mess

Dave Roberts often refers to his bullpen hierarchy as something of a “trust tree,” with branches of relievers he can trust in leverage spots.

Right now, however, it’s been more like a shriveled-up houseplant. Barren, depleted and long-shunned from the sun.

On the season, the Dodgers’ 4.33 bullpen ERA ranks 21st in the majors. Since the start of September, that number has climbed to a stunning 5.69 mark. Closer Tanner Scott has converted less than one-third of his save opportunities, his ERA rising to 4.91 after his latest meltdown on Tuesday. Top right-hander Blake Treinen had been the losing pitcher in each of the Dodgers’ five defeats before that, sending his ERA to a career-worst 5.55.

Plenty of others have been responsible for the Dodgers’ late-game incompetence. Kirby Yates has flopped as a veteran offseason signing. Michael Kopech has struggled through injuries and a lack of reliable command. Rookies like Jack Dreyer, Edgardo Henriquez and the since-demoted Ben Casparius have regressed after promising flashes earlier this summer. And the lone reinforcement the front office acquired at what now feels like a regrettably quiet trade deadline, Brock Stewart, is uncertain to return from a bothersome shoulder problem.

It leaves the Dodgers with only one full-time relief arm sporting an ERA under 3.00 this season — Alex Vesia, who has a 2.62 mark in 66 appearances.

It has turned the final days of the regular season into an all-out manhunt for even the slightest of trustworthy playoff options.

“What does that mean?” manager Dave Roberts said, when asked what qualifies as “trust” right now. “It means guys that are gonna take the mound with conviction. That are gonna be on the attack. That are gonna throw strikes, quality strikes, and compete. And be willing to live with whatever result.”

On Wednesday, that’s the backdrop against which Roki Sasaki rejoined the Dodgers’ active roster — the raw and developing 23-year-old rookie pitcher, coming off a five-month absence because of a shoulder injury, returning in hopes of supplying Roberts’ crippling trust tree with an unexpected limb.

Sasaki’s return was not supposed to be this important. Up until a couple weeks ago, his disappointing debut season seemed likely to end with a stint in the minors.

Yet over the last 15 days, circumstances have changed. Sasaki rediscovered 100-mph life on his fastball. He excelled in two relief appearances with triple-A Oklahoma City. And suddenly, he seemed like a potentially better alternative to the slumping names that have repeatedly failed on the Dodgers’ big-league roster.

Thus, the Japanese phenom is back again, activated from the IL before Wednesday’s game as Yates, who has a 5.23 ERA this year and was slipping out of the Dodgers’ postseason plans, was placed on the IL with a hamstring strain.

“I just think [he needs to focus on] giving everything he has for an inning or two at a time, and let the performance play out,” Roberts said of Sasaki. “Just go after guys, and be on the attack.”

Sasaki’s revival began earlier this month, when he went to Arizona after four poor starts in a minor-league rehab assignment to work with the organization’s pitching development coaches.

At that point, Sasaki had lost his tantalizing velocity, hardly even threatening 100 mph since his adrenaline-fueled debut in Tokyo back in March. His command was just as shaky, averaging more than 5 ½ walks per nine innings in his first season stateside. Even his pitch mix required an examination, after his predominantly fastball/splitter arsenal was hammered in both the majors (where he had a 4.72 ERA in eight starts to begin the season) and the minors (where he had a 7.07 ERA in his first four rehab starts) by hitters who could too easily differentiate his stuff.

“Me, him and his translators went in the lab and sat down and watched video for a few hours, and just talked,” said Rob Hill, the Dodgers’ director of pitching who worked with Sasaki at the club’s Arizona facility. “It wasn’t as much solving this like, master plan or whatever. It was moreso helping him actualize the things that he was seeing.”

In Hill’s view, Sasaki’s mechanics had suffered from a shoulder injury that, even before this year, had plagued him since his final season in Japan.

While the two watched film, Hill said they found discrepancies between things Sasaki “still almost thought he was doing” in his delivery, but weren’t translating in how he actually threw the ball.

“I think a lot of it just came from his body changing, the way he was throwing due to throwing hurt for probably a couple years,” Hill said. “He knew what he wanted to do, but he couldn’t quite tap into the way to do it.”

What followed was a series of mechanical tweaks that got Sasaki’s fastball back around 100 and his trademark splitter to more closely mirror his four-seamer when it left his hand. Sasaki also added a cutter-like slider, giving him another weapon with which to confuse hitters and induce more soft contact.

When the right-hander returned to the minors, he struck out eight batters over a solid 4 ⅔-inning, three-run start on Sept. 9. He then impressed with two scoreless appearances in relief last week, after club executives asked Sasaki to experiment in the bullpen.

Now, he is rejoining the Dodgers for the final five games of the season. The team is hopeful that his small sample size of recent success has made him a legitimate postseason relief option.

“I guess it’s fair to say I’m just going to throw him in on the deep end,” Roberts said of how he will use Sasaki going forward, noting there aren’t many “low-leverage” opportunities in an end-of-season division race.

“If we’re expecting him to potentially pitch for us in the postseason, they’re all leverage innings. So I don’t think we’re going to run from putting him in any spot.”

Odds are that Sasaki won’t be a cure-all for the Dodgers’ late-game woes. A pitcher of such little experience and developmental uncertainties is anything but a lock to post zeroes in the playoffs.

Still, the team will take whatever bullpen help it can get. Already, Clayton Kershaw has made himself available for relief appearances and could pitch in late-inning leverage spots in October. Emmet Sheehan also will join the bullpen mix come the playoffs, likely as a multi-inning option to piggyback with starters.

In the meantime, the club is searching for even a couple more reliable arms — just one or two branches on the bullpen’s hierarchy tree for Roberts to trust.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Dodgers’ sudden need for someone like Sasaki is a reflection of the roster’s underlying flaws. But he will try taking on a potentially critical role in a rookie season that once seemed lost.

“He’s been in the ‘pen for the triple-A team, and he’s been really good,” Roberts said. “So I’m looking forward to seeing it with our club.”

Strictly Come Dancing reigning champions Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell were back on the hit show for the launch of the 2025 season where a new batch of celebs are out for glitterball glory

Strictly Come Dancing has returned to TV for the 2025 season with sequins, glamour – and a moving performance from reigning champion Chris McCausland. The 48-year-old won the 2024 season with professional dancer Dianne Buswell.

And fans were thrilled to see them back together on the Strictly ballroom dance floor. The champion duo took to the stage to perform their Bafta award-winning waltz, You’ll Never Walk Alone – which won the public-voted Bafta TV memorable moment award earlier this year.

Fans’ breath was taken away as Chris and Dianne, 36 – who recently revealed she is expecting her first baby with boyfriend Joe Sugg, 34 – expertly moved around the stage. Many took to social media to share their joy at seeing the pair dancing on screen again.

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One X user wrote: “chris and dianne are back one last time!!! fave strictly champs ever!” And being a Liverpool fan, some were moved by the dance which was affiliated with the city.

A fan wrote: “You’ll Never Walk Alone will always have a special place in my heart. Liverpool fan here whyy I’m gonna be a mess!!” Another remarked: “Missing them like theyre family.”

Other fans were left in tears once the pair performed their touching dance.. One wrote on X: “Oh god-I’m gone at Chris and Dianne’s Waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone.” And another wrote: “Chris and Di” along with a string of crying face emojis. After dancing, Dianne applauded Chris and declared: “That was beautiful” as they stepped to the side of the stage to chat with host Tess Daly.

Last December, Chris and Dianne were voted winners of the 2024 season – with fans left in awe of Chris’s dance moves. The comedian – who is blind – gave a tearful acceptance speech at the time.

He said: “This is for [Buswell] and it’s for everyone out there that got told they couldn’t do something or thought they couldn’t do something … and it just shows that with opportunity and support and determination, anything can happen.”

Saturday saw the launch of the 23rd season of Strictly – which has been on the air since 2004. The latest batch of stars hoping to win the glitterball trophy include Love Island star Dani Dyer, former Geordie Shore cast member Vicky Pattison, and past The Apprentice contestant Thomas Skinner.

Meanwhile, Dianne and her boyfriend Joe – who fell for each other after performing on Strictly back in 2018 – revealed they will be welcoming a baby together next year. A video clip shared on social media last week showed the couple creating a painting together.

When they turned their canvas around, the image showed three stick figures – a man, woman and baby – and the simple heading: “2026”.

In an accompanying caption to the video, they wrote: “Our little baby boy … we cannot wait to meet you” along with a red heart emoji. Fans, followers, and fellow Strictly alumni were quick to comment on the news and share in the excitement.

Stacey Dooley, who won Strictly in 2018 where she fell for dance professional Kevin Clifton with whom she shares a two-year-old daughter, wrote: “YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES.”

Helen Skelton, who competed on Strictly in 2022, wrote: “Huge congratulations” alongside a string of red heart emojis.

And pop singer Conor Maynard, who is a close friend of the couple, wrote: “Let me know when he’s old enough for a new “Singing Impressions” video. Or even a sing off. The views have been drying up lately.”

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Gavin and Stacey star Sheridan Smith brings Ann Ming’s relentless fight for justice to screens in I Fought The Law. The actress explains why the series was particularly daunting.

Sheridan Smith portrays Ann Ming, charting her extraordinary fight for justice in ITV‘s newest drama I Fought The Law – but the role was nothing short of daunting.

“It’s what Ann came up against,” Sheridan Smith says, “It was one thing after another. It was relentless. I don’t know the strength it took for Ann to keep fighting. I’m absolutely in awe of her.”

Julie Hogg was 22 years old when she vanished from her Billingham home in November 1989, leaving behind her toddler son Kevin. Her mother, Ann, immediately knew something was wrong.

“I was convinced something had happened to my daughter from day one,” Ann says. But police believed otherwise. “They thought she could have gone to London to start a new life,” Ann says, “It really was frustrating.”

Three months later, Ann’s maternal instincts were tragically vindicated. She discovered Julie’s body herself, hidden under the bath at her home.

The investigation soon identified a suspect: William “Billy” Dunlop. He stood trial for Julie’s murder twice, but juries failed to convict on both occasions.

Then, while serving a prison sentence for unrelated violent offences, Dunlop confessed to Julie’s killing. But there was a twist: under the centuries-old double jeopardy rule, he couldn’t be tried again for the same crime.

But for Ann, giving up wasn’t an option. She petitioned politicians for more than a decade, lobbied the media and refused to let Julie’s case fade from memory with unwavering support of her husband Charlie, played by Daniel York Loh in the crime drama.

This relentless fight – both devastatingly personal and profoundly public – is the backbone of I Fought The Law. For Sheridan Smith, stepping into Ann’s shoes was a privilege and an emotional burden.

“I can only imagine and think if it was my child, but it was emotionally taxing,” she says. “It was just nine weeks and by the end of it, I was a shaking mess.”

READ MORE: Mattress that helps with back pain is now £248 cheaper and comes with free bedding

The actress fully immersed herself in Ann’s world, devouring documentaries about the case and Ann’s book. Sheridan says: “I get mad at myself if I don’t feel the actual pain and trauma. I wanted to make Ann proud and get her story justice.”

Ann was also present as a consultant on the set, while filming took place in North East England. “She was a huge support and very crucial to the production the whole way through,” series director Erik Richter Strand says. “Sheridan is in every scene. She doesn’t get many breaks. We had to make that set safe, practical and comfortable for Sheridan.”

The transformation was physical as well as emotional. Sheridan swapped her trademark brunette for Ann’s blonde locks. But she dreaded one scene above all: the bathroom scene, where Ann finds Julie’s body. “I knew I had that coming, I wanted to get that scene out, it was a bit scary,” she says. “I knew it’d be torturous.”

Sheridan’s own experience as a mother – she shares her five-year-old son Billy with former partner Jamie Horn – gave the role an added resonance.

“It was my first role as a mum,” she says. “It’s your worst fear, isn’t it? No one should have to go through that. I was emotionally attached to the whole thing.”

There was another, more personal note to Sheridan’s role. “When I did Mrs Biggs, I tried to think of my mum who lost her son, my brother,” she says.

“This time, there was a different layer. Just thinking how I would have felt in that moment, if it was my little one. This was much more powerful, that’s probably why it was a bit difficult.”

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“Honey Don’t!” is a smutty desert mystery in which the detective, Honey O’Donohue (Margaret Qualley), never gets around to solving the central crime. She’s too busy seducing women and swatting down randy men. I’d call the opening murder a red herring except it’s really more like a fish left to cook in the blinding Bakersfield sun.

The second film co-written by Ethan Coen and his collaborator and wife Tricia Cooke (the first was 2024’s “Drive-Away Dolls”), it’s less preoccupied by the challenge of who’s responsible for that corpse than by its own overarching question: Why not? Why not let Margaret Qualley prove she has the electricity to power an audience through any plot? Why not pivot from “The Big Lebowski” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” to an announced trilogy of tatty lesbian exploitation pictures? Why not, when a couple has earned the industry clout to shoot the script they want with the cast they want, make exactly the movie they want, even if this pulpy B-picture isn’t very good? Who’s going to tell them, honey don’t?

To be clear, there’s enough to like in “Honey Don’t!” to get you through its 89-minute running time. I’d watch Qualley stride around barking at people for twice as long and her supporting cast, which includes Aubrey Plaza as Honey’s latest lover and Chris Evans as an oily pastor, is delivering at top level, i.e., Coen-worthy. (Newer talent Josh Pafchek pockets his scenes as a moronic Australian brute.) The script has several zingers that are so good you want to applaud right in your seat, particularly an insult Honey slings at her estranged daddy (Kale Browne). Even the extended intro credits have a witty energy that makes you forgive that they’re tap dancing to pad the length.

Still, as with the sillier “Dolls,” which also starred Qualley as a hot-to-trot queer queen, the film is so shaggy that it feels longer than it is. I finished both movies double-checking my watch in astonishment that they really were under an hour and a half.

Qualley’s Honey is a headstrong investigator who is so independent, she refuses to let her secretary (Gabby Beans) make her a cup of coffee. Frankly, she’s not that impressive as a private dick. Honey is only passingly curious why a client died before their first meeting and so predominately distracted by tangental side quests — her troubled teen niece (Talia Ryder), her dalliances with Plaza’s husky lady cop — that the resolution doesn’t involve much brilliant deduction. We know from the first scene that Honey needs to keep a close eye on a mysterious stranger named Cher (Lera Abova). Ultimately, the French femme fatale catches her attention for other reasons.

Across town, the corrupt Reverend Drew (Evans) is swaying his parishioners to sleep with him in the name of godly submission. “I want to see your bosoms jouncing during fellowship,” he commands a member of his flock. The preacher is one of the biggest sinners in Bakersfield, not merely because both he and Honey may as well be using the phone book as a checklist of conquests. A normal thriller would frame their dynamic as cat versus mouse. Here, it’s more like plague and vaccine. Honey is immune to his sales pitches for heterosexuality and holy salvation.

Honey is a brazenly preposterous creation: a 21st century woman who insists on using a Rolodex, something that was headed toward extinction before Qualley was even born. Striding through brush in seamed stockings and high heels — and changing wardrobe multiple times a day just because she can — she’s the only character who never breaks a sweat (except in the bedroom).

Qualley keeps her cool from head to toe: eyebrows stern, line deliveries cucumber-crisp. Like a brassy classic dame, she says exactly what she means. When the local homicide officer, Marty (Charlie Day), makes a pass at her, she bluntly replies, “I like girls.” The guy doesn’t listen — he just keeps pestering her — which makes their dynamic play like some sort of clunky runner about how men are dense.

Marty’s pursuit is that. But Honey’s retort is also how the real-life Cooke shot Coen down the first time her future husband asked her out on a date. More than anything, it’s evidence that “Honey Don’t!” primarily exists as the couple’s own affectionate in-joke. “Tricia’s queer and sweet and I’m straight and stupid,” Coen said last year in an interview with the Associated Press. Both describe their three-decades-plus marriage as “nontraditional.” Both also insist that they’re making these pulp flicks as a unit and don’t care who gets credit for what, claiming that Coen is cited as the director of “Honey Don’t!” simply because he’s the one in the DGA.

Coen is, of course, half of another twosome with his brother Joel that also enjoys defying labels. Their filmography zigzags between thrillers and comedies, lean exercises and awards heavyweights, never making the same movie twice. It’s as though their guiding compass is to stay ahead of audience expectations. The pair has been on a creative break since 2018’s “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and it’s been tempting to use their separate projects as an opportunity to examine who each sibling is as an individual. If you watched Joel Coen’s black-and-white “The Tragedy of Macbeth” in a double feature with “Honey Don’t!” you’d leave convinced that the elder Joel was the stylist and the younger Ethan the wit — that Joel wears a monocle and Ethan a grease-painted John Waters mustache.

But they might just be tricking us again. It’s just as valid to say the brains behind those two movies are William Shakespeare and Tricia Cooke, especially the latter as she seems to have had the stronger hand in shaping the two sexy Qualley capers we’ve seen thus far. (The third already has a title: “Go Beavers.”)

As sloppy as it is, there’s no denying that “Honey Don’t!” works as a noir with a pleasant, peppery flavor. Yet, there’s a snap missing in its rhythm, a sense that it doesn’t know when and how its gags should hit. When a playboy (Christian Antidormi) swaggers up to a bar and orders a shot of cinnamon schnapps, the line clangs like it landed better on the page. A few scenes later, a low-level drug dealer goes home to his Bolivian grandmother (Gloria Sandoval) who is such a caricature — bowler hat, lap full of dried chili peppers — that you suspect the character was designed to get more of a laugh. I did giggle when Honey visited her sister, a worn-out hausfrau named Heidi (Kristen Connolly), and kids kept popping out of the corners of her home one after another like rabbits from a hat.

The majority of the townsfolk that Honey encounters are such incurious mouth-breathers that the humor can feel hostile. The film’s worldview is that most people are, as Coen describes himself, straight and stupid. That’s worked out well enough for him. He’s won four Oscars and, more importantly, the ability to do whatever he darned well pleases.

RESIDENTS in a historic city have been left fuming after a granite cobbled street was ripped up and repaired with a blob of tarmac.

Emergency repair work to fix a water leak in Canterbury, Kent, resulted in the ripping up of granite setts, locals say.

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One section in Burgate Street has now been replaced with black asphalt – which has been described as a mess by disgruntled residents.

Clive Bowley, 73, from the Canterbury Society says he heard about the unappealing repairs last week after complaints from other locals.

The resident, who works as an architect restoring historic buildings, says it is becoming a pattern in the town with other traditional streets also seeing tarmac patches.

He said: “It was brought to our attention by people complaining. I just thought ‘oh not again.’ It was depressing.

“The problem is that service engineers have to go in to do necessary work and they don’t reinstate the ground properly afterwards.

“There is just a great big patch replaced by tarmac. It is a bit of a mess really. They have done a botched job.”

Photos show several repairs across the city centre, which has UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

Clive, who has lived in Canterbury for over 40 years, says that if these streets aren’t restored soon then the historic feel will be ruined.

Clive said: “It is all about civic pride really. If things are botched up then it looks a mess and seems like people don’t care. It gradually will look more and more scruffy as time goes on.

“Burgate is one of the streets that leads down into the heart of a historic area. So, all that end of town is a conservation area and is of special heritage interest.

“If they are not put right in due course the town will gradually become a pit of all sorts of patches.”

Clive claims that he has complained to Kent County Council about the tarmac, and that they have claimed it will be fixed soon.

However, he says that many locals believe the unique road materials are now in landfill- and they feel that repairs will be impossible.

He said: “The council said that they would press the water company to do it properly. But similar things have happened around the town that were never fixed- so we are a little skeptical.

“The other concern is that they have dug up all these specialist materials and we don’t know what has happened to them. If the granite setts are thrown away, then we won’t be able to get more because they are unique.

“Every material used is unique, so you can’t just go to the builders’ merchants and buy more. My skeptical nature suggests that they probably dumped them.”

The water mains repairs were completed by South East Water, who insist that this quick fix is only temporary, and say that they will begin restoration next week.

Nick Bell, of South East Water, said: “We’re sorry to customers in the Canterbury area who have been left upset at the current appearance of the interim surface laid following urgent repairs to the burst water main in Burgate.

“This is not the finished reinstatement, but our priority was to backfill the excavation quickly to allow the road to be reopened, rather than prolonging the road closure.

“We have ordered the necessary materials to complete the permanent reinstatement, which involves re-setting the granite cobbles to their original condition.

“We will be carrying out this work from Thursday, 28 August, and we’ll work as quickly as possible to minimise the impact locally and restore the road to its original condition.”

A spokesman for Kent County Council said that the emergency works were to fix a leak, with the need to reopen the road as quickly as possible.

But the authority says the company is obliged to reinstate the road to its original surface within six months.

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President Trump says the Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin could “set the table” for trilateral talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He denied the meeting rewarded Putin, as critics warned it could undermine US efforts to isolate Russia.

The Epstein saga has flipped the script within the MAGA movement. Having spent years accusing the Democrats of an establishment cover-up, many right-wing influencers are now turning against their idol, President Trump, as he resists calls to release the files.

Contributors:
Joan Donovan – Director, CriticalNet
Mehdi Hasan – Editor-in-chief, Zeteo News
Miles Klee – Culture writer, Rolling Stone
Danielle Moodie – Host, The Danielle Moodie Show

On our radar:

For 21 months, mainstream media outlets have avoided calling Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide. But this past week has seen a notable shift – prompted not by Palestinian voices, but by an Israeli scholar. Tariq Nafi reports on The New York Times, the breaking of a media taboo, and why, for many, it’s too little, too late.

Mass surveillance, a crackdown on protest, and a media unwilling to question power: In Germany, pro-Palestinian voices are being silenced.

Nicholas Muirhead reports from Berlin on the mounting assault on free expression.

Featuring:
Wael Eskander – Berlin-based journalist
Martin Gak – Former Deutsche Welle journalist
Sabine Schiffer – Director, Media Responsibility Institute

A FIRST-TIME mum dreading flying with her baby daughter has shared how she got through it without any tears

Lala, from Germany, took to social media to share her genius parenting hack just in time for any summer holidays you have planned.

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And the best part is that the travel hack costs just 45p.

In the clip, Lala and her partner could be seen boarding the plane with their baby asleep in her mum’s arms.

She said: “This was her very first flight and we timed it perfectly with her nap. She slept right through takeoff but eventually she woke up.”

So how did the parents keep her entertained for the three hour flight? Lettuce.

Lala said they often give their tot lettuce when they’re trying to eat in peace, so decided to try it on the plane.

“It always keeps her occupied for so long. And I thought, if it works at home, why would it not work on a plane?” she explained.

Like most kids, her daughter was obsessed with tearing things up and trying to put them in her mouth.

“Like bread, paper, tissue, anything. But bread is way too messy, like there are crumbs everywhere,” she explained. And with paper or tissue, we always have to keep an eye on her that she doesn’t eat it. But lettuce?

“Lettuce is genius. It has a really fun texture and it’s not messy at all. And it’s safe if she decides to munch on it. Not just safe, but it’s actually a really refreshing and healthy snack for her.”

“This kept her occupied almost the entire flight.”

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While Lala’s easy travel hack was worth giving a go, it’s worth noting that some airlines may not let you bring it on, depending on what country you are flying to.

Others may not let you bring it into the country when you land so you’ll have to chuck it away.

But that won’t matter too much as the hack costs just 45p as two heads of lettuce cost 90p from Waitrose.

The clip quickly went viral on her TikTok account @lalaleluu with over 1.7 million views and 267k likes.

Plenty of parents took to the comments thanking her for the advice.

One person wrote: “Wow this is genius. About to take my baby on her first flight alone and I might try this.”

Another commented: “I have a 14 hour flight with my baby next month. I’ll just bring a whole field.”

“You, Lala, have just unlocked a whole new toy for all of us mums out there thank you,” penned a third.

Meanwhile a fourth said: “This is some next level parenting!! Bravo!!”

“Genius idea,” claimed a fifth

Someone else added: “This is such a good idea!!”

A WOMAN has been left fuming after claiming her ‘psycho’ neighbour chopped down her garden’s trees without permission.

In a video, she shared the before and after of her outdoor space, with her garden looking like a mess after the massacre. 

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On her account, she shared the entire story – and people are split in the comments. 

She claimed: “About two months ago, our neighbor asked us to remove our trees because flowers were falling into his yard. 

“Of course I felt terrible but we said no, because I loved those trees for many reasons. “However, we immediately had them professionally cut back (which we do every other year, per our landscaper’s recommendation). He lost it. 

“He sent a bunch of unhinged messages to my husband but we thought it had blown over after we had the trees cut back and the flowers stopped blooming.

“Fast forward to this past weekend, while we weren’t home (which he knew), they were mysteriously chopped down. Every last one. 

“They were cut aggressively and conveniently in a way that ensured nothing fell into his yard.”

She shared how she had asked neighbours if they had seen what happened – and word got back to the person they suspect did it. 

The woman claims he then started sending her husband “threatening messages” filled with “profanity and intimidation.”

The social media user said she wasn’t sharing the story for sympathy but because she felt “heartbroken”. 

She said she has filed a police report and is trying to get justice over the incident.

People were quick to tune in on the tree debacle, with one saying: “Huge trees are a pain in a garden but you cannot just go in neighbors garden and cut them down!”

Another also supported her saying: “What type of psycho goes to another person’s yard and cuts down their trees!!!! 

“It’s truly insane. I’m sorry this was done to you.”

However, some people took the neighbour’s side.

One wrote: “Why do people plant their trees so close to the border?”

Another added: “understand your feelings but anything hanging over his yard I presume he can legally cut back?”

What are your rights if a neighbour’s tree hangs into your garden?

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In order to prevent overhanging branches turning into furious rows between neighbours, Natalie Welsh, head of property at HCB Widdows Mason shared what your rights are in this tricky situation.

“It can be really frustrating when branches or plants from your neighbour’s garden start to spill over into your space”, she said.
“In England and Wales, you’re allowed to cut back any branches that cross onto your property, but only up to the boundary line.

“Just make sure you don’t step onto your neighbour’s land or damage the tree itself.”

When trimming a tree back, you are not allowed to lean into your neighbour’s garden, since that can be considered trespassing.

Natalie advised that before taking any drastic action, it’s best to have a friendly chat with your neighbour first.

IF your bins are kicking up a nasty smell, fear not, you’ve come to the right place.

With summer right around the corner, the warm weather can cause your bins to emit ghastly, unwanted odours.

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But to stop your dirty recycling from marinating in the heat and causing your neighbours to squirm, experts have revealed a variety of simple tips and tricks to keep your bins fresh all summer long.

According to Michael Bogoyavlenskiy, CEO of Cleaning Express, keeping your bins out of direct sunlight can help prevent foul smells.

And while it’s important to empty your bin every couple of days and make sure to dispose of anything “particularly pungent”, there’s also a variety of cleaning hacks that can banish grim smells.

On a mission to ensure my recycling bin smells fresh this season, I, Abby Wilson, tested three simple hacks. 

You probably already have at least two of these buys in your cupboards already, but don’t worry if your purse is feeling tighter than ever before, as all three are super affordable.

While the cheapest hack will cost you just 49p, your bin will be so clean you’ll be able to see your reflection thanks to a 55p trick. 

Wash this 

According to those at Busy Bins, a simple mixture of washing-up liquid and warm water will do the trick to banish seriously bad stenches from your bin.

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So, I got my Marigolds on and dived headfirst into the bin – and yes, it was as grim as you could imagine.

In between holding back gags and wiping my watering eyes, I scrubbed the interior of the recycling bin with the purse-friendly two-ingredient solution. 

I then gave the bin a quick rinse with a hose and I have to say, it looked pretty good.

Whilst it wasn’t great at getting rid of the tough stains and did require quite a bit of elbow grease (far more than I’d have hoped), it definitely cut through the strong smells.

It looked pretty good too and thanks to this cheap trick, your bins are sure to shine in no time.

While I used proper Fairy Liquid, if you’re on a budget and are looking to pocket pennies where possible, you’ll be thrilled to know that you can nab cheaper dish soap from just 49p from Savers.

Rating: 3/5 

Powerful paste 

After a couple of weeks, it appeared that my bin had gone back to its old ways and was still looking a bit grim.

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So I searched for something a bit stronger and bought myself a tub of The Pink Stuff, which you’ll find for only £1.50 from Poundland, Sainsbury’s and Dunelm. 

While this isn’t something I’ve heard many experts talk about when it comes to bin cleaning, I figured the multi-purpose paste which has been hailed as a “miracle” product that is said to be “tough on stains”, could do the trick.

But after literally five seconds of scrubbing, I was already starting to regret my decision.

Yes, this thick paste is super versatile, but it made a total mess on my bin.

The household items you’re not cleaning often enough

IF you want to ensure your home is squeaky clean, you’ll need to listen up. Below are the household items you’re forgetting to clean, and how to get them sparkling…

Remote Controls: Wipe with a disinfectant cloth. Use a cotton bud for crevices.

Light Switches: Wipe with a disinfectant wipe. Use a mild soap solution for tough stains.

Door Handles: Clean with an antibacterial spray. Wipe down regularly.

Underneath and Behind Appliances: Vacuum or sweep regularly. Mop with a suitable cleaner.

Shower Curtains and Liners: Wash in the washing machine. Use a bleach solution for stubborn mildew.

Kitchen Sponges and Dishcloths: Microwave damp sponges for one minute. Wash dishcloths in the washing machine.

Computer Keyboards and Mice: Use compressed air to remove debris. Wipe with a disinfectant wipe.

It was much more hassle than it was worth and there was far too much faff involved with getting rid of the white residue from my bin.

While I love using this product throughout my home, on my grubby oven and kitchen sink, I’m definitely not sold on using it to clean my bin.

Also, the scent is very faint, so it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped to keep my bin smelling fresh. 

Rating: 2/5 

Seriously strong 

Disappointed with the mess The Pink Stuff made, not only on my bin but all over me too, I reached for a household hero I knew wouldn’t let me down.

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Not only do I use bleach on my loos, but I imagined it would work well on my bin too.

According to the Wheelie Bin Cleaning Service, using bleach, which you can buy for just 55p from Tesco, is a great way to effectively disinfect a bin.

By bin was left so clean I could even see my reflection in it

Abby Wilson

The pros explained that bleach is a “strong cleaner” that “kills many bacteria, viruses, and fungi”, whilst working to “keep bins clean and fresh.”

Not only this, but the experts also recognised that it will “break down tough stains, grease and grime in bins”, whilst also “making bins look new and clean again.”

Eager to let the powerful product do its work, I diluted some bleach with water and threw the solution over the inside and outside of my recycling bin.

I then grabbed a long brush to spread the solution and left it to work for a few minutes.

Moments later, I thoroughly rinsed the bin to get rid of any residue, which is highly important when using bleach as it can be harmful to the environment and wildlife. 

As someone who would buy a bleach scented candle if it was available, I was overjoyed with the squeaky clean scent it left behind. 

Not only was it a cheap cleaning solution, but it definitely smelt the best out of the bunch too. 

But that wasn’t all – my bin was left so clean (definitely the cleanest it has EVER looked), I could even see my reflection in it – yes, you heard that correctly.

I highly doubt I’ll be popping outside and peering at my bin to check that my make-up and hair look decent, but if you really want your bins to shine, bleach may just be the thing for you. 

Although it left me very impressed, the experts recommend that bleach should not be used for routine cleaning of bins due to environmental concerns and the damage it can do to plastic over time. 

I’ll definitely do this trick again, but for those eager to give it a try, make sure you switch up your cleaning methods, dilute it properly before us and always wear gloves. 

Rating: 4/5 

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Batu Caves, located just outside of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, are sacred for Hindus across the world, but also have issues with cheeky monkeys and piles of rubbish

A sacred tourist spot has become overrun by monkeys and plagued by litter.

Batu Caves, located just outside of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, took first place in a recent study of the world’s most littered tourist attraction, with 1.67% of reviews mentioning rubbish out of a total 13,950 reviews.

The huge cave complex is one of Malaysia’s most iconic tourist destinations and has particular religious significance due to its Hindu temple complex dedicated to Lord Murugan, the Hindu God of war. The limestone caves themselves are more than 400 million years old, while the temple at their heart was built in 1920.

Hindus from all over have come together during festivals to celebrate and pray as a community in the Batu Caves, where magnificently built shrines and statues are strikingly set against a captivating background of limestone hills.

READ MORE: Girl, 2, left fighting for life as family’s ‘dream holiday becomes worst nightmare’

Unfortunately, several factors have chipped away at the beauty of the unique attraction.

The site’s litter issue has often been attributed to its popularity with milions of annual visitors, many of whom discard rubbish and often feed the resident monkeys. The large size and complex nature of the site also make it difficult to maintain.

Following a recent visit to the Caves, a man from Burnley wrote: “The whole area surrounding the shrine was filthy and covered with litter, discarded food, refuse bins overflowing with plastics etc, used face masks and litter in general.

“If this is a sacred shrine, I find it difficult to understand why those responsible for its upkeep allow it to be abused in this way. Entry to the sacred shrines requires visitors to remove shoes, but having seen the filthy state the floors were surrounding these areas, there was no way my wife nor I would risk doing so.

“I appreciate that the matter was exacerbated by the presence of monkeys at the caves that scavenge for food, but surely those responsible for health and safety should introduce a programme of cleaning throughout the day to ensure all litter etc is removed.”

A holidaymaker from Essex added: “The area is strewn with rubbish and very stinky. It needs a good clean-up.”

Mark Hall, general waste expert at BusinessWaste.co.uk which conducted the study, said: “It is concerning to see so many reviews mentioning litter at iconic tourist attractions around the world. Many of these sites have religious, spiritual, or historic importance, so it’s vital that travellers treat them with respect. Sadly, overtourism is now a huge issue in many countries and this often brings the issue of litter.

“When tourists visit in such vast numbers, it can be difficult for the operators of tourist attractions to manage waste. Therefore, it’s vital that travellers are mindful of the impact of their own waste. You should never litter, and if a bin isn’t available or is full, always take litter home with you to dispose of properly. That way, we can ensure that these sites remain preserved and enjoyable for years to come.”

Mason Daunt said he would pick up the flowers himself. Like Mrs. Dalloway, he spends the day leading up to his big party — in his case a baby shower in Los Angeles — reminiscing and worrying. Unlike Virginia Woolf’s titular heroine, though, Mason is distracted from his errands by a billionaire with a penis statue emergency, a session with a wolfman dom in his favorite virtual reality dungeon and, as if that weren’t enough, a minor zombie apocalypse.

Jonathan Parks-Ramage knows exactly what he’s doing in evoking bourgeoisie Clarissa Dalloway’s routine in the opening section of his new novel, “It’s Not the End of the World.” Woolf’s most famous book is about an upper-class woman’s busy day, sure, but it’s also about the ways in which she is caged by the very expectations that come with her privilege, and it’s counterbalanced by the cultural uneasiness following World War I and the delusions and ultimate suicide of the novel’s other main character, PTSD-ridden Septimus Smith. Parks-Ramage takes the idea of a wealthy, sometimes frivolous main character getting ready for a party and dials it up to 11. But then, in an ambitious move that brings a delightful element of camp to the novel, he abandons that relatively safe and simple premise in favor of an exercise in maximalism. Which is to say that his plot goes off the rails — and it works.

Over the course of the first third or so of “It’s Not the End of the World,” readers learn about Mason Daunt and his world. It’s 2044, Mason is a white gay artist married to Yunho Kim, a formerly successful Korean American screenwriter recently blacklisted after being questioned by the House Anti-American Speech Committee, and the two are having a baby via a surrogate, Astrid. Money is never far from Mason’s mind, and he’s constantly aware of how much he and Yunho are spending: $10,000 a month for Astrid and her girlfriend Claudia’s L.A. rental; $100,000 on the baby shower, including a WeatherMod fee to ensure that the cloud seeding technology company will get rid of the pesky wildfire smoke and leave Mason and Yunho’s backyard to bask in L.A.’s promised sunshine.

Mason has everything, it seems: a loving and virile husband, a mansion, a closeted gay billionaire buying up his morally vacant art, and the latest iOSCerebrum installed in his brain (which, in order to make the virtual BDSM dungeon he goes to authentic, is “synced with his state-of-the-art ThrashJacketTM to ensure authentic haptic violence”). What could go wrong?

Only everything, of course. As the day’s events unfold, interrupted by flashbacks of the 14 months leading up to it, a mysterious pink fog begins to appear around L.A. No one knows what it is, but wherever it descends, people seem to lose their minds. By the time Mason gets home, he’s witnessed a brutal amount of violence perpetrated by those who’ve inhaled the pink fog. Parks-Ramage delights in the gory details, the intestines and missing flesh and dangling jawbones, bringing Mason up close and personal with the ugliness that he is, otherwise, guiltily but only intellectually aware of (Mason’s sessions with Vex, his dom, involve being shamed for his wealth and his part in deepening inequality amid worsening climate change). If you’ve seen “Sinners,” and enjoyed the campiness of its vampires, you’ll have fun with the not-technically-but-functionally zombies Parks-Ramage deploys in this section of the book.

Much like the worst kind of gender reveal party, Mason and Yunho’s baby shower has consequences. Mason, shockingly still alive following the shower’s events, is charged with murder. Yunho, Astrid, her baby and Claudia have all disappeared from Mason’s life, although they are, unbeknownst to him, living in one of his mansions in Montana, and have started a utopian anarchist commune with three dozen or so people. Most of the sections that take place on the ranch closely adhere to the perspective of 4-year-old Gabriel, the child of Mason and Yunho’s good friends and business partners. At first Gabriel is very happy on the ranch, living with their care pod, but as tensions are ratcheted up with a local militia, they’re increasingly exposed to violence and trauma.

Parks-Ramage doesn’t sugarcoat how bad things could get and, in fact, leans into the absurdities of what the world might look like if climate change continues unabated, American democracy crumbles even further and billionaires meddling in government gain more legitimacy (a basically immortal Peter Thiel turns up in the novel’s last section).

“It’s Not the End of the World” is a wild ride of a novel. Its ridiculous moments are clearly deliberate, and it’s not subtle — but as Mason used to think in college when his classmates critiqued his artwork for being too on the nose, “Well, the world was on fire so what was the point of being elliptical and academic?” Sometimes you have to laugh so you won’t cry — and as is usually the case with camp, there is something true and painful running beneath the humor.

In this case, it’s the question of children: Why do we have them? Are they our hope for the future or the reason we maintain an illusion of hope? Are they merely a way to give ourselves a pretense of immortality? Parks-Ramage doesn’t come to a specific conclusion, and although some of his more righteous characters seem to be firmly on the reproduction-is-immoral side, his depiction of Gabriel’s childlike wonder and imagination is tender and loving. It’s a good reminder that, no matter how awful or hopeless things get, we can still imagine dragons.

Masad, a books and culture critic, is the author of the novel “All My Mother’s Lovers” and the forthcoming novel “Beings.”

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” is one big, ugly mess.

We’ve seen false advertising in naming laws before — the Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act jumps to mind. Yet no legislation has been as misbranded as the Republican tax and spending cuts that President Trump, the branding aficionado himself, is pushing along a tortuous path in Congress.

Trump’s appeal to many Americans has always been his purported penchant for “telling it like it is.” But he’s doing the opposite by labeling as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” a behemoth that encompasses just about everything he can’t even try to do by unilateral executive orders — deeper tax cuts, more spending on the military and on his immigration crackdown and, yes, Medicaid cuts. His so-called beauty is a beast so frightening that ratings firm Moody’s saw the details last week, calculated the resulting debt and on Friday downgraded the United States’ sterling credit rating for the first time in more than 100 years. That likely means higher interest costs for the nation’s increased borrowing ahead.

And yet, in another example of the gaslighting at which Trump and his party are so adept, the White House and House Republican leaders dismissed the rebuke of their bill. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it would spur economic growth — the old, discredited “tax cuts will pay for themselves” argument. Speaker Mike Johnson said the Moody’s downgrade just proved the urgent need to pass the big, beautiful bill with its “historic spending cuts.” Which only proved that Johnson didn’t read Moody’s rationale, explaining that spending cuts would be far exceeded by tax cuts, thereby reducing the government’s revenues and piling up more debt.

The Republican Party, which postures as the fiscally conservative of the two parties despite decades of evidence to the contrary, would add about $4 trillion in debt over the next 10 years if its bill becomes law, according to Moody’s. Other nonpartisan analyses — including from the Congressional Budget Office, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the Penn Wharton Budget Model of the University of Pennsylvania, similarly project additional debt in the $3-trillion-plus to $5-trillion range, more if the tax cuts are made permanent as Trump and Republicans want.

No surprise: Trump, after all, set a record for the most debt in a single presidential term: $8.4 trillion during Trump 1.0, nearly twice what accrued under his successor, President Biden. Most of Trump’s first-term red ink stemmed from his 2017 tax cuts and spending, which predated the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s costly response.

“This bill does not add to the deficit,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted to reporters on Monday, showing yet again why such a facile dissembler was chosen to speak for the habitually prevaricating president.

“That’s a joke,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky responded.

Worse, it’s a lie.

And no surprise here, either, but Trump’s tariffs — another economic monstrosity that he’s declared “beautiful” — aren’t paying for this bill despite his claims. Yet the president repeated that falsehood on Tuesday (along with others), when he visited the Capitol to strong-arm Republican dissidents, including Massie, into supporting the measure ahead of a House vote. (Inside a closed caucus with House Republicans, the president reportedly called for Massie to be unseated; the Kentuckian remains opposed.)

“The economy is doing great, the stock market is higher now than when I came to office. And we’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariff money,” Trump told reporters at the Capitol. Every point a lie.

(This week provided yet more evidence that he’s utterly wrong to keep insisting that foreign countries pay his tariffs, not American consumers. After Walmart, the largest U.S. retailer, said late last week that it would have to raise prices, Trump posted that it should “ ‘EAT THE TARIFFS.’ ” He added: “I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!” This after a Walmart exec said that “the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb.”)

While details of the budget bill shift as Republican leaders dicker with their dissidents, here’s the ugly general outline, according to Penn Wharton:

Extending and expanding Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which otherwise expire this year, would cost nearly $4.5 trillion over 10 years, $5.8 trillion if the cuts are permanent. (Mandating that tax cuts expire after a time, as Trump did in 2017, is an old budget gimmick to understate a bill’s cost. The politicians know they’ll just extend the tax breaks, as we’re seeing now.) The bill’s proposed spending increases for the military, immigration enforcement and deportations would cost about $600 billion more.

Spending cuts over 10 years, mostly to Medicaid as well as to Obamacare, food stamps and clean-energy programs, would save about $1.6 trillion. That offsets as little as one-quarter of the cost of Trump’s tax cuts and added spending.

Also, the bill is inequitable. The tax cuts would disproportionately favor corporations and wealthy Americans. Its spending cuts, however, would mostly cost lower- and some middle-income people who benefit from federal health and nutrition programs. Changes to Medicaid, including a work requirement (92% of recipients under 65 already work full or part-time, according to the health research organization KFF), and to Obamacare would leave up to 14 million people without health insurance.

Penn Wharton found that people with household income less than $51,000, for example, would see their after-tax income reduced if the bill becomes law, and the top 0.1% of income-earners would get hundreds of thousands of dollars more over the next 10 years. Beyond that time, Penn Wharton projected, “all future households are worse off” given the long-term impact of spiraling debt and a tattered safety net.

“Don’t f— around with Medicaid,” Trump told Republicans at the Capitol, according to numerous reports. How cynical, given that he was pressuring them to vote for a bill that would do just that.

All of which recalls an acronym that’s popular these days: FAFO.

@jackiekcalmes