With Daylight Savings approaching, sleep schedules often take a hit – but these tips can help to keep your sleep regular.

Spring has arrived, and before this month concludes, summer will be upon us. On March 29, the clocks will spring forward and British Summer Time will commence.

This brings brighter evenings – but one hour less in bed. This can prove a challenging transition, but with a few simple adjustments, the shift can be made more manageable.

Dr Tim Mercer, an NHS GP partner and GP trainer with Opera Beds has revealed some of his leading recommendations for easing this changeover period. He outlined why Daylight Savings can prove difficult to adapt to as well, reports the Express.

It’s entirely related to the amount of light we’re exposed to.

Dr Mercer stated: “Exposure to morning daylight suppresses melatonin production, waking us up and keeping us alert during the day.”

“During the evening and in darkness, melatonin production increases, signalling to your body that it’s time to sleep.

“With the later onset of darkness after the clocks go forward, your body may delay melatonin production, potentially making it harder to fall asleep at your usual time.

“This shift can lead to temporary disruptions in sleep patterns as your body adjusts to the new schedule.”

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He added: “As the clocks go forward and we move into British Summer Time, we lose an hour of sleep, which can upset our internal body clock.

“If you have a good sleep routine, you may consider moving it forward by 10-15 minutes in the days leading up to the change.”

It’s also worth being mindful of your eating patterns, and to achieve the best night’s sleep, we ought to have dinner – typically the largest meal of the day – three hours before turning in.

He said: “On Sunday, March 29, eat dinner an hour earlier than usual. Where we’re losing an hour, eating too close to your bedtime can disturb your sleep and cause indigestion. You should aim to finish dinner a few hours before going to bed.”

Another approach to improving your sleep is keeping active, according to Dr Mercer: “Longer daylight hours provide more opportunities for outdoor activity, which can benefit your sleep.

“Engage in regular exercise, such as walks or outdoor sports, but avoid vigorous activity too close to bedtime, as this can be stimulating.”

The picture of William and his mother has never been seen before by the public

Prince William has paid tribute to his late mother, Princess Diana, with a never-before-seen picture. The image – believed to be from the Prince of Wales’ private collection – shows the royal as a child around the age of two with his smiling mother in a field of flowers.

Posting the picture on social media William said: “Remembering my mother, today and every day. Thinking of all those who are remembering someone they love today. Happy Mother’s Day. W”

The Prince of Wales visited Cardiff on Saturday, March 15 to watch Wales win the team’s last game of the Six Nations, and its first win.

At the time of Diana’s death in August 1997, her eldest son was just 15 and Prince Harry was 12 years old. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter

The Royal Family social media page also posted a Mother’s Day message celebrating the mother’s of the family.

The post reads: “Wishing Mothers everywhere, and those who might be missing their Mums today, a restful Mothering Sunday.”

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Bryson DeChambeau won his fourth LIV Golf title with a “brutal” play-off victory over Canadian wildcard Richard T Lee at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore.

American DeChambeau secured the trophy at the first extra hole despite finding water off the tee, after both players had finished on 14 under par.

Lee birdied four of his final six holes to set the clubhouse target but could not maintain that momentum.

The first play-off hole saw DeChambeau dump his ball in a lake as they played down the 18th, immediately handing his opponent an advantage.

But Lee’s conservative approach backfired as DeChambeau rescued a par five.

Lee then agonisingly missed a short par putt and DeChambeau, clearly surprised at greenside, was able to celebrate a win.

“What a day, that was crazy,” DeChambeau told TNT Sports.

“When I hit it in the water, the wind just took it way out of line, it was brutal. I managed to gather myself and hit a 300-yard three wood to get back in it.

“I had to go for it and attacked it. I feel so bad for Richard. I wanted to go and play an extra hole. Sport is brutal – you never want to see someone miss a putt like that.”

Lee’s runner-up finish is the highest achieved by a wildcard in a LIV event and earned the 35-year-old $2.25m (£1.7m) from the $20m (£15.1m) individual prize fund.

“It was a short putt and I wanted to just hit it hard, and I hit it a little too hard,” Lee said.

“I think the adrenaline was pumping a little bit. Then again, I felt like I had it this week. I played really well. Hopefully next week I can try again.”

DeChambeau, 32, collected $4m (£3.1m) for his victory, with England’s Lee Westwood, 52, finishing third on 12 under to claim $1.5m (£1.16m).

Pharmaceutical expert said ‘recent research has linked sedating antihistamines to rising numbers of deaths’

A pharmaceutical expert has issued a new warning about people taking types of sleeping pills about possible dangers of ‘serious harm’. Writing on The Conversation website Dipa Kamdar Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, Kingston University explained that some drugs are sold over the counter at thousands of chemists around the country – and people assume they are totally safe.

However she explained people need to be aware of their side effects and in some cases what prolonged taking can do to the body. She said: “Many people assume that medicines sold over the counter are inherently safe. After all, if you can buy something in a supermarket or high street pharmacy, how dangerous can it really be?

“The reality is more complicated. Several commonly used over-the-counter medicines carry a real risk of dependence, misuse or harm when taken in higher than recommended doses, for longer than needed, or for the wrong reasons.“

On the issue of sleeping tablets, she highlighted two main brands – promethazine and diphenhydramine and said prolonged use can lead to people needing higher doses – and in fact lead to insomnia. She said: “Promethazine and diphenhydramine are sedating antihistamines sold as short-term sleep aids. Recent research has linked sedating antihistamines to rising numbers of deaths, prompting calls for a review of how they are supplied.

“Promethazine can quickly lead to tolerance, meaning higher doses are needed to achieve the same effect. Some long-term users report severe rebound insomnia when they try to stop. It is also used recreationally in “purple drank”, a mixture of cough syrup that contains promethazine and soft drinks. This combination can cause extreme sedation, slowed breathing and serious harm.”

Promethazine and diphenhydramine are both strong, sedating (drowsy) antihistamines. NHS guidance advises against taking these together, as it increases the risk of excessive sleepiness, severe sedation, and side effects like dizziness and confusion. Both are used for allergies, while promethazine is also used for short-term insomnia

The NHS advice for promethazine says:

Serious side effects

Call your doctor or call 111 straight away if:

• you’re feeling confused – you’re unable to concentrate or think clearly, or have muddled thoughts
• you have blurred vision
• you have difficulty peeing

Call your doctor or call 111 straight away and stop taking promethazine if:

• the whites of your eyes or your skin turn yellow, although this may be less obvious on black or brown skin – these can be signs of liver problems
• you are bruising or bleeding more than normal
• you have muscle stiffness or shaking, or unusual face or tongue movements
• you have a fast, pounding or irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
• your child becomes aggressive, sees or hears things that are not there (hallucinations) and becomes hyperactive

For more information click here.

The NHS advice for diphenhydramine says:

Call a doctor or call 111 straight away if:

• you have a fast or irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
• you feel any numbness or pins and needles
• you feel very restless
• you’re feeling confused – you’re unable to concentrate or think clearly, or have muddled thoughts

For more information click here.

There is now nothing at the site to suggest it was once a railway station

At first glance, there is little to suggest that trains once stopped here, which is a similar story to many Cambridgeshire railway stations that have come and gone over time. One in particular with an unusual story to tell, lies beneath newly laid tarmac as it is transforming into 40 new homes.

Haddenham Cambs was a single platform station which opened in April 1866 and offered three passenger trips a day, down the Ely to St Ives railway line.

The station was renamed Haddenham Cambs in 1923 to avoid confusion with with Great Western’s Haddenham station and was open for passenger journeys until 1931. The line was used by fruit pickers and for two annual excursions to Hunstanton and Great Yarmouth until 1958.

The original station buildings have long since disappeared with the former platform area forming part of the business Anson Packaging’s office buildings in 1977. The business site closed in 2016 and in 2022, work began to transform the landscape into 40 new dwellings, a substation and associated infrastructure.

The new properties are a mixture of 40 new two-bed and three-bed affordable rent and shared ownership properties set to be on the market for tenants in spring 2026.

A brief history of the railway line

The station was located outside the village of Haddenham next to the Station Road and Ely Way junction and was built to serve the surrounding Fenland communities.

The line was short connecting the village to the Ely and Huntingdon railway. It opened in August 1847, the same day as the Eastern Counties Railway opened its line from Cambridge to St Ives.

Despite a slow start and several failed proposals to expand the line in 1869 and 1872, an extension from Sutton to St Ives eventually opened in 1878 and connected Haddenham, Bluntisham and Earith Bridge increasing services to five trains a day.

Charles Howard spent 39 years of his service with the Great Eastern Railway Company at Haddenham station. He said: “When I came to Haddenham in 1887 the platform was only about two bricks high. I had that altered so that people could conveniently step into the carriages, as they would be able to do at any other station.”

“In those days we had a brick siding to cope with the tremendous brick trade which was done by Mr Jewson’s firm”.

Passenger numbers were modest as residents showed little enthusiasm for the rural station’s walking distance from the village and prohibitive fares. Freight traffic for transporting local products from the nearby goods sheds, coal yards and adjacent clay pit remained healthy over the years.

Mr. Howard spoke on the fruit growing industry in the area and said that in those days the gooseberry was the principal fruit grown. People across the community went in for growing all kinds of fruit and large quantities that were dispatched by rail

Prior to Mr Howard there had only been one other station master, Mr Jacobs, who was there for 21 years.

Following the First World War and the arrival of local bus services in 1922, there was a rapid decline in passenger numbers which came secondary to freight traffic transporting goods.The railway was absorbed into the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) the same year, becoming a part of the wider train network as it is known today.

Passenger services on the line were withdrawn in February 1931. Despite this, the station continued to see occasional use for special trains carrying seasonal fruit pickers who came to the area to help with harvest work. The branch was the busiest with transporting goods such as milk, sugar beet, livestock and agricultural produce.

After the Second World War, most of this traffic gradually shifted to road transport and only two annual excursion trains to the seaside resorts of Hunstanton and Great Yarmouth also called at the station until October 1958.

Within the same year the tracks were lifted, and much of the former railway route was returned to farmland or reused as access roads across the surrounding fenlands.

The land was occupied in 1977 by Ansom packaging who were a leading supplier for the plastic packaging of Marks & Spencer produce. The business built a £1.5 million production space incorporating the former station house into its infrastructure.

The company remained on the site of the old railway station until its merger with the Danish firm Faerch in 2015 and moved to a new facility headquarters at Lancaster Way Business Park, Ely.

Today, little evidence remains of Haddenham’s once busy rural station but with the land once again redeveloped, the site enters a new refreshed chapter in its long history yet to be made.

Simon Rimmer warned comedian Sam Campbell to “moderate your language” minutes into the latest edition of Sunday Brunch on E4 after he used bad language live on air

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A Sunday Brunch guest was forced to issue an apology for swearing just minutes into the live show.

Host Simon Rimmer was joined by radio presenter Yinka Bokinni, who stepped in for regular presenter Tim Lovejoy for the second week in a row, on Sunday (March 15) morning.

The duo welcomed guests Married at First Sight Australia star Lucinda Light, band Don Broco, comedians Maisie Adam and Sam Campbell, actress Andi Osho and singer Glenn Tilbrook to the studio.

Simon kicked off by asking Australian stand-up comic Sam if he’d brought a toy with him into the studio and the star explained it “wasn’t a toy” but a robot he’s been “working with” and “teaching human values”.

Sam later got out a remote control hand and showed it off to the other guests by putting it on the table and moving it up and down in front of them.

However, things didn’t quite go to plan though as the hand ended up on the floor, leaving Sam to let slip “f**k”.

Presenter Simon was forced to step in and warned Sam “moderate your language by the way” and the star quickly apologised saying “Sorry about that.”

Tim missing the show wasn’t the only shake-up as the show was aired on E4 instead of Channel 4 to accommodate Paralympics coverage.

The regular Sunday morning time slot has been handed over to Channel 4’s broadcasting of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games.

Last week, viewers were divided after Yinka made her hosting debut alongside Simon, one remarking on social media, “Not the same without Tim, you can’t have Ant without Dec.

“@timlovejoy too good for E4 then…?” queried another, whilst a third chimed in, “She’s a bit too loud! Missing Tim. #SundayBrunch.”

Another viewer concurred, “Never thought I’d say this, but not the same without Tim.”

However, there were those who were delighted to see Yinka at the helm, with one fan exclaiming, “Yes, Yinka.”

“Love this. I’m 100% tuning in,” shared another, and a fellow viewer echoed, “This is perfection.”

Sunday Brunch is available to catch up on Channel 4

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new ** Everything Gossip ** website

The Canary Islands have been placed on the Fodor ‘No List’ amid anti-tourism protests, environmental concerns and pollution impacting beaches.

Fodor provides travel guides and online tourism information for English-speaking tourists.

During the first six months of 2025, the Canary Islands welcomed more than 7.8 million tourists and more than 27 million airport passengers.

But residents have protested in the streets of Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Lanzarote over the past two years against the usual influx of travellers to the sunny, hot islands.

On the anti-tourism protests in the Canary Islands, Fodor said: “Their message was clear: booming tourism, soaring housing costs, and mounting environmental strain are threatening the foundations of island life.”

ATAN, one of the oldest such groups, told Fodor that “they are losing their identity, culture, and, ultimately, their right to exist as a community.”

Another concern is pollution from wastewater.

Fodor added: “Imagine wading into what should be crystalline hotel-resort waters, only to realise that 100 million liters of untreated or barely treated sewage gush into the sea every day, swamping beaches with fecal contamination.”

The travel list, however, is not a “boycott” list but is designed to “highlight destinations where tourism is placing unsustainable pressures on the land and local communities”, Fodor said.

It added: “The No List serves a gentle but pointed nudge to ease up on a spot for now–not forever–and give a rest to any location that clearly needs a breather.”

This comes after additional travel warnings for Brits looking to travel.

Amid the deadly war between Israel/US and Iran, the UK Government has been updating its travel guidance for countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine and Qatar.

At the start of the month, the government advised Brits to register their whereabouts so the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office can send them direct updates.

Dave Watson, 73, died in February after receiving what his family claim was poor care at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

A Scots family have said they were heartbroken after being ‘robbed’ of time with their dad. Dave Watson, 73, died last month just two months after being admitted to hospital following a fall caused by a seizure.

Dave’s family have claimed that he was ‘ignored’ and ‘failed’ after he was forced to wait hours for an ambulance and 13 hours in a corridor at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh with broken ribs and a punctured lung on December 2, 2025.

Wife Elisabeth, a nurse with 43 years experience in the NHS, felt his care before his death on February 7 was not up to scratch following a litany of failures.

NHS Lothian have said that the family’s concerns are “being taken seriously” but can’t comment further while an investigation into their complaints is ongoing.

Speaking to our sister title Edinburgh Live, Elisabeth said: “I was there with Dave in A&E for hours and left to go and get him a bag. While I was at home I received a call to say Dave had fallen off the trolley in the corridor trying to go to the toilet – he was on his own for maybe an hour at most.

“No one seemed to be looking after him. He had crawled all the way down his bed and managed to fall out of the end without anyone noticing. He was not being monitored and I want to know: did he have a buzzer? Did he shout or ask for help?

“They were worried he had broken his hip so he was sent to get a CT scan. His results came back confirming his broken ribs, so we knew he just needed time and rehabilitation to heal.

“But the hospital seemed like a chaotic mess. I had to ask a friend who worked at the hospital to come and give Dave his medication on time as I had received no assurances from staff.”

In 2020, Edinburgh University physics graduate and music composer Dave, from the Comiston area of Edinburgh, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and later developed Alzheimer’s. Despite that, he was able to live a relatively independent life supported by wife Elisabeth, daughters Amy and Catriona and son Tom.

After his wait at A&E, Dave was moved to the hospital‘s major trauma ward where his care was said to be excellent. So much so that he was described as ‘a new man’ going into the weekend.

Daughter Amy travelled to Disneyland Paris with her kids and husband believing her dad would be back home by the time she returned. But this was not the case.

Amy said: “I was so confident we would see him at home when I got back. He spent two days in major trauma but was then sent to surgical under the care of a cardiothoracic surgeon despite requiring no surgery or suffering from heart-related issues. Initially, dad had a lot of attention but it went downhill as the ward became busier.”

However, Dave developed sepsis from an intravenous cannula that had been left in for over 72 hours according to his family. Later that day, they were told he was unlikely to survive the night, forcing Catriona, a nurse in London, to fly home.

Amy said: “It was horrendous, I sat with my dad on our own for six hours while he was having seizures and hallucinating. They had no idea what to do.

“It took them hours to discover he had sepsis and then we were told he was not going to pull through. We had prepared ourselves to say goodbye.

“But by the next day, he had bounced back and survived. Catriona kept saying he was in the wrong ward. We knew he was not in the right place. But I think they took advantage of the fact we were there all the time as a family caring for him.”

To recover, he needed physical rehabilitation and that he was awaiting a transfer to Ellens Glen community hospital. However, Elisabeth believes he was side-lined as he was seen as a bed blocker by NHS Lothian.

She said: “All I kept hearing is ‘he is for rehab.’ I knew that rehab had to start right away but it never happened.

“It was imperative for his recovery to have physiotherapy and occupational therapy everyday and I worry this did not happen because he was not boarded in the right place. He was at a huge disadvantage. He was wasting away.”

Both Elisabeth and Amy describe a decline in Dave’s condition after initially rallying. They believe this was down to two factors: his medication not being administered properly and a lack of physiotherapy.

Amy said: “He was going stir crazy. During his time in hospital I witnessed first hand his medication not being given on time or at all.

“It is absolutely vital that someone with Parkinson’s is given their medication on the dot. When mum got a call from staff at the Royal to say they had a restraining order in place as he had bit a member of staff, we knew something was wrong.

“He had never displayed this kind of behaviour in his life, he must have been so scared. We would get calls through the night saying he was distressed.

“This is when we discovered his long standing 8pm Parkinson’s medication was regularly not being administered. I witnessed first hand his medication not being given on time or at all.

“We were regularly called in to help him use the toilet. They were having him go to his toilet on his back, not even offering him a commode. The level of care was shocking.”

Amy claims the lack of physiotherapy meant Dave was often hoisted up by nursing staff using their man power but the moment his blood pressure dropped, they abandoned treatment.

She decided to move her dad to his room chair to encourage recovery. After six weeks, Amy and her husband decided to get him up for a walk which left the nurses at the bay ‘freaking out.’

Amy said: “My dad was seven stone, so we knew we could support him. That evening, staff observed him walking out of the ward to the toilet by himself. This observation confirmed he never lost the capacity to walk; he was just sidelined and ignored.

“I felt like the hospital was constantly passing the buck. No one was taking responsibility.

“Low blood pressure is a well-recognised and long-standing feature of Parkinson’s disease. Nevertheless, physiotherapy sessions were repeatedly abandoned due to drops in blood pressure. They just left him in his bed making no effort.”

Elisabeth was horrified when she discovered Dave in early January 2026, alone on a mattress on the floor in the foetal position hallucinating. She claims a staff nurse was sitting outside the room on a computer watching him.

She said: “Enough was enough. I told them to get him on the chair and I stormed in and told them they have to get Dave out of here now.

“He should have been moved to Ellens Glen immediately but by the time he got there in the middle of January, it was too late. He needed intense care but was not given it, he would have been better off at home.”

Having decades of experience working as a nurse within the NHS, Elisabeth believes Dave’s treatment was emblematic of the crisis impacting NHS Scotland – long waiting times and not enough beds for reablement across the Lothians.

Dave was moved into Ellens Glen and sadly passed away on February 3. This was despite the family being assured throughout December and January that he was not at the stage of ‘end of life care.’

Amy said: “The damage was done by the time we went to Ellens Glen. The minute he rallied in hospital he had to be moved there.

“The fact he deteriorated so severely away from us showed how good a job we were doing caring for him at home. I genuinely believe he would have died in the Royal if we had not been there intervening and caring for him. We were taken advantage of, and he was failed.”

Elisabeth believes the NHS is ‘finished.’ Having spent four decades working in the sector, she describes an environment riddled with bed blockage and a lack of rehabilitative care.

She said: “Dave was failed by the system. If he had been given physio right away then we could have had longer with him.

“He is one of thousands who are being failed and dying in hospitals like the Royal. We have a capacity issue in Edinburgh.

“I’m appalled. I do feel that looking back and having worked with a lot of people, there is massive fragmentation.

“Senior members of NHS Scotland have no awareness of what is happening on the ground. The NHS is just firefighting now, it is panic management. The human level has gone.”

The family have contacted various senior figures within NHS Scotland as well as cabinet ministers but say they feel ‘fobbed off and ignored.’ They currently have a stage two complaint being investigated by NHS Lothian.

Tracey Gillies, Medical Director for NHS Lothian, said: “We extend our sincere condolences to Mr Watson’s family and want to assure them that their concerns are being taken seriously. As we are currently investigating a formal complaint regarding his care, we are unable to comment further at this time.”

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A former senior aide to Donald Trump has told Metro that the President is in a ‘vulnerable position’ with his war in Iran – and doesn’t know how to get out of it.

Since the US launched joint strikes in Iran with Israel more than two weeks ago, the oil industry has been thrown into chaos, neighbouring countries have been struck with missiles, and 13 US soldiers have been killed.

At the time, Trump said his reasons for the strikes on February 28 were he believed Iran was going to attack the US first – something that his own officials have since told Congress that there was no intelligence suggesting this.

Trump also said he hoped to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, something Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has also said, adding: ‘We didn’t start this war… but under President Trump, we’re finishing it.’

When the conflict began, only 41% of Americans approved of the intervention – far lower than support for any other US conflict in decades.

Now, John Robert Bolton, Trump’s former national security advisor from 2018 to 2019, told Metro that there is a strong case for regime change in Iran, but Trump hasn’t made this clear to the American public – something which could come back to haunt him.

He said: ‘You’ve always got to be prudent, but when a country is seeking weapons of mass destruction—chemical, biological, or nuclear—and engaging in international terrorism while repressing its own people, it is a problem,’ he warned.

‘If you wait too long to deal with it, as we did with North Korea, it becomes a bigger problem. It goes to what Churchill said regarding appeasement: “This just confirms the unteachability of mankind.”

‘You go through this over and over again; you don’t strike when it’s easy, you wait until it’s too late, and then you pay the price.’

Trump’s biggest mistake in Iran

Having served under Trump for two years in his first administration, former US ambassador to the United Nations Bolton said the President needed to convince America why going after Iran would be to their benefit – but so far, he hasn’t.

‘Trump didn’t make it clear to the public, to Congress, or to the Allies. It’s not too late, but it’s getting close,’ he said.

‘By failing to make the case, he has put himself in a vulnerable position. He knows he’s in a difficult place, and he doesn’t know how to get out of it,’ Bolton added.

This is a ‘war of choice’

Ambassador Bolton told Metro that while Iran was not considered an ‘imminent threat’, its nuclear programme was getting ‘too close for comfort’.

‘People say this is a “war of choice.” It is. It’s a preventive war to prevent the need to do something else in much more dangerous circumstances,’ he explained.

Referring to the US’ Iraq War in 2003, he added: ‘By the late 1990s, Saddam didn’t have centrifuges spinning, but he had kept together approximately 3,000 scientists and technicians who could rebuild the program.

‘That was the point: they have the knowledge. Iran may not have centrifuges spinning today, but they know how to put them back together.’

When a country is ‘seeking weapons of mass destruction and engaging in international terrorism while suppressing its own people’, it’s a problem, he added.

‘The lesson to us is: don’t be so patient. If a proliferator has enough patience and gets nuclear weapons, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to take its program out without grave risk,’ Bolton said.

‘If the US had attacked Iran 20 years ago, it would have spared the region ‘a lot of pain and suffering’.

Trump needs to work with the opposition in Iran

The opposition movement in Iran is extremely widespread, but not organised, Ambassador Bolton points out.

Still, working with dissidents inside the country could prove vital for Trump’s goals of regime change in the country.

‘Dissatisfaction with the regime has never been higher. It is weaker than at any point since it took power in 1979,’ Ambassador Bolton argued.

‘People age 30 and under—who make up two-thirds of the population—know they could have a different life. They can see it across the Gulf; they can see it on the internet when the government lets the internet operate.’

After the 2022 murder of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman in Iran who was beaten and killed by police because she refused to wear the hijab, anti-government protests surged.

The murder of Amini prompted the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement, which Bolton said is significant, because: ‘Once you challenge the Ayatollahs’ legitimacy, in effect, you are challenging the state.’ 

Knock-on effects cripple the Middle East

Gulf states are still suffering from missile and drone attacks after Tehran threatened to widen its campaign as the war in the Middle East entered its third week.

Iranian strikes have killed at least a dozen civilians in Gulf states, most of them migrant workers.

Yesterday, President Trump said he hoped allies would send warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Arab Gulf neighbours during the war, but it has said it was targeting US assets, even as hits or attempts were reported on civilian ones such as airports and oil fields.

As global anxiety soars over oil prices and supplies, Trump said on Saturday that he hopes China, France, Japan, the UK, South Korea and others send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz ‘open and safe’.

But Iran’s joint military command has reiterated its threat to attack US-linked ‘oil, economic and energy infrastructures’ in the region if the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure is hit.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: First pictures of the US soldiers killed in Iraq military plane crash

MORE: Iran says the Ayatollah is alive after Trump suggested he died

MORE: Dubai influencers say people who are fleeing city during Iran War are ‘ungrateful’

The government is looking at scrapping a planned fuel duty hike in response to the rising energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East, the energy secretary has suggested.

Ed Miliband said he is “sending a clear message” that the government is “going to stand by people in this crisis” amid growing pressure on the government to protect consumers amid spiralling costs.

Fuel duty is currently frozen to help drivers with the cost of living, but that is due to end in the autumn. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has so far resisted calls to cancel the planned hike in response to the oil price spike caused by Donald Trump’s war on Iran.

Asked whether plans to end the 16-year fuel duty freeze in September would be reversed because of spiking oil prices, he said: “Let me answer that by saying this, which is, I’ll be candid with you, we don’t know how long this conflict is going to go on and therefore, with five months to go until September, we will have to see where we are, obviously.”

open image in gallery

He then spoke of the chancellor’s actions to reduce energy bills, before adding: “We will stand by the British people in this in this crisis, and we’ll do what it takes to do that.”

Pressed again whether this meant keeping the fuel duty freeze in place, Mr Miliband said: “You’re asking me to sort of speculate on what the chancellor is going to do on fuel duty… but look, I am sending a clear message, which is we are going to stand by people in this crisis.”

It comes as fears over a cost of living crisis similar to what happened in 2022 as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been heightened by the price of oil rising more than 20 per cent to above $100 a barrel and gas more than 50 per cent.

The RAC’s head of policy said last week that diesel prices have already risen by nearly 9 per cent since 28 February. Meanwhile, petrol prices are on average 6 per cent more across the same period, RAC Fuel Watch said.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has previously insisted that the rise would go ahead in September. But ministers have since softened their stance, with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer last week telling MPs that the planned 5p increase would be “kept under review” before it is due to come into force in September.

open image in gallery

Ms Reeves has also indicated that targeted support could be offered to households struggling with soaring energy bills as a result of the Middle East crisis.

The chancellor said she would give support “to those who really need it”, with a package of help for people who rely on heating oil – which is not covered by the energy price cap – expected next week.

Gas and electricity bills are covered by regulator Ofgem’s price cap which is fixed until June, but if the conflict continues and Iran maintains its stranglehold on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, then, households could face dramatic hikes at that point.

But about 1.5 million households relying on heating oil already face soaring costs, with the price per litre doubling since the start of the crisis.

It comes after Ms Reeves and Mr Miliband met with petrol industry representatives to warn against profiteering during the Iran war, with the latter saying that the government would not tolerate “unfair practices”.

“It is our obligation as the government to ensure the consumers are treated fairly in this crisis”, he said.

Ahead of the talks, the chancellor wrote to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), asking it to stay on “high alert” for “unjustifiable” price hikes, and insisted she would “not tolerate” firms exploiting uncertainty in the Middle East for financial gain, as concerns grow over the impact of the war on the cost of living.

But the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), which represents large and small independent petrol retailers across the UK, hit out at ministers’ suggestions that there had been “rip-off” pricing and “profiteering” by fuel providers, accusing them of “incorrect and inflammatory language”.