Accusations that the young are a snowflake generation are wrong, the head of an independent review into mental health, ADHD and autism has told the BBC.

In an exclusive interview, Prof Peter Fonagy says there has been a real rise in mental distress among children and young people, with anxiety, depression, self-harm and eating disorders the most common.

He says it is “harder to be young” now given the economic and employment uncertainty they face coupled with the challenges presented by social media.

The review was ordered nine months ago by Wes Streeting after the then-health secretary claimed in an interview that young people were over-diagnosed and “written off”.

It is likely to feed into government policies on everything from NHS services and benefits to support for young people not in education, employment or training.

Fonagy says he chose to speak to the BBC ahead of the publication, which is expected later this week, because he was concerned the debate around ADHD and autism would “obscure” the wider issue of mental health.

Some have argued greater awareness and misattributing normal life stresses to mental illness are factors in the increase in cases.

Fonagy told the BBC his personal battle with mental health when he was young was a driving factor in his desire to help young people.

He experienced suicidal thoughts as a teenager after moving to London from Hungary without his parents. But he says he was fortunate to get therapy from a local service that “saved his life”.

“It’s harder to be young now,” says Fonagy, 74, adding his review “dismisses the idea of a snowflake generation”.

“I’m in awe of the way they have adjusted to an environment that is far more difficult than I ever had to face.”

He says economic and employment uncertainty as well as the pressures of social media have created a “very toxic” environment for young people.

“They are a generation that has real serious challenges that I would not wish to have had when I was their age.

“Adults have let them down. We’re the first generation that probably collectively feels we had a better life than our children will have.

“So, to the person who says it’s a snowflake generation, just try living 24 hours as a 16-year-old.”

A man is set to appear in court for vandalising Belfast’s famous Big Fish sculpture.

The 44-year-old has been charged with criminal damage and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place after the attack left it with ‘significant damage’, police said.

He remained in custody this evening and is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court tomorrow (Monday).

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said they arrested a suspect after receiving reports that the sculpture, which is located in the Donegall Quay area of the city, was being damaged in the early hours of this morning (Sunday).

A social media image of it appeared to show that one side of it had been damaged around the eye.

Sergeant Kelly, from the force, said: ‘Officers attended the scene, where it was noted that significant damage had been caused to the left eye of the sculpture.’

Sergeant Kelly added: ‘Our inquiries are ongoing and we would appeal to anyone with information to contact police using our witness appeal form.

‘Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.’

The PSNI said that as is usual procedure, all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service.

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If you want extra crispy roast potatoes, this simple roast potato recipe from chef Poppy O’Toole is well worth trying.

Most people would agree that the best part of a roast dinner is a perfectly crispy roast potato. Fluffy on the inside yet satisfyingly crunchy on the outside, it’s no wonder they are so popular — and nothing quite hits the spot when the craving strikes.

However, any home cook will tell you that achieving the perfect roastie is no easy task, despite the minimal number of ingredients involved. Mastering the texture can be particularly challenging, especially when it comes to nailing that all-important crunch.

Fortunately, a chef and potato expert has revealed her ‘glorious’ roast potato method that guarantees maximum crunchiness — and it all comes down to a single straightforward coating.

Poppy O’Toole, widely known as the Potato Queen, has built her reputation on her outstanding spud recipes. Having spent years honing her craft and sharing her expertise, she undoubtedly makes roast potatoes her speciality.

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Her ‘expert level’ roastie recipe promises to be the best you will ever taste. Writing on her blog, she said: “These aren’t your casual Sunday spuds or your midweek ‘that’ll do’ potatoes because these are special-occasion roasties, the kind you make when you want to seriously impress.

“Yes, they take more time and more effort, but every golden, crispy, beef-fat-coated bite is 100% worth it.”

Her ‘secret weapon’ for ‘next-level crispiness’ is a simple coating of seasoned rice flour. Sprinkled over the potatoes once they have steam-dried, it guarantees an irresistibly crunchy and flavoursome result every single time.

Here is everything you need to recreate this recipe

Roast potato recipe

Ingredients

• Four to six large Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and sliced into equal chunks
• One chicken or vegetable stock cube
• A few sprigs of thyme and rosemary
• 1/2 brown onion
• 1/2 bulb garlic
• 100g beef fat/dripping
• Two tbsp rice flour
• Tsp garlic granules
• Tsp onion granules
• Salt

Method

Place all of the potatoes into a large saucepan filled with cold water. Season generously with salt and add the stock pot, fresh garlic and onion, thyme and rosemary.

Set the hob to high and bring to the boil, then cook for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C/400F. Once the potatoes have softened, remove the garlic, onion and herbs.

Drain through a colander and return it to sit over the pan, then cover with a clean tea towel and allow to steam-dry for 10-15 minutes.

Transfer the beef fat onto a baking tray and place it in the oven for 10-15 minutes while the potatoes steam. Take a wire rack and gently arrange the potatoes in a single layer.

Combine the rice flour, garlic granules, onion granules and a generous pinch of salt. Using a sieve, dust a fine layer of the rice flour mixture over the potatoes, rotating them to ensure all sides are covered.

Gently transfer all of the potatoes into the hot beef fat and turn to coat thoroughly.

Roast for 30 minutes, then give the tray a shake and flip the potatoes over. Continue roasting for a further 30 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.

Norham lies beside the River Tweed, around eight miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed, with stone-built homes, a historic church and the ruins of Norham Castle overlooking the river.

Today there is no doubt that the village is in Northumberland.

For hundreds of years, however, Norham and the surrounding district of Norhamshire formed a detached part of County Durham.

Durham University’s archive of the Palatinate of Durham records says Norham and Norhamshire were among areas collectively known as North Durham, which remained detached parts of County Durham until they were transferred to Northumberland in 1844.

Norham (Image: YVONNE MILNE/CAMERA CLUB)

That unusual geography reflected Norham’s long association with the powerful Bishops of Durham.

The village’s position overlooking a crossing of the Tweed also made it one of the most strategically important places on the turbulent border between England and Scotland.

Norham Castle was founded in the 12th century by Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, and for around 450 years was one of England’s major fortresses on the Tweed.

The castle was repeatedly caught up in fighting between the two kingdoms.

English Heritage says it was “besieged numerous times by Scottish armies and was captured on four occasions.”

One of the most dramatic episodes came in 1513 when James IV of Scotland attacked and captured the fortress using heavy artillery.

Within weeks, however, the Scottish army was defeated at the nearby Battle of Flodden and the castle returned to the Bishop of Durham.

Norham had also played a part in Scottish royal history decades earlier.

Edward I stayed at the castle in 1291 while considering rival claims to the Scottish throne during the process known as the Great Cause.

Beyond the castle walls, the village retains another reminder of its links to Durham.

St Cuthbert’s Church dates largely from the 12th century, and architectural details have been compared with work at Durham Cathedral.

Norham itself also has associations with St Cuthbert and the early church in Northumbria.

The village’s administrative relationship with Durham finally ended in 1844 when Norhamshire was formally transferred to Northumberland.

That means the peaceful border village visitors see today was, for centuries, effectively an isolated piece of County Durham surrounded by another county.

Norham Castle remains one of the major attractions.

Entry is currently free, although English Heritage says some areas are closed for conservation and health and safety reasons, with the outer section remaining accessible.

Visitors should check the latest information before travelling.

For generations, motorists travelling between Yorkshire, the North East, Cumbria and Scotland have known the name Scotch Corner.

It appears on maps, names Junction 53 of the A1(M), has a hotel and services, and has long guided drivers.

But there is an unusual catch; Scotch Corner is not a town or village at all.

The name primarily belongs to the famous road junction where the A1(M) meets the A66 near Richmond.

Motorway Services Online calls Scotch Corner an unusual historic waypoint treated as a major destination despite having no permanent population.

Scotch Corner (Image: ARCHIVE)

Official local statistics underline the oddity.

Former Richmondshire Council studies grouped Scotch Corner with nearby Middleton Tyas rather than listing it as a separate settlement.

A 2017 settlement study listed “Middleton Tyas (including Scotch Corner)” instead of treating Scotch Corner as a separate community.

Yet the Government uses Scotch Corner to show how Britain’s major road destinations are chosen.

The Department for Transport designates primary destinations: places shown on signs to guide drivers along major roads.

Most are towns or cities.

But population is not the only factor.

Government guidance says a location can also qualify as an important node — a place many motorists pass through on the way elsewhere.

The Department for Transport’s example is Scotch Corner.

That explains why the name became so important.

Scotch Corner is not famous for its residents.

A Scotch Corner sign (Image: Stuart Boulton/NORTHERN ECHO)

It is famous because generations of drivers have had to choose which way to go there.

Drivers heading north from southern England reached a point where routes to different parts of Scotland split.

Today the A1(M) continues north towards the North East and eastern Scotland, while the A66 heads west across the Pennines towards Cumbria and the M6.

National Highways describes the A66 as the key east-west route between the M6 at Penrith and the A1 at Scotch Corner.

Its importance as a road name is nothing new.

A 1963 Government traffic-signs report cited Scotch Corner as a nationally known junction, alongside other recognised junction names around Britain.

That reputation has made the junction behave like a place.

It has a nationwide name, a hotel, a service area, bus links and a postcode for the surrounding facilities.

But the actual populated village nearby is Middleton Tyas, around a mile away.

Ordnance Survey guidance says primary destinations can appear equally prominent on maps regardless of size, citing Scotch Corner as an example beside much larger towns.

Scotch Corner became important for the traffic passing through it, not the people or buildings within it.

Millions of journeys have made the name familiar to people who have never stopped there.

For most motorists, it is a destination they pass through rather than reach.

That makes Scotch Corner one of Britain’s strangest road names: it is known nationwide not for its residents, but for people travelling elsewhere.

The A170 at Sutton Bank, between Thirsk and Helmsley, closed at 7am on Sunday, September 13, and is due to remain shut until 7pm on Sunday, October 4.

North Yorkshire Council has closed the steep section of the A170 for its annual maintenance programme, with this year’s closure extended to three weeks to allow additional drainage and repair work to be carried out.

Roadworks information published on the one.network platform shows a signed diversion of 117.2km, equivalent to around 72.8 miles.

The alternative route is estimated to take drivers about two hours to complete.

Sutton Bank forms part of the A170, which runs between Thirsk and Scarborough, with the affected stretch climbing from the Vale of York towards the North York Moors. North Yorkshire Council describes it as a key east-west route across the county.

According to the one.network diversion information, motorists are taken away from Sutton Bank through a lengthy series of roads across North Yorkshire.

The route includes Cote Lane before reaching Bondgate and Linkfoot Lane in Helmsley.

Bondgate and Linkfoot Lane both form part of the road network through Helmsley, with Linkfoot Lane carrying the A170 through the town.

Drivers are then directed towards New Road before continuing along Sinnington Cliff Road and through the Sinnington and Wrelton area.

Sinnington Cliff Road forms part of the A170 near Wrelton, east of Helmsley.

The diversion continues towards Malton Road before eventually taking motorists onto a much longer section of the route.

According to one.network, drivers then travel for more than 23km on one stretch before reaching North Lane and later joining Ring Road.

The route subsequently uses Shipton Road before continuing along York Road for several substantial stretches.

Motorists are eventually directed back towards Sutton Road, completing the diversion around the closure.

In total, one.network gives the signed route as 117.2km, or approximately 72.8 miles, and estimates that it will take around two hours.

The diversion remains in force around the clock throughout the closure.

North Yorkshire Council says Sutton Bank is “undergoing planned maintenance to the rock face as well as routine road and drainage work.”

The longer closure is also allowing further drainage improvements and repairs to take place as part of a wider programme of work planned for Sutton Bank over the next three years.

The North York Moors National Park says the Sutton Bank National Park Centre remains accessible from the Helmsley side while the closure is in force, with signed diversions in place from Thirsk.

Drivers are being advised to follow the signed diversion and allow substantially more time for journeys while the A170 remains closed.

Personal possessions of late actress Brigitte Bardot – from Repetto ballet flats and diamond rings to her copy of the Kama Sutra – are being sold at auction on Monday with proceeds going to her animal charity.

Fans of the iconic figure, who died last December at the age of 91, have been coming en masse to contemplate the nearly 300 lots on display at the Drouot sale rooms in central Paris.

The items are from Bardot’s two homes in Saint-Tropez as well as her Paris flat, parts of which are recreated in the display.

“Each item on sale bears the trace of an encounter, an involvement, a moment of happiness, a stage of her life. They tell the story of the woman as well as the legend,” said her secretary for many years, Frank Guillou.

Bardot is seen today as one of the most important female personalities of the late 20th century. As a model and actress from the 1950s, she became an emblem of modern femininity and the sexual revolution before later taking up the cause of animal rights.

But later in life she was also criticised for making homophobic slurs and was fined multiple times for inciting racial hatred.

A consumer expert has shared the three sentences to use when you have a legal right to a refund or when a retailer offers only store credit.

A consumer expert has shared the exact wording to use if a shop refuses to give you a refund when you have a statutory right to reject the goods.

Consumer expert Jane Hawkes advises making your rights clear with three simple sentences.

However, this is not a way to guarantee a refund for any unwanted purchase. Whether you are entitled to your money back depends on what is wrong with the goods, when the problem is identified and how you bought them.

Jane, who runs the free advice website www.ladyjaney.co.uk, is an award-winning UK money blogger with more than two decades of experience on both sides of the counter.

She said retailers “cannot simply replace a right to a refund with a voucher or store credit because it suits their returns policy.”

How to ask for a refund

The expert said that if you do have a statutory right to a refund, you must make it clear that you are exercising your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

She recommended saying this: “Under section 20 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, I am exercising my statutory right to reject the goods and treat the contract as at an end. The Act states that, once this right is exercised, the trader has a duty to provide a refund. Please, therefore, process my full refund without further delay.”

When is a shop obliged to give you a refund?

Being offered only store credit when you want your money back can be frustrating. But there is an important difference between returning faulty goods and simply changing your mind.

Jane explained: “Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, consumers have legal rights when goods are faulty, not of satisfactory quality, not fit for purpose or not as described. The remedy available will depend on when the problem is identified. This can include a refund, repair or replacement.

“Where the law requires a monetary refund, the fact that you originally paid with money means the retailer cannot simply insist that you accept credit to spend in their store instead.

“However, it is important to distinguish between a faulty purchase and simply changing your mind. If you bought something from a physical shop and there is nothing wrong with it, there is generally no automatic legal right to a refund, exchange or store credit. In that situation, you are relying on the retailer’s own returns policy. The position can be different when you buy online, by telephone or mail order, as consumers generally have a 14-day cancellation period, even if the goods are not faulty.”

Check the returns policy before buying

Jane advised checking what a retailer offers for unwanted goods, particularly if you think you might want to return a purchase.

She said: “Retailers should make their returns and refund policies clear and easy for customers to understand. A good policy should explain what options are available for unwanted goods, whether that is a refund, exchange or store credit, together with any time limits and conditions, such as proof of purchase. It is always worth checking the returns policy before buying, particularly if you are unsure whether you may subsequently want to return the item.

“There are also certain goods where special rules can apply. These can include personalised or bespoke items, perishable goods, and some sealed products where breaking the seal means they can no longer be returned for health or hygiene reasons. Your rights can also be affected if you were specifically made aware of a particular fault before you bought the item.

“If a retailer tells you, ‘We don’t give refunds, we only offer store credit,’ don’t simply accept that as the final word but ask them to explain why they believe you are not entitled to a monetary refund.”

Two videos circulating on social media appear to show the moment a cargo ship crashes into a fishing vessel, with dramatic footage capturing the impact.

BBC Verify authenticated the clips, identified the ships involved and traced the collision to waters near Singapore, with evidence suggesting it likely happened on 17 September.

It remains unclear whether anyone was injured or killed and why the collision occurred.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman spoke to Hard Rock Bet in the wake of Taylor’s farewell bout, unveiling her groundbreaking new position

Just a fortnight after hanging up her gloves, Katie Taylor has already secured an exciting new role that will define the next chapter of her life.

The Irish boxing legend has been appointed as an ambassador for the WBC, one of the sport’s most prestigious governing bodies.

Throughout her remarkable career, Taylor has claimed WBC gold on numerous occasions, bowing out as a three-time undisputed champion with every title available in her weight division firmly in her grasp.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman spoke to Hard Rock Bet in the wake of Taylor’s farewell bout, unveiling her groundbreaking new position.

“She is unbelievable. From a little girl who had to disguise herself as a boy in order to box, to go to the gym, pretending she was a boy, to selling out Croke Park with 83,000 people. What a story. This is the greatness of a woman power, and she’s a great and absolute pride of the WBC,” reports the Irish Mirror.

“All of the fights she has had and there have been so many iconic fights. The Amanda Serrano trilogy, coming back from defeat to become champion again and the inspiration she has given to millions of girls and women who want to now get into boxing is just incredible.

“She’s going to be a WBC Ambassador for Life. Boxers, sometimes when they’re retired, don’t know what to do next so it is important we keep as many in boxing once they have retired because sometimes it can be hard for fighters but with Katie, she is with the WBC for life. she always has a home with the WBC and will always have a role.

“It is always about the boxer, before, during and after their careers inside the ring and we look forward to many years of collaboration with Katie Taylor and all the fighters around the world.”

For Taylor, Croke Park represented a momentous occasion.

She had campaigned for years to secure a bout at GAA headquarters, and with Flora Pili standing opposite her, she delivered a masterclass. The Irish boxer comprehensively outclassed the Frenchwoman, crowning her career with a magnificent victory.

Following the triumph, she contemplated retirement, stating: “My whole life has been one big training camp. I do training camp after training camp after training camp. I’m looking forward to just putting my feet up and relaxing for a while.”

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