It’s no secret that maternity care in England is in real crisis. A recent 174-page report reiterated what many – families, midwives, legal experts – have known for years: too many women and their babies are frequently experiencing harm.

Baroness Valerie Amos, chair of the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation which published the report, called for an immediate overhaul of the maternity system as “it is not fit for the now, and it is not fit for the future”.

Issues repeatedly flagged during the investigation included women and families not being listened to; racism and discrimination; and services not being set up to support women’s choices.

In the very worst cases, women and babies died, while many others have been left with long-lasting injuries and trauma.

As conversations around the broken maternity system continue to swirl, Zara Ishfaq is sharing her story to try and raise awareness of birth injuries, particularly among women of South Asian heritage.

Previous research from birth injury charity The MASIC Foundation found that around one in 20 first-time mums suffer an obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI) – or severe tearing – during childbirth.

However, studies have also found women of Asian heritage are up to nine times more likely to suffer an OASI during vaginal birth than white women.

Zara was left with a devastating birth injury which remained undiagnosed for two years. She’s been left with ongoing bowel complications as a result, including needing to have a stoma fitted in 2025.

She’s, sadly, not alone in her plight. New NHS figures shared by The Guardian show the rate of women experiencing the most serious type of tear during childbirth is at the highest since monitoring began in 2020.

Zara suffered a life-changing birth injury after a three-day labour in December 2021 which resulted in her baby’s head becoming stuck. In the end, baby Aariz – her first baby – was delivered by forceps weighing 7.7 pounds. (Use of forceps has been linked to higher rates of anal sphincter injuries in birthing parents.)

The mum, from London, suffered a serious post-delivery bleed, losing around two litres of blood. She also experienced a perineal tear – a common issue for vaginal births. Roughly nine in 10 first-time mothers who give birth vaginally will have some sort of tear, graze or episiotomy, according to the NHS.

For most women, these tears are minor (usually called a “first-degree tear”) and heal quickly. A second-degree tear will typically require stitches, while a third- and fourth-degree tear may be deeper and therefore impact the anal sphincter muscle.

These injuries are known as OASI and typically need repair surgery. It can trigger bowel incontinence, which – in new mothers – can impact many aspects of life, from sex and work to socialising and bonding with their baby.

Zara’s tear was underestimated, and despite complaining of symptoms and attending medical appointments it took more than two years before she received a proper diagnosis, during which time her complications worsened.

“Over time my symptoms became worse and had a greater effect on my life and also my ability to bond with my baby,” she said.

“While my friends were meeting in the park and attending baby groups, I was barely able to leave the house. I struggled on, but the situation was dire.”

She began to experience changing bowel habits and by the following June, was going to the toilet more frequently and leaking, but was sent home with advice to do pelvic floor exercises.

In December that year, she complained of continuing symptoms and needing to wear an incontinence pad.

But it wasn’t until May 2024 that she finally received confirmation that the severity of the perineal tear she sustained at birth had been underestimated, and she would require an operation to try and repair the damage.

A year later she underwent surgery, but was left with ongoing bowel complications.

Zara has since had another baby, Elayna, but sadly the pregnancy wasn’t straightforward. “My second pregnancy was affected because of my symptoms,” she explained.

“I suffered with hyperemesis [gravidarum] – serious sickness. Because of my injuries it was coming out of both ends. I suffered with infections and at one point developed sepsis.”

She continued: “I feel so blessed and lucky to have my children and they’re adorable. However, that I had to go through the experience I did will always upset me.

“It’s not just the physical injuries that affect you, it’s the psychological toll of having a reduced quality of life. Too many women are suffering unnecessarily and more needs to be done to improve maternity care, but also break the taboo around birth injuries to mums.”

The parent is due to share her story at legal firm Irwin Mitchell’s South Asian Maternal Health Conference next spring, which focuses on tackling maternal health inequalities.

“The solution starts with listening to women,” she ended. “If birth injuries are recognised earlier, treated sooner, and taken seriously, fewer women will have to live for years with preventable suffering.”

Infidelity can be hard to discuss. But given that some estimates say 75% of men and 68% of women have engaged in some form of cheating at one point or another, chances are most of us are close to a “cheater”.

And Nicholas Rose, a counsellor, author, and psychotherapist who lists “affairs and betrayals” among his specialties, may see more than most.

We spoke about what he’s learned about cheaters, who he defines as “people who have sex or intimate romantic relationships with other people/partners when there is an agreement in place that a relationship is monogamous”, in his years of practice.

Even though people committing infidelity know they’re doing it, the therapist told us their self-image might never align with their actions.

“Cheating is, by its definition, a bad thing; I’ve never yet met anyone who wanted to think of themselves as doing a bad thing and as a cheater,” he told HuffPost UK.

The counsellor added that sometimes, the negative feelings a cheater may experience after their indiscretion can actually lead them further astray.

“The shame, guilt and pressure people can feel about having cheated [or] cheating often adds to the stress that sits behind the drive to be a cheater, leading to further cheating,” he suggested.

From the outside, the person who’s been cheated on has obviously been wronged. But the cheater’s mind can make that dynamic blurry and even invert it, Rose said.

“The narrative a cheater constructs around their cheating often justifies the behaviour through a victim’s perspective,” he explained.

It’s possible to “challenge that and call it out, however, compassion can be the most effective way to understand what has happened,” the therapist added.

In general, Rose said, clear boundaries help. For instance, cheating can occur because partners have “not had the monogamy/non monogamy conversation”.

Additionally, “everyone’s relationship to ‘cheating’ is personal – for those who grew up in family systems where cheating occurred, there can be a normalisation and acceptance that means it has a different level of meaning, significance and emotion attached to it than for someone for whom cheating never occurred,” he added.

Sometimes, cheating is an inappropriate way of dealing with unmet needs, the therapist said.

“Unfortunately, for many people, when cheating occurs, the conversation stays purely on the cheating and never gets to the unmet needs and how and if they might be met going forwards.

“A cheater can sometimes resort to cheating because all attempts to try and talk about their unmet needs have failed. In these cases the offended party/ies often carry a sense of unease and sometimes guilt knowing that they have needed to avoid something in the relationship previously.”

“Often, when a cheater is found out, the guilt, shame, and fear of loss that surfaces can render the cheating partner into such an experience of fear and self-loathing that they are unable to help their partner understand what has happened,” Rose ended.

“The partner often sees this as an act of further betrayal… [but] the other is actually unable to respond.”

Couples’ counselling service Relate said it’s important to make time for yourself if you’ve been cheated on. Talk honestly with your partner, and think carefully about what you want to happen next. Speak to a therapist if needed.

Yes, it’s a very old and impressive text. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the modern-day successs of The Odyssey – a 24-book epic poem attributed to the Ancient Greek poet Homer – was ineviable.

Lykophron’s Alexandra, for instance, is one of the most “neglected” Ancient Greek poems, Professor Simon Hornblower writes. I don’t reckon there’s anywhere near as much buzz around “the greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece”, Pindar, as there is Homer, either.

In other words, “ancient” plus “a big deal in Ancient Greece” does not necessarily equal “relevant enough for a big-budget movie in 2026”.

So why has a 12,000-plus-line work, finished around 725–675 BCE, remained so present in the imagination of modern audiences that Christopher Nolan has created a massive-scale, star-studded flick about it?

HuffPost UK spoke to Jeffrey Carnes, an Associate Professor of Classics and Classical Civilisations at Syracuse University, about why we can’t let go of the centuries-old poem.

“The Odyssey has stuck with us so long because it has spectacular stories – Sirens, the Cyclops, Circe – that grab hold of our imaginations when we’re young,” Carnes explained.

“But it also has subtleties of characterisation and narrative that we don’t expect in a poem from 2,700 years ago: it tells a non-linear story, with focus on three separate characters (Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus), who all have their own, sometimes competing interests.

“In a poem of 24 books, Odysseus, the title character, doesn’t even appear until Book five!”

Then, there’s the fact that reading and talking about The Odyssey has passed down through generations.

“When we read it for the first time, we’re joining an age-old community of readers, and learning the really cool and important stuff that generations before us knew,” the expert said.

We might be surprised by how familiar the book’s main character, Odysseus, feels too.

He’s a ”strong character who knows what he wants, and will do whatever it takes to survive,” Carnes stated.

“Homer opens the poem calling him polytropos – tricky, the man of many ways – but immediately adds that ‘many were those whose cities he saw, whose minds he learned of.’

“When he gets in trouble – as with the Cyclops – it’s because he was too curious, and explored things he shouldn’t have. When the Sirens sing to him, what do they offer him? Knowledge. And only his clever trick of being tied to the mast kept him from running aground.”

We asked Carnes what modern readers should do if they want to try reading the poem, but are a little put off by its length and/or language.

He said that while reading the Odyssey in 2026 might feel “off-putting, at least at first”, at least we can comfort ourselves that Ancient Greeks probably felt the same way.

“The story is told in an epic idiom that seemed old-fashioned to most of the Greeks who read it (a fifth-century Athenian would react to it the way we react to Shakespeare – difficult, but beautiful once you accept the challenges of reading it),” he shared.

Adaptations and retellings, like the upcoming Nolan movie, can be a great way to approach the text if you’re not sure yet.

When you start, be patient, and leave your expectations – as well as your 21st century ideals of morality – at the door.

“I was surprised when I first read it how little of the poem was devoted to the famous adventures (Cyclops, Sirens, and so on), and how that was neatly contained within books nine to 12. So what’s the rest of the poem about? Homecoming, recognition, revenge – and I was shocked that Odysseus murdered all the Suitors simply for eating his cattle,” Carnes told us.

“But in the world of the Odyssey this is considered the right thing to do – the gods approve of it, and urge his son Telemachus to participate in the revenge. (Anyone who suggests that Odysseus is troubled by this mass killing is missing the point of the story.)”

Ultimately, The Odyssey is “an epic, an adventure story, and a Greek audience roots for the destruction of evil characters in the same way that we root for the destruction of the villains in film noir, Westerns, or the [Marvel Comic Universe]”.

Andy Burnham has officially been crowned as the leader of the Labour Party, meaning he is days away from being de facto prime minister.

The Makerfield MP will have to wait until Monday to formally take over from Keir Starmer in No.10, as a quirk in the rules means he could not take both titles on the same day.

Burnham ran uncontested to be the next leader of the largest party in the Commons with the support of more than 350 of Labour’s 403 MPs.

In his first speech as Labour leader, he promised he would help to give Brits “hope back”.

He said his supporters “heard the call from the people of Makerfield on behalf of forgotten places everywhere, up and down this country, for a return of the Labour they once knew”.

He added: “And now we answer that call. We will be that version of Labour again.”

Burnham, who has run three times to lead the party, promised he is “ready” to lead Labour now after his nine-year stint as Greater Manchester mayor.

He also praised Starmer for making the party electable after its shocking defeat in the 2019 general election.

He then began to outline what changes he wants to implement, promising: “Change starts with honesty.

“We must recognise that this generation of politicians, myself included, have failed to challenge a political culture and an economic model that simply doesn’t work well enough for ordinary people.

“Four decades of neoliberalism that began in the 1980s have not been kind to the places that built our party, nor to the communities across the UK in rural and coastal areas. So we pledge today to them to be better.”

He added that the public has given his party a “last chance” to implement change – and that he will take the country in a direction which is “distinctively Labour”.

Burnham made five promises to improve the party, too.

He said he would work to build a “new politics”, change Labour’s “political direction”, be a leader for the entirety of the UK, take power back from Westminster and Whitehall and work to stop Labour in-fighting.

Burnham has had a rapid ascent to Downing Street in recent months.

Support for the then-Greater Manchester mayor started to rise as Starmer’s successor after the party’s disastrous performance in the May elections in England, Scotland and Wales.

However, as he did not have a seat in the Commons, Burnham was not able to challenge Starmer’s premiership.

So Josh Simons, Makerfield MP, stood aside to trigger a by-election and give Burnham a chance to return to the Commons.

His comfortable victory over Reform UK last month only strengthened calls for Starmer to step down.

The prime minister subsequently resigned and Labour MPs rushed to endorse Burnham.

There is still plenty of mystery around what Burnham intends to do in office as he avoided any major press conferences and is yet to announce who he wants in his cabinet.

But he insisted today that he “has a plan” and that he will “not change”, staying loyal to his style.

“I have listened and learned as I have gone along, you’ll be pleased to know. And hopefully I’ve got better as a result,” Burnham said. “You can be sure of this: I know what I believe after 25 years as an elected Labour representative, and I know what I want to do with you all. I have a plan.

“What I also want you to know is I won’t change. I have a style and it’s my style. I will always stay close to the ground, close to the people.”

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

Kris Jenner has announced that her mother, Mary Jo “MJ” Shannon, has died at the age of 91.

Paying her respects on Instagram, the reality TV matriarch and “momager” remembered her mum – the grandmother to her daughters Kourtney, Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kendall and Kylie Jenner and son Rob Kardashian – as the “heart of our family”.

“Today, we said goodbye to my beautiful Mommy MJ,” Kris told her followers. “There are no words that could ever capture what she has meant to me or the heartbreak of having to say goodbye.

“My mom was the heart of our family. She taught me everything that truly matters… to love your family fiercely, to be kind, to show up for the people you love and to never take a single moment together for granted.

“She taught us that family is everything. She showed us how to love unconditionally and how to find joy in the little moments. She showed me how to face life’s challenges with resilience and faith.”

Kris continued: “Mom, thank you for every sacrifice you made, every piece of wisdom you shared, and every moment you loved us so completely. I will miss our daily talks, your smile, your laughter…

“Our hearts are broken, but we find comfort knowing that love like yours never truly leaves us. Your love will live on in our family, in our traditions, in every moment we are together, and in every life you touched. When I look at my kids and my grandkids, I will forever see pieces of you in all of us. There is not a part of me that isn’t shaped by you.”

Kris’ daughters have since also posted their own tributes, with Kim writing: “You truly were the matriarch of our family, and your love is woven into all of us.”

She added: “You will always be a part of me, I love you soooooo much and I will miss you forever and ever. YOU ARE THE BEST OF US!!!

“I know you are up in heaven, looking at all of our Instagram posts of you from your sneaky finsta account you would always use lol.”

Over the years, MJ appeared alongside her daughter and grandchildren numerous times on the reality shows Keeping Up With The Kardashians and The Kardashians.

In her lifetime, MJ married twice, first to Robert True Houghton, Kris’ father.

After they divorced in 1962, she married businessman Harry Shannon, who died in a car accident in the early 2000s.

In her tribute, Kim wrote that it was her grandmother who introduced her to the world of business.

“You were the woman who showed me what it meant to be a hardworking businesswoman,” Kim said. “You gave me my very first job at your store in San Diego and taught me lessons about work ethic, strength, and confidence that I’ve carried with me ever since. You always believed in me, championed me, and were my safe place.”