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The president of the Maldives has told the UK he “will not recognise” Sir Keir Starmer’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The intervention could serve as a further blow to the prime minister’s already beleaguered deal, which has been subject to relentless criticism from Donald Trump over the future of the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.

The plan will see the government cede sovereignty of the British territory after an advisory International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in 2019 backed Mauritian claims to sovereignty over the islands.

But the Maldives is now threatening legal action as it seeks to assert its own sovereignty over the islands.

In a statement to the BBC, President Mohamed Muizzu’s office said he had raised concerns with both written objections and in a phone call with David Lammy, the then foreign secretary, last year.

“These diplomatic communications articulate the government’s firm position: the decision by the British government to proceed in sole consultation with Mauritius – without due consideration of Maldivian interests – is deeply concerning,” the statement reportedly said.

“Consequently, the Maldives has formally communicated that it does not recognise the transfer of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius.

“This position is based on the profound historical and administrative ties between the Maldives and the archipelago, as well as the significant implications any such transfer holds for Maldivian sovereignty.”

However, ministers have previously said the islands would be handed over to Mauritius following the 2019 advisory ICJ ruling, a decision the Maldives told the BBC it would be reviewing.

“The government of the Maldives maintains the firm position that, by virtue of historical and geographical proximity, it holds a prior claim to sovereign rights over the Chagos Archipelago over any other state,” the statement said.

“Accordingly, if sovereignty is to be vested in any nation, it must rightfully be the Maldives.”

The Independent has contacted President Muizzu’s office and the UK’s Foreign Office.

Sir Keir’s deal to hand over the territory while retaining control of the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia has plunged into chaos after the US president repeatedly urged him to scrap it.

The UK has agreed to pay Mauritius at least £120m annually during the 99-year agreement to lease back the site, a total cost in cash terms of £35bn.

Mr Trump has withdrawn his support for the deal, branding the move a “big mistake” because of concerns over the joint military base.

His withdrawal of support came after he appeared to indicate his support for the deal last year, before criticising it in January and again in February.

Iran fired missiles at the joint US-UK base in the Indian Ocean last weekend amid Washington’s ongoing war on Tehran.

Diego Garcia is around 2,360 miles away from Iran and home to an airbase capable of accommodating long-range US bombers, with around 2,500 American troops based on the island.

America’s secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, sports an array of tattoos with Christian messaging, including one which reads “Deus Vult”, God wills it, and is associated with the medieval crusades. So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, while leading a Christian service at the Pentagon on March 25, Hegseth reached for biblical language to describe the war against Iran.

He called on God to “break the teeth” and kill the “wicked” enemies “who deserve no mercy” and should be “delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them”. In other words, for Hegseth this is a holy war in which he calls on god to “grant this task force clear and righteous targets for violence”.

This war is not primarily about religion. But leaders on all sides have used religion to justify their actions. Not for decades have political leaders of all three major Abrahamic faith traditions invoked parts of their respective traditions to legitimise war in this way. The way faith and religious scripture and doctrine have been used by the US and Israel to justify launching their war in Iran is a worrying development, and one that highlights the growing relationship between religion and authoritarian nationalism.

It has also deepened the animosity with Iran, where politicians and religious leaders have themselves invoked religious and messianic narratives. But Iran is an Islamic Republic in which religion has a significant constitutional role.

The Israeli prime minister used religious imagery on February 28 while announcing the start of the war. He invoked the Jewish holiday of Purim, which fell on March 2-3 this year, and which celebrates the Jewish escape from a plot by Haman, an evil Persian official, to annihilate the Jews in the ancient Persian Empire. He said:

My brothers and sisters, in two days we will celebrate the holiday of Purim. 2,500 years ago, in ancient Persia, an enemy rose against us with the exact same goal of completely destroying our people. But Mordechai the Jew and Queen Esther, with their courage and resourcefulness, saved our people. In those days of Purim, the lot was cast, and the wicked Haman fell along with it. Even today on the holiday of Purim, the lot was cast, and the end of the evil regime will also come.

Netanyahu has also compared Iran to the biblical Amalekites (a theme he has used to refer to Hamas in Gaza, drawing criticism from the United Nations). The Amalekites were arch enemies of the Jewish people, who the Old Testament God ordered to be completely destroyed, “men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys”. Netanyahu’s government rests on an alliance with religious Zionists, who frequently invoke religious references to justify Israel’s policies.

À lire aussi :
Attack on Gaza: Israeli rhetoric fuels fears of ethnic cleansing as IDF assault continues to push south

American evangelism

The first amendment of the US constitution, meanwhile, guarantees freedom of religion and effectively prevents one faith being favoured over any others. That said, about 70% of Americans identify with a religious faith (the vast majority are Christians) and there is evidence of the growing influence of evangelical Christianity on the Maga movement and the Trump administration.

On March 5, the US president was joined for prayers in the Oval Office by a group of evangelical pastors. Placing their hands on him, prayed “for your grace and protection over him…and over our troops”. The video of the American president engaging in a group prayer while engaged in a major war went viral.

At the start of the war, hundreds of US troops reported being told by their commanders that the war was “part of God’s divine plan” and that: “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”

Evangelical movements have vastly increased their political influence in the US and across the world. They often support right-wing politicians domestically and Israel internationally, believing in Christian Zionism or that the strengthening of the state of Israel will ultimately lead to the erection of the Temple in Jerusalem and hasten the arrival of the day of judgement.

Challenged by evangelical movements, the Catholic church, in contrast, has condemned the war as “immoral” and “unjust”, and denounced Israel’s attacks on Christians in Lebanon. Pope Leo, himself an American, has called the war a “scandal to the whole human family”.

Iranian martyrdom

The Israeli killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei broke a norm in international relations in more ways than one. It is the first assassination of a head of state by a foreign country in many decades. And it is the first time in centuries – perhaps ever – that one of Shi’ism’s most senior Grand Ayatollahs has been killed by a foreign power.

Many other senior Shia clerics – some of whom had had a difficult and sometimes even antagonistic relationship with Khamenei and the system he represented – declared him a martyr. Assuming his father’s role as supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei delivered remarks that heavily emphasised martyrdom and messianism – including an opening reference to the “Hidden 12th Imam”, who is meant to return on the day of judgement, according to Shia doctrine.

In Iran, Twelver Shia messianism and Iranian nationalism have long been interwoven, especially since the revolution of 1979. Now, Iran’s Shia clerics have declared the defence of the homeland as a sacred duty.

What the other branches of Islam think of the war is more complicated. Some senior non-Shia clerics, including the mufti of Oman – a prominent scholar of the Ibadi branch of Islam – declared Khamenei a martyr. The Sunni mufti of Iraq even argued that all Muslims should support Iran. There have been protests denouncing the war in Pakistan, India, Yemen, Indonesia and beyond.
But other major Sunni clerical institutions or movements have not been so vociferous in their condemnation for the death of Khamenei or the need to support Iran. This – quite apart from the at times bitter antagonism between Sunnism and Shi’ism – also has to do with the fact that Iran swiftly started attacking major Sunni-majority countries that host American military bases.

Messianic and apocalyptic elements of all three major Abrahamic faith traditions have been instrumentalised by increasingly authoritarian leaders in a global confrontation. While there are voices in all three traditions criticising this use of religion, it is setting a dangerous precedent. And while the war has been criticised as being in breach of international law, the reckless use of religion to support this war has not. This should change.

Amy Dowden, who has been living with Crohn’s disease since the age of 11 and has had a number of surgeries over the years, feels strongly when it comes to discrimination in the workplace

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Amy Dowden has revealed a situation that makes her feel “even more punished” by her health battles. Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 after finding a lump just one day before her honeymoon, had a mastectomy and was later diagnosed with a second form of cancer.

However, cancer isn’t the sole health condition that has affected her life. Amy also contracted sepsis, fractured a foot, and developed a blood clot on her lung, all within a matter of months – and that’s not everything.

Amy has also been living with Crohn’s disease since the age of 11 and has undergone multiple surgeries over the years. She says that it helped her “cope” with cancer, explaining that she’s “used to enduring things, getting on with life regardless”.

Regarding discrimination in work due to health, Amy holds firm opinions. She told the i Paper: “We feel even more punished by our health struggles when people won’t take you for a job because they think you might be unreliable.

“We’re often so much more reliable. Other people will take a day or two off with a cold and we’ll push right on through because we’re used to the pain. We crack on.”

In a positive development in 2024, Amy, who hails from Caerphilly, received the all-clear from cancer, previously saying a health check had gleaned “no evidence of disease”.

Amy, who was paired with Thomas Skinner (famed for his appearance on The Apprentice) in the previous series of Strictly, had an early departure from the programme; in fact, they were the first couple to be eliminated.

A “gutted” Amy said she wanted to “represent cancer survivors” on that year’s series. Speaking to The Mail’s Richard Eden at the Women of the Year Awards, she revealed that she felt like she’d “let them down”.

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She stated: “I’m gutted to be out of the competition because I really wanted to represent cancer survivors – and I feel like I’ve let them down.”

Amy went on to say: “I wanted Thomas to go far but, selfishly, I wanted to do it for the cancer community. Since my diagnosis, I came back, got pulled out, came back again and then finished last.”

She further commented: “I just wanted to show what you can be capable of following life after cancer.”

In additional remarks, Amy noted that she’d told herself that participating in the highly popular series and taking to the dance floor once again would show people that there’s “life after” a cancer diagnosis.

You can catch Amy on Celebrity Catchphrase on ITV on Saturday, March 28, from 5:50pm to 6:45pm.

The Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service HBO Max has launched in the UK. If you’re trying to work out the best way to access its content, you are faced with a choice that surely shouldn’t be this complicated.

You could subscribe to HBO Max Basic with Ads, which provides access to HBO shows like Euphoria and The White Lotus, and some films in Full HD. However, Warner Bros movies that have recently ended their theatrical run, such as the Oscar-winning Sinners and One Battle After Another, will not be available via this tier.

Alternatively, you could sign up to the Sky-owned Now platform’s new Entertainment & HBO Max Membership. This tier automatically includes the same HBO Max Basic content with ads, but displayed at a lower screen resolution. Want your Now service to match the picture quality of HBO Max’s cheapest tier? For that, you’ll need Now’s Boost add-on at an increased cost.

Neither option gives you everything, and both require you to read the small print to fully understand the restrictions they impose. And this is before you have even considered the other six monthly subscription plans HBO Max is offering at launch and the various price points available on Now. By the time you’ve weighed it all up, you might ask, wasn’t streaming supposed to make watching television simpler?

The erosion of simple streaming

When the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) sector emerged in the late 2000s and early 2010s with Netflix at its forefront, it was marketed as something liberating. It was presented as offering a clean break from the linear broadcast, cable and satellite television services it sought to replace. Viewers could watch what they wanted, when they wanted, free of commercial interruption, and at their own pace. The sector promised a personalised viewing experience free from broadcasters’ schedules.

Yet the range of options facing UK viewers at the launch of HBO Max appears to be at odds with the sector’s founding promise of convenience and autonomy. As my colleague Laura Minor and I argue in our book Television Goes Back to the Future: Rethinking TV’s Streaming Revolution (2025), streaming platforms have already begun eroding that promise.

For instance, many SVOD services now regularly adopt weekly episode releases for series rather than the full-season drops that once distinguished streaming from traditional broadcasters. A further example is the sector’s introduction of ad-supported tiers, reintroducing the commercial interruption that subscription platforms originally promised to leave behind.

HBO Max’s UK launch, however, generates a more specific kind of friction for consumers. That is, its arrival creates uncertainty over what viewers are getting, from whom, and at what cost – a confusion rooted in the shared history between HBO and Sky in the UK.

For 15 years, British viewers have associated HBO’s prestige programming with Sky. The channel Sky Atlantic was launched in 2011 largely as a vehicle for HBO shows after Sky secured exclusive UK rights to them. Series like Game of Thrones, The Sopranos and Succession all had their UK home on Sky Atlantic. For many British viewers, HBO content has become synonymous with Sky programming.

Now, with HBO Max having arrived as a standalone service, that cultivated brand association has been distorted but not cleanly severed – Sky and Warner Bros Discovery struck an updated distribution agreement in 2024 ensuring an ongoing relationship between the two companies. This branding muddle was evident in the weeks leading up to HBO Max’s launch, when the hit Game of Thrones prequel series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was identified on the Now platform as Sky Atlantic programming, while HBO Max’s own UK page branded it as an HBO Original.

Both descriptions were technically accurate, but for a viewer trying to make sense of the streaming landscape, the effect was disorientating. Now has since relabelled the show as HBO Max content to coincide with the HBO Max launch, but the example illustrates the deeper confusion about where HBO content now sits in the UK market, caught between a long-standing association with Sky and a new platform asserting its own identity.

Uncertainty about HBO Max’s future adds to the complexity of the platform’s launch. Paramount Global agreed to acquire Warner Bros Discovery in late February 2026, and Paramount’s CEO David Ellison has confirmed plans to ultimately merge HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single streaming service.

How the combined service will operate and how the shift will affect existing UK subscriptions remains entirely unclear. HBO Max, then, has arrived in the UK as a platform that may not exist in its current form for long. Viewers are being asked to familiarise themselves with a new platform and navigate its relationship with Sky and Now, while its parent company simultaneously plans to fold it into something else.

The brand muddle stemming from HBO’s entanglement with Sky, and the corporate uncertainty over what Paramount Global intends to do with the HBO Max service are specific to this case.

However, the broader confusion surrounding HBO Max’s UK launch is symptomatic of a streaming sector that has come to resemble the television landscape it aimed to revolutionise. Viewers are now confronted by a sprawl of overlapping brands, tiers and add-ons that demands the kind of careful navigation more commonly associated with conventional cable and satellite TV packages.

This is a trend that looks set to continue, with analysts noting that streamers are becoming increasingly focused on bundling strategies and diversifying the range of subscription tiers they offer. This means the experience of subscribing to streaming services in 2026 feels more like a return to complexities it was supposed to move beyond – rather than a liberation from them.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org; if you click on one of the links and go on to buy something, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

Since returning in 2024, the reboot of Gladiators has now aired for three series, with father and son duo Bradley and Barney Walsh presenting.

Alongside that, it has also aired two celebrity specials and gone on a live arena tour in 2025, which will be repeated in 2026 with a couple of new venues.

Millions will once again be tuning in to see which two contestants will emerge victorious in the final.

When is the Gladiators final on TV for 2026?

The 2026 final is set to air at 5.45pm on BBC One on Saturday, March 28, with it concluding at 6.45pm.

Who is taking part in the Gladiators 2026 final?

For the women’s title, Naomi Church and Emily Bell are set to go up against each other.

Naomi is a business consultant and former England U16 hockey captain, who wants the final to be an experience she’ll remember.

Speaking on what it would mean for her to win, she shared: “I’ve still got it in me to achieve.

“I’m not too old to go out there and achieve something new, and just set an example.

“With Emily here too, we’re the oldest and youngest in the competition, it’s unbelievable.

“Making the final, I don’t think I’ve digested it enough.

“I can’t find the words.”

Emily works in marketing and events in the financial industry after graduating from Cambridge last year.

She has played rugby since the age of 13 and now competes for the London Broncos.

Discussing what it would mean for to win, she said: I do not have the vocabulary!

“I’m a multi-lingual speaker of many languages but I don’t have the words or language to describe what it would mean.

“I think it’s really cool that in the future I could look back and ultimately say I can do anything because I did that.”

Meanwhile, for the men’s title, Josh McDonald and Tyler Spence will be competing.

Josh is a former Royal Marine Commando trainee and now an Area Sales Manager for a local gym brand.

Ahead of the final, he said it would mean “absolutely everything” for him to win.

He added: “It’s what I came here to do.

“It’s what I promised my little brother I would do.

“It’s more for the people around me that I want to show that I’m capable of winning, I want to give back to everyone that’s come down to support me, to make my Mum proud, to make my little brother proud.”

Finally, Tyler is a computer science teacher by day and an ex semi-professional rugby player.

Speaking about what it would mean to win he said: “I have played team sports for so long, I have never done things just for me, I don’t think I would be able to put it into words what it would mean.

“It would be quite an achievement and the proudest thing that I have ever done, just you against you.

“It’s been absolutely unbelievable to get this far so let’s just enjoy it now.”

What does the winner of Gladiators get?

Winners of the rebooted BBC series Gladiators get a trophy shaped like the “G” logo.

This differs from the 1990s ITV series, which gave out a cash prize.

Will you be watching the Gladiators 2026 final? Let us know in the comments.

Passengers should stay updated via the National Rail website

Commuters across Cambridgeshire have been urged to check before they travel this Easter weekend. The warning comes as planned engineering works are taking place on parts of the Greater Anglia rail network between Good Friday and Easter Monday (April 3 and 6).

Some trains are set to be cancelled over the Easter bank holiday, causing disruption for passengers. Engineering work over Easter 2026 will cause disruption in Cambridgeshire, specifically affecting services north of Cambridge, reports National Rail.

Due to engineering work closing the lines north of Cambridge, buses will replace trains between Cambridge and Ely. This will also be the case between Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds.

Trains will continue to run between Stratford (London) and Cambridge; Stansted Airport and Cambridge; Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich; Peterborough and Ipswich. Passengers should check National Rail to find out further details.

After splitting from what the world believed to be her husband earlier this year, it has been revealed that Olivia Attwood was never legally married to Bradley Dack after all.

In January, it emerged that the ITV presenter, 34, and Gillingham footballer, 32, were ‘over for good’ after a 10-year relationship.

Both parties initially remained silent on the reports, but sources alleged that there had been a ‘breach of trust’ from Bradley, leading to Olivia calling everything off.

She later took to Instagram as she updated her followers on the move into her new London pad, which she hadn’t ‘expected’ to be living in alone now. Still, she insisted that she ‘wanted Brad to be happy’.

Now, however, more details have surfaced about their split, shedding light on the reasons why they never actually made their marriage legally binding.

In June 2023, Olivia and Bradley held a lavish wedding at the five-star Bulgari hotel in Knightsbridge, for which she stunned in a £30,000 Galia Lahav gown and adorned the venue with 25,000 individual flowers.

Their special day, and the lead-up, were documented for the 17-part series Olivia Meets Her Match. It aired for three seasons and offered a glimpse inside her new life as a Wag, having relocated to Manchester after finding fame on Love Island.

As a result, cameras were on hand to capture Olivia sitting next to her new husband as she nervously signed the marriage register, with her proud parents watching on.

But it turns out that there is no official record of the marriage, as revealed by the Mail on Sunday, which visited the City of Westminster Archives Centre but found ‘no trace of Olivia Jade Attwood and Bradley Paul Dack anywhere in 2023 or 2022’.

When they did ‘marry’, Bradley’s best pal, Ronnie Vint, and Olivia’s younger brother, Max, acted as witnesses to them signing on the dotted line. But their union was not then logged with the General Register Office, where all marriages and civil partnerships in England and Wales are recorded.

It has also been noted that the document they added their signatures to for the television series was blank.

The Mail proceeded to question whether their nuptials were merely about ‘the cash’, since ITV is said to have thrown mega money at Olivia’s reality show.

A source claimed it will be ‘very disappointing’ for her fans, who had no reason to believe Bradley might not legally have been her husband.

However, another insider close to Olivia has revealed she ‘uncovered a number of mistruths’, which meant she felt unable to finalise the legalities of their marriage.

‘The Bulgari Hotel, where Olivia and Bradley had their wedding ceremony, didn’t have a wedding licence,’ said the source.

‘Despite her best efforts, the wedding planner was unable to turn one around in time, so an appointment was made six weeks after the ceremony to complete paperwork at a registry office near their home in Cheshire.’

They added: ‘During these six weeks, Olivia uncovered a number of mistruths, which put a stall on following through with the paperwork.’

Metro understands that Olivia’s relationship with her ex-partner was still genuine, having lasted over a decade.

But despite being ‘very much in love with one another’, ultimately, Olivia’s ‘inability to trust Bradley forced her hand in not being able to legally bind their union’.

‘Every attempt was made to contractually bind the ceremony on the day itself; alternatively, an appointment was made to sign paperwork in the weeks after. Unfortunately, circumstances put a stall on them progressing with the formalities that were meant to follow.’

Still, the former couple made somewhat of a permanent commitment to one another after appearing to tie the knot, which is now perhaps the only symbol of a marriage left between them.

On their wedding day, Olivia got ‘Till death’ tattooed on her arm, while Bradley got ‘Do us part’ on his wrist.

Bradley’s camp has opted not to comment on the revelations.

This comes after multiple women have come forward, claiming Bradley was unfaithful to Olivia with them.

As reported by The Sun, he allegedly cheated while Olivia was working abroad. When she rang him, she was unable to reach his phone.

The ups and downs of Olivia and Bradley’s relationship were well documented. When she made her Love Island debut in 2017, she said she applied for the dating show as an act of revenge after he cheated on her for the first time.

Olivia coupled up with Chris Hughes, from whom she split in 2018 and, shortly after, rekindled things with Bradley, remaining together since.

As for where things stand now, Olivia made headlines with her best mate Pete Wicks last week, having been papped smooching on a night out.

The Kiss FM radio presenters and podcast co-hosts were out with friends at the Flute Bar in Soho, where they were seen locking lips, appearing to confirm that they were now more than friends, having previously shut down speculation that there was a spark between them.

Sources claimed Bradley felt ’embarrassed and upset’ upon seeing the snaps, which led to him unfollowing Olivia on social media.

She has also now removed ‘Dack’ from her surname online, going simply by Olivia Attwood.

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If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

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Players and staff from the Senegal national team have paraded the Africa Cup of Nations trophy around the Stade de France just 10 days after being stripped of the title.

Senegal fought to a 1-0 win in a dramatic Afcon final in January in a game that was marred by controversy as manager Pape Thiaw took his players off the pitch after the referee had awarded a last-minute penalty to hosts Morocco.

The players returned to the field after a 17-minute delay and Brahim Diaz eventually missed the spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time, before a stunning long-range effort from Pape Gueye ended up sealing the victory for the Lions of Teranga in extra-time.

However, the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf) Appeal Board stripped them of the title on 18 March, ruling that Senegal had in fact forfeited the game when they walked off the pitch. A 3-0 win was subsequently awarded to Morocco.

But ahead of a sold-out friendly against Peru at the Stade de France on Saturday, Senegal players presented the Afcon trophy at the Stade de France in front of their fans.

The squad paraded the trophy around the stadium before taking a group photo with it. Cheers were heard as captain Kalidou Koulibaly brought out the trophy and as goalkeeper Edouard Mendy held it aloft.

As displayed by the trophy parade, it is understood Senegal still considers themselves to be the champions of Africa, with the decision made to add a second star onto the team’s kits to mark Afcon wins in 2021 and 2025/26.

Meanwhile, president of the Senegal FA Abdoulaye Fall called the Caf decision “the most grossly unfair administrative robbery” in the history of the sport, and Senegal’s Football Federation has lodged a formal complaint against the Afcon decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), though a decision on the matter could take months.

Keely Hodgkinson has doubled down on her comments about the World Athletics Championship being held in London

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Keely Hodgkinson has taken another shot at West Ham for jeopardising her dream of competing at a major championship on home soil.

Plans have been drawn up to stage the 2029 World Athletics Championship at the London Stadium but the Hammers, who hold a long-term lease at the venue, have reportedly declined to relocate for the proposed September dates. The club have previously stated they have an agreement in place granting them priority use of the ground, which was constructed for the London 2012 Olympics, during the football season.

Hodgkinson provoked a strong response from some West Ham supporters earlier this week with a tongue-in-cheek post on X about the situation. She wrote: “The GB team will bring back more medals to that stadium than west ham have seen in their entire history.”

The 24-year-old, who won Olympic 800m gold in Paris in 2024, has since doubled down on their criticism of the Hammers. The Manchester United fan insisted she enjoyed the reaction to her medals comment.

She posted: “Thoroughly enjoyed the rattled comments under this, but in all seriousness, to have a global championships back in London would be incredible for our sport. I didn’t think we’d get the opportunity again during my career, the British crowd would fill it everyday.”

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In a fresh swipe, she pointed out the Hammers were tenants, not owners, of the stadium, which they moved into 10 years after moving from Upton Park.

She added: “Seems silly for London to be taken out of the running, over a football team not compromising on a stadium they pay RENT for when it’s only a few extra away games, everything’s always all about money and never moments. Let us have this moment!!! Pretty please.”

Hodgkinson, who had to settle for bronze at last year’s World Championship in Tokyo after battling back from injury, got her hands on gold again last weekend after storming to victory in the 800m at the World Indoor Championships in Poland.

She posted a championship record time of one minute, 55.3 seconds, the second-fastest indoor performance in history behind the world record she set in Lievin, France last month.

Hodgkinson is in the shape of her life after bouncing back from an injury-plagued 2025. She is brimming with confidence that another world record is a matter of when, not if.

The women’s outdoor 800m record of 1:53.28, set nearly 43 years ago by Jarmila Kratochvilova, is the oldest in track and field. Hodgkinson said: “To have that confidence back in me, I’ve not missed anything. I was like, ‘If you’re beating me, you’re going to run damn fast to do it’.

“I wanted to go out there and put on a bit of a show. I felt like I had the strength. Three rounds in three days is tough, but I did it!”

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