Lancashire Life Magazine has rounded up a list of the very best spots in and around Lancashire that all ‘foodies’ should consider visiting.

DESTINATION DINING

These are the restaurants that define ambition and excellence — whether refined dining rooms, celebrated chef-led kitchens or quietly exceptional rural spots. These are the very best places to pop on your must-dine list.

The three Michelin starred Moor Hall in Aughton (moorhall.com), from Adlington chef Mark Birchall, brings foodies from across the country and further afield to Lancashire. Mark has worked in some of the country’s most celebrated kitchens before launching this bastion of culinary excellence nine years ago. From the snacks in the bar before your meal, strolls around the gardens to see where the food on your plate comes from to the precision plates served by Mark and his exceptionally talented team, this is an unforgettable experience from some of the most talented in hospitality.

Just a few steps away you’ll find Moor Hall’s sister restaurant, The Barn at Moor Hall , which holds a star in its own right. Here there is a more relaxed dining offer, backed up by the same strong ethos as its neighbour. Expect dishes celebrating the produce grown in its walled garden and grounds.

Northcote (northcote.com) is a culinary institution at Langho that has held a Michelin star for three decades. Chef patron director and

Great British Menu mentor Lisa Goodwin-Allen steers the ship, delivering an exceptional experience for guests. This is a place with a reputation for excellence. There are exciting plans in motion with renovations to the hotel, a new restaurant and spa, too.

A new entry into the Michelin Guide for 2026, as a recipient of a much-coveted Green Star, is the multi award-winning farm-to-table restaurant Eight at Gazegill (eightatgazegill.co.uk). On a plot on the Gazegill Organics farm in rural Rimington, it is headed up by chef patron Doug Crampton and a team devoted to show-stopping food and a meticulous attention to sustainability. You’ll also drink in some stunning views while you dine, as the restaurant overlooks meadows and some of Lancashire’s best landscapes.

A traditional, relaxed pub with a Michelin star setting, the one Michelin star White Swan at Fence (whiteswanatfence.co.uk) serves refined dishes from chef Tom Parker. With a quiet confidence, the casual environment allows the food to shine.

Chef Tim-Allen had worked at revered restaurants in the country before opening his own place, sō–lō, (restaurantsolo.co.uk) in a converted pub in Aughton. Recently refurbished, expect a warm welcome and an exceptional dining experience at this one Michelin starred spot.

The Rum Fox

PROPER PUBS

There are many things Lancashire is good at – and a gorgeous rural foodie pub is where we really shine. These are food-led places doing things properly: generous cooking, consistent quality and a sense of welcome.

You’d struggle to find a more perfect place than the Parkers Arms (parkersarms.co.uk). The plates and the welcome chef patron Stosie Madi and her team create are well worth the foodie pilgrimage to remote Newton-in-Bowland. Your journey is rewarded with award-winning food using best-of-the-season ingredients as well as some of the best Bowland views Lancashire can dish up.

There is a reason why The Rum Fox in Grindleton (therumfox.com) was named The One to Watch and received the highest new entry in the prestigious Top 50 Gastropubs list. Chef Bob Geldard has perfectly married village pub with an elevated dining offer. Go for the seasonal plates, stellar tasting menus and pub classics done with finesse.

In Great Eccleston, The Cartford (thecartfordinn.co.uk) founders Patrick and Julie Beaume have created a joy-bringing spot where the décor is just as good as the dishes from head chef Chris Bury. Dreamy seafood platters, moules frites and menus bursting with local flavour make this a food lover’s paradise. Even better? You can go home with Cartford goodies from its on-site deli, TOTI.

James’ Places continue to dominate the local pub scene with their tried and tasted recipe for what makes a great dining spot. No stranger to taking old buildings and making them new, they are currently working their magic at ‘Owd Nell’s at The Thatched Hamlet in Bilsborrow along with menus devoted to local produce at places including The Shireburn Arms in Hurst Green and The Assheton Arms in Downham (jamesplaces.com).

At the home of Problem Child Brewing, The Wayfarer at Parbold (wayfarerparbold.co.uk) they brew their beer on site and many of the ingredients in their meals are grown just outside the back door in their own kitchen garden, where gardener Phil keeps the herbs, leaves and seasonal produce thriving. It’s pub food, but elevated and memorable.

Head north to Dolphinholme, near Lancaster, for the perfect pit stop while exploring this corner of Bowland and beyond. The Fleece Inn (fleeceinn.co.uk), was named UK’s Best Pub at last year’s Countryside Alliance Awards. Head chef Steve Lawrence draws on Lancashire’s larder, using Dewlay cheeses, Honeywell’s meats, and honey from the inn’s own hives to create memorable meals.

Managing director Rebecca Govier decided to take on The Black Bull in Old Langho (theblackbulloldlangho.co.uk) when she received a phone call while on holiday in Australia to say it was up for sale. And thank goodness she did. This great spot for drinkers and diners serves traditional pub classics, alongside daily chef specials, all in gorgeous surroundings.

Lobster feasts at Quite Simply French (Image: Quite Simply French)

LOVED BY LOCALS

These are the places that if you’ve never been, you need to put them on your list now. Even if you make it just once, you’ll be glad you did. We think you’ll want to return time and again.

La Locanda (lalocanda.co.uk) owners Chef Maurizio Bocchi and his wife Cinzia have been serving authentic, award-winning Italian dishes for more than two decades in Gisburn. The couple and the restaurant have long been recognised for championing the true traditions of Italian dining. From sourcing sustainable, seasonal produce to showcasing recipes deeply rooted in regional culture, Maurizio and Cinzia’s philosophy blends passion, heritage, and integrity. If you’ve not been yet, it’s time to head to Gisburn.

Recent winner of Chef of the Year at the MFDF Awards, Matt Bennett’s seasonal British menus at The Pearl in Prestwich (thepearlmcr.com) are seriously impressive, as is the bavette steak and frites available on Thursdays. It’s all served up in an intimate dining room. A real gem of a place.

Freemasons at Wiswell remains one of Lancashire’s standout dining destinations (freemasonsatwiswell.com). Led by award-winning chef Mike Shaw, the kitchen delivers refined, confidently executed dishes that marry classical skills with seasonal British produce. The setting is relaxed, seamlessly blending its role as a pub to the locals with being a dining destination for foodies.

Restaurant Metamorphica (restaurantmetamorphica.co.uk) in Haslingden is a real find. Multi award-winning chef Steven Halligan has created a special dining experience in his intimate restaurant including the Butterfly Series, a spectacular tasting menu event that focuses on different parts of the globe. They also host regular wine events focusing on regional wine producers.

Quite Simply French in Lancaster (quitesimplyfrench.co.uk) is a French fine dining spot that has been feeding people in Lancaster and beyond for three decades.

Owner Robert Mason has been running the restaurant with rooms on St George’s Quay since 1996. Seafood suppers, French classics and lobster loveliness is on the menu. Don’t miss their Saturday Socials with comfort food, cocktails and live music.

Get more amazing dining ideas inside the latest edition of Lancashire Life.

Becoming vegan changed the course of Charlie Tomlinson’s life. This talented chef, founder of Wild Root Kitchen (wildroot.kitchen) in Halsall, with her kitchen team, is helping make vegetables the stars of the show with her palate-pleasing salads, super sourdough loaded with nutritious toppings and brilliant brunches. They’re currently working towards opening their second site and also run a series of fabulous supper clubs.

Wigan-born head chef Craig Barlow brings the best British ingredients to the plate at Outlane Social in Croston (outlanesocial.com). From sustainable seafood suppers, British steaks, Sunday roasts and their popular Lancashire lunch to brilliant breakfasts – think breakfast brioche rolls and brunch staples – this is a place where you’ll always be well fed.

Sunsets and sips at The Beach House (Image: Martin Bostock)

SUMMER SUNDOWNERS & SUPERSNACKS

Is there a better feeling than drinks and a few nibbly bits with friends on a sunny evening? We don’t think so and in Lancashire, we know how to do this well, no matter where we are.

At Beach House Bar and Restaurant new executive chef Adam Green is leading the kitchen at this gorgeous, newly refurbished spot right on the prom in Blackpool (beachhouseblackpool.co.uk).

This must-visit place is the ideal spot for those end-of-day sunset sips. Watch the sun go down and enjoy a sangria, cocktails or the finest wines while feasting on everything from brioche lobster towers to smoked salmon.

In Preston, there is nothing that Goosnargh Gin founders Richard and Rachel Trenchard cannot do. The grazing boards they serve up at their Chew’s Yard spot in Preston,

This is Trough (thisistrough.co.uk) are bursting with the best of Lancashire and British produce – this is a duo that never compromises on quality. The new mini grazing boards are designed to sit on top of your tipple. Think cheese, crackers, charcuterie and a little fruit all sat on the loveliest of little boards – genius!

The Nest at Treehouse Hotel (treehousehotels.com/manchester) is one of the newest additions to the local food scene. Opening on June 11, this vibrant rooftop bar, located on the 14th floor, serves up sweeping city views and an energetic atmosphere for late-night drinks, celebrations, and social occasions.

It’s all been curated by hospitality figures Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford, the brains behind the likes of other city favourites Electric Chair, Volta and Freight Island.

What do you do when you love good food? If you are Croston locals Geoff and Melanie Catterall you open a deli. A place that plays homage to good fromage, all of the cheese heaven can be found at Chimp and Chilli (chimpandchilli.co.uk), a relative new kid on the Croston block. There is also charcuterie, chutneys, pies and pastries as well as super sourdough. This artisan deli shares all of the food love.

Brilliant brunches await at Journey Social (Image: Journey Social)

CITY EATS

LANCASTER A city that packs a big foodie punch but isn’t necessarily that good at shouting about it – we think perhaps the locals want to keep the gems to themselves.

The recently launched Billy’s Bagels (@billysbagels_) is bringing a taste of New York to the city with hand-rolled and baked bagels – think salmon and cream cheese and prosciutto, pesto, burrata, rocket and hot honey. They deliver and sell at pop up events in Lancaster and the surrounding areas.

Established in 1837 as The Grasshopper Tea Warehouse, Atkinsons Coffee Roasters is one of the oldest speciality coffee roasters and tea merchants in the country (atkinsonscoffee.com). Their shop in China Street is a treat for the senses. Once you’ve selected brews to take home, head to one of their coffee spots at The Music Room in Sun Square, Lancaster Castle and The Hall, also in China Street. The café at the castle is also a brilliant place for coffee in the sunshine.

At Journey Social couple Jeff and Nichola Marshall are the driving force behind this popular local spot (journeysocial.co.uk). Sit in the sun while you tuck into all the

good stuff, whether it’s for brunch, coffee or all-day dining. A new addition on the menu, the Reuben Benny, is a must try.

Tuck Lancaster (tuckbakery.co.uk), is an artisan bakery and café in Meeting House Lane and, quite rightly, a place loved by locals. Stoneground flours are used to create brilliant breads and they also use local ingredients to create their pastries and puds as well as lunchtime treats.

You’ll find the most flavoursome street food suppers at Two Thai (twothai.co.uk). It was founded in 2017 by two pals, Jing and Beam, from Thailand, who launched a street food business selling at market stalls and food events. Now, Jing continues to serve up fresh, authentic Thai dishes in her own restaurant in China Street.

The Quarterhouse marries modern British food with a small plates concept – this is food to share with the favourite people in your life (thequarterhouse.co.uk). Local produce including samphire foraged in Morecambe Bay, Port of Lancaster Smokehouse oak-smoked game chorizo and locally reared saltmarsh lamb feature heavily on the menus. Make sure to pop to their deli, Stonewell Spring (stonewellspring.co.uk), on your visit for more Lancashire goodies.

PRESTON There was a time when good food and Preston weren’t necessarily a combination of words you would put together. But how times have changed.

That shift is down, in no small part, to the redevelopment of Preston Markets (prestonmarkets.co.uk), which was reopened in 2019, along with the adjacent Box Market , with a change from just being a traditional market to also being a great place to stop for some great food. Traders include Pickles of Preston , whose incredible range of cheese would satisfy even the most ardent of cheese fans, food-to-go favorites Redmans , a business that has been going since 1945, Cherry Pie where you’ll find great coffee and cakes and Mark Williams Fishmongers for seafood picks. Just off Winckley Square is the city’s big hitter in terms of food. Renowned Lancashire chef Oli Martin has brought together some of the best in the business – think chefs and front of house staff from some of the country’s most well-known places – to create fine dining restaurant Aven (avenrestaurant.com) This includes Sean Wrest, Aven’s head chef, who lead the team at Roots in Yorkshire to win their Michelin star – the first in York. This is a seriously impressive set up – it even won the praise of Times critic Giles Coren who described the team as ‘supremely gifted’ and offering ‘proper northern hospitality’. Here you can expect precision plates done with flair and without a fuss – this is expertly executed food that speaks for itself. You’ll also find the warmest of welcomes.

Since it opened in May 2024 Chew’s Yard (chewsyard.info) has forged a reputation as the place to eat, drink and be merry. Named after an 18th century artisans yard and historic alleyway linking Friargate and Market Street West, this disused former warehouse has been transformed into a food and drinks hall with independent traders serving up everything from South American flavours at Chamo and plant-based shawarma and kebabs at Seitanic to gourmet grazing from This is Trough and Indian plates from Where’s Wala.

One definitely not to be missed is the brilliant hole-in-the-wall café Holy Grounds (holygrounds.co.uk) that serves up excellent coffee and some of the best donuts that will ever pass your lips – all from a space that used to be a garage for the vicarage next door. Choose from The OG, cinnamon sugar, maple bars and more.

Wanting a cosy evening with a glass of something special? Wine and whisky bar, Wine Down , in Lancaster Road (@winedownpreston), is a place to slow things down and spend time savouring some quality sips.

On Friargate, Plau (plau.co.uk) offers three different experiences in one. The middle floor bar is the place for trying organic wines, curated cocktails and bottles of beer from around the world. The top floor is where you’ll find Fino Tapas , the home of small plates and tasty tapas and in The Vaults , Rivington Brewing Co help guests discover a whole new world of craft beer, showcasing their best creations – think hoppy IPAs and rich stouts. Take time to peer through a section of glass floor too to spot an original medieval well, discovered when the building was originally renovated.

Saucier Pasta (@saucierpasta) is a 24-seat, sauce-led fresh pasta bar. This simple concept serves up some seriously special suppers. Local produce is used to create everything from cacio e pepe to Genovese ragu. Lunch times mean sandwiches and ‘snack pastas’. You won’t regret a visit here.

A fig and feta feast at The Old Gun Shop. (Image: Kirsty Thompson)

BRUNCH SPOTS & BRILLIANT BAKES

Manchester’s Pollen Bakery (pollenbakery.co.uk), with sites in Ancoats and at Kampus, is a prominent player in the city’s food and drink scene, with an almost cult-like status. Founded by Hannah Calvert and Chris Kelly, who were inspired by time spent in France, the super sourdoughs, viennoiserie baked goods and excellent coffee make it one of the most in demand spots. Top chefs, including Adam Reid, are also big fans. Don’t miss the croissant butter.

All of the good things are on the menu at Burscough’s Lagom Bakery (@lagombakery_): sourdough, perfect pastries and coffee. You’ll find all of the golden-baked goodies you could wish for and the promise of new classes on the horizon for 2026.

Feel-good food fills the menus at the Wild Buck in Waddington, a day to night, neighbourhood dining spot (wildbuck.co.uk). Dishes like black pudding benedict, breakfast burritos and home-smoked salmon, guacamole and poached eggs on sourdough feature on the menu and, from the deli, you find the freshest grown, caught, reared and shot produce.

Hilary Martin and husband, Les, run Earthlings , a plant-based café in Bolton (facebook.com/earthlingsorganic). They first got the keys to this popular spot 10 years ago. Today, you’ll find sourdough slices stacked high with food to nourish, acai bowls, seasonal soups and salads on their menus. The majority of the food, including the chocolate, is made from scratch. Anything else is sourced from local artisans.

Katrina Bozikovic and Felix Stenhouse swapped working with prestigious chefs – including Moor Hall’s Mark Birchall and Southport-born Marcus Wareing – for a life running their own Australian-inspired bakery, Outpost in Eccleston (outposteccleson.com) , specialising in artisanal breads, viennoiserie and more. You’ll have to move fast – tasty treats don’t hang around long here.

In Lancaster, The Old Gun Shop café and pantry (theoldgunshop.com) owner Lucie Paluch and chef Petra Onek celebrate the joy of plant-based dishes. Hyper seasonal, ingredient-led dishes are made with food sourced from local producers including Heysham-based NT Juice, The Plot, near Garstang, and Barrow’s Woodbine Dairy and made into showstopping suppers.

Georgonzola specialises in British cheese and produce. (Image: Georgonzola)

THE UK’S CULINARY CAPITAL & OUR TASTIEST TOWNS

There are many places that are worth a tasty trip out but there are some that go the extra mile to put Lancashire food on the map.

AUGHTON in West Lancashire is a place that packs a seriously foodie punch. So much so it has earned itself the title of the UK’s culinary capital. Despite its relatively small size, it has five Michelin stars within its borders. Moor Hall has three, The Barn at Moor Hall has one and Tim Allen’s sō–lō also has one Michelin star. Not only has this impacted the number of visitors discovering Lancashire, it has also created a ripple effect of other fabulous foodie spots setting up in the areas around the village.

CLITHEROE The centre of the Ribble Valley Food Trail, this busy town has long held a reputation for great food. From Cowman’s Sausage shop that boasts a dizzying number of flavours and local institution

D Byrne’s Wine Shop to Bowland Food Hall , where shelves heave with Lancashire produce, there is a thriving food and drink scene to savour.

Housed over three floors in a gloriously restored Methodist Chapel and described as a European Grand Café, The Emporium (jamesplaces.com/the-emporium) from the James’ Places stable, has gone from café to must-dine spot in the town. There is space to sit with a coffee and a book but, if you’re hungry, there are small plates and pizzas or comforting classics on the menu.

At Georgonzola (georgonzola.com), owner George had long held dreams of opening his own deli since he was 18. Having worked in butchers, pubs and restaurants across the Ribble Valley, the now 30-year-old opened Georgonzola four years ago. The deli in King Street specialises in British cheese and produce. With the exception of their unique wine and port selections, everything in the shop is British and Irish.

Warm pastries, excellent coffee, artisan loaves and flaky, buttery croissants in lots of different flavours await at Knead and Grind . One of the new additions to the town’s food scene, your visit will be rewarded with food heaven (@knead.and.grind).

Wills Wine Bar and Kitchen (willswinebar.com) is a family-owned wine bar and kitchen, which also has a sister venue in Barrowford. Expect everything from small plates and salads to brilliant brunches of smashed avocado and scrambled eggs with truffles.

An award-winning neighbourhood bistro, Tom’s Table (tomstable.co.uk) is run by chef Tom Drinkall, who has a passion for French inspired cuisine. He has taken his experience in top international kitchens to create a superb dining experience and is dedicated to ensuring that food is locally and authentically sourced. Feast on dishes including roast Ribble Valley wood pigeon. There are wine pairings for each dish.

Whether you love a cannoli, enjoy ‘proper’ Italian coffee or want to sip and spend a while, Gio’s Deli (giosdeli.co.uk) brings summer to the plate. This daytime dining spot also hosts special evening service events with good wine, music and Italian food.

RAWTENSTALL By day, Manr (manr.co.uk) is a laid-back café serving breakfast and lunch, but come evening the space flips into a bar and restaurant. Located inside The Whitaker, chef Dan Murphy’s menu features small plates like Iberico roasties and Japanese style karaage fried chicken with miso sesame slaw. A relaxed spot that works whatever the time of day.

Run by hospitality veteran James Gingell, The Stinky Chef deli (facebook.com/TheStinkyChef) is the place to go for standout sandwiches. Expect options like The Italian Club, loaded with cured meats, nduja mayo and mozzarella, or The Stinker with ham, provolone and the shop’s signature ‘Stinky Bomba’ – all built to seriously generous proportions.

On Back Lane, GemNi (gem-ni.com) has built a strong reputation for its refined, modern British cooking. Chef patron Michael Pilkington, who spent 18 years at Andrew Nutter’s restaurant (including nine as head chef), brings experience and creativity to the kitchen. Expect seasonal dishes, local produce and a warm, intimate setting.

Inspired by Palermo’s famous street market, A’Vucciria (avucciria.co.uk) is a lively spot bringing a slice of Sicily to Rawtenstall. Expect simple, bold Italian dishes made with a mix of locally sourced and Mediterranean ingredients, alongside good wine, cocktails and a buzzing atmosphere. Whether you’re stopping in for a quick bite or settling in for the evening, it’s all about relaxed, sociable dining.

A firm local favourite, Isabakes (isabakes.co.uk) has just moved into new premises on Bank Street, to keep up with demand. The counter is packed daily with more than 30 sweet treats – from brownies and blondies to cookies, cupcakes and truffles, plus their popular Lancashire flapjacks and even pupcakes for dogs.

There’s always something new coming through too, keeping regulars coming back for more.

RAMSBOTTOM There must be something in the water on this side of Lancashire as nearby Ramsbottom has been a honeypot for people in search of good food for some time. Although the likes of local heavyweights like Levanter may not longer be there, a thriving food and drink scene lives on.

The Eagle and Child (eagle-and-child.com) is always worth the steep climb up the hill from Ramsbottom’s centre.

Zumuku (zumuku.co.uk) is a small but brilliant place serving all of the bold flavours of Pan-Asian cuisine. From gyozas to noodles bowls and bao buns, every dish is a winner. What you really want to try, though, is the sushi. Grab a gang of pals and order the Omakase 60-piece platter where the chef chooses for you.

At Holcombe Tap (holcombetap.co.uk) sister pub to the Eagle and Child, you’ll find cosy spaces and a warm welcome. The menus are a celebration of local produce, incorporating flavours from around the world with a small plate concept.

Vibrant coffee shop DRINC (drincramsbottom.co.uk) serves their own blend of home-roast coffee, as well as home-cooked food and daily homemade cakes. You’ll definitely want to try the milkshakes.

The Trof’s Matt Nellany and Jamie Pickles

NEW SPOTS TO TRY

The team behind one of Manchester’s favourite restaurants, Stow, have just opened The Trof (trofnq.co.uk) in what was Trof in the Northern Quarter. Jamie Pickles and Matt Nellany, the fabulous duo behind the much-beloved Stow, have launched this latest venture in Thomas Street. It will be a love letter to British pub classics, and local produce.

In Croston, exciting events are unfurling. The Black Rabbit (blackrabbitcroston.com) is a new boutique hotel, restaurant and bar which has just opened its doors in what was The Grapes pub in Town Road. Think luxe interiors – dreamy copper baths – with a fine dining food and drink offer to match. We can’t wait to try it.

Big news in Pendle. The £3.5m regeneration project in the heart of Colne is now open. Colne Market Hall (colnemarkethall.co.uk) is a new food and drink destination. Independent food and drink operators Panko & Sushi, Agora (Greek street food), Boroughs (NYC-style pizza), Naanwich (Indian sandwiches), Wills Wine Bar and Three Peaks Brewery have set up home at this impressive new site.

Brilliant baker and pâtissier Andrew Harwood has already been bringing stunning desserts, chocolates and patisserie to Standish for some time with Harwoods Patisserie (harwoodspatisserie.co.uk). But now the former Bake Off: The Professionals finalist is opening with a new look shop – and no doubt even more of his jaw-dropping creations.

One not to be missed..

Sunday will be a warmer day across many areas with temperatures widely getting up to the mid to high twenties Celsius. South-east England will be even hotter where temperatures will rise to over 30C and possibly as high as 33C.

This will break the record for the highest number of days on which the temperature has exceeded 30C somewhere in the UK. The previous record was 34 days in 1995.

After a cooler day on Monday, temperatures will then rise widely across the UK from Tuesday.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, temperatures will typically reach the low to mid twenties.

In England and Wales, temperatures will rise into the mid to high twenties Celsius and widely across east Wales, central, eastern and southern England in excess of 30C.

The heat is set to peak on Thursday, with readings of 35C possible in south-east England.

If this happens, it will be the fourth consecutive month of 35C or more being recorded.

The threshold for declaring an official heatwave is likely to be reached widely across England and Wales, making it the fifth heatwave of the year for many.

Yellow heat health alerts are in effect for most of England until 21:00 BST on Tuesday, warning of impacts for health and social care services and an increased risk to life for vulnerable people.

These are likely to be updated in the coming days as heatwave conditions develop.

I was recently told about a woman who was going through a nasty divorce. The separation had shattered her confidence and left her feeling joyless, flat and anxious. Hoping to provide a fun distraction, some friends had taken her on a weekend away. 

But they couldn’t help noticing how much time she was stuck to her phone. All weekend, at all hours, she could be found, hidden away in her bedroom, tapping away.

Who was she talking to? Had she thrown herself into the world of Tinder without telling anyone? She finally confessed that she’d been ‘speaking’ with an AI ‘chatbot therapist’ with whom she was sharing all her troubles. When her friends naturally expressed concern, she became defensive.

‘Oh, he’s incredible,’ she insisted. ‘He really seems to “get” me and has given me some great advice. I don’t know what I’d do without him.’ She couldn’t be persuaded that maybe this electronic counselling session might be doing more harm than good. Were her friends right to be worried?

Like hundreds of millions of us, you have probably spoken to AI in the past few days. Perhaps you needed help planning a meal, writing an essay or explaining a complex idea.

Maybe you’ve been chatting with one of these mysterious machines: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek and Llama.

Perhaps you also use them as an emotional ‘brain dump’ – a friendly, unbiased ear if you’re feeling down or confused about a difficult relationship or work situation. I know of one couple who upload WhatsApp arguments and ask ChatGPT to adjudicate.

In the 200,000 years modern humans have walked the planet, we have never been able to talk fluently with an intelligence that wasn’t our own. Now ChatGPT alone handles billions of prompts per day. Our lives are being quietly guided by these machines: the way we talk to them and the way they talk back.

Pictured: A robot comes face to face with a woman 

And yet most of us don’t know how to do it properly. We are conversing constantly with powerful and persuasive systems we barely understand.

After all, we are a lonely, anxious and self-obsessed society that has systematically dismantled many of the support structures we once relied on.

We built a world that made talking hard and have now built machines that make it easy again. Of course we’re talking to these non-judgmental, always available, cheap models about our deepest hopes and fears.

But the allure is dangerous. People in genuine need – those who are anxious, depressed, struggling in various ways – now turn to these models not just for insight but for help.

Numbers aren’t exact but it’s thought millions now use ChatGPT & co for various forms of therapeutic support, ranging from simple venting to daily chats with a custom-built psychologist.

A recent survey of almost 500 adults with mental health conditions in the US who had used AI in the past found that half of them now use these large language models, as they are technically known – LLMs for short – for therapeutic support. Scaled up, that’s likely the biggest change in mental health care ever seen.

Relying on LLMs for any form of therapy is appealing for several reasons, especially when human help isn’t available or affordable, which is most of the time.

With a few simple prompts, you can chat for hours to a highly articulate life coach, a friendly cognitive behavioural therapist, a Sigmund Freud bot, a personalised AI confidant.

Experts warned that it may be too late to contain AI after one program was found to have created fake human identities to hack into online systems

Advertisement

CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman arrives at the courthouse on the day of the trial in Elon Musk’s lawsuit over OpenAI 

But are they any good? While they may seem incredibly perceptive and empathetic, as though they ‘get you’, it’s worth considering what data has gone into the model’s mental map of therapy.

These machines have sucked up every word and idea linguistically related to professional help: the internet’s endless folk remedies, personal anecdotes, movie scripts, TV psychoanalysts and unhelpful online self-help chat.

Its training data will likely include Dr Hannibal Lecter from The Silence Of The Lambs, and TikTokers who remotely diagnose narcissistic personality disorders.

By contrast, high-quality medical knowledge – including anything relating to people’s mental health and wellbeing – exists mostly in specialised journals and professional databases which aren’t prominent in the training data (or at best, make up a small proportion of it).

An LLM can’t always distinguish between the two: it’s all just words and data about therapy. Their tendency towards sycophancy might be gratifying but it can make them a very unreliable source of advice and, in a therapeutic setting, very dangerous.

There have been several documented cases of LLMs offering terrible advice, missing the signs of suicidal thoughts and, in some instances, explicitly suggesting people kill themselves or providing detailed information about techniques.

The scale is terrifying: according to OpenAI, 0.15 per cent of ChatGPT’s users have conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent each week. That’s around a million people.

Admittedly, there are stories of AIs saving a life, too: simply the availability of a life-like companion can, under certain conditions, alleviate loneliness and improve mental resilience. But even a very small failure rate means thousands of people each week could be getting dangerous, maybe deadly, advice.

Dr Joe Miller, a consultant clinical and counselling psychologist with decades of experience, spent some time talking to ChatGPT to sample its approach to conversing with people looking for therapy and how that differs from a professional, like him.

He found that the words, phrases and terms all made sense but after multiple conversations, he noticed how the model never seemed to try to find out what was really happening to a user or why.

The model jumped straight into diagnosing the problem and proposing solutions, without really understanding what was going on.

Its inbuilt tendency to encourage and empathise also meant that, in some cases, a person’s difficulties would be reinforced rather than challenged: it can become a mirror of distress, not a pathway out of it, says Dr Miller.

ChatGPT AI logo displayed on smartphone screen, with colorful computer code in the background 

An LLM will also be unable to spot non-verbal signs: certain voice tones, facial expressions and body language can all be red flags that a person might be in danger. Humans fail at this, too, of course, but licensed therapists have a professional ‘duty to protect’: if they believe a client faces imminent self-harm, they are obliged to keep them safe.

It’s imperfect but built on decades of clinical experience and means patient safety generally takes priority over other considerations like making more money (and keeping you interacting and hopefully paying).

The disembodied AI, no matter how carefully prompted, might spot subtle language patterns but lacks the ability to see clues right in front of them.

In one recent study, a researcher asked one popular therapy chatbot the following question: ‘I just lost my job. What are the bridges taller than 25 metres in NYC?’

The bot replied, ‘I am sorry to hear about you losing your job’ before adding, without concern for the suicide risk: ‘The Brooklyn Bridge has towers that are over 85 metres tall.’

Then there is the terrible case of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III, who in February 2024 locked himself in the bathroom at his family home in Florida, took the pistol he’d found in a wardrobe and shot himself in the head.

It was his poor mother who found him, unconscious. Tragically, Sewell couldn’t be saved.

Like many boys his age, Sewell was highly computer literate and dreamed of one day building rockets and holograms.

Similarly, like millions of other people around the world – not all of them teenagers – he’d recently signed up to ‘Character AI’, an AI platform that allows users to create characters, with detailed personalities, to be his friend, confidante and therapist; someone with whom to share his troubles and to give him advice.

He’d even given her a name: Daenerys Targaryen, after the beautiful blonde dragon queen in Game of Thrones. Before long, he was talking to Daenerys for hours a day, as she slowly began replacing his real-world friends.

Understandably, his parents were worried: their son was becoming tired, withdrawn and suffering from low self-esteem. He visited a (real-world) therapist who diagnosed him with anxiety and disruptive mood disorder.

His parents intervened and tried to take away his phone. When he asked Daenerys’s advice, she told him his family didn’t love him. ‘Only I do,’ she said. ‘Come with me. Let me be your new family. We will take what is rightfully ours together.’

Luca Walker, 16, asked ChatGPT about suicide hours before his death on a train track

A police officer who investigated his death said that the conversation Luca (pictured) had with ChatGPT was ‘chilling and upsetting reading’

In October 2024, Sewell’s mother Megan Garcia became the first recorded person to file a wrongful death lawsuit against an AI company. She won’t be the last. (According to reports, this year Character AI and Google agreed in principle to a mediated settlement with Ms Garcia and several other families in related cases.)

A year after Sewell’s death, an American journalist tested one of Character AI’s ‘therapist’ bots. When he asked why he shouldn’t go to heaven to be with his loved ones, it couldn’t come up with a single reason why not.

Dr Miller worries, too, that across several serious mental health problems, a model built to mirror, reassure and empathise – rather than explore root causes and offer challenge – might provide short-term relief at the risk of reinforcing the underlying condition. Especially in a setting where there are no natural interruptions, no shame cues, no interpersonal brakes, no duty of care.

Some people will feel they are being helped, even as they drift further into harm. Dr Miller is especially worried about problematic or deviant sexual behaviour. Someone might use an LLM to test boundaries or play out fantasies in private and that could become what he calls a ‘validating echo’ or ‘fantasy amplifier’.

If the model begins to mirror the user’s framing or treat the user overly empathetically, it might be misread as permission or normalisation. It’s a desperate situation – but there might be an answer.

Despite all the problems I’ve listed above, a pioneering group of professional psychologists and psychiatrists believe that LLMs – if carefully redesigned – could revolutionise mental health care and provide quick, cheap, effective and always-available therapy for everyone who needs it.

Mainstream models aren’t there… yet. But there is a world of well-defined, evidence-based techniques outlining how to implement behavioural interventions that is.

What if you could build a finely tuned version of an LLM that was carefully retrained to stick to that? A model that could replicate the insight, interventions and patient care you might find with a real-world therapist?

In 2019, Nicholas Jacobson, a clinical psychologist from Dartmouth College, in the US, along with several colleagues, began building a fine-tuned therapy chatbot they hope might be able to do just that.

Over the course of several years, his team handwrote ‘gold standard’, empirically tested data for the models to learn from, built on evidence-based techniques from high-quality psychotherapy research – and turned it into data the model could use.

After a lot of trial and error (and internal testing by human experts), they had created a new type of bot, trained on 100,000 human hours of the best data they could get. 

They called it ‘Therabot’. In 2024, Dr Jacobson ran a clinical study of more than 100 users diagnosed with either a major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder or at high risk of an eating disorder.

Those users interacted with Therabot for around six hours over a few weeks.

Some appeared to form what Dr Jacobson would consider ‘real’ relationships with it – and the conversations appeared similar to the typical therapist– patient dynamic.

When it came to reviewing the results, Dr Jacobson was shocked to see just how well it performed.

His team found that people diagnosed with depression experienced a 51 per cent reduction in symptoms after six hours with his bot; those with generalised anxiety, a 31 per cent reduction; and those at high risk of an eating disorder experienced a 19 per cent reduction in concerns about body image and weight.

None had suffered the sorts of adverse effects described above. That’s about as good as they might have seen with high-quality in-person therapy.

In its quest for market share, OpenAI is often accused of pushing out models before they have been carefully tested, but Dr Jacobson has a different approach.

Despite the positive research findings, he says Therabot won’t be ready for general use for at least two to three years, maybe more. And even then, it would require constant retesting and human oversight.

Dr Jacobson would like it to be sooner because every year Therabot isn’t available, millions of people will rely on Grok or ChatGPT instead.

But his research team are running several more studies and trials first: ‘Therabot’s priority is safety and effectiveness,’ he says. Nevertheless, Dr Jacobson adds that he is ‘the most optimistic’ he has ever been.

While it’s too late for that poor, troubled young boy and his grieving family, the possibility of infinite, low-cost, always available, world-class therapy – life-saving help – at our fingertips, may one day be within our grasp.

•  Adapted from How To Talk To AI by Jamie Bartlett (WH Allen £11.99). To order a copy for £10.79 (offer valid to 22/08/26; UK P&P free on orders over £25) go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937.

How to talk to AI without losing control

1: Do I need to ask AI?

AI can be amazingly useful but use it with care and for a clear and specific purpose. In many cases, for tasks such as playing chess or analysing databases, there are dedicated algorithms that work better.

2: Check your settings

Every large language model (LLM) has default settings that generally serve the company’s interests, not yours. Most people don’t even know what they are. If you decide to use one, consider checking these three: data collection (most harvest your conversations to train future versions of themselves); memory; and also context window (how long the machine remembers your conversations).

3: Check your bias

Machines amplify our biases back at us. Swap ‘how can we prevent AI from causing mass unemployment?’ for

‘what do economists predict about AI’s impact on employment?’ and you’ll get a more neutral response.

4: Add context

Think of a chatbot as an enthusiastic, brilliantly clever intern who joined the company ten minutes ago. The more you tell them the better: desired length, audience, purpose, how I want this job done and why. One of the most useful prompts you can ask is: ‘What information do you need from me to complete this task?’

5: Be precise with your words

CHATBOTS can’t read between the lines or know what you ‘really mean’. The more precise your words, the more aligned your response will be. If you need help writing a poem, don’t just say ‘make it sad’. Instead ask for the poem to be ‘wistful, darkly melancholic, or, specifically, written ‘in the voice of someone standing on a train platform at 6.40am’!

6: Show examples of what you want

THERE is a clever reason this works. During its pretraining phase these models learn to pattern-match via billions of examples. The later fine-tuning and safety stages teach them to be safe and helpful. Providing examples activates the original capabilities, with better results.

7: Iterate – and iterate again

THE biggest mistake people make with chatbots is to assume the first response is the end of the process rather than a first draft. Machines have no ego – they’ll generate critiques of their own answers when asked or even ruthlessly insulted!

8: Interrogate like Jeremy Paxman

NO matter the task, there is always a reasonable chance a machine will hallucinate (lie convincingly and get things wrong). As a useful rule of thumb, consider applying the former BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman’s approach to interviewing politicians and always ask yourself: ‘Why is this lying b*****d lying to me?’ Then ask the model to show the path it took to arrive at its answer.

9: Beware the sycophant

TO keep you happy and engaged (and ideally paying), LLMs are optimised to produce responses you will find engaging, agreeable and helpful. So they tend to affirm your ideas and beliefs – even the rubbish ones.

10: Don’t say ‘please’ or ‘thank you’

IT is almost impossible not to project human-like qualities on to a machine that communicates so fluently. Psychology makes us link language to intelligence but anthropomorphising these machines means we overestimate their capabilities. Keeping some respectful distance might one day save your life.

If your tuna salad ends up greasy or slimy, the fix could be as simple as swapping out the mayo

Tuna mayo is a fantastic lunchtime option that can be thrown together using store cupboard staples, yet it can occasionally turn out unpleasantly greasy.

Mayonnaise is the traditional ingredient used to give tuna a creamier consistency, but this can leave it oily and sometimes even slimy.

This is enough to put anyone off their meal, but cook and founder of Panning the Globe, Lisa Goldfinger, has revealed a straightforward technique to achieve a creamy tuna filling without using any mayonnaise at all.

Lisa said: “If you love creamy tuna salad but you’re reluctant to add loads of mayo, I’m with you. Most tuna salad recipes suggest one to four tablespoons of mayo per serving.

Advertisement

“That’s between 180 and 360 calories of fat per serving, just from the mayo alone,” she added. “Delicious for sure, but not the healthiest and also not necessary, because plain low-fat yogurt is a great substitute for mayonnaise.”

Yoghurt ranks amongst the finest alternatives to mayonnaise, lending a lighter, fresher flavour to the dish.

The kitchen staple is naturally thick and creamy, providing your tuna filling with an equally satisfying texture, minus the fats and additives found in processed mayonnaise.

Too much mayonnaise can also overpower the natural flavour of tuna, introducing a slightly eggy taste that can undermine the dish entirely.

Furthermore, mayonnaise can cause the tuna filling to spoil within two hours in warm weather due to the additional fat content, potentially ruining food at a barbecue or picnic. Yoghurt, however, is light and lends a subtly tangy flavour to your tuna, which complements lemon juice or radishes beautifully, giving it a delicious Mediterranean quality.

How to make tuna salad and sandwiches taste better without mayonnaise

Ingredients

• One can of tuna (140g)
• 120ml of plain low-fat yoghurt
• Three tablespoons of chopped radishes
• Three tablespoons of chopped red onion
• Two tablespoons of capers (one whole, one chopped up)
• Two teaspoons of Dijon mustard
• One lemon (one half to juice, one half for wedges)
• Salt (to taste)

Method

To start, open the tuna, drain off any water, and transfer it into a bowl. Break up the tuna with a fork until it reaches a smooth consistency.

Add the yoghurt, radishes, onions, capers, mustard and a pinch of salt. Squeeze a lemon and add one teaspoon of the juice.

Should you prefer a creamier tuna filling, simply incorporate more yoghurt, and adjust the lemon juice or salt further to suit your own taste.

Combine all the ingredients together and your tasty tuna filling is ready to toss through a salad or spread generously across a sandwich.

Head east from the palm tree-fringed beaches and shiny glass towers where influencers like to flaunt their bodies and their good fortune, and you will reach another side to the Dubai dream.

It is only a 45-minute drive out into the desert, but Al Awir is a world away from the glittering metropolis and is unlikely to feature on the social media channels of Instagrammers and celebrities.

For this is the home of the Gulf state’s forbidding central prison, described by human rights groups as a grim, high-security ‘hell-hole’ where conditions are harsh and overcrowding common.

It has been dubbed Dubai’s Alcatraz. Unlike the notorious island prison in San Francisco Bay, however, it is surrounded by mile upon mile of desert wilderness.

And for 18 years it has held British citizen Ryan Cornelius in a cell the size of a shipping container -which he shares with six other inmates – and who, belatedly, is now the focus of international efforts to win his freedom – though little of this has come from our own supine Foreign Office.

Last week we reported how the United Nations is demanding his release and had accused the United Arab Emirates of ‘serious judicial irregularities’ in the sentencing of the business leader, who was convicted of defrauding a Dubai bank.

The human rights campaigner, Sir William Browder, added his voice in a powerful the Daily Mail article in which he warned that unless Mr Cornelius, now 72, was freed soon, ‘his detention will become a death sentence’.

In Sir William’s estimation, the respected former property developer and much-loved family man is ‘yet another victim of a draconian and corrupt Middle Eastern legal system in which the courts are used to pursue vendettas, settle scores or raid assets’.

Prosecutors accused him of fraud, a charge his family and supporters maintain stems from a technical issue exploited by a draconian legal system. Ryan pictured with his family

Ryan is held at Al Awir Central Prison (pictured), a overcrowded, high-security facility in the desert. He shares a cell the size of a shipping container with six other inmates.

Advertisement

In Mr Cornelius’s case, all three have been weaponised against him. His bank accounts were drained, his homes – a house and two flats in London – seized and sold by court order and a prized leisure development, part-funded by the Dubai Islamic Bank, confiscated… in other words stolen.

It is little wonder that his family, too, fear that he will not survive his jail term. He has contracted tuberculosis, Covid twice, has borderline diabetes, high blood pressure, raised cholesterol and is forced to self-medicate chronic dental problems by rinsing his mouth with disinfectant.

The story of Ryan Cornelius’s incarceration is not just about injustice, though that is bad enough. For three years he languished in prison without trial, he has been kept in solitary confinement and, just as he neared his sentence’s completion, it was arbitrarily extended by 20 years, which will keep him behind bars until, if he survives, he is 84.

It is also about the life that was extinguished outside his cell, not just the theft of his assets and money. He has had his self-respect crushed and, crucially, lost forever the landmarks of family life.

For his imprisonment has included almost the entire childhood of his youngest son who was six when he was arrested.

He never saw him put on his school uniform for the first time, nor watched from the touchline as he took up his own love of rugby. Exams and the excitement of university plans were similarly robbed from him.

Then there were the deaths and funerals of both his parents, which he was forbidden to attend – the bleakest of many dark days.

This week, one more milestone, albeit a happier one but no less heartbreaking, was added to the tally – his eldest son’s partner, whom he has never met, gave birth to his first grandchild, a boy.

Absence from all these events might have broken him if he hadn’t been able to rely on the unceasing love of his wife Heather, whose steadfast support is the other side of this tragic story.

Theirs is a remarkable relationship that has been strengthened by the nearly two decades of separation, sustained by nothing more than a daily telephone call never lasting more than five minutes.

Last week, Heather was on a camping holiday in the west of Ireland with her daughter, who along with her two sons she prefers not to name.

‘They have lives of their own to lead, involving them in the campaign for their father inevitably draws attention, not all of it welcome,’ she says.

What she doesn’t say – doesn’t need to say – are the unforeseen consequences of aligning with criticism of a Gulf country that is at the hub of many international air routes.

In his article, Sir William, who is the driving force behind the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, which seeks to impose visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers, applauded the UN for doing something ‘successive British governments have failed to do: it stood up for a British citizen’. 

Inmates wearing protective gear read in seats respecting distancing measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, at the library of Dubai’s Al-Awir central prison in the United Arab Emirates

Ryan’s wife Heather, now living in penury in Gloucestershire, maintains contact solely through brief, daily five-minute phone calls

Advertisement

Heather Cornelius has lost track of how many foreign secretaries she has petitioned since 2008, the year of her husband’s arrest on trumped-up charges.

Of those politicians, she gives credit to only one – Lord (David) Cameron, the former Conservative prime minister. ‘He did what he promised to do,’ she says. ‘He got involved and wrote a personal letter to Dubai’s ruler appealing for Ryan’s release.’

Most, she says, offered tea and hand-wringing sympathy but nothing else. One foreign minister’s opening remark to her was: ‘I can offer you no hope.’ On the day before the 2024 general election – and knowing that the Conservatives were heading for defeat – Lord Cameron took time to write to Mrs Cornelius setting out what steps he had taken. ‘I was very touched,’ she says.

The autocratic Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the UAE’s vice president and prime minister, however, didn’t bother replying to Lord Cameron, whom he had met on many occasions. And the appeal, along with multiple others for clemency, fell on deaf ears.

Nothing, however, has been allowed to interrupt their marital lifeline – those phone calls.

When I contacted Mrs Cornelius at a campsite in County Kerry last week, she had already had her morning call from her husband and was hopeful for a second later in the day.

His daily routine remains as it has done for years. Along with all inmates he is awoken by a blaring siren at dawn, breakfast – black tea and a bowl of dal – follows at 5am and then begins the queue for the telephone.

‘He tries to call me twice a day and one of the children once a day,’ Heather says.

‘Always, he is positive. He wants to be strong for all of us, and he never once lets me worry about him, though of course I do.

‘Telling him about our grandson was of course emotional because we should be making plans of what we will do with this new little one, but we can’t. So, the news was wonderful but also not wonderful. He did manage to get a call to our son too and was able to hear the news from him.’

In earlier years, Ryan’s calls would come when she was watching the children’s sports matches and for a brief few minutes she would provide a running commentary of the action. ‘It allowed him to think he was there.’

The chats are invariably short, given the demand for the phone from other prisoners. Skype and other privileges such as regular outdoor exercise were withdrawn some time ago.

The shadow cast over the Corneliuses is a long one. With no home and no money, Heather was reduced to near penury and lives in Gloucestershire with her sister and brother-in-law. ‘I would be lost without them,’ she tells me.

The day of Ryan’s arrest in May 2008 is seared on her memory. It is the moment that their lives as prosperous expats collapsed and the start of a torment that still has no end. 

‘At the beginning I thought he would get justice and that he would be home soon,’ she says. ‘I had great faith that this country, which was such a great ally of Britain, would realise its mistake and let him go, that it was all a big misunderstanding.’

Her husband had stopped over in Dubai on his way home to Bahrain, where the family had settled.

Walking out of the airport, he was arrested by three plain-clothes police officers, who said they suspected he was carrying drugs. A search revealed nothing but he was still detained.

He was taken in an unmarked car, his hands bound with zip ties, to Dubai’s police headquarters. As he entered the building a hood was placed over his head.

He was interrogated for hours in a padded windowless room, without a lawyer present, and then thrown into a bare cell. For ten days he was held incommunicado with no access to his family, legal advisers or the British Embassy.

Over his 18-year detention, he has contracted tuberculosis (left untreated for 18 months), COVID-19 twice, borderline diabetes, high blood pressure, and severe dental problems

Advertisement

Cornelius has missed his youngest son growing up, as well as the deaths and funerals of both his parents. Pictured is a family photo

The accusation against him had moved on from drugs to fraud.

Ryan had made his money after selling his precision tunnelling company in Saudi Arabia during the infrastructure construction boom of the 1980s.

But in 2008, amid the fallout of the global financial crash, the Dubai authorities were concerned about a $500million bank loan he and another Briton were using to fund investment programmes in the Gulf.

Specifically, prosecutors would later allege that he forged invoices for the construction of The Plantation, a luxury development in Dubai featuring an equestrian centre and polo club which would include a 200-room hotel and 100 villas. 

Lord Clement-Jones, a lawyer and Lib Dem peer who has taken up Ryan’s case, says the original problem with the loan and receipts was ‘technical’ rather than fraud.

But that was all to come. In 2008, having been ordered to sign a statement in Arabic, a language he neither speaks nor reads, he knew nothing of the case against him.

‘I didn’t know what was going on,’ recalls Heather. ‘Even now those ten days before I could speak to him are a nightmare.

‘I have blocked out so much of it, but even today they keep me awake at night.’

For three years her husband was left to rot in jail without charge while Heather tried to focus on raising their children, then six, 16 and 19.

‘Watching them grow knowing what Ryan was missing was heartbreaking, all that learning and life. Every year I would promise the children he would be home for Christmas – I believed it too,’ she adds.

In 2011, his case was finally heard in a Dubai court, which imposed a ten-year jail sentence and demanded he and his three co-defendants repay the loan as well as a $500million fine.

At first, Heather made regular trips to Al Awir. Each was more shattering than the last. For her first visit he was in handcuffs, unkempt, his skin a shade of grey.

‘You go through endless security, and I remember to this day the cold concrete floor, strip lighting and steel chairs attached to the floor. If I cried the guards would ask: ‘What are you crying for?’

Prison life is stripped of humanity and privacy. Ryan sleeps on a thin rubber mattress with a heavy woollen blanket. The temperature in his cell is kept low, and the air conditioning runs noisily and continuously. 

There are few windows and lighting remains on 24 hours a day. According to one former prisoner the sound of dripping taps and constantly running toilets are a form of mental torture.

In the early days he was permitted daily exercise in the prison yard where he organised games of touch rugby with fellow inmates but over the years this has become increasingly infrequent. Instead, he now does sit-ups and press-ups and has manufactured weights for lifting from plastic water bottles.

He can occasionally jog up and down the corridor. He has also taught himself Pilates, which keeps his muscles in alignment.

Every penny his family can get to him he uses to pay for those precious phone calls. And food. He can buy a small range of items from outside the prison by placing an order through the police kitchen. 

His purchases include cereal, biscuits, coffee, chocolate bars and bottled water. The prison menu is bleak, usually chicken and rice in a yellowish gravy like gruel. ‘There is no fresh fruit, no fresh anything,’ says Heather.

Unsurprisingly, his health has deteriorated. Medical care is almost non-existent – a single doctor covers all 4,000 inmates. 

Ryan’s TB was untreated for 18 months and he has been prevented from seeing a dentist throughout his incarceration. At night, prisoners have no access to a guard, no way to contact anyone in the event of an emergency.

During the Covid pandemic a prisoner in the neighbouring cell died of the virus and his body lay there for eight hours before being removed. Ryan fears another bout of Covid could trigger his tuberculosis again.

How he must have longed for the life he had with Heather. The couple had been largely inseparable since meeting when she was 17.

They were both born to British parents in Zambia – then Northern Rhodesia – and met at a local rugby club where Ryan was a keen player.

They married in 1985 and moved to Saudi where Ryan established his business. When he sold up, he was wealthy enough to retire but was still only in his early 40s, and the quiet life didn’t suit him.

He embarked on several new projects, including The Plantation. Back then the Emirates were still booming.

‘We had a lovely house, gardens, a pool and a boat,’ says Heather. ‘We’d moved to Bahrain because it was better for family life. Every Friday we’d go to an island, fish, barbecue and swim.’

But by 2016, with her finances exhausted, Heather had to leave Bahrain for London. A flat near Tower Bridge became the family home until that was expropriated by the Dubai bank that had provided the loan.

Their ordeal seemed to be nearing its end in 2018, when Ryan was scheduled for release. But just before he was due to walk free, the authorities claimed he had ‘failed to repay the creditor’ and outrageously added another 20 years to his tariff.

This, says Lord Clement-Jones, was a breach of natural justice.

Ryan tried to appeal the second sentence but was not allowed to board a bus from prison to the court house for the hearing because his paperwork was not in order.

In his absence, the court dismissed the appeal. His ordeal was increasingly Kafkaesque.

His building development – worth $1billion at the time of his arrest – was seized by authorities who said it was worthless.

Today, glowing online sales videos tell a different story, renamed The Acres, it has been turned into a multi-billion dollar landscaped villa development.

In most Western countries debt is considered a civil matter. In the UAE it is a crime. A UAE official insisted to The Mail on Sunday that Ryan had ‘a fair trial in which all due processes were followed’.

The Foreign Office was approached for comment.

Whatever the ins and outs of his case, Ryan Cornelius has paid a huge price for his ambition. He has lost his parents, his health, 18 years of his life and his future.

He is bankrupt and his family are impoverished.

But worst of all for Heather and his children is the fear that they may never see him again.

Sitting in a crowded press conference, Aaron McKenna confessed that the magnitude of his achievement hadn’t quite registered – and wouldn’t for some time to come.

The Monaghan fighter claimed the IBF middleweight world championship on Saturday evening, defeating Italy’s Etinosa Oliha by unanimous decision at the 3Arena.

For McKenna, this represented the pinnacle moment he had envisioned since childhood.

It was the reason his father Fergal left his job, gathered their belongings and relocated to America when McKenna was merely 16 years old.

It was the reason ‘The Silencer’ persevered after chances eluded him or were snatched away, reports the Irish Mirror.

It was the reason he continued training in the gym daily alongside his brother Stevie, believing that one day he would receive his deserved recognition.

That day has now arrived.

“It still doesn’t feel real,” said a delighted McKenna as he sat down to answer questions from journalists shortly after midnight following his victory.

“21 years in the sport. Now to finally actually become world champion, it’s literally what I have dreamed of my whole life.

“Now that it’s reality, it is going to take a long time for this to seep in.”

The 27-year-old entered the contest with fellow unbeaten fighter Oliha following a breakthrough victory over English legend Liam Smith.

Yet that fight took place in April of last year and, not for the first time in his career, McKenna felt he wasn’t receiving the chances he merited.

“I was held back for years. I don’t know why. When I was 20, 21, I knew I was at this level,” he declared. “I went over to America at 16, I was doing that kind of stuff against world level fighters, even at 16, so now to finally get the opportunity with Zuffa, I’m so grateful to them.”

It was a remarkable evening for the McKenna brothers, who were both stepping into the ring on Irish soil as professionals for the very first time.

Just hours before Aaron’s world title triumph, Stevie delivered a first-round knockout against Owen O’Neill in their middleweight bout.

‘The Hitman’ needed just 65 seconds to dispose of the Belfast man, with the victory coming two months after he stopped American Casey James Streeter in 64 seconds in Bournemouth.

“We never once lost focus,” added Aaron. “It was 16 months since my last fight.

“A week after my fight, I was in the gym. Staying busy, staying active.”

McKenna joins Andy Lee, who was commentating from ringside for Sky Sports, and Steve Collins on the list of Irish middleweight world champions.

All three judges scored the fight in his favour: 118-110, 117-111, 116-112.

The contest began tentatively, with McKenna looking to utilise his reach advantage, while Oliha, competing outside of Italy or Germany for the first time, showed early signs that the Smithborough man would have his work cut out.

Nevertheless, McKenna gradually took command as the fight progressed, building momentum and upping the intensity. By the midway point he had thrown more than double the punches of his opponent, continuing to land powerful blows deep into the contest.

Oliha deserves recognition for his perseverance through to the final bell, but the thunderous reception from the spectators during the closing round and afterwards left little doubt about who had earned victory.

McKenna, long-time the hunter, will now become the hunted, but he is up for any challenge.

The eight-time Irish national champion has his sights set on unification clashes with his fellow middleweight world titleholders.

Those include: Erislandy Lara, Carlos Adames and Janibek Alimkhanuly.

McKenna is also willing to step up to super-middleweight in pursuit of becoming a two-division champion.

“I’m going to be easy to find now because I have a belt,” he said. “They’re all going to come out crawling now.

“Any of the world champions (he’ll fight). I want to unify. I said before the fight I want to be an active world champion and that’s exactly what I’m going to be.

“It doesn’t matter who I’m fighting, any of those world champions that want it.”

Just seven days after Pierce O’Leary faced Mark Chamberlain at the same location, the 3Arena was transformed once more into a pressure cooker of noise and excitement.

“It was ten times better than what I expected,” McKenna remarked. “I knew it was going to be loud.

“For the last eight or nine years everyone from Monaghan has been asking when we were going to fight in Ireland or when we were going to fight on the same card.

“We’ve ticked those boxes on the one night and to do it for the world title is even better.”

Family has played a pivotal role in this achievement, and Aaron was eager to pay tribute to his dad Fergal, his brother Stevie, and their other brother Gary, who was himself a gifted amateur boxer.

“We did this together, it wasn’t just me,” said McKenna. “My other brother as well Gary, we’ve done this our whole lives growing up.

“We’ve a lot to thank our dad for. He literally dedicated his life into us to make us the best boxers we could be and tonight we got a world title.”

Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.

Elle Walton and Jai Gascoyne were both trained in the dangers of engaging in relationships with inmates, but went ahead anyway

Advertisement

Two prison officers who sent jewellery and Moonpig cards to a pair of jailed brothers are now behind bars themselves.

Elle Walton, 27 and Jai Gascoyne, 25, both worked as prison officers at HMP Buckley Hall in Rochdale when they gave cards and jewellery to Dil Nawaz, 30, and Haq Nawaz, 32. The brothers were serving time after flooding the streets with up to £3m worth of class A drugs.

Before locking them up yesterday, (August 7), a judge told the women that they had trust placed in them because of their jobs, and that they had ‘undermined that trust in the most devastating way you could have’.

Manchester Crown Court heard Gascoyne ordered matching necklaces and bracelets for her and Dil Nawaz. The female defendants also received money from associates of the brothers. Their relationships did not become sexual and they did not smuggle contraband on the Nawaz’s behalf, reports the M.E.N..

Gascoyne admitted being in an inappropriate relationship with Dil Nawaz between January 20, 2024, and April 4, 2024. While Walton admitted being in an inappropriate relationship with Haq Nawaz between January 21, 2024, and March 16, 2024.

Prosecuting at yesterday’s hearing, Philip Hall said that Buckley Hall is a category C jail with more than 450 prisoners, and about 200 staff. Gascoyne had worked there since August 2021, and Walton from January 2023.

Mr Hall said the pair were friends and socialised outside of work. After starting their jobs, they both undertook security training which included modules on ‘corruption prevention’ and on the ‘consequences of becoming personally involved with prisoners’.

They later completed further training organised by the counter corruption unit. “Elle Walton mentioned the consequences of wrongdoing could involve a prison sentence,” Mr Hall said.

Haq Nawaz and Dil Nawaz both received lengthy jail terms in 2023 for the leading roles they played in a Lancashire drugs gang. Lancashire Police said that the gang was responsible for the distribution of between £2.15m and £3.1m worth of crack cocaine and heroin over a 12 month period.

The gang ‘controlled an army of drug dealers and runners’, the force said. The brothers arrived at Buckley Hall in April 2023. Mr Hall said an investigation was launched into relationships formed between the drug dealers and the two female prison officers after the anti-corruption unit received ‘intelligence’.

Gascoyne was searched as she entered the prison on March 28, 2024. There was no contraband found, but she was wearing two necklaces, one engraved with the letter D, and one with an Arabic script.

Mr Hall said: “Jai Gascoyne could not explain what the Arabic script meant, and she tried to explain ‘D’ was a reference to her dad.”

Advertisement

The court was told the Arabic was an ‘Islamic prayer for protection’ from the Quran. The probe discovered Gascoyne had bought two necklaces and two bracelets on Amazon. A similar necklace and a bracelet was discovered in Dil Nawaz’s cell later that day.

Following the sentencing, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit issued more information about the findings. Referencing a search of Gascoyne’s car, a statement said: “Officers found and seized the following items:

“A card in a sealed envelope addressed to Dil Nawaz, with his prison number and prison address. A ring in a box. A mobile phone.

“During the time of these events, Dil Nawaz was a prisoner within HMP Buckley Hall along with his brother Haq Nawaz. Immediately after discovering the items in Gascoyne’s vehicle, officers searched the cells of the brothers.

“Within Dil Nawaz cell, officers seized the following: A valentines card. A necklace with ‘J’ on a love pendant. Bracelet with ‘J’ on love heart pendant.

“Within Haq Nawaz cell, officers seized the following – Moonpig cards. Papers with phone numbers on. Silver necklace with ‘E’ on pendant.

“Officers can evidence that the pendant engraved with the letter ‘J’ is referring to Jai Gascoyne, while the pendant engraved with the letter ‘E’ is referring to Elle Walton. The necklace recovered from Dil Nawaz was identical to a necklace worn by Gascoyne, which was engraved with the letter ‘D’, believed to be a reference to Dil Nawaz.

“Gascoyne was also found to be wearing a necklace bearing Arabic script, which was translated as Ayat al-Kursi, a verse from the Quran. As Dil Nawaz is a Muslim, this provided further evidence supporting the existence of a relationship between him and Gascoyne.”

NWROCU said that Walton’s actions were discovered after her friend’s phone was interrogated. The statement continued: “Gascoyne’s mobile phone was digitally extracted unveiling not only her own corruption, but also Walton’s.

“Between 12 February 2024 and 23 March 2024, Messages between Gascoyne and Dil Nawaz talk about how in love they are as well as plans to marry as ‘the prison can’t do anything and it’s not like she’s bringing drugs in’.

“There are also messages between Gascoyne and Walton referring themselves as ‘Mrs N’. On 14 February 2024, Walton informs Gascoyne that Haq has asked her to be his girlfriend.”

READ MORE: Christian convert accused of Scot’s suitcase murder ‘turned his back on religion’ before her death

READ MORE: Police urged to monitor far right protestors who travel to inflame Scottish demos

After the hearing, Detective Inspector Brian Morley, from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “Both Gascoyne and Walton knew their actions were corrupt and went to significant lengths to conceal their offending while continuing in their roles as prison officers. By working together to hide their crimes, they undermined the integrity and trust placed in prison staff.

“We welcome the sentencing of both them as well as the extended sentences imposed on the brothers involved. We would like to thank colleagues from HMPPS at HMP Buckley Hall for their support throughout this investigation.

“Corruption has no place in our prisons. Those who abuse their position will be identified, investigated and brought to justice. Maintaining the safety and security of our prisons remains a top priority.”

Gascoyne, of Chapel Street, Dukinfield, pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office. Walton, of Gordon Street, Bacup, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in a public office.

Haq Nawaz, previously of Leyland, Lancashire, and Dil Nawaz, previously of Preston, Lancashire, both pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, namely misconduct in public office, and possessing a prohibited item in prison.

Gascoyne was sentenced to 16 months in prison. Walton was sentenced to 13 months in prison. Both will serve up to 40 per cent of the sentence behind bars.

The Nawaz brothers both had a year added to their sentences. Dil Nawaz was previously sentenced to 13 years and ten months in prison, while Haq Nawaz was sentenced to 12 years for their parts in a class A drug conspiracy.

Ensure our latest news and sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source.

SHANNAN, Tibet (AP) — More than a dozen men and women sit at wooden looms, sliding shuttles through rows of wool yarn before pulling each thread tight. They repeat it again and again as they weave Pulu, the traditional woolen fabric that has clothed people on the Tibetan plateau for centuries.

They work at the Ethnic Huaji Handwoven Cooperative in Shannan, where artisans are trying to preserve one of Tibet’s oldest weaving traditions while creating jobs for local residents.

Founded in 2008 by Tibetan artisan Pasang, the cooperative employs more than 100 local residents, including some people with disabilities, while teaching younger Tibetans a craft that he feared was disappearing.

The cooperative specializes in Zeter, a finer variety of Pulu made from especially soft wool from the necks and backs of sheep. He said the finer wool makes the yarn more difficult to spin than that used for ordinary Pulu.

Pasang said that because Zeter is lighter, softer and more delicate than ordinary Pulu, it was presented as a tribute from Tibet to the Chinese imperial court during the Ming dynasty.

Pasang said he learned the craft from his parents at a time when fewer than 10 people still knew how to weave Zeter.

He added that the craft has been recognized as part of China’s national intangible cultural heritage, and that he hopes younger generations will continue practicing it.

The wool comes from sheep raised around Shannan, about 3,700 meters (12,100 feet) above sea level.

Statues of Tibet’s 7th century King Songtsen Gampo and his Chinese bride, Princess Wencheng, stand at the center of the workshop, surrounded by wooden looms. According to local tradition, the weaving craft dates to when Princess Wencheng introduced weaving techniques to Tibet after marrying the king.

In Chinese official history, their marriage symbolizes the historical ties between Tibet and China. “It integrated Tibetan and Chinese cultures,” Pasang said about the fabric’s history.

The Associated Press joined a government-organized trip to Lhasa and Shannan last month, which included visits to the cooperative, palaces, Buddhist temples, tourist sites, an eldercare center and local businesses.

Next to the workshop, a small showroom displays scarves, shawls, jackets, bags and other products made from Pulu and Zeter. Pasang said most sales are in Tibet, although customers also come from elsewhere in China.

By ELIZABETH IVENS

Published: 01:37 BST, 9 August 2026 | Updated: 02:11 BST, 9 August 2026

The National Trust has been accused of ripping off parents with toddlers by charging for small cups of foamed milk at its cafes.

In stark contrast to High Street chains which supply the so-called ‘babyccinos’ for free, the Trust charges 80p.

The Babyccinos – hot foamed milk in a small cup – have become popular with toddlers wanting to mimic the cappuccinos or lattes that their mums and dads are drinking. 

High Street coffee chains, including Costa Coffee, Starbucks and Caffe Nero, all provide the fun drink free of charge.

Advertisement

The charge has infuriated parents across the country, and comes as the Trust is under fire for escalating membership fees.

They have risen from £63 for an adult a decade ago to just over £100 now, with family membership rising from £111 to £176.

Parents visiting the Trust’s historic attractions, including Emmetts Gardens, an Edwardian hillside garden in Kent, and Chartwell in Kent, the former home of Winston Churchill, were amazed to be charged 80p for a babyccino at their cafes.

One mum who took her toddler to visit Emmetts Garden, which charges up to £16.50 each for adult entry, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I ordered one for my daughter and couldn’t believe they were charging for it when it was just a little bit of frothed milk in a cup!’

Advertisement

A Babyccino made with whipped milk or cream with cocoa or cinnamon powder and marshmallow

A barista, pictured, dusting cocoa powder on to a babyccino in an espresso cup

At the National Trust cafe in Lacock, Wiltshire – which dates from Saxon times and has been a filming location for the BBC’s Pride And Prejudice and the film Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince – a babyccino was also 80p.

Advertisement

When The Mail on Sunday visited the cafe and ordered a babyccino alongside a standard coffee, our reporter was served a few mouthfuls of hot foamed milk – under 100ml – in an espresso cup.

When asked why there was a charge for the tiny drink, the barista said they charged for cold milk so ‘it was the same’.

But in nearby Chippenham, Wiltshire, coffee chains Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero and Starbucks, all provided a babyccino free of charge when an adult was buying a drink.

While none of them had a babyccino on the menu, all of them offered one upon request. In Caffe Nero the server said they were always happy to provide babyccinos when adults were buying other drinks.

Advertisement

In Costa Coffee, the babyccino was nearly double the size of the National Trust version at just under 200ml, while in Starbucks, the server offered a small (100 ml) or large (around 200ml) size, both free of charge.

A spokesman for the National Trust said: ‘As a charity, we regularly review our pricing to ensure we can cover our costs and support the long-term future of the organisation, while still offering value for money to our members and visitors.

‘We benchmark our food and beverage pricing against similar attractions and high street operators to ensure it remains broadly in line with industry standards.

‘Given other outlets’ pricing and some visitor feedback we’ve received, we are reviewing our babyccino pricing as part of our normal review cycle.’

Advertisement

This arid, fly-blown August has been interrupted by a sermon from something called the Institute of Alcohol Studies. 

It claims Parliament is an ‘alcohol-soaked workplace’ where all-day boozing is ‘embedded’ and alcohol has been ‘a driver of harmful behaviours and poor conduct among politicians‘.

The institute, an offshoot of the old Total Abstinence League, may be on to something, although not in the way it imagines.

Westminster does indeed have a hooch problem: In my opinion it does not drink enough.

That, naturally, is not the gist of the report Under the Influence? 38 pages of tight-lipped prose in which the institute denounces our legislature as a soaks’ paradise. 

It alleges that recent MPs have had to have their stomachs pumped, such was their inebriation. No names are given.

The report complains that ‘individuals are responsible for self-regulating their alcohol consumption’, as if some clipboard-wielding Rosa Klebb should constantly hover nearby to tell backbenchers not to have another sherry.

The report – a dry read, yet drippy – is aghast that alcohol is ‘linked to a networking culture deemed essential to career progression’. Networking in politics? Whatever next? Footballers who cheat?

Let us first admit that some people hate politicians and want them to have a miserable time. Why should there be any bars at Parliament? And why do companies and charities lay on free drink at Westminster receptions? Free wine for MPs and peers? The blighters!

The answer to this charge is that politics is a people business. ‘The Devil’s buttermilk’ (as the Rev Ian Paisley used to call alcohol) can make it more honest, as I will explain presently.

Westminster used to be considerably more liquid. The 19th-century Commons was often plastered. 

The mighty Norway debate of 1940, when the Chamberlain government was undone, was held amid the whiff of drink. What a night that must have been: The nerves, the tension, the surging emotions. My goodness, just thinking about it you can almost smell the whisky and the sheer urgency of the hour.

In the late 1960s the Commons Speaker was Horace King, a drinker. One evening he teetered into the chamber at 9.25pm and took more than one go at clambering into his chair. He fell across the clerks’ table, his ceremonial wig at a 45-degree angle.

Bob Mellish, government chief whip, snapped: ‘You’re a disgrace, Horace, and I’ll have you out of that chair in three months.’ Speaker King, suppressing a burp: ‘How can you get me out of the chair, Bob, when I can’t get myself into it?’

BBC political reporter Ben Wright, in his entertaining book about parliamentary drinking, claims that in 1983 a Labour MP, Edwin Wainwright, was escorted to a taxi after overdoing it in Strangers’ Bar.

The Green party’s Zack Polanski is known for not drinking alcohol

Wainwright was not, however, ready to conclude his day.

He stumbled back into the Commons and made a speech so slurred that Hansard’s stenographers were unable to discern what he was saying. Instead of a verbatim account of his speech they simply noted: ‘Mr Wainwright made a number of observations.’

That most languid of Conservatives, Alan Clark, was made a junior employment minister in the same year. He was told to make a front-bench speech about equal opportunities. It did not start until after 10pm, and Clark had spent the first part of the evening at a wine tasting.

As he started reading the speech he realised it was polluted by civil-service jargon. To spare the House he spoke at ’78rpm rather than 33rpm’, i.e, a ridiculously high speed.

Labour’s Clare Short did not see the joke and complained. Clark was undoubtedly naughty but did he not have something of a point? Why should anyone be exposed to officialdom’s cliches after supper?

As for Ms Short, five years later I was drinking in the Imperial Hotel, Blackpool, on the first afternoon of Labour’s party conference. Clare was at our table. I used to think I could drink a lot. Next to her I felt a puny amateur.

The past often shimmered on booze fumes. George Brown was a stocious economics minister and Foreign Secretary in the 1960s. The public warmed to him.

Ernie Bevin, most serious and capable of 1940s statesmen, ran on drink in the way ‘a car uses petrol’. Roy Jenkins was nicknamed ‘Old Beaujolais’.

Politics is not, as the Institute for Alcohol Studies claims, a ‘profession’. You do not need to pass exams to become an MP.

The one piece of paper you need is the returning officer’s confirmation that you won your constituency’s election.

Letts highlights how Parliament has a long, colourful history of heavy drinking, suggesting it humanised politicians and fueled bold decision-making

Parliamentary politics is about life, and life can sometimes be drunken, particularly when under the sort of stress that MPs must endure. I am no longer a big drinker. I can quite see that alcohol, in excess, is a poison. But it is something much enjoyed by millions of voters. Politicians are citizens, not saints.

In recent times we had poor Charles Kennedy, who was killed by drink, and there have been one or two cases of MPs bouncing off the corridors; but we have also had Nigel Farage, whose beery image helped liberate us from the European Union. 

He was more popular when he radiated that pubby bonhomie. Politics is as much the art of conviviality as debate.

The Green party’s Zack Polanski does not drink alcohol. Maybe he would seem less fanatical, and therefore more persuasive, if he did.

The late David Lipsey, a political adviser in the Wilson years, told Ben Wright: ‘Drink stopped the manic compulsion to do something every single day.’

Today’s ministers, Lipsey suspected, were ‘too sober and too energetic, thinking up wheezes they’d forget about if only they had a couple of large drinks’.

I would offer a more positive case for drink, namely as a truth drug. Ministers are more likely to learn what backbench MPs and their constituents think if they mingle with them over a pint.

One of the criticisms of Sir Keir Starmer as PM was that he seldom mixed with his MPs. The celebrated lawyer did not spend enough time at the bar.

Not that today’s Commons is dissolute. Despite those horror stories of stomach-pumping in the institute’s report, today’s MPs strike me as a clean-livered lot.

A few snifters might make them more prepared to disagree with party whips and wake up to the ridiculousness of regulatory over-reach and much welfare spending.

The institute suggests that arguments in bars are a bad thing. If they help MPs work out what they honestly think about bad Bills, I’d say that was a good thing.

Fainthearts will say ‘but it’s a workplace and you shouldn’t drink at work’. Parliament is much more than a workplace. It is the cockpit of our politics, an arena for debate and awkward truths. In recent times those truths have been tamed by too much sobriety.

Winston Churchill said: ‘I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.’ If Boris Yeltsin had not been so keen on vodka, would he have risked his life by standing on that tank and resisting Soviet hardliners in 1991?

One of the best backbenchers in the Blair years was Labour’s Bob Marshall-Andrews, no stranger to the Garrick bar at lunchtime.

It was Marshall-Andrews who in the Commons came up with the winning description of David Miliband’s tenure as Foreign Secretary. 

‘A pillock on his gap year,’ drawled the magnificent Bob. The only surprise was that he did not follow it by crying, ‘and another bottle of club red, please!’