Parts of England and Wales are experiencing drought following an unbelievably dry summer and higher-than-usual water consumption.

As a result, many water suppliers have opted to enforce a temporary usage ban (TUB), also known as a hosepipe ban. This includes companies that haven’t introduced hosepipe bans in decades, like Wessex Water.

While recent temperatures have been far more forgiving, with rain and cooler air finally making their welcome way across the UK, this won’t be enough to offset the current drought conditions in place across multiple counties.

And speaking to Times Radio, Nevil Muncaster, strategic water resources director at Thames Water, has said that the hosepipe ban might last for longer than hoped.

“What we’ve seen with these heatwaves is temperatures going above 30°C and customers using 50% more water. And that’s a huge demand on top of our normal supplies, and something that we had to cope with and make sure that we deal with,” Muncaster explained.

That’s why Thames Water, along with so many water companies, have introduced TUBs.

But even when rainfall resumes, it’ll still take time to make up for the existing shortfall, never mind add to what would have been the usual reserves.

“The Environment Agency forecast is that it will be drier than normal for the next few months, but we’ll wait and see,” the expert added.

When asked how long it would be until Thames Water’s hosepipe ban let up, he answered: “I think realistically, it’s going to be towards the end of the year before that comes off. That’s something that we need to make sure we do just to protect the environment.”

The south and southeast of the UK (where Thames Water supplies millions of customers) have generally fared far worse than the north and northwest when it comes to water supplies this year.

In April, for instance, Esk Dumfries in Scotland received 103% of the long-term average rainfall, while South Essex got just 5%.

Therefore, not all of the UK is under a TUB, and some may end sooner than others.

Thames Water serves areas including all or parts of:

• Gloucestershire
• Wiltshire
• Surrey
• the Thames Valley
• Greater London and surrounding areas
• Essex.

Check with your local water supplier to see whether your area is under a TUB and what its rules are.

Andy Burnham has shrugged off queries about how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be protected once they return to the UK.

Harry and Meghan moved to the US in 2020 after choosing to step down from their royal duties but will be relocating to a non-royal residence outside of London later this month.

The Duke of Sussex, who is fifth in line to the British throne, lost a legal challenge over how much state-funded security he and his family are entitled to while in Britain last year.

His trip to the UK last month was even put on hold briefly after his request for policy protection was rejected.

The revelation that he is now bringing his wife and two children back to the UK has therefore come as a shock.

When asked how the non-working royals will be protected while in Britain, the prime minister said their security a “private matter”.

“Well, this is a private matter,” he told reporters while on a visit to West Yorkshire. “It’s a matter for for Harry and for Megan, and we wish them well in the moves that they’re making.”

Education secretary Lucy Powell also told LBC: “I think that the vast majority of your listeners will welcome that news and – they obviously are not working royals anymore – and want to come back to this country.

“I assume because we do have great schools, great education, that’s why many people do return to this country and choose this country to bring up their children in.

“And I hope that this is all part of a bigger reconciliation for the family because you know the royal family is very important to this country and to our reputation around the world, and you know I for one think it’s great to have Harry and Meghan and their family back here.”

Harry and Meghan’s children, seven-year-old Prince Archie and five-year-old Princess Lilibet, are in the line of succession behind their father.

They have been enrolled in a British school from September onwards, suggesting the Sussexes intend to be back in the UK for the long-haul.

Harry and his family went to visit his father King Charles in July in Highgrove, though it’s thought their move back to Britain was not discussed.

The monarch was reportedly only told about their decision to relocate on Sunday, though he is said to welcome the idea of seeing his family more in a personal capacity.

Harry and Meghan are expected to continue living as private individuals.

Their return to the UK comes six years after the Sussexes dramatically fell out with the Royal Family and moved across the Atlantic amid heightened press scrutiny.

While the couple’s relationship with Charles and his wife Queen Camilla appears to be on the mend after their July visit, it’s unclear if they have built bridges with the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The King had not see his grandchildren for more than four years prior to the Sussexes’ trip earlier this summer, and the Duke of Sussex previously said security fears had stopped him bringing his family to the UK.

Harry and Meghan have not been seen publicly in the UK since they attended the 2022 funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

A Home Office spokesperson said decision on the security of royals were taken by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures.

They said: “The UK government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate.

“It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.”

The Home Office, the Metropolitan Police and the royal household all sit on that executive committee.

They work together to advise the independent chair in making decisions, based on expert risk assessments and in line with government policy.

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.

DJ and radio presenter Trevor Nelson has disclosed that he has been diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Back in June, Trevor announced he would be taking a step back from his work commitments on Radio 2 and Radio 1Xtra on medical grounds.

“After a routine check-up I was advised to have some follow up tests. As a result, I will be taking some further time off,” he said at the time. “As I’m sure you can appreciate with health issues, it’s important to deal with facts and not speculate.

“So I’m concentrating on getting better, being back to 100% me and to getting back behind the mic and the decks.”

On Thursday afternoon, Trevor shared a video on Instagram, explaining that he’d spent the last month at home recovering from brain surgery.

“A lot of you may have seen the post that I put up at the start of summer saying that I was stepping back from all my work commitments due to illness,” he began. “There’s been a lot of speculation as to what’s wrong with me, I know that much – my phone’s blown up 20 times over with people asking what’s wrong with me.

“Due to the love and positive vibes thousands of you have literally been sending me, I felt that I should at least tell you what was wrong with me, and what happened to me.”

He continued: “I’m not going to go into it all now, and I will probably deep dive into it at a later date, so you can hear the whole crazy story. But I’ll tell you this, I was minding my own business, and then it was discovered that I had a brain tumour.

“As you can imagine, I was shocked, in fact, my world was turned upside down. It was a shock to myself, my close family and friends, and you can imagine, quite literally, my head was all over the place.

“I knew I had to stop work because I couldn’t be that guy on the radio, knowing I had that going on. So affirmative action had to be taken, I was given my choices of what I could do, and a few weeks later, I had a very serious surgery. Thankfully, it went incredibly well, and in the last month, I’ve been at home, recuperating, resting and recovering, and getting some post-op treatment as well.”

Trevor insisted: “I can only tell you the truth, and the truth is, I feel great right now. I feel ready to come back, I feel energised, I feel almost back to myself. Yes, I’ve had a really serious situation, but I’ve come out the other side at this point. I feel great, I feel raring to go, and I feel in good health.

“I’m playing golf, I’m doing a bit of gym, I’m doing all the things that I normally used to do, bar being on the radio and doing gigs – so let’s get that straight, and let’s get that back to normal as soon as possible. So please, don’t worry about me. I’m on the mend, I really am.”

Trevor is currently a weekend presenter on Radio 2, and hosted a Sunday morning show on 1Xtra until his recent health issues.

Radio 2’s official Instagram account shared a message under Trevor’s post, which read: “Sending you so much love Trevor! Can’t wait to have you back.”

His former BBC colleague Clara Amfo said: “Thank God for your brilliant surgeons, you’re meant to be here UT! Love you.”

“So good to see your face Trevor and learn that you’re doing well. Huge healing love to you wonderful man,” wrote Zoe Ball, while Jack Saunders also commented: “So glad you’re feeling better [and] more like yourself mate. We need you. Sending all the love and can’t wait to have you back doing what you do best!”

Nick Jonas has admitted that things didn’t quite go his way when he tried out for a role in a beloved Disney movie.

The chart-topping singer spoke about the embarrassing moment on the latest edition of the Hey Jonas! Podcast, which he co-hosts with his brothers Joe and Kevin Jonas.

During the conversation, the pop trio were joined by Frozen voice actors Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel and Josh Gad, when Nick revealed he had auditioned to play Kristoff, the rugged iceman voiced by Jonathan Groff, in the animated film and its numerous spin-offs, only to “bomb” in the room.

“I went in and they said, ‘Okay, what are you going to be singing today?’,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Oh, I don’t know’.

“They were like, ‘Do you have your sheet music?’ And I said, ‘No, no one told me I had [to bring any]’, and so I just said, ‘Can you play something from…?’ I don’t know what I said, some musical theatre song.”

Nick joked that as much as he loves Jonathan Groff: “I do think it would have been better to cast me.”

Despite his failed audition, Nick assured his guests he didn’t “spite-watch” Frozen and “did enjoy it” when he saw it for the first time.

Upon its release in 2013, Frozen went on to become a global phenomenon, winning two Oscars, sparking a popular sequel (with two more in the pipeline) and eventually became the fifth highest-grossing film of all time.

Meanwhile, this isn’t the first Nick has admitted he has missed out on a huge film opportunity.

As recently as May, on the band’s podcast, he explained how he messed up a meeting with the producer of a “big movie” after he failed to realise he was also the director.

“I asked him, ‘Oh, and who’s directing?’ and his response was, ‘Well, me.’ I wanted to die inside at that moment,” the Jealous singer explained.

“I think it went really well. I was very happy coming out of the room. I’m a huge fan of the show, and that’s a role I always thought it would be fun to play,” the Jonas Brothers singer admitted.

Fortunately, it’s not all been bad news for Nick’s acting career.

He has starred in recent music drama Power Ballad with Paul Rudd, appeared in Roland Emmerich’s historical war action Midway and had a role in the Jumanji movie Welcome To The Jungle, as well as its sequel The Next Level.

Types of dementia like Alzheimer’s disease have long been linked to a buildup of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain. These are both proteins that have been compared to the “trigger and bullet” in the development of the condition.

But in a new study, researchers focused on a less-investigated protein: GRK2.

This research found that GRK2 has two different forms, with one kind especially plentiful in the minds of those with dementia.

Not only did they identify this problematic protein, but in tests conducted on mice, the scientists seemed to be able to block its effects.

About 20 years ago, the study’s lead author, Professor Ursula Quitterer, was sent brain tissue removed during tumour surgery. These samples came from people both with and without dementia.

There are two forms of GRK2: an active and an inactive kind. During extensive research both on the aforementioned tissue samples and on mice, Prof Quitterer and her team found that the brains of people with dementia had a lot more inactive GRK2 than those without.

During the development of dementia, inactive GRK2 deposits onto brain cells and damages their mitochondria (the energy-generating “powerhouse” of the cell). These “aggregates block the pores of the mitochondria, reducing the amount of energy they can supply and leading to a situation of stress inside the cells,” Prof Quitterer said.

In mouse studies, higher levels of inactive GRK2 were also linked to the accumulation of amyloid plaques. As we mentioned above, these have long been suspected to play a role in the development of dementia.

Worse, the stress amyloid plaques place on brain cells may lead them to form more inactive and clumping GRK2 – potentially creating a vicious cycle.

Prof Quitterer and her colleagues created a variety of chemical compounds to try to stop these inactive GRK2s from having such a negative effect on the brain.

After trials on both mice and human tissue samples, their “Compound 10” creation performed the best. It stopped GRK2 from aggregating, meaning mitochondria could keep doing their job.

And the brain’s nerve cells seemed more able to keep their function and stay alive, too.

Prof Quitterer, who is currently awaiting a patent for Compound 10, added: “Alzheimer’s is a very complex disease. That’s why it’s so important that we’ve now identified a new target protein in the form of GRK2, as well as an active ingredient that operates via GRK2 and therefore via a different mechanism than existing Alzheimer’s drugs.”