Vogue Williams has become the third celebrity confirmed for this year’s Christmas special of Strictly Come Dancing.

The Irish presenter is perhaps best known as one of the co-hosts of the podcast My Therapist Ghosted Me, and previously fronted her own documentary series On The Edge.

She’s also competed on reality shows like Bear Grylls: Mission Survive, The Jump and Stepping Out (the short-lived ITV dance series, on which she competed with then-husband Brian McFadden).

She also competed on the Australian version of Strictly, Dancing With The Stars, back in 2012, and was the third person to be eliminated.

Vogue will compete with Carlos Gu in the festive special, which will air on BBC One on Christmas Day.

“I’m so excited to join the Strictly family! Carlos would have more of a chance of winning a Nobel prize than turning me into a good dancer but I am determined to try my very best!” she joked.  “I’m loving it so far, bring on the ballroom floor.”

Earlier this week, comedian Josh Widdicombe became the first celebrity confirmed for the special, followed by Drag Race UK finalist Tayce.

Tayce will make history as the first drag artist to compete on the Strictly floor, where she’ll be paired with Kai Widdrington.

Next week, the remaining three celebrities who’ll be put through their paces on the Strictly Christmas special will be unveiled.

Before that, though, the regular series will be taking its annual trip to Blackpool, with a special episode broadcast live from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

Take a peek at what to expect below:

Wes Streeting is a very clever man.

As one of the government’s best communicators, the health secretary knows that when he speaks, people tend to listen.

So when he decided to make an intervention on fellow Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Dying Bill this week, he knew that it would make waves.

Streeting, who has already said he intends to vote against the bill, told Times Radio: “It would be a big change. There would be resource implications for doing it. And those choices would come at the expense of other choices.”

His message was clear: passing the bill would cost money, and that would have to come at the expense of frontline NHS services.

Leadbeater told HuffPost UK that she found Streeting’s comments “upsetting”, especially since the government’s official position is to remain neutral on the legislation.

“It’s a difficult balance for people,” she said. “I was disappointed that he made those comments before he saw the bill. But everyone is entitled to their view.”

Others are less sanguine about Streeting’s intervention, however.

Labour peer and former minister Baroness Hodge said: “I’m a great Wes Streeting fan but I think on this issue he should do what the Cabinet Secretary said and just hold fire a little bit.”

On his specific suggestion that the bill could see the NHS starved of resources, she said: “If you look at the NHS budget, most of it goes on the last six months of life.

“To argue that this is going to cost extra – I mean I haven’t done the arithmetic on it – sounds to me a bit daft.”

Another Labour grandee, former deputy leader Baroness Harman, told the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that Streeting had “crossed the line” by speaking out.

“He should not have said how he was going to vote, because that breaches neutrality and sends a signal,” she said.

Several MPs HuffPost UK has spoken to admitted privately that Streeting’s intervention could lead to previously-undecided colleagues opting to vote against the bill.

One newly-elected Labour MP said: “Wes’s comments will help a lot of us make up our minds, I think. I was already pretty sceptical about the bill, but what he said has made me much more likely to vote against.”

A senior Tory MP said: “When Wes said there will have to be NHS cuts, that probably killed the bill stone dead.”

But Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon, who is a supporter of the bill, said Streeting’s remarks could actually have the opposite effect.

“A lot of Labour MPs feel let down by Wes,” he said. “They think he’s gone too far and that’s made them more determined to support the bill.”

The debate around the issue has already been lengthy and intense, despite the fact that the bill itself was only published last Monday night.

If passed, it would allow terminally ill adults who have less than six months to die if they wish.

They would have to be over the age of 18, be registered with a GP for at least a year, have the mental capacity to make a clear choice and express a “clear, settled and informed” wish to die without any coercion.

Two independent doctors and a High Court judge would also have to confirm the person is eligible for assisted dying.

The all-important Commons vote on the second reading of the bill takes place on November 29.

While no one is expecting a repeat of the last time MPs voted on the issue nine years ago, when Rob Marris’ private member’s bill was resoundingly defeated by 330 to 118, there is a growing feeling that it could be narrowly defeated.

One former Tory cabinet minister said: “There’s an expectation that a lot of the new Labour MPs will vote for it, but I don’t think that’s right.

“A lot of colleagues are also concerned about the lack of parliamentary time being given to it.”

The debate on November 29 is only scheduled to last five hours, which Conservative backbencher Alec Shelbrooke told HuffPost UK was nowhere near enough for an issue of such importance.

The Wetherby and Easingwold MP asked Keir Starmer at PMQs on Wednesday for the government to make available two days of parliamentary time - 16 hours in total - for the bill to be debated. He declined.

Shelbrooke said: “I am open minded but without extra floor debate I would not be able to give this a second reading.”

But Leadbeater said those with concerns should back the bill at the end of the month, after which there will still be a lengthy parliamentary process for it to be thoroughly debated.

“Once we get it through on November 29 - if we do - we’ve then got committee stage, report stage, third reading and then it goes to the Lords, so that is a six month process,” she said.

“Just because the debate is not happening on the floor of the House doesn’t mean it’s not happening at all.”

She also pointed out that MPs have been able to take part in drop-in events in parliament, where those on both sides of the argument have been setting out their case.

“I’ve had a number of messages from colleagues saying they had gone through the bill and will now be voting for it,” Leadbeater said. 

“You’ve got people in the middle who looking at the bill and really doing the research, speaking to constituents, having round tables and speaking to various organisations.

“But I also respect those who say they won’t be voting for it. Whatever happens with the bill, and I desperately hope it passes, I hope it leads to a wider debate on the issue. There are a lot of positives that can come out of it.”

Views on the issue among the public appear to be just as mixed as they are in parliament.

A poll by Savanta found that 46% support assisted dying for non-terminal degenerative diseases, compared to 20% who are opposed.

However, 61% said they were concerned that if the bill passed, terminally ill people might be pressured into taking their lives due to cost or inconvencience.

Emma Levin, associate director at Savanta said: “Our polling suggests there are significant levels of support among the UK public for the legalisation of assisted dying - in the abstract. 

“That being said, there continues to be widespread concern that people could be pressured into taking their own life prematurely. Campaigners for the legalisation of assisted dying will need to convince the public of the safeguards put in place to stop this happening.”

The vote in two weeks’ time is set to be one of the most significant of this or any parliament.

It is impossible to predict how it will go, but the pressure is on the bill’s supporters to convince the sceptics that it is an idea whose time has come.

Hugh Grant has revealed he had a big reaction when he first read the script for the upcoming Bridget Jones movie.

The British actor is set to reprise his role as Daniel Cleaver in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, after previously sitting out the third instalment in the series.

A new trailer for Mad About The Boy dropped earlier this week, introducing Bridget at a new stage in her life, following the death of her husband Mark Darcy.

During a new interview with SiriusXM, Hugh was asked if there were any details he could share about the forthcoming movie.

“I haven’t seen it, but obviously I know the script,” the Bafta winner began. “I’m a harsh judge of scripts, and it was really good. Really moving, as well as funny.

“Helen Fielding, who wrote the Bridget books, this [story] is based on her own experience of losing her husband and bringing up her kids alone. So it’s got a huge amount of heart. It made me cry.”

“Have I made it sound too dark? It’s also extremely funny,” he quickly added.

Back in September, Hugh reflected on his decision not to return for Bridget Jones’s Baby, claiming: “I really couldn’t fit my character in – he just didn’t belong, so I stepped aside.”

In his new interview, the Heretic star elaborated further on his absence from the third Bridget Jones movie, recalling: “It had a great set-up, that she’s pregnant, and doesn’t know whether it’s Darcy’s baby or Daniel’s baby. That was marvellous.

“But I could never work out how Daniel would handle either being a father, or not being a father. Couldn’t make him work. And we went through agony, months and months, and in the end I said, ‘I think I’d better sit this one out’. So I did. And they made a wonderful film anyway.”

Bridget Jones’s Baby actually opens at Daniel Cleaver’s funeral, although the end of the movie hints the character may still be alive after all, which, of course, turns out to be the case in film number four.

While Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy will be a streaming exclusive in the US, it’s due to hit UK cinemas on Friday 14 February 2025.

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

Skincare enthusiasts will likely have heard a lot about skin lasers, from CO2 to fractional to pulsed light options. 

All of them serve to solve specific skin woes, but they have one thing in common – they’re usually very, very pricey. 

So it’s a good thing LYMA, whose fanbase includes celebs and plastic surgeons, is having a rare Black Friday sale on their at-home laser.

Their “completely painless” laser takes just three minutes a day to work, the brand says, helping to banish everything from blemishes to uneven skin to fine lines.

Safe for all skin tones, LYMA’s flagship product is as suitable for your legs and arms as it is for your forehead and jawline.

The results speak for themselves:

If you’re wondering how it all works, LYMA explains that their laser uses cold, near-infrared light that your skin selectively allows in. Its lower temperature helps to prevent damage.

Your dermis then converts the light to energy, preventing the breakdown of your extra cellular matrix ― leaving you with skin that’s hydrated from within.

Their laser, which is currently hundreds of pounds cheaper than usual, uses low-level laser therapy that’s been proven to increase the amount of oxygen and nutrients available to your skin. 

That results in denser, firmer, smoother, and healthier-looking skin over time, LYMA says. 

The portable tool is cordless and small enough to fit in your handbag, making what’s set to be the most effective part of your daily skincare routine even easier to maintain.

Its breakthrough technology, created with plastic surgeons, geneticists and scientists, has earned the LYMA laser rave review after rave review.

Their site also offers ultra-rare Black Friday deals on their groundbreaking skincare products and supplements too ― but if you ask me, their laser is the best deal I’ve seen in ages.

Brexit has damaged the UK economy and the government should build closer relations with the European Union, the governor of the Bank of England has said.

Andrew Bailey said there had clearly been “consequences” as a result of the 2016 vote to quit the EU.

Speaking at Mansion House in London last night, Bailey said he had “no position on Brexit per se”.

“But I do have to point out the consequences,” he said. “The changing trading relationship with the EU has weighed on the level of potential supply.

“The impact on trade seems to be more in goods than services, that is not particularly surprising to my mind.

“But it underlines why we must be alert to and welcome opportunities to rebuild relations while respecting the decision of the British people.”

“The picture is now clouded by the impact of geopolitical shocks and the broader fragmentation of the world economy,” he added.

Bailey’s comments will be welcomed by the government, which is looking to improve trade with the EU and making changes to the deal struck with the bloc by the last Tory government.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC: “Whatever your views on Brexit, it is the case that it is harder today for British businesses to trade with companies and sell to consumers within the European Union.

“That’s no good for growth and for living standards in Britain, so we want to reset those relations.”

Molly Scott Cato, senior vice chair of the European Movement UK, said: “As an economist I’m not at all surprised that making trade harder with our largest export market has had a negative impact on our economy. But we don’t have to just take this on the chin.

“There are actions we can take to address the trade barriers imposed by Brexit. Reaching a veterinary agreement to cut red tape and reduce border checks would be a practical first step.

“However, significant economic benefits will remain out of reach unless the government is willing to choose a better deal with Europe above Trump’s US and above other deals which risk undermining our standards, join at least the EU customs union and then build from there.”

Bailey’s comments come two months after experts said the economic impact of Brexit is getting worse as time goes on.

According to Aston University Business School, the value of UK goods exported to the UK was 27% lower – and imported goods 32% lower – compared to what the economy may have looked like if Brexit had not happened.

Leaving the single market in January 2021 has had a “profound and ongoing” impact on Britain’s trade with the EU, according to the economists’ modelling.

The variety of exported goods has also declined, with 1,645 fewer types of British products sent to every EU country and many manufacturers no longer sending their produce to the bloc.

Jonathan Bailey had a moment of instant regret when he let slip one of his hidden talents during a recent interview.

Speaking to Vanity Fair for the magazine’s annual Hollywood issue, the Bridgerton star revealed that the gymnastics training he did as a child has left him with a “very bendy back, as shown in Wicked” when his character performs a backflip during one big number.

He was then asked if he had any additional “secret talents”, prompting the response: “I was going to say dexterous toes… but I would regret that, so I didn’t say it.”

“Nothing about this goes well,” he added, when prompted to reveal exactly what his unusual ability entails, but he eventually relented.

“I just remember entertaining my sisters by being able to pick things up with my toes, but like a monkey,” he admitted. “But we probably don’t need to put that in writing.”

Jonathan plays Fiyero in the much-hyped movie adaptation of Wicked, sharing the screen with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, respectively.

It’s fair to say that 2024 has been another big year for the Olivier-winning actor, that has included an Emmy nomination for Fellow Travelers, a return to the hit Netflix period drama Bridgerton and even a memorable cameo in the most recent season of Heartstopper – all before Wicked hits cinemas in just one week.

Elsewhere in his Vanity Fair interview, Jonathan spoke more in depth about his brief role in Heartstopper, including how the cameo came about and what the award-winning teen drama means to him.

Read Jonathan Bailey’s full interview in Vanity Fair here.

Molly-Mae Hague has reflected on her split from ex-fiancé Tommy Fury.

Over the summer, the former couple shocked their fans when they announced they had broken up five years after meeting in the Love Island villa.

“Never in a million years did I think I’d ever have to write this,” Molly-Mae wrote on Instagram at the time.

“After five years of being together, I never imagined our story would end, especially not this way.

In a new interview with British Vogue (!!!), Molly-Mae insisted she is still to keep the specifics of the break-up private, for the sake of their almost-two-year-old daughter Bambi.

“No one will ever really know what went down apart from Tommy and I, and that’s how we’d like to keep it, for Bambi’s sake,” she told the magazine.

“I do think that he will talk about things eventually. I do think that when he’s ready, like, maybe more will be said. But I think that’s for him to do on his terms.” 

She added: “It’s not like it’s gossip, it’s real life and it’s, you know, it’s a really deep situation. It’s really sad.”

Tommy previously shut down speculation that he had been unfaithful to Molly-Mae during their relationship via a representative, who said the boxer had been left “horrified by the false allegations of cheating being circulated by the media” and would be “consulting his lawyers”.

He later admitted he’d found the aftermath of the break-up “heartbreaking”, particularly due to “horrendous” rumours and “false allegations” that had been made about him within the media.

Read Molly-Mae’s full interview with British Vogue here.

Downing Street has been forced to apologise after meat and alcohol were served at a No.10 reception to celebrate Diwali.

Keir Starmer took part in the event, which was held at the prime minister’s official residence last month.

A spokeswoman for the PM said there had been a “mistake” and insisted “it will not happen again”.

Shivani Raja, the Conservative MP for Leicester East, was among those who complained about the oversight.

Although Hinduism does not have a clear prohibition on alcohol or meat consumption, many of its followers choose not to drink and some are also vegetarian.

In a letter to the PM, Raja said: “I feel this speaks poorly against the organisation of this year’s event – with a disappointing lack of knowledge of the customs and traditions that many British citizens hold dear.

“As a practising Hindu, representing thousands of Hindus within my own constituency of Leicester East, I have been deeply saddened to hear that this year’s festivities were overshadowed in the greatest Office of State by negativity, as a result of this oversight.”

A Number 10 spokesperson said on Friday: “The prime minister was pleased to welcome a range of communities celebrating Diwali to a reception in Downing Street.

“He paid tribute to the huge contribution the British Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities make to our country and how the government is driven by the shared values of hard work, ambition and aspiration.

“A mistake was made in the organisation of the event. We understand the strength of feeling on this issue and so would apologise to the community and assure them it will not happen again.”

According to News Medical Life Sciences, “the most comprehensive research into cholesterol ever conducted in the UK has found 54% of Brits could have high total cholesterol levels”. 

Associations between high cholesterol and dementia have long existed, but a new study says that changes in – as well as levels of – cholesterol may increase your risk of developing the condition too.

Research shared at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions found that older people whose blood cholesterol levels fluctuated were more likely to develop dementia.

The study has yet to undergo peer review.

How did they study the link?

The researchers looked at almost 10,000 older adults in their 70s across six years.

All the participants were a part of ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE project), a research project that tracks how low doses of aspirin affect the health of older adults. 

None of the participants had dementia at the start of the study, and all had their cholesterol levels measured year on year. 

Those in the top 25% of fluctuations ― meaning the people whose blood cholesterol levels changed more than three-quarters of the other participants’ did ― developed dementia at a rate 60% higher than those with less fluctuation.

They were also 23% more likely to develop cognitive decline, which is sometimes seen as a precursor to dementia. 

“Older people with fluctuating cholesterol levels unrelated to whether they were taking lipid-lowering medications – particularly those experiencing big year-to-year variations — may warrant closer monitoring and proactive preventive interventions,” the study’s lead author Dr Zhen Zhou said.

Does that mean high cholesterol will definitely give me dementia?

That’s not at all what the paper says. It only looked at older people, and didn’t prove that high cholesterol caused dementia ― it just found an association. 

“We need future studies to help us understand the relationship between cholesterol variability and dementia risk,” Dr Zhou told the American Heart Association.

“Are cholesterol variability levels a real risk factor, a precursor or a biomarker of dementia risk? One possible explanation is that significant fluctuations in total and LDL cholesterol levels may destabilise atherosclerotic plaques, which are mostly composed of LDL cholesterol,” the researcher added.

“This destabilisation can raise the risk of plaque growth, rupture and subsequent obstruction of blood flow in the brain, which may therefore impact brain function.”

If further studies find a cause-and-effect relationship, which this did not, Dr Zhou is excited about cholesterol’s potential as an early dementia risk factor indicator.

Daniel Craig has admitted he’s found some of the conversations around his new film Queer a little on the “prudish” side.

The former James Bond star is already at the centre of Oscar buzz for his performance in Luca Guadagnino’s latest big-screen offering, in which his character becomes infatuated with a younger man.

Early reviews of the film have been glowing, although much has been made of its graphic content, most notably when it comes to scenes depicting sex and drug use.

Speaking to Variety on Wednesday, he admitted that the reaction to the film feels “pretty prudish to me”.

As well as Daniel’s leading performance, the film also features appearances from Netflix star Drew Starkey, Grammy-winning singer Omar Apollo and Academy Award nominee Lesley Manville.

It marks Luca Guadagnino’s second film of 2024, after the Call Me By Your Name director previously won huge praise for his recent hit Challengers.

Daniel previously told The Guardian of shooting the film’s more daring moments: “There’s nothing intimate about filming a sex scene on a movie set.

“We just wanted to make it as touching and as real and as natural as we possibly could. Drew is a wonderful, fantastic, beautiful actor to work with and we kind of had a laugh. We tried to make it fun.”

“If I wasn’t in this movie and I saw this movie, I’d want to be in it,” he later added. “It’s the kind of film I want to see, I want to make, I want to be out there.”

Queer is due to hit UK cinemas on Friday 13 December.

It’s not just a marketing tactic ― real sourdough truly does seem to have potential as a gut health booster and may even benefit our blood sugar.

But in a recent Instagram Reel, doctor Karan Rajan said that spending a little more on so-called sourdough bread may still be in vain. 

That’s not because the bread is secretly bad for you, he clarifies. Instead, the issue is with manufacturers who can slap the label on bread that doesn’t quite fit the criteria.

“How can you tell the difference between real sourdough breads and fake ones?” he began his video.

What’s the difference? 

The doctor said that differences in texture and appearance aren’t always enough to tell sourdough vs. non-sourdough breads apart. 

“The number one thing you need to do to see if you’ve got real sourdough is to check the ingredients list,” he added. 

Sourdough does not use dried, or instant, yeast in its dough. 

Instead, it relies on sourdough starter ― a funky-smelling pool of fermented flour and water that’s packed with wild yeast ― to rise in the oven. 

So, true sourdough bread should only contain flour, salt and water, Dr Rajan advised. 

“Authentic sourdough doesn’t mention any added yeast,” he explains, “because it uses a natural fermentation process.” 

He adds: “Imitation sourdough, or ‘sour fauxs,’ often contain commercial yeast like baker’s yeast and even chemical raising agents like baking powder in addition to, or instead of, live sourdough starter culture.” 

Sourdough starter, which is a living yeast, is believed to have some benefits to the gut that other breads can’t offer. It’s why sourdough is considered by some to be better for us, and it’s what makes it “sour” to begin with.

Though the doctor stressed there’s nothing wrong with non-sourdough bread, he thinks it’s important consumers know what they’re really buying (especially considering sourdough bread can be easier for people who usually struggle to digest the food to eat). 

Wait... people fake sourdough?

The Real Bread Campaign has been, well, campaigning against the practice for a while. 

“There are, as yet, no regulations or Codes of Practice in the UK that govern the
nature, production and labelling of sourdough products in the UK market,” The Association of Bakery Ingredient Manufacturers wrote in 2023. 

Commercial yeast is far more predictable than sourdough starter, making its results easier to replicate exactly. That makes it much less hassle for mass manufacturers, or even small-scale bakers, than the real thing.

That could potentially lead people to pay more for a product they have been misled to believe has qualities that are different to non-sourdough bread. 

“This is a key reason the Real Bread Campaign’s call for an Honest Crust Act includes (amongst other things) legal definition of the word sourdough and regulation of its use,” The Real Bread Campaign write.

“This is to better protect us from the risk of being misled by cynical marketing and to allow us all to make better-informed choices about the food we eat.” 

It took me a little while to learn to love mince pies, but once I’d developed a taste for them, there was no going back. 

I love their fruity, jammy insides packed with plump raisins ― but I’ve never quite understood how they got their name. 

After all, I told myself, “mincemeat” (the dried fruit and candied peel-filled preserve the pies contain) is neither minced nor a form of meat. 

But looking at the history of the word, it seems I had a horrifying lesson to learn. 

Oh dear...

Yep, I’m afraid it’s exactly as you might have thought. 

Originally, mince pies contained real meat, Historic UK’s site reads. 

Back in Tudor times, the desserts were rectangular rather than circular. They would often have a sought replica of the baby Jesus on their lids, too, a little reminiscent of a manger. 

They contained 13 ingredients to represent the birthday boy himself (AKA Jesus) and his 12 disciples. 

Traditional Christmas pudding recipes followed this rule too. 

Among those ingredients were raisins, prunes, figs, cinnamon, clove and minced lamb or mutton. 

These sheep-based inclusions were meant to represent the shepherds present at Christ’s birth. 

The meat changed to tongue and even tripe over time, Historic UK adds, becoming mostly beef-based until the fruit-only version was popularised by the late Victorians.

Wouldn’t the meat go off?

If you’ve made a Christmas pudding or cake before, you’ll know that they can sometimes spend months maturing at room temperature ― despite containing perishable ingredients like egg or suet. 

The same goes with mincemeat (anyone who’s planned a festive feast before will appreciate that the more stuff you can get done well in advance, the better). 

“Mincemeat originally came about as a good way of preserving meat, without salting, curing, smoking or drying it,” shortbread company Walker’s entry on the topic reads. 

All that sugar, citrus and (sometimes) booze work as a kind of pickling agent, so the meat was safe to eat. 

Still, edible is not the same as eatable...

Nigel Farage’s attempts to tout himself as the next UK ambassador to America has been brutally slapped down by a cabinet minister.

The Reform UK leader has offered to be a “bridge” between Britain and the US once Donald Trump takes office for a second time.

But on Question Time on Thursday night, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the arch-Brexiteer should focus on his day job of being the MP for Clacton.

An audience member said: “Now he’s a democratically-elected MP, would Mr Farage not be able to act as a bridge into that new [Trump] government?”

Reynolds replied: “Well he already has a job and he’s tried pretty hard to get into parliament, so he should probably do that for the people of Clacton.”

After presenter Fiona Bruce pointed out that Farage is “on friendly terms” with Trump, the minister said: “In diplomatic terms what I would say is what you want from any representative of the British government is someone who represents British interests to that country, rather than that country’s interests back to the UK.

“Look, the guy has got a job and he should stick to that for the term that he’s been elected for as a member of parliament.”

Prime minister Keir Starmer mocked Farage at PMQs on Wednesday over his regular trips to visit Trump in America.

“I’m glad to see the honourable member back here in Britain,” Starmer said.

While Farage waved at the House, Starmer continued: “He’s spent so much time in America recently, I’d half expected to see him on the immigration statistics.”

That triggered a wave of laughter across the House, including from Farage himself.

Supermoons, which happen when the moon is at the closest point to Earth in its orbit, are often a pretty spectacular event. 

We’ve had a good run of them recently, with last month’s Hunter’s moon being particularly spectacular. 

There’s only one supermoon left of 2025, which is set to rise at 3.30pm this afternoon (Friday 15 November). 

This is called a Beaver moon ― but why the title?

Beaver moon refers to animal activity

Last month’s Hunter moon was so called because it rises at a good time for harvest and hunting.

In fact, every month’s full moon has its own name ― it just so happens that November’s and October’s happened to be supermoons as well. 

Like Hunter’s moon, this month’s Beaver moon may relate to hunting.

According to the Met Office’s X post from 2018, “the name originates from Native Americans who set beaver traps before the winter arrived”. 

However, Royal Museums Greenwich writes that it may have a different meaning too. “There is disagreement over the origin of November’s beaver moon name,” they shared on their site. 

“Some say it comes from Native Americans setting beaver traps during this month, while others say the name comes from the heavy activity of beavers building their winter dams. Another name is the frost moon.” 

Where and when can I watch the supermoon?

Per astronomy site The Comet, the moon will rise at half three today but won’t appear at its brightest ’til 9:28 this evening. 

Simply looking up at the night sky will give you a great look at the spectacle. 

“As long as there aren’t too many clouds, the full Moon will be an unmistakable white orb in the sky,” Royal Museums Greenwich says. 

Due to an “optical illusion,” they add, “seeing moonrise just after sunset or moonset just before sunrise will be an impressive sight as the Moon will appear enormous compared to the surrounding landscape”. 

Davina McCall has shared that she is undergoing brain surgery after doctors discovered a rare tumour.

On Friday morning, Davina posted a pre-recorded video message on Instagram, telling her followers that a benign brain tumour had been discovered during a health check earlier this year.

“A few months ago I did a menopause talk for a company, and they offered me a health scan in return, which I thought I was going to ace,” the former Big Brother host began.

“But it turned out I had a benign brain tumour called a colloid cyst, which is very rare.

“I slightly put my head in the sand for a while, and then I saw quite a few neurosurgeons. I got lots of opinions and I realised that I have to get it taken out. [The tumour] is big, for the space, it fills the space, it’s 14mm wide and it needs to come out because if it grows, it would be bad.

“So, I’m having it removed via a craniotomy, they go through the top of my head here, and through the two halves of my brain, to the middle, get the cyst, empty it, take it out, Bob’s your uncle.”

Assuring her followers that she’s “in good spirits”, she encouraged them to “say a prayer for me” and insisted that her partner, Michael, has “got my back”.

“I’m OK. It’s been up and down obviously, we’ve been through a lot,” she continued. “For the recovery, I’m going to be in hospital for about nine days, and then I’m going to be going home, but I’m going to be off my phone for a while.”

Davina insisted: “I don’t want you to worry about me, I’m doing that enough as it is. I am not worrying too much, and I am in a good space, and I have all the faith in the world in my surgeon and his team, and I am handing the reins over to him, he knows what he’s doing, and I’m going to do the getting better bit after.”

Michael is now running Davina’s Instagram page while she recovers, telling her followers: “[Davina] will be ‘off grid’ for a bit while she recovers from this brain operation. She is in great shape and in very good hands. 

“I’ll do the odd update from her account here for anyone interested. I’m sure she’ll read all the comments when she’s able to, so feel free to send love. The support of people is amazingly powerful.”

Davina is best known for her work on shows like Big Brother, The Million Pound Drop and Long Lost Family.

More recently, she joined the panel of the UK version of The Masked Singer, and currently fronts ITV’s My Mum, Your Dad, having campaigned to the network for a number of years for a dating show with older contestants.

There are a few things people look out for every year when John Lewis unveils its annual Christmas advert – and one of them is definitely the song that’s used in it.

While the John Lewis ad is mostly associated with stripped-back covers of existing songs, past clips have also used original songs, as was the case with last year’s offering.

However, this year the department store’s team has done something completely new.

Released on Thursday morning, the new ad doesn’t feature a new recording at all, and is instead soundtracked by The Verve’s Sonnet, which further adds to the campaign’s heavy themes of nostalgia and reflection.

Instead of a cover, John Lewis is encouraging people to record their own takes on Sonnet via TikTok, with the best entrants being put onto a shortlist.

The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft will then select his favourite next month, which will be used as the soundtrack to the ad when it airs on regular TV on Christmas.

Sonnet was the fourth single to be taken from The Verve’s breakthrough album Urban Hymns back in 1998.

At the time, the group was reluctant to release any more singles from the already-popular album, with frontman Richard Ashcroft agreeing to do so only if it used formats that were not eligible for the UK charts.

The band’s label agreed, but an imported version wound up becoming so popular that the single ended up charting anyway (albeit at number 74).

Watch John Lewis’ 2024 Christmas advert below:

The UK economy barely grew at all during the first three months of the new Labour government, it has been revealed.

In a major blow for chancellor Rachel Reeves, the Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product (GDP) went up by just 0.1% between July and September.

That is way down on the previous quarter, when it grew by 0.5%.

Even more worryingly for Reeves, GDP per capita - which is economic output divided by the population - shrank by 0.1% between July and September.

Labour has said that it wants the UK to be the fastest growing economy in the G7 group of wealthy nations.

Reeves said: “Improving economic growth is at the heart of everything I am seeking to achieve, which is why I am not satisfied with these numbers.

“At my Budget, I took the difficult choices to fix the foundations and stabilise our public finances.

“Now we are going to deliver growth through investment and reform to create more jobs and more money in people’s pockets, get the NHS back on its feet, rebuild Britain and secure our borders in a decade of national renewal.”

Liz McKeown, the ONS director of economic statistics, said the figures confirmed “the recent slowdown in growth”.

She added: “Generally, growth was subdued across most industries in the latest quarter.”

Reeves has already faced a wave of criticism for her Budget earlier this month, which increased taxes by £40 billion.

Experts have said her decision to increase the employers’ rate of National Insurance will hit wages.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said: “Labour inherited the fastest growing economy in the G7 but because of their choices growth has now slowed significantly. 

“Labour’s National Insurance jobs tax will make it more expensive for businesses which will then fuel higher prices, higher inflation, higher mortgage costs and slower growth.”

Lib Dem Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Today’s disappointing figures underline the scale of the challenge facing our economy after years of reckless mismanagement by the previous Conservative government.

“After a Budget promising to deliver little by way of growth and an unfair tax on small businesses, we need to see a real growth plan from the government. 

“These additional taxes could be the final nail in the coffin for the many small businesses that are already struggling. It’s the last thing our economy needs to get it out of the slow lane.”

Rachel Reeves has delivered a thinly-veiled warning to Donald Trump about his plans for the US economy.

The president-elect has spoken about his intention to impose import tariffs on all foreign goods entering America.

That has sparked fears of a global trade war as Trump seeks to boost American manufacturing by pursuing a more isolationist agenda.

But in her first Mansion House speech as chancellor on Thursday night, Reeves called for “free and open trade” between the UK and other countries - and specifically name-checked the US.

She said: “I will always do what is in our national interest, for our economy, for our businesses and for the British people.

“That means free and open trade, especially with our most economically important partners. This includes the United States, our single most important destination for financial services trade.

“There is so much potential for us to deepen our economic relationship on areas such as emerging technologies.

“I look forward to working closely with president-elect Trump and his team to strengthen our relationship in the years ahead.”

Any hit to trade between the UK and America would be a major blow to Labour’s number one mission of boosting economic growth.

The scale of the challenge facing Reeves was highlighted on Friday morning by new data which showed the British economy only grew by 0.1% between July and September.

If there’s one thing we didn’t expect to come out of Gladiator II, it’s an homage to one of The X Factor’s most enduring memes.

All we can say is: thank you Paul Mescal.

Paul is on the promo trail for the long-awaited Gladiator sequel right now, which means he’s currently spending a lot of time in stuffy hotel rooms being asked the same four or five questions on a loop by journalists from around the world at press junkets.

Fortunately, it looks like the Oscar nominee is keeping himself entertained.

In a TikTok posted by production company Paramount Pictures, the Irish actor can be seen kicking off an interview with a re-enactment of former X Factor judge Cheryl Tweedy’s infamous “whenever you’re ready” moment with Treyc Cohen from back in 2010.

And he even roped American co-star Fred Hechinger into the fun as well.

Take a look for yourself below:

“Fucking brilliant,” Paul declared at the end of the video. “Made my day!”

For those with shorter memories than us, the clip references an exchange Cheryl had with X Factor hopeful Treyc Cohen in which they found themselves repeating whether or not they were “ready” in a seemingly-endless back-and-forth.

It did raise a few laughs at the time, but this was exacerbated even further when comedian Harry Hill parodied the moment on his show TV Burp:

And as the clip of Paul began doing the rounds, fans were absolutely loving the reference:

Gladiator II is in cinemas now, with Paul and Fred appearing in the film alongside the likes of Joseph Quinn, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington.

Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi are also among the few actors who reprise their roles from the original film, with the sequel being set 15 years later.

Gladiator star Connie Nielsen pulled no punches when it came to the ongoing debates about the historical accuracy of the new sequel.

Connie is one of only a handful of actors reprising their role from the original film in Gladiator II, on which she’s been reunited with director Ridley Scott.

And much like Ridley, the Danish actor, she has no time for debates around how true-to-history the new movie is.

“Can I just say: do you care whether there really were sharks in that water or not?” she told Digital Spy, referring to one divisive scene set in the Colosseum. “Like, what are you talking about? That’s so silly.

“Like, why? Why would you want to take yourself out of a story because of sharks?

“That is a detail that even if it happened, the historians probably wouldn’t have been spending any time on it. I mean, we’re talking that there were rhinoceroses and there were elephants.”

“Who cares? It’s so dumb,” she lamented.

Ridley Scott previously made headlines when he gave a withering three-word putdown in response to questions about his new film’s historical accuracy, something his previous offering Napoleon was similarly criticised about.

Gladiator II – which is in UK cinemas now – picks up 15 years after the events of the first film, with Paul Mescal taking the lead in a cast that also includes Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn and The White Lotus star Fred Hechinger.

Connie returns to the franchise as Lucilla, the mother of Paul’s character, while award-winning actor Derek Jacobi is also back as Senator Gracchus.

If you’re feeling sad about the latest season of Taskmaster being over already, you can at least take solace in the fact that the line-up for the comedy show’s New Year special has already been confirmed.

While Taskmaster usually sees a team of comedians going head-to-head in a series of increasingly-ridiculous challenges, producers tend to cast a wider net when they’re looking for contestants for its one-off specials.

On Thursday evening, the five stars competing in the brand new New Year special were announced, and we’re happy to report it’s as eclectic a bunch as always.

Being put through their paces this time around are money-saving expert Martin Lewis, TV legend Sue Johnston and All Saints singer Mel Blatt.

Completing the round-up are former England goalkeeper David James, science presenter and Maths genius Hannah Fry.

Watch a short teaser on Instagram below:

As always, host Greg Davies will be joined by his right-hand man Alex Horne to keep the celebrities on track.

Until then, there’s always the junior version of the show to keep us entertained, which launched last week with new hosts Rose Matafeo and Mike Wozniak.

The show features young contestants between the ages of nine and 11 being tasked with more child-friendly challenges than appear on the regular version of the show.

Junior Taskmaster airs on Friday nights at 8pm on Channel 4, with more information about the regular New Year special coming in the next few weeks.

Taskmaster has also been commissioned by Channel 4 for at least two more seasons of the regular format viewers have grown to know and love.

Denzel Washington has insisted that recent headlines about his supposed “retirement” were a little overblown.

Last week, Denzel caused a stir when he let slip that he’d landed an undisclosed role in Marvel’s next Black Panther movie.

“At this point in my career, I’m only interested in working with the best,” the two-time Oscar winner told Australia’s Today. “I don’t know how many more films I will make, probably not that many.”

Denzel then raised eyebrows when he suggested he was “going to retire” after a series of projects he already had in the pipeline.

However, in a clip from an upcoming interview with BuzzFeed, Denzel clarified exactly what he meant with this comment.

“I didn’t say I was going to go into retirement,” he insisted. “I said that it has to be a level of interest for me.”

Denzel continued: “I’m more interested in getting behind the camera, so that’s about five years out.

“It’s very difficult. I may have used the word ‘retire’... but I look at life in three sections – you learn, you earn and you return. I’m in the return part of life.”

Remarking on the media “tour” he’s currently on with his Gladiator co-stars, Denzel said: “They’re taking over. I’m not ‘retiring’ – it’s not like, ‘OK, on 5 June, that’s it’. But to think I’m going to run as far as they are… I’d be a fool. And I think that’s the ego, that thinks, ‘oh yeah I can do it’, no you can’t, your stuntman’s doing it now.

“So, I’m less interested in running and jumping. You let Paul [Mescal] and John David [Washington, his actor son] run and jump. And to think, ‘oh I can still do it’, you’re a fool.”

Denzel is currently gearing up for the release of the new Gladiator sequel, in which he stars alongside Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn The White Lotus’ Fred Hechinger and Connie Nielsen, one of the few actors who is reprising her role from the first film.

Earlier this week, he caused a stir when he opened up about a particular scene that wound up on the cutting room floor.

Gladiator II is in cinemas now.

Many people on social media were sickened by the thought that notorious vaxx denier Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might lead the Department of Health and Human Services after Donald Trump becomes president again.

But, sadly, there’s no vaccine to defend against it.

The president-elect nominated Kennedy on Thursday and promised that the agency “will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives.”

However, many people on social media ― including doctors ― aren’t so sure about that, especially since Kennedy has vowed to get rid of things proven to improve health, such as fluoridated water.

Legal expert Elie Mystal found out about the nomination while waiting to get a flu shot and predicted “the country is about to go full on Idiocracy.” 

Mystal said that when he told his nurse about the nomination, she deadpanned, “Well, I guess I’m about to give you the last two vaccines of your life.”

Other users also took to X (formerly Twitter) to ― what else? ― make snarky comments about the Cabinet nomination.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he is nominating Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ― an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who formerly competed against Trump for the White House ― to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS),” Trump wrote on social media. “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.”

Under Kennedy, Trump wrote, HHS “will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives.”

Kennedy’s nomination will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

Kennedy, who ran as an independent against Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris before suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump, is an environmental lawyer who espouses fringe, disproven claims that vaccines cause autism and a range of other medical conditions.

Earlier this month, he said on social media that the Trump administration would advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water, falsely claiming that it’s linked to “arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.”

Experts say the amount of fluoride in water systems does not pose any of the health threats Kennedy claims. A 2017 study found that fluoride in water systems saves Americans more than $6 billion a year in dental costs.

Trump has suggested he’ll let Kennedy oversee a major overhaul of American health guidelines.

“I’m going to let him go wild on health. I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on the medicines,” Trump said at a campaign rally last month.

The HHS encompasses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, both of which oversee the approval and distribution of vaccines and the public messaging about them. In a New York Times interview on Wednesday, CDC director Dr. Mandy Cohen said Kennedy’s mere presence in the federal government would be alarming.

“Even without changing one regulation or one piece of guidance,” she said, “the sharing of misinformation from a place of power is concerning.”

For decades, Kennedy has been one of the most prominent anti-vaccine voices in American politics, pushing false information about vaccine efficacy and disproven assertions about supposed links to autism ― and simply changing his claims when the evidence to the contrary becomes overwhelming.

His anti-vaccine advocacy has had grim side effects. In one striking example, a 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa killed 83 people, mostly children, after Kennedy visited the island and bolstered anti-vaccine sentiment there.

Overall, vaccination rates among children in the United States have markedly declined since the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because of the sort of anti-vaccine sentiment expressed by Kennedy and others. 

As noted in an October publication from the CDC, which could soon be under Kennedy’s control: “From the 2019-20 to the 2022-23 school year, national kindergarten coverage with state-required vaccinations declined from 95% to approximately 93%.” The percentage of kindergarteners with more than one vaccine exemption, the report said, “increased to 3.3% (the highest percentage ever reported), increased in 41 jurisdictions, and exceeded 5% in 14.”

For Kennedy to head up the Department of Health and Human Services could also prove a nightmare for trans youth trying to access gender-affirming care, which has already been heavily restricted in various states.

On the campaign trail this year, Kennedy called gender-affirming care a “nonexistential issue,” but he has signaled his support for banning certain kinds of care, such as puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy for minors. He has also used rhetoric frequently repeated by conservatives to deliberately mischaracterize care for minors as “castration” and “mutilation,” and peddled conspiracies that chemicals in the environment could be turning children gay or transgender ― a claim that has no basis in science.

Trump’s courtship of Kennedy began while they were still both competitors for the presidency. In one July call between the pair, Trump ranted about vaccines as Kennedy listened. Eventually, Trump appeared to make an overture to Kennedy, promising him that something they’d discussed previously would be “so big for you.” 

The following month, Kennedy suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump, launching a new slogan ― “Make America Healthy Again,” or “MAHA” ― that quickly spread among Trump supporters. 

The full extent of Kennedy’s portfolio at HHS would be vast, given the enormous size and scope of the department. One priority he expressed on the campaign trail was stopping the National Institutes of Health’s study of infectious disease.

But Kennedy’s specific plans aren’t well known. And at least some of them are linked to conspiracy theories. In August, for example, Kennedy pledged to someone on social media that “we are going to stop this crime.”

He was talking about chemtrails.

Kennedy’s views on issues like vaccines and fluoridation are what have made him such a notorious and controversial figure. But immunisations and additives to food or water represent just one small part of HHS’s purview ― and just some of the ways its business affects Americans’ lives.

The department has an annual budget of more than $1.8 trillion, more than any other Cabinet agency, including the Department of Defense. The reason that amount is so high is because it includes payments in the massive federal health insurance programmes Medicare and Medicaid. HHS also has responsibility for overseeing the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.”

In all, somewhere between a third and half of all Americans get health insurance through a programme that HHS runs or manages, which means that overseeing them would be among Kennedy’s official duties.

The future of those programmes is very much up in the air, given the long history of Trump and other Republicans trying to repeal or at least scale them back. Whether Kennedy had any role in those deliberations would depend entirely on how much the Trump White House decided to consult him.

But beyond the big policy debates over the size and shape of these programmes are countless smaller decisions about how to run them ― decisions that will involve considerations about personnel, organisational structure and internal agency budgets. Responsibility for those decisions would lie with Kennedy if he gets the job.

And poor decision-making can have big, real-world effects ― like it did in late 2013, when HHS was in charge of creating the Obamacare federal website. The system collapsed and took weeks to repair, making it difficult for millions of people to get coverage and very nearly unraveling the entire programme. 

The website runs smoothly now. But Kennedy would be in charge of other, newer programmes. That includes the negotiation of prices for certain expensive drugs in Medicare, something that HHS just started doing thanks to an initiative that Democrats passed and President Joe Biden signed into law two years ago.

Conservatives have generally opposed giving the federal government power to reduce drug prices. So has the pharmaceutical industry, which stands to make less money if the government forces down their prices. But while Republicans have spoken out against it, repealing that power could be difficult politically, because the idea is quite popular.

Opponents might instead focus on looking for ways to undermine or at least weaken the negotiating power through HHS ― which would mean, in theory, going through Kennedy.

Kennedy has a history of attacking the drug industry, so it’s not clear how he would respond ― or whether, given his lack of experience running a large agency, he’d be able to assert his will at all.

Lil Kalish contributed to this report.

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Big Brother will return for a third season on ITV next year, it’s been confirmed.

The long-running reality show was rebooted after a five-year absence in 2023, with the second winner of Big Brother’s new era set to be crowned on Friday night.

While the inaugural ITV run was met with praise from fans of the franchise, its follow-up has proved more divisive thanks to certain editorial decisions made by producers and twists on the regular format, with a drop in viewing figures compared to previous years leading to speculation about whether the show could be axed altogether.

However, on Thursday evening, it was confirmed that Big Brother will be back on our screens in 2025 – in time to commemorate 25 years since the show first aired on Channel 4.

A new season of Celebrity Big Brother will also air on ITV1 in the spring.

“Big Brother programming has firmly established itself across ITV’s platforms and become a favourite with our viewers,” the broadcaster’s director of reality commissioning and acquisitions enthused.

“Together, Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother have grown audiences on ITV1 and ITV2 and amassed almost 100 million streams on ITVX.

“We’re therefore very excited to be able to throw open the House doors once again for another series of both Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother in 2025 which are sure to promise more unmissable entertaining and captivating moments.”

The UK version of Big Brother ran for 11 series on Channel 4, with an additional eight series also airing during its Channel 5 era.

Davina McCall served as its original host, with Brian Dowling and Emma Willis each presenting Big Brother for a stint on Channel 5.

The show is now fronted by AJ Odudu and Will Best, who also co-host the nightly companion show Big Brother: Late & Live on ITV2

Big Brother will wrap its current series on Friday 15 November at 9pm on ITV2.

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), cases of norovirus have continued to rise as the chillier months have set in.

In a statement shared with HuffPost UK, the UKHSA says: “Since the start of the 2024/2025 season, the number of norovirus outbreaks reported in hospital settings was 10% higher than the five-season average.”

While the agency assures that there is no indication that this leads to more severe illness, it’s essential that you take the steps to prevent and treat norovirus, should you come into contact with it.

Amy Douglas, epidemiologist at UKHSA says: “The half-term school break is likely to have interrupted the upward trend we’ve been seeing recently in norovirus levels, but cases are likely to rise again as we head towards Christmas.

“To help reduce the spread of norovirus you can take steps to avoid passing the infection on. If you have diarrhoea and vomiting, do not return to work, school or nursery until 48 hours after your symptoms have stopped and don’t prepare food for others in that time either. If you are unwell, avoid visiting people in hospitals and care homes to prevent passing on the infection in these settings.”

Douglas adds that washing your hands with soap and warm water, as well as using bleach-based products to clean surfaces will also stop infections from spreading.

She also says: “Alcohol gels do not kill norovirus so don’t rely on these alone.” 

Many people have associated norovirus with Kawasaki Disease, Douglas urges: “It isn’t accurate to refer to [this norovirus strain] as ‘Kawasaki’ and this term is causing confusion with Kawasaki Disease, which is an unrelated disease.”

Symptoms of norovirus

Symptoms often include nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. 

However, some patients also report a high temperature, abdominal pain and aching limbs. 

Norovirus infections can cause dehydration, especially in vulnerable groups such as young children and older or immunocompromised people, so if you do get ill it is important to drink plenty of fluids during that time.

The NHS advises that you should call 999 or go to A&E if you experience any of the following:

• vomiting blood or vomit that looks like ground coffee
• green vomit (adults)
• yellow-green or green vomit (children)
• thinking you may have swallowed something poisonous
• a stiff neck and pain when looking at bright lights
• a sudden, severe headache or stomach ache

Is there anything more enticing than a haunted house?

Yes, we should all know better after many, manyhorror films have been set in them, but there’s just something so alluring about sharing a house with spirits that have long-since left the mortal realm.

If you’re with me here and you enjoy this mythology, you may be disappointed by what I’m about to reveal.

You see, the thing is, most of the features of “haunted” houses can unfortunately be explained away by science. 

Sigh.

The science behind haunted houses

Writing for BBC Science Focus, Dr Alistair Gun, a radio astronomer reveals: “The vast majority of paranormal investigations have been of the pseudoscientific variety – based on incorrect, incomplete or misrepresented science, or invalid due to bias, manipulation, assumption or omission.”

He goes on to explain: “It’s an unscientific leap of faith to believe in alien visitation based solely on unexplained sightings.

“The same is true for the belief in ghosts; there’s no scientific rationale for it. Science does offer some potential explanations for hauntings. Most are environmental or psychological in nature.”

Unfortunately, our whimsy can’t outweigh science.

In fact, the explanation is likely something very normal, according to Gun. Sleep paralysis, sleep deprivation and stress can all play into experiencing hallucinations and visual disturbances.

Additionally, “haunted” houses are more likely to have mould and some variations of mould can lead to hallucinations.

So, if you think your home is haunted, you may want to check for it.

Why do we enjoy being scared?

Why is this disappointing news, though? Why are we so drawn to being scared in a controlled setting like a haunted house or even just watching a scary film? Are we okay?

The British Psychological Society says: “There is a neuropsychological reason – we get an adrenalin rush when something spooks us or something scary happens which releases endorphins and dopamine, so put simply, there is a chemical process that creates a similar sense of euphoria.

“Some say that having a ‘scary ghost experience’ is like being on a rollercoaster, we are hijacking the natural flight response and enjoying it.”

Makes perfect sense.

Did you know the founder of Hotel Chocolat’s dad was the inventor of Mr Whippy? 

Yep ― Angus Thirlwell, who launched the brand in 2004, is the son of the iconic soft-serve inventor. 

Speaking to the BBC, he explained that the name of his own brand was a little less directly related to the product than his father’s most famous offering. 

What does Hotel Chocolat mean?

The name doesn’t technically mean anything, the founder said. 

“It was aspirational,” he told the BBC in 2014. “I was trying to come up with something that expressed the power that chocolate has to lift you out of your current mood and take you to a better place.”

The branding, therefore, was more vibes-based than technically accurate.

“Everyone agreed ‘chocolat’ sounded better than chocolate. It’s almost onomatopoeia, and suggests how the chocolate melts in your mouth,” Thirlwell said.

He didn’t explain what the “hotel” part has to do with anything, though ― we reckon it just sounded a bit posh, and maybe reminded people of those little chocolates you sometimes get on pillows. 

However, the company does now own a hotel in St Lucia, which was admittedly bought years after the company named itself.

Hotel Chocolat describes the destination as a “luxury eco-hotel on our working cacao farm in the Caribbean”.

Anything else?

Yep ― the company brought the Rabot restaurant, based on the St Lucian destination, to London in 2013. 

The brand actually started as an e-company back in 1993, later becoming The Chocolate Tasting Club in ’98. 

By 2003, however, the brand’s new identity had been born.

Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson just claimed Russia has too many “annoyances” with the US to list them.

It comes amid speculation about how incoming US president Donald Trump will deal with the Ukraine war in his second term.

Trump has indicated he might be softer on Moscow than the current Biden administration, as he wants to bring the war to end sooner rather than later.

But the conflict is just one pressing source of tension between the countries, and there’s a rather long list, according to Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov told the Russian state news agency, TASS, on Thursday that it was “too early to speculate about hopes” that certain issues could be resolved.

Touching on the US’s 2022 decision to restrict Russian diplomats from taking part in the UN general assembly debates in New York, Peskov continued: “This is not the only question that can be put to the US side.

“The agenda of annoyances is so vast that it would be wrong to single out one issue as a priority.”

Most of the tensions between the US and Russia – like the West’s ongoing sanctions against Moscow and the Kremlin’s anger over the expansion of Nato – do actually all stem from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Still, Peskov seemed to overlook how Trump’s incoming administration already seems to be on friendly terms with Putin.

The president-elect previously called the Russian invasion of Ukraine “savvy” and “genius”.

Trump has not denied reports that they have spoken over the phone on several occasions since the Republican left the White House in 2021.

He recently said if he had spoken to the Russian dictator, it would have been a “smart thing”.

Putin initially seemed reluctant to congratulate Trump on his victory last week.

But, he did eventually congratulate the US president, describing him as a “courageous man” over his response to the assassination attempts against him.

According to the Washington Post, the two did have a phone call on November 10 where they discussed the “goal of peace on the European continent and Trump expressed an interest in follow-up conversations to discuss ‘the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon’.”

Yet, the Kremlin said any reports of such a phone call were “pure fiction”.

Between my regular and dyshidrotic eczema, or pompholyx (tiny itchy bumps that come and go on your hands), I’m very rarely itch-free. 

But even by my standards, November has proven to be an unusually irritating month for my skin.

It’s especially bad at night ― in fact, I’ve woken my partner up twice this week with the force of my sleep-scratching.

According to dermatologist and skincare brand founder Dr. Vanita Rattan, though, I’m not alone (’tis the season, apparently). 

“Winter itch, also known as pruritus hiemalis, is a common type of dermatitis (skin irritation or inflammation) caused by cold weather,” she told HuffPost UK. 

And yep ― it tends to be especially bad at night.

What is winter itch?

Dr Rattan explains that central heating systems, hot showers and space heaters all contribute to the condition, as they remove moisture from the air or your skin.

But if you think the outside is safe, you’re wrong ― “Winter itch can be caused by a combination of environmental factors, such as low humidity, harsh winds and cold temperatures, which compromises the skin’s natural barrier,” she adds.

Winter itch tends to be more intense than regular itching and is more likely to happen to those with existing skin issues (that’d explain my nighttime antics, then). 

“The itchiness is sudden in onset and is generally more noticeable at nighttime. Redness often accompanies scratched skin, and in more severe cases, the skin texture can become rough and thickened (lichenified),” Dr Rattan shared. 

“As a result of winter itch, small cracks can also develop in the skin, which may even lead to bleeding.” 

It’s commonly seen in the calves, inner thighs, knees, and ankles of sufferers. Older people are more likely to develop the condition, the doctor revealed.

How can I get rid of it?

Dr Rattan advises those of us who’ve been feeling itchy recently to:

1) Keep showers short and lukewarm
”The high-water temperature can strip the skin of its natural oils, fats and proteins that keep the skin healthy,” Dr Rattan writes.

“Instead of having long, hot showers, use lukewarm water and try to limit the time you spend in the shower to five minutes” and pat your skin dry before using a fatty moisturiser, she continues.

2) Don’t over cleanse
”One of the biggest mistakes when washing your face in winter is cleansing too much, as it can remove the skin’s natural oils,” she said. 

That can lead to dry skin that’s more likely to itch and even crack. 

Over-cleansing “can be particularly problematic for skin of colour, as their skin has fewer ceramides compared to lighter skin,” the doctor warns. 

3) Stick to unfragranced skincare
Though you might love how your favourite skin balm smells, Dr Rattan shared that “3-4% of the population experience contact dermatitis from fragrance, and for people of colour, this can lead to hyperpigmentation that may last for years.” 

In place of potentially damaging scents, she says we should “Look for formulas that contain skin-restoring ingredients like ceramides or peptides.” 

4) Use a humidifier
Remember when we said leaving the heating on can damage your skin? 

Well, Dr Rattan explained that’s because ” As this warm air rises, it can carry moisture with it, which lowers the humidity levels indoors.” 

Adding a humidifier to your room can combat those effects.

5) Choose skin-friendly fabrics
I love a festive sweater as much as the next person, but Dr Rattan explains that wool (as well as synthetic fabrics) can be making our itch more intense. 

“Opting for softer, breathable fabrics like 100% cotton or silk can help prevent unnecessary irritation,” she told HuffPost UK. 

And no, she ended her advice, it’s not the season to give up your sunscreen ― we should apply some broad-spectrum SPF “all year round to protect your skin from UV damage which can further irritate the skin and exacerbate winter itch”. 

As we age, it’s essential that we spend more time looking after our oral health and ensuring that our habits aren’t impacting our teeth.

Yes, sadly, this does mean cutting down on sweets.

In fact, it has recently been revealed that our dental health can directly impact our heart health. Harvard Health reports: “People who have poor oral health (such as gum disease or tooth loss) have higher rates of cardiovascular problems such as heart attack or stroke than people with good oral health.”

So, what is actually good for our teeth and how does it help? Dr Tim Bradstock-Smith, Leading Dentist and Owner of The London Smile Clinic revealed his 10 recommendations. 

10 foods and drinks which can improve your dental health

Green Tea

The dentist reveals: “Rich in polyphenols, green tea helps to reduce sulphur compounds in the mouth that cause bad breath.

“It also has antibacterial properties that can reduce the overall bacterial load in the oral cavity, contributing to better oral health.”

Apples

Dr Bradstock-Smith says: “Often referred to as ‘nature’s toothbrush’, apples are crunchy and high in fibre, which helps to scrub away plaque and food particles from teeth.

“Their natural acidity also helps to stimulate saliva production, washing away bacteria that can cause bad breath.”

An apple a day keeps the... dentist... away.

Yoghurt

Dr Bradstock-Smith explains that the probiotics found in yoghurts introduce beneficial bacteria to the mouth, which can outcompete harmful bacteria which causes odours.

He adds: “Regular consumption can reduce plaque and lower the risk of gum disease, contributing to fresher breath.”

Parsley

This herb is high in chlorophyll, a natural deodoriser that neutralises odours.

The dentist advises: “Chewing on fresh parsley can temporarily mask bad breath and its antibacterial properties can help reduce the bacteria in the mouth.”

Carrots

That satisfying crunch that comes with carrots is actually really beneficial, according to Dr Bradstock-Smith. 

He says: “The crunchy texture of carrots helps to mechanically clean teeth surfaces, removing plaque and food debris. Additionally, chewing carrots stimulates saliva flow, which is essential for neutralising acids and washing away food particles.”

Basil

Similar to parsley, he reveals, basil contains chlorophyll and has antibacterial properties.

“Chewing fresh basil leaves or adding them to your diet can help keep your breath fresh and reduce the number of harmful bacteria in your mouth,” he notes.

Celery

He says: “High in water content and fibrous, celery acts as a natural toothbrush, scraping away food particles and plaque from teeth. Its high water content also helps in maintaining adequate saliva levels to keep the mouth hydrated and fresh.”

Oranges

As well as being delicious, oranges are high in vitamin C, which is essential for healthy gums.

Vitamin C helps reduce inflammation and can combat gum disease, which is a common cause of bad breath. Additionally, the natural acidity can help in saliva production.

Cheese

Yes! Cheese!

Dr Bradstock Smith says: “Cheese helps maintain a healthy pH level in the mouth by neutralising acids produced by plaque bacteria.

“This can help prevent tooth decay and reduce bad breath. The calcium and phosphates in cheese also strengthen tooth enamel.”

Mint

Of course, we’re very familiar with mint thanks to toothpaste but the dentist revealed that chewing on fresh mint leaves or drinking mint tea can provide immediate breath freshening effects.

“Mint also contains essential oils that have antibacterial properties, reducing the overall bacterial load in the mouth.”

Brb, ordering some supplies...

Alex Jones’ Infowars conspiracy theory media empire was bought by satirical news organisation The Onion, the company reported Thursday.

A private auction for Infowars took place Wednesday morning as part of a personal bankruptcy plan to pay the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting after Jones spent years falsely claiming the shooting that left 20 kids and six adults dead never happened, and that those whose loved ones were killed were actors.

Ben Collins, chief executive at The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, said on social media that InfoWars was bought with the blessing of the Sandy Hook families affected by Jones’ misinformation campaign. The new Infowars, he said, will be relaunched by employees of The Onion and eventually look like a parody of itself — to include ads by Everytown for Gun Safety, an anti-gun violence nonprofit launched after of the Sandy Hook shooting.

“We are planning on making it a very funny, very stupid website,” Collins wrote on social media app Bluesky. “We have retained the services of some Onion and Clickhole Hall of Famers to pull this off. I can’t wait to show you what we have cooked up.”

Jones lost two court cases in 2022 after several Sandy Hook families sued him for defamation and won nearly $1.5 billion in damages against him.

Because the auction was private, the names of bidders were not disclosed. This also means there wasn’t a chance for a competitive bidding process.

Christopher Murray, a federal court-appointed trustee, will distribute the funds from the auction sale to estate creditors, including Sandy Hook families Jones defamed.

Along with the Infowars name and website, bidders had the opportunity to purchase a Winnebago motor home and an armoured truck. Items that weren’t sold at Wednesday’s auction will be sold in a second auction to take place in December.

For many of us, a new John Lewis advert is as big a part of our annual festive traditions as grimacing through a gingerbread latte, snuggling up to a one-star Netflix original and making small-talk with the colleagues you’ve avoided all year at the office Christmas party.

By now, the department store has got a tried and tested formula when it comes to its yearly Christmas ad – usually encompassing a cute kid or two, a friendly (and, indeed, marketable) mascot and a stripped-back cover of a popular song by an act you’ll have forgotten the name of six weeks later.

Well, on Thursday morning, John Lewis unveiled its new Christmas ad for 2024, and this year’s offering might come as a big surprise.

Gone are the saccharine musical covers and animal sidekicks, and in their place is a story rooted in reality about the difficulty so many of us face when we’re trying to get the perfect gift for someone we love.

The ad introduces us to Sally, a young woman scouring John Lewis for a present for her sister.

In the process she, winds up taking a trip through time through her Christmases past, hitting teenage tiffs, awkward first snogs and other priceless memories along the way, with nods to festive family traditions and films like Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

The whole thing is also soundtracked by The Verve’s 1998 single Sonnet, amping up the nostalgia even further.

John Lewis’ 2024 Christmas advert is available to watch online now, before airing on TV for the first time during Friday’s editions of Coronation Street, The Last Leg and Gogglebox.

The online world of the 2010s was rammed with novel diet trends. Keto, raw vegan and even fruitarian content flooded our social media feeds ― and has largely quieted since.

But that doesn’t mean eating trends have gone anywhere. 

According to Google Trend data, searches for the carnivore diet have slowly climbed worldwide since 2019. This seems to apply to the UK too. 

The all-meat regimen is popular with social media stars like controversial pop academic Jordan Peterson, who claims the approach has helped him to look and feel his best.

So, HuffPost UK spoke to Dr Jonathan Fialkow, the deputy director of clinical cardiology at Baptist Health Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, about whether or not the all-meat diet (strict adherents eschew any food other than animal products) is good for us.

And?

“The main concept of the carnivore diet is to avoid foods that our bodies have not had time to evolve to manage which includes processed, refined foods and carbohydrates,” the doctor explained.

“It’s all protein at high percentages of total food intake and fat. The presumed benefit is to decrease our body’s inflammation and thus all the medical conditions associated with that.” 

But in practice, Dr Fialkow told us, that doesn’t always necessarily bear out. 

Calling the carnivore diet “extreme”, he said it can be constipating thanks to its lack of fibre and potential vitamin intake reduction.

There’s “debate” as to whether the carnivore diet prevents or promotes disease, he added.

However, the doctor says: “The main concern is that it may (MAY) increase LDL-cholesterol,” which would be bad for your heart health.

Still, “the drop in triglycerides and other markers may (MAY) indicate that this is not necessarily increasing our cardiovascular risk if our overall inflammation is decreased,” he pointed out, clarifying: “I believe this is an extreme diet that avoids some natural variety but I am not convinced it is necessarily dangerous for most people.” 

“It is based on pseudo-science, so it’s not clear what the long-term benefit/risk is,” he continued, stressing: “More research is needed.” 

So what’s the best diet?

It can be hard to pick a one-size-fits-all diet that benefits everyone, Dr Fiaklow told HuffPost UK. 

“In reality, there is no single diet for all. Age, genetics, our microbiome and many other variables affect our bodies’ response to our diet in terms of hunger/satiety, fat/weight accumulation, inflammation and insulin resistance,” he said. 

In his own practice, however, he works with patients on “low-refined carbohydrate diets (which I believe are beneficial to reduce inflammation and chronic disease risk) with more variety and less emphasis on meats.” 

“However, if someone follows and feels good and their labs and other markers of disease are low risk, I will continue to monitor them but not necessarily recommend they stop it.” 

Donald Trump has already started to nominate appointees for his upcoming administration – and there are several names sure to have UK officials on edge.

The Republican has already made it clear he will be prioritising loyalty over expertise, and he’s making no exception to that rule, even for some of the most high-profile jobs in government.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the most controversial names the president-elect wants to have with him in the White House.

Matt Gaetz

A far-right Republican, Gaetz has been nominated to become the new attorney general, meaning he will be the chief law enforcement figure in the US justice department.

As a congressman, he was investigated by the justice department in a sex-trafficking case, although no charges were brought in the end.

He was also investigated by the House ethics committee over allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and other alleged ethical breaches.

He denied any wrongdoing, and then resigned from the chamber on Wednesday after Trump announced he wanted him to be his attorney general, effectively ending the probe.

Gaetz introduced legislation to limit sentences for anyone who took part in the January 6 riots, too, was known for verbally attacking members of his own party in Congress, and has called for the FBI to be defunded and abolished.

But his nomination has to be ratified by Congress, so could yet be rejected unless enough Republicans support him.

Known as a disruptor, Gaetz’s appointment may not have a direct impact on the UK but it does send a message that Trump is willing to go even further in disrupting political norms ahead of his second term.

Pete Hegseth

A military veteran who has persistently defended Trump over the years, Hegseth is the president-elect’s surprise choice to be US defence secretary. 

Trump said Hegseth is “tough, smart and a true believer in America First”.

He has regularly criticised “woke” behaviour and the military’s diversity programmes on Fox News as a commentator.

If his appointment is confirmed by the Senate, he could follow up on Trump’s promise to purge the army of any generals perceived to be progressives.

Hegseth has also questioned if men and women should serve in combat together, accused Nato allies of being weak and suggested China wants to invade its neighbours.

Despite his minimal experience in government, if he is appointed, he will have to contend with two wars, in Ukraine and in the Middle East – two areas the UK usually follows the US in.

Tulsi Gabbard 

A Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, Gabbard is now a firm Trump convert and could well be the next director of national intelligence.

Gabbard is well-liked by Russian state media pundits, and has faced accusations of trying to amplify Moscow’s propaganda.

Two years ago, she posted a video online saying there were bio labs across Ukraine funded by the US.

She has also faced a backlash for meeting with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

She has never worked in the intelligence world or served on a congressional intelligence committee.

Considering the US is a major ally to the UK, they tend to share intelligence – particularly when it comes to international issues like the Ukraine war.

Elon Musk

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is set to head up a department just outside of the core US administration, known as DOGE (department of government efficiency).

He is expected to be a significant influence in the new White House, having already reportedly joined a call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy just last week.

His appointment will be a major blow to Keir Starmer, as Musk has been sparring with the UK government over the last four months and is highly critical of many of its policies. 

He spread the far-right conspiracy theory that the UK has a “two-tier policing system” and ended up being slapped down by the PM after he alleged “civil war is inevitable” in Britain when the far-right riots broke out in August.

Elise Stefanik

The president-elect has named the Republican congresswoman for New York – and longtime Trump ally – as his pick for the US ambassador to the UN.

She is a strong advocate for Israel, and has laid into the UN itself repeatedly, saying it has not provided not enough backing for Israel’s war against Hamas.

In October, she said there should be a “complete reassessment of US funding of the United Nations” after the Palestinian Authority tried to get Israel kicked out of the UN over the Gaza war.

She has little experience in foreign policy and national security.

Marco Rubio

The Florida senator and China hawk is expected to be named as Trump’s pick to be secretary of state, although it is yet to be confirmed.

He said in a recent interview that Ukraine must focus on a negotiated settlement with Russia instead of regaining the land Russia has taken since 2014.

“I’m not on Russia’s side – but unfortunately, the reality of it is that the way the war in Ukraine is going to end is with a negotiated settlement,” he said.

These remarks add to growing concerns Trump will push Ukraine to cede occupied land to Russia just to end the war.

And, earlier this year, he was one of the 15 Republican senators to vote against a $95bn military aid package to support Ukraine, although it eventually passed in April.

As with every Christmas season, we’re subjected to non-stop festive ads flooding our TVs. 

While some years’ offerings might surprise and delight us, come next Christmas we’ll have forgotten about most of them — but that isn’t the case for all festive ads.

We’re talking a trip down (a snowy) memory lane with a round-up of ads that will take you right back to Christmases past...

Tesco – 2007

Yes, that really is Vicky Beckham pushing a trolley up and down the aisles of Tesco. 

Posh teamed up with her fellow Spices for a series of ads for Tesco in 2007 ahead of their reunion world tour the following year. 

Watching this back now, we can’t help but feel we were robbed of a festive sequel to their film Spiceworld.

Andrex – 1990s

A cute puppy frolicking in the snow chasing loo roll with a duck – what’s not to love? 

Actually, maybe the Slade soundtrack, but let’s not get into that one. 

Yellow Pages – 1992

 Younger readers may have no idea what a Yellow Pages even is, but before the days of Google, people had to look up phone numbers in a big book that would get dropped off at your house a couple of times a year. 

It also came in handy for a number of other things too, as their 1992 Christmas ad proved.

Marks & Spencer – 2002

 The early 2000s M&S Christmas adverts regularly featured a roll-call of celebrities, but they really scored in 2002 when they signed up David Beckham to appear alongside the likes of Graham Norton, Denise Van Outen, Hermione Norris, Ronnie Barker, Cat Deeley and Sean Bean – and that’s without even mentioning a half-naked Joan Collins wrapped up in faux fur. 

Bringing a whole new meaning to “camp as Christmas”.

Boots – 1991

 Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas is one of the most beloved festive characters of all time, and to tie in with the 1991 animation, Boots themed their festive offering around him. 

Although we have to say, it was kind of cheating for him to be picking up presents from the High Street. 

Lunn Poly – 1994

 Also inspired by the works of Raymond Briggs was the now defunct travel agent Lunn Poly, who took off The Snowman for a comedy ad in 1994. 

John Lewis – 2013

 Let’s be honest – as hard as they’ve tried, John Lewis have arguably never managed to beat their 2013 Christmas advert.

Soundtracked by Lily Allen singing a dreamy cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know, The Bare And The Hare was peak John Lewis, even if Lily herself isn’t such a fan. 

Polaroid – 1981

 You might think the Muppets’ long association with the festive season started with their take on A Christmas Carol in 1992, but it predates that. 

A decade earlier, Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang starred in a 1981 Christmas advert for Polaroid.

Tesco – 2003

Prunella Scales and Jane Horrocks headed up the Tesco adverts for many years, and the supermarket would have their comedy characters getting up to all sorts in their festive offerings. 

Woolworths – 2001

 Oh goodness, how we miss Woolies. 

The much-loved High Street emporium enlisted the help of Ant and Dec to help get the tills ringing in 2001 – although they were not the only famous pairing staring in their festive ads that year. 

For reasons we can’t quite fathom in the cold light of 2021, EastEnders’ Frank and Ricky Butcher (aka Mike Reid and Sid Owen) also appeared in another similar commercial. 

Oxo – 1984

Perhaps the most famous series of commercials ever to grace UK screens were the Oxo adverts, which were headed up by the late Lynda Bellingham as the matriarch of the gravy brand’s on-screen family. 

There were a few festive specials over the years that the adverts ran, but it’s this one that always sticks in our heads.  

Toys R Us – 1970s to 2000s

OK, so this isn’t strictly a festive advert, but for many of us, the Toys R Us commercial was synonymous with Christmas, probably due to how the toy store would ramp up their advertising around the holidays. 

Now that’s what you call an effective marketing campaign. 

WHSmith – 1996

Fellow comedy legend Nicholas Lyndhurst took charge of the WHSmith advertising campaign in 1996, playing all the members of a a family gearing up for Christmas.

Quality Street – 1980s

Why Quality Street ever did away with their Magic Moments song is, quite frankly, beyond us, as the familiar tune is still ingrained in our brains. 

This Xmas ad from the 1980s sees a group of carol singers serenading their neighbours with the song, before they are interrupted by Neil Innes with his Bing Crosby-style crooning.

Hellmann’s – 1990s

Back in the day, the holiday season really didn’t begin until you’d heard Hellmanns’ take on the 12 Days Of Christmas. 

Marks & Spencer – 2007

Another entry from M&S on this list comes from their 2007 campaign, which cast a host of famous models, including bona fide British icon Twiggy, in a White Christmas-inspired ad. 

The campaign also helped Andy Williams’ yuletide classic It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year to reach a new peak in the Official UK Chart, hitting the top 30 for the first time. 

Walkers – 2019

A newer addition to the festive advert hall of fame came in 2019, when Walkers managed to secure the services of the official Queen Of Christmas Mariah Carey to help flog bags of cheese and onion.  

Mimi not letting more than a bite of crisp pass her lips throughout the entire ad remains iconic.

Coca Cola – 1995 to present

Holidays are coming! Holidays are coming!

With its catchy jingle and iconic branding, the Christmas Coke ads officially signal the start of the festive period when they start airing on TV. 

The advert debuted in 1995 and was remade in 1998 and again in 1999, with an edited version of the 1998 ad remaining on screens to this day. 

But if we’re picking favourites, it’s the original that’s the best, which you can watch above.

Now that we’re all getting cosy at home ahead of chilly, dark nights, it’s truly time to get back to our kitchen wizard eras.

Along with our favourite soups and roast dinners, can I suggest the humble fakeaway for your winter cooking roster?

All of the flavour, texture and satiating goodness of a takeaway but at a fraction of the price – and a little less unhealthy, too.

Let’s start with a long-standing favourite: chicken chow mein.

Now, this is a simple dish. You can throw it together in minutes, but one chef advises a simple trick to perfecting your noodles before you even cook them.

The secret to perfecting chicken chow mein noodles

Kenny McGovern, a chef and author of The Chinese Takeaway Secret, has created thousands of fakeaway recipes – but this one tip takes almost no extra effort.

On his website, McGovern says: “Soften noodles ahead of time.

“Drain, cool and set aside in the fridge in a sealed container ready to stir fry for up to two days. This also gives the noodles time to dry a little and may even give better results when cooking.”

He also explains: “Takeaway flavour is a combination of ingredients, heat and technique, particularly when it comes to noodle dishes. The skill of the chef shines through.”

McGovern goes on to refer to the concept of “Wok-Hei”, which describes the flavour and tastes imparted by a hot wok on food during stir frying.

He adds that while this can be difficult to achieve at home, and some people even believe it’s impossible, he reckons it can be done.

“With a well seasoned carbon steel wok, a high heat and good cooking technique, we can most certainly add delicious flavour to our home cooked noodles nonetheless,” he insists.

You can view the full recipe here.

If you enjoyed hearing Hugh Grant throwing some low-key shade at his fellow British rom-com alum Colin Firth last week, you’re going to love his latest comments about his Bridget Jones co-star.

During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the Heretic star was asked about his “idea of perfect happiness”, to which he playfully responded: “Drinking a pint of London Pride while munching Twiglets and reading about Colin Firth having a critical and box office catastrophe.”

And apparently, there’s plenty more where that came from…

On Wednesday night, Hugh paid a visit to Seth Meyers’ US talk show, where the host asked about his friendly rivalry with his former Love Actually co-star.

“I know you have nothing but nice to say about him all the time,” Seth offered, when the subject of Hugh appearing with Colin in the new Bridget Jones film came up.

The Bafta winner responded: “Poor Colin. They’re still wheeling him out. No, it’s fine, it’s nice to give the old boy some work.”

“And actually he looks fine, he’s had a lot of work done, and maybe I shouldn’t say that, but it’s brilliant work, whoever did it,” Hugh joked. “And he’s great with his makeup – he does his own.”

Watch more from Hugh Grant’s Late Night With Seth Meyers interview below:

Both Hugh and Colin appear in the trailer for Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, which premiered earlier this week.

Renée Zellweger returns for her fourth outing as the titular heroine in the new movie, which centres around Bridget adjusting to life as a single mum, following the sudden death of her husband.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell mockingly explained how he believes President-elect Donald Trump “humiliated” Elon Musk in front of House Republicans during a conference on Wednesday.

Trump has a “twisted psyche” which means that “at some point” he has to “humiliate everyone around him to demonstrate his dominance over them,” noted O’Donnell, who earlier this week suggested Trump is currently degrading his campaign’s financial booster on multiple levels.

Trump told Republican lawmakers in front of Musk, “Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him.” Musk has been staying at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home since before the election.

“Everyone laughed,” said O’Donnell. “They laughed that uncomfortable laugh. But they laugh when Donald Trump makes a joke about someone on his team, a joke that everyone knows is true, a joke that paints that person as pathetic, as Donald Trump’s personal sense of superiority demands that he do.”

Trump has named Musk as the co-head of a new non-governmental unit tasked with cutting financial and bureaucratic waste.

But O’Donnell called it a “fake job” with no real power. Musk is little more than a lobbyist because he’ll have to get his proposed spending cuts passed by Congress, said O’Donnell. The anchor also described Trump as “Elon’s daddy” and mocked Musk for following Trump around.

Watch here:

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that my peers are less interested in the cheapest wine that still tastes good, and more enthusiastic about fancy home-brewed coffee made on increasingly impressive coffee machines.

However, our collective dirty secret is that we aren’t actually sure that we’re making it correctly. Yes, we might be more mature now, but making coffee from bean to cup at home can often feel like we’re little children still playing house.

To remedy this, and make sure that we’re all a little more enlightened, HuffPost UK spoke with Russell Jenkins, the Managing Director of Thomsons Coffee, to find out what the most common mistake is when it comes to making coffee.

Jenkins says: “One of the most common mistakes people make when brewing coffee at home is using the wrong grind size for their brewing method. A grind that’s too fine can lead to over-extraction, resulting in a bitter and unpleasant cup.”

I certainly can confess that I’ve made one (or 10) bitter and unpleasant cups of coffee.

He adds: “Conversely, a grind that’s too coarse can cause under-extraction, leaving the coffee weak and sour.

“Matching the grind size to your brewing method - whether it’s espresso, French press, or a pour-over ensures the flavours are balanced and the coffee tastes its best. Adjusting grind size is an easy fix that can dramatically improve your cup.”

The advice didn’t end there, though...

A coffee roaster’s top tips for home-brewed coffee

Allow time for resting

Jenkins says: “At our roastery, we pride ourselves on producing beans that are bursting with character.

“Letting them rest for four to 10 days allows gases to release, and flavours to develop properly. Brewing too soon can result in a flat or unbalanced cup, so a bit of patience will get you a much better brew.”

Patience is a virtue and the secret to a better coffee! 

Freezing coffee beans is possible — with some caveats

Jenkins explains that for some of his loyal customers who don’t get to visit often opt to freeze beans for long-term storage, and he advises that this is safe to do.

However, he adds that there are a few caveats.

“Make sure the beans are stored in an airtight container, and only take out what you need for immediate use—allowing the beans to return to room temperature before grinding,” he explains.

“This keeps them fresh and avoids moisture build-up. You’ll still be getting a brew that’s much better than a stale bag left on the counter.”

Invest in a quality burr grinder

Jenkins recommends burr grinders — a mill used to grind hard, small food products between two revolving abrasive surfaces separated by a distance usually set by the user — over popular blade grinders.

He explains: “Blade grinders can leave you with uneven grounds and bitter brews. Whether you’re using a French press, pour-over, or espresso machine. It’s a one-time investment that makes all your coffee taste exponentially better.“

Make bold adjustments and track changes

If you’re a fan of experimenting a little with coffee recipes at home, Jenkins urges that you shouldn’t be afraid to make big changes in your ratios, grind size or brewing time.

He says: “Small tweaks can be hard to track, making it difficult to pinpoint where improvements come from. Start with larger variations, like adjusting brew time by 30 seconds or changing your grind size noticeably finer or coarser.

“Then, track the differences in taste and aroma meticulously. This approach helps you zero in on the perfect recipe much faster and gives you a clearer understanding of how each variable impacts the cup.“

Trust your palate, there’s no wrong answer

Finally, he assures: “Everyone’s palate is different, so if you like the taste of your brew, that’s all that matters.

“Flavour profiles and recipes are just starting points. Trust what you enjoy, and don’t worry about following the so-called “rules” too strictly. The best coffee is the one that tastes good to you.”

Jonathan Bailey has revealed he’s such a fan of Heartstopper that he thinks it should be required viewing.

The Bridgerton star has made no secret of his love of Heartstopper in the past, to the point he engineered it that he made a cameo in its third season, which has been hailed by some critics as the show’s best.

“I sort of wedged myself into that part,” Jonathan admitted to Vanity Fair, revealing that he “was so moved by the series and also the graphic novel” that he ended up making it clear to the Heartstopper team that he wanted to appear in some capacity.

He added: “I love the cast. I think they’re brilliant. I remember seeing all of them speak to their own experiences and being like, My God, they’re so erudite and grounded and thoughtful and kind and compassionate in their answers.

“I would be really proud of myself if I could be a part of that as my younger self. Everyone above the age of 40 should be forced to watch it.”

Speaking to Variety about his then-upcoming Heartstopper cameo earlier this year, Jonathan said: “Like so many people I watched the first series and I just thought it was one of the biggest, most beautiful gifts to so many people. And I wished I’d had that growing up.”

He added that because he has a mutual friend with Heartstopper producer Patrick Walters, he was able to pass along a message which said: “If there’s anything I could do to help and be a part of that story…”

The British performer is currently on the promo trailer for the new Wicked movie, in which he stars opposite Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Fieryo.

While he’s primarily known for his on-screen roles in the likes of Bridgerton, Fellow Travelers and Broadchurch, Jonathan is also an established theatre actor, winning an Olivier for his supporting performance in the musical Company.

The student favourite, the perfect accompaniment to beans or cheese – we can only be talking about potato waffles!

For many of us Brits, these waffley delights have been a saviour after a night on the town or a cheap carb at dinner time but, as it turns out, we may have been cooking them incorrectly this whole time.

I know for myself, I usually fire-up the grill before placing the frozen wonders underneath for a few minutes on each side until they’re browned to my taste and then I usually top them with cheese and beans.

According to the undisputed potato waffle experts at Birdseye, though, I’ve been doing too much and that there’s an even faster way to cook ’em.

How to cook potato waffles

So, following a lot of debate over the years on the best way to prepare potato waffles, Birds Eye wanted to confirm their suspicions that the toaster may be the best possible way to cook them.

To do this, they dedicated no less than 103 hours and 3000 waffles to testing the tastiness and of course, safety of this method. After all of this rigorous testing, it turned out that this low-energy, low-effort approach was actually the best one. 

As for the method? Put your toaster on to a medium-high setting and once your waffles have had their first ‘pop’, put them in for another round. This should result in waffles that are soft on the inside with a satisfying crispy bite on the outside.

Birds Eye have so much confidence in this method that it’s now even printed on the side of boxes.

Way back in 2019, Birds Eye asked social media followers if they knew they could toast their waffles and only 65% did so if you feel like you were in the dark until now, you’re likely not alone.

A speedy method that doesn’t compromise on taste

Steve Challouma, Marketing Director at Birds Eye told the Mirror: “We know there has been a lot of confusion and debate on this way of cooking our Original Potato Waffles so we decided to put it to the test.”

“After days of rigorous ‘toasting’, we’re happy to confirm it is safe to cook our waffles this way and it doesn’t compromise on taste either – you can still expect the same delicious taste that is crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle!”

That’s lunch sorted.

Amanda Holden has hit back at the suggestion she’s in line to take over from Cat Deeley as the host of This Morning.

Earlier this week, Woman’s Own magazine ran a story claiming the long-standing Britain’s Got Talent judge could become a permanent presenter on This Morning, in place of its current host, Cat.

However, she was quick to shut this down during Thursday’s edition of Heart Breakfast.

“First of all, I absolutely love Cat Deeley,” Amanda began. “She’s super successful – I’ve always admired her, she’s brilliant, and she’s a real laugh.

“I hate seeing headlines that say, ‘I’m taking over from Cat Deeley’ when I think she’s doing such a good job on This Morning. I’m sure she’s going absolutely nowhere, it is categorically 100% made up by a journalist.”

She continued: “I’m already on the biggest morning show in the country, and that is Heart Breakfast, thanks to our lovely listeners. So, I don’t know where it’s come from it is categorically not true.”

“It’s really annoying me,” Amanda admitted. “Bog off, pitting two women against each other. I hate that.”

Amanda – who guest hosted This Morning a decade ago, filling in when Holly Willoughby was on maternity leave – has repeatedly spoken out against the media’s tendency to create feuds between two women.

In 2016, Amanda’s fellow BGT judge Alesha Dixon recalled: “When I first got the call to do Britain’s Got Talent, it was actually Amanda who was one of the first people to reach out to me and suggest we go out for a coffee and have a conversation. And we did, and it was great.

“We decided in that moment that we weren’t going to allow the media to pit us against one another, and that we wanted to be responsible role models for other women out there to show that women should support one another and not be against each other.”

The former Mis-Teeq singer continued: “We both have daughters and we want to set a great example to them, and I think the media get it now, so all the kind of ‘war’ stories have all gone, and I think people can clearly see that we get on.”

Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden airs every weekday from 6.30am.

You may already know that your fingernails and stool can reveal a lot about how healthy you are. 

But it turns out that some health issues can show up on your tongue, too. Certain conditions can change its colour and even its texture.

According to the health information site Medical News Today: “Changes in tongue colour can indicate an underlying health issue, such as an infection.” 

Sometimes, the signs can point to something serious, they add ― for instance, a blue tongue can reveal very low oxygen.

What does my tongue colour say about my health?

Healthy tongues usually look pink and not too pale, the site says. 

Here’s what other colours may be symptoms of, per Medical News Today:

1) Black

• drinking coffee and tea
• rarely, diabetes or HIV
• bad oral hygiene
• medications, such as some antibiotics
• tobacco use
• radiation therapy

2) White

• oral thrush
• leukoplakia (white patches, often from smoking, that can sometimes develop into cancer)
• lichen planus (a type of rash)

3) Purple

• poor blood circulation and heart issues
• Kawasaki disease (a rare but serious inflammation of blood vessels)

4) Red

• vitamin D deficiency
• scarlet fever
• glossitis (inflammation of the tongue, especially if bumpy
• Kawasaki disease

5) Gray

• geographic tongue (a harmless inflammatory condition)
• eczema

6) Yellow

• bad oral hygiene 
• a dry mouth 
• rarely, diabetes or jaundice 

7) Orange

• bad oral hygiene
• a dry mouth
• some antibiotics

8) Green

• poor oral hygiene 
• oral thrush
• leukoplakia
• lichen planus
• rarely, syphilis
• rarely, oral cancer

9) Blue

• a lack of oxygen from the lungs
• blood disorders
• blood vessel disease
• kidney disease

When should you see a doctor?

Health information site Healthline writes: “As a good rule of thumb, see your doctor if you notice any significant changes in the colour of your tongue, especially if it lasts longer than two weeks.” 

If you notice any significant or sudden changes, see your GP as soon as you can, and if you suspect low oxygen, call 999 or go to A&E. 

That doesn’t just apply to the colour of your tongue either ― any new lumps, patches, or swelling warrant a doctor’s visit.

Sometimes, my jaw clicks and crunches so much that I wonder if there’s a tiny seed or cracker shard stuck deep in the back of my mouth.

Still, I’ve never thought much of it ― I’ve always reckoned it’s due to my constant tensing and clenching. 

But according to the NHS, the sound could reveal a condition I’d never heard of before. 

“Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) is a condition affecting the movement of the jaw,” their site reads, and can create the sound.

Though the NHS stresses the condition is “not usually serious and generally gets better on its own”, the website adds that TMD sometimes needs attention from a dentist, doctor, physiotherapist or psychologist.

What is TMD and what are its signs?

TMD can be caused by tooth grinding, stress, wear and tear and uneven teeth that don’t slot together well enough. 

It’s a muscle issue that can limit how much you can move your jaw. It can cause pain and stiffness in your ear, jaw, and even temples. 

Per the NHS, some of its symptoms include: 

• pain around your jaw, ear and temple
• clicking, popping or grinding noises when you move your jaw
• a headache around your temples
• difficulty opening your mouth fully
• your jaw locking when you open your mouth.

It can feel worse when you chew or if you’re stressed. 

The NHS adds you should call 111 or try to get an urgent GP visit if you notice the following: 

• you’re unable to eat or drink
• you have clicking, popping or grinding noises when you move your jaw
• you have difficulty opening your mouth fully or your jaw is locking
• you have pain around your jaw, ear or at the side of your head
• you have frequent, severe headaches
• you have pain or tenderness at the side of your head or on the scalp
• you have vision problems, such as double vision or loss of vision in one or both eyes.

These can be a sign something more serious is at play. 

How can I treat TMD at home?

Eating softer foods, like pasta and soup, taking OTC painkillers, massaging the jaws, relieving stress where possible and holding an ice or heat pack to the area can all help.

Try not to chew gum, yawn too wide or bite down with your front teeth, the NHS adds. 

Your doctor may suggest a visit to the dentist if your problem arises from tooth grinding.

You may also be asked to see a physiologist if it’s a muscle issue or a psychologist if stress is to blame. 

Denzel Washington has opened up about one scene from Gladiator II that wound up on the cutting room floor.

The two-time Oscar winner is currently on the promo trail for Ridley Scott’s much-hyped Gladiator sequel, and shared with Gayety that he shot a same-sex kiss during the filming process.

“I actually kissed a man in the film but they took it out,” he told the US outlet. “They cut it, I think they got chicken.”

Denzel added: “I kissed a guy full on the lips and I guess they weren’t ready for that yet.”

Revealing exactly what went on in the now-deleted scene, Denzel added that his character killed the man in question “about five minutes later”, remarking: “It’s Gladiator. It’s the kiss of death.”

Last month, Denzel’s co-star Paul Mescal spoke about another Gladiator II kiss that didn’t make it into the finished film, which came about when he gave Pedro Pascal a peck during a fight sequence.

“There was a moment when we were rehearsing my fight scene with Pedro, and I had an idea towards the end of the scene to kiss Pedro on the forehead,” Paul recalled.

But despite the filmmaker’s approval for the improvised moment, it didn’t wind up in the completed movie.

Gladiator II also features appearances from Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn and The White Lotus star Fred Hechinger, while Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi reprise their roles from the first film.

On Wednesday night, the entire cast came together with director Ridley Scott for the film’s London premiere, which was also attended by King Charles.

Gladiator II hits cinemas on Friday 15 November.

Keir Starmer has been urged to exercise his influential position within Nato amid fears of just what Donald Trump’s second term will bring. 

The US president-elect is expected to push all Nato members to increase their defence spending or he may refuse to fulfil the alliance’s pledge to defend other countries.

Right now, 23 European allies are expected to meet the Nato-agreed spending target of at least 2% of GDP on defence this year.

That may not be enough for Trump, though. He previously suggested members should be aiming for 4% of GDP.

Meanwhile, the pressure is on for eastern Europe amid worries Vladimir Putin could extend his war in Ukraine further into the continent, crossing into Nato states.

On LBC last night, former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt said this conversation around defence spending is “going to be a huge debate of next year” – and Starmer could play a large role in it.

He added: “We should not underestimate the UK’s influence in this debate.

“We’re not just the second biggest defence spender in Nato, but Keir Starmer is the only leader of a major Western country, who – if he chooses – is guaranteed to still be prime minister when Donald Trump has to leave the White House in January 2029.”

The current UK parliament does not have to dissolve until August 2029.

LBC host Andrew Marr acknowledged Starmer “has real heft there”.

Hunt continued:“There’s a lot of influence if he chooses to use it. This is a moment for him to rally other European countries.

“He certainly needs to commit to a timeline for the 2.5% [of GDP spent on defence] that we had before, but he needs to use that to get the French, the German and everyone else on board, and sustain American commitment to Nato.”

Starmer has been trying to forge a strong relationship with the incoming president, but is struggling to put his cabinet’s previous criticisms of Trump behind him.

Meanwhile, the Republican seems pretty determined to crack down on what he sees as inadequate defence spending. 

Trump previously said he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” if Nato allies failed to “pay their bills”.

I spent several years on dating apps before meeting my current partner, and as you’d expect, that time was filled with ghosting, mixed messages and sudden, confusing endings. 

Still, I maintain the same belief I’ve held before and after the experience – when it comes to our love lives, we all have a right to break up with whoever we want whenever we like. 

So when I read an entry shared to Reddit’s r/AITAH (am I the asshole here) by u/eska089, I hoped she was aligned with my beliefs too. 

“AITA for refusing to cook after my boyfriend tried to ‘critique’ my cooking with a literal PowerPoint presentation?” the original poster (OP) asked the group.

OK, here’s the story... 

The poster shared that over the course of her two-year relationship with her partner, she had done most of the cooking.

“We live together and I’ve always done most of the cooking because I genuinely enjoy it... he claims he can’t ‘even boil water’ without setting off the smoke alarm,” she shared.

But one night, while the pair were eating dinner, she says she noticed a “smirk” on her then-boyfriend’s face. 

“He then says, ‘You know, I’ve been taking notes,’” she revealed. “I laughed, thinking he was joking, but then he said, ‘No, really. I made a presentation’.” 

She continued: “I still thought it was a joke until he got up, connected his laptop to the TV and opened a PowerPoint titled ‘Improving Our Home Dining Experience’.”

The OP wrote that she “was in disbelief” as she watched the slides, which had titles like “Slide 1: Too Much Garlic,” “Slide 2: Pasta Consistency,” and “Slide 3: More Salt, Less Sass”, came thick and fast.

“The kicker was Slide 8, which was just a photo of Gordon Ramsay facepalming with the caption, ‘What he’d think?’” she added. 

Needless to say, she swore she’d never cook for him again after that.

Wait... where’s the break-up?

The Redditor has shared two updates on the site since her original post ― and it’s good news for commenters, who all thought his behaviour was abhorrent. 

After the first post, the OP wrote in an update, she had “decided that our relationship needed a serious talk”. 

So, she approached her then-partner to explain why her feelings were hurt – in response, she wrote: “He actually grabs his laptop, connects it to the TV again and presents me with another PowerPoint titled ‘How to Take a Joke: A Comprehensive Guide’.”

She later broke up with him with her own PowerPoint on the advice of other Redditors, whose slides included: “Resources for Finding Your Own Apartment.”

“I’m single, happy and cooking meals for myself without any critique except my cat’s judgmental stare,” she updated the forum.

In a final update, she says he’s become known as “the Powerpoint guy” in his office, where the story somehow got back to his colleagues. 

“If you’re going to critique your partner’s cooking with a slide deck, be prepared for that feedback to follow you right into the break room,” she ended the update.

Ariana Grande has found herself at the centre of debate within the musical theatre community over a certain lyric in Wicked.

The Grammy-winning singer is currently gearing up for the release of the film adaptation of the hit stage musical, in which she stars as Glinda The Good Witch.

In the lead-up to the release, a lyric video for Ariana’s big number from the movie, Popular, was posted on Wicked’s official social media accounts.

However, she took issue with the way a certain lyric had been denoted.

“I’ll teach you the proper poise when you talk to boys,” the lyric reads, with Ariana popping up in the comments to suggest: “It’s ‘ploys’!!!!!!”

“I love you,” she quickly added.

Theatre actor Jennafer Newberry Peery, who has also played Glinda in the past, agreed with the Positions singer, writing: “Just another Glinda here to say…. proper ploys.”

Ginna Claire Mason, who also played Glinda in a touring production of Wicked, wrote: “The text says poise, but it’s proper ploys.”

So, there you have it. The Glindas have spoken – which you would think would be the end of it.

Except apparently not. “Poise” is actually listed for Popular on the popular lyric website Genius, while different streaming services switch between “poise” and “ploys” in their accompanying lyrics for the Wicked staple.

And as the debate raged on, Wicked fans have been sharing their takes over on X…

Kristin Chenoweth, we need you...

Long before landing the role of Glinda, Popular was already a special song for Ariana.

Back in 2012, two years before her breakthrough moment with the number one hit Problem, the future chart-topper teamed up with Mika on the duet Popular Song, which interpolated the Wicked ditty.

Wicked hits cinemas on Friday 22 November.

Elon Musk has once again criticised the UK government - and now it’s an even bigger problem for Keir Starmer.

The tech billionaire used his account on X - the social media platform he owns - to comment on an unfounded claim that “hundreds of British citizens, including journalists, are reporting that they’ve been visited by the police this weekend regarding X posts”.

It is thought to refer to a report in the Daily Telegraph that one of the paper’s journalists, Allison Pearson, has been questioned by police over a post she put on X a year ago.

Musk said it was “crazy” - and the timing of his latest intervention on British politics could not have come at a worse moment for the prime minister.

US president-elect Donald Trump announced earlier this week that Musk - one of his biggest supporters - will head up a new Department of Government Efficiency in his new government.

Musk’s influence in the Trump administration is bad news for Starmer, who is desperate to have good relations with the incoming president.

The PM was quick to congratulate the Republican on his “historic” victory over Kamala Harris last week, and was one of the first foreign leaders to call Trump to congratulate him.

In gushing comments, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The leaders fondly recalled their meeting in September, and president-elect Trump’s close connections and affinity to the United Kingdom and looked forward to working with one another.”

But Musk’s long-running feud with Starmer and his government has the potential to be a major sticking point for the “special relationship” over the next four years.

In the summer, the prime minister slapped down the billionaire tech boss for claiming “civil war is inevitable” in the UK in the wake of the far-right riots which have taken place across the country in the past week.

The PM’s official spokesman said: “There’s no justification for comments like that and what we’ve seen in this country is organised illegal thuggery which has no place on our streets or online.”

But responding to a video posted on X by Starmer in which he said the government “will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities”, Musk replied: “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on all communities?”

And earlier this month, Musk also took aim at changes to inheritance tax in the Budget, which farmers say will land them with massive tax bills and potentially put them out of business.

He said: “We should leave the farmers alone. We farmers immense gratitude for making the food on our tables!”