F1’s bosses are caught in the middle of this debate, recognising the superficial appeal of the back-and-forth racing, but concerned about what the new cars are doing to the sport they grew up loving because they were attracted by its essence as the ultimate test of driver and machine.
Andrea Stella, team principal of world champions McLaren, said: “In qualifying, there’s some aspects of driving that could be counterintuitive.
“Like, occasionally there are comments from our drivers that once they make a mistake, actually save some energy, you go faster overall in a sector, because the energy you saved with the delay on the throttle because you had a problem is going to reward you at the end of the straight.”
Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff said: “From an entertainment perspective, I believe that what we’ve seen today between Ferrari and McLaren was good racing. Many overtakes.
“We were all part of Formula 1 where there was no overtake, literally. Sometimes we’re too nostalgic about the good old years.
“But I think the product is good in itself. We saw quite some racing in the midfield also. And that is, I think, the positive.
“Now, from a driver’s standpoint, when it comes to the qualifying lap, that is different. Clearly, lift and coast in the qualifying, I’m sure for someone like Max, who is a full-attack guy, it’s difficult to cope and digest.
“Qualifying flat-out would be nice. But when you look at the fans and the excitement that is there, live, the cheering when there’s overtakes and also on social media, the younger fans, the vast majority, through all the demographics, like the sport at the moment.
“So, yes, we can always look at how we’re improving it. But at the moment, all the indicators and all the data say people love it. And I spoke with Stefano (Domenicali, the F1 president). He says that, too.”
The cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix gives the sport a little more breathing space to consider all this.
There is a meeting of team bosses with F1 and governing body the FIA this week, and another race in Japan in two weeks’ time before a five-week break before the next Grand Prix in Miami at the beginning of May.
A number of ideas to reduce the degree to which the purity of the driving experience has been polluted are already in the mix, such as removing a lower limit for energy recovery currently in force in a certain phase of the straights. And others may yet emerge.
Stella says: “Do we want to be faithful to the DNA of racing in a traditional sense? Do we accept that this counterintuitive situation belongs to the business or not? This is a high-level philosophical question.”
TV star Olivia Attwood takes her next steps in life after her January split from footballer Bradley Dack — as he is seen without his wedding ring.
Loose Women’s Olivia, 34, showed off her legs in a mini skirt and leopard print boots on a trip to New York.
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Olivia Attwood showed off her legs in a mini skirt and leopard print boots on a trip to New YorkCredit: GettyOlivia takes her next steps in life after her January split from footballer Bradley DackCredit: GettyBradley Dack is seen without his wedding ring for the first time since his split from wife OliviaCredit: Click News and Media
Saturday’s Google Doodle shows how the mathematical constant pi is useful for easily calculating the area of a circle, the formula for which is A=πr2. Image courtesy Google
March 14 (UPI) — Saturday’s Google Doodle celebrates everyone’s favorite math holiday, Pi Day.
The Doodle features an animated illustration of how the mathematical constant is used in equations dealing with a circle’s circumference and diameter.
“Long before modern technology, the Greek mathematician Archimedes popularized an innovative approach: He approximated the value of pi by sandwiching a circle between two 96-sided polygons to determine its precise upper and lower bounds,” a Google post about the Doodle reads.
“Today, we honor this mathematical legacy as enthusiasts worldwide celebrate with pi-reciting contests and slices of pie.”
The value of pi is roughly 3.14, but since it’s irrational, the number of decimal places beyond .14 go on infinitely. There are contests worldwide in which math lovers memorize and recite as many digits of pi as possible.
Last Pi Day, in 2025, a 10-year-old British boy recited 280 digits of pi from memory in 1 minute, breaking a Guinness World Record.
Pi Day is celebrated March 14 each year because the date is typically expressed as 3/14. Those less interested in math often choose to celebrate the day by eating a slice of their favorite pie.
Gardening expert Charlie Dimmock has presented numerous TV shows beyond Ground Force and Garden Rescue and fans rated them highly
17:43, 12 Mar 2026Updated 17:43, 12 Mar 2026
Charlie Dimmock has been a fan favourite for decades(Image: BBC)
Fans of gardening expert Charlie Dimmock could be excused for not exploring much beyond Ground Force and Garden Rescue.
With over 150 episodes of Garden Rescue available to watch and 97 instalments of the ’90s favourite Ground Force, there’s no shortage of content. However, throughout her career, she’s created numerous other gardening programmes that slipped beneath most people’s notice.
One such programme is Charlie’s Garden Army, which aired in 1999 and 2000 across 12 episodes. The series featured Charlie alongside volunteer teams transforming derelate wasteland into beautiful public gardens.
She subsequently secured a presenting position on 2002’s The Joy of Gardening and 2001’s Charlie’s Gardening Neighbours, reports the Express.
In 2005, Charlie featured at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show as a television presenter, and she’s also participated in coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show throughout the years.
Judging purely by IMDb ratings, though, several programmes actually surpass Ground Force in terms of viewer scores.
Ground Force’s typical rating stands at 7.2 stars out of 10 – but it’s eclipsed by Garden Rescue at 7.9 stars, and the Great British Garden Revival with an identical rating.
Charlie inadvertently fell into a television career whilst employed at a garden centre, and during the ’90s, she maintained that she “wasn’t famous” and didn’t perceive herself as a TV personality.
Reflecting on her television work in a 1999 interview with The Guardian, Charlie remarked: “In some ways, the television stuff isn’t unsatisfying, it’s very interesting.
“But the other day, I was at work [at the garden centre], the first time I’d been there properly for three or four weeks, and I thought, ‘God, this is nice!’
“‘You see people you know, regular customers, and there’s no hassle. You fall out of bed, go to work, potter around. It’s all right, really.'”
Garden Rescue is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.
A daily multivitamin may help slow biological aging, based on a study of people who took them for two years and whose DNA showed fewer changes over time than people who did not take the vitamins. Photo by Lawrence Looi UK & Ireland Out/EPA
March 9 (UPI) — A daily multivitamin may slow biological aging — the rate at which our bodies age on a cellular level — significantly, especially for people biologically older than their actual age.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Mass General Brigham found that daily cocoa extract and multivitamin slowed biological signals that are predictive of mortality, they write in a study published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Epigenetic clocks can estimate biological aging based on changes in DNA by looking at sites that regulate gene expression and change as people age.
By monitoring these signals, it is possible to track mortality and the pace of aging, as well as the predict it.
“There is a lot of interest today in identifying ways to not just live longer, but to live better,” Howard Sesso, lead author of the study,” said in a news release.
“This study opens the door to learning more about accessible, safe interventions that contribute to healthier, higher-quality aging,” said Sesso, preventive medicine specialist at Mass General and epidemiologist at the Harvard Chan School of Medicine.
Using data from the Cocoa Supplement Multivitamins Outcomes Study, the researchers analysed DNA changes in blood samples from 958 randomly selected healthy study participants who had an average actual age of 70.
The participants were randomized to take daily cocoa extract and a multivitamin, cocoa and a placebo, placebo and multivitamin or only placebo for two years, with researchers analyzing five epigenetic clocks in blood samples from the study’s start, at the end of the first year and at the end of the second year.
Overall, compared to the placebo-only group, those taking a multivitamin saw a statistically significant slowing of biological aging by about four months — especially for those who were biologically older than their age when the study started.
The researchers also found that cocoa extract had no effect on biological aging.
While the results are promising, the researchers concluded in the study that additional work is needed to better determine the clinical relevance of multivitamins on biological aging.
“We plan to do follow-up research to determine if the slowing of biological aging — observed through these five epigenetic clocks, and additional or new ones — persists after the trial ends,” Yanbin Dong, study co-author and researcher at the Medical College of Georgia, Agusta University, said in the release.
Bryan Cranston (R) and Frankie Muniz of “Malcolm in the Middle” greet the media during the Fox Upfront event in New York City on May 15, 2003. Cranston and Muniz are returning for a limited series sequel to “Malcolm in the Middle.” Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI | License Photo
Dianne Buswell showed off her blossoming baby bump after shutting down claims she’d given birthCredit: Instagram/ @diannebuswellDianne and Joe announced last year they were expecting their first baby togetherCredit: SplashJoe was forced to go online to shut down rumours she’d given birth after a fan AI’ed an “announcement” picCredit: Instagram
The photograph was so realistic that family and friends had reached out to them to “congratulate them”, albeit confused they hadn’t been told.
Today, Dianne showed off her classic jokey charm with a TikTok video set to a sound clip from Friends.
In the video, Dianne pushes a baby stroller in front of the camera, while wearing a bright green jacket.
She then whips it back to reveal her bare baby bump in a sports bra and leggings and declares: “That’s right, still no baby!”
Dianne then covers the bump back up with the jacket and struts out of shot.
This isn’t the first time Dianne has combatted the internet with a comedic take, previously hitting back at trolls who questioned why her baby bump is always on-show.
She shared a TikTok video over the top of which she’d written one of the remarks: “But why do you always have your belly out?”
She had KC and the Sunshine Band’s That’s the Way (I Like It) playing in the background, as she captioned the video: “Because that’s the way I like it!”
The returning champion dancer was partnered with Neighbours actors Stefan Dennis, however unfortunately the pair wereforced to withdraw in week fourbecause he sustained an injury.
Dianne and Joe met thanks to the BBC competition, as they were partnered together on the sixteenth series of the show back in 2018.
They proved to be an impressive partnership as they managed to make it all the way to the final before falling at the final hurdle and losing out toStacey Dooleyand Kevin Clifton.
They confirmed their relationship shortly after, with Joe declaring in an Instagram post that he’d “got something better than the glitterball”.
Dianne remains a firm Strictly favourite and was the first pro to compete while pregnantCredit: PAJoe and Dianne were partnered on Strictly before getting together romanticallyCredit: diannebuswell/Instagram..The couple have shared every part of their relationship onlineCredit: InstagramThe couple joked about the pregnancy on a recent trip to Australia to visit her familyCredit: Instagram / diannebuswell
KATIE Price’s new husband Lee Andrews has shown his devotion to her by appearing to get her son Harvey’s name tattooed on his hand, despite having not met him in person yet.
Katie Price’s new husband Lee Andrews has appeared to have got her son Harvey’s name tattooed on his handCredit: Paul EdwardsIn exclusive pictures, the businessman shows off the tributeCredit: BackGridHe appears to have Harvey’s name on his hand as well an image of a frogCredit: BackGridLee has also shown off another new tribute to his wifeCredit: BackGrid
He’s yet to fly to the UK and meet her children in person but no doubt he’s spoken to Harvey via FaceTime.
The Sun can reveal the first-look of the apparent tattoo in exclusive pictures, with Lee showing off the new inking on the side of his left hand.
Harvey’s name can be seen in a fancy font alongside an image of a frog, the 23-year-old’s favourite animal.
As well as that, Lee also showed off another new “Katie” tattoo as a tribute to his new wife.
One picture appeared to show Kim at one of Lee’s events in Dubai and included her wearing a baseball cap featuring his Aura brand’s logo as well her fashion brand Skims.
Just yesterday, the self-proclaimed businessman claimed he was heading to the UK in the coming days and rubbished claims of his “travel ban”.
The UAE has had ongoing flight chaos after their airspace was shut down after missile strikes.
“As far as travel bans, there is no travel ban.
“Now, obviously people can’t get out. Again, I’m not going to tell you all my plans, I will be in the UK after the weekend,” he said.
Just days before the missile strikes began, Katie returned to the UK alone after several weeks with Lee in Dubai, despite the latter claiming he would be returning with her.
Lee has claimed to be heading to England several times since his January wedding to Katie but is yet to actually make the trip – amid reports of a ‘travel ban’ preventing him from leaving the country.
He previously got her name inked on his handCredit: mistraesthetics/Instagram
He allegedly applied for a mortgage in personal trainer Dina Taji’s name last year without her knowledge. When she received a call from the bank about the application, she took legal action.
He spent three weeks inside the notorious Al-Awir central prison shortly before meeting Katie. It is unclear at what stage the investigation is at.
The city’s law prevents people involved in active criminal and civil cases from leaving the country, though Lee told the Mail it was “complete b******s” that he couldn’t leave.
Katie insists that she believes her husband and even showed The Sun his passport last week before our exclusive interview.
She said that he had to show his documents to the court when the two got married last month and refuted any claims made against him.
The two met online before getting engaged a week later and married two days after.
The secret ceremony left her loved ones in shock as they were unaware of who he was let alone her marrying him.
He recently claimed he’s all set to fly to the UK and rubbished claims of a travel banCredit: Instagram/ @wesleeeandrews
A video has been released showing huge explosions near Tehran’s Azadi Tower. The US and Israel are continuing to target locations across Iran as the war enters its seventh day.
Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu was elected on promises to tackle the nation’s widespread violence and address two of its root causes: Poverty and corruption. But with the country going to the polls next year, has he delivered on his “Renewed Hope” agenda?
Mehdi Hasan goes head-to-head with Daniel Bwala, Tinubu’s once staunch critic-turned-Special Adviser on Media and Policy Communications, on the administration’s record in office and where he stands on his past accusations against his current boss.
Joining the discussion are: Ayisha Osori – Director, Open Society Foundations Ideas/Workshop Lab Aanu Adeoye – Journalist, Financial Times Tunde Doherty – UK chairman, All Progressives Congress
Videos showed a projectile striking near Kuwait’s Ali al-Salem Air Base, which has hosted a substantial number of US forces. Earlier on Thursday, the United States announced it was closing its embassy in the country and is reportedly evacuating its staff.
The Strait of Hormuz is a key artery for the movement of global energy supplies.
Usually, about 20% of global oil and gas passes through the narrow shipping lane in the Gulf.
Iran’s General Sardar Jabbari said that Tehran will now “not let a single drop of oil leave the region”.
A timelapse of marine traffic showed the flow of ships has decreased in the strait since the US and Israeli coordinated military offensive against Iran began on 28 February 2026.
Blocking the strait could further inflate the cost of goods and services worldwide, and hit some of the world’s biggest economies, including China, India and Japan, which are among the top importers of crude oil passing through the waterway.
After the fraudulent election of July 28, 2024, Nicolás Maduro announced he would deepen the “Communal State” as a model of popular participation. In his words, it was necessary to “accelerate the construction of popular power” and “transfer more powers to the communes.” The implicit promise: more communes, more consultations, and more participation should equal more solutions.
I put that promise to the test with data from Mérida, a state where public services (especially water and electricity) fail every day. In mid-2024, power outages were almost four hours a day, enough to ruin an entire family.
In May of that year, a professor at the University of the Andes, Israel José Ramirez, died in the building where I lived with my family. That day, the power went out as well. The professor was inside an elevator that became trapped between the first and second floors. When he forced the mechanical lock on the door to try to get out, he found himself facing a void: the elevator car wasn’t at the floor’s level. He tried to jump but couldn’t reach. He fell to the bottom of the elevator shaft, about three stories high. He died on impact.
Electricity in that part of the city usually took four to eight hours to return. That day, it only took half an hour. The desperation of a prolonged power outage led Professor Ramírez to open the elevator doors, and his life ended there. This tragedy was a partial motivation for conducting this research.
Between August and July 2025, I did an internship at the National Institute of Statistics. There, I was able to review the records of 198 projects from the Concrete Action Agendas (ACA in Spanish) in 64 communes in the state of Mérida. The ACAs are the central mechanism of the chavista Communal State for participatory planning: consultations in which the communes identify their priority problems (called “critical nodes”) and vote on the projects they want the State to implement. These 64 communes represented 82% of the 78 registered in the state. The remaining 14 were excluded from the analysis because the officials responsible for transcribing the community assessments into the databases made so many errors that the information was unusable.
The communes understand the workings of the State better than many public officials.
Official reports stated: “Project in progress” or “Project completed.” But something didn’t add up. Local communities kept voting on the same service problems year after year. Someone was lying.
I needed to separate the propaganda from reality. I did something simple: I took each problem that a commune voted on in 2022 and tracked it for four years. If it stopped appearing in subsequent consultations, the government could claim it had been resolved. If it continued to appear year after year, it meant that people had been shouting the same thing for four years. And if it disappeared without explanation (neither resolved nor voted on again), nobody knew what had happened. The State simply ignored it.
Using this detector, I audited 198 projects. The results are summarized in the following graphs:
These charts reveal three dimensions of failure.
First of all, who decides: of the 198 projects, 51.5% (102) were assigned to ministries and the national government for implementation, while another 25.8% (51) fell to the Mérida governorship. The communes diagnose the needs, but Caracas decides whether to open or close the tap of resources. Only 19.2% (38 projects) remained under municipal or communal control.
Second, what happened to them: almost half of the projects were not even considered. Only a quarter (50 projects, 25.3%) were completed after years of consultations. The State received the diagnosis, knew exactly what the people needed, and decided to do nothing. Third, participation wasn’t the problem: 76.8% of the communes (152 projects) participated in all four national consultations, from the first in 2022 to the last in 2025. The core chavista voter base mobilized, filled out forms, and voted. The system didn’t fail due to a lack of participation. The problem isn’t that the communities don’t know how to organize themselves. The problem is that when they do organize, the system ignores them.
Now, what problems are the communes identifying? These are summarized in the following chart:
This chart’s revelation is devastating: two out of every three communes in Mérida (43 out of 64, or 67%) identified water as their priority problem. This isn’t an isolated issue affecting just one or two communes. It’s a systemic crisis impacting the entire state. Four problems (water, roads, housing, and electricity) account for 60% of all project requests in Mérida.
Now, we can see how the ACA projects are distributed in Mérida in the following chart:
Of the 198 projects analyzed, 54 are related to water. More than a quarter (27%) of all projects. The first four categories (water, roads, housing, and electricity) account for 62.63% of all projects. The Pareto principle applied to poverty: 20% of the causes explain 80% of the problems. And how many of those 54 water projects were actually implemented?
Behind these figures are real families, of course. Take the example of the Doña Simona commune in Lagunillas, Mérida, which has a serious drinking water problem. In 2022, they voted for water in the first referendum. In 2023, they voted for water again. In 2024, the same. And in 2025, four years later, they were still voting for water. Four referendums. The same problem. Why? In a conversation with the Mérida’s INE office, where I did a summer internship, they revealed the number that explains everything: $10,000. That’s the budget per project. Always. It doesn’t matter if the community asks for an aqueduct or paint for a school.
With $10,000 you can’t build an aqueduct. It’s barely enough for 200 meters of pipe. You can’t dredge a river. You can’t pave a road. You can’t solve a water crisis that affects 43 of the state’s 64 communes. The communes learned this lesson. If you need water but it costs $50,000, you’re better off asking for paint. At least that’s something they will greenlight.
Four years of voting for water. And in the end, paint for the walls of a run-down public school.
So, what happened in Doña Simona? In the third and fourth consultations, the community changed its vote. They no longer asked for the aqueduct they needed. They voted for something “realistic”: participating in the Bricomiles, the program where soldiers paint school facades and repair sports field roofs. It’s not that the people of Doña Simona are unaware of what’s happening in their community, but rather that they’ve learned to play the system: the State only funds projects that cost less than $10,000. “Citizen participation” then revealed itself not as empowerment, but as an exercise in adjusting real needs to the ridiculously small budget the government is willing to provide. Four years of voting for water. And in the end, paint for the walls of a run-down public school.
However, one thing is certain: the communes of Mérida are always right. When the problem is electricity, they assign it to Corpoelec. When it’s water, to Aguas de Mérida. When it’s housing, to the Ministry of Housing. I reviewed 198 projects and didn’t find a single exception. The communes understand the workings of the State better than many public officials.
This accuracy remained consistent across all 64 communes, throughout the four consultations, and in all 198 projects. Then I thought: if the diagnosis is so precise, if the communes are doing their job, the system should be producing results. Water flowing through pipes. Paved streets. Stable electricity. I measured the relationship between the quality of the diagnosis and the effective resolution of problems. This graph shows the main conclusion of this research, which I call the Great Disconnect.
The dark blue cells confirm what we already saw: the communes diagnose with surgical precision. The system works like clockwork in the diagnostic phase. So I asked the obvious question: if the communities diagnose perfectly, does the State provide solutions?
The answer was once again devastating. There is no correlation. None. The gray cells say it all: a commune correctly identifying its problem predicts absolutely nothing about whether that problem will be solved. Neither the accuracy of the diagnosis, nor the urgency of the problem, nor how many times people have voted for the same thing matters. None of that matters.
The factors that determine whether a project is implemented operate completely outside the formal Commune Action Board (CAB) system. They are external, opaque, probably related to circumstantial political will, erratic budgets, or the constant turnover of officials.
This is the Great Disconnect: a system that diagnoses with surgical precision and does nothing.
My data shows what that means: more people shouting in empty rooms. The communes are just an authoritarian excuse to overrepresent their political power.
The success or failure of a project doesn’t depend on whether the commune identified its need, whether the responsible institution was selected correctly, how urgent the problem is, or how many times people have voted for the same thing. What determines whether a project is implemented operates entirely outside the formal CAB system. These are external, opaque factors, probably related to short-term political will, erratic budgets, or the constant turnover of officials. The communities do their part. The Venezuelan State does not.
The problem with the Communal State in Mérida isn’t one of scale, it’s structural. There’s no shortage of communes: 64 are already functioning. There’s no lack of participation: 76.8% of the communes participated in the four consultations. The system works exactly as it was designed, mobilizing the chavista base to diagnose problems, making them believe they are participating, and then systematically ignoring their demands. It’s not a failure. It’s the design.
My data shows what that means: more people shouting in empty rooms. The communes are just an authoritarian excuse to overrepresent their political power. The reality is that the wife of Professor Israel Ramírez found him dead in the elevator shaft because there was no electricity in the building that day. In some neighborhoods of Mérida, people probably voted for electricity in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. And in 2026, if this policy continues, they will continue to vote for it.
HE FINALLY patched things up with brother Liam for the Oasis reunion last summer.
And it seems that Noel Gallagher is now closer than ever with his nephews Gene and Lennon — after teaching them how to party hard at Sony Music’s official Brit Awards after-party.
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Noel Gallagher leaving the Brits after party at the end of the nightCredit: James CurleyNoel’s daughter Anais and son Donovan partyCredit: GettyGene and Lennon Gallagher at the Sony do with a palCredit: Splash
The Rock ’n’ Roll Star songwriter proved he was exactly that, as the last man standing at 3:45am yesterday at the do in Manchester’s amazing Soho House — despite knocking back endless bottles of Peroni until the bar stopped serving.
An onlooker said: “Noel and Liam’s sons are really close, and they hung out all night at the Sony bash.
“He might be in his fifties now but Noel still knows how to party and he put his nephews to shame with the amount of booze he could knock back.
“Noel was in really high spirits after getting the Songwriter Of The Year award and he had so many people coming up and congratulating him.
“Gene and Lennon tried to keep up with Noel but they couldn’t, he out-partied them by a country mile.
“Even Noel’s daughter Anais gave up trying and left at 3am — Noel just carried on drinking bottles of Peroni.
“When Noel left, it was amazing he could walk straight.
“But he is a proper rocker and showed all those young ones right up.
“When Gene finally decided he wanted to try and one-up his uncle, he went to the bar and was told they’d stopped serving.
“He tried three times to be served and was in a huff when he was told no.
Noel Gallagher won the award for songwriter of the yearCredit: AFPPart of Noel’s speech was bleeped when he sworeCredit: Shutterstock EditorialNoel was booed for shouting out Manchester CityCredit: Getty
“To be fair it was almost 4am — and he should have just kept up with Noel when he had the chance.”
Noel’s hedonism clearly rubbed off on the other stars at Sony’s bash, which was the best of all the star-studded after-parties, thanks to its stellar guest list.
Brits host Jack Whitehall told me earlier this month that he would be having an early night because his fiancée Roxy Horner and their toddler daughter were coming to Manchester to be with him.
But he ended up partying into the early hours of yesterday morning.
I spotted him holding court with a group of his mates upstairs near grime star Skepta, with Jack finally heading back to his hotel at 3am.
Hopefully he had some Nurofen stashed in a bag because I think yesterday could have been blighted by one almighty hangover — and a very excitable toddler.
Noel patched things up with brother Liam for their reunion tourCredit: PA
LIAM GALLAGHER praised his brother from home as Noel collected his award.
He posted on X: “All hail the greatest songwriter this country has ever seen since Lennon and McCartney.”
He also showed his support for former foe Robbie Williams’ tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, writing: “He was unreal”.
Liam also revealed why he didn’t go to the event at Co-op Live. He told a fan: “I was scared… Of all those cool folks in 1 room, they make me nervous.”
Olivia’s up fur a party
OLIVIA DEAN had good reason to smile as she headed to an after-party following her incredible four wins.
The singer scooped Artist and Pop Act, plus Album and Single of the Year for her record The Art Of Loving and her Sam Fender collaboration, Rein Me In.
Olivia Dean had good reason to smile as she headed to an after-party following her incredible four winsCredit: Splash
Olivia wrapped up in a fur coat which covered her sparkly minidress – but didn’t hide her legs from the northern chill.
She did opt to wear sunglasses too, but at that time of night, they certainly weren’t needed.
LILY GIVES DO COLD SHOULDER
LILY ALLEN pulled out of attending the Brits as she’s desperately trying to recover in time for the launch of her first tour in seven years.
She was up for three gongs – although she was pipped to the post for all three by Olivia Dean – and had been due to travel to Manchester on Saturday morning.
But Lily made the last-minute decision not to attend after battling a brutal cold last week.
She launches her Lily Allen: Performs West End Girl tour in Glasgow this evening and has been trying to conserve energy.
Last Tuesday, she told fans she had been in bed for two days because she was “so sick” and hadn’t been able to rehearse.
When she did get back to practising, she said she had lost the lower register of her voice.
There are very high expectations for the tour, as every date sold out on the day they became available.
So a night of partying probably wouldn’t have done her any favours.
ALEX WARREN performed Ordinary at the ceremony but it’s his new single Fever Dream which is climbing the charts.
The American, who was accompanied by James Blunt on piano at the show, released the track on Friday and it’s on course to be his second No1.
Alex Warren performed Ordinary at the ceremony but it’s his new single Fever Dream which is climbing the chartsCredit: Reuters
But Ordinary is also rising – up four places to No15 in the midweek charts.
Following Little Mix’s win for British Group, he said they were “not in the same league as Oasis.”
Jade Thirlwall and Jordan Stephens were seen leaving the Brit Awards after partyCredit: Splash
And she made her feelings towards him clear when Noel was accepting his Songwriter Of The Year gong at this year’s awards – by swiftly exiting the room.
She chose that exact moment to head backstage as she prepared to present the International Artist of the Year award to Rosalia.
Back in 2021, Jade hit back at Noel’s comments and said: “We are the most successful girl group in the country – but he’s not even the most successful performer in his family.”
Something tells me she isn’t praying for another Oasis tour.
The North West city will host the ceremony for the next two years and, speaking backstage, and despite being a Londoner, Joel think it is a great move.
He said: “Not everything being in London is a good thing. Manchester has an incredible band culture, it has an incredible heart – it’s nice not to be in the same place all the time.
“As Londoners, we get so much there and people get a jaded – we need more of this feeling around the country. The Mercury Awards were in Newcastle and everyone got behind it, we need more of it.”
Of next year’s ceremony, Joel has a suggestion for the Global Icon award.
He added: “I would love to see Andre 3000 get it. I love him, everything Outkast has done is amazing and he has been doing this for ever.
“He was ahead of his time and we can see how influential he is now.”
STYLES HAS SPA QUALITY
HARRY STYLES kept things gentle at the Brits, having first kicked off the day at a top health spa in nearby Warrington.
The Aperture singer was seen getting a sweat on at the Park Royal Hotel, where one guest told me: “It was about 10.30am and Harry walked into the gym and started working out.
Harry Styles kept things gentle at the Brits, having first kicked off the day at a top health spa in nearby WarringtonCredit: Splash
“I had to do a double take and other people clocked him, but no one bothered him. It was all very low key, you would never have known he is one of the biggest stars on the planet. It felt so surreal.”
Harry was very much man of the night at the Co-op Live Arena, but after his incredible opening performance, he didn’t go wild.
Despite having a table, Harry never left his backstage area and once the show had ended, he headed to Sony’s after-party for a quick 30-minute appearance.
A source said: “Harry was keen to be seen supporting Sony and the Brits but also is aware his tour kicks off on Friday at the Co-op Live Arena back in Manchester.
“It was a very low-key weekend for him, he left the party after half an hour.”
One person who was happy to let her hair down after performing though was Dua Lipa.
She hot-footed it to Warner Music’s official after-party alongside her family, who were taken to Manchester by her record label on the cool British Pullman Train, specially hired by the label for the weekend.
Dua made a beeline for the dancefloor with a gaggle of about ten pals before taking some time out for a cheeky ciggie in the smoking area.
Keen not to let her night end there, the Houdini singer was whisked across town to attend Sony’s after-party.
There she hung out with Mark Ronson and drank picantes until the early hours.
Mark so dashing
MARK RONSON delivered one of the most memorable sets of the night.
He played a medley of his hits and was joined on stage by Dua Lipa, and US rapper Ghostface Killah.
Dua Lipa at the Brits after partyCredit: GettyMark Ronson and Dua performed togetherCredit: Getty
But the producer made a mad dash to the Manchester airport in the early hours and only just made his flight home to New York.
Following his Outstanding Contribution To Music win and stellar performance, he celebrated at Sony Music’s party at Soho House and took to the decks until 2am.
But he was forced to make a desperate plea for help after his hour-long DJ slot ended and no one had turned up to take over.
Mark, who was supported by Dua on the dancefloor, told the crowd: “I’m having a lot of fun but I have to catch a flight in two hours so can the other DJ please report to the booth.”
I’m told he made it to the airport by the skin of his teeth, and arrived safely back in the chilly Big Apple.
It’s a good thing he’s used to exceptionally late nights.
AFTER picking up two awards, Sam Fender was in the mood to party – but he shunned the posh dos for a backstage booze-up.
“Sam and his mates loaded up on cans of lager and stayed in the Co-op Arena,” one of my backstage moles explained.
Sam Fender was in the mood to party – but he shunned the posh dos for a backstage booze-upCredit: Splash
“The stage was being dismantled and all the parties were open but Sam decided to hang around. He was on a massive high and was singing and laughing with his mates as they went to the artists’ green room to crack open some tinnies.”
Iraq is in a political deadlock. It still has no government, though general elections were held in November.
At the heart of the crisis is the former prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who was picked by the majority coalition in parliament as its candidate to take over the role again.
But that choice has been met with strong opposition from United States President Donald Trump.
And that warning has further polarised the political landscape in the country.
So, what’s really behind Washington’s strong stance against al-Maliki? And what role does the US still play in Iraq?
Presenter: James Bays
Guests
Muhanad Seloom – Assistant professor of international politics at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies
Ahmed Rushdi – President of the House of Iraqi Expertise Foundation, and a former foreign policy adviser in the Iraqi parliament.
Kenneth Katzman – Senior Fellow at The Soufan Center
One of the most critically acclaimed science fiction dramas of the past decade is expanding with a new spin-off series on Apple TV
First-look at spin-off from ‘greatest sci-fi show ever’(Image: APPLE TV)
Apple TV has just released the exciting first-look at the cast of Star City, the first spin-off to the streamer’s hit sci-fi drama For All Mankind.
Widely considered one of the best sci-fi series in recent years, the original drama takes place in an alternative history in which the Soviet Union beat the USA to the Moon in 1969 and the space race never ended.
While subsequent outings have jumped forward in time up to the 2000s in season four, Star City will look to the past once more, exploring the pivotal events that led up to the first man on the Moon.
Featuring a stellar cast, including some exceptional British talent from the likes of House of the Dragon and Motherland, the upcoming offshoot is a must-watch for both sci-fi and history buffs.
The creative trio behind For All Mankind, Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi are back to helm the new eight-part series, so quality can be assured.
A synopsis for the upcoming series calls Star City “a propulsive paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race – when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon.
“But this time, we explore the story from behind the Iron Curtain, showing the lives of the cosmonauts, the engineers, and the intelligence officers embedded among them in the Soviet space program, and the risks they all took to propel humankind forward.”
House of the Dragon’s Rhys Ifans leads the exceptional cast, which also includes Motherland’s Anna Maxwell Martin, Agnes O’Casey (Black Doves) and Alice Englert (Bad Behaviour).
Rounding out the supporting cast is another House of the Dragon star, Solly McLeod, along with Adam Nagaitis (Chernobyl), Ruby Ashbourne Serkis (I, Jack Wright), Josef Davies (Andor) and Priya Kansara (Bridgerton).
Apple has just released the first look at the cast today (Thursday, 26th February), and it’s shaping up to be another visually stunning and compulsive drama that streamers have come to expect from the platform.
The spin-off certainly has big shoes to fill, as audiences have continued to rave about For All Mankind since its first season premiere back in 2019.
An article on Wired has called it the “one of the greatest science fiction shows of the modern TV era”, adding: “The Apple TV+ alternate history series is simply more ambitious and thought-provoking than its contemporaries.”
Comic Book Resources called it the “Best Alternate History Show Ever Made” in their rave write-up.
And IMDb users have also given For All Mankind stunning reviews, with one writing: “I’m now binging all 3 seasons and can’t stop. If you’re a sci-fi fan and have been putting it off like me…stop! Go watch this as soon as possible because I promise you won’t be disappointed.”
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“For All Mankind is one of my favorite sci-fi shows that I’ve ever seen and that’s not hyperbole. I really can’t get over how much I loved this show,” someone else agreed.
While a final fan made a bold claim: “Best damn show currently airing.
“Season one was good, it was a good setup. But then from season two onwards, show exploded in quality. I just want more. We all need more of this. Everyone needs to watch this!”
Apple subscribers, make sure For All Mankind is at the very top of your watchlist if it’s not already on your radar before the new spin-off starts in just a few months’ time.
Star City premieres Friday, 29th May on Apple TV.
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Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is supposed to rely on its pitching this season, but the Knights found themselves in a slugfest with host El Dorado on Tuesday and turned loose power hitters Jacob Madrid and Troy Trejo to pull out a 9-7 victory.
Madrid hit two home runs and had four RBIs. Trejo broke a 7-7 tie with a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning.
AJ LaSota pitched 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief. Notre Dame improved to 3-0.
Xavi Cadena had a home run and three RBIs for El Dorado.
Santa Margarita 4, Harvard-Westlake 3: Cooper Holland went three for three and the Eagles (2-1) got a strong five-inning outing from Tyler George for the road victory.
Sierra Canyon 5, Huntington Beach 2: The Trailblazers waited until Oilers ace Jared Grindlinger finished his four innings before taking charge for the home win. Grindlinger allowed no hits and no runs. Armando Solorio threw three shutout innings of relief in the win. Dane Cunningham had a home run for Huntington Beach.
Gahr 6, Crespi 1: Bryce Morrison had two hits and two RBIs and Luis Alonso threw five shutout innings with five strikeouts for 2-0 Gahr.
Corona 4, Etiwanda 2: Trey Ebel contributed two hits and Anthony Murphy made his pitching debut, throwing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to get the save for Corona.
Norco 4, Garden Grove Pacifica 0: Landon Hovermale turned in a dominating mound performance with 15 strikeouts and one walk while giving up one hit in 6 2/3 innings. Dylan Seward, Jordan Ayala and Jayden Serna each had two hits.
Servite 8, Loyola 1: John Sullivan hit a grand slam and Gavin Gonzalez contributed three hits for Servite.
Foothill 5, Los Alamitos 3: Evan Kim had a two-run double for Foothill. He finished with three RBIs.
Chaparral 23, Eisenhower 0: Griffin Fien went four for five in the five-inning mercy rule game. Jaiden Lopez hit three doubles.
Cypress 8, West Ranch 2: Hibiki Suzuki had two hits and four RBIs for Cypress while Tate Belfanti struck out 10 in four innings.
Edison 4, Mission Viejo 2: Will Stanley struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings for Edison.
Long Beach Millikan 5, Banning 0: Maison Crommie threw six scoreless innings, striking out seven.
Royal 5, Santa Monica 0: Ethan Hall homered and Dustin Dunnwoody struck out nine and gave up one hit in five innings.
Softball
JSerra 4, Riverside Poly 0: Liliana Escobar struck out 15 for JSerra, which also defeated South Hills 2-0.
Brook has always been one of Bazball’s most devoted believers.
McCullum is the only Test coach Brook has had, the only permanent coach he has worked under as white-ball captain. He often speaks straight from the McCullum philosophical handbook.
It was no surprise, therefore, that he credited his coach with the plan to promote Brook from number five to bat at three for the first time in his international career.
It was McCullum who put the idea to his captain early on Tuesday morning, less than 12 hours before the start of the game.
Some England players, like Jacob Bethell, who was nudged down to number four by Brook’s promotion, were told earlier in the day, but the rest were not fully made aware of the plan until McCullum spoke in the pre-match huddle.
“Baz was the mastermind there,” Brook said.
“He had the discussion with me this morning about going up the order and trying to maximise the powerplay.”
McCullum’s move means England now have a free hit in their final Super 8 match against New Zealand on Friday. After that they will travel to India for a semi-final.
Somehow, after stuttering and struggling to this point, they are the closest side to winning the title. Australia have gone already and defending champions India could follow before the week is out.
If the co-hosts remain, one of South Africa or West Indies will surely be knocked out.
Brook is two wins from becoming the fourth England men’s captain – after Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler – to lift a World Cup.
He is leading his way, which will bring moments that will leave you scratching your head. Now is the time for Brook to be backed, however.
He is not only a captain, one sharp tactically on the field and supremely talented with the bat, but a leader.
A strange quirk at San Quentin state prison is that most of those incarcerated behind its towering walls are unable to see the San Francisco Bay that literally laps at the shore a few yards away.
That changed recently with the completion of new buildings — holding among other accouterments a self-serve kitchen, a library, a cafe and a film studio — and third-floor classrooms that look out over that beautiful blue expanse, long a symbol of freedom and possibility.
In the new San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, along with learning job skills and earning degrees, incarcerated men can do their own laundry, make their own meals, and interact with guards as mentors and colleagues of sorts, once a taboo kind of relationship in the us-and-them world of incarceration.
“You want to clothes wash? You wash them,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, debuting the new facilities, including laundry machines, for reporters last week. “You want to get something to eat. You can do it, whenever.”
“All of a sudden, it’s like you’re starting to make decisions for yourself,” he said. “It’s called life.”
Listen closely, and one can almost hear President Trump’s brain exploding with glee and outrage as his favorite Democratic foil seemingly coddles criminals. A cafe? C’mon. Bring on the midterms!
March 2024 of the East Block of San Quentin’s former death row.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
But what Newsom has done inside California’s most notorious prison, once home to the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere, is nothing short of a remarkable shift of thinking, culture and implementation around what it means to take away someone’s freedom — and eventually give it back. Adapted from European models, it’s a vision of incarceration that is meant to deal with the reality that 95% of people who go to prison are eventually released. That’s more than 30,000 people each year in California alone.
“What kind of neighbors do you want them to be?” Newsom asked. “Are they coming back broken? Are they coming back better? Are they coming back more enlivened, more capable? Are they coming back into prison over and over?”
When it comes to reforming criminals, “success looks like more and more people gravitating to their own journey, their own personal reform,” Newsom said, sounding more like a lifestyle influencer than a presidential contender. “It’s not forced on you, because then it’s fake, man. If it’s coerced, I don’t buy it.”
Of course, coming back better should be the goal — because better people commit fewer crimes, and that benefits us all. But coming back over and over has become the norm.
Traditional incarceration, a lock-’em-up and watch-them-suffer approach, has dramatically failed not only our communities and public safety writ large, but also inmates and even those who guard them.
Incarcerated people come out of prison too often in California (and across the country) with addictions and emotional troubles still firmly in place, and no job or educational skills to help them muddle through a crime-free life. That means they often commit more crimes, create more victims and cycle back into this failed, expensive, tough-on-crime system.
Still, it’s a favorite trope of Trump, and the justification for both his immigration roundups and his deployment of National Guard troops in Democratic cities, that policies such as Newsom’s are weak on crime and have led to the decline of American society.
This narrative of fear and grievance goes back decades, recycled every election by the so-called law-and-order party because it’s effective — voters crave safety, especially in a chaotic world. And locking people up seems safe, at least until we let them go again.
But, as Chance Andes, the warden of San Quentin, pointed out last week, “Humanity is safety,” and treating incarcerated people like, well, people, actually makes them want to behave better.
Here’s where the tough-on-crime folks will begin composing their angry emails. Why are we paying for killers to have a view? Why should I care if a rapist has a good book to read? Our budget is bleeding red, why are tax dollars being used for prison lattes? (To be fair, I do not know whether they actually have lattes.)
But consider this: The prison guards back Newsom.
“Done right, it improves working conditions for our officers and strengthens public safety,” said Steve Adney, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the union that represents guards, of the California model, as Newsom calls his vision.
Faced with high rates of suicide and other ills such as addiction, corrections officers have long been concerned about the stress and violence of their jobs. A few years ago, some union members traveled to Norway to see prisons there. I tagged along.
A correctional officer at Halden prison in Norway checks out the ice cream freezer in the grocery store inside the facility.
(Javad Parsa/For The Times)
The American officers were shocked to see Norwegian prisoners access kitchen knives and power tools, but even more shocked that the guards had built relationships with these criminals that allowed them to do their jobs with far less fear.
Rather than jailers, these corrections officers were more like social workers or guides to a better way of living. Of course, the corrections officers aren’t dumb. That only works with vetted inmates, such as those at San Quentin, who have proved they want to change.
But when you have officers and incarcerated people who are able to coexist with respect and maybe a dash of kindness, you get a different outcome for both sides.
“If we are capable of building this at San Quentin, then we are capable of making the workplace safe for every officer who walks in the gates,” said CCPOA President Neil Flood, a startling statement in favor of radical reform from a law enforcement officer.
But in a moment when most Democrats with ambitions for national office (or even an eye on replacing Newsom) are backing away from criminal justice reform, it would be naive to think the California model won’t be used to bludgeon Newsom in a presidential race, and provide further fuel to the dumpster-fire narrative about the state.
Soon — before the midterms — many expect Congress to move forward on Trump’s expressed desire for a crime bill that would empower police with even greater immunity for wrongdoing, create longer sentences for crimes including those involving drugs and further erode criminal justice reform in the name of public safety.
Trump is going hard in the opposite direction, toward more punishment, always the easier and more understandable route for voters fed up with crime (even though crime rates have been declining since President Biden was in office).
The California model is “a political liability in this environment,” said Tinisch Hollins, a victims advocate who worked on the San Quentin transition and heads Californians for Safety and Justice.
But she retains faith that “the majority of people don’t believe that shoving everyone into prison is how we resolve the problem.”
Newsom deserves credit for standing by that position, when simply backing away and dropping the California model would have been the simpler and safer route — it’s complicated and messy and oh-so-easy to make it sound dumb.
I refer you back to the cafe. If construction had been cut at San Quentin, the budget cited as the reason, no one would have noticed and few would have complained.
Instead, sounding a bit like Trump, Newsom said he “threatened the hell out of them if they didn’t get it done before I was gone.”
“This is not left or right,” he said. “This is just being smart and pragmatic and you know, I just … I believe people are not the worst thing they’ve done.”
Politically at least, San Quentin is a legacy for Newsom now, the best or worst thing he’s done on crime, depending on your personal views of second chances.
But it is undeniably a vision of public safety starkly at odds with Trump, one Newsom will carry into his next political fight — where it is certain to cause him some pain.
Other snaps show her cheering with friends and sharing hugs, all round having a good day out.
It comes just after Emily gave her fans a sneak peak into her new countryside home.
She teased her new abode with some subtle photos including one of a rustic bookshelf in the interior, old fashioned panelled walls and lovely wooden flooring.
Captioning the snaps, Emily wrote: “Welcome to our new home!
“Can’t wait to bore you all to death with my unhinged wallpaper decisions.”
Emily also shared a number of photos during the process of her moving house with her fiance Alistair Garner, including pics of moving boxes and a removals and storage van.
She brought her beau along for the game
Emily posed with a huge grin and two thumbs up outside the van as it was being loaded.
Excited about the new chapter, she reflected on how far she had come.
“From single girl flats in Camden, to where I had my baby in North London. Now the big one.
“As me Al, Barney and Penny have moved out of London and to the countryside to our dream home.”
Daisy Lowe looked every inch the yummy mummy in this sheer dressCredit: GettyThe pregnant star showed off her growing baby bump in the daring outfitCredit: GettyDaisy is expecting her second child with her husband JordanCredit: AlamyDaisy and Jordan share a daughter called IvyCredit: Instagram
The soon-to-be mum-of-two, who already shares daughter Ivy, two, with Jordan, 31, looked incredible as she stepped out for London’s Fashion Week.
The Strictly Come Dancing star looked every inch the yummy mummy as she showed off her growing baby bump.
Daisy pulled out all the stops in the daring sheer outfit which revealed her black lingerie.
The pregnant star looked happy and relaxed as she posed for the photos in her stunning outfit.
Daisy said at the time: “I wanted to share some news with you. Jordan and I are having a baby.
“We are absolutely bursting at the seams with happiness. I’m oscillating wildly between excitement & nervousness with a dash of morning sickness thrown in for good measure! Big love to all of you.”
The original series was a huge hit with viewers and spanned 12 seasons
Samantha King Content Editor
14:34, 18 Feb 2026Updated 14:34, 18 Feb 2026
The sitcom is getting a UK release(Image: TLC/Discovery+)
Comedy fans in the UK will finally be able to stream a spin-off of a long-running series dubbed “intelligent”, “literally brilliant” and “one of the best ever made” by viewers.
Another spin-off, which is a direct sequel to the events of Young Sheldon, was later unveiled titled Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. This focusses instead on Sheldon’s oldest brother, Georgie Cooper (Montana Jordan), as he grapples with marriage and parenthood alongside partner Mandy McAllister (Emily Osment).
As viewers saw in Young Sheldon, Georgie and Mandy both lied about their ages when they met. Georgie, then aged 17, said he was 21, while a 29-year-old Mandy insisted she was 24. Now they have a baby, a marriage and a 12-year age gap to contend with all while living under the same roof as Mandy’s parents, Audrey and Jim.
It became the third TV sitcom in The Big Bang Theory franchise – and notably the only one not featuring the character of Sheldon – and two seasons have been released so far. That latest season is now being made available to viewers in the UK.
The series has an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score so far, earning a respectable 89 per cent from critics. Audiences awarded the series a lesser 68 per cent on average.
One viewer penned: “While I agree that it doesn’t quite live up to Young Sheldon or The Big Bang Theory, this show has its own redeeming qualities which make it a worthwhile watch.” A second added: “I think it’s a wonderful addition to The Big Bang universe.”
A third called it their “comfort show,” adding: “I binged it the whole day so it did something right.”
The show will be airing exclusively on TLC in the UK, and be available for streaming on Discovery+ from April this year, though an exact release date is yet to be announced.
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