians and without the rapid and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.”

Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a brutal war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced some 12 million people. The UN has described it as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with famine prevalent in parts of Darfur and southern Sudan.

The war has, in effect, split the country, with the army holding the north, east and centre, while the RSF dominates parts of the south and nearly all of the western Darfur region.

Efforts by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to broker a ceasefire between the warring parties have so far failed.

The RSF killed 43 civilians in a drone strike on a mosque early on Friday in the besieged city of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, the Sudan Doctors’ Network NGO said in a social media post.

The NGO labelled the attack a “heinous crime” against unarmed civilians that showed the group’s “blatant disregard for humanitarian and religious values and international law”.

The Resistance Committees in el-Fasher, a group comprised of local citizens from the community that includes human rights activists, who track abuses, posted a video reportedly showing parts of the mosque reduced to rubble with several bodies scattered on the site, now filled with debris.

The same group reported on Thursday that the RSF had targeted several unarmed civilians, including women and older adults, in displacement shelters in the city.

A day earlier, it said that heavy artillery by the RSF had continuously targeted residential neighbourhoods.

Empire of the Sun was released in 1987 and is based on J.G Ballard’s novel of the same name. It stars Christian Bale and is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video

The war epic that catapulted Steven Spielberg into the ranks of Hollywood’s top directors is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Empire of the Sun, which hit cinemas in 1987, features a glittering cast including Christian Bale.

Adapted from J. G Ballard’s novel bearing the same title, this 2hrs 32 min spectacle chronicles the life of Jamie ‘Jim’ Graham – portrayed by the erstwhile Batman actor – a well-heeled British lad residing in Shanghai during the early stages of World War II.

Separated from his parents amidst the Japanese invasion, he is ultimately captured and dispatched to an internment camp where he encounters the intriguing American wheeler-dealer, Basie, enacted by Of Mice and Men (1992) actor John Malkovich.

Striving to endure the severe conditions, Jim aspires to preserve his youthful innocence amid the turmoil and loss, reports the Express.

The cast also includes Southport-born Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers known for Coronation Street (2009-2019) and Chariots of Fire (1981), and The Matrix (1999) star Joe Pantoliano.

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has awarded Empire of the Sun a critic score of 77%, while the audience score stands at a commendable 90%.

The film was highly acclaimed upon its release and is often hailed as the hidden jewel in Spielberg’s trove of blockbusters, with some asserting it surpasses the likes of Jaws (1975), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and Schindler’s List (1993) as his finest work.

Don’t just take our word for it, with one critic saying: “One of Steven Spielberg’s most ambitious efforts of the 1980s, Empire of the Sun remains an underrated gem in the director’s distinguished filmography.

“Stephen Spielberg’s graduation to grown-up film-making,” added a second, while another added: “Empire of the Sun is a great, overwrought movie that leaves one wordless and worn out.”

Matt, a superfan of the movie, posted on Rotten Tomatoes: “This is one of my favorite films of all time. I’ve been watching it since it came out and it’s just as good each time I see it.

“Absolute stellar cast and should have won a lot of awards. This is actually my favorite Speilberg WWII movie.”

Empire of the Sun is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

It’s been eight years since more than 700,000 Rohingya were forced from their homes in Myanmar, facing a campaign of mass violence, arson and sexual violence at the hands of the military.

The Muslim-minority Rohingya fled from Rakhine State in the country’s west, into neighbouring Bangladesh.

It’s where an estimated one-and-a-half million Rohingya live today – in the world’s largest refugee camp.

But, Bangladesh and aid agencies say the nearly decade-long humanitarian operation is simply unsustainable.

They are warning that severe funding shortfalls could push the crisis to the breaking point.

So, what’s hampering efforts to repatriate more than a million refugees?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests: 

Yasmin Ullah – Executive director of Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network and human rights activist

Farah Kabir –  Country director for Action Aid Bangladesh

Abbas Faiz – Independent South Asia Researcher with a focus on Bangladesh

ONE year ago, having nicely slotted into England’s midfield at Euro 2024, it seemed Kobbie Mainoo could do no wrong.

But now the Manchester United star is already at a crossroads in his career at the age of 20 — with only the love of the fans for comfort.

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After joining United at the age of six, the thought of Mainoo leaving Old Trafford is unthinkable for many supporters.

But the Stockport lad continues to face a brutal battle to secure a spot in the 4-3-2-1 system of manager Ruben Amorim.

His emergence in the 2023–24 season under former boss Erik ten Hag felt like the long-awaited unveiling of United’s next midfield maestro.

Mainoo — who, along with Alejandro Garnacho, became the first teenager to score in the FA Cup final since Cristiano Ronaldo’s strike against Millwall in 2004 — was considered the future of the club.

Weeks after his Wembley triumph, Mainoo’s vision and composure solved Gareth Southgate’s midfield conundrum during England’s surge to the Euros final.

He was regarded as one of Europe’s brightest talents.

That was highlighted by his third-place finish in last year’s Kopa Trophy, which is awarded to the world’s best under-21 talent and was won by Lamine Yamal.

But the youngster suffered the first major setback of his career just months after the Euros as he missed 17 games when fatigue brought about two different muscle injuries.

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And Mainoo, whose contract talks stalled months ago, now has two new managers to impress in Amorim and Thomas Tuchel — and it seems the former is not keen at all.

Unlike ex-England boss Southgate, Amorim seems to lack faith in the academy graduate to fix United’s midfield mess.

In the week former Red Devils star Scott McTominay earned a Ballon d’Or nod, Amorim ramped up his search for upgrades on Manuel Ugarte, 24, and veteran Casemiro, 33.

That search led United to make contact with Brighton about a potential move for 21-year-old holding midfielder Carlos Baleba, who the Seagulls value at £100million.

Mainoo, who has beefed his body up this summer, looked at home as a No 8 for two pre-season games during their US tour.

But new arrivals Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha are set to start the season as the two No 10s, meaning skipper Bruno Fernandes is expected to make a permanent switch to a deeper midfield role.

The only reasonable spot left for Mainoo would be next to Fernandes in the double pivot — but Casemiro and Ugarte seem to hold favour there.

With United out of Europe, there will not be as many opportunities to play in the reduced schedule.

MAN UTD PLAYER RATINGS: Bryan Mbeumo eases pressure on Bruno Fernandes but Matheus Cunha lacks sharpness vs Fiorentina

BRYAN MBEUMO showed fans what they’ve been missing as Manchester United beat Fiorentina 5-4 on penalties in their final pre-season friendly.

United were a mixed bag in their final summer warm-up game- and the only one at Old Trafford – before the start of the new season next Sunday.

United unveiled their four new signings but it was Benjamin Sesko – who was announced from RB Leipzig before kick-off – that got the loudest roar from fans.

And this match proved how much they needed him…

Here’s how SunSport’s Man Utd reporter Katherine Walsh rated the players…

And if Mainoo keeps warming the bench, it does not bode well for his chances of making Three Lions boss Tuchel’s squad for the World Cup next summer.

Mainoo got the last 20 minutes of United’s final pre-season friendly against Fiorentina on Saturday, before his team-mates made a beeline for him after he scored the penalty-shootout winner after a 1-1 draw.

It has gone quiet on the new contract and bumped-up wages front for Mainoo.

The club have struggled to nail him down to fresh terms, with Chelsea and Tottenham now waiting with open arms.

While fellow Cup final scorer and academy graduate Garnacho is up for sale, losing Mainoo would be a devastating blow.

He is a Mancunian through-and-through and a boyhood fan.

With the 1958 United supporter group set to protest against Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazers before Sunday’s Prem opener against Arsenal, their outrage would pale in comparison to the grief of losing Mainoo — and especially to a rival.

Man Utd’s transfer deals

IN

• Bryan Mbeumo – from Brentford – £71m
• Matheus Cunha – from Wolves – £62.5m
• Diego Leon – from Cerro Porteno – £7m

TOTAL – £140.5m

OUT

• Victor Lindelof – released
• Christian Eriksen – released

TOTAL – £0m

MAN UTD TRANSFER NEWS LIVE

VIKTOR GYOKERES is wearing the No14 shirt made famous by Thierry Henry and the Swede is also looking to become an Arsenal legend.

Unfortunately for the club’s big summer signing, he had just 14 touches on his Emirates debut before being replaced in the 62nd minute, so this will not be a night he looks back with fondness.

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Play Dream Team now!

Play The Sun Dream Team ahead of the 2025/26 season

Not that it really matters, obviously.

If Viktor Gyokeres fires the goals to end Arsenal’s role as permanent Premier League bridesmaids to clinch the title, and there is no reason why he cannot, the Swede will be forgiven if he takes time to adjust in north London.

On the night all eyes were on the new arrival from Sporting Lisbon, absolutely no-one had taken any notice of Villarreal’s Nicolas Pepe.

So while we all expected an expensive signing by Arsenal to score, you would not have had any money on it being £72m Arsenal flop Pepe.

Villarreal’s Ivory Coast international scored the first goal and Karl Etta Eyong made it 2-0 before new arrival Christian Norgaard scored with a header.

Yet while we have spent the last few weeks talking about the need of a top striker, Mikel Arteta’s team will have to defend better than this, and sub Arnaut Danjuma made it 3-1 before Martin Odegaard pulled one back from the penalty spot.

Villarreal then won a penalty shoot-out 4-3 with another new arrival, Noni Madueke, missing the decisive spot-kick.

Gyokeres, who cost £8.5million less than Pepe, made his club debut as a 77th minute substitute against Spurs in Hong Kong but was given a heroes’ welcome at a packed Emirates.

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If Arsenal are to get the best out of their new all-singing, all-dancing goal machine, they will have to give him more ammunition.

Equally, Gyokeres did not have a proper pre-season as he barely trained in Lisbon.

He will soon be in better shape and has another run-out on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao.

Gyokeres tried to score his first goal in spectacular style but failed to connect with an attempted bicycle kick from Bukayo Saka’s cross and he had few other chances.

In terms of the way he moves and the fact has blonde hair, it was a bit like having Nicklas Bendtner back at the Emirates although it is safe to say Gyokeres will do a bit better than the cocky Dane.

Arteta also gave second half Emirates debuts to Christhian Mosquera, Martin Zubimendi, keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and Madueke. 

Yet the comedy moment of the night was Pepe opening the scoring from close range and then refusing to celebrate.

Pepe arrived from Lille for that massive amount in 2019 and scored just 27 goals in 112 appearances before joining Trabzonspor on a free transfer in 2023.

Many Arsenal fans probably did not realise that Pepe was even playing in this fixture although there was a mixture of jeers and applause when his name was read out after scoring.

Etta Eyong scored at the far post for 2-0 before former Brentford captain Norgaard pulled one back with a far post header before the break.

The biggest roar of the night came just after the hour when 15-year-old Max Dowman was unleashed.

Villarreal caught Arsenal on the break with former Bournemouth forward Danjuma making it 3-1 before Dowman won a penalty and Odegaard, who replaced Gyokeres, got Arsenal’s second.

There was still a shoot-out although Madueke saw his shot saved with one fan shouting: “send him back to Chelsea.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal – yet again – have fitness concerns.

Both defender Riccardo Calafiori, who suffered an injury on the tour, along with Kai Havertz, were missing from the squad.

Mark Womack is back on our screens tonight in Unforgivable but he previously played a major villain in one of Britain’s top soaps.

Mark Womack is back on our screens tonight in Unforgivable, and will be seen alongside Anna Friel and Anna Maxwell Martin when the new drama premieres on BBC Two. The actor, 64, is no stranger to the small screen, having appeared in episodes of Judge John Deed, Vera, and Silent Witness over the years.

He had a regular role on Liverpool 1 in the late 1990s, where he met and later married co-star Samantha Janus, who later found huge success as Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders, although they divorced in 2018. But Mark was also recently part of one of Britain’s staple soap operas for a period of time.

Throughout 2020, he appeared as DI Mark Malone on ITV’s Emmerdale and turned up in the village to investigate the shooting of Nate Robinson (Jurell Carter). Over time, it became apparent that his character was corrupt and, as the boss of Will Taylor (Dean Andrews), decided to blackmail his colleague, along with Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) and Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle), into joining forces with him. He later started up an affair with Harriet Finch (Katherine Dow Blyton). When Harriet is about to get married to Will, Will decides to try framing Will for possession of drugs, but Will found out and bludgeoned his boss with a spanner.

Dawn Taylor ( Olivia Bromley ) then threatened to report him to the police, but the corrupt copper found out and tried to force her into a drug overdose. But his evil plan was interrupted when Harriet walked in and hit him over the head, which led to Dawn fatally shooting him. Just over two years later, Harriet herself was killed off in 2022, when she died amid the show’s 50th anniversary episodes.

Speaking about his character at the time, Mark said: “In a different world he would quite like Dawn, he probably thinks she is ballsy. That relationship has never been given the chance to form, and what he hates is people who betray him.

“Even though there is no relationship with Dawn, in his head once someone betrays you especially in the way that she does it, she compromises everything, his future, his plans it’s unforgivable.”

His final appearance on the show came in August 2020, and Mark has since been seen in an episode of Moving On and then became a regular in The Responder opposite Martin Freeman, Adelayo Adedayo and Shameless star Warren Brown.

Unforgivable is a powerful new drama penned by the legendary Cracker and Time screenwriter Jimmy McGovern and amongst its stellar cast also features Adolescence child star Austin Haynes. The drama arrives on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Thursday 24 July, with episodes kicking off on BBC Two, from 9pm that same evening.

Set in Liverpool, the production follows the lives of the Mitchell family, who have been dealing with the aftermath of grooming and sexual abuse. After serving a two-year jail sentence, Bobby Schofield, the person who committed the disturbing crimes, was released from prison. Bobby is ordered to carry out a residential rehabilitation programme upon his release, to understand through therapy what may have led him to commit such an awful crime.

The series aims to understand all viewpoints and how abuse can impact every single person within a family setting. “Unforgivable examines the extensive ripple effect of abuse from multiple perspectives and how those involved can try to move forwards in the midst of the devastation,” explained the BBC.

Its synopsis reads: “Having served his prison sentence, Joe (Bobby Schofield) arrives at St Maura’s, an institution which offers him a home and rehabilitation after his release.

With the support of Katherine ( Anna Maxwell Martin ), an ex-nun, Joe undertakes therapy sessions in the hope of understanding what led him to commit the abuse.” The overview further states: “Simultaneously, his sister, Anna (Anna Friel), is dealing with the enormous impact that Joe’s crime has had on her family – her sons, Tom (Austin Haynes) and Peter (Finn McParland), and her father, Brian (David Threlfall).”

Unforgivable will air on BBC Two at 9pm this Thursday and will be available on BBC iPlayer from the same day.

He inveighs against illegal immigration in terms more appropriate for a vermin infestation. He wants all people without papers deported immediately, damn the cost. He thinks Los Angeles is a cesspool and that flying the Mexican flag in the United States is an act of insurrection. He uses the internet mostly to share crude videos and photos depicting Latinos as subhuman.

Stephen Miller? Absolutely.

But every time I hear the chief architect of Donald Trump’s scorched earth immigration policies rail in uglier and uglier terms, I recall another xenophobe I hadn’t thought of in awhile.

For nearly 30 years, Glenn Spencer fought illegal immigration in Los Angeles and beyond with a singular obsession. The former Sherman Oaks resident kicked off his campaign, he told The Times in a 2001 profile, after seeing Latinos looting during the 1992 L.A. riots and thinking, “Oh, my God, there are so many of them and they are so out of control.”

Spencer was a key volunteer who pushed for the passage of Prop. 187, the 1994 California ballot initiative that sought to make life miserable for undocumented immigrants and was so punitive that a federal judge later ruled it unconstitutional. A multiplatform influencer before that became commonplace, Spencer hosted a local radio show, produced videos that he mailed to all members of Congress warning about an “invasion” and turned his vitriolic newsletter into a website, American Patrol, that helped connect nativist groups across the country.

American Patrol’s home page was a collection of links to newspaper articles about suspected undocumented immigrants alleged to have committed crimes. While Spencer regularly trashed Muslims and other immigrants, he directed most of his bile at Mexicans.

A “Family Values” button on the website, in the colors of the Mexican flag, highlighted sex crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants. Editorial cartoons featured a Mexican flag piercing a hole in California with the caption “Sink-hole de Mayo.”

Long before conservative activists recorded themselves infiltrating the conferences of political enemies, Spencer was doing it. He provoked physical fights at protests and published reams of digital nonsense against Latino politicians, once superimposing a giant sombrero on an image of Antonio Villaraigosa with the epithet, “Viva Mexico!”

On the morning Villaraigosa, the future L.A. mayor, was to be sworn in as speaker of the assembly in 1998, every seat in the legislative chamber was topped by a flier labeling him a communist and leader of the supposed Mexican takeover of California.

“I don’t remember if his name was on it, but it was all his terminology,” said Villaraigosa, who recalled how Spencer helped make his college membership in the Chicano student group MEChA an issue in his 2001 mayoral loss to Jim Hahn. “But he never had the balls to talk to me in person.”

Spencer became the Johnny Appleseed of the modern-day Know Nothing movement, lecturing to groups of middle-aged gringos about his work — first across the San Fernando Valley, then in small towns where Latinos were migrating in large numbers for the first time.

“California [it] has often been said is America’s future. Let me tell you about your future,” he told the Council of Conservative Citizens in Virginia in 1999.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks with the media outside the White House in Washington, DC, on May 9, 2025.

(Saul Loeb/ AFP via Getty Images)

Spencer is the person most responsible for mainstreaming the lie of Reconquista, the wacko idea that Mexicans came to the U.S. not for economic reasons but because of a plot concocted by the Mexican government to take back the lands lost in the 1848 Mexican-American War. He wrote screeds like “Is Jew-Controlled Hollywood Brainwashing Americans?” and threatened libel lawsuits against anyone — myself included — who dared point out that he was a racist.

He was a favorite punching bag of the mainstream media, a slovenly suburban Ahab doomed to fail. The Times wrote in 2001 that Spencer “foresaw millions of converts” to his anti-immigrant campaign, “only to see his temple founder.”

Moving to southern Arizona in 2002, the better to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border, Spencer spent the rest of his life trying to sell state and federal authorities on border-monitoring technology he developed that involved planes, drones and motion-detection sensors. His move inspired other conservatives to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border on their own.

By the Obama era, he was isolated even from other anti-immigrant activists for extremist views like banning foreign-language media and insisting that every person who came to this country illegally was a drug smuggler. Even the rise of Trump didn’t bring Spencer and his work back into the limelight.

He was so forgotten that I didn’t even realize he was dead until Googling his name recently, after enduring another Miller rant. Spencer’s hometown Sierra Vista’s Herald Review was the only publication I found that made any note of his death from cancer in 2022 at age 85, describing his life’s work as bringing “the crisis of illegal immigration to the forefront of the American public’s consciousness.”

That’s a whitewash worthy of Tom Sawyer’s picket fence.

We live in Glenn Spencer’s world, a place where the nastier the rhetoric against illegal immigration and the crueler the government’s efforts against all migrants, the better. Every time a xenophobe makes Latinos out to be an invading force, every time someone posts a racist message on social media or Miller throws another tantrum on Fox News, Glenn Spencer gets his evil wings.

Spencer “stood out among a vile swamp of racists and crackpots like a tornado supercell on radar,” said Brian Levin, chair of the California Civil Rights Department’s Commission on the State of Hate and founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, who monitored American Patrol for years. “What’s frightening now is that hate like his used to be well-segregated from the mainstream. Now, the guardrails are off, and what Spencer advocated for is federal policy.”

I first found out about Spencer in 1999 as a student activist at Chapman University. Spencer applauded the Anaheim Union High School District’s decision to sue Mexico for the cost of educating undocumented immigrants’ children, describing those of us who opposed it as communists — when he was being nice. His American Patrol described MEChA, which I, like Villaraigosa, belonged to, as a “scourge” and a “sickness.”

His website was disgusting, but it became a must-read of mine. I knew even then that ignoring hate allows it to fester, and I wanted to figure out why people like Spencer despised people like me, my family and my friends. So I regularly covered him and his allies in my early years as a reporter with an obsession that was a reverse mirror of his. Colleagues and even activists said my work was a waste of time — that people like Spencer were wheezing artifacts who would eventually disappear as the U.S. embraced Latinos and immigrants.

And here we are.

Spencer usually sent me legal threats whenever I wrote about his ugly ways — threats that went nowhere. That’s why I was surprised at how relatively polite he was the last time we communicated, in 2019.

I reached out via email asking for an interview for a Times podcast I hosted about the 25th anniversary of Prop. 187. By then, Spencer was openly criticizing Trump’s planned border wall, which he found a waste of money and not nearly as efficient as his own system. Spencer initially said he would consider my request, while sending me an article he wrote that blamed Prop. 187’s demise on then-California Gov. Gray Davis and Mexico’s president at the time, Ernesto Zedillo.

When I followed up a few months later, Spencer bragged about the legacy of his website, which he hadn’t regularly updated since 2013 due to declining health. The American Patrol archives “would convince the casual observer that The Times did what it could do [to] defeat my efforts and advance the cause of illegal immigration,” Spencer wrote. “Do I think The Times has changed its spots? No. Will I agree to an interview? No.”

Levin hadn’t heard about Spencer’s death until we talked.

“I thought he went into irrelevance,” he admitted with a chuckle that he quickly cut off, realizing he had forgotten about Spencer’s legacy in the era of Trump.

“We ignored that cough, that speck in the X-ray,” Levin concluded, now somber. “And now, we have cancer.”

Bubbly presenter Katy Hill hosted many popular TV shows in the late 1990s and early 2000s and even had her own Capital FM radio show – these days she works in an entirely different profession and looks very different

Blue Peter legend Katy Hill is now working in a totally different career and has set up her own business after rising to fame in the late 90s on some of the biggest TV and radio shows there were.

She hosted the much-loved kids’ show CBBC from 1995 to 2000, before moving to BBC One’s Live and Kicking until 2001. During her time on Blue Peter she was known for taking on daring stunts and even became the first civilian to fly with the Red Arrows. After her success on the show and thanks to her popularity she went on to host Top of the Pops, Football Fever, BBC’s Holiday and her own weekend show on Capital FM.

Katy, who is now 54, also regularly contributed to glossy mags like Cosmopolitan Hair and Beauty, Hello! and Closer, and it was in 2004 that she bagged second place on Channel 4’s The Games. Later in her career, she hosted radio shows for Heart Radio, penned weekly blogs and stepped in as a relief presenter on ITV’s Daybreak, reports OK!.

However, these days, Katy is less of a fixture on our telly boxes. as she’s now a life coach, having launched her own business. Describing herself as an ‘Internationally Certified Success and Confidence Coach’, she frequently posts motivational content on social media. Katy also runs her own newsletter, The Limitless List, which offers inspiring quotes and messages.

In addition to her TV career, she also offers programmes, live groups and one-on-one coaching to support her members. Katy’s Instagram bio states: “The shy kid who refused to play small and spent 30 years on TV! Now empowering women like YOU to UNLOCK your CONFIDENCE and CLAIM the SUCCESS you deserve!”

Katy is happily married to Trey Farley, her former co-host on Live and Kicking. The pair have been happily married for more than two decades and are parents to two children, Kaya and Akira. In July 2023, Katy and Trey marked their 20th wedding anniversary, with the former TV presenter posting a heartfelt tribute to her spouse on social media.

She uploaded pictures from their wedding day and wrote: “20 Years of US! 20 Years of Mr and Mrs Farley! What a ride we’re on @rocaflix … nobody else I’d rather be doing LIFE with! Happy 20 babe! Let’s make more amazing memories! X (Ours was the Hans Zimmer version – obvs! )”.

Before tying the knot with Trey, Katy was previously married to her childhood love, Andrew Frampton. They got hitched in 1999 but parted ways in 2001.

A Channel 4 sitcom, starring a Death in Paradise favourite, is now trending on Prime Video despite having been released over a decade ago

A sitcom featuring Ardal O’Hanlon that originally aired over a decade ago has found new popularity on Prime Video.

London Irish, which first graced Channel 4 in 2013, boasts a star-studded cast including Death in Paradise’s Ardal O’Hanlon and Derry Girls’ Peter Campion. The show centres around a group of Belfast expats navigating life in London.

The series was the brainchild of Lisa McGee, the creative force behind Derry Girls. Despite only running for six episodes and Channel 4 deciding against a second season, London Irish has found renewed interest.

Now available on Prime Video, the show has been given the ‘trending now’ label, demonstrating its enduring appeal 12 years after its initial release.

The cast also features Sinéad Keenan, known for her role in Unforgotten, Game of Thrones actor Ker Logan, No Offence’s Tracey Lynch, and Kat Reagan, reports Wales Online.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator and star of BBC’s Fleabag, also makes a guest appearance in London Irish, portraying a character named Steph in one episode.

The synopsis for London Irish reads: “Conor and Bronagh are twenty-something siblings from Northern Ireland who, along with friends Packy and Niamh, are trying to make their way through London life.

“The foursome find navigating the big city challenging, particularly as they’re playing by their own unique set of rules, leading to all sorts of mischief.

“Conor is highly unpredictable and tends to just go with unbelievable things that tend to happen to him while his older sister, Bronagh, is the opposite of him – cynical, dark and fierce. Self-confident Niamh is ambitious and can be ruthless when she doesn’t get what she wants.

“Packy is the closest thing the group has to a parental figure and tries to keep the others in line but often gets dragged into their madness.”

Ardal, who portrays Chris in the sitcom, first gained recognition in Father Ted before joining BBC One’s Death in Paradise as DI Jack Mooney.

He left the popular drama series in 2020, but recently appeared in spin-off series Return to Paradise. His character featured remotely as part of a storyline with DI Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson).

London Irish is available to stream now on Prime Video.

THE CLUB WORLD CUP is fast approaching as teams prepare to do battle in the US this month.

The expanded tournament will see 32 teams compete for the coveted trophy and a reported £100million jackpot.

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The first-ever edition of the new Club World Cup format will take place in the US.

Chelsea and Manchester City are the sole representatives from the Premier League.

But there are a host of other big-name teams from around the world.

And as a result, there are numerous star players turning out — including those who have vanished from recent memory…

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GK: HUGO LLORIS (LAFC)

Tottenham’s former captain, 38, joined LAFC at the start of 2024 and has already cemented his place as a fan favourite.

Lloris has clocked up 67 appearances in that short time, hot on the heels of his 447 outings in London.

The World Cup-winning stopper has even landed a trophy in the City of Angels, scooping the US Open Cup in September.

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And after helping LAFC win a playoff to replace Club Leon, Lloris will be between the sticks for the Group D opener against Chelsea on June 16.

But his presence is sure to reignite the Blues’ capital rivalry with Spurs.

CB: SERGIO RAMOS (MONTERREY)

Having led Real Madrid to four Club World Cups in the past, Ramos will be feeling confident he can help Mexican side Monterrey get far this summer.

The centre-back is already captaining the team just four months after joining following spells at Paris Saint-Germain and Sevilla.

But at 39 years of age, Ramos has shown he has still got what it takes to boss a defence.

And he will need to be at his best to help Monterrey get past Inter Milan and River Plate in Group E.

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CB: THIAGO SILVA (FLUMINENSE)

Once a Chelsea icon, always a Chelsea icon.

Even at 40 years old, Silva would still likely walk back into the Blues’ XI.

Instead, he is king of the hill at Fluminense, saving them from relegation in his first season.

And Silva’s know-how should help the Brazilians get out of a group which includes German giants Borussia Dortmund.

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CB: NICOLAS OTAMENDI (BENFICA)

A two-time Premier League winner with Man City, Otamendi has gone on to win more trophies since leaving the Etihad.

Having now completed five seasons at Benfica, the 37-year-old has a Portuguese league title to boot.

And he even played a key role in Argentina’s World Cup win in 2022.

Otamendi is just one of several big forgotten names playing at Benfica, who are in a tough group with Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors.

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RWB: JOAO CANCELO (AL-HILAL)

Once regarded as the best full-back in world football, Cancelo’s fall from grace was swift after starring at giants including Inter Milan, Juventus, Man City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

He is now playing in Saudi Arabia, earning a fortune with moneybags Al-Hilal.

At the age of 31, Cancelo is still playing in his prime years.

And he will be looking to inflict damage when Al-Hilal come up against reigning champions Real Madrid in Group H.

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CM: ANDER HERRERA (BOCA JUNIORS)

It’s been six years since Herrera, 35, lit up Old Trafford in a Manchester United shirt.

His tenacity in midfield endeared him to supporters while raking in FOUR trophies including the FA Cup and Europa League.

After playing for PSG and a second spell at Athletic Bilbao, Herrera now finds himself in Argentina with Boca Juniors.

But just six appearances in all competitions since his January switch means Herrera may not be guaranteed a starting spot in the US.

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CM: RUBEN NEVES (AL-HILAL)

Why he was not snapped up by a fellow Premier League club while at Wolves remains a mystery.

Neves, 28, is only entering his prime now and continues to be a key player for Portugal.

Yet he finds himself playing in Saudi with Al-Hilal, completing a shock move two years ago before leading them to a Treble last season.

Neves would still walk into most European squads and could attract interest with some strong Club World Cup performances — but that’s only if he wants to leave the riches of the Middle East.

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LWB: ALEX TELLES (BOTAFOGO)

A miserable time at Manchester United saw Telles, 32, fail to live up to the hype as one of Europe’s best left-footers.

After winning trophies galore at Galatasaray and Porto, he left Old Trafford empty-handed after just two years.

But he has enjoyed plenty of success since then, winning trophies at Sevilla, Al-Nassr and now Botafogo.

The Brazilian champs are coming in with a host of experienced homegrown talents and Telles’ deadly free-kicks are likely to cause some damage.

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CAM: ANGEL DI MARIA (BENFICA)

Man United’s flop winger is returning to boyhood Argentina club Rosario Central this summer — but only after he leads out Benfica for the final time at the Club World Cup.

Ignoring his duff sole season in the north west, Di Maria’s record means he will go down as one of football’s most talented and decorated wingers ever.

His two years at Benfica have not yielded any trophies, however.

And Di Maria, 37, will be desperate to make amends before leaving Europe for good.

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ST: EDINSON CAVANI (BOCA JUNIORS)

Another former United player, Cavani will feel he did not do himself justice during his two seasons in England.

Having also struggled at Valencia, the 38-year-old is now leading the way for Argentine giants Boca Juniors

20 goals in 39 games last year showed Cavani still has an eye for goal.

And although his pace may have gone, the experienced Uruguayan’s sheer physicality and clever movement will surely see him in the mix for the Golden Boot.

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ST: OLIVIER GIROUD (LAFC)

Last but not least, Giroud will face off against old side Chelsea later this month.

His extra-time assist helped LAFC book their place at the tournament ahead of Club America.

Giroud has already become a talisman for his Californian side, preferring the role of creator to goalscorer.

And his cunning know-how could help the experienced poacher nick a goal when he faces off against a young Blues defence.

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Shati refugee camp, Gaza – Inside a stifling tent in Shati, one of Gaza’s overcrowded displacement camps, 30-year-old Raneem Abu Al-Eish cares for her sisters, Aseel, 51, and Afaf, 33.

They sit close to Raneem, laughing at times and at others growing agitated when the cries of children playing outside get too loud.

Aseel and Afaf suffer from celiac disease and intellectual disabilities that impair their speech, understanding, and behaviour – conditions that have only deepened under the strain of war and displacement.

They struggle to express themselves, often overwhelmed by their environment, Raneem explains. While she doesn’t know the medical term for their condition, the symptoms at times mirror Tourette syndrome.

‘People laugh, it devastates them’

The cramped tent shelters seven family members: Raneem, her two sisters, their elderly parents, and another sister with her husband.

Raneem’s mother is frail, and her father is still recovering from an injury sustained in Israel’s relentless war on Gaza, leaving Raneem to shoulder their care alone.

The family used to live in Jabalia camp’s Block 2, until Israel destroyed their home eight months ago. Since then, they have moved from relatives’ homes to makeshift shelters, then to an overcrowded United Nations school.

Now they are in this tent, which traps sweltering heat by midday and lets the bitter cold seep through its thin walls in the night.

Privacy and dignity are nearly impossible in the crowded tent. “When they need to change, we try to get the others to step out,” Raneem says. “But it’s not always possible.”

Yet that is only part of the ordeal for Aseel and Afaf, who are bullied daily due to their conditions.

“People don’t understand what my sisters go through,” Raneem says softly. “They judge by appearances, assuming they’re fine. But they aren’t. They need care, patience, dignity.”

Life in the camp overwhelms Aseel. “She finds it hard to cope with noise or sudden changes,” Raneem explains. “When that happens, she gets distressed – she shouts, cries, sometimes lashes out.”

Afaf, meanwhile, struggles with involuntary movements and impulsive behaviours. “A small argument or loud voice can trigger her,” Raneem adds.

“She doesn’t know how to control it,” she says, which makes it all the more sad that Afaf is frequently targeted for mockery, especially by children.

Using communal bathrooms brings repeated humiliation. “Every bathroom visit becomes a spectacle. People laugh, make cruel remarks, and it devastates them,” Raneem says.

Israel took their protector

The family’s greatest blow came six months ago, when Mohammad, Raneem’s 22-year-old brother, was taken by Israel.

Mohammad had gone to Kamal Adwan Hospital for surgery after a hand injury. While he was there, Israel raided the hospital on October 25 and seized Mohammad. Since then, the family knows nothing about his whereabouts.

Mohammad was the sibling most adept at navigating the outside world. “He got their medicines, managed hospital visits, dealt with aid agencies,” Raneem explains. “Without him, we’re completely alone.”

Since his detention, the sisters face worsening food shortages and a lack of medical care. “He was their protector,” Raneem says, her voice breaking. “Now we have no one.”

Between March and May, intensified bombing again displaced 436,000 Palestinians, many for the second, third or fourth time since the October 2023 beginning of the war. For families like Raneem’s – already in tents or shelters – each new wave of violence means starting over again, often without food or medicine.

For Aseel and Afaf, even basic nutrition is rife with threats. Celiac sufferers cannot eat gluten, which damages their small intestines.

In a starving Gaza where there is little to eat other than wheat-flour bread, which contains gluten, there is little chance that Raneem can find vegetables or meat for the sisters, especially with Mohammad detained.

Without gluten-free flour, Aseel and Afaf risk severe malnutrition, and they have gotten a dismally small amount of the 80 tonnes of gluten-free flour that aid agencies have thus far delivered to Gaza.

Much of it was blocked by closed borders, damaged roads, and broken distribution systems. “The little that reaches us is too expensive or too late,” Raneem says.

Begging for empathy, again and again

Before the war, Aseel and Afaf had routine medical care at Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Their conditions required special diets, medication, and regular therapy, needs now nearly impossible to meet.

Psychological specialist Dr Sara al-Wahidi says the war has sharply worsened the marginalisation of people with disabilities in Gaza.

“We’ve seen people with disabilities become separated from [their families in] displacement areas – some missing for long periods, sadly later found deceased,” she explains.

A 2025 report estimates that at least 15 percent of Gaza’s displaced population lives with a disability, and they have to navigate the makeshift shelters, whether in encampments, schools, or hospitals, that lack functioning ramps, adapted toilets and basic accessibility.

Raneem also battles social stigma, and despite her efforts – talking with neighbours, seeking support from community elders – ignorance persists.

“People provoke them, mock them. All we ask is understanding,” she says.

Some elders occasionally invite the sisters to their tents for a visit, brief moments of respite in a daily reality where they have no consistent medical or social support.

“We’ve been displaced again and again, from Jabalia to the west, then Gaza City,” Raneem recounts. “Every new place, we have to start over, explaining their condition, begging for patience.

“These aren’t just war victims,” she pleads.

“They’re vulnerable people forgotten by the world.”

Netflix’s new drama Dept Q stars Leah Byrne as cadet Rose – however, some fans may recognise the Scottish actress for her role in an episode of BBC One’s Call the Midwife

Netflix’s brand new crime drama Dept Q arrived today on the streamer, starring Downton Abbey’s Matthew Goode as a detective attempting to track down the mysterious criminal who shot him in the face. After returning back to his Edinburgh police station for the first time since the attack, Carl (Goode) is tasked with setting up Department Q – a cold case unit – while he covertly tries to investigate the crime himself.

In his new team, Carl is joined by Rose – a cadet who is keen to prove herself to Carl – played by Scottish actress Leah Byrne. The actress has just a few credits under her belt, including small roles in BBC drama Nightsleeper and Channel 4’s Deadwater Fell.

However, before taking on the role of Rose, Leah appeared in a 2019 episode of Call the Midwife as Maggie Nickle – an expectant mother. With a brunette head of hair, Leah couldn’t look more different in the BBC role.

Meanwhile, in Dept. Q, Leah sports a ginger perm as rookie detective Rose. Leah isn’t the only unrecognisable star in Dept Q. Matthew Goode takes on a scruffy look and a beard for his role as DCI Carl Morck.

Speaking about the Netflix drama ahead of its release, Matthew said of Carl: “He’s so aggressive and rude. I loved his sense of humour. He’s a complex character, and you get to see him warts and all.”

He added that he was hooked on the character from the moment he was sent the script. “Scott could have cast anybody,” Matthew said. “When someone trusts you like that, you take it seriously. There was pressure but, as Billie Jean King said, ‘Pressure is a privilege.’”

Matthew opened up about one scene, where he needed to drive an old Ford Sierra with dodgy brakes. “Every time Scott told me to drive fast, I’d be thinking, ‘I hope it stops and I don’t plough into anyone,’” says Matthew. “Occasionally, I’d turn the car off and walk away, then I’d hear it start again and have to give it a kick.”

The series also stars The Queen’s Gambit actress Chloe Pirrie as Merritt – an ambitious lawyer whose disappearance is investigated by Carl.

“Merritt’s main strength is she doesn’t feel the need to please people,” Chloe said. “She’s loyal, someone you’d want on your side, but she’s also isolated herself. She uses people and doesn’t think that highly of them. She’s similar to Carl in that way.”

Dept Q is now streaming on Netflix.

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