Donald Trump has claimed the men arrested at a US air base in the UK were “looking to do big damage”.

British police arrested five people on suspicion of explosive and terrorism offences on Sunday.

It came after a tip-off that the three suspicious vans were heading towards the RAF Fairford, a military airfield which has previously been used to target Iran.

Britain previously gave the US approval to use its military bases to launch defensive strikes against Iran as part of the ongoing conflict.

A major incident was declared earlier today at the scene.

The five men were arrested and held on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act, and police say they believe the incident is now contained.

British Counter Terrorism Policing said in a statement that they were in the early stages of an investigation and working with partners to understand the circumstances of the incident.

But Trump was much more open, telling reporters in the US: “It was fantastic. Working with Britain, it was an amazing job.

“We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort, and working with the British worked out great.

“It may have been Scotland Yard, I don’t know. We worked with a lot of them.

“We had them under view for a long time, and we got them. Thank you.”

UK defence secretary Wes Streeting responded to Trump’s remarks, telling reporters: “This is my first experience as defence secretary of responding live to President Trump and I’m sure it won’t be the only occasion.

“I’m sure you will understand that I’m not going to comment on a live operation and operational security matters.

“I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone that given the importance of Fairford – not just to the UK but to the US – we’ve been working closely with our American friends, and I’ve been in touch during the course of today with my counterpart, Pete Hegseth.”

Prime minister Andy Burnham thanked the police and armed forces on X, saying: “I know today’s incident near RAF Fairford will be deeply concerning for local residents and for many people following developments across the country.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards previously claimed any UK site which is used to target Iran would be a legitimate target.

The UK responded by insisting its armed forces were ready to protect the country from any attack.

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However big you think the universe is, it’s almost certainly bigger.

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is 100,000 light-years across (one light-year is about six trillion miles).

And according to some estimates, there could be one to two billion galaxies in the universe. So perhaps it’s no wonder scientists have long wondered whether we can really be alone in that endlessness.

In fact, our intergalactic solitude seems so unlikely to some that a puzzle – the Fermi paradox – centres on its improbability. Given how statistically likely other life seems to be, it asks: where are all the aliens?

Of course, we’ve only been looking for other extraterrestrial beings since about the ’60s, and the very vastness that makes alien life so probable might also make our likelihood of meeting them next to impossible.

But a paper published in Nature Astronomy shows that most scientists agree they’re probably out there, somewhere.

This research involved four surveys, all sent out to scientists like astrobiologists (those who study life outside our planet), biologists, and physicists.

These were all about “the likely existence of basic, complex, and intelligent extraterrestrial life”. That means they wanted to know whether experts thought anything from bacteria to plants or even conscious beings were probable.

When the results came back, 86.6% of astrobiologists said they “agree” or “strongly agree” that this was likely.

While 12% were more neutral on the topic, only 2% outright disagreed.

Among non-astrobiologists, meanwhile, the response was even more strongly positive. A whopping 88.4% reckoned there probably is life out there somewhere.

“Extraterrestrial life” does not mean ET, or any other thinking, communicating being you might imagine when you hear the word “alien”. It could be as simple as a single-celled amoeba.

So it’s a good thing researchers also asked scientists how probable they thought “complex” and “intelligent” forms of life were, too.

67.4% of astrobiologists agreed this is likely, compared to 58.2% of other scientists.

Only 10.2% of astrobiologists outright disagreed that this was plausible.

These results, the study reads, “offer a snapshot of community opinion and reveal a significant degree of consensus that extraterrestrial life is likely to exist”.

In 1999, she introduced herself with clarity and unimpeachable purpose. “There is nothing worse,” she wrote, “than going out for Christmas lunch and finding someone’s done something interesting.”

Please, she beseeched us, leave the Armagnac lobster and experimental sides for another day. We cannot beat turkey, sprouts, and stuffing – nor should we presume to try.

Since then, I’ve noticed a trend in her recipes. She respects, but is not beholden to, culinary tradition (there’s a tried-and-true feel to her “old-fashioned” chocolate cake, except for the fact that she makes it in a blender).

Her common-sense practicality (don’t “bother” peeling carrots for her lasagne ragu; you “don’t need soap” when rinsing out a pan between sauces) means that when she tells you to go the extra mile, you listen.

In that same lasagne recipe, for instance, she asks you to infuse the milk for your béchamel, which really does make a difference.

There is a strictness to Nigella’s decadence and a decadence to her strictness. No, you cannot call them roast potatoes unless they are “sweet and soft inside and a golden-brown carapace of crunch without”. But isn’t there something atavistically gleeful about giving “the potatoes a proper bashing so that their edges fuzz and blur a little”?

Combine that with a frankly childish hedonism (she has a crumble recipe for two, because sometimes she’d share a whole tray for dinner), and it’s no wonder her recipes are so often delicious. What if the kid in the proverbial candy shop knew how to flambé a crêpe, and also quite liked Gentleman’s Relish?

Is it naff to call this “a classic for a reason”? It’s certainly the best I’ve tried.

Yes, it takes a long time to make. But every possible shortcut (blending the veg, skipping handmade pasta, cooking the mince and onions together) has been identified and included.

Everything that remains is absolutely crucial for an eye-wateringly delicious depth of flavour. And, if it lasts that long, this lasagne tastes even better the next day.

2) “Old-fashioned” chocolate cake

Here’s my hot take: most cake is bad. The invention is good, but its failed interpretations (dry sponge; sickly, grainy buttercream) far outnumber more successful specimens.

Of course, Nigella would never do that to us. This luxurious cake – which, I’ll remind you, is made in a blender – is fudgy, moist perfection.

Man cannot, it transpires, live off cake and hours-long lasagne alone. For a speedy, healthy-ish midweek meal that won’t offend your sense of dignity, this zippy pasta comes together in 15 minutes.

Rocket, chilli, and lemon render tuna’s solemn meatiness fresher and more fun. The texture’s great too – neither too slick nor too dry.

It’s a recipe Nigella herself said is “embarrassingly easy to make and unembarrassingly easy to eat,” which ought to be obvious from the name alone.

All you’ll need is a blender, a big bowl, and a cake tin for this dangerously simple fridge cake. Somehow, despite its masses of sugar and chocolate, the recipe’s tangy sour cream, salty Digestives, and nutty topping make it surprisingly well-balanced.

It’s basically a normal tiramisu, but Nigella puts Bailey’s in the coffee part. Need I say more?

6) A highly adaptable crumble topping

If I’m being honest, I never really crave a balanced, proper crumble. I actually just want a pan of thick crumble topping, with a teaspoon-high layer of fruit somewhere deep below and a lake of custard on top.

This, of course, poses challenges. Layer the topping on too thick, and it risks staying soggy and gluey in the middle while the top grows dry and dusty.

Nigella’s solution – mixing baking powder into the flour – might have originally been meant to make a regularly proportioned dessert lighter and less stodgy. As it happens, it works for my less respectable purposes, too.

To be fair, I didn’t just rely on Nigella’s advice here – tips from Mary Berry and Gordon Ramsay have helped me to achieve my own go-to carrot cake recipe. But her version provided some of the more structurally important elements of my dessert.

For instance, she recommended adding a teaspoon of baking powder to plain flour rather than using the self-raising kind. This kind of control is needed in such a damp recipe.

Nigella deems ginger a non-negotiable here, and so do I. She also taught me to add some butter to the cream cheese icing, which gives it some extra hold at room temperature.

This is the cake my partner always requests for their birthday, and they like two layers of icing. Still, if I were making it for myself, I’d follow the GBBO host’s instructions there too: apply it “only on top, not running through the middle as well”.

Gordon Brown has a very unique way of communicating his thoughts with the new Labour chancellor, according to a new interview.

Brown – Tony Blair’s chancellor and later the prime minister who steered the country through the financial crisis of 2008 – is known for having strong opinions on the way the country should be governed.

And, Speaking to The Sunday Times, the new chancellor John Healey did indeed reveal that the former PM had been in touch.

The cabinet minister said: “I’ve talked to him.

“I’ve had his block cap emails in the middle of the night. But the man is driven and an inspiration to those that he works with.”

Brown was appointed as Special Reviewer on Global Finance and Cooperation under Keir Starmer and has been kept on under Andy Burnham, meaning he continues to be an influential voice for government.

Healey also has a prior working relationship with Brown, having spent five years working as a minister in his Treasury.

He told The Sunday Times he sees Brown as an “inspiration, a mentor”.

He added: “He captured for me the best of a Labour chancellor.”

Healey welcomed the idea of balancing an appreciation that “private investment creates jobs” with a belief the government can help in “partnership” with business.

His praise comes after Opinium polling revealed last week that 56% of Labour supporters think the current government is doing about as well (26%) or better (30%) at running the country than New Labour did.

However, 31% say it is doing much worse.

Labour is heading into its first annual party conference under Burnham’s leadership after Starmer was ousted from office in July.

The new prime minister has secured a real boost in the polls for the party while support for Reform UK has dipped.

However, More in Common think tank believes Labour would still fall short of an absolute majority in a general election.

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.