Cleaning influencer Chantel Mila has shared a homemade spray recipe which she says helps repel spiders and dust mites.

As autumn arrives, numerous troublesome household pests reach their busiest periods. While rats and mice are fairly obvious, there are two offenders that often go unnoticed – spiders and dust mites.

Although most British spiders are harmless, dust mites, which belong to the arachnid family, can cause greater problems.

Dust mites may seem like a minor issue, given they’re only 0.3mm in size, but they could actually be responsible for why you’re feeling under the weather.

If you’ve been suffering from coughing, congestion, and sneezing, your home could be hosting these unwanted seasonal guests. What you believed was hay fever could actually be something entirely different.

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While these pests live in homes throughout the year, their populations surge during this season. Autumn marks spider mating season, and dust mite numbers multiply during this time as homes grow warmer and more humid when people begin switching the heating on.

Though maintaining a clean and tidy home can help deter spiders and dust mites, it’s not always the most efficient approach.

Posting on their TikTok page @mama_mila_, cleaner Chantel Mila has revealed her preferred technique for “repelling” spiders and dust mites from bedrooms.

She captioned the video: “Say goodbye to spiders and dust mites in your bedroom. This mix is my go-to to leave your room bug-free and smelling amazing.”

Chantel explained that all you require is one cup of water, half a cup of white vinegar and a few drops of either peppermint or lavender oil.

White vinegar is a highly adaptable natural cleanser and an effective repellent against spiders and dust mites. Its sharp, acidic odour drives them away and discourages them from coming back.

The most potent ingredient is the essential oil. Peppermint and lavender are fragrances that can completely overwhelm spiders and dust mites.

It leaves spiders feeling disorientated and impair their ability to locate other insects to feed on, making them far less inclined to remain in your home.

Peppermint oil is rich in menthol and menthone – two compounds that dust mites simply cannot tolerate. These natural substances are harmful to dust mites, so they will avoid any bedding or furniture that has been treated with it.

How to deter spiders and dust mites in autumn

Begin by taking a spray bottle and filling it with one cup of water, half a cup of vinegar and several drops of peppermint or lavender oil.

While the ingredients are combining in the bottle, vacuum your mattress before applying the solution generously. Chantel pointed out, “This powerful mix can be used on your mattress, bedhead and bedsides to repel spiders and dust mites.”

Spray the solution liberally around doorways, windows, darker corners and along the skirting boards throughout your home. Reapply every few weeks or so, and you’ll maintain a reliable barrier that helps keep dust and unwanted pests well away.

Presley Gerber‘s ex-girlfriend Charlotte D’Alessio shared an emotional tribute to the late star after his shock death at 27 on Sunday. 

The 28-year-old Canadian model, who dated Presley for around two years from 2018, posted a series of intimate photos of the pair, writing that they shared a ‘pure love’ and that she was ‘very angry’ about his death.

Presley, the only son of supermodel Cindy Crawford, 60, and millionaire businessman Rande Gerber, 64, died at a rehab facility in Los Angeles. His death is being investigated as a suspected overdose. 

D’Alessio reflected on their time together as she shared a photo of them embracing on a dock, with the model pictured in a bikini alongside Presley. 

‘Shared a pure love with you & for that I thank & honor your life. You deserved more time. You deserved more life. Very angry ab this,’ she wrote on the photo.

On another black and white photo of them hugging she wrote: ‘Love you Pres. always. Up there, down here. don’t ever doubt that. we all love you so much. I hope you can feel it.’ 

The Canadian model posted a series of intimate photos of the pair, writing that they shared a ‘pure love’ and that she was ‘very angry’ about his death

She also included what appeared to be a photo from a costume party, showing the pair posing together while holding prop guns. 

In another slide, Presley was pictured lounging on a bed with a rolled-up cigarette in his mouth while petting a small white dog.

She also uploaded a nostalgic clip of Presley taking a scenic walk toward the ocean, with the white dog trotting close behind him.

‘I will always remember you this way,’ she wrote over the video.

The duo reportedly met through Presley’s sister, Kaia Gerber, 25, in December of 2017.  

Aside from his romance with D’Alessio, Presley had also been linked to reality TV star Lexi Wood back in 2022 and model Cayley King in 2017.

On Sunday, it was announced that Presley died in a rehab facility following a years-long struggle with drugs, panic attacks and his mental health. 

A Santa Monica Police Department spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Mail on Monday that emergency services were called to a luxury rehab Presley had been staying in on Sunday morning – before he was pronounced dead at the scene.

On another black and white photo of them hugging she wrote: ‘Love you Pres. always. Up there, down here. don’t ever doubt that. we all love you so much. I hope you can feel it’

In another slide, Presley – the only son of supermodel Cindy Crawford, 60, and millionaire businessman Rande Gerber, 64 – was pictured lounging on a bed with a rolled-up cigarette 

She also uploaded a nostalgic clip of Presley taking a scenic walk toward the ocean, with a white dog trotting close behind him. ‘I will always remember you this way,’ she wrote 

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‘On September 20, 2026, at approximately 9.35am, Santa Monica Police Department officers responded to a report of a possible overdose in the 1000 block of Berkeley Street. Upon arrival, officers located an adult male who was deceased,’ the statement read. 

‘SMPD detectives are investigating the death as a suspected overdose. At this time, there is no indication of foul play. The investigation remains ongoing.’

People reports dispatch recordings show a call went out at 9.35am on Sunday for a ‘cardiac arrest’ at the unnamed facility.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has not determined the official cause of death yet but the autopsy was completed as of Monday morning and Presley’s body was ready for release.

Per TMZ, Presley had been staying in a separate house on the grounds of the LA rehab, and had roommates. It was also claimed Presley had only checked into the rehab on Saturday night, hours before his death.

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for the Gerber family and has yet to hear back.

The medical examiner’s office told People on Monday: ‘Death was pronounced at 09.45 hours on September 20, 2026, by responding paramedics.’

The model had been open about his decade-long struggle with drug addiction and mental health struggles.

Earlier this year, he posted about having a ‘Pre-ibogaine flood dose’ at a Mexican treatment clinic, a single, high-dose administration of the naturally occurring psychoactive substance ibogaine.

Ibogaine is derived from an African shrub and is reported to help withdrawal symptoms. The high dose is designed to induce a profound ‘reset.’

Presley’s parents and his sister Kaia praised him for his ‘courage’ in response to his post about starting the treatment in March.

Presley dated D’Alessio for around two years from 2018; The pair pictured at a at the Harper’s BAZAAR event in New York in 2018 

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The duo reportedly met through Presley’s sister, Kaia Gerber, 25, in December of 2017; Presley and D’Alessio pictured at Craig’s Restaurant in Los Angeles in 2018

Crawford commented: ‘You are a warrior! Walked thru the fire to find yourself! So proud!’ while Kaia added: ‘That’s my brother I am so damn proud.’

And Rande wrote: ‘I’m so proud of you and your courage. Facing what’s hard takes real strength and watching you find your way back to yourself is everything. I love you so much.’

Ibogaine is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance in the US but it is legal or permitted on prescription in countries such as Canada and Brazil while it is used in specialized clinics in Mexico.

Presley praised the Beond Ibogaine clinic in Cancun – where treatment starts at $12,500 for a ten-day program – for its ‘incredible, caring, kind and on-their-s*** team.’

Presley said in a video caption: ‘I was absolutely terrified, and I knew I would be again if I ever had to face something like this (helps to not go into the situations you do that get ya there but that’s life sometimes.)

‘My mantras were love yourself and lis gotta be the last time for this reason. letting go of control didn’t come easy, but I trusted there was something bigger than me guiding it.’

‘I knew why i was there. I faced what I had been running from, and somewhere in all of it, i started finding my way back to myself… We shall see… Praying it’s the last time I have to come back.

‘Next time I’d like to choose And absolutely can’t forget the incredible caring kind and on-their-s*** team. Helps a lot haha. And I made some dope ass friends there #iboga #ibogaine #rewireyourbrain #loveyourself #mentalhealth.’

Beond Ibogaine commented on the post at the time, writing: ‘Thank you for sharing this so openly. We know how much courage that moment takes, and we’re really proud of you for facing it with so much honesty and heart. It was an honor to support you.’

On Sunday, it was announced that Presley died in a rehab facility following a years-long struggle with drugs, panic attacks and his mental health; Seen in January

Kaia recently said her brother’s troubles made her want to be the ‘easy’ child for their parents; pictured in May with her family

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Beond Ibogaine’s website states that ‘Ingesting a large enough dose induces a temporary psychedelic experience that can last several hours, normally with no significant side-effects.’

Despite its ban, public figures including singer Melissa Etheridge, who lost her 21-year-old son Beckett to a fentanyl overdose in 2020, and Khloe Kardashian’s ex-husband Lamar Odom have endorsed Ibogaine’s benefits.

Last November, Presley revealed he had taken a step back from social media to ‘take care of my own mental health for a bit.’

One month later, he opened up about his personal life in a candid social media video. He started sharing ‘Mental Health Mondays’ videos on his Instagram. In one, he listed the medication he takes for ‘night terrors’ and ‘panic attacks.’

‘I feel like honesty is the best policy,’ he began.

He also said his use of medication had been ‘fluctuating up and down depending on what’s been going on in my life.’

‘Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of loss in many different forms recently, so that is not an excuse, but it’s the reason why I am where I’m at now,’ he shared.

He did not go into detail about the ‘loss’ he referenced but went on to explain that he would experience panic attacks that were ‘really, really bad.’

In one particularly bleak admission, he confessed he no longer even knew precisely how much of one medication he had been taking.

‘Who f***ing knows anymore,’ he said.

Earlier this year, he posted about having a ‘Pre-ibogaine flood dose’ at a Mexican treatment clinic, a single, high-dose administration of the naturally occurring psychoactive substance ibogaine

Presley had been open about his decade-long struggle with drug addiction and mental health struggles; Seen with his parents in 2024

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The tragedy cuts short the life of a model who had seemingly been destined to follow his famous mother into fashion from an early age.

A spokesman for Crawford told the Daily Mail on Sunday: ‘The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time.’

Presley started modeling at age 15 and was featured in campaigns for fashion labels such as Dolce & Gabbana and Calvin Klein.

Presley was signed to IMG models and appeared in a 2018 Pepsi ad with his mother.

He also struggled with mental health at a young age and was arrested for driving under the influence in 2019.

Presley had also talked about the lack of ‘direction’ he has from doctors when it comes to his medication.

He spoke openly about feeling lost as he attempted to navigate his mental health problems – even revealing that he had seen 15 psychiatrists.

The model complained that doctors had given him an overwhelming array of medications but too little guidance about how to manage them.

His death comes just weeks after his younger sister Kaia opened up about the enormous toll her brother’s struggles had taken on their famous family – admitting the turmoil had effectively ‘leveled everyone.’

‘When something like that happens in a family, it kind of levels everyone,’ she told Vogue.

Kaia also revealed last month that watching her brother battle his problems led her to cast herself as the family’s ‘easy’ child and someone who did not want to add another burden for their parents.

She explained: ‘I think that’s also why I started to self-​identify as the easy one and never wanted to ask for help. Because it felt like too much to have two children who were needing.’

But she also praised her brother’s willingness to strip away the secrecy surrounding his struggles.

Last November, Presley shared how he had taken a ‘step back’ to take care of himself

She described his honesty and openness as ‘refreshing,’ contrasting it with the intensely private way their parents had traditionally handled family life.

Presley was open about his mental health struggles, noting how he had issues from ‘a very young age’ – and labeled it as ‘the ultimate pandemic.’

During an appearance on the Studio 22 podcast in 2023, Presley had shared: ‘It is such a big part of my life. It’s a 24/7 job, and there’s so much to it.’

Even while struggling himself, Presley said he hoped his experiences might ultimately allow him to help others facing their own battles.

‘Having struggled with mental health, depression and some other things that come along with that, I think that whether I help one person or a hundred people get out of that place that I was in at one point in my life, that’s all I need to do,’ he said.

Scroll through TikTok and you’ll find videos of China’s “cyberpunk” megacities – with their vertiginous skyscrapers, dazzling drone light shows and high-speed trains – racking up millions of views. Since the country scrapped its visa requirement for UK passport holders in February, China is having a moment with British travellers – and the social media trend known as “chinamaxxing” is partly fuelling the boom.

Amid this surge in interest, one city is getting the panda’s share of the spotlight: Chengdu, the country’s fourth-largest city and the capital of Sichuan province. According to internal data provided by travel booking platform Trip.com, UK searches for the destination increased 133 per cent year on year. Before its TikTok virality, Chengdu was mostly associated with tongue-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. But there’s plenty more to love about this laidback city, as I quickly came to discover during my visit.

My first morning in Chengdu was spent at Heming Tea House, a 1920s open-air pavilion in People’s Park, the city’s green lung. Today, it remains popular as ever with locals and tourists alike.

I had barely settled into my bamboo armchair when a waiter in cheongsam (a traditional Chinese long robe) appeared at my table, brandishing a copper teapot with the longest spout I had ever seen. In a few swift moves, he tossed it over his head, twirling it in wide circles like a nunchuck, before dispensing liquid into a tiny gai wan (lidded bowl).

These kung-fu-like gestures are part of chan cha, a traditional pouring ritual recognised by Unesco as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. It was made clear that I could hang around for as long as I wanted: in Chengdu, it’s customary to savour tea and people-watch for hours, thanks to unlimited refills.

One reason for this unhurriedness is that locals like to have their ears cleaned while sipping tea, also known as cai’er. The chime of metal tongs was a constant soundtrack as practitioners roamed around offering their services. This ancient practice originated in Sichuan and involves extracting earwax with an assortment of tools, including goose feathers and minuscule tongs, and is said to be deeply relaxing – like having an itch scratched.

It was too early in the day for me to contend with the thought of a metal object entering my ear canal, but thankfully, another form of entertainment beckoned. For a reasonable 40 yuan (£4.50) surcharge, I finished my tea over a live performance of Sichuan opera. The undisputed highlight of this theatrical tradition is bian lian, or face-changing, where performers swipe between colourful silk masks in milliseconds with a dramatic snap of a fan. Watching bian lian at a tea house was the quintessential Chengdu’er experience, and I was giddy to be doing as the Romans do.

Read more: I’ve just returned from Shanghai – here’s why you should visit China now

All this action left me famished, so I beelined to Yu Zi Bu, a “fly restaurant” – Sichuanese slang for family-run eateries that might look a bit unkempt, but serve excellent food. Happily, no flies were present on my visit, and I tucked into a moreish bowl of tian shui mian, a bowl of thick, udon-like noodles drenched in a rich sesame and chilli sauce.

Tian shui mian was recommended to me as a spice novice, as it’s considered extremely mild by locals. Yet I quickly discovered that “not spicy” is still very much so when you find yourself in the spice capital of China. My tongue went completely numb – and a mouth-watering sweetness, followed by an intense savouriness then took over, leaving me craving more.

To make sense of this intoxicating flavour profile, I consulted Jing Gao, a Chengdu-born chef and founder of chilli sauce brand Fly by Jing. “Sichuan spice is often described as mala, which means ‘numbing’ and ‘hot’ in Mandarin,” she explained. “Erjingtiao, the signature peppers used in Sichuan cooking, is where the ‘numb’ comes from. It has a gentle, lingering heat rather than an aggressive burn, rounded off by a floral, citrusy fragrance.”

With its position in the Sichuan Basin, Chengdu boasts a mild climate and fertile soil – ideal conditions for those fiery chillies to thrive. It also provides an ideal natural habitat for China’s most beloved export: the giant panda. There are six panda research centres in Sichuan, two of which are easily accessible from Chengdu.

At the sprawling Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, over 200 pandas receive the full celebrity treatment. This facility is at the forefront of conservation efforts, providing its chubby inhabitants with lush bamboo forests and state-of-the-art nurseries for its tiny cubs. Devoted fans queue from as early as 6am just to catch a glimpse of Hua Hua, the base’s most famous resident. Thanks to an endearingly spherical, rice-ball-like physique, the six-year-old has become a social media celebrity in China, spawning a collection of merch ranging from lollipops to smartphone cases.

Read more: What it’s like to stay in a traditional hanok in Seoul

Daunted by the two-hour-plus wait to see Hua Hua, I found it equally rewarding to stroll around the enclosures of her less famous peers; these spaces were less crowded and you can really get a sense of a panda’s – rather enviable – life of leisure. Watching them nap for 10 hours a day, clumsily tumble across the grass and tussle with each other gave me such a boost of serotonin.

Even if you can’t make it to a research centre, panda sightings are virtually guaranteed in Chengdu. The adorable animal motif can be seen around town, from taxis to trashcans. The coolest homage, however, can be found atop a luxury shopping centre. In a smart bid to boost visitor numbers, Chengdu IFS Mall installed a colossal panda sculpture on its roof in 2014. From street level, onlookers are treated to the comical sight of its backside dangling over the edge of the building. The strategy clearly paid off; I spotted throngs of tourists taking selfies with the iconic panda bum.

Another landmark is the Tower of Life, an installation of six huge bamboo-shaped pillars and one of Chengdu’s quintessential cyberpunk photo spots. After sunset, the pillars cycle through neon-lit rainbow colours while spewing water, sending crowds dodging the sudden mist. It’s a futuristic marvel to behold and translates incredibly on camera. I also recommend heading to Jiaozi Ring Bridge, which faces the Tianfu Twin Towers, a set of skyscrapers with massive LED façades. Each night, they illuminate the skyline with light shows, frequently projecting – what else? – cartoons of pandas.

Read more: The crowd-free alternatives to Goa for an Indian beach break

My hotel, Upper House Chengdu, was a very convenient base for exploring the city; it’s just a 10-minute walk from IFS Mall and Chunxi Road, the main pedestrian shopping street, which has direct shuttle buses to the panda research centres. It also captures Chengdu’s knack for mixing old and new. The lobby occupies a restored Qing-dynasty courtyard residence, once the office of a translator, with rows of red lanterns strung through century-old plane trees, while bedrooms are housed in new-build brick-and-glass buildings with bamboo motifs printed on the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The hotel’s attention to local heritage continues at Mi Xun Spa and Teahouse, another restored Qing-dynasty home, where bamboo strips from Qingcheng Mountain are incorporated into massages, and a collection of rare Sichuan teas – including the fragrant Mengding Huangya, a yellow bud tea purported to support digestive health – are served.

By the end of my trip, it was Chengdu’s easygoing atmosphere that stayed with me most. Wandering through the residential neighbourhood of Yulin, I saw people pulling up plastic chairs on the pavement to drink takeaway bubble tea, while groups of aunties played mahjong by the roadside. Vintage shops and coffee shops occupy former garages in residential compounds, and I could hear woks clattering in ground-floor kitchens as I thumbed through thrifted football jerseys. Gao puts it perfectly: “Chengdu has a very live-and-let-live quality, there’s less pressure to perform busyness [compared to Chinese cities like Shanghai and Beijing].”

Perhaps the best way to describe it is with a word I heard repeatedly during my time here: básì, the Sichuanese expression for a state of comfort and contentment. After a few days here, I understood exactly what this meant.

Venus Wong travelled to China with support from The Set Collection

Venus’ tips for visiting China

How to get there

Air China operates direct flights from London Gatwick to Chengdu Tianfu Airport three times a week. Flight time is around 12 hours.

Where to stay

Double rooms at Upper House Chengdu start at £285 per night. The city centre hotel offers three restaurants, a bar, a spa with a subterranean pool, and an impressive lobby restored from a heritage building.

For more affordable stays, look into homegrown budget hotel chains such as Ji Hotel, Atour and Hotel Joya, with numerous locations scattered across the city. Ji Hotel Chunxi Road Taikoo Li is just a short stroll from IFS Mall. Rates start from £43. Requesting a non-smoking room is highly recommended, as smoking indoors (especially at budget hotels) is still widely socially accepted.

Read more: This hotel shows off the beauty of China’s Minshan mountains

Corin and Tricia Dalby from Bolton are backing the Every Hospice Matters campaign, which calls for sustainable funding for hospice care to become a national priority.

The petition has already gathered more than 95,400 signatures, gaining more than 30,000 in the past week alone.

Mr Dalby, who runs the social enterprise Box Power CIC with his wife Tricia, said: “We are now so close.

“More than 95,400 people have taken the time to read this petition and make up their own minds, and tens of thousands have shared it with others.

“My hope is simply that people across Bolton will read it too and decide for themselves whether they want to add their name.

“If enough people do, we could go to Downing Street with 100,000 voices behind us.”

Support has come from MPs, peers, and families who have shared personal stories of how hospice care, or the lack of it, has affected their lives.

Some described loved ones spending their final days in hospital wards due to unavailable hospice beds, while others spoke about the comfort and care provided when hospice support was accessible.

Mr Dalby said: “This isn’t really about a number on a screen.

“Behind every signature is a person who has stopped, read what is happening and decided it matters to them.

“Bolton has always been a town that rallies around its hospices and its most vulnerable people.

“I’d love to see whether, together, we can help close that final gap.”

The petition remains open for signatures.

It can be viewed at https://www.change.org/Everyhospicematters.

Dolly Parton‘s nephew and longtime security chief Bryan Seaver has been dismissed from his position overseeing her properties, less than a month after the death of the music icon at 80.

Seaver on Wednesday received a notice reviewed by TMZ that he and his security organizations – which provided protection for Parton’s Nashville home, museum and a warehouse – were being replaced by another company.

Insiders told the outlet that they believed Parton’s manager Danny Nozell and Pinnacle Bank were responsible for the decision to terminate him and his employees.

A new security team was deployed to the locations previously overseen by Seaver’s companies on Wednesday after the termination notice was issued.

Sources close to Seaver said he and his associates had been ‘dismayed by the unexpected and, so far, unexplained actions’ carried out in the wake of Parton’s  August 25 passing.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Bryan Seaver, Danny Nozell and representatives for Pinnacle Bank for further comment on the story.

Dolly Parton’s nephew and longtime security chief Bryan Seaver has been dismissed from his position overseeing her properties, less than a month after the death of the music icon at 80 

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‘We remain unshakably resolved to fulfill her final directive to protect her family, and we refuse to be intimidated by those whose actions we believe are being taken in bad faith,’ Seaver’s camp told TMZ.

His camp told the outlet they believed the actions had been taken ‘with the intent to profit from the life of someone who willingly gave so much.’

According to the outlet, the notice issued to Seaver indicated that the DP Dean Trust had been overseeing Parton’s business and properties in the wake of her passing.

Seaver retains a personal interest in her trust moving forward, according to the report.

Seaver, whose mother Cassie is Parton’s sister, had been appointed by the late Jolene singer to reveal her death in a public statement.

Following Dolly’s August 25 passing following a battle with cancer, Seaver had been seen in a clip in which he revealed the sad news.

‘Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by [late husband] Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens,’ Seaver said in the emotional clip.

In the clip, Seaver noted that his father Larry had held the security position before him.

Seaver on Wednesday received a notice reviewed by TMZ that he and his security organizations – which provided protection for Parton’s Nashville home, museum and a warehouse – were being replaced by another company; Seaver seen accompanying Parton to a Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance in 2016 

Sources close to Seaver said he and his associates had been ‘dismayed by the unexpected and, so far, unexplained actions’ carried out in the wake of Parton’s August 25 passing; he’s seen above with the singer in 2017 in NYC

Parton pictured at the ACM Awards in Las Vegas in March of 2022 

Seaver is pictured as a child with Parton in a photo he posted on Instagram

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He said that he had been her security head for the past ‘two decades,’ and had been working for her over the past four decades.

‘I first went on the road with Dolly as a kid, getting a taste of the road life in the early 1980s,’ Seaver said. ‘Dolly opened doors not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible.

‘Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent. By her example, we believed that anything was possible.’

He added, ‘She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history. My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you.’

Parton has been well-remembered in the near month since her passing, which included an expansive tribute at the Primetime Emmy Awards last week which featured Reba McEntire and Sally Field.

Nashville International Airport will be renamed in Parton’s memory following a vote from the Metro Nashville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners weeks back.

Operation Warm Welcome is the cosy name for the British effort to help thousands of terrified Afghans after they won sanctuary in the UK following the Taliban takeover of their country five years ago.

We were told that those rescued during a dramatic airlift included interpreters and other loyal Afghans who, for 20 years, had worked for British forces first dispatched to fight the ‘War on Terror’ after the 9/11 attacks.

By 2021 that mission was over. The West’s battle against the Taliban was lost when the Americans abruptly pulled out. In Britain, people from all walks of life prepared to do their bit for the newly arrived Afghans who were hosted over two years in 82 hotels as they waited for free houses.

Many volunteers would have read about their plight through the Daily Mail’s award-winning Betrayal Of The Brave campaign, which focused exclusively on those courageous Afghans who had helped British forces.

Yet now a shocking picture is emerging about Operation Warm Welcome. It is a dismal portrait of gross Whitehall profligacy, naivety, carelessness and even blatant cheating, which has not only cost the British taxpayer billions of pounds and will continue to burden us financially for decades to come, but has also made it more difficult for those Afghans who helped Britain in Kabul to claim asylum legitimately.

Our investigation has revealed that many of the incoming Afghans were not vetted properly during the hectic evacuation from their country or upon their arrival in the UK.

The Daily Mail has learned that, far from all being loyal interpreters, countless numbers had no connection to the British Armed Forces but invented a back-story or paid local officials a going rate of $5,000 (£3,700) to get a place on the flights. Then, courtesy of the Government’s Operation Warm Welcome, an umbrella title for the various Afghan resettlement schemes, they were allowed to start a new life here.

Astonishingly, some of the rescued Afghans, presumed to be arriving for the first time, already had homes in Britain. They were resettled (and given second houses) after cannily rushing to Afghanistan before the capital Kabul fell to the Taliban. There, we are told by our sources, they coolly collected up family members before the entire clan was flown to Britain in the airlift.

A hotel manager, Jamie Rossiter, has sensationally estimated that just two families among the 160 he got to know personally over two years at his Buckinghamshire hotel had ‘provable’ links to British forces. He made it his job to befriend and talk to his Afghan guests after they arrived in 2021.

‘That low number is based on what they told me. They said they were painters and decorators . . . photocopier repair men, or in random jobs [unconnected to the British operation in Afghanistan],’ he has revealed in an explosive video interview with social commentator and former charity worker Nick Buckley, which is now online and has been watched by thousands.

Jamie, 48, who reported his concerns to the Home Office at the time, adds: ‘We were told [by the Government] they were translators, guides, people that had worked with the British forces . . . so we were quite happy to welcome them. It took a little time for my staff to come to terms with the idea that most of these people didn’t need help and were often richer than them.’

During our own investigation, we have spoken to members of the British Afghan community and those who worked in hotels scattered across the Midlands and southern Britain that took in the newcomers. They have pointed to gaping holes in Operation Warm Welcome, which one hotel manager described ‘like a gold rush from start to finish’.

Everyone involved seemed to be thinking ‘how can we make money out of this’, from taxi drivers taking Afghans to appointments who were then reimbursed by the Government to local councils that received special grants to settle the new arrivals, and the guests themselves.

We have been given a window into the ugly side of Operation Warm Welcome. One whistleblower revealed that some Afghan wives were kept in purdah by their husbands from the moment they arrived.

‘They stayed in their rooms, were not allowed to share communal areas or eat in the hotel restaurant with their menfolk in line with customs they imported from their homeland. Some of the women I never saw at all during their entire stay. They even took their meals in the bedrooms,’ an informant told us. Racism reared its head, too. We have learned that Indian heritage cleaners were upset when Afghans at one hotel told the management that they only wanted a ‘white woman’ tending their rooms. In another case, Afghans demanded the sacking of the entire hotel security team because they were Pakistani – ‘an ethnicity they looked down on,’ said a whistleblower.

Police were called to some hotels to investigate incidents of sickening domestic abuse against wives by husbands, while ‘feral’ teenagers ran amok as their Afghan fathers shrugged their shoulders, telling staff, police and child social workers: ‘There is nothing we can do to control them because we cannot hit our children in your country.’

We have heard reports of bored Afghan men whiling away time by buying porn videos, alcohol and gambling scratch cards in breach of their Islamic faith. Others used free taxi rides to the JobCentre, where they were meant to be searching for work, to peel off to the nearby shopping mall.

Social commentator and former charity worker Nick Buckley revealed in an interview that many Afghans were unconnected to the operation in Afghanistan

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‘They abused British generosity. After a while, the penny dropped at the Home Office and free taxi rides for guests were restricted in most hotels,’ said an Afghan interpreter whom we contacted after being told he had regularly visited the guests to help them with English. Upon arrival, all the Afghans were granted indefinite leave to remain, which allowed them from day one to claim benefits and to work. Local JobCentre staff were sent into the hotels to help them seek tax-paying employment.

‘They preferred the black market, taking shifts as taxi drivers or for food delivery firms. At my hotel, a black van would pick them up in the morning and return them in the evening,’ said one manager, who was surprised to open his front door and find one of his guests, working as a food courier, handing him the takeaway meal that he had just ordered.

To add insult to injury, the Daily Mail has been told that some Afghan families routinely rejected offers of a free house from the Home Office because they ‘didn’t fancy’ the area it was in or because they could save up benefit payments by staying put in the hotel for as long as possible.

One family is believed to have squirrelled away £30,000 in one year from the benefits on offer, which included Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Personal Independence Payment for any resettled Afghans suffering from mental health issues.

‘They also turned down rural homes, hoping to get a house in a city centre near the mosque, the halal shops, their own communities. Some gamed the system by flatly refusing private houses and choosing social housing in the hope they would get the “right to buy” the property at a subsidised price further down the line,’ said our informants.

An extraordinary story told by Jamie Rossiter on the video concerns an Afghan man who is thought to have lived in Britain before the airlift.

He turned his nose up at a free Home Office house in Manchester for himself, his wife and children who were with him at Jamie’s hotel in Buckinghamshire. It transpired he already had a first wife with children living on the south coast. ‘This man didn’t want to shuttle between his two families because of the long journey.’

It is all a far cry from the image portrayed by the Government of the time. It described those ‘called forward’ for evacuation as ‘the Afghans who stood side by side with us in conflict’.

The then Prime Minister Boris Johnson added later, with a flourish: ‘We will never forget the brave sacrifices made by Afghans who chose to work with us, at great risk to themselves. We owe them a huge debt.’

A Home Office factsheet called ‘Warm Welcome in Action’ was released in late 2021, which said £200million had already been committed to help Afghans rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integrate in local areas. This money included extra funding for the NHS, schools and local councils during what the Government described as ‘one of the UK’s most ambitious resettlement schemes ever’.

The vexing question of how many rescued Afghans really had links to our British forces remains shrouded in mystery

It all seemed to be running like clockwork. Yet it was the charity volunteers, who had sprang into action when the Afghans first arrived, running fundraisers and cricket matches, whom Mr Rossiter says became disillusioned first.

‘It warmed my heart that so many neighbours living close to my hotel turned up with bags of toiletries and new kids’ toys for our guests,’ he says in the video.

‘Our local charity got frustrated when the Afghans were taken to special warehouses to choose clothes and things. They took all the bundles of clothes and then threw them around my hotel and out of the windows. I had to call the charity, which ended up having to get someone with a van to come to pick up what had been given to them.’

The vexing question of how many rescued Afghans really had links to our British forces remains shrouded in mystery. At the peak of military operations, between 2011 and 2012, there were, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), ‘roughly’ 630 local interpreters employed to assist 9,500 servicemen based in the country.

During the entire two-decade conflict, 7,000 local citizens were hired by the British, half as front-line interpreters and the rest as drivers, cooks or administrative staff who were at risk when the Taliban took over.

However, last year, Luke Pollard, Labour’s Minister for the Armed Forces, admitted to the House of Commons that it was ‘not possible’ to provide a tally of those who had been employed by the British during their Afghanistan operations.

This provoked a rebuke from Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, now shadow minister for Defence Procurement, who said that the Afghan resettlement schemes were open to exploitation by ‘criminal, terrorist or hostile’ state actors.

He remarked that if the MoD was uncertain which of the thousands of rescued people worked for the British then it ‘presumably also does not know who they are or what they were doing in Afghanistan [before their arrival here]’.

There was a further bombshell when the Daily Mail successfully exposed a High Court super-injunction hiding a further – this time secret – airlift of Afghans to Britain. This followed an accidental leak in 2022 of a MoD email containing the names of those still applying to come here to escape the Taliban.

A year later, when part of the list appeared on the internet, the then Conservative government was granted the ban, which barred anyone from revealing even its existence or face imprisonment.

The super-injunction was lifted under pressure from the media in July 2025 by which time 900 principal applicants with 3,600 family members on the list had been brought into the UK undercover, at an extra cost of £850million.

This means the total number of resettled Afghans is now approaching 36,000, with the vast majority able to claim state benefits and free or subsidised housing for the rest of their lives.

Some were even given a leg up by a senior figure inside the civil service. The Daily Mail has discovered that two families put on the resettlement flights and given houses worth £850,000 combined in East Sussex were helped by a relative who works for the Home Office in Scotland.

Little wonder that the suspicions linger. ‘One older couple came in and immediately got a state pension and were given a bungalow,’ a hotel whistleblower told us this week. ‘It is very unlikely the husband, given his age, worked for the British forces. They are never going to give anything back to Britain.’

With that, he gave a desperate sigh about Operation Warm Welcome. ‘I think that the trusting British public have been played like a fiddle,’ he said.

Mr Burnham told journalists: “As I have said, politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in, and I did say to the president in our first phone call, I said, ‘Mr President, Manchester isn’t some town’, I said, ‘This is Manchester’.

Chicken breasts are a midweek staple, but they can quickly turn dry if they’re cooked a little too long. Cooking experts say one simple preparation step done shortly before cooking can help keep the meat noticeably juicier and more tender.

Chicken breasts are a dinnertime essential, whether served alongside potatoes or incorporated into a stir-fry. However, they can rapidly become tough and dried out if overcooked. Even premium-quality chicken can turn dry in a pan or oven without proper care.

Thankfully, there’s a straightforward preparation method that can significantly improve the texture of your meat. It requires minimal time and uses an ingredient you’ve likely got in your cupboard already.

Experts suggest mastering this technique means you’ll never have to endure dry chicken again.

The method is called brining, and according to cooking specialists at The Kitchn, even a relatively brief brine can produce a noticeable improvement, reports the Express.

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A standard brine is simply salt mixed into water. The specialists recommend dissolving a quarter cup of kosher salt in four cups of warm water, which is sufficient for approximately four chicken breasts.

After the salt has dissolved, submerge the chicken in the mixture and place it in the fridge.

While traditional brining can take substantially longer, the specialists say chicken breasts can benefit from a quick brine of 15 to 30 minutes.

The salty mixture enables the chicken to absorb some moisture and salt prior to cooking. This approach helps to deliver meat that is “juicy and tender”, especially beneficial for breasts, which have a tendency to dry out quickly.

Take the chicken out of the brine and thoroughly pat it dry using kitchen paper prior to cooking. This step is especially crucial if you’re aiming to brown or crisp the exterior of the chicken.

It’s equally important to bear in mind that you may need to cut down on the quantity of additional salt called for in the recipe.

When cooking the meat, heat a frying pan with olive oil, then add the chicken breasts. Leave them to cook undisturbed for one minute, then turn them over and lower the heat.

Place a lid over the pan, set a timer for 10 minutes and allow them to cook.

Once the 10 minutes are up, switch off the heat, reset the timer for a further 10 minutes and leave them covered throughout. After this time has elapsed, use a thermometer to verify they have reached 74°C.

Carve the chicken, and it should be succulent and tender, ideal for any lunch or dinner.

In a special episode of the Daily Mail’s Palace Confidential, Richard Kay names the one anecdote from Earl Spencer‘s new Diana memoir that he simply cannot explain.

Kay, now Senior Editor-at-Large, knew the late Princess both personally and professionally. The pair became friends while he was the paper’s royal reporter, and the Princess came to rely on him as a sounding board for dealing with the press.

Extracts from Earl Spencer’s incendiary book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, have been serialised exclusively in the Daily Mail over the past week, ahead of its publication tomorrow.

The passages prompted a rare rebuke from Buckingham Palace after Spencer claimed that the King, then Prince of Wales, told him ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough!’ during a row over Diana’s funeral arrangements.

A Palace spokesman said that while it does not comment on books, His Majesty is ‘mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory’.

Speaking to Palace Confidential host Luke Blackall, Kay revealed that he and Spencer spoke several times in the week after Diana’s death. What the Earl told him in confidence then, which Kay noted down at the time, chimes closely with claims made in the memoir.

Extracts from Earl Spencer’s incendiary book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, have been serialised exclusively in the Daily Mail over the past week, ahead of its publication tomorrow 

However, one anecdote in the book, set as Diana’s marriage was falling apart, left Kay ‘mystified’ and questioning the Earl’s intentions.

‘[Spencer] has been asked to join his sister at San Lorenzo, which famously was Diana’s favourite restaurant,’ he began.

‘They’re dining head to head across the table when she suddenly says to him: “Carlos, I’m going to get a divorce.”

‘There’s no date for this. We don’t know when it was… But he feels he ought to make an observation to his sister and says: “Well, you’ve got to think very carefully about this. The public might turn against you.”

‘And she looks up from the table, fixes him with those huge blue eyes and says: “Carlos, he’s in love with his valet.”‘

Carlos was Diana’s childhood nickname for her brother.

A valet is a personal manservant, responsible for laying out royals’ clothes, helping them dress and drawing them a bath.

In the book, Spencer writes that his sister never named the member of staff, and that he never asked her why she believed ‘such an improbable thing’.

Kay said the remark comes with no context or explanation, and predicted readers would ‘instantly speculate’ about who the man was.

‘I have to say, I’m mystified why he should need to use that anecdote,’ he told Palace Confidential.

‘They’re going to ask, was it true? But I think the main question they’re going to have, and I’m afraid it’s one I really don’t have an answer for, is why did he put it in there?

‘My only view is that Charles Spencer, to use that rather well-worn cliche about revenge being a dish best served cold, decided to put it in for that reason.’

Spencer has since defended including the exchange, telling the BBC it came ‘in the context of a conversation where Diana is telling me that her marriage is over’.

Watch Kay’s full analysis of Earl Spencer’s memoir on Palace Confidential, available now on YouTube.

In one of the least surprising pieces of election news this year, preliminary results indicate that the ruling party, United Russia, is on track to retain its overwhelming majority in the national parliament, or Duma.

There is a striking degree of continuity in the results of this election with the previous one. United Russia, the party of the president, Vladimir Putin, has reportedly received 57.5% of the vote compared with 57.9% in 2021. United Russia will be joined in the parliament by the same political parties represented last time. These are the so-called systemic opposition parties.

The existence of these parties on the ballot gives the voter the illusion of choice. But in reality they always vote with Putin’s government on the issues that really matter – such as the war in Ukraine.

The results were never in any real doubt. But the 2026 election campaign has exposed some significant insights into the mindset of the country’s ruling elite, as well as the public mood.

The state has all but abandoned the fiction that Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine is proceeding according to plan and that life can continue as normal, at least for middle class Russians living in the major cities. Even Putin has acknowledged that the damage to Russia’s oil industry caused by Ukraine’s drone strikes has created petrol shortages that are experienced by motorists and businesses on a daily basis.

This did not mean that Putin was ready to promise an end to the war and a more peaceful and prosperous future if Russians supported United Russia at the polls. Instead, the Russian president explicitly presented the elections as a referendum on society’s support for the war.

Speaking just days before voting began, Putin instructed citizens to participate in the elections in large numbers to demonstrate that millions stand behind the soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

Even without Putin’s instructions, it was hard for ordinary Russians to ignore the war during this election when so many of the candidates are famous – or infamous – for their roles in it. Almost 200 war veterans were standing for seats in the Duma. These include former military officers who had been instrumental in brutal operations, such as the siege of Mariupol and the killing of civilians in Bucha.

Russia’s children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, was also on the ballot for United Russia. Her candidacy was a symbol of Russia’s defiance of the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC wants to put her (as well as Putin himself) on trial for allegedly kidnapping Ukrainian children and bringing them to Russia for adoption. Lvova-Belova herself has adopted a child from the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

But while Russia’s top political leaders handed candidates a script full of patriotic zeal for the war, many apparently had no desire to read from it. There was a notable difference between the enthusiasm expressed for the war by the political elite in Moscow and the attitudes of candidates further down the ballot. Some of them seemed to want to avoid the topic entirely.

The campaign was marked by televised debates where one or all of the candidates failed to turn up. And often the candidates who did attend their own debates quickly ran out of positive or even uncontroversial things to say. Viewers were reportedly treated to some candidates standing silently during the rest of their allotted time.

Managed election

Despite the apathy shown by many candidates, the state’s election officials worked overtime to ensure that United Russia would win a comfortable victory. The Russian election monitor project, a group of European scholars, former and active politicians, and public officials aiming to ensure free and fair elections, reported incidents of ballot box tampering. This included a case in Krasnodar where officials added ballots after the polls had closed, undeterred and unimpeded by the presence of a police officer.

Election monitors representing political parties – including from systemic opposition parties such as the Communists – were turned away and not permitted to observe the process. In at least one case, an election monitor was arrested and physically injured by the police.

Opportunities to vote online were expanded, with Putin himself participating, despite his famous lack of interest in the internet. Online voting was viewed with suspicion by many ordinary Russians, on the grounds that it would be easier for the state to manipulate the results.

Contrasting the overall lacklustre mood of the campaign with the very high proportion of online votes for United Russia does suggest, at the least, that the online vote might have been massaged to achieve the record 59% turnout.

When elections are so thoroughly managed, it is difficult for voters to register disapproval of the status quo. One potential outlet for the disgruntled citizen was removed during the summer. In August, the Russian Supreme Court banned the political party Yabloko when it looked as though it might become too popular. Yabloko adopted an anti-war platform and was barred from fielding candidates in the party list ballot, which determines 225 seats.

However, Yabloko did manage to field a small number of candidates for single ballot seats and also for the regional parliament in Novgorod, where it looks to have won some seats.

One visible sign of disillusion with the whole process of elections in Russia was the vandalism of 74 electoral commission premises during the three days of voting. The fact that electoral commission premises sustained damage in all of the Ukrainian territories that Russia has claimed to annex is an indication of the ongoing resistance in occupied Ukraine.

These elections may have provided the results that Putin demanded. But the campaign has revealed growing cracks between a political leadership that is determined to continue Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine and the ordinary citizens who are called upon to pay the human cost for that conflict.