Then McCullum was sacked as Test coach. His last act in charge of both the Test and white-ball teams was to relax the drinking guidelines so England’s T20 side could celebrate their series win against India.

Now the curfew is gone, under the instruction of Root and McCullum’s replacement as Test coach – his great mate Stephen Fleming.

The England and Wales Cricket Board see Fleming as a grown-up, and he has made a grown-up move, one that also includes the curfew being lifted from a white-ball team still led by McCullum and Harry Brook.

McCullum is said to be supportive of players taking responsibility for their behaviour, which begs the question as to why he went along with the curfew in the first place.

Perhaps this is not a problem specific to this group of England players. Last week, Stokes rejected the idea that England have a drinking culture, instead suggesting the whole game has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

And that is not to say it is a crime every time a beer touches the lips of a cricketer.

In 2022, when England stunned New Zealand at Trent Bridge to give birth to the Bazball movement, the players celebrated on the dressing room balcony with a few drinks, then kicked on into the early hours and the Mega Munch takeaway in Nottingham.

After the Ashes of 2005, probably England’s greatest series win, celebrations were led by a swaying Andrew Flintoff on an open-top bus through the streets of London.

Even this past winter, there’s a decent chance Travis Head put away more than the England players. It’s just that Head was scoring runs and Australia were winning.

Former cricketers will argue that any drinking taking place now is nothing worse than what was consumed in years gone by – Ian Botham, Allan Lamb, Phil Tufnell and the rest.

But perhaps that’s exactly the point. Cricket has not moved with the times. You wouldn’t catch famous Arsenal swillers Paul Merson and Tony Adams saying Declan Rice and Viktor Gyokeres could match them drink for drink.

It is also not fair to pin a drinking culture only on elite players. Cricket has a relationship with alcohol right down to the grassroots of the game.

I play league cricket (badly), mainly as an excuse to have a few beers.

On a Saturday, I couldn’t really ask my partner to look after our two children just so I can go to the pub with 10 of my mates. Instead, I have to keep up the pretence of trying to score runs and catching the ball as a wicketkeeper. The cricket is a hindrance to getting to the bar.

Not that cricket will be too different to other amateur sports – back to the pub after Sunday league football, meeting in the bar at the tennis club, drinking games after a rugby match.

Has cricket kept up with the professional versions of those sports? Very much open to debate.

But these wider problems of the entire game are not an excuse for an England team who, frankly, would be given a pass for endless hours after midnight if they were winning.

Trouble is, they aren’t, with only two victories in their past 10 Tests. The reputational damage that has been suffered over the past year will only be fixed by success on the field.

The first opportunity to start putting things right comes with three matches against Pakistan, beginning next week. After that, England’s Test future is about as tough as it gets, with the major series coming away to world champions South Africa this winter, a home Ashes against Australia next summer, then five Tests in India in early 2028.

Does lifting the curfew enhance their chance of winning those series? Maybe treating the players like grown-ups off the field helps on it.

“If you want guys to take responsibility on the field, they’ve got to feel like they can be grown adults off it and make good, strong decisions off it,” said Root on Wednesday.

Either way, England must decide their stance and stick to it. Much like constantly changing an opening pair does little for the team’s output of runs, flip-flopping on rules around behaviour does not create a winning environment.

Curfew or no curfew, England can only rebuild on the field, not in the bar.

Win Tests, series and trophies, then they can go to bed as late as they please.

It was during a standard consultation with a plastic surgeon, while on holiday with her mother in Istanbul, that Antonia Higham was first introduced to the idea of a facelift.

Why not? A couple of tucks here, some pinches there. Hundreds of thousands of women have trod the same path before.

Holding her camera up to her face from her hotel room in Turkey the day before the operation, the Liverpudlian influencer announced to her hundreds of thousands of followers in March: ‘I am getting a facelift tomorrow. I’m so excited.’

So why did the move cause social media pandemonium, garner her intense backlash from disappointed critics and force her to speak out to me?

Well, because Antonia is only 28 years old.

It’s no secret that most women who undergo a major facelift procedure are usually over the age of 50.

The most common reason is to correct deeper set wrinkles, fix loose neck skin and eliminate jowls.

And now, for the first time, Antonia is telling me why she really had a rhytidectomy (facelift) at such a young age – and it’s all due to the troubling rise of unrealistic beauty standards flooding social media which left her with deep insecurities.

The aspiring actress says constantly looking at her face on films and social media made her notice all the little details and imperfections

The five-hour invasive procedure involved incisions around her hairline and ears, lifting the skin, tightening underlying muscles and tissue and removing excess skin. But Antonia insists to her social media followers she doesn’t regret paying for the £9,000 procedure.

Before meeting her, I simply couldn’t understand why a beautiful young woman – the same age as me – would choose to undergo such an invasive surgery.

But when I got the chance to sit down opposite her, I quickly realised the reasoning behind her extreme decision was more than simply just wanting to look younger.

In fact, according to her, the decision was about wanting to change the very shape of the face she was born with.

‘I felt like this area of my face looked heavy and sunken,’ she explains as she pulled at the left side of her still-swollen face – an insecurity she developed purely from constantly seeing herself on camera.

It does not help that Antonia is currently an influencer and in her final year at acting school in London.

Having her face repeatedly blown up on a screen in front of her classmates and strewn across social media, she told me, made her obsess over tiny details she might otherwise never have noticed.

‘I started noticing every little thing and detail and insecurity about my face,’ she says. ‘It was massively influenced by me looking at myself on camera all the time.

Antonia says she is happy with the results of the procedure, but ‘there have been aspects that have been really difficult’

‘I thought if I don’t do it now, then there might not be another chance.’

She had initially considered fox eye surgery, which raises the outer corners of the eyes and brows to create a more elongated, almond-shaped appearance.

But it was during a consultation in Istanbul, while on holiday there with her mother, that a surgeon suggested a facelift.

The surgeon had been recommended by other influencer friends of hers and to get the procedure done in the UK, she tells me, would have cost more than £30,000.

Although Antonia insisted he told her she didn’t need the procedure.

She returned to Britain, waited around three months and then secretly flew back for the operation.

She hadn’t told her family she was going through with it. Her mother had advised her against having surgery following their initial consultation, so Antonia decided to travel with her partner instead.

And then her mother found out in the most ‘influencer’ way possible: Through TikTok.

‘When she saw on social media that I had had it done, she was like, “Antonia, what the hell?” She was so angry,’ she recalls.

‘I was too scared to tell her because when we had the consultation, she told me not to get it done.

‘Pretty much everyone that knows me found out through social media.

‘I knew [if I had told them], they’d try and talk me out of it.’

Her partner was equally shocked by what he saw the following day.

‘He said he’d never seen anyone look like that in his life,’ she recalls. ‘He said he didn’t think a human being could look that swollen and bruised.’

The recovery, she tells me, has been brutal.

Antonia said she couldn’t eat or drink for two days and barely woke properly until the day after surgery, before watching the swelling become even worse.

People stared when she went outside. She even had to board a flight looking, in her words, ‘terrifying’.

‘I was scaring everyone that looked at me,’ she said.

‘It was at that point that I wondered if I had made a mistake.’

And then came the waiting game.

Antonia had been told that around 70 per cent of the swelling would have subsided three weeks after the operation and that she should look normal. But she didn’t.

‘Three weeks later I still looked completely swollen. I looked like E.T. and everyone kept giving me that nickname.’

At two months, she was still very bruised and couldn’t feel parts of her face. Yet she had to return to drama school.

‘I had to wear sunglasses constantly,’ she says. ‘It was very obvious I had a lot of work done and a big procedure.’

And now, more than four months on, she is still dealing with swelling. As we speak, she shows me how one eyebrow doesn’t move properly at all.

So, does she regret it?

‘No,’ she insists. ‘I do like the result, but there have been aspects that have been really difficult.’

She has also had to deal with the inevitable backlash after she made a video announcing the procedure to her followers in March. The video has now racked up almost three million views.

Antonia says she has received an enormous amount of hate online, including death threats.

She jokes now that the ‘losers putting hate in her comments’ have effectively paid for her to buy a new designer bag, through engaging with her content.

‘The reason why I made the video is because I couldn’t find anyone else talking about doing something similar at my age,’ she tells me.

‘I didn’t realise it would go so viral.

‘Some of the messages I have had have been so vile, the amount of death threats too. I have had to learn to have a really thick skin and shut a lot of it out.

‘Jesus could make a TikTok account and have haters.’

But alongside the abuse came thousands of messages from people thanking her for documenting something about which they couldn’t find themselves.

‘There wasn’t anything like it online when I was researching,’ she said. ‘I was looking around for content from young people showing their results and journey and I couldn’t find any.’

And she is keen to make one thing clear: she isn’t telling anyone else to have surgery.

I ask her about comments I have seen suggesting she is promoting cosmetic procedures, particularly to some of her younger followers.

‘I’ve never told anyone to do it,’ she says. ‘I’ve always said this was my own journey.

‘Celebrities are celebrated for being honest about the surgery they have had, Kylie Jenner admitted to her boob job and got no end of praise. But as soon as I do it, it’s different.

‘I want to be open and honest with my followers, not disappear for three months, have a new face and not address it.’

And perhaps that is what makes her story more interesting than the facelift itself.

Antonia tells me she has had a nose job, recently had a second breast augmentation consultation and is now openly documenting her cosmetic journey.

Yet, at the same time, she admits that, looking back, the 28-year-old who went under the knife may simply have needed to be a little kinder to herself.

‘I do look back and think I was probably too harsh on myself,’ Antonia tells me. ‘I wish I’d had a bit more self-love.’

It is a striking thing to say after spending £9,000 and enduring months of swelling, bruising and numbness.

But Antonia is adamant that she feels happier now.

She wants to focus on the career that brought her to London in the first place – acting – and focus on getting on screen without worrying about what she might look like.

‘I really want to do screen acting and I feel a lot more confident in doing that now with my new face.’

After everything she’s put it through, hopefully her face will finally get its starring role.

Megan proves Wags aren’t just for summer 

I revealed weeks before the World Cup that Megan Pickford was on a mission to revive the glory days of ‘Wag culture’ – when Victoria Beckham, Coleen Rooney and Cheryl Tweedy became almost as famous as their footballer other halves while cheering them on in Germany’s 2006 tournament. Well, she’s certainly been putting in the work.

Megan Pickford cheered on her husband Jordan throughout the World Cup this summer

Megan has been embracing the full Wag lifestyle. She’s been giving her followers a glimpse into her glamorous life, from all-inclusive holidays and getting her hair extensions taken out, to making pizza with the family and jetting off to Ibiza with goalkeeper husband Jordan by private plane. And it seems her strategy is paying off. In the past month alone, the Wag has gained 38,000 followers. Megan and Jordan, who have three children, clearly know how to keep family life at the heart of their social media presence. And now with her profile firmly on the rise, I’d expect the brand deals to start knocking on the door any minute.

After all, if Megan really is bringing back the Wag era, she might as well cash in on it.

Who needs Glastonbury when you have Dua Lipa? 

When Glastonbury organisers announced last year the festival would be on hiatus for this summer, there was panic among influencers who rely on the five-day fiesta as the perfect backdrop for their summer Instagram ‘dumps’. What would fill the Worthy Farm-shaped hole? Well, it appears they’ve found the perfect replacement. Sunny Hill Festival in Kosovo last weekend was inundated with influencers because it was founded and run by the queen of partying herself, Dua Lipa. 

The singer, 30, set up the weekend in her hometown in 2018 alongside her father and manager, Dukagjin. This year it saw Glastonbury’s usual faces – Romeo Beckham’s girlfriend Kim Turnbull, Kate Moss’s daughter Lila and her best friend, Olivia Neill – fly over by private jet. But no matter how VIP their treatment was – it included backstage access and was, of course, flaunted all over their Instagram grids – Dua still did not include them on her social media coverage…

Up

Creator @alexhobern has recently shown followers how to hold and burp a baby, as well as opening up about birth trauma

Move over traditional parenting manuals, a new generation of dads is turning to TikTok to document the highs, lows and sheer chaos of early fatherhood. 

Following in the footsteps of communities such as Pints and Ponytails, these new dads are sharing refreshingly honest insights into life with a newborn, from the things they wish they’d known to the lessons they’re learning on the job. 

It’s creating a safe space for men to talk openly about fatherhood, too. Creator favourite @alexhobern has recently shown followers how to hold and burp a baby, as well as opening up about birth trauma.

Down

There’s something rather awkward about a restaurant brand announcing that it wants to employ ‘hundreds and thousands’ of young men – and seemingly nobody stopping to ask whether excluding women and older workers is quite the route to take. Austin’s Dad, the pizza concept linked to Gregg Wallace, says it wants to give 18-25-year-old men ‘big opportunities’, while promising affordable food. And then there’s the promotional dream team: Wallace, Apprentice star turned Reform activist Thomas Skinner and food reviewer Matthew Binge. Controversy, it seems, is very much on the menu.

I see one of New York’s biggest influencers, Acquired Style, has finally had her wedding. Brigette Pheloung, now McHale, tied the knot in what was undoubtedly one of the most anticipated influencer weddings of the year but, I hear, there was one detail missing from the celebrations: the coveted Vogue spread. Sources tell me Brigette was keen to land the fashion bible for her big day, approaching photographers and pitching the idea to contacts at the magazine. She was also said to be less than thrilled when a guest appeared to ‘leak’ a picture of her wedding dress. No Vogue, then, but plenty of attention.

My recommendation of the week has to be @cabbiekaren, the London black cab driver turning her daily journeys into a fascinating tour of the capital. From hidden gems and forgotten corners to the stories and secrets tucked away on London’s streets, Karen is teaching even me, who has lived in London my whole life, something new. Her videos are a reminder that you can think you know a city and still have plenty left to discover. If you’re a Londoner, a history lover, or simply enjoy a good local secret, she’s well worth a follow.

Email me – molly.clayton@dailymail.co.uk

Instagram – @mollyroseclayton

TikTok – @mollclayton

But no trip to the seaside is complete without enjoying some traditional fish and chips while watching the sea.

Daniel Gray, who wrote the book Food of the Cods, has shared his top 25 fish and chip shops around the UK with the i Paper.

If you are ever visiting Whitley Bay, you will want to take a trip to Fisherman’s Bay to enjoy its award-winning fish and chips.

Why is Fisherman’s Bay so popular?

On the fish and chip shop, the publication said: “Fisherman’s Bay presents customers with a dilemma.

“Sit inside and appreciate its elegant, calming restaurant?

“Or, take away and eat within sight of the rumbling North Sea, stabbing wooden forks into haddock so that it unleashes steam into the air?

“This Tyneside marvel also deserves praise for its creative vegan options.”

Fisherman’s Bay is run by the Dhillon family, who have over 25 years of experience in the industry.

The fish and chip shop uses sustainable ingredients and promises to create the “freshest and most flavoursome dishes”.

Whether you fancy cod bites, haddock, or some classic Whitby scampi, Fisherman’s Bay has it on the menu.

You can take away your fish and chips to enjoy by the sea. (Image: Tripadvisor)

Of course, you can get each meal served with a portion of chips.

For those who are not lovers of fish, there are lots of alternative options, including halloumi fritters, sausages, burgers, and chicken goujons.

Fisherman’s Bay has all of the classic sides from curry sauce and gravy to mushy peas, as well as some of its own homemade sauces like chilli jam, hot sauce, and garlic mayo.

The shop offers gluten-free and vegan options, meaning everyone is catered for.

The fish and chip shop has lots of indoor and outdoor seating, but you can also take away your meal to head down to the coast.

What do customers of Fisherman’s Bay think of the food spot?

Reviewers on Tripadvisor have said the shop serves up the best fish and chips in the North East and has “outstanding” portion sizes.

One person wrote: “Excellent cod in batter with a slice of fresh lemon and chips.

“The children rated their nuggets and chips very highly.

“Clean tables, pleasant staff, reasonable prices.

“The best fish and chips we’ve ever had.”

Another person said: “I cannot speak more highly about this place.

“Fish was stunningly flavoursome, well cooked, and with a perfect crispy batter.

“Onion rings also excellent.

“A great place for lunch, and a memorable experience.”

Do you think Fisherman’s Bay deserves a spot on the list? Let us know in the comments.

The Kingsclere trainer will be represented in a string of Group races and handicaps across the four-day fixture.

Mr Balding said: “We’re strong, particularly in a couple of the bigger races, which is always nice, and we’ll have plenty of runners in the handicaps as well.”

As it stands, Mr Balding looks likely to have runners in three of the meeting’s four Group 1s.

On Wednesday, 19 August, Item is ready to line up against Ombudsman and Constitution River in the richest ever staging of the Juddmonte International, now worth £1.5 million.

The Frankel colt is proven at York, having twice won Group 2s over course and distance; first, in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes and then last month in the Sky Bet York Stakes.

Mr Balding said: “He’s a horse we’ve always had huge belief in.

“Bar Epsom, Derby Day, on which the ground was not to his liking, he’s got a flawless record.

“He’s won his other four starts and was quite impressive last time at York, given that the race probably wasn’t run ideally to suit him.

“But we’re there with the best older horse in Europe and probably the best three-year-old in Europe.”

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes heroine, Kalpana, is being trained for the Legends Global Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday, 20 August.

And all the signs are positive off the back of the superstar mare’s stunning success at Ascot on 25 July.

Mr Balding said: “I’m very pleased with how she’s moving and how her appetite’s been since Ascot, etc.

“She’s got a big piece of work to do prior to confirming that we’re going to York.

“But as long as that goes well, we’re really looking forward to it.”

Two-time course winner (William Hill Summer Stakes) Flora Of Bermuda is on track for the Sky Bet City of York Stakes on Saturday – a race Mr Balding has won on five previous occasions, including last year with Never So Brave.

The defending champion is entered for this year’s renewal, as is 2025 Group 2 scorer, Marvelman.

Mr Balding said: “I think the one that would certainly go would be Flora Of Bermuda, who seems to be effective on any ground.

“She won the Oak Tree (Glorious Goodwood) well, showing that she stays seven furlongs.

“She’s won twice at York before over six – it looks the perfect spot for her, really.

“Marvelman, I think he’s a very smart horse, but he’s better with give in the ground.

“His participation would depend on the going.

“Never So Brave, he’s been left in the Hungerford (Newbury, 15 August) – we’ll have that as an option as well.”

Other York ‘possibles’ from Mr Balding’s older horses include Galiyan (G2 Sky Bet Great Voltigeur) and Prizeland (Listed British EBF and Sir Henry Cecil Galtres Stakes).

And from his juvenile string, he plans to send Moonrise for Thursday, August 20’s Sky Bet Lowther Stakes.

She triumphed in a six-furlong Group 3 at Ascot last month and is now being primed for a move into Group 2 company.

Mr Balding said: “We felt York would suit her really well because she’s a strong traveller and that’s a good speed, the York six (furlongs).”

The Sky Bet Ebor on the final afternoon could see more than one Mr Balding-trained runner, with Tarriance, Further and Fantasy World all entered for Britain’s richest flat handicap.

Tarriance, last year’s Sky Bet Melrose winner over the same trip, looks to be his leading contender for the £500,000 race and ran solidly to finish fourth in a very competitive stayers’ handicap at the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

Mr Balding added: “I thought he ran an excellent race last time.

“He’d been off the track for a bit because we were saving him for the Ebor.”

“We got him up early to go to Saudi in the winter, and he then ran well in the Yorkshire Cup, I thought.

“We decided after that – having won the Melrose last year – that this was his primary target and couldn’t have been happier with his prep run or how he’s come out of it.”

The four-day Sky Bet Ebor Festival runs from Wednesday, 19 August, to Saturday, 22 August.

Nerves. Awkward small talk. Ghosting. I had hoped all that rubbish was behind me when I married my husband.

As it turns out, making new friends as an adult is just as embarrassing and strewn with potholes as dating was in the throes of youth. But I may just have succeeded in making my first new pal in years. I’m excited, of course, and convinced I’m going to ruin it like I always do.

I’ve been hunting for a ‘mum friend’ ever since having my first child four years ago. My own mother insisted that I must form a gaggle with other fledgling matriarchs if I was to survive without going mad, and it seemed like reasonable logic.

Easier said than done, however, in my case. I’m a chronic introvert, for one thing. I don’t get lonely or miss people when I’m by myself – those Covid lockdowns were utter heaven for me, living in the countryside for more than a year with only my dog for company.

I’ve touched upon this before, to the great ire of many feminists but I find women particularly difficult. They’re tricky to read, often fake and regularly duplicitous in my experience. The majority of friends I have held on to over the years tend to be eccentric men.

I’m also impatient, with no tolerance for mundane chatter, and I’m autistic, so I’m not particularly good at pretending otherwise. I’m well known among my peers for wandering off mid-conversation and I never, ever say goodbye to anyone before ducking out of parties.

In short, I’m not great friendship material. My far-reaching graveyard of failed kinships, as I approach the age of 40, is a testament to that. The only female I ever truly adored and felt comfortable around, Claire, ditched me after a decade of being best friends, and nine years on I still miss her every day.

Annabel says she often finds other women tricky to read, fake and regularly duplicitous

It’s a tale as old as time. The balance shifted irreparably when she got engaged to her boyfriend in our late twenties. We went from being besotted with one another in equal measure (daily phone calls, handmade cards, weekends spent together) to a very lopsided situation where I was still single with all the time in the world, and she was settling down with nothing left over to spare.

I clung on desperately until the bitter end because she was all I had. She grew increasingly distant because she didn’t need me any more. Eventually I just annoyed her.

Every woman I have met since fails to measure up to Claire – I can tell within minutes of talking to them. I’m like a forlorn, grumpy Heathcliff, destined to roam the moors alone and unfulfilled forever.

So I’d somewhat given up hope, until I met Pippa at my son’s birthday party last month.

Most of the mothers I’ve met thus far have scared me. They’re all so judgmental. I know this because I do it too. I judge women who let their babies ‘cry it out’ at night. I judge mums who don’t breastfeed. I judge them if their children are fat. It seems probable that they’re all judging me back.

Anyway, Pippa seemed different from the moment she introduced herself. Firm handshake. Sunny disposition. Genuine smile. Impeccably behaved daughter. I had invited everyone from my four-year-old’s nursery class, so there were plenty of new faces. I could feel some of them give the side-eye, but not Pippa. So I did something I almost never do: I suggested a playdate.

I was suitably nervous before she turned up at our house again a few weeks later. Uncharacteristically, I put make-up on, and thought quite hard about my outfit. Who did I want to portray myself as? The sort of mum who wears jeans and a nice-ish top, I decided. I never wear jeans and nice-ish tops, for the record.

I resisted the temptation to serve wine, for the purposes of Dutch courage (it wasn’t yet noon), but I did invent a false afternoon engagement so that if the conversation was awful, I had an excuse to bail. Happily, I didn’t need it.

I was relieved to discover that Pippa swears, still co-sleeps with her daughter, is wary of the same kids (and parents) in our children’s class and likes animals enough to not eat meat. All encouraging attributes. She reminds me slightly of Claire – in that she is blonde and bubbly and very easy to talk to; all things I’m not.

So now comes the tricky part. How do I further this friendship without seeming desperate? That was, in essence, how I lost Claire. How much of my true self do I show her at this point?

What when she finds out that I don’t actually wear jeans and nice-ish tops, but rather go about my day with wild hair, dressed in weird Victorian-esque nightgowns? Should I avoid talking about politics? That’s a sure-fire way to lose a friend these days, if you’re even remotely Right-wing.

I know in the depths of my soul that I will never find another Claire – someone I can talk to about absolutely anything, who makes me laugh hysterically and who is effortless to be around – the odds are just too low. But I think my mother is right about forming allegiances with other mums who are in the trenches.

I shall move with caution when it comes to Pippa. Our next engagement is a bank holiday trip with the children to play with some goats and alpacas at a local sanctuary. Perhaps if I brush my hair, wear normal clothes, don’t confess that I like Elon Musk and Rupert Lowe, and pretend to be nonchalant about our burgeoning friendship, everything will be OK? Wish me luck.

Names have been changed.

Residents are outraged that a town’s bus station and ‘vital’ car park could be changed into flats and new businesses

Residents have described their outrage amid plans to get rid of a bus station and town centre car park that they claim could “shut the doors” of a historic building. Capital and Centric has proposed to turn Huntingdon bus station and Princes Street car park into 78 new homes, a “centralised hub” for businesses, and new green spaces.

The developers have submitted similar plans for St Neots and St Ives. The plans have upset many Huntingdon residents, including stakeholders in important town centre facilities.

The group shared fears that the loss of Princes Street car park could massively affect Commemoration Hall, which has a café and is used by many groups. Elena Carpenter, finance director and trustee of Commemoration Hall, said the car park is “very important” for people who use the hall.

She added: “For the Commemoration Hall, the Princes Street car park is our main car park for all of our customers, especially for our evening events. We have a cafe here from Monday to Sunday all throughout the day, and a lot of our customers with mobility issues will use Princes Street. So taking away that car park is essentially shutting the doors on the charity that has been operating here since 1842.”

The hall is frequently used by Huntingdon Youth Theatre, which has been based at the hall for nearly 30 years. Dominic Whitehead, vice-chair of Commemoration Hall and leader of Huntingdon Youth Theatre, described the plans as “outrageous”.

“Somebody needs to do some homework on what Huntingdon needs, rather than what somebody wants to impose upon Huntingdon,” said Dominic. He said the Princes Street car park is well used by parents of the children who attend the theatre group.

He added: “The parents have to get them [the children] often as close as they possibly can to the building, particularly since we work evenings. We also work throughout the year, so we’re talking about winter evenings where we have parents of young people accessing a building on the high street, where the access is from this car park.

“For that to be closed off, our members would be forced to travel across a ring road with other young children in tow, because we have a lot of families that tend to come where we have the elder sibling and the younger sibling joins us later. That becomes a logistical nightmare.”

Performances are also held at the hall, and with no car park, attendance to these could be affected. Dominic added: “We’re talking about parents, grandparents and younger siblings who are also denied access to the building. That’s going to have an impact on our venue.

“We are a registered charity. We have no other income source other than from ticket sales and support for our shows. All of that and 30 years of hard work as volunteers running this charity is at jeopardy as a result of one single bizarre decision.”

Angela Makey, owner of Niche Comic Book Shop, and Paul Sweeney, CEO of BID Huntingdon First, both fear removing a vital car park from the town centre could also have an effect on Huntingdon’s high street.

Angela, who has been running her comic book shop in the town for 15 years, said: “During the daytime, we get families coming in and young adults, but the other part is the bookshop is used for a lot of events.

“A lot of those people travel from outside of Huntingdon and use the car park. [This is] vital for us. The other point is the car park has up to four different exit points into the town centre, so for those families who have disabled people, it’s very important to have access to other parts of town.”

BID Huntingdon First focuses on improving Huntingdon’s high street. While Paul is “all for positive redevelopment” of the high street, he “draws the line” at these proposals.

He said: “We’re all supportive of redevelopment of the bus station, it’s very old and dated. Where we do draw the line is Princes Street, which seems to be more about residential development rather than regeneration of a high street.

“We can see nothing through the redevelopment of flats in that area, which is a very popular car park. In fact, it’s the second busiest car park in Huntingdon town centre.”

Paul believes parking in Huntingdon is “already an issue”, and removing a car park is not the solution. He added: “The car park itself is in massive use.

“Taking away the second largest car park in Huntingdon town centre and its access to our high street is a massive problem. It’s also an issue for us and many of the retailers who have already spoken to the Business Improvement District about how that will negatively impact their businesses’ sustainability and viability.”

Martin Crews, development director at Capital&Centric, said the company is starting to review comments from people who have responded so far to the plans. He said the company acknowledges the concerns over Commemoration Hall.

He said: “We have spoken to a representative from the Commemoration Hall, and we acknowledge and understand concerns raised about parking, so we are looking at how we can minimise disruption. We will continue to liaise with key stakeholders as part of the process and listen to their comments, especially around parking.”

Martin also said the company doesn’t plan to take away services that residents “rely on”. He added: “We won’t take something away that residents, businesses and visitors rely on, instead, we want to add to the towns, and we fully understand that parking is an important part of getting that right.

“So, we’re looking at the bigger picture, including how we can minimise parking disruption and potentially replace the lost provision in other local locations.

“We know there’ll be more questions from residents and businesses, and that’s exactly why we’re having these conversations now and holding events, so that people can come and meet us, tell us what they think and talk through their aspirations and concerns with the team. The feedback we receive will help us refine the plans as they develop.”

The plans will eventually be submitted to Huntingdonshire District Council. A HDC spokesperson said: “As this is a Capital & Centric engagement exercise, all feedback must be submitted through the designated channels. Capital & Centric will collate all comments and share them with HDC for consideration.”

Peatland fires in Indonesia pose a major threat to habitats, wildlife and people. That risk is exacerbated by the country’s periodic El Niño warming phases, which bring prolonged drought.

Massive fires have occurred in all the recent El Niño years, including 2015, 2019 and 2023. With a major El Niño building this year, there are serious concerns that Indonesia is in store for another severe fire season.

Preventing these fires requires more than just an emergency response. It depends on restoring degraded peatlands and reducing the conditions that allow fires to spread.

As climate change intensifies wildfire risk globally, Indonesia’s experience offers important lessons for protecting vulnerable ecosystems and communities around the world.

The national restoration programme was established just after the major droughts brought about by the El Niño of 2015. That year, Indonesia experienced severe land and peat fires which saw around 2.6 million hectares of land burn.

Pollution and emissions from months of fires affected millions of people across Southeast Asia. Economic losses were estimated at more than US$16.1 billion (£9 billion), not including the enormous environmental and health consequences.

Those major fires weren’t caused solely by drought triggered by El Niño. They were also the result of peat ecosystem damage from deforestation and canal construction, plus land drainage for agriculture and other development.

In 2016, the Indonesian government established the Peatland Restoration Agency to restore ecosystems nationally and prevent fires. By 2020, this had evolved to include mangrove forest restoration, to help build the climate resilience of Indonesian coastlines.

Although wildfire hotspot numbers declined across Indonesia once this project was established, no research had measured the effectiveness of restoration as a factor in that decline. Our team’s recent research shows that large-scale peatland restoration reduced wildfire hotspots by up to 22% in restored areas of Indonesia during the 2019 El Niño. This reduced the number of peatland fires by 38% compared with 2015.

The urgency of peat restoration

The restoration programme had restored around 1.6 million hectares of peatland by 2024. However, the continuity of this programme is now in question because that same year, the restoration agency’s mandate ended, and was transferred across multiple ministries.

The current, strong El Niño is due to peak later in 2026, leading to reduced rainfall. Hundreds of wildfire hotspots have already begun appearing, including many peatland areas. Between January and June 2026, the Indonesian government recorded more than 100,000 hectares of burned land.

Our study compared restored peatland areas with similar unrestored areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan. We evaluated two main rewetting restoration methods: canal blocking and deep wells.

The deep-well method is like watering a dry sponge using pumped water. When the dry season arrives and peatland begins to dry out, operators switch on pumps to draw water up from the wells. The aim is to wet the land around the well or help extinguish fires.

Canal blocking, on the other hand, keeps land wet by holding water in place so it doesn’t drain away.

In all, our analysis found that restoration reduced fire hotspots by up to 22% overall between 2015 and 2019, across nearly 4,000km² of peatland where rewetting had been effective.

Deep wells were more effective at reducing fire risk than canal blocking. This is because pumped water directly wets dry peat and can also be used to put out fires. It reaches a wider area, and the infrastructure lasts longer.

Canal blocking, by contrast, doesn’t involve active pumping — it only affects land within a few hundred metres of its location. Under the right conditions, though, it can be more effective than deep wells at reducing fires – if suitable locations are chosen and enough canals are blocked, ideally in clusters.

However, a recent study of peatland restoration across Indonesia from 2015 to 2024 found that 70% of canal-blocking units were damaged. Our research shows that only canal blocks around a year old are genuinely effective at keeping peat wet. So, regular maintenance is essential to avoid the blocks losing their ability to keep peat wet.

UK efforts to restore degraded peatlands

Although Indonesia’s restoration programme has shown positive results, the threat of fire still looms over peatland that has already been degraded.

Even though the extent of these fires has declined over the past decade, hotspot density in restored areas is still up to ten times higher than in pristine peat forests that have never been logged or drained.

While the total burned area within peat forest regions remains consistently above 500,000 hectares, water table levels at the sites we studied remain below the safe threshold of 40cm. And there is still a great deal of degraded peatland that needs to be restored.

Despite these challenges, the reduction in wildfire occurrence on restored peatlands should encourage Indonesia and other nations to sustain and expand efforts to restore degraded peatlands.

In the UK, efforts to restore degraded peatlands across England and Scotland are ongoing. In those locations, benefits such as the reduction in wildfire risk need to be monitored and restoration methods continually refined.

But restoration, while beneficial, cannot replace intact peatlands. So, protecting these peatlands should remain the top priority – especially as the threat of severe droughts grows stronger and more intense, due to climate change.

Nearly 35 million people travelled through the Paris Orly Airport last year.

It is one of two airports serving Paris, and is 13km south of the capital, providing transport links for other surrounding areas too.

However, the airport will see one of its runways closed until the end of 2026 due to refurbishment works.

Millions travel through the Paris Orly Airport each year (Image: Getty Images)

Paris Orly Airport flights cancelled due to runway closure

Paris Orly Airport’s Runway 4 will be closed until December 17.

It will mean the cancellation or diversion of around 3,000 flights, with 750 affected each month.

EasyJet confirmed it has been asked to cancel flights between August 10 and October 24.

Flights to and from the UK, including services from Newcastle, Gatwick, London, Edinburgh and more, will be affected.

In an official statement on the airport’s website, it says: “During the work on the runway at Paris-Orly, some flights will be transferred to Paris-Charles de Gaulle from August 10 to December 17 2026.

“Before you travel, check the flight information provided by Paris Aéroport and view real-time updates on your departure or arrival terminal.”

Other airlines impacted by the runway closure include Air Algérie, KM Malta Airlines, RAM, Pegasus, Iberia, and Tunisair.

The improvement works will include renovating the pavements, upgrading lighting, and improving the aircraft stands.

EasyJet has confirmed that passengers have been offered alternative flights.

Paris-Orly and Paris Charles de Gaulle airports are on opposite sides of the city, with travel between the two taking about 45 minutes by car or just over an hour by train.

Spanish and Beligum airports due to close for works

Passengers travelling to Almería Airport have also been warned of an upcoming closure.

The Spanish Airport will shut down for six days in February 2028 to allow for runway upgrades, resulting in the cancellation of all flights.

The closure is part of a wider 19-month renovation project costing €29 million (£24.8 million), marking the first major runway work at Almería Airport in two decades.

During the project, night-time restrictions will also be in place, affecting flights between 10.45pm and 7.10am.

The airport serves approximately 800,000 passengers annually, with UK travellers making up 55 to 70% of its total traffic.

In addition, Brussels South Charleroi Airport in Belgium, the country’s second busiest airport, will see works take place from August 15 to October 31.

Similarly to Almería, it will shut as part of a £43 million (€50 million) redevelopment project, with a planned reopening date on November 1.

Airport authorities said the 11-week closure will allow engineers to carry out the most extensive infrastructure work in the airport’s history, including a complete reconstruction of its 3,200-metre runway.

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It is expected to have a big impact on passengers, with Charleroi Airport handling 11.2 million travellers during 2025.

More than two million passengers are expected to be affected by the closure, with Ryanair and Wizz Air flights among the airlines affected.

Have you been affected by any of the airport closures mentioned? Let us know in the comments.

GAUR, Nepal (AP) — The young mother’s breath had grown ragged. Inside her mud home in rural Nepal, she hunched over in agony, pain pummeling her pregnant belly, her swollen legs scarcely able to support her.

Kabita Mukhiya was in the midst of an emergency, but didn’t know it. For weeks, she’d suffered at home, because there was nobody around to tell her to rush to a hospital. The aid workers who once regularly visited her village to help pregnant women had stopped coming, after foreign aid cuts by the United States shuttered a program aimed at saving mothers’ and babies’ lives.

Kabita was uneducated and impoverished, and she did not know what was happening to her body. In desperation, she turned at last to her aunt for help, who hauled her off to the hospital, where both women wept as the doctors said things neither could understand.

Which is why Kabita — confused and confined to her hospital bed — turned to something she could understand: prayer.

“Please save the baby,” she begged God through her tears. “Please save me.”

Then, through the chaos, came the words that Kabita finally grasped, but could not bear: It was too late. Her baby was dead.

And her own life was now hanging by a thread.

This story was funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center. The Associated Press is responsible for all content.

One baby at a time, the world is marching toward a grim milestone: Because of global cuts to foreign aid, the Gates Foundation has predicted that 2025 will be the first year this century where child deaths will increase.

The U.S. government has repeatedly insisted that no one — and, particularly, no children — have died because of its funding cuts. But the AP has documented the deaths of women and children from Myanmar to Nigeria.

A study published in The Lancet journal, meanwhile, said the U.S. cuts could lead to more than 14 million deaths, including more than 4.5 million children under age 5, by 2030.

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