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A village in the UK has been hailed for its “insane” chippy and for providing visitors with an accurate taste of life in the past thanks to its “trapped in time” aesthetic and feel

A village in the north of England has been praised for its “insane” chip shop and its ability to transport visitors back in time with its “trapped in time” atmosphere. The UK is home to a wealth of scenic and historical locations that are well worth a visit.

One such place is Beamish, an open-air museum village located in County Durham, England – north-east of Stanley. It offers 350 acres of rural countryside, as well as being a “living” museum, complete with vintage shops and restaurants, Georgian gardens, historic modes of transport like trams and buses, and much more. This charming and fascinating destination has been designed to give visitors a realistic glimpse into the history of northern England, attracting hundreds of thousands of people each year who come to experience it first-hand.

The official Beamish website states: “Step into the past at Beamish, The Living Museum of the North.

“Beamish is a world famous open air museum which brings the history of North East England to life at its 1820s Pockerley, 1900s Town, 1900s Pit Village, 1940s Farm, 1950s Town and 1950s Spain’s Field Farm exhibit areas.”

It’s a mix of original buildings, replicas, and relocated structures that together create a functional “living museum” that visitors can experience as if it were the real thing.

Food content creator Callum recently embarked on a journey to the village, which look like a seemingly untouched, historic British town.

He made a stop at the renowned Davy’s Fish and Chips, known for its traditional cooking methods.

In a video tour of the chippy and the town, Callum said in a voiceover: “This is the fish and chip shop trapped in time – one of the last in the world that uses coal to heat the original 1950s fryers, with fish and chips cooked in beef dripping.”

He added: “The sweet shop makes candy by hand, the bakery makes the same cakes as a century ago. There’s no mobile phone reception up here so people actually have to talk to each other.

“A slice of England unchanged. It’s one of the most incredible fish and chips, it’s Davy’s in Beamish.”

In the caption alongside the video, he added: “Insane chippy stuck in history. Absolute scenes. Davys Fish and Chips, Beamish”.

TikTok users were quick to share their thoughts in the comments section. One user enthused: “Beamish museum if you’ve not yet been then go, it’s brilliant, them chips and fish best ever”.

Another reminisced: “We went on a school trip to Beamish when I was about 10. Loved it! I’m 57 now”.

A third said: “Wonder if no mobile reception is a specific tactic. What a world with no mobiles and social media.”

One enthusiastic fan shared: “I’ll just tell ya right now fish in beef dripping from that shop heated by coal is the BEST fried fish you will ever eat in your f***ing life”.

Another declared Beamish’s fish and chips the “best fish and chips [they] have ever had.”

While another user pleaded: “Make the WHOLE of the UK like this”.

A final commenter confessed: “Not me Googling if people live here, in attempt to escape modern society”.

Is past and present stock market performance a good predictor of how the market will perform in the future? It can be sometimes. Otherwise, no one would bother incorporating historical stock data into models that attempt to project future performance.

With that in mind, investors might want to pay attention to what’s going on now with the S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.56%) in relation to what it’s done in years past. The benchmark index is poised to do something that’s only happened 11 times in 100 years. And it could signal a big move for the stock market in 2026.

Image source: Getty Images.

The third time’s the charm

The S&P 500 soared 26% in 2023. It followed with a 25% gain in 2024. As of the market close on Oct. 10, 2025, the S&P is up a little over 11%. As things stand right now, it’s on course to finish the year with a double-digit percentage gain for the third consecutive year.

Such an achievement is rarer than you might think. Over the last 100 years, the S&P 500 has delivered double-digit returns for three consecutive years only 11 times. Technically, the index has only existed in its current form, including 500 companies, for 68 years. However, the S&P 500’s predecessor — the S&P 90 — dates back to 1926.

Granted, the stock market could end 2025 on a negative note. President Trump’s latest threat of additional 100% tariffs on all Chinese imports, on top of 30% tariffs already in place, is causing significant angst among investors.

It doesn’t help matters that the S&P 500 has been trading at record highs. The Buffett indicator, a ratio of total U.S. stock market capitalization to GDP, is well above a level that its namesake, legendary investor Warren Buffett, has said was “playing with fire.”

However, even if the S&P 500 falls over the next few weeks, a rebound to get the index back into double-digit gain territory would still be quite possible. Stocks often enjoy momentum at the end of a year thanks to a phenomenon known as the Santa Claus rally.

A history of big moves following three double-digit years

What could a third consecutive year of double-digit gains for the S&P 500 potentially mean for stocks in 2026? History shows that big moves often follow.

In three of the 11 cases over the last 100 years where the S&P jumped by double digits for three years in a row, the trend soon came to an abrupt end. For example, the S&P 500’s predecessor began with a bang in 1926, racking up three back-to-back double-digit returns. However, any student of history knows what happened in 1929: The stock market crash in October of that year brought a screeching halt to the previous momentum. The S&P finished the year down 8% and continued to decline for the next three years.

More recently, the index generated strong double-digit returns in 2019, 2020, and 2021. But the S&P 500 plunged 18% in 2022 as the Federal Reserve cranked up interest rates.

In four of the 11 cases, though, the strong momentum extended into a fourth year. The first occurrence came during World War II. The S&P soared 20% in 1942, followed by a gain of nearly 26% in 1943 and a 36% jump in 1944. The best was yet to come, with the index skyrocketing 36% in 1945 as the war ended.

Another great example of a three-year streak continuing into a fourth year was during the heady dot-com boom of the 1990s. The S&P 500 delivered returns of 22% or more in 1995, 1996, and 1997. It slowed only slightly in 1998, with a nice gain of 21%.

^SPX data by YCharts

How will the S&P 500 perform in 2026?

History shows that big moves are common after three consecutive years of double-digit gains by the S&P 500. Unfortunately, stocks tumble nearly as often as they jump in the following year. How will the S&P 500 perform in 2026? It’s impossible to know for sure.

What is possible to know, though, is that the S&P 500 has always risen over the long term in the past. The Rolling Stones weren’t talking about the stock market when they sang “Time Is on My Side,” but their premise definitely applies to investing. Regardless of what the S&P 500 does next year, investors who maintain a long-term perspective are likely to make money.

A forum of regional countries, including India, voiced opposition to any foreign military infrastructure in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s regional neighbours, including India, have voiced a rare unified front by opposing foreign attempts to deploy “military infrastructure” in the country, as United States President Donald Trump presses to regain control of the Bagram airbase.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, members of the Moscow Format of Consultations on Afghanistan – which include US allies India and Pakistan – “reaffirmed their unwavering support for the establishment of Afghanistan as an independent, united and peaceful state”. The forum also includes Russia, China, Iran and Central Asian nations, all of whom strongly oppose any US return presence in Afghanistan.

The members “called unacceptable the attempts by countries to deploy their military infrastructure in Afghanistan and neighbouring states, since this does not serve the interests of regional peace and stability”.

Though the statement echoes last year’s forum language, it suggests broad regional opposition to Trump’s push to return to Bagram, which he handed over to Afghanistan’s Taliban five years ago as part of a deal paving the way for the US withdrawal from Kabul.

In backing the statement, India – a longtime US ally – navigates fraying ties with Washington and apparent rapprochement with the Taliban, which it long opposed but has in recent years cultivated ties with.

In the latest diplomatic outreach, India is set to welcome the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi for a historic first visit to New Delhi this week, lasting from October 9-16.

After attending the Moscow forum, Muttaqi emphasised that Afghanistan will not accept any foreign military presence. “Afghanistan is a free and independent country, and throughout history, it has never accepted the military presence of foreigners,” he said. “Our decision and policy will remain the same to keep Afghanistan free and independent.”

Last month, Trump threatened “bad things” would happen to Afghanistan if it did not give back Bagram, and cited what he called its strategic location near China. The Taliban has rejected Trump’s calls to return the base.

Bagram is about 800km (about 500 miles) from the Chinese border, and about 2,400km (about 1,500 miles) from the nearest Chinese missile factory in Xinjiang.

Trump has referred to China as a key reason for wanting to retake control of Bagram, saying last month in London that the base is “an hour away from where [China] makes its nuclear weapons”.

Current and former US officials have cast doubt on Trump’s goal, saying that reoccupying Bagram might end up looking like a reinvasion, requiring more than 10,000 troops as well as the deployment of advanced air defences.

“The sheer logistics of negotiating redeployment and handing back would be extremely challenging and lengthy, and it’s not clear that this would serve either side’s strategic interests,” said Ashley Jackson, co-director at the Geneva-headquartered Centre on Armed Groups.

Bagram, a sprawling complex, was the main base for US forces in Afghanistan during the two decades of war that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington by al-Qaeda.

Thousands of people were imprisoned at the site for years without charge or trial by US forces during its so-called “war on terror”, and many of them were abused or tortured.

The Taliban retook the facility in 2021 following the US withdrawal, which Trump first set in motion in his first term as president, and the collapse of the Afghan government with Joe Biden in the White House.

TOKYO — The leaders of China, North Korea and Russia stood shoulder to shoulder Wednesday as high-tech military hardware and thousands of marching soldiers filled the streets of Beijing.

Two days earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping huddled together, smiling broadly and clasping hands at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The gatherings in China this week could be read as a striking, maybe even defiant, message to the United States and its allies. At the very least, they offered yet more evidence of a burgeoning shift away from a U.S.-dominated, Western-led world order, as President Trump withdraws America from many of its historic roles and roils economic relationships with tariffs.

Trump himself indicated he was the leaders’ target in a message on social media to Xi: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”

But China’s military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the earlier economic gathering, is also simply more of the self-interested, diplomatic jockeying that has marked regional power politics for decades.

Each of these leaders, in other words, is out for himself.

Xi needs cheap Russian energy and a stable border with North Korea, his nuclear-armed wildcard neighbor. Putin is hoping to escape Western sanctions and isolation over his war in Ukraine. Kim wants money, legitimacy and to one-up archrival South Korea. Modi is trying to manage his relationship with regional heavyweights Putin and Xi, at a moment when ties with Washington are troubled.

The events highlight China’s regional aspirations

China is beset with serious domestic problems — stark economic and gender inequalities, to name two — and a tense standoff with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. But Xi has tried to position China as a leader of countries that feel disadvantaged by the post-World War II order.

“This parade showcases the ascendancy of China propelled by Trump’s inept diplomacy and President Xi’s astute statecraft,” said Jeff Kingston, a professor of Asian studies at Temple University Japan. “The Washington consensus has unraveled, and Xi is rallying support for an alternative.”

Some analysts caution against reading too much into Russia-China-North Korea ties. China remains deeply wary of growing North Korean nuclear power, and has long sought to temper its support — even agreeing at times to international sanctions — to try to influence Pyongyang’s pursuit of weapons.

“Though the Russia-North Korea tie has resumed to a military alliance, China refuses to return to the year of 1950,” when Beijing sent soldiers to support North Korea’s invasion of the South and the USSR provided crucial military aid, said Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Relations of Nanjing University. “It is wrong to believe that China, Russia and North Korea are reinforcing bloc-building.”

Russia looks to China to help ease its isolation

For the Kremlin, Putin’s appearance in Beijing alongside major world leaders is another way to shrug off the isolation imposed by the West on Russia in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

It has allowed Putin to take to the world stage as a statesman, meeting a host of world leaders, including Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. And Putin’s reception by Xi is a reminder that Russia still has major trading partners, despite Western sanctions that have cut off access to many markets.

At the same time, Russia does not want to anger Trump, who has been more receptive than his predecessor, particularly in hearing out Moscow’s terms for ending its war with Ukraine.

“I want to say that no one has been plotting anything; no one was weaving any conspiracies,” Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said about Trump’s social media message. “None of the three leaders had even thought about such a thing.”

Kim Jong Un walks a diplomatic tightrope in Beijing

The North Korean leader’s trip to Beijing will deepen new ties with Russia while also focusing on the shaky relationship with his nation’s most crucial ally, and main economic lifeline, China.

Kim has sent thousands of troops and huge supplies of military equipment to help Russian forces to repel a Ukrainian incursion on their territory.

Without specifically mentioning the Ukraine war, Kim told Putin on Wednesday that “if there’s anything I can do for you and the people of Russia, if there is more that needs to be done, I will consider it as a brotherly obligation, an obligation that we surely need to bear.”

The Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank affiliated with South Korea’s spy agency, said in a report this week that Kim’s trip, his first appearance at a multilateral diplomatic event since taking power in 2011, is meant to strengthen ties with friendly countries ahead of any potential resumption of talks about its nuclear program with Trump. The two leaders’ nuclear diplomacy collapsed in 2019.

“Kim can also claim a diplomatic victory as North Korea has gone from unanimously sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council for its illegal nuclear and missile programs to being embraced by UNSC permanent members Russia and China,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

India’s Modi is playing a nuanced game

Modi is on his first visit to China since relations between the two countries deteriorated after Chinese and Indian soldiers engaged in deadly border clashes in 2020.

But the tentative rapprochement has its limits. Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the Indian leader did not participate in Beijing’s military parade because the “distrust with China still exists.”

“India is carefully walking this tightrope between the West and the rest, especially when it comes to the U.S., Russia and China,” he said. “Because India does not believe in formal alliances, its approach has been to strengthen its relationship with the U.S., maintain it with Russia, and manage it with China.”

Even as he takes some steps toward China, the United States is also on Modi’s mind.

India and Washington were negotiating a free trade agreement when the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the combined tariffs to 50%.

Trade talks have since stalled and relations have significantly declined. Modi’s administration has vowed to not to yield to U.S. pressure and signaled it is willing to move closer to China and Russia.

But Donthi said India would still like to keep a window open for Washington.

“If Modi can shake hands with Xi five years after the India-China border clash, it could be far easier for him to shake hands with Trump and get back to strengthening ties, because they are natural allies,” he said.

Klug writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Kim Tong-hyung and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Ken Moritsugu in Beijing; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.