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.

Buying a car is expensive. Between finance, dealership fees, road tax, maintenance, and insurance, choosing a new vehicle can be a costly decision.

With the price of new cars on the rise, it makes sense that more people are opting to buy used cars each year. Over 7.8 million used cars were bought in the UK in 2025, up 2.15% from the previous year and this is only projected to rise.

And while investing in a second hand car can save you thousands of pounds, it can also come with stratospheric hidden costs if you don’t properly investigate its past.

With the cost of new cars constantly fluctuating, and electronic vehicles being introduced into the market, it can be difficult to know whether you’re getting a fair deal on a used car.

As well as figuring out the fair price of a car, there is also its safety to consider.

Dishonest dealers can disguise themselves as private sellers to avoid having to be responsible for faulty cars, or those that have been written off by insurance.

If we learnt anything from Roald Dahl’s Mr Wormwood, it’s that there is also a risk that the mileage displayed on a car isn’t genuine.

In fact, one in 11 cars checked by HPI Check has a discrepancy with its mileage. This can not only reduce a car’s safety, but can lead to costly repairs further down the road.

And, we know what you’re thinking: it’s unlikely you’ll fall for a scam. But one in three cars run through HPI check has something to hide.

So to avoid being hit with unwanted bills and legal disputes down the line, using a car history check service can give you peace of mind.

To make sure you’re not gambling on whether the seller has been truthful about the history of your car, HPI check investigates everything you need to be aware of when buying a used car.

• If the car is reported as stolen
• If the car is an insurance write-off
• Whether there’s an outstanding loan or finance agreement on the car
• The number of its previous owners
• If the DVLA has marked the car as scrapped
• If the logbook is legitimate
• Mileage discrepancies
• How many number plate changes the car has had.

This will reveal whether or not you’ll be the rightful owner of your new car, and uncover if it has a dangerous past you need to be aware of.

The HPI check will also help you investigate if the car you want to buy is roadworthy, which will help you learn the true market value of the car and negotiate a fair deal with the seller.

According to one HPI check reviewer, the service saved him money and a long journey. “I saw the car I wanted, checked it through the HPI check website, and how relieved I was that I did check its history,” he said.

“It was an insurance write-off and the mileage was incorrect. It saved me from a very bad situation and having a conman making my life a misery. Money well spent.”

But it’s not just money you could save: using HPI check could also give you the confidence to navigate buying a used car in future, and save you the stress of dealing with a faulty one.

Another reviewer said: “We used HPI check because we trusted their information on a used car that we wanted to purchase. In the world of used cars this proved to be invaluable advice, we would recommend anyone thinking of buying a quality used car to use this service.”

About 40% of people over 65 who have suspected dementia are not diagnosed with it in the UK, Alzheimer’s Research UK says.

That’s hard news to hear, given that a diagnosis can help those with the condition to access specialised support and help; the earlier it’s spotted, the better, too.

Perhaps some of that delay comes from the fact that most of us don’t know what the condition looks like.

A YouGov study, made with Alzheimer’s Research UK, found that only 49% of participants named memory loss as a symptom of dementia; 22% said they had no idea how it affects people at all.

No wonder early signs, like losing your sense of smell and struggling with tasks like grocery shopping, so often go unnoticed; another sign can appear while driving.

According to the nonprofit Alzheimer’s Association, vision changes, balance issues, and visuospatial awareness loss are common among those with dementia ― even early dementia.

″[Dementia] may lead to difficulty with balance or trouble reading,” they write, adding, “They may also have problems judging distance and determining colour or contrast, causing issues with driving.”

Then, there’s the memory issue; those with dementia “may have trouble driving to a familiar location,” Alzheimer’s Association points out.

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about a study which linked poor spatial awareness to the later development of dementia. It’s seen up to 25 years before the condition is picked up, though the study didn’t look at driving.

Alzheimer’s Society says that despite what many may believe, “a diagnosis of dementia is not in itself a reason to stop driving.”

One in three people diagnosed with dementia drive, they add; though “over time, dementia affects the skills needed for safe driving.”

This usually happens in the middle stage of dementia but can be later for some (though it’s inevitable).

Skills like being able to focus, reacting quickly, memorising routes, making good judgment, and (as mentioned above) having good visuospatial awareness are key to staying safe on the road, as is keeping an even temper.

These are all made harder by dementia.

If you have been struggling with any of the above while driving, stay off the road and seek medical help.

I’ve been learning more about the urinary habits of celebs recently than I ever thought I would. First, it turned out that loads of singers use a pee bucket backstage if they’ve gotta go mid-concert (yes, really).

And now, it seems some on-screen talent have their own secret code to ask to go to the loo ― at least, that’s according to makeup mogul, singer, motel owner, and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Trixie Mattel.

In a recent video, the drag star shared the behind-the-scenes secrets of reality TV. “I had to learn on my feet what exactly a TV set was,” the star said in the video ― and that included working out how to nip to the loo.

“Did you know on television when you have to pee… you say, ‘I have to ten-one’, ’I’m taking her to ten-one,’‘she’s going to ten-one,’” Trixie shared.

“It’s a more elegant way of saying ‘go pee,’” the drag star added. “And on a TV set when I was 24 years old, my instinct was to go, ‘will someone take me to pee?’ And they’d be like, ‘you mean ten one?’”

Studio Binder confirms that 10-1 is walkie-talkie lingo for needing to pee ― and it turns out that 10-2 refers to needing to, well, go number two, as well.

They add that if you find you need more time in the bathroom than you’d expected as a TV cast member ― maybe that dodgy food from last night caught up with you out of nowhere ― you can ask to “upgrade your 10-1″ on the walkie-talkie too.

This will buy you more precious alone time.

“I have no idea where that came from,” Trixie shared, referring to the initial 10-1 code. Well, we think we might have answers ― the ten does seem to apply to the ten code, which refers to abbreviated speech you can use across telecoms, and one is, well, going number one.

But why you couldn’t just ask to pee instead is frankly a little beyond me. Perhaps I’m just inelegant…

This is less specific to TV shows in general and more applicable to drag ― but Trixie brought up the topic of urine again towards the end of her tell-all video.

“This one I’m going to be vague about, but we’re in drag for long days, and drag is very taxing on the body, and sometimes people don’t get to pee,” she said. “And sometimes pee happens… that’s all I’m going to say,” she added.

“I’ve never peed myself on Drag Race,” she pointed out, “but I know it’s happened. Whether or not people have said it happened, I think people have peed their pants and it hasn’t shown on camera so no-one knew.”

Basically, I’m learning that if you haven’t faced a pretty Medieval peeing system at least once in your showbiz career, you haven’t made it big. I knew fame wasn’t for me…

As fans eagerly await the upcoming fourth iteration of The White Lotus, more information has been teased about the characters we’ll be meeting when we check in this time around.

On Tuesday, Variety published a piece making some intriguing claims about who some members of the star-studded cast will be playing in the next run of episodes.

According to the outlet, Black Swan star Vincent Cassel will be occupying a space previously held by Murray Bartlett, Sabrina Impacciatore and Christian Friedel by portraying the White Lotus manager in the South of France.

It was also reported that White Lotus creator Mike White had envisaged that Helena Bonham Carter would play a “washed-out star who is chasing a comeback”.

Citing undisclosed “sources”, Variety went on to say that the British star left The White Lotus due to “creative differences”, notably Mike White wanting her to play the character in a more “boisterous” way.

Shortly after the Harry Potter actor parted ways with the project, it was announced that Oscar winner Laura Dern would be joining the cast, playing a new character who occupies a similar space in the ensemble to what the team had in mind for Helena’s.

The production team will film at the real Cannes Film Festival when it gets up and running later this month, before flying to Paris later in the summer to shoot certain sequences to avoid the French riviera’s busy season.

Besides the aforementioned Vincent and Laura, other cast members will include Steve Coogan, Kumail Nanjiani, Max Greenfield, Chris Messina, Sandra Bernhard, Rosie Perez and Heather Graham, in addition to some burgeoning new faces to the acting world.

Mike White previously claimed the new season would ponder “fame”, “who has the world’s attention”, “who is the plus-one” and “how that can organise a relationship”.

HuffPost UK has contacted the US broadcaster HBO for comment.

If you’ve ever sat through an episode of Peaky Blinders, you might find yourself wondering how the heck Cillian Murphy didn’t destroy his lungs playing the infamous Thomas Shelby.

Yup, there’s rarely a scene where the titular character isn’t puffing on a cigarette – so, what’s actually going on? Are they just destroying packets of cigarettes a la Dot Cotton actress June Brown?

Well, one TikToker has shared what our fave celebs are actually smoking – and it turns out things are far more herbal. (No, not that type of herb, before you get excited.)

Director David Ma (@davidwma) often shares the truth behind Hollywood trickery and in a video which has amassed a whopping 2.2 million likes, the film expert has revealed what stars are smoking.

David explained: “Most of the time, when you see actors smoking on screen we use something called prop cigarettes. They’re herbal cigarettes that are tobacco and nicotine and additive-free.”

Well, that explains why we’ve not got hundreds of actors out there with hacking coughs.

“They also look quite real in an actor’s fingers,” David added, sharing that Jon Hamm went through packs of these while filming Mad Men.

“When you cut one open you’ll notice there isn’t tobacco inside, it looks more like herb – not that ’erb – but you know, rose petal, clover and tea leaves.”

What about smoke? According to David this tends to be added in post-production, usually with CGI.

And as for Cillian? Turns out he went through a whopping 3,000 of the fake herbal cigarettes while portraying Tommy Shelby.

Caffeinated drinks like tea and coffee seem to have a lot more health benefits than you might realise. They’ve been linked to a longer life, less stress, and even improved heart health.

But, per a paper recently published in the journal Nutrients, one may be slightly better than the other for maintaining women’s bone health by reducing osteoporosis as they age.

The 10-year study, which followed nearly 10,000 women over 65, saw “modest” benefits for tea drinkers.

This research asked participants to share their drinking habits throughout the trial period. Researchers also measured their bone density over time using imaging techniques.

At the end of the study, the paper authors noticed that women who drank tea over coffee had slightly higher bone mineral density in their hips. That’s important, because this is a joint especially prone to fracture when osteoporosis kicks in, as it does for a third of women over 50.

The advantage was only small. But, study author and adjunct associate professor Enwu Liu told Flinders University, that “even small improvements in bone density can translate into fewer fractures across large groups”.

That doesn’t mean drinking coffee was catastrophic, either. Drinking two to three cups a day didn’t seem to harm bone health at all; issues only arose among those who drank more than five cups daily.

Coffee affected some participants more than it did others, too. Those who consumed more alcohol over the course of their lifetime tended to see worse results from coffee consumption.

And women with obesity tended to see more benefits from tea.

Study co-author Ryan Liu said that compounds in tea called catechins, which may help to boost bone formation and slow the rate at which they’re broken down, might explain the “modest” gap.

“Coffee’s caffeine content, by contrast, has been shown in laboratory studies to interfere with calcium absorption and bone metabolism,” Liu added.

The experts don’t seem to think so.

Negative effects kicked in at about coffee cup number five, and Ryan Liu said there’s a simple way to make your morning cuppa better for your bones – “these effects are small and can be offset by adding milk,” he said.

Enwu Liu added: “While moderate coffee drinking appears safe, very high consumption may not be ideal, especially for women who drink alcohol.

“Our results don’t mean you need to give up coffee or start drinking tea by the gallon. But they do suggest that moderate tea consumption could be one simple way to support bone health, and that very high coffee intake might not be ideal, especially for women who drink alcohol.”

He ended: “While calcium and vitamin D remain cornerstones of bone health, what’s in your cup could play a role too. For older women, enjoying a daily cup of tea may be more than a comforting ritual, it could be a small step toward stronger bones.”

Euphoria boss Sam Levinson has been singing Sydney Sweeney’s praises as her scenes in the show’s ongoing third season continue to stir up controversy.

When the latest iteration of Euphoria debuted last month, Sydney’s character Cassie was reintroduced at a new stage of her life, having turned to OnlyFans to pay for her wedding to Jacob Elordi’s Nate.

With their big day now behind them, Cassie had initially planned to leave OnlyFans behind, but with her new husband’s debts to pay off, the latest instalment saw her returning to the adult site with even more extreme photo-shoots.

Meanwhile, another scene in the episode saw her snorting cocaine off a friend’s crotch, before rubbing the same drug on herself.

Sydney’s character’s story arc has raised eyebrows throughout season three, but the show’s creator has continued to heap praise on the Emmy-nominated actor’s performance.

During a Q&A for The Hollywood Reporter’s Directors In Focus event, Sam enthused: “What’s interesting is if you push it a little bit, she becomes brilliant. You just do a few more takes, and she can reach these levels that are very honest emotionally, but also deeply funny.

“She’s able to anchor the scene with this kind of madness and chaos going on around her.”

He was similarly effusive about the show’s lead, Zendaya, claiming: “What’s so spectacular about Zendaya as an actor is the physicality that she has, and I think it goes back to her Disney training, that she’s able to move with such humour and tell a story.”

Sydney has repeatedly called out the “double standard” she sees around the way male and female actors who have appeared nude on screen are treated, claiming back in 2022: “When a guy has a sex scene or shows his body, he still wins awards and gets praise. But the moment a girl does it, it’s completely different.”

More recently, Sam Levinson shared his intention with the portrayal of OnlyFans work in his show before season three started airing.

Euphoria continues on Sky and Now in the UK on Mondays.

More than 15 years ago, Susan Boyle’s Britain’s Got Talent audition became a global news story and a viral sensation in the early years of social media.

Back in 2009, Susan’s performance of I Dreamed A Dream for BGT judges Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell put her in front of a global audience, changing her life in the process.

What made the clip hit all the harder was the fact that both the judging panel and studio audience were so dismissive of the future Grammy nominee until they heard her singing.

“I honestly think we were all being cynical, and I think that’s the biggest wake-up call ever,” Amanda told the singing hopeful after her performance.

“And I just want to say that it was a complete privilege listening to that.”

During a new interview on Jamie East’s podcast Tales From The Celebrity Trenches, the TV mogul reflected on Susan’s audition, agreeing: “When you watch it back, I’m like, ‘God, you look so awful. Just horrible’.”

However, he added that when he was first shown a cut of Susan’s audition, he thought the judges came across too well.

“Actually, I remember saying, ‘I don’t think we look bad enough’,” he admitted. “I think we were even worse than that.”

“We are awful. All of us. I mean, that look Piers gives me. It’s just I think of all the looks I’ve ever remembered, that might be the worst. And I was just as bad. We all were,” he recalled.

“And then, you know, thank God for her, it all worked out well. And, of course, I had the ability to cut all that stuff out. But it was a bit of a wake up call. Which is, you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“We do look disgusting,” he continued. “But you’ve got to hold your hands up at that moment. A lot of people are going to realise [when the audition airs] that we’re just horrible. And so we’re going to say sorry. And that’s what we did.”

In the end, Susan finished as the runner-up on the third season of BGT, and was quickly signed by Simon’s label.

Since then, Susan has gone on to release seven studio albums (including four UK number ones), scored two Grammy nominations and set a new record for first-week sales for a debut album.

Following what she has described as a “major stroke” in 2022, the I Dreamed A Dream singer has been teasing a return to the music scene, including a new tour and a cameo in an upcoming Rupert Everett film.

After turning 65 last month, she told her Instagram followers: “I’m so excited for the year ahead and everything that’s to come. I can’t wait to share it all with you.”