Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s divorce in 2022 shocked America. The greatest quarterback in history and the woman who was once the world’s highest-paid model were a fairytale match made real.

Now, after years of extensive research speaking to friends, eyewitnesses and teammates, bestselling author Lars Anderson’s new book Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness reveals how it all went so terribly wrong.

Tom Brady longed to stay connected to his old life, to keep feeling that high-voltage climax of competition he’d been chasing since he was a teenager.

But he was also tormented by the mounting feeling that it was almost immoral to keep playing because the job essentially rendered him an absent father and husband for half the year.

His brain dictated one course of action. His gut chartered another – a problem similar to trying to walk in opposite directions at once.

‘It’s not always what I want,’ he said in January 2022. ‘It’s what we want as a family. And I’m gonna spend a lot of time with them and figure out in the future what’s next.’

In particular, Brady felt that his Victoria’s Secret model wife Gisele Bundchen ‘deserved’ more of his time as a husband and a father.

Brady’s unrelenting desire to continue playing football had placed enormous strain on the marriage. At first, she tried to gently nudge him into retirement.

In 2017, minutes after Brady had just masterminded the greatest comeback in NFL history to win his sixth Super Bowl, Gisele and their two children ran onto the field to celebrate.

But the first words Gisele said to her husband of eight years had nothing to do with the game and everything to do with the future: Would now be the perfect time to retire?

Brady didn’t know what to say. He hugged his wife and acted as if he hadn’t heard the question.

When Brady first met Gisele, whose net worth was close to $400 million and had graced more magazine covers than anybody on earth, he said he was only planning to play in the NFL for 10 more years

As his wife’s career faded into the background and her yearning for him to be at home with their family grew, Brady built a dynasty with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots

Later that night in Houston, as the team celebrated, Gisele pressed her husband a second time. Brady was unresponsive.

After a third attempt, he finally answered. ‘Too bad, babe,’ he said. ‘I’m having too much fun right now.’

Weeks later, the couple and their children went on vacation with Jay Feely, a former teammate of Brady’s with the Michigan Wolverines.

Gisele asked Feely to do what she could not: persuade her husband. Gisele pressured Feely to frame retirement as Brady’s final and most important act of leadership – one for his family.

‘She was dead serious, too,’ Feely later said.

‘Play as long as you want,’ he told Brady.

Brady winked at his buddy.

Gisele went for a more direct approach in 2018, days after Brady and the New England Patriots had suffered a gut-wrenching Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Gisele wrote her husband a letter – serious, handwritten. She explained that their marriage wasn’t working. She needed more of him, more of his time, more of his attention, more of his heart.

She needed him to be present when he was at home, not responding to text messages on his constantly buzzing cell phone or replaying a game in his mind.

She needed more help with the kids. She needed the chance to sleep in just a few days a week. She needed more time for her own career.

Gisele ran onto the field to celebrate with Brady after he had just completed the greatest comeback in NFL history, only to immediately question him on a potential retirement

Brady and Gisele have son Benjamin (left) and daughter Vivian (right). But she also helped raise Jack (center), the son Brady shares with actress Bridget Moynahan: pictured in 2021

Advertisement

‘People need to understand that Gisele was a bigger international star than Tom,’ said a former Brady teammate. ‘She was getting tired of living on Tom’s schedule and being somewhat in his shadow during football season. She has a lot of pride, too. And, I mean, how many times did you see Tom supporting her career? There clearly were imbalances there.’

The couple went to marriage counselling, but Brady eventually filed the heartfelt letter in a drawer.

He’d pull it out on contemplative nights and reread every word, wanting to be reminded that he needed to tend to his marriage with the same tenacity he tended to his job.

In early 2020, the family relocated from to Florida when Brady signed for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

‘Think about being married to Tom,’ said one of Brady’s friends, a former NFL player. ‘The guy gets up at the crack of dawn, thinks all day about a game that is foreign to his wife, comes home and is in bed each night by nine. He can’t really eat out or go out without causing a scene. Everything he puts in his mouth tastes like s***. The whole lifestyle had to be getting tiresome for Gisele.’

BRADY: AN AMERICAN STORY AND THE PRICE OF GREATNESS 

Lars Anderson’s new Brady biography is released on Tuesday September 29 and is available to purchase HERE

Advertisement

<!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/de/sport/nfl/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 – ->

Worried that enrolling their young children at a new school would be ‘too much change,’ Gisele committed to homeschooling Benny and Vivian in Tampa. ‘We were only going to stay for a year,’ she said.

One year turned to two.

And so it was that, in January 2022, America’s most famous quarterback found himself weighing the case of Brady vs. Brady – the sportsman vs. the family man.

He deliberated for nine days. It was close to a hung jury; Brady leaned 55 percent one way, 45 percent the other.

But on February 1, he announced the verdict: At the age of 44 and after 22 years in professional football, his NFL career was over.

That decision lasted just 40 days.

On March 13, Brady announced he would return for a 23rd season, his sights set on an eighth Super Bowl win.

‘I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it’s not now,’ he said.

At first, Gisele made the right noises, expressing public support for her husband’s decision to play on.

‘I don’t think relationships just happen. It’s never the fairytale people want to believe it is,’ she said that summer.

‘When you love someone, you don’t put them in a jail and say, “You have to live this life.” You set them free to be who they are.’

But when Brady walked into One Buc Place in July for the start of training camp, the sight of him – gaunt and cadaverous – was that of a man worn thin, reduced to bone and sorrow.

Brady and Gisele looked smitten on vacation in 2022, just weeks before he announced his un-retirement

Gisele paid an emotional tribute to Brady after he announced his retirement for the first time. She also initially supported his decision to return publicly but things quickly turned sour

Advertisement

Nearly everyone in the building worried he was ill, maybe even battling a serious disease. His teammates estimated he’d lost close to 20 pounds, and the vibrancy of his spirit had dimmed like a candle running low on wax.

‘For Tom to lose that much weight, on his frame, it was a lot,’ said his former Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians. ‘It was very clear that the reason for the weight loss was the stress from the personal issues he was dealing with.’

‘His cheekbones had freaking cheekbones,’ said another coach. ‘With all respect, he looked like a cancer patient with really good hair. He just seemed miserable, not even close to the Tom we all loved. He was so stressed.’

In truth, Gisele had been so upset at Brady’s U-turn that she had flown off to Costa Rica.

Brady wound up taking Benny and Vivian, then 12 and 9, to their first day of class at a new private school in Florida.

During practice on July 28, center Ryan Jensen, one of Brady’s closest friends and his biggest defender on the field, collided with another player.

Crashing to the ground, Jensen screamed ‘F***!’ and clutched his left knee. Practice stopped. Brady lifted off his helmet and ran to Jensen.

Kneeling by his side and knowing the meaning of that scream – torn ligaments, fractured bones – he watched as the medical staff tended to his friend. Getting visibly upset, Brady stood and walked away.

He wandered around the eerily quiet field, hands on his hips. ‘It was pretty clear he was asking himself, “Why the f*** did I come back?”‘ said one Buccaneers staffer.

‘I think that’s when he realized he’d made a horrible decision. He didn’t come back and risk adding more troubles to his marriage to get the s*** kicked out of him!’

In late August, for the first time in his career, Brady asked his head coach if he could take an extended leave from camp.

He said he’d come back; he just didn’t know when.

Things had got so bad that he and Gisele now required a serious discussion in a remote location.

There was a noticeable change in Brady when he walked into One Buc Place in the summer of 2022 for training camp

Brady had lost so much weight that his Buccaneers coaches and teammates thought he looked like a cancer patient

‘I’ve got to take care of some personal things,’ Brady told coach Clyde Christensen with a lifeless stare.

Christensen later speculated that Brady may have been experiencing a form of serious psychological shock.

Something had blindsided him – something very bad and something that had completely devitalized him.

Brady’s absence from camp was excused, but only a few at One Buc Place knew he was traveling to a private resort in the Bahamas to make one final, desperate attempt to keep his family together.

With just six months left in his football career, the bond he and Gisele had was flickering out like a match in a strong gust of wind, the fragile illusion of forever now fast fading.

‘Tom didn’t know what the heck was going on,’ said an assistant coach. ‘And we didn’t know if he was ever coming back.’

When he returned to Tampa after 11 days away, his spirit seemed more broken than before.

It was evident that a scarring incident had transpired.

The frantic, nearly two-week effort to rescue his marriage had failed. Those close to Brady feared the countdown to divorce was on.

But Brady remained utterly captivated by Gisele, still lost in the enchantment of her.

‘Tom was an empty shell of who he was when he got back,’ Christensen said. ‘There was no joy. Everything was hard work.’

‘Everything was going good between Tom and Gisele,’ one eyewitness close to Brady said. ‘Tom was FaceTiming with Gisele during the day between meetings, just checking in to see if she needed anything. These were normal conversations, and she seemed happy.

‘Then one day, Gisele, who is really into astrology, basically looked into the stars and told Tom, “We’re not compatible.” And just like that, she was done.

‘But what triggered that? Was it the years of feeling like she wasn’t his top priority? That he kept playing when she’d asked him to step away? Maybe.

‘Or was there a particular spiritual adviser telling her, “Hey, this relationship is bad for you. Get out of it now. Even the stars are telling you that.” One thing is certain: In no way, shape or form was this a normal marital breakdown.’

Brady and Gisele announced their divorce on October 28, 2022, after 13 years of marriage.

In February 2025, Gisele gave birth to her third child, her first with boyfriend Joaquim Valente, her former jiu-jitsu instructor.

According to one of Brady’s friends, he was absolutely ‘stung’ that she had become pregnant just two years after divorce.

In February 2025, Gisele gave birth to her third child, her first with boyfriend Joaquim Valente, her former jiu-jitsu instructor

According to one of Brady’s friends, he was absolutely ‘stung’ that she had become pregnant just two years after divorce

Just over a month after the birth, Brady shared a photo of himself on Instagram – his preferred form of mass (and often cryptic) communication.

In the color photograph, Brady’s right arm is extended and a ball has spiraled out of his hand. He is silhouetted by the sunset’s golden glow.

Underneath, Brady wrote: ‘True Love.’

To those who knew him well, there was no ambiguity. As one friend described it, that was ‘the softest middle finger.’

PART TWO COMING NEXT WEEK: The shocking sex incident that left Brady’s college teammates questioning everything…

Adapted from Brady: An American Story and the Price of Greatness by Lars Anderson. Copyright © and reprinted by permission of Celadon Books. 

Rui Pinto, the whistleblower from Football Leaks, has taken to X with his reaction to the City verdict.

He said: “A historic decision for English football, and one that comes to crown the work I carried out through Football Leaks.

“Today, we all know that, through structural manipulation and financial manoeuvring, Manchester City did not merely circumvent the rules, they turned them into a mere formality, challenging any attempt to preserve the integrity of the competition.

“That meticulously orchestrated fraud will finally be subject to punishment, and the impact will not merely be turbulent, but truly devastating for the Cityzens. Ironically, I cannot help but remember Pep Guardiola’s words at his first press conference as City manager: ‘Fasten your seat belts’.”

On September 6 2026, two Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboats brought around 120 migrants ashore at Portsmouth. They were met by a protest, where far-right demonstrators verbally abused lifeboat crew. The crew’s names, addresses and photographs were later circulated online.

The protest in the Eastney area of the city was organised by Patriot Platform, a far-right group led by Daniel Thomas. Demonstrators blocked roads and clashed with police, and RNLI volunteers were branded “traitors”.

Four days later, Portsmouth RNLI Station was out of service, with contingency cover from stations further along the coast. At the time of writing, it remained closed.

In a separate incident, Thomas pleaded not guilty to criminal damage after allegedly slashing a migrant dinghy in the English Channel. He was remanded in custody and will appear at Portsmouth Crown Court on September 29.

À lire aussi :
What Patriot Platform tells us about how the far right in the UK is changing its tactics

The RNLI is a charity whose mission is to save lives at sea – any lives. Since 1824, its volunteers have saved more than 146,000 people. In 2025 alone, RNLI lifeboats launched 9,058 times. Only 109 callouts involved small boats carrying migrants in the Channel, yet these now appear to have become synonymous with debates around border control and sovereignty.

The remaining 98.8% of those rescued were swimmers, sailors, children in difficulty and people who had fallen from cliffs. The RNLI receives no direct government funding, and 97% of operational crew are volunteers.

The Eastney episode has revealed a fragility. That is, that the willingness of volunteers to undertake this rescue work can be withdrawn and an essential, life-saving service that has been viewed as a mainstay of UK emergency response might be lost.

The UK Search and Rescue Framework describes the RNLI as a voluntary organisation, deployed by HM Coastguard. The framework assumes the charity, its volunteers and the communities that sustain it will continue as they are.

This assumption is now being tested. The attack on Portsmouth RNLI was not an attack on government policy. The people targeted were not politicians or officials, but volunteers who respond in any conditions, at any time, to help strangers.

Research on far-right movements has mapped how these dynamics work. It shows that far-right groups target non-political associations, sports clubs and community groups precisely because they are trusted and embedded in local life. If far-right groups can capture or intimidate the institutions that communities rely on, they may be able to reshape the boundaries of what is considered normal.

Saving lives is the only objective

The Eastney episode also shares a similar modus operandi with far-right vigilantism on Europe’s southern borders. What makes Portsmouth distinctive is that the target was not a political organisation but a rescue service. The RNLI takes no position on migration policy. Its only mission is to save lives at sea.

When protesters labelled its volunteers traitors, they were not objecting to a political stance. They were objecting to the act of rescue itself – or rather to the identities of those being rescued.

Research into the UK water rescue community, examined how water rescue practitioners, bridging strategy and operations, understand their role. UK search and rescue practitioners consistently cited the ever-changing attitudes towards water rescue and the connection to political and public willingness to support, and thus pay for, operations.

These factors contribute to longstanding funding and resourcing challenges that can lead to a shortages of equipment and capability.

The study also found that navigating the bureaucracy of water rescue relies on search and rescue personnel across organisations knowing one another and sharing an understanding of the water environment. This cohesion is precisely what the far-right attack disrupts.

The closure of the Portsmouth station is not, on the face of it, a catastrophe. Other stations can cover the area. However, contingency plans are designed for equipment failures, staff shortages and weather disruptions. When the people who staff a service are also members of the community, the boundary between professional obligation and personal risk blurs. Paid staff can be directed. Volunteers cannot. If wearing a RNLI jacket makes you a target in your own community, the calculation changes.

The implications extend well beyond Portsmouth. Mountain rescue teams, coastguard rescue teams, lowland search and rescue teams and flood rescue units all rely on the same model of community-based volunteering. They are also, by their nature, exposed to the same fragilities revealed at Eastney, even while they are presumed to be permanent mainstays of emergency response available to all.

But there has been some good news. The RNLI reported a significant increase in donations following the reporting of the abuse. However, it has also been faced with calls for donor support to be withdrawn.

The RNLI has advised volunteers to consider not wearing branded clothing and to feel empowered to close stations if they feel at risk. This underlines their role as volunteers, who have the discretion to withdraw voluntary service that statutory emergency services do not.

The far-right action that closed the Portsmouth station did not need to succeed entirely. It only needed to make the volunteers pause, to make the community hesitate, to make the cost of service feel higher than it did before. The rest can be left to attrition.

The RNLI’s mission is to save everyone, including activists who put themselves at risk. The question now is whether communities are willing to save the RNLI.

The Dragons get their season underway on Friday evening with a trip to Italy.

Filo Tiatia’s side take on Benetton at Stadio Monigo, with the Men of Gwent coming up against a familiar face. Former Wales fly-half Rhys Patchell is the new attack coach at the Italian side, having been part of the Dragons’ coaching team last season.

Having shown signs of improvement last season, the Dragons have set a target of reaching the play-offs this season.

The match kicks off at 7.45pm, with Premier Sport broadcasting the curtain-raiser.

Or you can follow the match in the live blog below.

Benetton: Matt Gallagher; Ignacio Mendy, Francois Carlo Mey, Paolo Odogwu, Onisi Ratave; Jacob Umaga, Andy Uren; Matias Medrano, Bautista Bernasconi, Simone Ferrari, Mattia Midena, Federico Ruzza, Giulio Marini, Manuel Zuliani, Sebastian Negri (c).

Replacements: Nicholas Gasperini, Ivan Nemer, Marcos Gallorini, Piero Gritti, Antony-Italo Miranda, Siua Maile, Louis Werchon, Jean Smith.

Dragons RFC: Huw Anderson; Rio Dyer, Fine Inisi, Aneurin Owen (cc), Anzelo Tuitavuki; Tinus de Beer, Rhodri Williams; Rodrigo Martinez, Oli Burrows, Chris Coleman, Barny Langton-Cryer, Seb Davies, Ryan Woodman, Thomas Young (cc), Evan Minto

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Wyn Jones, Robert Hunt, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Harry Beddall, Che Hope, Jac Lloyd, Fetuli Paea

Live updates below:

Crews were called to a house in Leigh

A man and two dogs were pulled out of a burning house by firefighters.

Crews were called out to a house on Rossall Crescent in Leigh earlier today (September 25). Images from the scene show a huge blaze, with smoke billowing out of the property.

Firefighters used a ladder to gain access to the first floor to drag out the man and the two dogs. The man was taken to hospital for further treatment.

Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said that crews were on the scene for about three hours, after initially arriving at 3pm.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said: “At around 3pm this afternoon (Friday, 25th September), firefighters were called to reports of a fire at a domestic property on Rossall Crescent in Leigh.

“Four fire engines from Hindley, Leigh, Atherton and Farnworth fire stations, along with the Technical Rescue Unit from Leigh fire station quickly arrived at the scene, where the first floor of the property was well alight.

“Firefighters rescued one man and two dogs from a first-floor window using a ladder. The casualty was assessed by firefighters before being handed into the care of North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) and taken to hospital.

“Crews wearing breathing apparatus used two hose reels, positive pressure ventilation and other specialist equipment to extinguish the fire, and carried out safety checks to the neighbouring houses.

“Firefighters were at the scene for around three hours.”

One team will lose their undefeated record in Páirc Esler this evening and one team’s aspirations of lifting the Frank O’Hare Cup in a fortnight will remain alive as Carryduff take on Clonduff for a place in the Down SFC final.

The south Belfast men have never won a senior crown having lost out to perennial champions Kilcoo in the 2020 and 2025 deciders.

On both occasions, Carryduff will feel like they didn’t do themselves justice.

Yet, they recorded a statement win over the Magpies in Round Two before defeating Saul in the quarter-finals.

Clonduff won the last of their nine county title back in 2000 and were last in the Down SFC final 10 years when they too lost to Kilcoo.

The Yellas claimed a facile 12-point win over Burren in round two and had 15 points to spare over Mayobridge last time out.

Clonduff bowed out at this stage in the competition last season, suffering a one-point loss to Kilcoo, but Gearoid Adams’s side have been the in-form team in this year’s renewal so far.

The holders will take on Burren in the second semi-final on Sunday evening in Newry.

We’ll have all the latest team news ahead of throw-in at 7.30pm.

Family and friends of one of Britain’s greatest living explorers, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, have called for an investigation into his care arrangements after allegations he has been illegally placed in a series of care homes under a fake name by his wife.

Those close to the 82-year-old want the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) to establish whether his wife Louise Millington-Cotes, 59, is correctly discharging her duties as his legal guardian.

John Simpson, the veteran BBC foreign correspondent and friend of Sir Ranulph, has joined the calls for transparency. In a post on X he wrote: “Horrified to hear what’s happened to my good friend Ran Fiennes.

“I’d like to tell the relevant authorities everything I know about the way he’s been treated. He’s the world’s bravest man, and he’s vulnerable. We must know what’s happening to him.”

Alexander Millington-Cotes, Sir Ranulph’s stepson and Mrs Millington-Cotes’s estranged son, told The Telegraph he called the OPG and spoke to their safeguarding team, but had “heard nothing back so far”.

It comes after a watchdog concluded the retired explorer, who has not been seen in public in two years, has been “unlawfully deprived of his liberty”, according to The Telegraph.

It has been claimed that his wife put extreme conditions on how he is looked after, and not allowed him to see friends or family.

A care home owner in Wales, where Sir Ranulph had been placed for seven weeks this year, spoke to the newspaper, saying they had reported several concerns about Sir Ranulph’s wellbeing to the authorities, including the police.

They reportedly approached the OPG to raise concerns about his wife’s medical arrangements for him, as well as a “do not resuscitate” document that she had provided.

The care home owner also raised concerns with the Care Inspectorate of Wales, which declared Sir Ranulph was being unlawfully kept in care homes and unable to consent to his care or treatment.

In an email seen by the newspaper, the care inspectorate wrote: “Currently [Sir Ranulph] is being deprived of his liberty unlawfully as there is no authorised deprivation in place which reflects the current residence and restrictions in place.

“[Sir Ranulph] is under continuous supervision and control, is not free to leave and is not able to consent to care, treatment and accommodation.

“As such, the provider is required to make an urgent and standard application under the deprivation of liberty safeguards as soon as practicable.”

The care home owner said Mrs Millington-Cotes provided a private carer, gave staff at the home strict instructions on his day-to-day activities and provided all of his medication, rather than registering him with a local GP.

Mrs Millington-Cotes was told by the owner that she must ensure that a deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) order was in place as his legal guardian, but failed to ever provide one.

The owner emailed her to express the urgency of the situation, which led to “a falling out with her because she didn’t want us to apply for a DoLS”.

Sir Ranulph had reportedly spent time in a care home in London, before being moved to a facility in Wales, and then to one in Cheshire.

The Telegraph reported last week that Sir Ranulph’s visitors were made to sign non-disclosure agreements by his wife if they wanted to visit him at the care home in London.

Sir Ranulph’s stepson Alexander Millington-Cotes visited the care home in Cheshire last week and was told by staff his stepfather was not there. He is now crowdfunding a legal challenge to his mother’s lasting power of attorney.

An OPG spokesperson said: “A Lasting Power of Attorney is an important way to ensure that certain decisions about care and finances are made by someone you trust if you lack the capacity to make them yourself. We cannot comment on individual cases.”

The Care Inspectorate have been approached for comment. The Independent was unable to contact Mrs Millington-Cotes.

Hurricane Polo has exploded into an exceptionally powerful Category 5 storm, packing sustained winds of 180mph as it churns across the eastern Pacific.

The monster has reached Category 5 strength, the highest official rating, reserved for storms with winds of at least 157mph, three times this week, prompting one meteorologist to suggest it may belong in a category that does not officially exist.

Meteorologist Ryan Maue posted on X: ‘If there will ever be Category 6, then you’re looking at it now. Hurricane Polo had an interesting Thursday with explosive convection in all directions. Today’s operation: shattering the record book.’

Maue was referring to satellite estimates suggesting winds near 196mph, above the unofficial 192mph threshold proposed for a Category 6 storm- a proposed, hypothetical classification for extreme tropical cyclones.

As of Friday morning, Polo was centered about 290 miles southwest of Cabo Corrientes, Mexico. 

The official forecast shows it approaching Baja California Sur early next week, although its exact landfall timing remains uncertain.

Long-range spaghetti models show several possible paths carrying Polo’s remnants, the weakened remains of the hurricane, into Arizona, New Mexico and Texas next week, unleashing heavy rain, flooding and high winds.

Other projections take the system farther north through Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska, while one distant outlier arcs toward Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, although those paths remain highly uncertain.

Long-range spaghetti models show several possible paths carrying Polo’s remnants, the weakened remains of the hurricane, into Arizona, New Mexico and Texas next week

AccuWeather meteorologists stated: ‘Moisture from Polo could interact with the non-tropical storm over the south-central US later next week, increasing the risk of heavy rain, flash flooding and severe thunderstorms. 

‘Depending on Polo’s track and how much of the storm remains intact, heavy rain could extend from Texas’ Big Bend region northeastward into central and eastern Oklahoma.’

The news outlet added that the risk of flooding could be significant.

Meteorologist Max Velocity said on X: ‘Polo is the first hurricane on record to reach Category 5 strength three separate times, with all three peaks occurring in the Eastern Pacific. 

‘And at 180 mph, Polo has once again reached the third-highest wind speed ever recorded in the Eastern Pacific. Polo is certainly one for the history books.’

The National Hurricane Center said Polo gained significant force overnight into Friday morning as it brought storm conditions to parts of the western Mexico coast.

No major damage or flooding was reported along the coast overnight into Friday.

Residents stacked sandbags to fortify beachfront shops and evacuated their homes in some coastal areas on Thursday. 

Meteorologist Ryan Maue said Hurricane Polo could qualify as an unofficial Category 6 storm after satellite estimates suggested winds near 196mph, above the proposed 192mph threshold

Advertisement

Mexican authorities opened shelters and cleared people from beaches, and 15,000 security personnel were deployed across the coast. Schools were closed.

Polo formed as a tropical storm on September 20 and exploded into a Category 5 hurricane two days later. It weakened and exploded back into a Category 5 on Thursday and again Friday morning.

This is the first recorded hurricane in the Eastern Pacific to reach Category 5 strength three separate times.

Despite its strength, Polo is a smaller storm, with hurricane-force winds extending only 40 miles from its center and tropical-storm-force winds reaching just 125 miles away from the storm’s center, according to the NHC. 

Amid an unending heatwave in contemporary Wales – and increasingly violent weather around the world – a psychological thriller unfolds.

Two years after an accident that killed her husband and paralysed her from the waist down, Gabrielle Fox returns to work as a psychologist at an adolescent internment unit. One patient, 16-year-old Bethany, is accused of murdering her mother by stabbing her several times with a screwdriver.

This is the premise of the BBC TV adaptation of Liz Jensen’s 2009 novel, The Rapture. While slightly predictable, its narrative highlights the motivations that drive people towards climate action, including a sense of responsibility and desire for justice.

Bethany (played by India Amarteifio) denies any involvement in the murder, although she was found at the crime scene covered in blood. A week before the death, she had drawn a gruesome vision of her mother’s face with a screwdriver stabbing her eye. Fox (Ruth Madeley) is given the task of helping her patient accept responsibility for allegedly murdering her mother.

Bethany’s parents are the founders of a successful spiritual movement, the Faith Way. Its “Choose Hope” slogan is widely used on social media to undermine the denunciation of climate catastrophe by activists from the Climate Front – an eco-activist organisation that protests about the extraction of fossil fuel extraction, both on the streets and in the courts.

Views of former industrial sites, long beaches at low tide, giant electricity pylons next to neat, detached houses, solar panels over rooftops and scattered wind turbines are integral to the story. Regular temperature stamps show conditions exceeding 40°C as a direct threat to life.

When it comes to climate change, we are not wired to deal with overwhelming complexity – but we can tune into relatable stories that emphasise common experiences and values. Parts of The Rapture might seem crazy and far-fetched, but some aspects are entirely plausible.

For example, the climate activists tarnished by the Faith Way claim that the local windfarm project is greenwash, because the energy company behind it is seeking permission to open new oil drills in the North Sea.

Local MP Caroline Wren (Lisa Palfrey) justifies prolonging the life of fossil economies based on energy security, and approves building a data centre close to a protected natural area. The MP, whose family suffered the consequences of deindustrialisation with the loss of coal mines, argues that her aim is job creation and regeneration.

À lire aussi :
North Sea drilling is a distraction: low-carbon transition hinges on prioritising people and jobs

Furthermore, there is to be a parliamentary ballot on proscribing the Climate Front as a terrorist organisation – but the activists deny any violent means, and suspect they have been infiltrated so as to be delegitimised in the eyes of the public.

The power play between organised religion, social media influencers, energy corporations and politicians is woven into the narrative from the start. Fox does a few internet searches that return news headlines and people’s profiles. She attends the MP’s public speech and, shortly after, sees the activists’ response in a video post.

Even if some of this interconnected information feels a little forced, it’s easier to relate to it because it feels more like current affairs than science fiction.

When Fox finds evidence that Bethany might have some visionary power, some viewers could be sceptical of a supernatural ingredient being thrown into the eco-thriller mix. But they may still stay tuned to unravel the exact motivations of characters representing the government, media, corporates and eco-activist players – because “the personal is always political”, as Fox says.

Advertisement

It is Fox’s weaknesses that make the story more nuanced and intriguing. I empathised with her rising vulnerabilities in adapting to her new, paraplegic life. She is a woman of science, alert to evidence and cunning, but her actions can be impulsive and wrongly calculated.

While searching for the missing links in Bethany’s story, she crosses various professional boundaries. Fox admits her guilt over the accident that took her husband’s life may be playing out in her involvement with Bethany. In revealing her self-doubt, she makes it easier for others to manipulate her good intentions.

Tension and truth

The series’ tension thrives on the uncertainty of knowledge and a gradual revelation of motivations. The narrative also draws attention to the manipulation of beliefs and erosion of truth.

The Faith Way is a post-Christian enterprise, devised to unite people based on their anxieties and need for connection – while demonising climate activists and channelling people’s energies towards de-political action. The series makes clear how conformity can be orchestrated by flooding social media feeds with clickbait headlines and manufactured evidence.

If Bethany must take any form of responsibility, it is measured through a fair assessment of her knowledge and motivations. She represents the future, as a member of the younger generation and victim of injustice. Not only is she accused of matricide, she will suffer the consequences of a climate catastrophe she has not provoked.

Just as Fox has to accept the grief and loss provoked by the accident, Bethany is forced to accept the anguish of the assassination of her mother, whom we can metaphorically identify with mother Earth.

Towards the end of the five-part series, I felt I could partly accept that climate anxiety and parental repression have led to Bethany’s visions and hallucinations. When the truth is revealed, she emerges not as a cynic or doomsayer, but as someone who stands for a desire for truth and justice, and can take responsibility.

In this sense, the series moves past the predictable and the cartoonish to speak about common values and the responsibility of human actions. And this may inspire worried viewers to strengthen their sense of agency and personal power when it comes to climate action.

Dean Fishwick, 51, died in hospital shortly after midnight on Wednesday (September 23) after being found with stab wounds at a house on Thames Road in Peterlee.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of his murder.

A 53-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman remain in police custody, while a 72-year-old man has since been released under investigation.

CSI remain at the scene (Image: Northern Echo)

A spokesperson for Durham Police said: “An investigation is ongoing and a police cordon remains in place while crime scene investigators continue to work at the scene.”

Pictures taken on Thursday showed forensic experts in white suits working at the property and carrying brown evidence envelopes into the home.

(Image: Northern Echo)

Residents previously spoke of their “shock” at the incident on their usually “peaceful” street.

One said: “It’s a fairly peaceful place to live, but we all keep ourselves to ourselves. I didn’t see anything happening so I’m not sure what’s gone on.”

Another said they were “shocked” at the police presence.

They said: “It’s a bit concerning, my partner’s been to pick my son up from school today, usually he would walk down but I didn’t want him to.

“I’m a bit shocked. You get the odd disturbance now and then but it’s quiet down here, with us being next to the dene. There was police here last night but we thought it was kids probably messing about on bikes, they sometimes cut through the side or ride along the green out the back.”

Residents said the street is home to mostly pensioners.

One elderly neighbour said: “You never see anything like this down here, it’s a quiet street and most of us are old as you can see.

“There have been some police coming in and out and a CSI van I think was here earlier but that’s all I’ve seen.”

Anyone with any information that could assist the investigation is asked to call Durham Constabulary on 101, quoting incident number 582 of September 23.

Information can also be passed on to Crimestoppers anonymously.