Average pump prices are jumping by a penny a day in some cases

Soaring petrol prices have now reached their highest level since the start of the Iran war with the cost of filling up a family car with unleaded fuel edging towards £100.

The average price of a litre of petrol has now gone through the 170p barrier which means it would cost around £94 to fill up a standard 55-litre tank car, and in many areas prices are much higher.

Motorists face a postcode lottery at the pumps with even the cheapest prices charged by supermarkets varying widely across the country. Maidstone in Kent has the highest average price for unleaded petrol this week at 175.2 per litre. That is 20p a litre more than motorists are paying in parts of Northern Ireland, and 15p a litre more than the average price in Watford.

In Cambridge, motorists are currently paying 173.2p per litre for unleaded petrol, making it one of the most expensive places in the country to fill up.

You can find the cheapest petrol and diesel on sale in your neighbourhood by searching our postcode checker.

Owners of diesel cars are paying an average of just over 190p and dozens of forecourts around the country have seen the price of standard diesel go over the £2-a-litre mark in the last week.

The price of diesel has reached 215p per litre at BP motorway services, while a service station on the M61 motorway near Bolton is charging 195.9 per litre of standard unleaded, one of the highest prices in the country.

According to the latest data from Fuel Finder, at least 200 garages are charging 181p or more per litre of standard E10 unleaded, which would push the cost of filling up a standard family car on their forecourts over the £100 mark.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “Since the start of this month, the cost of filling a family car has already risen by almost £5, to £94 for petrol and £106 for diesel. Average pump prices have jumped by yet another penny in just a day. Petrol has now broken through the £1.70-a-litre barrier and stands at 170.54p – its highest since 23 August 2022. Unfortunately for hard-pressed drivers, prices look set to keep on rising”.

Average price for unleaded petrol:

20 most expensive areas

• Maidstone – 175.2p
• Brentwood – 174p
• Dumfries and Galloway – 173.7p
• Broxbourne – 173.5p
• East Staffordshire – 173.2p
• Cambridge – 173.2p
• South Oxfordshire – 172.9p
• North East Derbyshire – 172.9p
• East Hertfordshire – 172.8p
• Westminster – 172.7p
• Cheshire East – 172.7p
• Tandridge – 172.6p
• Colchester – 172.6p
• Chichester – 172.5p
• Ashford – 172.4p
• Breckland – 172.4p
• Denbighshire – 172.2p
• North Hertfordshire – 172.2p
• Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole – 172.1p
• Lambeth – 172.1p

20 areas with the cheapest average prices

• South Ayrshire – 163.9p
• Basingstoke and Deane – 163.8p
• Hartlepool – 163.8p
• Erewash – 163.7p
• West Suffolk – 163.5p
• Ashfield – 163.2p
• Tamworth – 162.7p
• York – 162.2p
• South Tyneside – 162.2p
• Ipswich – 161.7p
• Antrim and Newtownabbey – 160.6p
• Watford – 160.2p
• Fermanagh and Omagh – 160p
• Derry City and Strabane – 159.2p
• Causeway Coast and Glens – 159.2p
• Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon – 157.2p
• Mid Ulster – 156.2p
• Mid and East Antrim – 156.1p
• Ards and North Down – 154.2p
• Scottish Borders – 149.3p

Northern Ireland is in the process of establishing a new curriculum for primary and secondary education. The proposed Northern Ireland Curriculum Framework 2028, TransformED – currently under consultation – sets out a new, knowledge-rich curriculum.

Knowledge-rich means a strong understanding of subject-specific content, rather than, for instance, more general skills. There are many similarities with the 2013 educational reforms in England spearheaded by then education secretary Michael Gove, such as the influence of cognitive science and the belief that secure knowledge underpins higher-order thinking.

Some of the most far-reaching proposed changes in Northern Ireland are in language teaching.

Over the past 20 years, modern languages taught in schools in Northern Ireland have included French, German, Irish and Spanish.

When the curriculum was last reformed in the early 2000s, there was a missed opportunity to include statutory languages in the primary school curriculum. This effectively rendered Northern Ireland as having European Union’s shortest compulsory period of language learning.

Nevertheless, many of Northern Ireland’s post-primary schools teach [two or three languages]. The current curriculum requires the study of at least one language of the European Union but it provides ample flexibility to study more.

The new proposals still do not include modern languages in primary school. They shift to focus attention on “a single core modern language”, only required at secondary school in the 11-14 age range. Teaching practice would be focused on the three pillars of phonics, vocabulary and grammar. This includes concentrating on teaching pupils a high-frequency list of 800 words.

In Northern Ireland schools where teaching is in English, Irish is considered a modern language with the same status as French, German and Spanish. In Northern Ireland’s two Irish-medium post-primary schools, pupils learn through Irish and study English and either French or Spanish.

This differs from other Celtic jurisdictions, where language provision has been expanded, not reduced. Since 2013, Scotland has offered all pupils the chance to learn at least two modern languages. The Republic of Ireland and Wales have bilingual plus one policies, meaning that all pupils learn Irish or Welsh, plus an additional foreign modern language.

In fact, the explicit focus on only one core language from ages 11 to 14 in Northern Ireland is a significant policy shift not seen elsewhere in the British Isles. In England, language study is compulsory from ages seven to 14 and can include ancient languages in the primary phase.

Depth of knowledge

The argument from the Northern Ireland devolved government is that research evidence supports spending learning time concentrating on “developing depth of knowledge”. Yes, depth of knowledge of languages and linguistics is essential, but there is no peer-reviewed international research which says young people should only learn one language at school or that this should be confined to the 11-14 age range.

Informed by international research, EU policy sets a goal of all pupils acquiring, before the end of upper secondary, proficiency in the language of schooling and knowledge of two additional languages. It also calls for particular attention to be paid to language awareness in multilingual classrooms.

In the UK, this approach has been widely embraced in recent changes to the curriculum in Wales.

The word list of 800 high-frequency words, which differ across each of French, German, Irish and Spanish, is an approach that has also been used in England, where, at GCSE level, pupils have defined word lists. But as applied linguist Gianfranco Conti notes, a high-frequency word list tells us how often a lexical item occurs in a corpus a word is used but it does not tell us how useful that word will be to an 11-year-old.

The word for “pencil case” may not be in the top 800 words, but it’s still important to a young person in a classroom and worth knowing, not least because it helps to explain gender in languages.

The arguments for multilingualism are well rehearsed – and this is a time when Northern Ireland’s schools educate over 21,350 newcomer pupils and are home to speakers of more than 90 languages.. The decisions made now will shape language learning for a generation.

Plaid Cymru leader and first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth will speak at a march for independence later this month, it has been announced. Thousands of people are expected to descend on Aberystwyth on Saturday, September 26, for a YesCymru Welsh independence rally.

It is the first YesCymru march to be held in mid Wales and follows the 10 marches held since 2019, including in Cardiff, Wrexham, Swansea and Carmarthen, which have seen tens of thousands of people from every corner of Wales attend. Campaign organisers confirmed Mr ap Iorwerth will be among the speakers at the rally following the march.

It comes after what YesCymru described as an “historic week” in the independence movement. Full details here.

A 44-year-old private banker arrested by police on suspicion of being the Putney Pusher has been found dead. 

Nicholas Brandram was detained on June 15 at his home in Chiswick, West London, for attempted grievous bodily harm.

It was in relation to a notorious incident on May 5, 2017 when a jogger shoved a female pedestrian into the path of a double-decker bus on Putney Bridge – which only avoided her thanks to the lightening quick reactions of the driver. 

Police searched Mr Brandram’s £1.4million house and subsequently rearrested him for possession of Class A and Class B drugs – believed to be cocaine and cannabis. 

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said today: ‘At 7.15pm on Tuesday, September 15 officers and the London Ambulance Service attended an address in Chiswick, Hounslow after a man was found unresponsive inside a property. 

‘Sadly, a 44-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next-of-kin have been informed. At this time his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious. A file will be prepared for the coroner in due course.’

Mr Brandram – a grandson of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark, Queen Victoria’s last female descendant – was a director at HSBC’s private bank before being suspended after his arrest. 

His name was not released at the time of his arrest for legal reasons, but his identity was the subject of intense online speculation. He can now be named following his death. 

Mr Brandram was a decorated former British Army captain who served with the Scots Guards in Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan. In 2012, the Newcastle University philosophy and psychology graduate was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his military service.

A year later, he appeared at City of London Magistrates’ Court after colliding with a female cyclist on Hyde Park Corner on March 6 of that year. 

Mr Brandram crashed his 1948 Harley-Davidson into the woman and then drove off without leaving his details or checking if she was hurt, the court heard. 

Representing himself, he told magistrates: ‘I ride a bicycle myself and realise the risks.

‘I’m an upstanding member of society and have recently resigned as a member of the British Army and have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

‘I have a very loud bike so it’s not impossible I collided with her without me realising it. At the same time with such a big bike I don’t know how I didn’t feel the collision.’

He pleaded guilty to a count each of driving without due care and attention and of failing to stop after a road accident. 

He received five penalty points, a £200 fine and was told to pay £105 compensation. Mr Brandram thanked magistrates and said he would pay the fine immediately. 

The Putney Pusher incident took place during rush hour on May 5, 2017 at about 7.40am.

A woman was walking southwards on Putney Bridge when the jogger approached her from the opposite direction.

There was plenty of room on the footpath for him to run around her safely, but instead he shoved her onto the road – directly in the path of an incoming 430 bus going at 12mph.

Thanks to the rapid reactions of the driver, Oliver Salbris, the bus missed the 33-year-old victim’s head by inches, and she survived largely physically unscathed. 

The jogger continued his run across Putney Bridge without so much as a backward glance.

After the vehicle stopped, passers-by rushed to help the shaken woman – who has never been publicly identified.

The jogger returned in the opposite direction about 15 minutes later, passing the victim again while she was still being assisted on the bridge. He ignored her calls to stop. 

Nine years ago, police released dramatic CCTV footage of the moment this jogger appeared to push a woman into the path of an incoming bus on Putney Bridge 

The jogger was seen appearing to push the victim into the path of the incoming vehicle. The driver swerved and missed the woman’s head by inches

In April, Mr Salbris told the Mail that he would never forget what he saw.

‘I always think about the case and I still drive over Putney Bridge several times a day,’ he said.

‘Whenever I’m on the bridge, I look very carefully at the pedestrians on the pavement, I just can’t help it. I wouldn’t say it haunts me, but it’s not something I can easily forget.

‘I’m glad my reactions were quick on that day, or it would have ended very differently, both for me and the woman who was pushed. Her head was only a few centimetres from the bus and the wheel, even after I swerved to avoid her.’

At the time of the original appeal, the suspect was described as a white man in his early to mid-30s, with a stocky build and short brown hair. He was wearing a grey T-shirt and dark blue shorts.

Metropolitan Police detectives interviewed 50 men and arrested three suspects, including an American investment banker – who was able to prove ‘irrefutably’ that he was in the US at the time.

No suspect was ever charged, and the investigation was closed in 2018 before new information led to Mr Brandram’s arrest. 

Earlier this month, he was released under investigation to give police time to complete outstanding enquiries. 

The Met said at the time: ‘On Monday, June 15, a 44-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm. 

‘The arrest relates to an incident on May 5, 2017, where a woman was pushed into the path of a bus on Putney Bridge in Putney.

‘Once in police custody, he was also arrested on suspicion of possession of Class A and Class B drugs.

‘He has since been released under investigation while enquiries continue.’

Mr Brandram – a grandson of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark, Victoria’s last female descendant – was a director at HSBC’s private bank before being suspended after his arrest

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Mr Brandram’s late father, City executive Paul Brandram, was the only child of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark and Major Richard Campbell Andrew Brandram, who served with the British Army during the Second World War.

Princess Katherine was Queen Victoria‘s great-granddaughter, a first cousin of Prince Philip, and the daughter of King Constantine I, who ruled Greece between 1913 and 1922.

Queen Sofia of Spain, Paul Brandram’s cousin, told of her ‘great sadness’ after his death in 2020 at the age of 72. 

Like his father, Nicholas has had a successful career in the City, working at leading stockbrokers Killik & Co and Israeli lender Bank Leumi before moving to HSBC, where he managed the assets of wealthy individuals.

He was nominated Private Banker of the Year for 2026. 

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At the end of July, I posted a picture on social media of myself on holiday – and it ended up in the papers.

Wearing an old blue swimming costume, I’m smiling, and rightly so, because I’ve lost more than a stone.

As I pointed out in the caption, ‘This is a weight loss drug-free body. It’s still got shoulder-splitting G cups. Still has a muffin top. Still has crepey skin and is about as toned as a water bed.’ 

But it was different – I was slimmer, less bloated and happier looking – and that’s because in February this year I gave up sugar. It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s changed my entire life.

I’ve always stayed fit through running, but last winter I weighed almost 11st 7lb. Not only was I bigger than I wanted to be, but my brain wasn’t functioning. I felt clouded the entire time, I had no energy, and my mood was low.

I haven’t had an alcoholic drink for 14 years, but addiction manifests in many ways. I love chocolate, especially nutty milk chocolate, but I could never have just one piece or even one bar. I’d have a whole bar, and then maybe another one, settling down in the evening with a cup of tea, a box set, and my chocolate. 

Harmless, right? Yet still I’d take each bar and break it into little bits to hide how much I was consuming. There was secrecy, and there was ritual, and that meant that it had become another addiction – I’m always all or nothing.

Alongside my obsession with sugar, everything felt such an effort. I now realise I was putting on a continual, exhausting performance to prove to the world that everything was okay with my physical and mental health. In truth, it really wasn’t.

So, in February, I went to Portugal to stay with an old friend Lulu, to take some time out and do some writing. To be honest, she staged a bit of an intervention. An amazing Brazilian nutritionist friend had been running a retreat the previous week, and Lulu asked her to stay on a few extra days because she knew I wasn’t in a good place.

I was told in no uncertain terms that I was going on a detox – which included no sugar. My body was apparently in a state of inflammation. ‘Your eyes, your tongue, your gut… Oh my God!’ exclaimed the nutritionist when she looked at me.

I looked in the mirror and saw myself as she saw me: dull eyes shot through with tiredness, a coated tongue, a grey tinge to my skin, and that out-of-control muffin top.

She attributed it all to ultra-processed foods, which I don’t eat much of, and sugar, which of course I did.

I was effectively forced into eating barely a thing for seven days! I had lemon and bicarbonate of soda in the morning, which went through me like an upside-down volcano, green juice for breakfast, a couple of leaves at lunchtime, and nothing till dinner – which was soup. We walked a lot to take my mind off it.

When I got home, I weighed myself, and I’d lost five pounds, which was a huge incentive not to leap back into chocolate eating.

But giving up sugar was really difficult to do – harder than ditching alcohol. My day was punctuated around treats, so I had to reframe my eating, and find new ways to reward myself. I felt crabby and fed up, and may have snapped at my family a couple of times!

Still, I was very determined and after more than six months of barely touching the stuff, I sleep better and am far happier. I am still generally anxious, but about 40 per cent less so.

The biggest difference is physical. My weight, my energy, and my skin (on my face and body) is less dry and saggy, and my morning eye bags are less evident. 

That picture from July shows how far I’ve come. My three grown-up kids didn’t notice, but my husband Sten did – mentioning both my increased confidence and my looks, commenting on what I wore for the first time in years. I’m 64, and this year I’ve had more compliments than ever before in my life. It’s weight loss, yes, but it’s also about happiness.

Here are my other tips for being healthy, happy and slim at 64.

Blasting the years with red light

I’ve only recently accepted my age. I’ve got over that hump where a part of me wanted to be noticed in some way – that was up to my mid-fifties. I don’t feel that anymore, and I don’t mind that I’m invisible. Ageing is a privilege.

However, like every woman, I have a certain level of vanity, and more often than not I try to avoid looking at myself in the mirror, because I think to myself that there’s so much work to be done and I can’t be bothered! 

I don’t have Botox, but I do love the CurrentBody Red Light Therapy Face Mask (£499, currentbody.com). Genuinely, I’m such a sceptic about beauty gadgets, but this is one of the few things I really believe in for reducing wrinkles and improving skin plumpness. I try to use it for around ten minutes three or more times a week.

Making a face

I don’t wear make-up every day; just a bit of Trinny London BFF All Day (£42, trinnylondon.com) if I’m mooching about at home, and maybe her Just A Touch Concealer (£29). I love the PrimeLash mascara by US brand Prime Prometics (£8.58, amazon.co.uk). It’s great for lash thickening and it’s vegan and cruelty-free. 

I know you’re supposed to wear SPF every day, but I only wear it on holiday. Sten introduced me to Altruist sunscreen (from £11, altruistsun.com), which I know a lot of beauty experts swear by.

Susannah with her husband Sten on their holiday in Nice, France, this August. Sten introduced her to Altruist sunscreen

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I also wear a vitamin C serum day and night to brighten and protect my skin.

Body-wise, Trinny told me about this amazing body lotion called Aestura Atobarrier365 Ceramide Lotion (£26, sephora.co.uk) – it’s transformed my skin, which is far less dry.

I’ll tell you what I hate – products designed for over-50s. So patronising.

Take a nap if you need to

We need to be able to say: ’Do you know what, if I want to have a sleep in the afternoon I’m going to.’

I’m not great at this, admittedly, and tend to try to hide the fact I’m having a rest.

Everything around us is moving at such a pace that if you stand still for a second, you stand out like a sore thumb. People don’t notice you doing all the housework, the cooking and writing a book. But they notice a sleep in the afternoon.

I get around this by looking as though I’m on my laptop, but in fact I’ll be watching a box set on Netflix.

I still find my husband handsome

If you’ve been a parent, your children have been the priority. To some extent you forget that you’re married. When the children leave home, you’re suddenly meeting this person almost as though it’s the first time, and you’ve no idea how they’ve evolved emotionally.

I think to some extent it’s down to luck whether you still have the chemistry that initially drew you to them. With Sten, who’s 62 now, I’m lucky – he’s incredibly handsome. 

It wasn’t like falling in love all over again, but it was easy to say let’s move on, let’s get to the next stage. It’s about having common interests, complementing each other, and recognising and accepting each other’s weaknesses. For example, if he gives me a spreadsheet to fill in, he knows it won’t happen.

Exercise

I know everyone talks about weights and strength training, and I’m sure the science is there, but I think you have to find your own way. And there’s no magic wand – you have to put in the work, which is incredibly annoying.

I’ve run for years and try to do around 25 miles a week, even though it isn’t as easy as it used to be. I’m sure people look at me and they say, ‘Why is she literally lolloping along?’ But it’s good enough for me. I used to take a bag of buttermint sweets in a bumbag to eat on the way round, but I’ve stopped that!

I used to be a huge wild swimming fan, but I haven’t been for ages, and the main reason is because the water quality is so poor. I do have a cold water therapy barrel in my back garden, though, and I’m going to start leaping in and out of that again – possibly every day. 

I still do breathing exercises recommended by the wellness guru Wim Hof, which is like meditation. They make a huge difference to stress and energy levels.

Spend time with the young

I love to spend time with young people and hear their opinions – they have such strong ones and more courage than I ever did at that age. That makes me reassured for the future. 

I don’t inform myself about new developments in tech like AI – I just get my kids, now aged 26, 23 and 21, to explain it.

But you know what? They’ve spent their lives coming to me and asking things, and now the shoe’s on the other foot. They love it. They feel like they’re the boss.

Ditch FOMO

I would rather put a rock around my neck and walk into a lake than go to a big party. Sten and I are very antisocial.

But I do have lots of good friends, and I FaceTime one in particular every day, wherever we are in the world. He’s 80, and we acted as each other’s sponsors a little whilst in recovery from alcohol addiction.

What To Wear

I still follow the old diktats about dressing for your shape from the What Not To Wear shows that Trinny and I had such fun doing.

If you have big boobs, which I do, wear a lower top. That was one of our rules, but they do change a little with age. These days, I don’t go for overt cleavage display too often, and I don’t wear anything too tight either. 

Susannah still follows the old rules of What Not To Wear, a show she and Trinny Woodall used to host in the 2000s

I’m conscious of dressing differently, in an age-flattering way, and I’m not aiming to be sexy. Personally, I feel I look older if I try and dress younger.

I don’t have many clothes, and I do sometimes wear the same outfit four days in a row (except for pants!), but I never just grab the first thing that falls out of the wardrobe. I err towards more masculine clothes; flared trousers with a sweater or a plain white T-shirt in the summer.

Even if I’m working at home, I feel I have a responsibility to the work I’m doing as an author to look stylish. It also helps focus me and it’s respecting my job. I couldn’t work in pyjamas.

Shape. Where?

Trinny and I were virtually defined by our love of shapewear – what we called ‘magic pants’ – back in the early 2000s.

I don’t need to lose weight anymore, and I hadn’t actually worn shapewear for a very long time, until I partnered with Shapermint this summer and reignited my love affair with it. Together we’ve created a What To Wear edit of five foundational pieces, which we have just launched.

It’s not about looking smaller but about looking more toned. I see it as being akin to putting make-up on your face – you’re not inherently changing it, but it’s making it look the best it can.

The cami, shorts and leggings (from £45, shapermint.com) give me a wonderful, smooth outline and also make me feel more comfortable in lighter, silky fabrics. I honestly feel that it’s working with my body, not against it.

Food for thought

I always have a savoury breakfast. On a good day, I’ll have broccoli with homemade salad dressing, and protein in the form of cottage cheese or tinned tuna, as well as a coffee that’s so strong you could stand a spoon up in it with a little natural sweetness from Rude Health Organic Coconut Milk. If I get a bit hungry during the morning I might have some blueberries.

At lunchtime I chuck whatever veg is in the fridge into my Vitamix – it’s so powerful you could juice a Mini Cooper. At teatime, I have a Peter’s Yard Sourdough crispbread with peanut butter, and a small packet of Twiglets if I’ve been for a run.

We always eat dinner as a family when the kids are home – and it’s always homemade and protein-rich. Sten and I go out so rarely that it’s a treat to have a meal cooked by someone else, and I’ll eat pretty much anything… except pudding!

I still have treats, but they’re more considered – a couple of squares of 80 per cent dark chocolate (amazingly the amount hasn’t crept up), sugar-free chewing gum or a couple of dates.

Don’t go overboard on hair treatments

My thick blonde hair has always been great. I don’t go to a fancy London salon, but to a little place in my Sussex village called Aaron Russell which is a walk from my house. They are all so good that any one of them can do my cut and colour. I have a blow-dry once every two weeks, but otherwise I leave it alone. 

I find Sam McKnight products are amazing, such as the Hair by Sam McKnight Rich Cleanse Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner (£50, sammcknight.com), or Redken’s new Acidic Bonding range (from £12.95, boots.com) is fantastic for repairing damaged hair.

My girls use that too. Esme is evangelical about it, and her hair is incredible. Whenever I buy anything beauty-related, I have to keep them in mind because they steal my stuff.

You don’t have to take HRT

I had a chat with Trinny and a friend over supper a few weeks ago and I said that I didn’t take HRT. They were so horrified it was like I’d told them I had a terminal illness and was going to die in a few days’ time.

It sometimes feels as though menopause has become an insult for the young to chuck at their mothers. ‘Oh my god, you’re so menopausal!’

Honestly, I didn’t sail through menopause very well mentally, but I didn’t have physical symptoms. There’s no question that menopausal women really suffer, but I slightly ignored the whole noise around the subject because it didn’t sound as though it applied to me. 

Unfortunately, I think it’s put the fear of God into the younger generation. We need more balance in the messaging and more education for everyone.

I love some supplements….

I take magnesium for sleep, and saffron and turmeric for their anti-inflammatory properties. I like Naked Pharmacy products – you can book a call with a pharmacist if you’ve got questions. They don’t contain synthetic ingredients like fillers and binders.

Collagen-wise I’m currently trying out Elavate (from £39, elavate.com) – just a scoop in the morning. Perhaps that’s why my joints hurt less.

Ignore the ageist trolls

If someone hurts me, I become a pathetic ball of fear and anxiety. But I’ve had very little online trolling thankfully – only about five unkind comments on Instagram over the years. 

Last week someone commented on my looks, and I just leant into it and said, ‘shut your hole’. Lots of my followers stuck up for me.

While on Strictly in 2018, Susannah attracted lots of unkind attention. She said she agreed with all the comments, ‘and that shut them all up!’

When I was doing Strictly, I attracted lots of unkind attention, but that was all justified, because I was appalling. So, I just agreed with all the comments, and that shut them all up!

Have the confidence to stop

However grown-up we are, we’re still insecure and need to feel valued. For women, I think the easiest, least complicated way to achieve this is to be busy, to help others and to make yourself more indispensable than ever. I am absolutely guilty of that.

‘Don’t worry,’ I say. ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it.’ And then I feel resentful and stop. But on the whole, I’m contented with my body and mind, my relationships and my work, and you can’t ask for much more than that!

As told to Alice Smellie

Susannah Constantine has created a new What To Wear edit with shapewear brand Shapermint, shapermint.com

Meghan Markle chose a song closely connected to Princess Diana‘s memory for Prince Harry’s birthday Instagram post yesterday.

The Duchess of Sussex, 45, marked her husband’s 42nd milestone with a collection of nine previously unseen photographs set to an indie folk cover of Tina Turner’s hit ‘The Best’.

It is likely no coincidence that Meghan picked that song, since it carries special significance for both the Duke of Sussex and his brother, the Prince of Wales, who previously revealed their mother would play the track while dropping them off at boarding school.

Speaking on an episode of the Apple Fitness+ series, Time to Walk, in 2021, Prince William shared that Diana ‘used to play all sorts of songs to while away the anxiety of going back to school’.

‘One of the songs I massively remember and has stuck with me all this time, and I still, to this day, still quite enjoy secretly, is Tina Turner’s The Best, because sitting in the back seat, singing away, it felt like a real family moment,’ the future King said at the time.

He recalled how Diana would be ‘singing at the top of her voice’ and the music would distract him and Harry right until they arrived at Ludgrove School in Berkshire and ‘reality kind of sunk in’.

‘You’d be singing and listening to the music right the way out into the gates of school, when they dropped you off,’ the Prince said. ‘And, and that’s when reality kind of sunk in that you really were going back to school because before that, you’re lost in songs.’

‘You’ll want to play it again just to keep that family moment going,’ he continued. ‘And when I listen to it now, it takes me back to those car rides and brings back lots of memories of my mother.’

The Prince of Wales, who previously revealed their mother would play the track while dropping them off at boarding school.

On Tuesday, the Duchess shared intimate insights into the Sussexes’ family life with the release of nine new pictures to celebrate Harry’s 42nd birthday. 

Meghan, who boasts 4.8million followers on Instagram, uploaded the sea of images of the prince with her and their children with the caption: ‘He’s simply the best. Happy birthday, my love,’ along with a heart emoji.

The montage is accompanied by husband-wife musical duo The Hound + The Fox’s cover of Simply the Best.

In one sweet snap, Harry is captured on an outdoor adventure with Meghan, 45, alongside Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, as well as their Labrador, Pula.

Believed to have possibly been taken at Earl Spencer’s home, Althorp, Harry is seen driving a quad bike down a narrow track with Lilibet and Archie sat on either side of an M&S food bag and Pula dutifully following behind. 

In another snap, Harry, who is wearing a Santa Barbara Fire Department cap, shared a kiss with Lilibet, who sported a bright headband and red and white patterned top, while enjoying a golf cart ride. 

In a sweet tribute to her mother, the 3D embellishments on Lilibet’s fashionable headband appear to be miniature Mahjong tiles – rectangular pieces used to play a traditional Chinese board game adored by the duchess.

Showcasing their close father-daughter bond, the montage also featured an image of Harry holding hands with Lilibet during a ski trip – with the young royal keeping warm in pink gloves and purple trousers, while her father donned black salopettes and a grey jacket.

Harry and Meghan are firm fans of the winter sport and often enjoy trips to the slopes together – including visits to Whistler Blackcomb in Canada and Montana’s Yellowstone Club.

In one sweet snap, Harry drives a quad bike with Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, sat beside an M&S food bag, while their beloved Labrador Pula trailing behind them 

The montage also featured an image of Harry holding hands with Lilibet during a ski trip. The Sussexes are known to be firm fans of the winter sport

One black-and-white photograph shared by Meghan showed the prince carrying Lilibet’s pink tasselled bicycle as they walked hand-in-hand.

In another, the young princess took a photograph of Harry, who playfully posed with a basket on his head, with a Polaroid camera as the family sat down for a dinner which appeared to include olives and fruit.

Proving she is quite the camerawoman, Lilibet drew comparisons to her aunt, the Princess of Wales, who is a keen amateur photographer and in 2015 became the first member of the Royal Family to take the official first images of a royal newborn.

Dressed in a pair of spotty pyjamas, Lilibet and her father were seen in another image enjoying a peaceful lake view from a balcony.

Meanwhile, Harry and his son Archie enjoyed some father-son bonding with a game of archery in another picture. The father-son duo wore matching outfits, including shorts and white T-shirts. 

Other images shared by the Duchess included an image of her and Harry sharing a warm embrace in a vineyard, while Archie is seen playing in the background.

Meghan chose a striking black-and-white photograph of the Duke, wearing sunglasses and a hat while looking out ahead deep in thought, as the first image of the carousel post. 

Some royal fans have suggested the snap may have been taken by the Sussexes’ go-to photographer and close friend, Misan Harriman, who has documented key events in their lives and is renowned for his black-and-white images.

Soon after Meghan marked Harry’s birthday online, it emerged that the Duchess’s mobile number was reportedly being shared by parents at the school that Archie and Lilibet had just started. 

Harry and Archie enjoyed some father-son bonding with a game of archery in another image. While the young prince wore sandals, his father stayed barefoot

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The post also included a romantic shot of the couple sharing a warm embrace in a vineyard, while their two children are seen playing in the background

In a further security blow to the couple, screenshots from a WhatsApp group titled ‘Year 3’ that Meghan joined were said to be circulating online.

An alleged screenshot of the chat showed the duchess introducing herself with a message reading: ‘Hi moms! Thanks for the warm welcome [heart emoji]. So happy to be a part of this community xx’

The Sussexes refused to comment, but sources close to them said it was disappointing that fellow parents would seek to share such information.

Meghan is understood to have joined the group the night before Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet started at the school.

It emerged after Harry and Meghan decided to ‘reluctantly’ remove their children from the school they had just started over security fears regarding traffic.

The family’s bodyguards warned the couple that the busy commute was placing their unit ‘under strain’.

Rush hour meant the drive – supposed to take around 35 minutes – lasted as long as an hour, while on one journey a convoy carrying the prince and princess is said to have become separated, leaving the children ‘sitting ducks’ in stationary traffic.

One mother with two children at the school said Harry and Meghan’s decision to send their children there had been a coup and had excited many parents. But she added: ‘Parents at the school are completely baffled. You don’t need to be an expert to know how congested that area is. It’s one of the worst places to drive in the UK.’

Another mother said of the slow school run: ‘This was obviously going to happen.’

News of the WhatsApp leak was initially reported by The Sun.

Friends of the couple stressed that the decision to withdraw the children was not an issue with the school itself.

Archie and Lilibet will now join another school where they have already attended taster sessions. The Sussexes’ security, meanwhile, are said to be much happier that the new school will be a shorter commute from the family home.

But the fiasco has sparked questions over why the family’s drivers only tested the route during the summer holidays, amid claims that their return to the UK was ‘rushed’.

Their private protection team were seemingly unable to properly assess the hour-long journey to the unnamed school after the Sussexes announced the move in late August.

Former Met Police Chief Superintendent Dal Babu said: ‘It does beggar belief why they haven’t thought this through. I don’t think he [Harry] has helped himself or the situation by not arranging things in good time.’

Former head of royal protection Dai Davies also told LBC radio: ‘If you keep a low profile, most people outside the school wouldn’t know where you are, what they’re doing, and all the rest of it.

‘Do they really need to go in convoy with two little children on the school run? If they only just kept a little quieter, kept a lower profile, they’d be a lot safer in my view.’

The dramatic schools development came as it emerged that Harry’s demand for taxpayer-funded police protection is being ‘reviewed’ now he is back in Britain. 

The duke and duchess are said to have been informed that ‘a decision’ was made at a meeting last week to examine the threat to both of them.

The prince has been at loggerheads with the Home Office for years over its decision to remove his automatic right to security. Harry has long argued that he was born a prince and needs police protection when in the UK.

But he lost a series of legal battles against the Home Office which deemed he had forfeited the right to be able to call at will on taxpayer-funded protection after he quit as a frontline royal in 2020 and moved to a new life in California.

Only last year, after yet another defeat at the Royal Courts of Justice – against his father His Majesty’s government – the prince declared in a petulant BBC interview that he could not imagine a time when he could safely bring his family to his country of birth.

But now that he has had a sudden change of heart, bringing Meghan, Archie and Lilibet to live in the UK, his access to police protection is being reviewed, it was reported on Monday evening.

The decision is said to involve reviewing the risks to Prince Harry and also to his wife.

Stockton was shortlisted for the UK Town of Culture 2028 competition in July, making the final 15 from almost 400 entries nationwide.

The bid is built around Connection, Creativity and Confidence, and highlights Stockton’s historical influence, including the first passenger train and John Walker’s invention of the friction match.

S&DR200 festival in 2025. (Image: Stockton Borough Council)

The newly formed Stockton Community Collective, made up of more than 40 cultural and business organisations plus the council, is urging locals to back the bid.

Stockton will host events and launch an online survey so locals can shape and support the bid before it is submitted in November.

The national competition is part of the Government’s Plan for Change and aims to boost growth, civic pride and access to arts and culture.

The winning town will receive £3 million to deliver a major cultural programme in 2028, while each runner-up will get £250,000.

(Image: Stockton Borough Council)

Visitors to Stockton town centre may already have spotted the ‘Anything Anywhere’ band entertaining shoppers and asking about the town’s future.

September and October events will include an outdoor dance social by Urban Kaos, the return of The Gathering Sounds festival and storytelling sessions at the Sun Inn led by Mike McGrother.

Those unable to attend can complete an online survey about what makes Stockton a great place to live and what the title could unlock.

Stockton Community Carnival Parade. (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Councillor Lisa Evans, leader of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, said: “Being shortlisted for this prestigious accolade from such a high number of entries was wonderful news for Stockton town – but now we want to win it, and we deserve to win it.

“This is OUR town, OUR time.

“There is so much for us to be proud of in Stockton, from the rich history that has shaped our story and culture to our unique and hugely popular festivals and celebrations, like the Stockton International Riverside Festival which just enjoyed its first year based in the magnificent new Stockton Waterfront urban park.

“But it’s not just about the town, it’s about the people – the people who live there, who work there, who visit and enjoy everything Stockton has to offer.”

Stockton International Riverside Festival and Community Carnival. (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Cllr Evans added that organisers wanted views from all ages and backgrounds – especially town-centre residents and workers – as children and young people will shape the bid.

Jimmy Beck, owner of Stockton’s KU Bar and founder of KU Promotions, said: “Stockton town centre boasts a long tradition for putting on exceptional live music, with some of the world’s biggest acts famously playing here such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

“To be crowned Town of Culture 2028 would give us the chance to crank the volume up further to remind the world what a fantastic culture of live music this town offers and help champion the artists of tomorrow.”

Claire Meek, Family Action’s deputy director of services and innovation (North), said: “It is vital that the bid reflects the perspectives of the communities it seeks to benefit, and we are committed to helping ensure those local voices are heard and represented throughout.”

The finalists and overall winner of the UK Town of Culture competition will be revealed early next year.

For more information on the Stockton Borough Council Town of Culture survey, visit: Help shape Stockton’s Town of Culture bid – Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council – Citizen Space

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Traffic has been stopped just before junction 12 for the Eccles Interchange.

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Stretching across much of eastern England, the Fens produce a third of the country’s vegetables and support tens of thousands of jobs. Yet around 33% of the region lies below average sea level, while 87% is below the highest spring tides

The landscape only exists due to centuries of engineering – pumps, embankments and drainage channels – that keeps water moving almost constantly. Now climate change is introducing new challenges that this system was never designed to face.

The Fens face several climate threats that reinforce one another. Rising sea levels, heavier downpours, hotter summers, longer droughts and biodiversity loss are all expected to intensify over the coming decades. These are all serious challenges, and in the Fens they will play out within one tightly interconnected system.

The Fens cover parts of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk:

In June, we published an academic analysis of these climate risks in the Fens. Our research examined flood risk from rivers, surface water and the sea, alongside drought, water scarcity, heat, biodiversity loss and agricultural productivity. It found that these hazards increasingly overlap as the climate warms.

With around 2°C of warming, the region will experience more frequent flooding, more extreme heat, declining summer river flows and accelerated biodiversity loss.

By 2100, under a 4°C warming scenario, annual flood damages to homes and businesses in the region could rise from £16 million today to £250 million, while ecosystems could collapse and parts of the Fens would be rendered uninhabitable without major investment in new infrastructure.

Importantly, sea-level rise is different from other risks as it will continue for centuries even if global temperatures are stabilised. Even a high emissions scenario, where the sea would rise by a metre by 2100, would still be followed by further rise. This is an existential risk for the low-lying Fens, meaning that more radical adaptation approaches will be needed in the long term. Decisions about how to adapt must begin well before then, as major changes to infrastructure and land management take decades to plan and implement.

Connected climate hazards

National climate risk assessments are essential, but they can mask the severity and complexity facing regions with distinct characteristics. The Fens is a case in point given its low-lying geography means that it is exposed to multiple climate risks that can compound each other.

River flows could fall by more than 25% under 4°C warming, at the same time as floods from surface water, rivers and seas would increase. Agriculture could faces crop losses from both drought and water scarcity and from water logging and flooding, alongside a decline in insect pollinators that could reduce productivity. These issues cannot be managed by only tackling single hazards in turn.

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We therefore developed a way to assess all the climate-related risks to a single place, rather than looking at each hazard in isolation. This provides an integrated picture of how multiple risks develop and interact over time, and gives interested people and groups locally relevant information to help them plan for climate change.

Aligned with the engineering evidence

The Environment Agency’s Fens 2100+ programme, published in April 2026, reaches similar conclusions on the region’s infrastructure. For the first time, it brings together evidence on the entire flood risk management system, covering around 17,000 assets including 318 pumping stations, embankments and tidal defences.

Together, these assets are estimated to provide £58.8 billion in benefits through avoided flood damage over the next 100 years. However, nearly a third of these defences need upgrading in the next 15 years.

Both our analysis and the Fens 2100+ evidence conclude that dealing with these challenges separately or only in the short term cannot work.

The Fens needs to be considered as one connected landscape with decisions about flood protection, water, agriculture and the environment made together. Coastal lowlands around the world, from the Netherlands to the Mekong delta in Vietnam, are grappling with similar interconnected challenges of sea level rise, flooding and competing demands for land and water. The approach we have developed could be applied to help people in these regions assess their options for adaptation.