The American city of Charlotte in North Carolina has been chosen as the new home of the season-ending WTA Finals.

The WTA says it wants to create the “Super Bowl of women’s sports” and is hoping the three-year deal will bring more stability to an event that has had six hosts in seven years.

A planned 10-year stay in Shenzhen ended after just one year, with Guadalajara, Fort Worth, Cancun and Riyadh all taking turns since. Crowds have often been disappointing.

“The WTA has always owned the WTA Finals, but now we are going to operate it, too,” said WTA chair Valerie Camillo.

“We are not going to do everything ourselves, but we are taking control of this event, of the creation of the revenue and the controlling of the expenses. And that allows us to control our own destiny.”

This year’s Finals will be held in Indian Wells, California, before the tournament moves to Charlotte from 2027.

Prize money is yet to be announced, but the pot for this year’s Finals will be $10m (£7.4m) – which is $5.5m (£4.1m) less than the sum put up by Saudi Arabia last year.

“2026 is a year of transition for the WTA,” Camillo said.

“We are doing the normal belt tightening you would expect of any business while also absorbing the unexpected cost of relocating the WTA Finals to Indian Wells.

“What is most important to know is that we have a clear path to deliver consistent, sustainable financial performance in 2027 and beyond, supported by strong revenue and audience growth.”

Riyadh had been due to stage the Finals for a third time in November, but the arrangement finished one year early.

This was partly because of the instability caused by the conflict between the United States and Iran, but also reflected the waning interest of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The country’s sovereign wealth fund has recently stopped bankrolling LIV Golf, while the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters was another casualty earlier this year.

The Finals, which involve the best eight singles players and doubles teams of the year, will be staged at the Spectrum Centre where the Charlotte Hornets play their home NBA games.

The basketball season will be in full swing next November and, because of the frequency of home games, the Finals will be reduced from eight days to five, which is likely to affect revenue.

Camillo says the WTA has already started exploring alternative formats with the players, but if the round-robin element of the tournament survives, the finalists would need to play every day.

The WTA will also move its global headquarters from St Petersburg in Florida to Charlotte as part of the agreement.

It must be tough being a judge on the world’s most prestigious environmental prize: imagine having to choose between an ingenious machine that removes microplastics from a river in Europe, or a company in East Africa that sells clean cookstoves through affordable weekly instalments.

Over the last six months, we have been working with colleagues at Green Futures Solutions at the University of Exeter to make that job a little easier. We have found a way to distinguish between solutions that carry on working as long as people keep putting money into them, and those with “tipping potential” that get better, cheaper and easier to adopt the more successful they are. Our new report applies the science of positive tipping points to the five Earthshot categories – nature, air, oceans, waste and climate – for the first time.

After a northern summer of record-breaking heat, wildfires, floods and a deadly glacier collapse in the Nepal-Tibet border region, it would be easy to conclude the planet is only headed towards collapse. But tipping points science says otherwise. The same dynamic principle that leaves coral reefs and rainforests vulnerable to a relatively abrupt breakdown can also work in our favour – if we know the right levers to pull.

What is a positive tipping point?

Most environmental interventions assume change is incremental and proportionate: bigger problems require bigger budgets and lead to slower progress. But many complex systems we rely on (technologies, markets, societal norms, ecosystems) can shift abruptly once a critical threshold is crossed.

Solar power is a great example. Its cost fell around 90% in a decade because every panel sold stimulated innovation that made the next one cheaper. This attracted more investment, which cut costs again and improved performance. The tipping point happened when self-propelling feedback took over. Clean electricity, our report finds, is now a “master cascade”: as solar and wind have tipped in many markets, clean power can accelerate further progress in electric mobility, residential heating, industrial emissions and air quality.

Our report identifies the potential for such self-propelling feedback across 51 solution areas. Specifically, we identify whether the innovative solution is, or could quickly become, more affordable, accessible, and attractive than the polluting incumbent system it seeks to replace. We have also assigned measurable 2030 targets to each solution area, so progress can be tracked.

Three that could soon tip

Around 2.1 billion people still cook on wood, charcoal or dung and the smoke kills nearly 3 million people a year, including more than 300,000 children under five. Pay-as-you-go finance (borrowed from off-grid solar), turns an unaffordable stove into a small weekly payment. Clean cooking is now close to tipping in several African markets. People switch primarily because it saves them time and money.

Methane is responsible for about 30% of global heating so far, but lasts only around 12 years in the atmosphere. Cutting methane emissions therefore helps cool climate within a decade, rather than a century. A new generation of satellites can now pinpoint methane leaks from individual oil and gas facilities from space, and they are cheap to fix. The gas saved is worth more than the repair.

Inside a well-enforced marine-protected area, where commercial fishing is banned, fish biomass typically reaches four to seven times that of the surrounding waters within five to ten years. Fish spill out across the boundary, nearby fish catches rise, and the fishers who initially opposed the marine-protected area become the constituency demanding more of them. Only around 3% of the ocean is fully protected, but the landmark high seas treaty (itself an Earthshot prizewinner) entered into force this year and aims to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. Satellites can now monitor some industrial fishing fleets, so enforcement of marine-protected areas is getting easier. The science, the technology and the politics are coming together.

Not everything is about to tip. The biggest brake is investment: Africa receives only 3% of clean energy finance despite holding 60% of the world’s best solar resources. Our report shows where innovative financing could create the conditions to address these barriers, and highlights how the current investment gaps in adaptation financing can be closed.

By using our research to shape how the prize searches for, selects and supports solutions, Earthshot can help trigger positive tipping points to accelerate out of trouble.

The restoration of the filling station in Bridge of Earn was described as a “vital necessity” in the documents for the change-of-use planning permission.

Councillors have granted permission for Oilfast to reinstate a filling station on Bridge of Earn’s Main Street, on a site previously used as a vehicle sales forecourt.

Motherwell-based Oilfast sought change-of-use planning permission to reintroduce a petrol station in the Perthshire village, arguing it was “a vital necessity”.

Perth and Kinross Council’s Planning and Placemaking Committee was told by a senior planning officer that the application was part-retrospective, as the applicant had carried out the “majority of the works without the benefit of planning permission”.

Presenting the application to the committee on Wednesday, September 9, Development Management team leader Paul Williamson said the application had been brought forward as a result of enforcement negotiations. It was recommended by council officers for conditional approval.

According to the Design and Planning Statement – submitted by JMS Planning and Development on behalf of Oilfast – the site had operated as a filling station until around 2008.

They argued there was “a national need for additional and enhanced petrol filling station facilities” and “a significant absence of petrol filling station facilities within the local area, particularly between Perth and Kinross”.

Presenting the application for the automated, unmanned facility, JMS Planning and Development’s statement described filling stations as “vital community facilities” that “often function as a community hub”.

The agent’s statement read: “Petrol filling stations are a vital necessity and can often function as a community hub, but are facing significant threats in a harsh economic climate. Petrol stations have been likened to post offices and local shops as vital community facilities which are rapidly disappearing.”

The number of UK filling stations is reported to have fallen by 75 per cent between 1967 and 2023.

There were five objections from members of the public alongside a further objection from Earn Community Council.

Addressing councillors, objector Sarah Stewart stressed her concern about the cumulative impact of lighting, noise, traffic and contamination on neighbouring homes.

Mrs Stewart said: “Our concern is not one element in isolation; it’s the cumulative effect of all these activities operating together.”

Neighbouring objector Iain Bethune felt there were “material gaps” in the information provided by the applicant regarding traffic, lighting, and contamination.

Highlighting issues with parking and visibility, he said: “We request stronger action, such as double yellow lines.

“This would be an obvious solution.”

Oilfast chief executive Stephen Anderson told councillors that the company already operates two 24-hour petrol stations in Perthshire—in Guildtown and Balbeggie—“without issue”.

The pumps in Bridge of Earn will not operate 24 hours a day, but will be available from 6am to 11pm.

The use of jet washes and air, water and vacuum units will be limited to between the hours of 7am and 8pm.

Mr Anderson said: “We pride ourselves on being considerate operators and, quite frankly, it’s in our best interest to be good neighbours.”

He added that Oilfast had commissioned a mail drop to 600 neighbouring households: “Eighty-four per cent of respondents were in favour of reopening the Cargill’s site for fuel sales, with 74 per cent voting ‘strongly in favour’.”

The current site owner, Cargill’s, has entered into a lease agreement with Oilfast for the forecourt area only.

Cargill’s Autos will continue operating car sales and general vehicle maintenance and repairs in the area behind the forecourt.

Conservative councillor Ian James moved the plans for approval, seconded by SNP councillor Mike Williamson.

Local Conservative councillor David Illingworth (Almond and Earn ward) sought to restrict fuel sales to between 7am and 10pm for the benefit of nearby residents.

However, he was legally advised by council officers that there would need to be “a clear justification as to why there’s a need to reduce the hours”.

He subsequently withdrew his amendment.

Planning permission was unanimously granted—subject to conditions—allowing the site to be used for fuel sales from 6am to 11pm.

Ben Wiggins heads to London after success at the Tour of Britain and his father is looking forward to see him shine in London

Bradley Wiggins has used his own relationship with his father to shape his bond with son Ben – and hopes the newest Wiggins on the cycling scene can achieve something he never managed.

Now 21, Ben Wiggins has started to establish himself as a rising force on two wheels, both on the road and the track. The latter is where Bradley Wiggins first made his name, winning four of his five Olympic gold medals in the velodrome but victory at London Six Day always eluded him.

The competition has now been slimmed down to London 3 Day, and after finishing third and second in each of the last two years, Ben Wiggins is aiming to go one better than his dad’s best result. This is London 3 Day’s third year, and it continues to grow – bringing world-class track racing and a brilliant live atmosphere back to London.

Bradley Wiggins said: “In the last two years he’s finished third, second. So he’s got a chance to do something I didn’t do. We, me and Cav (Mark Cavendish), got second. So definitely, it would be a great thing if it happens.”

Wiggins’ father, Gary, was an Australian professional cyclist who competed regularly on the Six Day circuit. Wiggins senior was not part of Bradley’s life growing up, and he has spoken previously about wanting to prove himself to his father and how that drove him on.

They did reunite later in Gary’s life before he died following a fight at a house party in 2008. Given the dynamics of that relationship, Bradley Wiggins was keen to ensure that his own father-son connection with Ben was very different.

He explained: “The only thing I decided a long time ago was, and it was probably informed by my own relationship with my dad, first and foremost, I wanted to be his dad.

“He always looked at me as his hero, and it was in an unhealthy way, I thought. I think establishing our relationship as father and son – win or lose for him, I’m still his dad and still there for him – has served us well over time.

“If he wins, I’m his biggest supporter. If he loses, like any dad, I stick my arm around him. I never wanted to be the one saying, “Right then, you didn’t do this right, you didn’t do that right.”

“My level of expectation, I never wanted to put that on him. In doing that, he’s always got a supportive dad who, win or lose, is going to be there for the rest of his life.

“He’s found his own way through the sport, navigating it, and he’s had success as well. I think he’s become his own person. It’s not about repeating what I did or trying to emulate what I did. I think that’s important.”

Given Bradley Wiggins’ success on the bike – Britain’s first-ever Tour de France champion and a five-time Olympic champion – he still has plenty of advice to offer if Ben ever requires it.

And while he is always conscious of not overstepping the mark and interfering with coach’s plans, he is happy to share his mental approach to elite cycling with Ben.

He added: “He tends to come and ask me for things that other people probably can’t give him. His coach has all the conditioning stuff.

“There are things that he asks me, particularly about the mental side of it, the preparation and what you should be thinking going into it. So that’s quite nice, that I’m able to give him that from my own experience.

“Although the sport’s changed quite a lot, and maybe the preparation might change, the fuelling strategies and all that, the mental mindset going into something where you’ve got to arrive and be as fast as possible, that’s remained the same since the start of time.”

London 3 Day returns to Lee Valley VeloPark from 13-15 November 2026, bringing together the world’s fastest riders, Olympic champions and cycling’s next superstars. Tickets and information: www.london3day.com | Instagram @LND3DAY

Average pump prices are jumping by a penny a day in some cases

Soaring petrol prices have now reached their highest level since the start of the Iran war with the cost of filling up a family car with unleaded fuel edging towards £100.

The average price of a litre of petrol has now gone through the 170p barrier which means it would cost around £94 to fill up a standard 55-litre tank car, and in many areas prices are much higher.

Motorists face a postcode lottery at the pumps with even the cheapest prices charged by supermarkets varying widely across the country. Maidstone in Kent has the highest average price for unleaded petrol this week at 175.2 per litre. That is 20p a litre more than motorists are paying in parts of Northern Ireland, and 15p a litre more than the average price in Watford.

In Cambridge, motorists are currently paying 173.2p per litre for unleaded petrol, making it one of the most expensive places in the country to fill up.

You can find the cheapest petrol and diesel on sale in your neighbourhood by searching our postcode checker.

Owners of diesel cars are paying an average of just over 190p and dozens of forecourts around the country have seen the price of standard diesel go over the £2-a-litre mark in the last week.

The price of diesel has reached 215p per litre at BP motorway services, while a service station on the M61 motorway near Bolton is charging 195.9 per litre of standard unleaded, one of the highest prices in the country.

According to the latest data from Fuel Finder, at least 200 garages are charging 181p or more per litre of standard E10 unleaded, which would push the cost of filling up a standard family car on their forecourts over the £100 mark.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “Since the start of this month, the cost of filling a family car has already risen by almost £5, to £94 for petrol and £106 for diesel. Average pump prices have jumped by yet another penny in just a day. Petrol has now broken through the £1.70-a-litre barrier and stands at 170.54p – its highest since 23 August 2022. Unfortunately for hard-pressed drivers, prices look set to keep on rising”.

Average price for unleaded petrol:

20 most expensive areas

• Maidstone – 175.2p
• Brentwood – 174p
• Dumfries and Galloway – 173.7p
• Broxbourne – 173.5p
• East Staffordshire – 173.2p
• Cambridge – 173.2p
• South Oxfordshire – 172.9p
• North East Derbyshire – 172.9p
• East Hertfordshire – 172.8p
• Westminster – 172.7p
• Cheshire East – 172.7p
• Tandridge – 172.6p
• Colchester – 172.6p
• Chichester – 172.5p
• Ashford – 172.4p
• Breckland – 172.4p
• Denbighshire – 172.2p
• North Hertfordshire – 172.2p
• Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole – 172.1p
• Lambeth – 172.1p

20 areas with the cheapest average prices

• South Ayrshire – 163.9p
• Basingstoke and Deane – 163.8p
• Hartlepool – 163.8p
• Erewash – 163.7p
• West Suffolk – 163.5p
• Ashfield – 163.2p
• Tamworth – 162.7p
• York – 162.2p
• South Tyneside – 162.2p
• Ipswich – 161.7p
• Antrim and Newtownabbey – 160.6p
• Watford – 160.2p
• Fermanagh and Omagh – 160p
• Derry City and Strabane – 159.2p
• Causeway Coast and Glens – 159.2p
• Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon – 157.2p
• Mid Ulster – 156.2p
• Mid and East Antrim – 156.1p
• Ards and North Down – 154.2p
• Scottish Borders – 149.3p

Northern Ireland is in the process of establishing a new curriculum for primary and secondary education. The proposed Northern Ireland Curriculum Framework 2028, TransformED – currently under consultation – sets out a new, knowledge-rich curriculum.

Knowledge-rich means a strong understanding of subject-specific content, rather than, for instance, more general skills. There are many similarities with the 2013 educational reforms in England spearheaded by then education secretary Michael Gove, such as the influence of cognitive science and the belief that secure knowledge underpins higher-order thinking.

Some of the most far-reaching proposed changes in Northern Ireland are in language teaching.

Over the past 20 years, modern languages taught in schools in Northern Ireland have included French, German, Irish and Spanish.

When the curriculum was last reformed in the early 2000s, there was a missed opportunity to include statutory languages in the primary school curriculum. This effectively rendered Northern Ireland as having European Union’s shortest compulsory period of language learning.

Nevertheless, many of Northern Ireland’s post-primary schools teach [two or three languages]. The current curriculum requires the study of at least one language of the European Union but it provides ample flexibility to study more.

The new proposals still do not include modern languages in primary school. They shift to focus attention on “a single core modern language”, only required at secondary school in the 11-14 age range. Teaching practice would be focused on the three pillars of phonics, vocabulary and grammar. This includes concentrating on teaching pupils a high-frequency list of 800 words.

In Northern Ireland schools where teaching is in English, Irish is considered a modern language with the same status as French, German and Spanish. In Northern Ireland’s two Irish-medium post-primary schools, pupils learn through Irish and study English and either French or Spanish.

This differs from other Celtic jurisdictions, where language provision has been expanded, not reduced. Since 2013, Scotland has offered all pupils the chance to learn at least two modern languages. The Republic of Ireland and Wales have bilingual plus one policies, meaning that all pupils learn Irish or Welsh, plus an additional foreign modern language.

In fact, the explicit focus on only one core language from ages 11 to 14 in Northern Ireland is a significant policy shift not seen elsewhere in the British Isles. In England, language study is compulsory from ages seven to 14 and can include ancient languages in the primary phase.

Depth of knowledge

The argument from the Northern Ireland devolved government is that research evidence supports spending learning time concentrating on “developing depth of knowledge”. Yes, depth of knowledge of languages and linguistics is essential, but there is no peer-reviewed international research which says young people should only learn one language at school or that this should be confined to the 11-14 age range.

Informed by international research, EU policy sets a goal of all pupils acquiring, before the end of upper secondary, proficiency in the language of schooling and knowledge of two additional languages. It also calls for particular attention to be paid to language awareness in multilingual classrooms.

In the UK, this approach has been widely embraced in recent changes to the curriculum in Wales.

The word list of 800 high-frequency words, which differ across each of French, German, Irish and Spanish, is an approach that has also been used in England, where, at GCSE level, pupils have defined word lists. But as applied linguist Gianfranco Conti notes, a high-frequency word list tells us how often a lexical item occurs in a corpus a word is used but it does not tell us how useful that word will be to an 11-year-old.

The word for “pencil case” may not be in the top 800 words, but it’s still important to a young person in a classroom and worth knowing, not least because it helps to explain gender in languages.

The arguments for multilingualism are well rehearsed – and this is a time when Northern Ireland’s schools educate over 21,350 newcomer pupils and are home to speakers of more than 90 languages.. The decisions made now will shape language learning for a generation.

Plaid Cymru leader and first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth will speak at a march for independence later this month, it has been announced. Thousands of people are expected to descend on Aberystwyth on Saturday, September 26, for a YesCymru Welsh independence rally.

It is the first YesCymru march to be held in mid Wales and follows the 10 marches held since 2019, including in Cardiff, Wrexham, Swansea and Carmarthen, which have seen tens of thousands of people from every corner of Wales attend. Campaign organisers confirmed Mr ap Iorwerth will be among the speakers at the rally following the march.

It comes after what YesCymru described as an “historic week” in the independence movement. Full details here.

A 44-year-old private banker arrested by police on suspicion of being the Putney Pusher has been found dead. 

Nicholas Brandram was detained on June 15 at his home in Chiswick, West London, for attempted grievous bodily harm.

It was in relation to a notorious incident on May 5, 2017 when a jogger shoved a female pedestrian into the path of a double-decker bus on Putney Bridge – which only avoided her thanks to the lightening quick reactions of the driver. 

Police searched Mr Brandram’s £1.4million house and subsequently rearrested him for possession of Class A and Class B drugs – believed to be cocaine and cannabis. 

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said today: ‘At 7.15pm on Tuesday, September 15 officers and the London Ambulance Service attended an address in Chiswick, Hounslow after a man was found unresponsive inside a property. 

‘Sadly, a 44-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next-of-kin have been informed. At this time his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious. A file will be prepared for the coroner in due course.’

Mr Brandram – a grandson of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark, Queen Victoria’s last female descendant – was a director at HSBC’s private bank before being suspended after his arrest. 

His name was not released at the time of his arrest for legal reasons, but his identity was the subject of intense online speculation. He can now be named following his death. 

Mr Brandram was a decorated former British Army captain who served with the Scots Guards in Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan. In 2012, the Newcastle University philosophy and psychology graduate was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his military service.

A year later, he appeared at City of London Magistrates’ Court after colliding with a female cyclist on Hyde Park Corner on March 6 of that year. 

Mr Brandram crashed his 1948 Harley-Davidson into the woman and then drove off without leaving his details or checking if she was hurt, the court heard. 

Representing himself, he told magistrates: ‘I ride a bicycle myself and realise the risks.

‘I’m an upstanding member of society and have recently resigned as a member of the British Army and have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

‘I have a very loud bike so it’s not impossible I collided with her without me realising it. At the same time with such a big bike I don’t know how I didn’t feel the collision.’

He pleaded guilty to a count each of driving without due care and attention and of failing to stop after a road accident. 

He received five penalty points, a £200 fine and was told to pay £105 compensation. Mr Brandram thanked magistrates and said he would pay the fine immediately. 

The Putney Pusher incident took place during rush hour on May 5, 2017 at about 7.40am.

A woman was walking southwards on Putney Bridge when the jogger approached her from the opposite direction.

There was plenty of room on the footpath for him to run around her safely, but instead he shoved her onto the road – directly in the path of an incoming 430 bus going at 12mph.

Thanks to the rapid reactions of the driver, Oliver Salbris, the bus missed the 33-year-old victim’s head by inches, and she survived largely physically unscathed. 

The jogger continued his run across Putney Bridge without so much as a backward glance.

After the vehicle stopped, passers-by rushed to help the shaken woman – who has never been publicly identified.

The jogger returned in the opposite direction about 15 minutes later, passing the victim again while she was still being assisted on the bridge. He ignored her calls to stop. 

Nine years ago, police released dramatic CCTV footage of the moment this jogger appeared to push a woman into the path of an incoming bus on Putney Bridge 

The jogger was seen appearing to push the victim into the path of the incoming vehicle. The driver swerved and missed the woman’s head by inches

In April, Mr Salbris told the Mail that he would never forget what he saw.

‘I always think about the case and I still drive over Putney Bridge several times a day,’ he said.

‘Whenever I’m on the bridge, I look very carefully at the pedestrians on the pavement, I just can’t help it. I wouldn’t say it haunts me, but it’s not something I can easily forget.

‘I’m glad my reactions were quick on that day, or it would have ended very differently, both for me and the woman who was pushed. Her head was only a few centimetres from the bus and the wheel, even after I swerved to avoid her.’

At the time of the original appeal, the suspect was described as a white man in his early to mid-30s, with a stocky build and short brown hair. He was wearing a grey T-shirt and dark blue shorts.

Metropolitan Police detectives interviewed 50 men and arrested three suspects, including an American investment banker – who was able to prove ‘irrefutably’ that he was in the US at the time.

No suspect was ever charged, and the investigation was closed in 2018 before new information led to Mr Brandram’s arrest. 

Earlier this month, he was released under investigation to give police time to complete outstanding enquiries. 

The Met said at the time: ‘On Monday, June 15, a 44-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm. 

‘The arrest relates to an incident on May 5, 2017, where a woman was pushed into the path of a bus on Putney Bridge in Putney.

‘Once in police custody, he was also arrested on suspicion of possession of Class A and Class B drugs.

‘He has since been released under investigation while enquiries continue.’

Mr Brandram – a grandson of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark, Victoria’s last female descendant – was a director at HSBC’s private bank before being suspended after his arrest

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Mr Brandram’s late father, City executive Paul Brandram, was the only child of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark and Major Richard Campbell Andrew Brandram, who served with the British Army during the Second World War.

Princess Katherine was Queen Victoria‘s great-granddaughter, a first cousin of Prince Philip, and the daughter of King Constantine I, who ruled Greece between 1913 and 1922.

Queen Sofia of Spain, Paul Brandram’s cousin, told of her ‘great sadness’ after his death in 2020 at the age of 72. 

Like his father, Nicholas has had a successful career in the City, working at leading stockbrokers Killik & Co and Israeli lender Bank Leumi before moving to HSBC, where he managed the assets of wealthy individuals.

He was nominated Private Banker of the Year for 2026. 

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At the end of July, I posted a picture on social media of myself on holiday – and it ended up in the papers.

Wearing an old blue swimming costume, I’m smiling, and rightly so, because I’ve lost more than a stone.

As I pointed out in the caption, ‘This is a weight loss drug-free body. It’s still got shoulder-splitting G cups. Still has a muffin top. Still has crepey skin and is about as toned as a water bed.’ 

But it was different – I was slimmer, less bloated and happier looking – and that’s because in February this year I gave up sugar. It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s changed my entire life.

I’ve always stayed fit through running, but last winter I weighed almost 11st 7lb. Not only was I bigger than I wanted to be, but my brain wasn’t functioning. I felt clouded the entire time, I had no energy, and my mood was low.

I haven’t had an alcoholic drink for 14 years, but addiction manifests in many ways. I love chocolate, especially nutty milk chocolate, but I could never have just one piece or even one bar. I’d have a whole bar, and then maybe another one, settling down in the evening with a cup of tea, a box set, and my chocolate. 

Harmless, right? Yet still I’d take each bar and break it into little bits to hide how much I was consuming. There was secrecy, and there was ritual, and that meant that it had become another addiction – I’m always all or nothing.

Alongside my obsession with sugar, everything felt such an effort. I now realise I was putting on a continual, exhausting performance to prove to the world that everything was okay with my physical and mental health. In truth, it really wasn’t.

So, in February, I went to Portugal to stay with an old friend Lulu, to take some time out and do some writing. To be honest, she staged a bit of an intervention. An amazing Brazilian nutritionist friend had been running a retreat the previous week, and Lulu asked her to stay on a few extra days because she knew I wasn’t in a good place.

I was told in no uncertain terms that I was going on a detox – which included no sugar. My body was apparently in a state of inflammation. ‘Your eyes, your tongue, your gut… Oh my God!’ exclaimed the nutritionist when she looked at me.

I looked in the mirror and saw myself as she saw me: dull eyes shot through with tiredness, a coated tongue, a grey tinge to my skin, and that out-of-control muffin top.

She attributed it all to ultra-processed foods, which I don’t eat much of, and sugar, which of course I did.

I was effectively forced into eating barely a thing for seven days! I had lemon and bicarbonate of soda in the morning, which went through me like an upside-down volcano, green juice for breakfast, a couple of leaves at lunchtime, and nothing till dinner – which was soup. We walked a lot to take my mind off it.

When I got home, I weighed myself, and I’d lost five pounds, which was a huge incentive not to leap back into chocolate eating.

But giving up sugar was really difficult to do – harder than ditching alcohol. My day was punctuated around treats, so I had to reframe my eating, and find new ways to reward myself. I felt crabby and fed up, and may have snapped at my family a couple of times!

Still, I was very determined and after more than six months of barely touching the stuff, I sleep better and am far happier. I am still generally anxious, but about 40 per cent less so.

The biggest difference is physical. My weight, my energy, and my skin (on my face and body) is less dry and saggy, and my morning eye bags are less evident. 

That picture from July shows how far I’ve come. My three grown-up kids didn’t notice, but my husband Sten did – mentioning both my increased confidence and my looks, commenting on what I wore for the first time in years. I’m 64, and this year I’ve had more compliments than ever before in my life. It’s weight loss, yes, but it’s also about happiness.

Here are my other tips for being healthy, happy and slim at 64.

Blasting the years with red light

I’ve only recently accepted my age. I’ve got over that hump where a part of me wanted to be noticed in some way – that was up to my mid-fifties. I don’t feel that anymore, and I don’t mind that I’m invisible. Ageing is a privilege.

However, like every woman, I have a certain level of vanity, and more often than not I try to avoid looking at myself in the mirror, because I think to myself that there’s so much work to be done and I can’t be bothered! 

I don’t have Botox, but I do love the CurrentBody Red Light Therapy Face Mask (£499, currentbody.com). Genuinely, I’m such a sceptic about beauty gadgets, but this is one of the few things I really believe in for reducing wrinkles and improving skin plumpness. I try to use it for around ten minutes three or more times a week.

Making a face

I don’t wear make-up every day; just a bit of Trinny London BFF All Day (£42, trinnylondon.com) if I’m mooching about at home, and maybe her Just A Touch Concealer (£29). I love the PrimeLash mascara by US brand Prime Prometics (£8.58, amazon.co.uk). It’s great for lash thickening and it’s vegan and cruelty-free. 

I know you’re supposed to wear SPF every day, but I only wear it on holiday. Sten introduced me to Altruist sunscreen (from £11, altruistsun.com), which I know a lot of beauty experts swear by.

Susannah with her husband Sten on their holiday in Nice, France, this August. Sten introduced her to Altruist sunscreen

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I also wear a vitamin C serum day and night to brighten and protect my skin.

Body-wise, Trinny told me about this amazing body lotion called Aestura Atobarrier365 Ceramide Lotion (£26, sephora.co.uk) – it’s transformed my skin, which is far less dry.

I’ll tell you what I hate – products designed for over-50s. So patronising.

Take a nap if you need to

We need to be able to say: ’Do you know what, if I want to have a sleep in the afternoon I’m going to.’

I’m not great at this, admittedly, and tend to try to hide the fact I’m having a rest.

Everything around us is moving at such a pace that if you stand still for a second, you stand out like a sore thumb. People don’t notice you doing all the housework, the cooking and writing a book. But they notice a sleep in the afternoon.

I get around this by looking as though I’m on my laptop, but in fact I’ll be watching a box set on Netflix.

I still find my husband handsome

If you’ve been a parent, your children have been the priority. To some extent you forget that you’re married. When the children leave home, you’re suddenly meeting this person almost as though it’s the first time, and you’ve no idea how they’ve evolved emotionally.

I think to some extent it’s down to luck whether you still have the chemistry that initially drew you to them. With Sten, who’s 62 now, I’m lucky – he’s incredibly handsome. 

It wasn’t like falling in love all over again, but it was easy to say let’s move on, let’s get to the next stage. It’s about having common interests, complementing each other, and recognising and accepting each other’s weaknesses. For example, if he gives me a spreadsheet to fill in, he knows it won’t happen.

Exercise

I know everyone talks about weights and strength training, and I’m sure the science is there, but I think you have to find your own way. And there’s no magic wand – you have to put in the work, which is incredibly annoying.

I’ve run for years and try to do around 25 miles a week, even though it isn’t as easy as it used to be. I’m sure people look at me and they say, ‘Why is she literally lolloping along?’ But it’s good enough for me. I used to take a bag of buttermint sweets in a bumbag to eat on the way round, but I’ve stopped that!

I used to be a huge wild swimming fan, but I haven’t been for ages, and the main reason is because the water quality is so poor. I do have a cold water therapy barrel in my back garden, though, and I’m going to start leaping in and out of that again – possibly every day. 

I still do breathing exercises recommended by the wellness guru Wim Hof, which is like meditation. They make a huge difference to stress and energy levels.

Spend time with the young

I love to spend time with young people and hear their opinions – they have such strong ones and more courage than I ever did at that age. That makes me reassured for the future. 

I don’t inform myself about new developments in tech like AI – I just get my kids, now aged 26, 23 and 21, to explain it.

But you know what? They’ve spent their lives coming to me and asking things, and now the shoe’s on the other foot. They love it. They feel like they’re the boss.

Ditch FOMO

I would rather put a rock around my neck and walk into a lake than go to a big party. Sten and I are very antisocial.

But I do have lots of good friends, and I FaceTime one in particular every day, wherever we are in the world. He’s 80, and we acted as each other’s sponsors a little whilst in recovery from alcohol addiction.

What To Wear

I still follow the old diktats about dressing for your shape from the What Not To Wear shows that Trinny and I had such fun doing.

If you have big boobs, which I do, wear a lower top. That was one of our rules, but they do change a little with age. These days, I don’t go for overt cleavage display too often, and I don’t wear anything too tight either. 

Susannah still follows the old rules of What Not To Wear, a show she and Trinny Woodall used to host in the 2000s

I’m conscious of dressing differently, in an age-flattering way, and I’m not aiming to be sexy. Personally, I feel I look older if I try and dress younger.

I don’t have many clothes, and I do sometimes wear the same outfit four days in a row (except for pants!), but I never just grab the first thing that falls out of the wardrobe. I err towards more masculine clothes; flared trousers with a sweater or a plain white T-shirt in the summer.

Even if I’m working at home, I feel I have a responsibility to the work I’m doing as an author to look stylish. It also helps focus me and it’s respecting my job. I couldn’t work in pyjamas.

Shape. Where?

Trinny and I were virtually defined by our love of shapewear – what we called ‘magic pants’ – back in the early 2000s.

I don’t need to lose weight anymore, and I hadn’t actually worn shapewear for a very long time, until I partnered with Shapermint this summer and reignited my love affair with it. Together we’ve created a What To Wear edit of five foundational pieces, which we have just launched.

It’s not about looking smaller but about looking more toned. I see it as being akin to putting make-up on your face – you’re not inherently changing it, but it’s making it look the best it can.

The cami, shorts and leggings (from £45, shapermint.com) give me a wonderful, smooth outline and also make me feel more comfortable in lighter, silky fabrics. I honestly feel that it’s working with my body, not against it.

Food for thought

I always have a savoury breakfast. On a good day, I’ll have broccoli with homemade salad dressing, and protein in the form of cottage cheese or tinned tuna, as well as a coffee that’s so strong you could stand a spoon up in it with a little natural sweetness from Rude Health Organic Coconut Milk. If I get a bit hungry during the morning I might have some blueberries.

At lunchtime I chuck whatever veg is in the fridge into my Vitamix – it’s so powerful you could juice a Mini Cooper. At teatime, I have a Peter’s Yard Sourdough crispbread with peanut butter, and a small packet of Twiglets if I’ve been for a run.

We always eat dinner as a family when the kids are home – and it’s always homemade and protein-rich. Sten and I go out so rarely that it’s a treat to have a meal cooked by someone else, and I’ll eat pretty much anything… except pudding!

I still have treats, but they’re more considered – a couple of squares of 80 per cent dark chocolate (amazingly the amount hasn’t crept up), sugar-free chewing gum or a couple of dates.

Don’t go overboard on hair treatments

My thick blonde hair has always been great. I don’t go to a fancy London salon, but to a little place in my Sussex village called Aaron Russell which is a walk from my house. They are all so good that any one of them can do my cut and colour. I have a blow-dry once every two weeks, but otherwise I leave it alone. 

I find Sam McKnight products are amazing, such as the Hair by Sam McKnight Rich Cleanse Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner (£50, sammcknight.com), or Redken’s new Acidic Bonding range (from £12.95, boots.com) is fantastic for repairing damaged hair.

My girls use that too. Esme is evangelical about it, and her hair is incredible. Whenever I buy anything beauty-related, I have to keep them in mind because they steal my stuff.

You don’t have to take HRT

I had a chat with Trinny and a friend over supper a few weeks ago and I said that I didn’t take HRT. They were so horrified it was like I’d told them I had a terminal illness and was going to die in a few days’ time.

It sometimes feels as though menopause has become an insult for the young to chuck at their mothers. ‘Oh my god, you’re so menopausal!’

Honestly, I didn’t sail through menopause very well mentally, but I didn’t have physical symptoms. There’s no question that menopausal women really suffer, but I slightly ignored the whole noise around the subject because it didn’t sound as though it applied to me. 

Unfortunately, I think it’s put the fear of God into the younger generation. We need more balance in the messaging and more education for everyone.

I love some supplements….

I take magnesium for sleep, and saffron and turmeric for their anti-inflammatory properties. I like Naked Pharmacy products – you can book a call with a pharmacist if you’ve got questions. They don’t contain synthetic ingredients like fillers and binders.

Collagen-wise I’m currently trying out Elavate (from £39, elavate.com) – just a scoop in the morning. Perhaps that’s why my joints hurt less.

Ignore the ageist trolls

If someone hurts me, I become a pathetic ball of fear and anxiety. But I’ve had very little online trolling thankfully – only about five unkind comments on Instagram over the years. 

Last week someone commented on my looks, and I just leant into it and said, ‘shut your hole’. Lots of my followers stuck up for me.

While on Strictly in 2018, Susannah attracted lots of unkind attention. She said she agreed with all the comments, ‘and that shut them all up!’

When I was doing Strictly, I attracted lots of unkind attention, but that was all justified, because I was appalling. So, I just agreed with all the comments, and that shut them all up!

Have the confidence to stop

However grown-up we are, we’re still insecure and need to feel valued. For women, I think the easiest, least complicated way to achieve this is to be busy, to help others and to make yourself more indispensable than ever. I am absolutely guilty of that.

‘Don’t worry,’ I say. ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it.’ And then I feel resentful and stop. But on the whole, I’m contented with my body and mind, my relationships and my work, and you can’t ask for much more than that!

As told to Alice Smellie

Susannah Constantine has created a new What To Wear edit with shapewear brand Shapermint, shapermint.com