A SEA of sparkling fairy lights, giant Christmas trees and illuminated archways greeted us as we walked through the hotel doors.

Classic festive tunes drifted across the holiday park, as scores of parents and their excited offspring hurtled around in their Rudolph jumpers, elf hats and Santa suits.

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Christmas had officially arrived.

I was at Butlin’s Bognor Regis which had become a little less “Hi-de-Hi” and more “ho, ho, ho”.

The resort, better known for Redcoats and red sunburnt faces in the summer months, had been transformed into a winter wonderland for a series of special Christmas breaks.

And it’s already preparing to do the same for 2024.

Christmas at Butlin’s is a non-stop round of festive parties, Crimbo films, themed activities and special stage shows including Goldilocks And The Three Bears.

And completely new for this year, a favourite character from Butlin’s Jack And The Beanstalk show, Dotty, will be dishing out presents in her dairy for those who don’t have time to visit Santa himself.

We’d barely finished checking into our room at the Wave Hotel before my children were dragging us to a festive pottery painting session.

My son Harvey, 11, picked out the Nutcracker soldier plaster cast, while daughter Luella, nine, grabbed a sign that read “Family” and got to work bringing their models to life with a splash of colour.

Then it was straight on to the much-anticipated Father Christmas’ Express Delivery, newly launched in 2023 and returning this year.

The children began their immersive grotto experience by scrawling their wish lists and posting them into the “magic letter box”.

When the light on the lift went green, it meant Father Christmas had received the letters and was ready to receive us too.

The jolly red man cheerfully, and meticulously, went through every item on their lists before asking whether they had been naughty or nice — I don’t suspect the answer mattered that much as he handed them a chocolate multipack each.

Real magic happens

There is so much for the kids to do at Butlin’s, that it makes for a dream getaway for adults, too, who needn’t worry about what to do next.

A couple of rounds of Wild-West style laser tag got our children’s blood pumping. And if you have a head for heights, Aerial Adventures with a climbing wall and high ropes course are a must.

Then there’s the Football Academy, for boys and girls, offering an hour-long session on Astroturf, helping kids become the next Harry Kane or Lucy Bronze.

Whatever you do, do not leave Butlin’s without visiting Splash Waterworld.

This seaside-themed water park is a godsend in the winter months when the weather is not good enough for the real beach.

The Adrenaline Flume had us zooming through tunnels in pitch black, and the high-velocity Stick of Rock slides saw me almost lose my shorts.

We couldn’t leave without taking advantage of the on-stage entertainment either, especially as it’s such a huge perk at Butlin’s.

Christmas movies were broadcast in the Skyline Pavilion earlier in the day.

But it’s the evening that the real magic happens with shows like Festival Rock hosting sing-along sessions with Queen’s We Will Rock You and The Killers’ Mr Brightside.

Then, the perfect way to end a festive trip, with a performance from an Elton John tribute act. The encore of Step Into Christmas left us truly in the festive spirit.

I can already guess the first item on my kids’ Christmas list for this year: a return trip to Butlin’s.

At least three dozen aldermen, including numerous allies of Mayor Brandon Johnson, posted an open letter Saturday blasting the mayor’s handing of Chicago Public Schools that led to the entire Chicago Board of Education announcing they will soon resign.

The group of aldermen — including 10 members of Johnson’s leadership team on the council — chastised the mayor’s high-stakes efforts to take greater control of CPS, which include trying to get CPS to take out a high-interest $300 million loan and assume a $175 million pension payment for nonteacher CPS employees. In the letter, aldermen said the idea of the district taking out the $300 million in loans was “not a smart decision” and also praised CPS CEO Pedro Martinez who has pushed back against Johnson’s efforts.

The mayor has been moving to get the seven-member board to fire Martinez and when Johnson announced Friday the full board intended to resign it was viewed as a clear attempt by the mayor to clear the way for a newly appointed board to fire Martinez. Johnson said he intends to name board replacements at a South Side church on Monday.

“There is extreme cause for concern now that those voices have been diminished,” the aldermanic letter stated.

While the wording in the letter directed at Johnson was harsh, aldermen have no say on the CPS matters and public letters are often easy ways for council members to weigh in on matters to look good to their constituents.

A spokesman for the mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The aldermen who signed the letter included Johnson appointees to powerful City Council committee chairmanships and 10 of the 19 members of the council’s progressive caucus, which is Johnson’s most consistent base of support in the body.

The group in the letter demanded Johnson convene a hearing before the end of the month and before any new appointments to the CPS board are made.

“Chicagoans deserve a voice when it comes to decisions that will affect our school system and city as a whole. A School Board full of lame-duck appointees carrying out only a few months of a term before residents get a chance to elect representatives is not what is in our best interest,” the letter said.

The letter made note of the upcoming November school board elections, which mark the beginning of Chicago’s transition to a fully elected school board that will no longer be fully controlled by the mayor. Still, a majority of members will continue to be appointed by Johnson next year and the board won’t be fully elected until 2027.

“With the next School Board meeting scheduled for late October, only days away from the general election, it would be a disservice to appoint anyone without thorough vetting — this is not what we fought for in our efforts for a fully elected School Board,” the letter said.

With the entire Board of Education resigning, what’s next for CPS families?

Aldermen drafted the letter, edited it and collected signatures in less than 24 hours after the “Friday massacre” resignation announcement, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, said.

Villegas said he teamed up with Alds. Nicole Lee, 11th, Silvana Tabares, 23rd, and Maria Hadden, 49th, to lead the effort to craft and build support for the letter.

“It’s our responsibility to say something,” Villegas said. “This is just unprecedented.”

At the center of Johnson’s push to remove Martinez is his demand to the district’s leader that CPS take on the $300 million in loans to cover the $175 million pension payment for non teacher CPS employees. That obligation used to be the city’s until Mayor Lori Lightfoot shifted the burden onto CPS, a move initially opposed by Johnson but now one he is fighting to preserve as he faces a nearly $1 billion fiscal shortfall in 2025.

Martinez has rejected the mayor’s request and passed with the school district’s board this summer a budget that did not include the loans and payment. In their letter on Saturday, aldermen said Martinez and the board “understood the reality of the situation” when they made the decision.

“With federal Covid-relief funds having recently expired for CPS, it is critical that CPS leaders keep the interests of taxpayers and our children top of mind as they make budget decisions that will impact the District for decades to come,” the letter said.

The aldermen also blasted Johnson for failing to secure more money for the school district in Springfield. Illinois General Assembly legislators said the city’s lobbying efforts “focused too much on $2 billion for a new Bears stadium, and not enough on additional funds for CPS and other school districts across Illinois.”

“We must find new ways to work with one another, CPS leadership, and our colleagues in Springfield to achieve our shared vision of fully funded schools for all Illinois students,” the letter said.

Expected by 2025

Waymo, a Google subsidiary specializing in autonomous vehicles, plans to integrate the Ioniq 5 into its Waymo One fleet, which currently operates in select regions of the U.S., including San Francisco, Phoenix, and parts of Los Angeles.

The first Ioniq 5 vehicles are expected to roll off the assembly line by the end of 2025, followed by extensive field testing.

This collaboration is strategic for both companies. Hyundai aims to expand its footprint in the autonomous vehicle sector, while Waymo seeks to grow its fleet, traditionally supplied by Chrysler and Jaguar.

The sixth generation of Waymo Driver, unveiled in August 2024, features significant advancements in hardware and software, including 13 cameras, 4 LiDAR units, and 6 radar systems.

These enhancements allow the vehicle to detect its surroundings up to 1,640 feet (500 meters) away, effectively operating in various weather conditions and times of day.

A British biotech company is hoping to harness an infamous side-effect of cannabis use, commonly known as ” the munchies”, to help improve the lives of cancer patients.

Use of the drug has long been associated with an increase in appetite.

Pharmaceutical firm Artelo has been working on a drug which it says imitates the effect of the cannabis plant but only on the body and not the brain, so patients will not get high.

It comes as scientists at the University of Oxford are developing a vaccine which it is hoped could start to wipe out Ovarian cancer within five years.

OvarianVax teaches the immune system to recognise and attack the earliest stages of ovarian cancer and researchers believe it could be given to women preventatively on the NHS.

What is the ‘cannabis’ drug?

The drug, currently referred to as ART27.13 was originally developed by AstraZenecca,

Researchers at pharmaceutical firm Artelo Biosciences and Trinity College Dublin have been experimenting with evolving it for use on cancer patients.

In a paper published in the journal Pharmaceuticals last November, they said it had provided a breakthrough in cancer cachexia, which is a change in the body causing people to lose weight despite eating normally.

Depending on the type of cancer, between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of patients lose weight.

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And they believe it could protect against the muscle degeneration associated with colon and lung cancers (cachexia) and may also positively impact life expectancy.

Dr Steven Reich, Artelo’s chief medical officer, said last year that data from their research “supports our confidence in ART27.13’s potential as a supportive care therapy for cancer patients as it may not only increase appetite, but also prevent muscle wasting.”

How will it work?

Researchers hope ART23.13 will be able to restore appetite, reverse weight loss and improve the quality of life for cancer patients.

Artelo has taken the drug and formulated it into a once-daily capsule which is currently being trialed in the Cancer Appetite Recovery Study (CAReS)

Dr Andy Yates, chief scientific officer at Artelo, said the drug activates the CB1 and CB2 receptors within the body but it is restricted from going to the brain.

He said: “Those receptors are known to be important in people’s appetite control, so if you switch them on they get hungry and they eat more.

“And that’s what we are looking to determine in the CAReS study.”

What have researchers said?

Dr Barry Laird, from the University of Edinburgh’s Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, is the principal investigator in the CARes trial.

He said: “This really represents a new area of therapeutic development and really had the potential to improve things for our patients.

“What’s really key about this to me is it’s a change from standard cancer care.

“We are not just focusing on the tumour we are focusing on the patient.

“That’s what it’s about, helping these patients live as well as they can.

“And if we do that, they will live as long as they can.”

While Dr Yates told The Times: “Ultimately, there’s a big correlation between the weight of a cancer patient and their outcomes.

“Sadly, there are not very many treatment options available for those who are suffering weight loss, so we hope that our drug will help transform that by giving people their appetite back.”

However, he admitted getting the drug to clinical trials had been a “nightmare” because of the need to get licences from the Home Office.

A SELECTION of eye-catching themes cruises will be setting sail across Europe next year.

Punters can nab their cabin on a fun fleet of voyages, including one where blokes are banned.

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And they won’t have long to wait either, as all cruises will embark on their respective trips in 2025.

“Travellers have demonstrated an increasing desire for more specialised and unique experiences,” Ellen Bettridge, President and CEO of Uniworld, said.

“We are expanding our portfolio to further cater to a range of interests, passions and communities.”

MUSIC CRUISE

Uniworld’s Music Cruise will offer up exclusive ‘Music of the Danube’ sailings on August 3 and November 2 aboard the ‘Enchanting Danube’ itinerary.

The voyage will come complete with a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg in Austria, a spine-tingling concert at Abbey Durnstein and a yodeling workshop.

Travellers can experience all of these pinch me moments for £2,665.

GOLF PACKAGE

If you’re into your golf as well as your vino, Uniworld’s ‘Premium Golf Package’ is a no-brainer and is available on six summer sailings.

The package is tethered to the ‘Brilliant Bordeaux’ itinerary and comprises 18-hole rounds at Cabot Bordeaux and St. Emilion.

Buyers will also enjoy a shared caddy service and a sumptuous gourmet dining experience after a sapping day on the course.

Nab your spot from £919 per person.

WOMEN’S CRUISE

The first-ever ‘Women’s Only Cruise’ will leave the dock on August 24 as part of the ‘Burgundy and Provence’ itinerary.

Ladies of all ages are invited for a cluster of excursions including truffle hunting and a bike ride to the Chartreuse.

Guests are also invited to partake in lavender weaving, an inviting chocolate and wine tasting experience and burlesque dancing sessions.

Further details are yet to be revealed so keep an eye out for further details.

It’s not cheap though – don’t expect to fork out anything below £4,300 for the privilege.

OCEANS OF FUN

Meanwhile, holidaymakers can also opt to secure their place on the MSC World America.

This voyage is another exciting new cruise ships launching next year and promises to take your breath away, quite literally.

That will be on the water slide that starts with a scary 90-degree drop.

Packing in 6,769 passengers and more than 30 places to eat and drink, World America will be island-hopping in the Caribbean from Miami starting in April, with prices from £779pp for seven nights.

Next up it’s Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Aqua, a lively ship where fun-seekers can ride the first hybrid rollercoaster and waterslide at sea.

The ship has lots of places to eat, even more places to drink, with no one telling you what to wear, and a sports complex that becomes a nightclub in the evening.

Aqua holds 3,571 passengers and will be sailing from Port Canaveral in Florida to NCL’s private island in the Caribbean from April, with seven-day prices from £1,041pp.