AN Autumn break can be a good choice for holidaymakers looking to chase the sun, with many destinations offering warmer weather, fewer crowds, and cheaper prices. 

One city has been found to offer the best bargain holiday deal for this time of year, and that’s Marrakech. 

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The fourth largest city in Morrocco has become increasingly popular with tourists over the years. 

And it’s now been crowned Most Budget Friendly Autumn Getaway 2024 by DiscoverCars.com.

In the car rental company’s latest report cities were scored on a number of factors: 

• Average cost of a week-long hotel stay

• Average cost of car rental for a week

• Number of affordable restaurants

• Average rainfall in millimetres

• Average temperature in September, October and November

• Average daylight hours during these months. 

Marrakech scored best for average rainfall, with just 25mm during September, October and November. 

It also came up top for the longest daylight hours, with an average of nine hours during Autumn. 

While the average flight cost to Marrakech Airport is on the pricier side (£253), the average cost of a week-long hotel stay was just £168. 

Its average temperature was one of the highest at 19C. 

Here are some of the cheapest things you can get up to in the city. 

Visit Bahia Palace for its stunning Moroccan architecture 

Nestled in the heart of Marrakech is Bahia Palace – a 19th century building decorated with stunning paintings and mosaics. 

The palace was set up by Si Moussa, grand vizir of the sultan, for his personal use, and named after one of his wives. 

Its gardens are particularly popular, with orange and banana trees, cypress trees, hibiscus plants and jasmine shading the walkways. 

Entry to the palace is free. 

Grab a cheap bite to eat at Jemaa el-Fnaa

Jemaa el-Fnaa is the main square and market place in Marrakech’s medina quarter. 

There are plenty of restaurants dotted around the square serving local delicacies like tagine, brochettes (skewered kebabs), fried fish and couscous.  

Prices are very cheap – you can have a hearty meal for just £9-13.

Explore the iconic El Badi Palace 

El Badi Palace is a ruined palace commissioned by the sultan Ahmad al-Mansur of the Saadian dynasty a few months after his accession in 1578. 

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The palace features intricate mosaics, marble columns, gold-topped ceilings, and onyx, and its rooftop terrace offers views of the skyline, Atlas Mountains, and resident storks. 

Entry for adults is 100 MAD (£7.75), and for children 30 MAD (£3.02).

As Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, Sophie Turner excelled as a pure soul in a morally depraved medieval universe. In lightweight but enjoyable biopic Joan, she portrays another underdog heroine once again travelling to a bygone era. Sporting a Bananarama haircut, she plays real-life 1980s jewel chief Joan Hannington, Thatcher-era London’s so-called “Criminal Godmother.”

Turner’s Hannington is Sansa with an EastEnders accent and a fashion upgrade – rather than princess frocks, it’s pastel blouses and mammoth shoulder pads.

But her Joan is also a hot streak of contradictions under the clobber and the eye makeup. She’s a loving mum but someone who will endanger her future with her daughter by stealing a car so that she can visit the child in foster care (an actual incident detailed in Hannington’s memoir, I Am What I Am: The True Story of Britain’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief). And while Turner puts great effort into playing her as an oppressed woman with a heart of gold, Joan is undeniably enthusiastic about her descent into criminality.

Joan is part giddy heist, part social drama, and the two genres combine unevenly in a series that feels torn between escapism and the desire to be something grittier.

Turner’s character is introduced as a frightened victim of an abusive criminal boyfriend, Gary (Nick Blood), who does a runner after falling out with the wrong people. Joan is left to answer for his deeds and when gangsters break in and threaten her, she puts her daughter into care and flees from the seaside town of Herne Bay in Kent to London, where she eventually bags a job selling expensive necklaces to posh women. There, she finds another calling: pinching the jewels by swallowing them whole and retrieving the stash with the help of an olive oil laxative (a scene that mercifully takes place off-camera).

Turner is best when playing Joan as a female version of George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven. Charming and with a knack for accents, she disarms her pervy boss at the jewellers – but rather than submit to his advances, she gulps down those diamonds from the stock room and pegs it. Later, she falls in with charming antique dealer Boisie (Frank Dillane), a cad with useful underworld connections.

Where Turner struggles and Joan stutters is when it tries to go all Ken Loach. Turner struggles to get under the skin of a woman brought up in care and betrayed by all the men in her life – she lacks the acting heft. These scenes are a box-ticking exercise – it’s as if they have been included simply because they feature in Hannington’s memoir, rather than out of any genuine desire to explore Joan’s traumas.

Joan also fails to lay the groundwork for the character’s transformation into a natural-born criminal. She is introduced as the lead character in a dour kitchen sink drama. But when she overhears a posh woman nattering to a pal in a London park, she can effortlessly mimic the accent and eventually wangle her way into that jewellers job. Her display of chameleonic powers arrives completely out of the blue.

Switching between these japes and scenes of dark social realism is disconcerting, though the drama does a great job evoking 1980s London. Outrageous fashions, naff music (The Style Council feature early on), and retro cars conjure visions of fluffy dice and ZX Spectrums. It’s a fantasy version of the decade – but one which Joan explores with gusto. It’s when it tries to be bleak and realistic that the wheels come off.

‘Joan’ continues tomorrow at 9pm on ITV1

CRIMINAL prosecutions for failing to pay the BBC licence fee could be scrapped by Labour.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is understood to be “concerned” by the disproportionate number of women being punished.

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And there is agreement between Ms Nandy and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood that taxpayers should not have to fork out for the “administrative burden”.

Almost 1,000 Brits are prosecuted every week for ignoring the £169.50 annual fee.

Seventy per cent are women.

They are more likely to be poorly paid, coping with single families or taking charge of household bills — and also more likely to be at home when investigators call.

But last night an insider said prosecutions will continue until at least 2027, when the BBC’s Royal Charter is due for renewal.

Ministers will then meet Beeb bosses to “explore options” for new funding models.

These are set to include decriminalisation.

Last year half a million people stopped paying as they opted for US-based subscription services instead.

At the same time former Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer branded criminal prosecutions “morally indefensible in modern times”.

A TV Licensing spokesman said: “We have a duty to enforce the law.

“But we have made considerable efforts to help people get licensed and offer help and support.

“Our focus on collecting the licence fee fairly and efficiently.”

A MUNDANE ceramic mug left inside a loft for 20 years has been sold at an auction for a whopping £13,500 because of one unique detail.

The 87-year-old souvenir cup was designed by British artist Eric Ravilious for Wedgwood to mark the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937.

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It is said to be a rare example because of its unique yellow and green detailing which had sat undisturbed in a box in the vendor’s loft since the late 1990s.

Adapted from a previous version intended to mark King Edward VIII taking the throne before his abdication, the design features celebratory fireworks and the royal coat of arms.

The mug was given an estimate of £800 when it went under the hammer at Gildings Auctioneers in Market Harborough, Leics earlier this week.

But it smashed its estimate and sold to a private buyer for £13,500 – more than 16 times its guide price.

Gildings director Will Gilding said: “We’re thrilled to achieve this astonishing result for this very special mug which although highly collectable, is still intrinsically just a mundane household item.

“We were unable to find any other examples of this particular colourway, which also has a slightly differently shaped rim to the other mugs in the sale, so this one may well be unique.

“As a result, we knew it had the potential to soar far beyond its guide price.

“But for the hammer to go down at £13,500 is truly remarkable and just goes to show the magic that can happen when two determined collectors identify a must-have treasure.”

The cup was from a collection of five of Ravilious’s 1937 Wedgwood coronation mugs – and was kept inside an attic for 20 years.

Three of the mugs in more commonly seen but still sought-after turquoise, blue and pink-based colourways sold for £270, £360 and £2,700 respectively.

Another blue version made for the planned coronation of Edward VIII fetched £480.

Born in 1903, Eric Ravilious was a highly regarded Sussex-based painter, designer, book illustrator and wood engraver.

He is best known for his modernist watercolour interpretations of English landscapes and World War II scenes, some of which are displayed in the Imperial War Museum in London.

In December 1939 Ravilious became an official World War Two war artist with the rank of Honorary Captain in the Royal Marines.

On September 2, 1942, he joined one of three aircraft dispatched on a search and rescue mission for a plane that had failed to return to RAF Kaldadarnes in Iceland.

The aircraft he boarded also failed to return, and he and the four-man crew were recorded as lost in action four days later, making him the first of three British war artists to die in active service during World War Two.

Will added: “This vanishingly rare example of a striking design by a renowned artist who suffered a tragic wartime death was sold in very good condition given its age and ceramic nature.

“Such is the power of its scarcity, and the demand for works by Ravilious, this high quality but relatively inexpensive souvenir has taken on a previously unimagined value several decades later.

“When I brought the gavel down, I think everyone in the room felt like we needed a cup of tea to calm us all down – not least the buyer – but in a slightly more affordable mug.”

The body of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was recovered from the rubble of an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, setting the stage for a dramatic funeral in the coming days.

Najib Mikati, the Lebanese prime minister, said the funeral would be marked by a national holiday, with three days of official mourning starting Monday despite growing fears of an Israeli ground invasion.

Nasralla’s body was removed intact from the blast scene on Saturday, his death caused by blunt trauma, said the Lebanese authorities.

Although a Shia Muslim, he was revered across the Palestinian world and was regarded by many as a pan-Arab leader.

His funeral – like his many televised speeches – is likely to garner considerable attention across the region and may be exploited by anti-Israeli forces as a rallying point.

It could also ignite brewing secular tensions in Lebanon where Shia, Sunni, Druze, Christian and other sects live in fine balance cheek by jowl.

From 1975 to 1990, Lebanon was mired in a vicious civil war fought on sectarian lines and some fear a repeat.

It was also reported on Sunday the bombs used to destroy the subterranean compound he was hiding in were US-made bunker-busting bombs, each weighing 2000 pounds, something that may also increase tensions in and the threat to US assets and citizens in the region.

Fighting continued on at least three fronts across the region on Sunday.

Israeli airstrikes continued across Lebanon on Sunday and the streets in much of the Lebanese capital remained deserted, with most shops and cafés closed.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched a barrage of at least 35 rockets at northern Israel early on Sunday evening.

According to the IDF, 10 rockets were launched toward Western Galilee with several impacts identified.

Another 25 rockets were launched toward the Haifa Bay area, setting off sirens in Acre but falling only in open areas.

Israel was reported to have sent special forces troops into Southern Lebanon in a “limited” ground incursion, while IDF tanks were pictured gathering in the border area, suggesting a larger offensive could be imminent.

Israel’s official war aims now include returning some 60,000 citizens in the north to their homes along the border, something most analysts believe will not be possible without troops on the ground in southern Lebanon.

An Israeli official told The Telegraph that the special forces troops were targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure, including weapons sites and command and control centres, in a bid to push them away from the border.

“They are targeting key sites which have been built across the border zone,” the source said.

An Israeli intelligence source told The Telegraph that the IDF was moving quickly in the wake of the assassination of Nasrallah in a bid to leverage its advantage.

“The question now is what the US will do, and I just hope the US doesn’t get involved and pull us back,” he said.

The source added: “Until now, the US has done nothing but interfere, both with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, holding us back in a bid to seek a diplomatic solution when we need to push forward militarily if we stand any chance of defeating Hezbollah and returning the citizens of the north.”

Sources in the Israeli defence establishment have become increasingly critical of the United States in recent weeks.

The United States initially went out of its way to deny involvement in the killing of Nasrallah, angering many Israelis.

It has since said his killing would bring a “measure of justice” to his victims, including many US citizens.

While Israel remains tight-lipped about its ground operations, Andrew Fox, a former British army officer, said Israel likely targeting known Hezbollah positions and attempting to clear the area of munitions and missile launch sites.

But the operation comes with considerable risks.

“The incursion is going to turn the neutral [Lebanese] population against them and cause a lot of damage and condemnation. But if you don’t hold ground, Hezbollah will just re-infiltrate,” Mr Fox told The Telegraph.

A senior IDF official told The Telegraph the operation was necessary because Hezbollah was flouting UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

“The whole freedom of movement for Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) is gone. They are faced with roadblocks by Hezbollah, turned around, and they don’t challenge this,” the source said, referring to the United Nations peacekeeping mission there.

Resolution 1701 states that there should be no armed non-state groups between the UN-delineated line of withdrawal between Lebanon and Israel and the Litani River, which flows between three and 18 miles north of the Israeli border.

The resolution also called for Hezbollah and other armed in the area, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to disarm.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of effectively taking over multiple towns and villages in the demilitarised since 2006 and using the residents as human shields for its large weapon stockpiles.

A tit-for-tat war that broke out when Hezbollah rocketed Israel on October 8 last year has seen the worst violence on the border since the 2006 war.

Around 200,000 people have been displaced on both sides of the border, with hundreds of thousands more fleeing southern Lebanon in the wake of Israel’s accelerated campaign.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, warned Iran and its proxies on Saturday that Israel would respond forcibly to attacks on its territory.

“If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first”, he said, before adding: “There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach”.

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