US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently issued its first-ever “withhold release” orders on garments made in Jordan. These orders, issued on June 23 with immediate effect, bar shipments from two factories run by Jordan-based clothes manufacturer Needle Craft from entering the US market.

The case can be traced to the 2023 suicides of two young Bangladeshi women working in clothing factories in Jordan’s Ad-Dhulayl industrial zone. In response, UK-based workers’ rights organisation Labour Behind the Label launched an investigation with the i newspaper.

Their findings drew international attention to allegations of forced labour in the two factories – and helped prompt the CBP to launch its inquiry. Needle Craft has not publicly responded to the allegations.

Major US brands sourcing from Needle Craft, most notably Columbia Sportswear and Under Armour, have announced they will address the issues raised directly with their supplier.

The Needle Craft case is not an isolated instance of alleged abuse. Rather, it is symptomatic of a labour regime in Jordan that is sustained by the exploitation of predominantly female migrant workers.

A recent report I co-authored with urban researchers Ahmed Zaazaa and Heba Zakarnah documents workers’ everyday experiences of restricted mobility, dormitory life and deteriorating health in Jordan’s clothing production zones – from Aqaba in the south to Al-Hassan in the north.

The workers’ stories, annotated maps and drawings brought together in our report reveal how employer control and the relentless rhythms of global clothing production permeate every aspect of their lives.

During peak production periods, migrant workers routinely work 12- to 14-hour days, with overtime often exceeding the legal limit of two hours per day. Strict production targets dictate every movement, limiting even toilet breaks.

When shifts finally end, workers return to employer-run dormitories adjacent to the factories. There, overcrowded living conditions and inadequate infrastructure turn everyday tasks into a struggle, as Lakmini, a 23-year-old Sri Lankan worker, explained:

When we finally arrive at the dormitory, we have to fight for hot water, for a stove to cook a quick meal, or simply for a moment of quiet in rooms shared by eight workers. Sometimes I don’t know what is more exhausting: the factory, with its noise and dust, or the dormitory, with its terrible smell, constant arguments and endless queues.

Jordan’s export-oriented clothing industry emerged in the late 1990s. Under the Qualifying Industrial Zones agreement, the existing US-Israeli free trade agreement was extended to 13 designated industrial zones in Jordan.

These zones had been introduced as a form of commercial diplomacy in the wake of the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, with the goal of fostering cross-border economic cooperation and creating employment opportunities in Jordan.

Yet the significant commercial advantage of quota- and duty-free access to the US market motivated transnational, largely Asia-headquartered garment manufacturers to relocate parts of their production facilities to Jordan.

To ensure the productivity and flexibility demanded by global clothing brands, these producers began sourcing labour from South and Southeast Asia – particularly from countries with established garment industries and an experienced workforce.

Factories deliberately maintain a mixed-nationality workforce to impede worker solidarity. Preference is given to young women with limited formal education, who are considered easier to discipline and more likely to accept excessive overtime. Currently, young Bangladeshi women make up the largest group of workers in Jordan’s clothing industry.

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Living in employer-controlled industrial enclaves makes migrant workers available around the clock. Jordan’s restrictive kafala (sponsorship) system also ties migrant workers’ residency and work permits to a single employer. This makes it almost impossible to change jobs.

Taslima, a 26-year-old Bangladeshi worker who fled her factory because of abusive working conditions, described the consequences:

As soon as you leave your employer, you lose any right to stay in Jordan. My employer filed a complaint against me, so I cannot leave the country without paying a fine. I don’t want to return to Bangladesh, but the verbal and physical abuse in the factory became unbearable.

Taslima’s story is far from exceptional. The kafala system pushes workers into irregular status and informal employment, while compelling many others to endure coercive conditions until they complete their contracts. These dynamics have been documented for more than two decades.

Already in 2006, the US-based National Labor Committee exposed practices of forced labour in Jordan’s garment industry. This prompted the International Labour Organization (ILO) to establish the Better Work Jordan programme to strengthen factory oversight.

This has improved compliance in some aspects such as transnational recruitment practices. But our report shows the structural foundations of Jordan’s migrant labour regime have remained largely untouched.

Jordan’s authoritarian political context compounds workers’ vulnerabilities. Freedom of association and assembly are tightly restricted, while the only recognised trade union for garment workers is politically co-opted and often aligned with employers.

This leaves workers without effective avenues to defend their rights or articulate grievances, and explains why garment workers remain excluded from Jordan’s national minimum wage and health insurance systems.

The CBP’s “withhold release” orders come at a moment when the research, testimony and worker organisation needed to document labour rights abuses are increasingly under threat. Tightening political repression, combined with the withdrawal of US funding for workers’ rights monitoring and advocacy, have closed the last independent spaces available to migrant workers in Jordan.

As one Indian worker reflected on the closure of the ILO-supported community centre in the Al-Hassan industrial zone:

It’s not only that we’ve lost a place to socialise. The real problem is that our employers know we have nowhere to go with our complaints. They use the difficult economic situation in the country to scare us into accepting forced overtime, withheld wages and terrible living conditions.

Actor Junade Khan has opened up about his time so far as Idris Nazir in ITV’s Corrie

Coronation Street star Junade Khan has said it was ‘surreal’ to be recognised during a trip to Alton Towers following his debut in the long-running show.

It was back in May that the actor arrived in Weatherfield as Idris Nazir. But as fans may already be aware, it wasn’t the first time Junade had ever appeared in the ITV soap, which is filmed in Salford.

Junade, also known for roles in Game of Thrones, Hollyoaks and Waking the Dead, actually appeared in Corrie before, for two episodes back in September 2008 as Saj, a short-term boyfriend of Rosie Webster.

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But his return to the street in May saw him taking on the role of Idris, who at the time was said to be the cousin of long-standing character Alya Nazir. However, he has since dropped a family bombshell and confirmed to Alya that he’s her uncle. He revealed that Yasmeen Nazir’s husband, Sharif, had an affair with his mother, and therefore he’s her late father Kal’s half-brother.

Making his arrival, Idris made quite the impression as he strolled into Speed Daal and forced two inappropriate customers to pay up, supporting Leanne Battersby and Brody Michaelis, who were struggling to get through to them. It didn’t take long for Leanne to fall for Idris’ charms, while Brody has also been taken under his wing, but with dodgy consequences.

And Idris’ appearance in Weatherfield has changed things for Junade. Asked about the public’s reaction: “I try to stay away from reading comments online, but I was actually surprised by how quickly people recognised me.

“It happened after just the first episode! I went to Alton Towers, wearing a hat and sunglasses, and people still came up to me. It was surreal. Even though he’s not the most likeable character right now, I’m confident that as people see more dimensions to him and find the humour in him, they’ll start to warm to him.”

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Speaking about Idris as a character, now that he’s had months in the new role, the soap star shared: “I’m absolutely loving the character. He’s really developed over the last month or so; something has just clicked. I’m understanding him much better now and getting to grips with the style of Coronation Street.

“It’s a delicate balance—it can’t be too subtle like in some dramas, it has to be a bit heightened, but still grounded in realism. I’ve started to truly embrace the character. He’s brilliant because he has so many dimensions. While he isn’t liked by everyone, there is a lot of vulnerability there, especially in his relationships with Leanne, Sam, Brody, and Alya.”

As for Brody, with Corrie fans worried that Idris is taking the troubled teen down a dark path, Junade added: “It depends on how you look at it. He does like Brody,he’s a funny lad, but he doesn’t trust him with big business decisions because he lets himself down with alcohol and maturity.

“He uses him for the ‘dirty jobs’ while keeping him on board. In a way, he’s trying to step into a father figure role to guide him away from ending up like his dad, Mick. He’s telling him that in the real world, you have to be tough to get where you want to be. It’s perhaps not the best advice, but Idris believes he is more intelligent than Mick and is trying to save Brody from that path.”

Anne Hathaway is laughing off rumors that she’s pretending to be pregnant. 

On Monday, the 43-year-old actress took to Instagram to subtly address claims that her baby bump is ‘fake,’ after a ‘ridiculous’ maternity outfit she wore on Sunday went viral. 

She sassily wrote in the caption of a behind-the-scenes video montage, ‘Fake hair, real bump. Enjoy The @endofoakstreet Block Party chaos with me as my outfit literally melts in the heat!!’

In the footage, the Oscar-winner is being attended to by a glam squad, including a stylist seen securing a hairpiece to volumize her flowing ponytail as she admits: ‘It’s not my hair.’

Hathaway attended the Los Angeles premiere of her latest film The End of Oak Street over the weekend, where she bared her midriff after announcing earlier this summer that she and husband Adam Shulman are expecting baby number three.

Fans went wild on TikTok, with a slew of comments accusing her of wearing a prosthetic bump.

The 43-year-old actress sassily wrote in the caption of an Instagram video, ‘Fake hair, real bump’

‘Why does it look fake?’ asked one internet user, with the comment collecting nearly 6,000 likes.

Another person added, ‘It does look fake. There’s body makeup on it.’

Others came to Hathaway’s defense, explaining her stomach looks different than other pregnant women’s because she’s in great shape.

‘It looks different because she was already fit and probably continues to work out, so she is all muscle and baby!’ said one fan.

And someone else commented on the star’s Instagram post, ‘The fact that other women were questioning her literal pregnant belly because “mine didn’t look like that” is so strange to me.’ 

The Princess Diaries actress was previously trolled for modeling a custom baby blue high-low Prabal Gurung halter top made of silk and boasting a floor-grazing train.

She teamed the midriff-baring look with low-rise jeans from La Ligne’s Jenny. 

One critic wrote online that the outfit ‘looks ridiculous,’ another shared, ‘This one is so wrong, sorry,’ and a third exclaimed, ‘Jeans? JEANS?! That dazzling top deserves a better companion.’

After Hathaway’s latest promotional appearance on Sunday, fans went wild on TikTok, with a slew of comments accusing her of wearing a prosthetic bump

In the footage, she’s being attended to by a glam squad, including a stylist seen securing a hairpiece to volumize her flowing ponytail as she admits: ‘It’s not my hair’

Hathaway hit headlines earlier this summer when she announced she was expecting her third child at the age of 43.  

Hathaway shares sons Jonathan, 10, and Jack, six, with Shulman, whom she wed in 2012. 

While appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers in July, she got candid about her pregnancy.

‘I mean, we knew what we were doing, but we were so shocked it worked!’ she said about finding out she was with child. 

‘We were so shocked it went this way,’ the actress echoed about her and her husband’s surprise at their baby news.

She described the pregnancy as a ‘buzzer beater.’ 

And remarking on becoming pregnant in her 40s, she recently told Access Hollywood: ‘There’s always hope until there’s not, but when you get to a certain age, that hope looks like 1% to 2%.

 ‘So we just decided to see where life took us, with a very, very healthy, realistic expectation, which was very low.’

Hathaway shared, ‘We’re overjoyed because we just know from personal experience that not everybody gets this, and certainly not when you want it – sometimes not ever.’

Home is often imagined as a physical structure or a fixed point on a map, something stable that we can locate and return to. Yet our earliest experiences of home are rarely so concrete. They are shaped by memory, sensation and emotion, held in fragments of sound, smell, language and feeling.

One Song, a socially engaged arts project by London-based artist Kadir Karababa, is currently on show at The Art House, a creative hub of artist studios, galleries and community workshop spaces in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Over the past few months, Karababa led a series of workshops with women based in the city with personal experience of migration or of seeking sanctuary. The project is inspired by Karababa’s grandmother and the songs shared by the women in his family.

The workshops involved music and singing, and each was followed by a shared meal. Workshop participants were then invited to share and record a song which transported them to the place they first called home. These recordings form part of an installation. Each woman and her chosen song appear in a video on a series of monoliths with built-in screens. The songs play continuously, with women sometimes singing alone, sometimes overlapping in a chorus of voices and languages. At times the women pause, as if listening. A call and response.

The monoliths are accompanied by a shelf*collection?* of objects, each one brought in by the participants. These everyday objects include photographs, a watch, a child’s dress and a film poster. On display with the objects are short testimonies from the women, describing the story of the song and object they have chosen to share.

Music, song, voice here all dislocate notions of home and belonging from static ideas of place. Instead visitors are moved to think of home as something relational and shared. As ephemeral, embodied and collectively imagined.

Stories of migration through song

In the exhibition’s wall text, Karababa explains that he wants this work to offer a dialogue which reflects the deep complexities of the world. It also speaks to his own family story of migration which echoes in the songs he heard his grandmother sing when he was a child.

Being in the exhibition space and hearing the different voices and songs is a highly affective experience. Participating in the workshops and being part of the installation offers an opportunity to share something that might not have been previously shared. It is also something that participants do not take on lightly. Offering something – a memory, a trace, a distant place and time – of this kind is inherently intimate. For participants, their sharing is an act of both hospitality and generosity.

The project and exhibition resonate personally for the two of us, as researchers and practitioners in socially engaged arts and participatory research. For Jessica this resonance is highly personal. One of the participants in the Wakefield-based strand of the project is her mother, Anne, who shares a Malagasy lullaby from her childhood in Madagascar.

The object she chose to display is a well-thumbed exercise book in which, as a child in the 1950s and 1960s, she wrote down the words to every song she knew. Etched on each page in fountain pen and biro are French and Malagasy songs, including hymns. The lullaby she shared – Etsy babeko razandriko izany – which translates as “let me carry you on my back my little brother”, is among the many she diligently recorded in her book over a period of eight years.

Jessica’s research explores people’s experiences of creativity in everyday contexts, often with arts-based approaches. The exhibition, therefore, and dialogue between the artist and participants, brought to light aspects of family history which had previously not been explored. She learnt something new about what home might be for her mother, in her memory.

Jessica’s mother wanted to be able to share something important, and to explore how, in sharing it, it might be preserved. It offered a chance for intergenerational dialogue, as well as for her mother to share something about her childhood in a language which she rarely now has the chance to speak. For both authors of this review, it also gave insights into what it’s like to participate in socially engaged arts projects and share experiences in relation to place and time.

The exhibition also asks important questions about categories and how we designate them. Who is a migrant, and at what stage are people recognised as such? Whose experiences are audible – and whose experiences matter? Each song and testimony offers a sense of being connected to multiple places. Collectively, the songs ask whether we only recognise how home feels when we are in a different place.

Louise’s recent artistic project, If Walls Could Talk, funded by Arts Council England, also explored these ideas by researching the history and stories that Chinese wallpaper holds for migrants, using participatory and interpretative practice. In her research she worked with students and community members with experiences of migration to the UK from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Through arts-based workshops and discussions centred around food and recipes, the project complicated ideas of language and national identity and opened up new dialogues about home and belonging.

These conversations have never been more important than now, with participatory arts and research opening up spaces which invite us to share and learn from each other. One Song therefore reiterates that ideas of home are wholly individual; as much a feeling as a location.

One Song is at The Art House in Wakefield until August 31.
After this, it will be at Fabrica in Brighton from October 9 to October 28.

Crime kingpin Daniel Kinahan at one time was described as the most wanted man in the world. He and other family members are alleged to have set up a drugs ring in Dublin, Ireland more than a decade ago that now stretches across Europe and even further afield.

One example of the global nature of their operations is the $5million bounty put on the heads of Kinahan and family members by US Treasury officials for alleged drug trafficking. However over the years the Kinahan’s Scottish connections have played a leading role in advancing their criminal empire, estimated to be worth almost £1billion.

The Scottish connections date back more than a decade and are linked to an infamous and long-running feud between the Daniel and Lyons crime families in Glasgow. The Lyons family head Steven Lyons had moved to Marbella in Spain’s Costa Del Sol following an attempt on his life in Glasgow in 2006.

It was there he was said to have hooked up with the Kinahan family for the first time including Daniel Kinahan.

That link which was then said to have give the Lyons the upper hand in their turf war. In exchange, the Kinahans are believed to have secured a lucrative drugs distribution network in Scotland. Further Scottish connections were said to have been made through Robert

Kelbie, an alleged Lyons associate and convicted fraudster. Kelbie, from Ratho, Edinburgh has survived three attempts on his life and in 2021 helped to set up a gym on the Spanish island of Fuerteventura for MTK Global, a now defunct boxing promotion firm linked at the time to the Kinahans.

In the past Kelbie posted photographs of himself on Instagram giving the boxing champion Tyson Fury, who also has past links to MTK, a guided tour of Edinburgh.

Four years ago, US Treasury officials published a list of enforcers they believe to be working for the Kinahans, including John Morrissey, whose Scots wife, Nicola Morrissey, is listed as the sole director of Glasgow based international firm Nero Drinks. Morrissey is alleged to have provided the Kinahans with a link to Scotland through Nero Drinks, which sold the vodka brand of the same name.

The company was formed in March 2018 and at one time sponsored the football club Hamilton Academical. US Treasury officials have previously alleged that Nero Drinks was a front company created to hide Morrissey’s alleged criminal activity and to launder money.

As a result, Nero Drinks was banned from trading in the US. According to Companies House, accounts for the firm are long overdue and a motion for striking off has been made.

In September 2022 the Morrisseys, who married in a lavish ceremony at Dundas Castle, near Edinburgh, were arrested near their luxury home in Marbella. Nicola was given bail and Morrissey was later released after lodging a bail bond of £50,000. Morrissey denies the allegations.

The Spanish Civil Guard, which led the operation against Morrissey in 2022, have claimed he helped to launder up to £297,000 a day. In April it emerged the police operation that led to 66-year-old Morrissey’s detention had in turn led to arrests that month in Spain of seven alleged Lyons gang members.

The Kinahan crime operation has also been linked to the firebomb and machete attacks seen across Scotland in the last 18 months, targeting the Daniel family and associates of Edinburgh cocaine baron Mark Richardson.

The subsequent police investigation Operation Portaledge led to 64 arrests and lengthy terms of imprisonment for the perpetrators. The attacks were said to have been orchestrated by the former leader of the Rangers fans group the Union Bears and Lyons associate Ross McGill from his base in Dubai using a shadowy group called Tamo Junto.

It’s alleged that an associate of Mark Richardson paid for a £500,000 cocaine deal with fake money thus promoting the reprisals. McGill was kicked out of Dubai last October and his present whereabouts are unknown.

At one point McGill, Steven Lyons and Daniel Kinahan were all based there. Graeme Pearson, former Director General of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, says it will be interesting to see if the Kinahan and Lyons families still retain their influence in Scotland following Daniel Kinahan’s arrest and extradition from Dubai at the weekend.

Meanwhile Steven Lyons is sitting in a jail in Spain having been extradited earlier this year from Holland on money laundering charges. Mr Pearson added:”There will be a lot of communication from Kinahan to the outside about what he wants and what his allies wants and whether or not they have the firepower to ensure that their wishes are maintained rather than a new power coming into place.”

While an underworld source added:”For a number of years the Lyons with the help of the Kinahan’s have been all powerful in Scotland. “With the heads of both families in jail it remains to be seen who will now fill that vacuum and at what cost.”

As photos pour in from Tallulah Willis‘ wedding to Justin Acee, one person in particular has been noticeably absent from the pictures.

Tallulah’s father Bruce Willis has been nowhere to be found in photos posted to social media from the wedding, leading one to wonder, did he attend the nuptials?

His possible absence may be due to his health, as Willis, 71, has been undergoing a devastating battle with dementia and now receives round-the-clock care. 

Photos from the rustic nuptials showed Tallulah, 32, celebrating with friends and family, including mother Demi Moore and her two sisters, Scout and Rumer Willis, who both served as bridesmaids. 

Yet neither Willis nor his wife Emma Heming Willis, 50, were spotted in any photos viewed by The Daily Mail of the wedding. 

Representatives for Willis, his wife Emma and Tallulah have been contacted for comment but have not yet replied.

Tallulah’s mother, Demi Moore, and sister Rumer Willis were pictured at the celebrations in photos posted to social media by guests

The world learned of Bruce’s health issues four years ago, but Tallulah had long been aware something was wrong years earlier.

In fact, the role her father would play at her own wedding amid his health issues was one she first contended with back in 2021. 

At this time, the world was not yet aware of Bruce’s health issues, but Tallulah was, and the gravity of it all hit her as she attended a pal’s nuptials.  

‘I remember a moment when it hit me painfully: I was at a wedding in the summer of 2021 on Martha’s Vineyard, and the bride’s father made a moving speech. Suddenly I realized that I would never get that moment, my dad speaking about me in adulthood at my wedding. It was devastating. I left the dinner table, stepped outside, and wept in the bushes,’ she recalled in a 2023 piece for Vogue. 

The family announced in March 2022 that the Die Hard star was retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, which affects communication.

In February 2023, they said his condition had progressed, and doctors had diagnosed him specifically with frontotemporal dementia, an incurable brain disease that can affect language, behaviour and personality.

In her Vogue article, Tallulah recalled the progression of her father’s illness and how they initially attributed it to ‘Hollywood hearing loss’ before it became something more personal. 

‘I’ve known that something was wrong for a long time. It started out with a kind of vague unresponsiveness, which the family chalked up to Hollywood hearing loss: “Speak up! Die Hard messed with Dad’s ears.” 

Scout, Demi and Rumer gathered around a festively decorated table as the newlyweds posed for photos, but Bruce wasn’t anywhere to be seen

The nuptials were attended by Demi’s Charlie’s Angels costar Lucy Liu (second left), as well as Andrew Garfield (not pictured), but neither Bruce nor his wife Emma Heming Willis were seen socializing with the famous guests in any photos viewed by The Daily Mail from the wedding

‘Later that unresponsiveness broadened, and I sometimes took it personally. He had had two babies with my stepmother, Emma Heming Willis, and I thought he’d lost interest in me,’ she said, though added that ‘this couldn’t have been further from the truth.’

She now has become more avid in recording memories of her father whenever she visits him: ‘Every time I go to my dad’s house, I take tons of photos – of whatever I see, the state of things. I’m like an archaeologist, searching for treasure in stuff that I never used to pay much attention to. 

‘I have every voicemail from him saved on a hard drive. I find that I’m trying to document, to build a record for the day when he isn’t there to remind me of him and of us.’

Fortunately, her father still brightens up at the presence of his daughter. 

‘He still knows who I am and lights up when I enter the room. (He may always know who I am, give or take the occasional bad day. One difference between FTD and Alzheimer’s dementia is that, at least early in the disease, the former is characterized by language and motor deficits, while the latter features more memory loss.) 

‘I keep flipping between the present and the past when I talk about Bruce: he is, he was, he is, he was. That’s because I have hopes for my father that I’m so reluctant to let go of. 

‘I’ve always recognized elements of his personality in me, and I just know that we’d be such good friends if only there were more time. He was cool and charming and slick and stylish and sweet and a little wacky—and I embrace all that. Those are the genes I inherited from him.’

Bruce’s wife Emma revealed last year he was living in a nearby one-story home with round-the-clock care while remaining closely involved with his family.

Rumer cuddled her daughter Loretta, but there were none of the expected photos of Rumer’s father enjoying time with his granddaughter

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Rumer and Scout served as bridesmaids for their sister

Tallulah is the youngest daughter of Willis and Moore 

Willis and Moore, pictured with their daughters, were married for nearly 13 years before divorcing in 2000

The newlyweds obtained their marriage license in the Blaine County Courthouse in Hailey, Idaho, last week

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‘Bruce is still very mobile. Bruce is in really great health overall, you know,’ she said. ‘It’s just his brain that is failing him.’

Tallulah’s mother Demi, who was married to Bruce for nearly 13 years before divorcing in 2000, said seeing her ex change has been ‘difficult.’ 

‘It’s hard to see somebody who was so vibrant and strong and so directed shift into this other parts of themself,’ she said on The Oprah Podcast last year.

Tallulah and Justin announced their engagement in December 2024, after dating since January 2023.

Tallulah has been dating Acee since January 2023 before becoming engaged the following year.

They obtained their marriage license in the Blaine County Courthouse in Hailey, Idaho, last week.

Tallulah’s older sister Scout, 35, shared a sweet photo on Instagram at the time showing the couple outside the courthouse, which Justin reposted. She captioned it: ‘My angels got their marriage license.’

Louise Redknapp has reportedly ‘split from her boyfriend Drew Michael after two years together.’

The singer, 51, and business leader, 42, had been dating since October 2023 and appeared to have gone from strength to strength.

The singer moved on with Drew after her split from Jamie Redknapp in 2017 after 19 years of marriage. They share two children together Charlie, 20, and William, 16.

But on Monday, it was revealed that the pair have called time on the relationship and he is believed to have left the UK, according to The Sun. 

Despite the split, friends have insisted she is thriving and has been living it up on girls’ trips in Ibiza. A source told the publication: ‘Louise and Drew decided to end things a little while ago.

‘Things had been really good between them but it felt like their relationship had run its course and they both thought it was best to move on.

The singer, 51, and business leader, 42, had been dating since October 2023 and appeared to have gone from strength to strength (pictured in July at Wimbledon)

‘It was all very amicable and although it’s never fun when a relationship ends, Louise has thrown herself back into her social life and her busy work schedule.’

According to the source, Drew is thought to have moved abroad for work, so it’s been a clean break.

The Daily Mail has contacted Louise’s representatives for comment. 

It comes after the singer revealed if there were wedding bells on the horizon with her younger boyfriend.

In an interview last year, she gushed over her partner after her tough marriage breakdown and spoken candidly about their future plans.

She told The Sun: ‘Drew’s great. We’re having a lovely time together. It took me a long time to get to that place and be open about anything.

‘I was very guarded and scared. But I’m really enjoying having special times with someone. He’s a great guy and super-kind.’

Asked if there are wedding bells on the horizon, she added: ‘Oh, I’m not even thinking that far ahead. I’m not even going there.

Louise and ex Jamie split  in 2017 after 20 years of marriage

‘I just want to be proud of this and I want to really enjoy it. I’ve met a really great guy and I’m really happy. But you never know what the future holds.’

She added in the interview that her two sons really get on well with Drew which makes life much easier.

Louise also hit back at ‘toyboy’ criticism due to their nine-year age gap.

She said being branded a ‘cougar’ is ‘water off a duck’s back’ to her and that ‘age is irrelevant’ as she doesn’t ‘feel older than him’.

The interview comes after she revealed why she was painted as the ‘villain’ following her split from ex-husband Jamie.

Louise opened up about being accused of walking out on her family and how everyone had an ‘opinion’.

She told the Independent: ‘I was the villain. I’d been lucky in my career because for many years I didn’t really have a lot of scrutiny. Then bang, everybody’s got an opinion.’

‘Anything someone could perceive as negative, I cut out. Nothing I said was right. To defend myself was wrong. To not defend myself was wrong. I felt like I was walking up a one-way street with just nowhere to go on it.’

Elsewhere Louise said she is now ready to push out of her comfort zone and she even features a number of ‘sex noises’ in her new single.

She is preparing to release a new album Confessions and is really adamant about making ‘progressive music’ instead of being ‘nostalgic’.

Louise said she doesn’t care what people think despite friends questioning whether there are ‘too many sex noises’ in her new track Get Into It, which features moans of ecstasy.

Speaking about co-writer Jon Shave, who worked on Charli XCX’s album Brat, she said: ‘I got a text from Jon asking, “Are there too many sex noises on this?”. And I was like, “Jon, there can never be too many sex noises!”

‘I’ve had a lot of feedback like that. And I do understand it. I’ve always kept in my lane, done what people expected. Now I’m saying, ‘f*** it!’

It came after Louise discussed her divorce from Jamie on the Happy Place podcast and credited her two sons for keeping her going during the breakup.

She said: ‘If I didn’t have my kids, I think I would’ve just given up. I think I just knew that my kids were my everything and they needed me.’

The singer admitted that the public scrutiny of her marriage breakdown made the situation even harder to deal with.

She added: ‘But I can honestly say, when you’re going through something so personal in your own turmoil in your own way, but then to get the barrage of judgment and nastiness.

‘I never realised people could be so unkind and say such terrible things. It blew my mind.’

‘I was going through a lot as it was, I was trying to be strong for my kids, whatever had gone on in our life was private – which I do believe that you’re entitled to no matter what.

‘And God, I was such a villain, and I was breaking like I was absolutely breaking.

‘Beyond what I thought it was possible for a human to break and all along I’m still trying to be a mum.

‘And it was just like every time I went out, and I was trying to put a brave face on and do things, like that was wrong if I didn’t.

‘I felt like everything I did was so wrong.’

Following the split, Jamie found love with Swedish model Frida Andersson and they tied the knot in 2021 before having a son together.

A developer wants to bring new businesses and up to 120 new homes to a Cambridgeshire town

A Cambridgeshire town area could get a “new life” under new proposals, according to a developer. Capital and Centric said it has “big plans” for the old cattle market square and gatehouse in St Ives.

The developer says it is working with Huntingdonshire District Council to “transform” part of St Ives with new homes, resident amenities such as a gym, and green spaces. A Capital and Centric spokesperson said: “We’re working with Huntingdonshire District Council to breathe new life into the old cattle market square and gatehouse in St Ives.

“With strong commuter links to Cambridge, St Ives is the perfect place to enjoy a more relaxed pace of life while staying well connected to the city. Our vision is to transform this area of St Ives with thoughtfully designed contemporary homes, alongside resident amenities and green spaces that complement the town’s rich heritage and historic character.”

The area is currently home to a bus station and car park. The developer seeks to build up to 120 new homes alongside resident “perks” such as a gym and co-working space.

Other proposals include wild landscaping and green space, which could be surrounded by walking and pedestrian routes to connect the new neighbourhood with the rest of the community.

The developer added that if approved, the proposals would create a “spill out space” filled with bars, cafes and restaurants, to “encourage the community to come together”. The new neighbourhood would also see “bold architecture that complements the existing facades in the town”, according to planning documents.

Capital and Centric is seeking people’s opinions on the proposals before they submit a planning application towards the end of the year. People are asked to share their views here before September 4.

The same developer has also proposed “big plans” for two other Cambridgeshire towns. If approved, a current bus station and car park on Princes Street in Huntingdon will be transformed into a “vibrant new gateway neighbourhood” with up to 78 new homes.

The proposals for St Neots would see the car park on Tebbutts Road transformed. The development would include a community pavilion, up to 83 new homes and a walled garden.