The prime minister Andy Burnham has confirmed that, as of April 2027, women and their partners will be entitled to two weeks off after miscarriage.

In an Instagram post shared on Tuesday (22 September), Burnham pointed out that one in five women in the UK are estimated to experience a miscarriage in their lifetime, but there is no legal right to bereavement leave before 24 weeks.

“I don’t think that’s right,” said the Labour leader. “Losing a pregnancy can be devastating. You and your partner shouldn’t have to worry about going straight back to work. So we’re changing the law.”

The leave applies to any pregnancy loss, meaning those who experience miscarriage, terminations and unsuccessful IVF embryo transfers will be able to take it.

It’s worth noting it’ll be unpaid, however Burnham suggested those two weeks offer “the time and space” to grieve.

In response to the announcement, podcaster and author Elizabeth Day, who has been open about her own experience of recurrent miscarriage and unsuccessful fertility treatment, said: “Thank you, Prime Minister. This means so much to all who have experienced the specific loss of miscarriage.”

Retired RAF pilot Mandy Hickson added: “This is so important. I was at work the next day [after a loss], whilst trying to control my emotion for a baby that we had been trying for over a year to conceive.

“The loss was unbearable, but I was working in the military at the time – there was no way that I could show any form of weakness, meanwhile all I wanted to do was sob every day.

“This is so important to recognise this in law. Well done.”

Comedian Rachel Parris highlighted that while having the time to grieve is important, “for many, those two weeks are absolutely necessary for the body to begin its recovery” as well.

Another commenter said: “Crying in American. We don’t even get leave for the babies that make it through alive and well. The UK [is] showing us they are way better.”

The move was also praised by charities supporting families through loss.

Pregnancy and baby charity Tommys responded: “Thank you Andy Burnham for your empathy for families affected by the heartbreak of baby loss. We’re here for anyone who loses a baby, no matter when or how it happened.”

The baby loss charity Sands added: “We welcome today’s recognition from the Government that pregnancy loss is a bereavement and look forward to continuing on this journey to ensure that leave for all losses is paid.

“While changes to legislation are welcome, employers do not need to wait for legal requirements to improve support for staff affected by pregnancy loss or the death of a baby. Sands is here to support employers to create more compassionate workplaces.”

One commenter remarked that because the leave is unpaid, “it’s a good start but doesn’t go far enough”.

Another added that “people can’t afford unpaid leave”, so they’d “be better off calling in sick and getting SSP [statutory sick pay]”.

As part of the new changes, ministers will also introduce a new right to two weeks of unpaid bereavement leave from April 2027, for employees who lose a spouse or partner, parent, adult child or sibling. This will include step, half, adoptive, kinship care and foster relationships who currently have no legal right to bereavement leave.

Minister for the Future of Work, Kate Dearden, said: “No one should have to fight for time to grieve. These changes back people going through some of the hardest moments of life, whoever they are and wherever they work.

“I want to thank the campaigners, whose courage and testimonies, have made this change happen.”

The government is currently undertaking a wider, comprehensive review of the parental leave and pay system, including on areas such as Hugh’s Law, which is campaigning to introduce statutory paid leave and employment protections for parents of seriously ill children.

• Sands works to support anyone affected by the death of a baby.
• Tommy’s fund research into miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth, and provide pregnancy health information to parents.
• Saying Goodbye offers support for anyone who has suffered the loss of a baby during pregnancy, at birth or in infancy.

Piers Morgan has claimed he intends to take legal action against Earl Charles Spencer over his new book about his late sister, Princess Diana.

Speaking on his YouTube channel Piers Morgan Uncensored on Monday, the former Good Morning Britain host revealed that he had been name-checked numerous times in Earl Spencer’s memoir, Swan Song.

He told his viewers that the book “contains fabricated inaccuracies which will strike to the heart of [Earl Spencer’s] credibility”.

“Spencer recounts how he personally called round the tabloid newspaper editors to uninvite them from Princess Diana’s funeral after they had all been invited,” Piers said. “I remember this well because I was one of them.

“He says in the book, ‘they realised they were unable to be rude to the brother of the much-mourned princess […] the only one who sounded surly, as opposed to merely confused or embarrassed, was Piers Morgan of The Mirror, who snarled with annoyance before he hung up’.

“Well, Spencer then explained why I may have been surly with him. [Spencer wrote:] ‘I assumed Morgan must be feeling particular guilt because, for years earlier, he and his Sunday Mirror counterpart had published photographs taken with hidden cameras by a gym owner. They were of Diana working out in a leotard. This was such an intolerable invasion of her privacy that Diana instructed lawyers to sue the Mirror Group and to block further use of these images’.

“‘Meanwhile’, he says, ‘a Dutch newspaper splashed one of the pictures on its front page, and an American tabloid bought a selection of them with which to titivate its readers. The gym owner eventually made £300,000 from his salacious, stolen images’.

“Well, Spencer continues, ’for a while it looked as though the Mirror Group would be brazen enough to allow the case to go to court, calculating that whatever their newspapers lost financially at trial would be more than recouped through global publicity.

“Despite significant public outrage at the pictures, and loss of revenue when some major companies withdrew their advertising from the Mirror Group, Morgan’s triumphant spokesman boasted that sales of his paper and of the Sunday Mirror had each risen by more than a hundred thousand copies since splashing the intrusive shots.

“But after that, public curiosity turned into general revulsion, and both papers’ circulation dropped significantly. This commercial setback persuaded the Mirror Group to fold. It agreed to pay Diana’s legal costs, of around £1 million, and it was obliged to further acknowledge its guilt by making donations of £200,000 to her chosen charities.”

Piers continued: “It then says, ’in the immediate aftermath of Diana’s death, Morgan was one of four tabloid editors named, shamed and photographed in an article looking at who might be held responsible for the paparazzi’s role […] it must have been an extraordinary sensation for this powerful quartet [who] were used to dishing out such treatment, without ever receiving it in return.”

“Well, this is all pretty extraordinary stuff, isn’t it?” he remarked. “And very damning, particularly about me.

“I come across in the most despicable manner imaginable. And there’s just one problem – it’s all bullshit, and very, very easy bullshit for me to prove it.”

He pointed out: “The photographs that he says that I published were published by The Sunday Mirror on 7 November 1993. I joined the Daily Mirror in October 1995. In fact, at the time of the gym pictures, I was doing a showbiz column for The Mirror’s arch rival, The Sun. About as far removed from responsibility for The Mirror’s scoop as I could possibly have been.”

“My question, though, is if Earl Spencer can be so incredibly defamatorily wrong about such basic facts involving me, why should we believe anything else that he puts in this book?” Piers then stated.

He added: “The book is out tomorrow, I expect that there’ll be many more examples of brazen falsity after what I’ve uncovered purely [in an] entry about myself.

“In the meantime, Earl Spencer, you’ll be hearing, and your publishers [will be hearing], from my lawyers, because I would like the complete lie that you’ve published about me and those photographed to be removed from your book, and I would like a donation to be made to the King’s Trust for the damage that you’ve caused with your lie. After all, to quote somebody, you can’t dish it out without getting it in return, right?”

HuffPost UK has contacted reps for Earl Charles Spencer and the publisher Penguin Michael Joseph for comment.

Ahead of Swan Song’s publication, excerpts were serialised in the Daily Mail, with one in particular – in which Earl Spencer alleged that King Charles told him in the wake of Diana’s death that “we’ll forget her soon enough” – prompting a rare response from the Palace.

“While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss,” a spokesperson said.

“I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said,” Earl Spencer subsequently told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

“Well, is he furious? Is he furious, or is he embarrassed?” he responded, adding: “They’ve sort of smudged that one, haven’t they? They’ve said that recollections may vary.”

Doubling down in a subsequent interview with ABC’s Maggie Rulli, Earl Spencer quipped that it’s “not every day you’re gaslit by a king”.

“I was really upset with that because I thought it was very, not only condescending, but not straight,” he noted.

Kids have been back to school for a few weeks now – and if you’ve noticed your child has regressed somewhat in this time, you certainly aren’t alone.

There might be more bed-wetting or daytime accidents than normal. Perhaps they’re reverting to baby talk, not sleeping well or being extra clingy.

September is the “peak season” for kids to regress, according to experts at childcare provider Koru Kids.

It makes sense that this is the case. Lots of change happens in September – some children are starting new schools, joining new year groups or going into new nurseries.

There’s a big shift in routine (compared to over the summer when lie-ins and lazy days were the norm), not to mention new teachers and classmates to get to know.

On top of that, after a summer spent around family, kids suddenly face long periods of time separated from their loved ones.

It’s stressful – and for some kids, this means they revert back to younger ways. It’s almost like a built-in safety net.

According to Koru’s experts, regression can look like: clinginess or separation anxiety; thumb sucking and/or nail biting; toileting accidents; baby talk and needing help with things they could previously do on their own.

The good news is your child isn’t going backwards or getting stuck in bad habits, Koru notes that most kids’ behaviour will settle when they feel secure again.

And again, it’s worth highlighting, regression is super common.

But there are certain things parents can be doing to help ease their child’s stress levels during this time.

This includes: offering connection when you do see them (cuddles and playtime always helps), keeping routines steady and predictable, helping them to name what they’re going through (ie. “there have been lots of changes this week, it’s OK to need a bit more help!”), and avoiding shaming or mocking them.

The childcare experts note that regression is a child’s way of saying: “Life feels big right now – I need to feel little until I’m ready again.”

And it’s our job to help them through this period.

If your child’s regression lasts for more than three weeks though, don’t be afraid to speak to a healthcare provider, who can offer more support.

Sometimes it can help to offer more opportunities for downtime and calming rituals after school or nursery.

This is also helpful for those experiencing after-school restraint collapse, a very common phenomenon parents notice when their child is hungry and/or tired, and returns home from school or nursery. Kids will be super emotional and there may be multiple meltdowns.

Susie Pinchin, BACP member and therapeutic counsellor, previously told HuffPost UK these issues likely occur as a result of a child “having spent seven hours or more having to control or suppress or mask their natural urges and desires in order to conform to the expectations of a school day”.

Your child’s brain is working at full capacity for hours on end, expending “a great deal of emotional, cognitive, and social energy to scan, learn, manage expectations, follow rules, and navigate relationships”, Dr Patapia Tzotzoli, clinical psychologist and founder of My Triage Network, added.

So it’s no wonder then that they return home depleted. Or that they might crave more support and connection.

Dr Tzotzoli recommended a few options you could offer that might help:

• A quiet space to rest or engage in a calm activity alone
• Time to play outdoors – running, biking, or other active play
• A nutritious snack to refuel
• A gentle discussion with questions like, “What made you laugh today?”.

Ben Affleck has opened up about the decision for his ex-wife Jennifer Garner to step away from a film role which would have seen them playing a married couple.

The Gone Girl star is currently gearing up for the release of his new Netflix movie Animals, about a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped, which he both co-wrote and co-directed.

When the project was first announced, it was intended that Ben’s frequent collaborator Matt Damon would take on the lead role, while Jennifer would play his wife.

Ben recalled to Entertainment Weekly: “I thought, ‘God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role’.

“It also has the added benefit of, like, both of us will see our kids more because we do a week and a week and back and forth. I thought, well, we can coordinate our schedules around it.”

However, due to delays in production, when filming began, Matt was no longer available due to his work in The Odyssey, with Ben ultimately choosing to step up and take on the role himself.

This, of course, would have resulted in he and Jennifer starring alongside one another, which led to some difficult conversations.

“I talked to Jen, and she was like, ‘We don’t wanna do that. You just get baggage’,” he explained.

Ben did say he’d “love to work with” Jennifer in the future, hailing his former wife as a “fabulous” actor.

“We’re really good friends, and I’m profoundly grateful to her, and we have a great thing,” he enthused.

“I still would wanna work with her in the future, but what you don’t wanna do is take the audience’s baggage and have it work against you, you know?”

Ben and Jennifer found themselves at the centre of a media storm when they began dating in 2004, having first met on the set of Daredevil years earlier.

The two tied the knot in 2005, and share three children together.

After 13 years of marriage, they parted ways in 2018, and Ben later married his famous ex Jennifer Lopez.

He and the Jenny From The Block singer split for the second time in 2024, two years after getting married in Las Vegas.

As we settle into the colder, darker months, the NHS recommends adults consider taking a vitamin D supplement. That’s because “between October and early March we do not make enough vitamin D from sunlight,” which could potentially lead to a deficiency.

I also take it for my bone health (at least, I thought I was doing so), as vitamin D helps to regulate calcium. To complement it, I also sometimes take calcium tablets.

But a new review of 69 randomised trials suggests this might not be as effective as I first thought.

Published in the BMJ, the paper found “little to no benefits from use of calcium, vitamin D, or combined supplementation on the prevention of fractures and falls” among people at higher risk (often older people).

So, I spoke to Dr Donald Grant, GP and senior clinical advisor at The Independent Pharmacy, about what this means for those taking the supplements.

Dr Grant shared that anyone who’s been recommended to take these supplements by a doctor – i.e. people with osteoporosis or those with a confirmed vitamin deficiency – should continue doing so.

And while the study did show that vitamin D and calcium had no real impact on fracture and fall prevention, “it doesn’t necessarily mean vitamin D and calcium have no value,” he added.

Instead, “it means they shouldn’t be relied on as a standalone strategy for protecting against fractures and falls in later life, according to this study”.

So, while the combination might not be as good at protecting your bones in older age as you may expect, they do have other benefits.

Vitamin D, for instance, becomes especially useful when sunlight levels start to drop, and we spend more time indoors over the winter. Then, the GP said, it plays an “important role in supporting the immune system, normal muscle function, and bone health”.

Calcium supplements, meanwhile, can support nerve-signalling and muscle function.

“However, both of these supplements should always be combined with a well-balanced diet, rather than relying on these supplements solely for your intake,” Dr Grant added.

For younger people, Dr Grant “strongly recommend[s] calcium-rich foods like dairy, leafy greens and fortified alternatives, combined with safe sun exposure and regular weight-bearing exercise such as walking, running or resistance training”.

These, he said, are “great ways to support bone density and strength”, which can prevent falls and fractures later on.

He ended: “If dietary intake is low or a deficiency is suspected, supplements may be useful, but it’s best to speak to a healthcare professional about the right dose.

It is possible to take too much vitamin D and calcium, which can cause problems. Stick to about 10 micrograms, or 400 IU, of vitamin D a day, and don’t go over 4,000 IU daily.

For calcium, avoid going over 1,500mg a day, as this could upset your stomach. The NHS added that most of us should be able to get enough calcium from our diets.

Andy Burnham has been accused of “fuelling wars abroad” after he pledged the UK’s support for Saudi Arabia against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The prime minister said an RAF Voyager will be made available for air-to-air refuelling of Saudi jets carrying out defensive missions.

Burnham said he was “acting to secure the interests of Britain and the wider region” by helping Saudi Arabia defend itself from Houthi attacks being launched from Yemen.

He said the support – due to start in the coming days – will be “time-limited” and kept under “review”.

Houthi rebels control parts of Yemen and have been attacking Saudi Arabia since July, when the militants declared a naval blockade.

They also claimed responsibility for a series of drone attacks targeting the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday.

Reacting to the PM’s announcement, which he made en route to the UN General Assembly in New York, Green Party leader Zack Polanski said the UK must not support the “murderous” Saudi regime.

In a post on X, he said: “The language of ‘defensive’ support is a smokescreen: the PM has committed the UK to this conflict.

“Thousands have been killed by the Saudi-led coalition. Weddings hit, markets destroyed. International Humanitarian Law breached. The UK must not back the murderous Saudi regime.

“Expansion of the UK’s longstanding support for Saudi Arabia risks escalating the regional conflict – meaning more bloodshed, and making life less affordable at home as costs soar.

“This Government should be seeking to cut the cost of living, not fuelling wars abroad.”

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.

Channing Tatum has set the record straight on claims that he has a secret Instagram account that he uses to pass comment on pop culture – including matters relating to his famous ex.

Over the weekend, speculation spread suggesting that the Magic Mike actor had been commenting on stories about his ex Zoe Kravitz and her relationship with Harry Styles, among other subjects, using a “finsta” account.

Fuelling the speculation was the fact that this anonymous page had just one follower in Channing.

While the account – which has since been deleted – maintained it had nothing to do with Channing, the man himself has since hit back at the claims in a post on his verified Instagram page.

“Yo, I truly can’t believe y’all think this is what I’m doing with my free time,” he wrote in a story post on Monday night. “Fuckin’ hilarious.

“Also why would I follow a burner account if I didn’t want people to connect me to it? Wtf come on…”

He added: “If I really need to say it, l only have one [Instagram] account.”

One potential explanation that had previously been put forward by fans was that Channing had previously hit “follow” on what he thought was a fan account devoted to him and his work, which he’s previously been known to do, only for the owner of the page to then change its name and start commenting on other people’s posts.

HuffPost UK contacted Channing’s team for comment on Monday but did not receive a response.

Channing is gearing up for the release of his next film, Josephine, in which he and Gemma Chan play the parents of a young girl whose life is drastically changed when she witnesses an assault in Central Park.

Following this, he’s expected to reprise his role as Gambit – a role he finally originated in the comedic superhero outing Deadpool & Wolverine after years of rumours – in the Avengers movie Doomsday later this year.