Antibiotics are one of the greatest breakthroughs in medical history. They turned once-deadly infections into treatable illnesses and made modern healthcare possible. But bacteria are changing, and some of the drugs we have depended on for decades are becoming less effective.

Around the world, infections are becoming harder to treat. This problem is known as antimicrobial resistance. It happens when bacteria evolve ways to survive medicines designed to kill them. It is estimated that drug-resistant infections already cause about 1.27 million deaths every year worldwide.

The World Health Organization has warned that we may be moving towards a “post-antibiotic era” in which common infections once again become dangerous, and even routine injuries or procedures carry serious risk.

A century ago, that was normal. A cut from gardening, a sore throat or childbirth could turn into a life-threatening infection. Doctors had few effective treatments, and infectious diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and diarrhoea disease were among the leading causes of death. The arrival of antibiotics changed that dramatically.

Penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, marked the beginning of one of the most important revolutions in medicine. Before antibiotics, tuberculosis was one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. In 1882, it killed one in seven people living in the US and Europe. Once antibiotics became available, many bacterial infections that had once been deadly could be treated effectively.

Antibiotics not only cured infections, but also made modern medicine far safer. Many procedures rely on them to prevent or treat infection, including caesarean sections, organ transplants, joint replacements and cancer chemotherapy.

Without effective antibiotics, these treatments would become much more dangerous. Fleming himself recognised that risk. When he accepted the Nobel Prize in 1945, he warned that misuse of penicillin could lead to resistance.

Living in a microbial world

The human body contains about 30 trillion human cells, but it also carries tens of trillions of bacteria on the skin and inside the body. Together, these communities form the microbiome, the vast collection of microbes that live in and on us. Many of them are not harmful. In fact, they help digest food, produce vitamins and support the immune system, the body’s defence system against disease.

So life is a finely balanced relationship between humans and the microbial world. But bacteria are ancient and extraordinarily adaptable. They have existed on earth for more than 3.5 billion years and survive in some of the harshest places imaginable, from deep-sea vents to polar ice.

Bacteria multiply very quickly and can also swap genetic material, meaning they can share useful survival traits with one another. Some produce substances that break down antibiotics before the drugs can do any damage. Others alter the parts of their cells that antibiotics are designed to attack.

Some develop tiny molecular pumps that push antibiotics back out of the bacterial cell. Others find alternative ways to carry out the jobs that the drug was meant to block.

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These changes happen through random genetic variation, which means natural differences arise as bacteria reproduce. But heavy antibiotic use creates strong evolutionary pressure. When antibiotics kill bacteria that are vulnerable to them, the resistant bacteria are left behind to survive and multiply.

Conditions for resistance

Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed medicines in the world, and they are often used when they are not needed. In some countries, they are still prescribed for illnesses such as colds and flu, even though antibiotics do not work against viruses. In the UK, prescribing is more tightly controlled, but inappropriate use and public misunderstanding remain a concern.

Large amounts are also used in agriculture and livestock production. This can further encourage resistant bacteria to emerge and spread.

Across Europe, antimicrobial resistance is now recognised as a major public health threat. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimates that antibiotic-resistant infections cause more than 35,000 deaths each year across the EU and European Economic Area.

Doctors are now seeing infections that are difficult, and sometimes impossible, to treat. Some of the most worrying include methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales (CRE). MRSA can resist several commonly used antibiotics. VRE no longer responds to vancomycin, while CRE can withstand carbapenems, some of the most powerful antibiotics available.

What a post-antibiotic world could look like

If antibiotic resistance continues to rise, the consequences for healthcare could be severe. Many routine medical procedures depend on antibiotics to prevent infection. Without them, surgeries such as hip replacements, organ transplants and some cancer treatments may become too risky to perform.

Even common infections could once again become life-threatening. A simple urinary tract infection could spread into the bloodstream. A skin wound could develop into a severe invasive infection, meaning an infection that spreads deep into the body.

One of the greatest concerns is sepsis, a life-threatening condition in which the body overreacts to an infection and begins damaging its own tissues and organs. Early treatment with antibiotics saves many lives. But when bacteria are resistant, those treatments may fail. That makes sepsis much harder to treat, and in severe cases doctors may have very few options left.

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Healthcare could begin to resemble the pre-antibiotic era, when infection was one of the biggest dangers of everyday life.

Reasons for hope

The situation is serious, but it is not hopeless. Scientists are developing new ways to fight infection. Some researchers are exploring bacteriophages, often shortened to phages, which are viruses that infect and kill bacteria.

Others are working on anti-virulence drugs. Rather than killing bacteria outright, these drugs aim to disarm them by blocking the tools they use to cause disease. The hope is that this may place less evolutionary pressure on bacteria to develop resistance.

Another promising approach is host-targeted therapy. This means boosting the body’s own ability to fight infection, rather than attacking the bacteria directly.

Better diagnostic tests, stronger infection prevention and more careful use of antibiotics could also help preserve the drugs we still have. Antibiotics transformed medicine in the 20th century and saved countless lives. But they were never a permanent victory over microbes.

The challenge now is not just to develop new treatments, but to protect the antibiotics that still work. If we can do that, the post-antibiotic future many scientists warn about may never arrive.

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King Charles and Queen Camilla begin a four-day US state visit next week

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US President Donald Trump believes King Charles could help mend the strained relationship between the US and UK. The President called the royal ‘fantastic’ and ‘brave’ ahead of a state visit next week, which will include Queen Camilla.

When quizzed during a phone interview with the BBC on whether the visit could help patch things up, Trump said: “Absolutely. He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes.

“I know him well, I’ve known him for years,” he added. “He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man. They would absolutely be a positive.”

The president also touched on his relationship with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, suggesting he could only “recover” by changing tack on immigration. The King and Queen will head to the US for a four-day visit kicking off on Monday, where they will meet Trump at the White House, reports The Mirror.

The King will hold a private meeting with the president and deliver a speech to Congress. Following two days in Washington DC, the royal couple will head to New York, Virginia and Bermuda before making their return to the UK.

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The Foreign Office confirmed the trip will mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, celebrating a partnership of “shared prosperity, security and history”. During Thursday’s interview, Trump was also pressed on his relationship with Sir Keir.

The two leaders have appeared to be at loggerheads over the war in Iran, with Sir Keir also facing growing scrutiny over his decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US. Taking to Truth Social on Monday, Trump described Lord Mandelson as “a really bad pick” while suggesting the prime minister had “plenty of time to recover”.

When pressed on the meaning behind the post, Trump said: “If he opened the North Sea and if his immigration policies became strong, which right now they’re not, he can recover, but if he doesn’t, I don’t think he has a chance.”

The US president has repeatedly urged Britain to ramp up oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, while also hitting out at the UK government and other allies over their handling of the Iran conflict. Trump has made clear he is “not happy” with the level of backing offered by Britain, while Sir Keir has consistently insisted the country will not be dragged into a “wider war”.

When quizzed by the BBC on why he needed allies like the UK to step up, Trump replied: “I didn’t need them at all but they should’ve been there. I didn’t need them, obviously.

“We’ve wiped Iran’s military out, I didn’t need anybody.”

Trump went on to reveal his calls for support amounted to “more of a test”, saying: “I wanted to see whether or not they would be involved.”

The president was also challenged over his earlier threat this month that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” unless Iran struck a deal – a remark roundly condemned by figures including the Pope and the UN chief.

“The other side is dying to make a deal,” he responded. “So whatever I’m saying or whatever I’m doing, it seems to be working very well.”

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“These are widely supported, pro-growth measures that will deliver tangible benefits to the British public. However, if ticket resale legislation is not presented in the King’s Speech, it will have the opposite effect and continue to cost those constituents hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

Three fire crews were called to the dormer bungalow in Newlands Drive, Acomb, shortly after 2.40pm on Thursday (April 23).

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said its crews extinguished the fire in the roof space of the home.

A service spokesperson said the blaze caused “100 per cent fire damage the roof”, “50 per cent fire damage to the upstairs property and 10 per cent fire damage to the rest of the property”.

“Crews dampened down [the area] and checked for hotspots. Advice was given to a responsible person,” they said.

Prosecutors have alleged that D4vd’s phone was full of images of child sexual abuse.

After being under investigation for several months, the 21-year-old rapper was arrested earlier this week and charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

In September last year the remains of the teenager were found in a Tesla registered to the musician – real name David Anthony Burke.

On Monday Los Angeles County prosecutors formally charged the singer, with LA district attorney Nathan Hochman alleging during a press conference that Burke had engaged in a sexual relationship with the teenager.

He has been charged with lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14 and mutilating a body in the killing of Hernandez.

Although he went on to plead not guilty during his first court appearance, prosecutors have since levelled more claims against him.

During a hearing on Thursday at a court in LA, prosecutors claimed D4vd possessed a ‘significant amount’ of child pornography on his phone, as per Rolling Stone.

It is not clear if any of these are of Hernandez.

Prosecutors explained to the court that they have a computer in the DA’s office that will handle the sensitive evidence, but that they cannot turn over the materials.

Appearing in court today – where he was shackled to a chair and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit – D4vd only spoke when asking if he approved that the judge handling his preliminary hearing at the same time as other cases.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ he uttered.

The court appearance comes a day after the Los Angeles Medical Examiner released the autopsy report for Hernandez, which had previously been sealed for months during the investigation.

The report lists the cause of death as ‘multiple penetrating injuries caused by object(s)’ and rules the manner of death a homicide.

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For all of Keir Starmer’s undoubted abilities, steady nerve and top-level experience in the legal profession, his tenure as prime minister has been fraught with difficulty. This is no doubt partly due to his limited enthusiasm for the (at times banal) realities of political leadership.

It is also due to his reluctance to engage sufficiently with the details of important decisions. At key moments, he has chosen to look the other way and defer to others to execute.

The most recent and consequential example of this is the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington DC, which we now know was driven primarily by former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. A quick refresh on recent Labour party history should have been enough to deter this decision. Instead, Starmer outsourced political judgment to others. Now that it has backfired, he is attempting to deflect the blame for his own misjudgments, perhaps not realising – or not accepting – that the buck ultimately stops with him.

He has lost goodwill by removing a range of colleagues, including two cabinet secretaries, two chiefs of staff, and now a top civil servant. He has not focused enough on the detail of policy, but has rather made broad and vague calls for change and asked others to deliver it. Good leaders delegate with clear instructions to people who are capable of fulfilling specific tasks.

A strong sense of leadership from the centre is needed to make the UK government system work. This was understood by the last Labour government with the introduction of the Delivery Unit, a mechanism to provide performance management across key departments.

The Starmer government got off to a false start in the summer of 2024 and has never really recovered. There was misalignment, to put it mildly, between Starmer’s original (and short-lived) chief of staff, Sue Gray, and other colleagues. A clumsily introduced cut to winter fuel allowance had to be reversed, raising no extra revenue but costing a good deal of political goodwill.

There have been other missteps. Starmer sparked anger among some MPs with his speech warning about the UK becoming “an island of strangers”, only to concede subsequently that he was uneasy with that phrase. He was opposed to his own speech.

Welfare reform was necessary until backbenchers rebelled. A harsher line on immigration did nothing to halt Reform’s rise. A seeming reluctance to criticise Israel’s assault on Gaza cost the Labour party support and helped drive the Green party’s new popularity.

And while Starmer did not know and had no particular fondness for Mandelson, he was persuaded McSweeney that he would be the right person to send to Washington DC as a new ambassador. Hence the rushed process to appoint him, and the subsequent political mess that afflicts Starmer now.

All of these suggest a disengagement with the nitty gritty of politics, the consequences of which are now being made clear.

Understanding the job

Amanda Goodall, a professor of leadership at Bayes Business School, has long argued that “domain knowledge” (or professional expertise) is a vital requirement for those in a leadership position. It pays to have someone in charge who understands and has a profound feel for the world in which they are operating.

Credibility among colleagues is established by being good at the core elements of a job and having proven experience. This was always going to be difficult to achieve for a latecomer to politics like Starmer.

In Westminster, Starmer has always been a fish out of water. He has only been a member of parliament since 2015. He emerged as a viable leadership candidate in the aftermath of Labour’s 2019 election defeat. He succeeded as a figure with calm authority, in contrast to the uncertainty created by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Even under the steadier figure of Rishi Sunak, and undermined by the rise of Reform, the Conservative government was doomed to defeat. In July 2024, the quirks of the UK’s voting system gifted Labour a massive 170-seat majority on a vote share of 34% – a “loveless landslide”. The government was never really all that popular even at the outset. A more politically savvy prime minister might have recognised this and led the new government differently.

Starmer became prime minister without ever having established a distinct political identity or programme. He proudly said that there was no such thing as Starmerism, and never would be. That sort of modesty may have been authentic and appealingly British, in a way. But it left the new government without a song to sing.

Politics, it has been said, is “show business for ugly people”. Charisma is overrated, and after Boris Johnson I suspect the country has had enough of performative prime ministers. The PM does not have to be a stand-up comedian or a “celebrity”. But there should be a purpose to what he or she is doing. A more politically engaged prime minister would have weighed up the risks in appointing Mandelson more carefully, and been aware of warnings that the appointment was being “weirdly rushed”.

Effective political leaders have a coherent and compelling story to tell. They strengthen and give credibility to this story when they make important political decisions with conviction and a sense of ownership. This is what Starmer has lacked all along, and it will be his undoing.

The film traces the pop star’s journey during the early days of his career as part of the Jackson 5, the family band which originally consisted of Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael, with Randy later replacing Jermaine, who were behind the hit songs I Want You Back and ABC, through to his career as a solo artist.

James Dickov, 24, admitted carrying a blade without reasonable excuse and acting in a threatening or abusive manner on October 9, 2024.

A knife-wielding yob frightened a fellow passenger on a train station platform in Coatbridge.

James Dickov, 24, admitted carrying a blade without reasonable excuse and acting in a threatening or abusive manner on October 9, 2024.

Airdrie Sheriff Court heard he was seen pacing up and down the platform at Whifflet station in Coatbridge shortly before 2pm.

Jack Lindsay, prosecuting, said Dickov was shouting and appeared to be drunk.

He asked a man if he was on the right platform for a Glasgow train and was told he was.

Dickov told the man he had been going about with his brother and they had been “stabbing each other”.

He showed him a Stanley knife before pressing it against the startled man who left the station and contacted the police.

READ MORE: Serial domestic abuser is jailed for breaching non-harassment orders

Dickov then boarded a train. A ticket examiner asked him to turn down his music before spotting the blade in his pocket.

The accused told him he didn’t mean any harm and tried to hug the ScotRail employee who brushed him off and contacted the cops.

Officers found the knife when they searched Dickov as he got off the train at Glasgow Central.

When arrested, Dickov became aggressive and told the officers he would “punch f**k out of you”.

He kicked and spat in the police vehicle.

He also said: “Watch your b***s, boys. I’ve got steel toe caps on. I’m going to end up attacking somebody.”

READ MORE: Teenage lorry driver caused death of dad of three in horror crash

Sentence was deferred until next month for background reports and an electronic tagging assessment.

Sheriff Paul Haran continued bail but warned Dickov, of Pollokshaws, Glasgow: “These are serious matters and all options are being considered.”

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Football Focus is to end after 52 years, BBC Sport has announced.

Launched in 1974, the Saturday lunchtime television programme provided fans with interviews, analysis and stories from across the game before the weekend’s fixtures.

Changing audience habits have meant a growth in the use of digital platforms and on-demand to get the same pre-match content.

As a result, linear television viewing figures have gradually declined since 2018.

Football Focus will run until the end of the season.

Alex Kay-Jelski – director of BBC Sport – said: “Football Focus has been a hugely important programme in the history of BBC Sport and has played a key role in telling the stories of the game for generations of viewers.

“This decision was made before last week’s wider BBC savings announcement, reflecting the continued shift in how audiences engage with football and our commitment to evolving how we deliver content to reach fans wherever they are.”

From next season, Kelly Somers’ The Football Interview will move to Saturday at 12:45 BST on BBC One. Final Score with Jason Mohammad will start on BBC One earlier than it has this season – at 15:45 BST.

Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka, former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva, Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike and Manchester United boss Michael Carrick are among the players and coaches to have featured on The Football Interview this season.

BBC Sport says it will expand its digital output across BBC platforms, including exclusive shows on YouTube. The intention is to deliver more high-quality, accessible and engaging football coverage at scale.

Football Focus started out as part of Grandstand, with Sam Leitch presenting a pre-cursor called Football Preview.

It was renamed Football Focus, with Bob Wilson becoming an iconic figure. After first taking on presenting duties in 1974, the former Arsenal goalkeeper stayed in the role for 20 years.

Steve Rider, Gary Lineker, Ray Stubbs, Manish Bhasin and Dan Walker – for 12 years – all had stints in the chair.

Its final host will be Alex Scott, who has presented Football Focus for the past five years and will continue to work for the BBC.

“Alex Scott is one of our finest presenters, is hugely popular across the men’s and women’s game and is a big part of our present and future,” added Kay-Jelski.

“She will remain at the heart of our sports output across both the men’s World Cup this year and the Women’s World Cup in 2027, as well as continuing her lead role on the Women’s Super League and BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

“We are also working on a very exciting new project with her – more to come on that soon.”

Scott said being part of the programme had been “incredibly special” and it was an “honour” to have been presenter for five years.

“It has been such an important part of my life, working with some of the very best people in the business, both on screen and behind the scenes,” she said on Instagram.