Pedro Pascal, the man of the moment, returns to our screens this week in The Mandalorian and Grogu.

To many, it might seem like Pedro’s recent wave of success came somewhat out of nowhere – but it actually took years of bit parts and supporting roles before the star started booking huge, game-changing projects like Game Of Thrones, The Last Of Us and last year’s Marvel offering The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

In fact, the Chilean-American star began his career way back in 1996 and spent more than a decade in minor film and TV roles until his big breakthrough.

Here are just some of the lesser-known roles he played early on in his career, before he cemented his status as the internet’s favourite father figure…

One of Pedro’s earliest television roles came at the end of the 1990s, when he landed a small part in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

He appeared briefly as a UC Sunnydale student in the season four episode The Freshman, colliding with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy on campus before being caught by vampires and, sadly, slayed.

Pedro revealed back in 2024 that this small role helped him out massively when he was still a young, struggling actor.

“My entry-level lasted about 15 years,” he shared after his win at the SAG Awards. “And we’re talking about not being able to see a doctor, getting sick, getting surgery, being able to pay my rent,”.

He continued: “I had less than $7 in my account and a residual from Buffy The Vampire Slayer showed up and saved the day, and literally is the reason I was able to stay in it and not give up.”

Sarah also posted a throwback photo of Pedro’s time on the show in 2024, captioned: “When Mother met Father.”

Pedro has appeared in numerous American crime dramas over the years, including Law & Order and NYPD Blue, but his first multi-episode arc came in 2009, when he appeared in the first two seasons of The Good Wife.

He starred in six episodes as Nathan Landry, an arrogant assistant to the state’s attorney, which marked a rare antagonistic role for the usually-lovable actor.

After starring in numerous short films, Pedro’s first high-profile feature-length role came in 2011 when he was cast in The Adjustment Bureau.

He makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in the Matt Damon and Emily Blunt sci-fi thriller, playing a maître d’, and despite his limited screen time (his one line even ended up on the cutting room floor), the film’s Oscar-winning lead still had good memories of being on set with Pedro more than a decade later.

“I remember Emily and I went and sat down and this maître’d walked away, and they cut, and we both looked at each other, and Em goes, ‘That guy’s really fucking good’,” Matt told Howard Stern in January this year. “And I said, ‘Yeah, what the fuck? That guy was really good’.

“There was something just incredibly interesting, but real and natural about him. And years later, I found out it was Pedro Pascal.”

The year before he joined the cast of Game Of Thrones, Pedro Pascal appeared in the first series of the law enforcement drama Graceland, playing an undercover cop who is assigned to investigate a senior agent in the FBI.

Unfortunately, like many of Pedro’s characters over the years, this one also met a violent end, and didn’t make it into the second season of the show, which only ran for three years before it was cancelled.

Pedro followed up his role in season one of Graceland with a recurring part in seasons six and seven of The Mentalist.

He joined the procedural drama as Marcus Pike, an FBI agent who had a short-lived romance with Robin Tunney’s Teresa Lisbon before being written out of the series.

This appearance in The Mentalist aired just one week before Pedro made his debut in Game Of Thrones, a role which would change the course of his life and career.

Pedro is now a regular face in movie blockbusters, which all started with 2016’s The Great Wall, in which he reunited with his former Adjustment Bureau co-star, Matt Damon.

The future Emmy nominee played a Spanish man who travels to 11th-century China with Matt’s character to steal gunpowder, before getting caught up in a war against mythical monsters.

Upon its release, The Great Wall was met with controversy for centring its white leads at the expense of its talented cast of Chinese actors, after which it massively underperformed at the box office.

You may have (thankfully!) completely forgotten that the Taron Egerton-led James Bond pastiche Kingsman ever had a sequel, but it did.

Follow-up movie The Golden Circle brought back original cast members Colin Firth and Mark Strong, as well as introducing new additions played by Channing Tatum, Julianne Moore and, of course, Pedro Pascal.

In the sequel, Pedro played Jack Daniels, a lasso-whipping cowboy FBI agent who worked for the Kingman’s American counterpart, Statesman.

Despite unimpressed reviews from critics, Pedro has spoken fondly of his time making the film, especially when using his character’s weapon of choice.

“I’m telling you, I had a Catwoman moment.” Pedro told ComicBook.com while promoting the film in 2017. “It’s a different Catwoman [than co-star Halle Berry‘s portrayal]. But there was a Catwoman moment on set.”

He explained: “In one take, I had to crack the whip and hit a bag of dust. If I hit the bag of dust, it would help the shot, because it would have just [exploded], as if the floor was sort of like exploding with the sound of the crack.”

In The Equalizer 2, Pedro shared the screen with one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors, Denzel Washington.

He played Dave York, ex-agency partner of Denzel’s character, who he thought was dead until he showed up out of the blue with news from their past.

Pedro spoke fondly of the “surreal” experience of working with a screen legend like Denzel, telling Den Of Geek: “Here I am working with one of the greats, and I was more nervous than I’ve ever been. And, consequently, [I was] more prepared than I had ever been.”

“And yet, once we started rolling, it felt like I was with a classmate,” he added.

Pedro appeared in one small but memorable scene in Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-nominated 2018 film, If Beale Street Could Talk.

Adapted from the 1974 James Baldwin novel of the same name, If Beale Street Could Talk tells the story of a pregnant woman in Harlem who fights to clear the name of the father of her unborn child, after he is falsely accused of rape.

Pedro was only on screen for three minutes, but his role was pivotal to the plot, as he portrayed a man who had information that helped free the lead, played by Stephen James, from jail.

His scene saw him sharing the screen with Regina King, whose powerful performance as a mother trying to find justice for her son earned her an Oscar the year after the film’s release.

Triple Frontier featured an all-star cast that saw Pedro acting alongside Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam and Garrett Hedlund as U.S. Army Delta Force operators.

Despite positive reviews and the film’s star power, the Netflix original has been curiously forgotten, after seemingly winding up lost in the platform’s algorithm.

The hidden gem of a thriller follows the team of special force operatives as they unite to plan a heist in a sparsely populated, multi-border area of South America.

Pedro’s performance as the pilot Catfish was praised by reviewers, many of whom named him as the stand-out of the film’s stacked cast.

Released in the wake of the Covid pandemic, The Bubble was a poorly-received and generally-ignored comedy from Judd Apatow, that even an all-star cast including Karen Gillan, John Lithgow and John Cena couldn’t save.

The Netflix satire followed the cast of a fictional Hollywood blockbuster who are forced to quarantine in an upmarket hotel in 2020.

Pedro played Dieter Bravo, a veteran actor with sex and drug addiction, allowing him to play against type and prove his comedy chops.

Despite the criticism for the movie itself, Pedro was still hailed as the best part of it by many critics.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is in cinemas now.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Thursday she is “concerned” that President Donald Trump could use war in Iran or elsewhere to stay in power after his second term. (Watch the video below.)

Greene referred to an exchange between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy last summer. The Ukrainian president told Trump that elections were suspended while his country was at war against Russia. That aroused Trump’s interest.

Host Alex Jones cued up the clip.

“So you say, during the war, you can’t have elections,” Trump said. “So let me just see. Three and a half years from now, so you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections? Oh, that’s good.”

Jones went off on a tangent about Trump’s musing this week about running for prime minister of Israel, but Greene kept to her point.

“So that type of behaviour is someone planting an idea over and over and over again,” Greene said. “He constantly says it so that he can normalise the idea and test the support and test people’s reactions. But saying it over and over and over again normaliaes the idea. And I think it’s incredibly dangerous, and no one should ever accept it. Absolutely, absolutely not. There cannot be a third term, no. That’s against our laws. That’s against the Constitution. There is no third term. And if this country is at war, no, our election should not be canceled, absolutely not.”

Trump’s contemplations of an illegal third term are old hat. But a somewhat novel theory emerged this week of how he might try to pull off staying in the White House by literally staying at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

MS NOW host Chris Hayes joked that he was starting to believe speculation that Trump would barricade himself in the bunker purportedly being built under his ballroom project.

Greene and Jones, former Trump disciples who swore him off, both love a conspiracy theory. So there’s some entertainment value in listening to the two extreme figures chat.

Jones’ Infowars has been shut down, but he’s now broadcasting “The Alex Jones Show” on the so-called Alex Jones Network.

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

Though you might think something as ordinary as feeling winded after taking the stairs is normal, Dr Katherine Pohlgeers previously told HuffPost that if your breathing “stay[s] elevated past three minutes or a prolonged period of time, that’s when it becomes more concerning”.

But what about feeling dizzy when you stand up?

We asked Dr Donald Grant, a GP and senior clinical advisor at The Independent Pharmacy, what it could mean and when to see a doctor.

“Feeling dizzy when you stand up can be normal, and it usually occurs due to blood pressure changes, which means the brain gets less blood flow for a brief moment,” Dr Grant explained.

“This is particularly common after standing or sitting for extended periods, but outside of that, several potential causes shouldn’t be ignored.”

One of the most “common” of these, he added, is “postural hypotension” (also known as orthostatic hypotension), or a sudden lowering of blood pressure that happens when you go from sitting to standing.

“Other common signs of this include blurred vision, general weakness, confusion and nausea,” he explained.

The NHS said it’s important to see a doctor if you get repeated signs of low blood pressure, like dizziness and fainting.

“Dizziness may also be caused by dehydration, so it’s important to drink enough fluids each day, especially as we approach the warmer months,” Dr Grant continued.

“While it can vary depending on age, health conditions and the weather, people should generally aim to drink six to eight cups of fluid each day.”

Additionally, some medications and pre-existing health conditions, like anaemia, diabetes, and heart problems, can make you feel dizzy when you stand up too.

“If dizziness occurs regularly or suddenly worsens, seek urgent medical attention. A qualified health professional can provide more tailored advice on potential causes and treatment,” shared Dr Grant.

In general, the NHS suggests you should see a doctor if your dizziness or vertigo keeps coming back or lasts a long time, or if hearing or speaking becomes difficult.

You should also visit your doctor if you experience tinnitus (ringing in the ears); double or blurred vision; numbness or weakness in the face, arms or legs; changes in pulse; fainting; headaches or nausea, according to the health service.

Walking on grass and sand helps you connect with nature, but it also has one unexpected benefit you might not know about.

Turns out, walking on uneven surfaces will activate your body’s alert system known as proprioception, an overlooked but critical sense that subconsciously tells you where your limbs and body are at all times.

If a surface is suddenly slanted, proprioception tells your body that “the position of your joint is different and so it would activate muscles in a different way so that you don’t fall over to the right,” said Claire Morrow, a physical therapist with Hinge Health.

When proprioception is working well, it’s automatic. Your feet will know where to land on the slope of a hill to keep your ankles stable without you looking.

But proprioception declines as you get older or after an injury, which is why you don’t want to ignore training this internal awareness system. You might just lose it if you stop using it.

For example, if you sprain your ankle, you can lose ligament stability and the proprioception “feedback loop” that prevents you from re-rolling your ankle and injuring yourself again, Morrow said. The good news is that with a few simple adjustments, you can hone this sense and train it to get better.

You don’t need to hike up a mountain to train your proprioception. Simply look for uneven surfaces that nature provides with grass, dirt or sand to give your body small challenges on your walk.

Walking on beach sand or soft grass in a park instead of predictably flat pavement can “give your body a challenge to react to something that was a little unexpected,” Morrow said, which is what’s needed to train your lower body’s proprioception.

She suggests starting on pressed dirt and then graduating to grass and sand. “If you don’t mind getting your feet dirty, then doing it barefoot is sometimes a fun way” to practice proprioception too, Morrow added.

If you’re nervous about your balance, you can use hiking poles on unstable surfaces to have the benefit of your foot testing different positions while still having support, Morrow said.

Since proprioception can decline with age, older adults at risk of falling should focus on honing this ability. One 2017 study of adults over 70 found that the loss of reliable proprioception was a key factor in why those adults were more likely to sway on their feet while standing.

Proprioception “can improve your balance, and with increased balance, you decrease the fall potential, especially in elderly people,” said Patrick Maloney, the lead athletic trainer at Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine in New Orleans.

“The danger of that impaired proprioception is you get into a position where you need to catch yourself, but you don’t have the quickness to catch yourself,” Morrow said.

Here is a quick proprioception test for yourself: Can you balance on one leg for 10 seconds? If you can’t, Morrow suggests working with a physical therapist who can give you exercises to improve this skill.

She also suggests consulting with a therapist if your walking pace has significantly declined or if you need to touch a wall or a railing while walking to stay balanced.

So the next time you go for a walk, try walking next to the sidewalk on some soft grass or dirt. It will give you a break from your usual routine and will also help train your body’s awareness to protect your health in the future.

If you’ve ever had to walk into a room full of strangers or speak in front of a crowd, you’re familiar with social anxiety. It’s a fear of being judged or negatively evaluated. In the future, you might avoid situations like these or manage to get through them, sweating and trying to swallow the lump in your throat.

For people with avoidant personality disorder (AVPD), the fear of being judged is so intense that they retreat from people and activities they might otherwise enjoy.

“Avoidant personality disorder is a mental health condition where someone avoids social situations because they feel extremely insecure and afraid of rejection,” said Nona Kocher, a board-certified psychiatrist in Florida. “Even though they may want close relationships, their fear holds them back.”

Relying on avoidance as a coping strategy can provide temporary relief, but it can also reinforce negative views of yourself as being inadequate or unworthy of satisfying relationships.

Below, we asked experts about the signs of avoidant personality disorder and what to do if it’s affecting your work and relationships.

“Personality disorders cause people to think, feel and behave significantly differently from what is considered normal in their culture,” said Lienna Wilson, a licensed psychologist in New Jersey.

She explained that these differences are long-standing and persistent. Typically, this pattern of thinking and behaving begins in early adulthood and tends to affect work, friendships and romantic relationships. In the case of AVPD, they might feel unattractive, inferior or socially awkward.

“They often believe they’re not good enough or that others will judge them harshly,” Kocher said.

Since they’re extremely sensitive to criticism or disapproval, people with AVPD shy away from social engagements and are hesitant to try new activities to avoid feeling embarrassed, said Patrice Le Goy, an international psychologist and licensed marriage and family therapist. For example, they rarely take social risks like texting first or inviting someone for coffee. The possibility of rejection is too much to handle.

“As a result, they experience persistent self-doubt and struggle to establish close relationships unless they are absolutely certain of being accepted,” Le Goy explained. They prefer to keep their distance, believing that they’re socially inept or unappealing to others.

“Avoidant personality disorder is characterised by a persistent and intense fear of rejection, profound feelings of inadequacy, and social inhibition,” Le Goy said. Although there is some overlap between social anxiety and AVPD, there are key differences between these conditions.

For instance, someone with social anxiety might be shy around new people. “However, they often have a close group of friends with whom they feel comfortable,” Wilson said.

As with AVPD, socially anxious individuals might worry about embarrassing themselves and experience significant distress in certain situations. “But they do not necessarily hold an overall belief that they are fundamentally inadequate or inferior,” Le Goy said.

Kocher agreed, adding that social anxiety is usually situational, meaning it happens in specific social situations and performance contexts. For example, someone with social anxiety might get nervous at a job interview where they’re being evaluated, yet feel comfortable at a friend’s birthday party where someone else is the centre of attention.

Conversely, AVPD tends to affect almost all areas of a person’s life. For example, their habit of skipping parties and work events might be part of an overall pattern of avoidance. Though they might be craving connection, their deep sense of personal inadequacy prevents them from forming close relationships.

Accordingly, AVPD is more persistent and tied to the way these individuals see themselves, Kocher explained.

For example, someone with social anxiety might worry about making a mistake while giving a presentation. In contrast, someone with AVPD will think of themselves as being “bad at public speaking” and assume the audience shares their opinion, Wilson said.

“People with AVPD are usually highly self-critical and have low self-esteem,” Wilson said. This view often carries over into their relationships. For example, if someone expresses a romantic interest in them, they might avoid the person. If they do end up dating someone, they might distance themselves or break off the relationship early because they don’t feel worthy of love.

Moreover, they rely on avoidance to protect themselves. “By staying away from social situations, individuals temporarily reduce the anxiety and fear of being judged, rejected, or exposed as being not good enough or unworthy,” Le Goy said.

She said that avoidance only reinforces their fear of being negatively evaluated. That’s because they miss out on opportunities for positive interactions that could challenge their negative self-perceptions.

“Social comparison can intensify these self-perceptions, reinforcing feelings of inadequacy and making vulnerability feel unsafe,” she added.

Poor self-esteem, characteristic of AVPD, can stem from constant teasing, criticism or rejection in childhood. “A child may begin to believe they are not good enough,” Kocher said. “Over time, this can turn into a strong fear of judgment or rejection.”

Research confirms that social exclusion negatively affects people’s self-perceptions. Likewise, experiences with bullying or social humiliation can make someone fearful of social situations. Eventually, avoiding people can make a person feel safer since they expect others to mock or exclude them, Kocher added.

Biological and genetic factors may also play a role in developing AVPD. Biological factors can influence your temperament or personality starting at birth, Wilson noted. Kocher agreed, adding that people may inherit traits such as anxiety or high sensitivity, which increase their likelihood of developing AVPD.

If you think you have AVPD, Kocher recommended speaking to a mental health professional who can assess your symptoms with interviews, questionnaires, or checklists. “It’s important to be honest about your fears, avoidance, and how it affects work or relationships,” she said. Diagnosis is based on long-standing patterns of behaviour that interfere with daily life.

In addition, “a trained mental health professional can help you understand where long-standing beliefs about inadequacy and rejection may have developed and how they continue to shape your interactions,” Le Goy said. She said that the goals of treatment may include building self-compassion, challenging distorted self-perceptions, strengthening social confidence, and gradually reducing avoidance patterns.

Keep in mind that it’s common to feel embarrassed about seeking support when a fear of judgment or rejection is among your symptoms. “However, working with a therapist who understands personality disorders can provide a safe, structured space to practice new ways of relating, improve connection, and reduce the intensity of symptoms over time,” Le Goy said.

Wilson added that cognitive behavioural therapy can be helpful for challenging negative thought patterns and modifying behaviour. “Especially with AVPD, more emphasis is placed on enhancing self-esteem and creating a healthier self-perception,” she said. “Psychodynamic therapy is another option and aims to uncover the underlying causes of the disorder, such as unconscious conflicts, negative childhood experiences, and maladaptive defence mechanisms that are used to reduce fears of inadequacy.”

Wilson noted that there are no drugs specifically approved for treating AVPD. However, a psychiatrist may prescribe medications to treat anxiety and depression, which can help reduce distress among people with AVPD.

Alone or in combination with medication, you can work with a therapist on taking gradual steps to participate in social activities.

“Building self-esteem through small successes is very helpful,” Kocher said. A good place to start is acknowledging your wins and not letting rejection derail your mood or your relationships.

Emma Willis has now been a staple on British TV for more than 20 years.

The presenter is best known for hosting shows like Big Brother, The Voice and The Circle, and was recently introduced to a more international audience when she and her husband Matt Willis began presenting Netflix’s British iteration of the dating series Love Is Blind.

It’s now been announced that she’s landed the biggest gig of her career, as she’s just been unveiled as one of the new hosts of Strictly Come Dancing, taking over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

But while you’ve probably watched Emma on some of the UK’s biggest reality shows over the years, there are plenty of other presenting gigs throughout her extensive resume you might have completely forgotten about.

Here are the ones we dug through the archives to find…

Emma got her start on music TV in the early 2000s, presenting segments for MTV as well as the UK version of the iconic TRL.

In 2008, Emma joined another British music show called The Hot Desk, whose other hosts included the likes of All Saints’ Nicole Appleton and Melanie Blatt, Laura Whitmore, Sarah Jane Crawford and Alice Levine.

At the end of each interview, the host would ask their celebrity guest to sign the “Hot Desk” with a pen (isn’t that just oh-so 2010s?).

One of Emma’s biggest interviews from that era was with a young and bright-eyed One Direction on The Hot Desk in 2011, a year after they came third on The X Factor.

In the peak of 2000s gossip mags and celebrity interview panels, there were plenty of shows out there like Live From Studio Five.

Emma joined a line-up of co-presenters – including Brian Dowling and Ian Wright – who would conduct interviews and discuss topical issues, celebrity gossip and big news stories.

However it didn’t do too well with ratings, and ultimately came off the air after around a year and a half.

Even as far back as 2012, Emma was clearly discovering that she had a bit of a knack when it came to reality TV.

She presented two seasons of this British show about single women looking for love, which saw three pals searching for their ideal guy out of 100 auditioning men.

Emma co-presented this sunny series alongside Alexander Armstrong back in 2013.

Prize Island placed four pairs on an Island (obv) off the coast of Mozambique, with each team participating in rounds of games to uncover prizes, ranging from a TV to a luxury holiday.

At the time, there were reports that it might not air at all, after it looked set to rival (ironically) The Voice. The show ultimately only last six episodes across one season.

Another oft-overlooked game show from Emma’s TV past was the ambitious Prized Apart.

Prized Apart saw two groups of adventurous hopefuls trying out assorted physical tasks in Morocco (overseen by Emma’s former The Voice co-host Reggie Yates), putting their teamwork to the test in the hope of landing a hefty cash prize of £100K.

After facing criticism due to its convoluted gameplay (not to mention its carbon footprint, as contestants were repeatedly flown backwards and forwards depending on how they’d performed in tasks) it was axed after one season.

Do you remember that time Emma hosted a whole Brit Awards? Honestly, we’d forgotten too.

Back in 2017 she took to the stage for the UK’s biggest night in music alongside co-host Dermot O’Leary.

Dermot and Emma were brought in as somewhat last-minute replacements when the night’s original host, Michael Bublé, was forced to back out due to his son’s illness.

That year’s Brits saw One Direction, Little Mix, The 1975 and more take home awards.

This one marked a huge change for the presenter as she swapped reality TV and game shows for a hospital maternity unit.

Across the course of four seasons, she worked on a labour ward working NHS hours while training to be a maternity care assistant.

Whether she was making beds, cleaning floors or offering support during births, it made for pretty emotional viewing.

Strictly Come Dancing returns to our screens in the autumn.

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I’m probably not your typical games console reviewer being a mum of two under-fives who barely has time to go to the loo (and if I do, it’s usually in the company of a smol person).

That said, I grew up learning the ropes on a Nintendo 64 (Golden Eye 4eva), and later, an Xbox.

My partner’s now got a Playstation 5, but our kids – who are two and four – are a bit young to fully grasp how the controls work (there’s a lot of aggressive button-bashing without the desired outcome), so it’s not really something we can play on together.

That’s why I was especially excited to learn of Nex Playground’s launch in the UK and Ireland. I’d heard about the motion-based games console a while back, when it was only available in North America.

After reading a whole host of positive reviews on Reddit, I was curious about how it would fare for families with younger kids. Little did I know its next stop on the road to world domination would be good old Blighty (it’s currently available to pre-order ahead of an estimated late-June release).

For those who’ve not yet heard of the Nex Playground, it’s a small (3-inch) cube-shaped games console with a built-in camera. There are no controllers because you, as the user, are the controller.

The camera picks up your movement and up to four of you can become part of the game. There’s no sitting still – it’s all dancing, jumping, hitting and swinging. And it’s ideal for all ages.

Inspired by his own family’s needs (his daughters were two and seven when he first started building it), Nex’s CEO David Lee wanted to create a product that kids, parents and even grandparents can use – and he’s certainly delivered.

Rather than smartphones which suck up our attention and seem to ironically isolate us from one another, this is a device that has the power to bring families together. I know, because I watched it happen.

The games console costs £269 and comes with five games. You can also pay for an annual Play Pass subscription (£90 per year) which gives you access to 60+ games.

There’s a real mixture to choose from, helping cement the console as a family staple – I love Starri (which takes me back to the days of stomping on dance mats, but with Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso blasting out instead), my partner loves Basketball Knockout, my toddler loves the Bluey mini games and my four-year-old is utterly obsessed with Mirrorama.

My parents even came to visit and I’ve never heard my mum and daughter giggle as much as they did while running around with emoji faces hovering over them on the screen – it’s one of the features in Mirrorama, which is pure silliness and kids are guaranteed to love it. Mine loves to try and steal the smiley face from whoever has it (hence all the giggling)!

I have the attention span of a goldfish and I’m constantly being pulled in many directions, so setting things up isn’t usually my strong point. However, this was super simple and I did it in minutes.

The Nex Playground comes in a small(ish) box with a petite remote, power cable, HDMI cable and small instruction booklet.

All you need to do is plug it in to the mains, hook it up to the TV (via the HDMI) and then turn your telly on and commence set up, which involves typing in your WiFi and adding the code for your play pass, if you’ve bought one.

I asked Lee about privacy and security, because it’s always at the front of mind with two young kids – and, ya know, there’s a camera now in our living room.

He explained motion-tracking data and processing stay local to the device (“nothing’s sent to the cloud”), and every system includes a built-in camera cover, which is magnetic so it snaps onto the front of the console easily.

There’s no third-party software involved. Nex is directly accountable for the trust, safety, and certification of the entire experience. They also have kidSAFE+ certification.

It’s a really clever piece of kit. I absolutely love that it gets both kids moving and it’s also really helping my four-year-old come to terms with the idea of winning and losing (which can be hard to swallow at that age, but she’s getting there!).

Many of the games are easy to understand and play – even for a two-year-old. And I don’t think the kids have ever slept as well as they did that first day we played on it. They were absolutely exhausted from all the jumping, dancing and pretending to be animals (thanks to reenacting Bluey’s Magic Asparagus).

There have been a couple of times where it’s glitched (ie. getting confused with tracking who’s who), or has been a bit slow to load, and some of the games like the driving ones can be a bit tricky for younger kids to navigate using their bodies (my four-year-old seems to just spin in circles whenever she’s trying to ‘drive’ something), but on the whole, it’s been brilliant.

The wide range of games on offer is a huge draw (the Play Pass is well worth it) and the company adds about 15-20 new ones per year, so I’m excited to see what arrives next.

Realistically, I – like many parents – sometimes have to rely on screen time to be able to get things done: work, dinner, etc., and there is so much less guilt knowing the kids are playing together, learning new skills (like working as a team or problem-solving) and keeping active instead of sitting on the sofa passively watching a show.

And when they’re tucked up in bed, my partner and I will grab a glass of wine and play a quick game of baseball, or bowling, from the comfort of our living room. There are also fitness games on there, so if you struggle to find time to exercise, you can easily grab 20 minutes here and there.

With British weather being as changeable as it is, I can see this is going to be an absolute godsend for parents over the summer holidays on those inevitable rainy days when you need to entertain the kids and work.

If you’re in need of a console that suits a range of ages, but 3- to 12-year-olds in particular, I couldn’t recommend enough.

Families in the UK and Ireland can pre-order the Nex Playground at Amazon, Smyths Toys, and Argos.

President Donald Trump mocked a heckler who interrupted his rant about transgender athletes at his Friday night rally.

“Go home to mom. Take him home to mommy! He’s going to be in trouble,” Trump told the heckler as the crowd began to chant “USA.”

The president appeared in Suffern, New York, to support Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is up for reelection in November’s midterm elections. His tangents hit on a few of his usual talking points, including voter identification and transgender people in sports.

Trump asked the crowd, “Do you want to hear the swimming story or not?” joking that his wife, first lady Melania Trump, did not want him to tell it.

“She says, ‘Darling, please, you speak so beautifully, would you do me a favour. Don’t do the swimming story, don’t do the weightlifting story, it’s so damn unpresidential,’” he continued.

Trump went on to tell the story anyway to an enthusiastic crowd until someone from the audience interrupted him. The footage captured by CSPAN shows a crowd circling the heckler, pointing and chanting.

“You know what he doesn’t say is, his mom’s watching on television now and she’s loving it,” Trump said, before continuing his story.

The heckler’s dissent from the president’s supportive crowd comes amid multiple polls indicating backlash over Trump’s leadership.

A new poll published Thursday by the American Research Group found that only 31% of American voters approve of Trump. A recent poll released by Fox News also Trump’s overall approval rating has dropped 10 points since the start of his second term.

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Robert Jenrick has somehow tried to take credit for the recent decline in net migration despite not being in government for three years.

The MP for Newark used to be the Conservative immigration minister under Rishi Sunak but quit in 2023 when he claimed the government was not taking enough action to cut migration numbers.

He defected to Reform in January and is now the the right-wing party’s Treasury spokesperson.

Labour’s home secretary Shabana Mahmood has overseen net migration fall to its lowest level since early 2021, as official figures revealed this week.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed net migration fell to 171,000 in 2025, which is a 82% fall since its peak in early 2023 of 944,000.

But Jenrick told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “I secured the very changes that are making this, announced them and then resigned because they weren’t enough.

“I want the numbers to come down much more.”

He continued: “Reform… We don’t want hundreds of thousands of people coming into the country. We want net emigration.

“That means more people leaving every year than are coming in. Why? So that we can reduce pressure on housing, people getting a doctor or a dentist, and stop this constant pressure where British workers wages are being hammered because there’s an easy lever of foreign labour.

“So it’s got to keep coming down. Reform have a very clear policy, net emigration. We’re going to get it right down and have a long period, maybe a decade or more, which would give the country breathing space.”

Earlier this week, Jenrick also pointed out the 246,000 British nationals left the UK, which he branded the “Starmer exodus”.

But the ONS said the number of British nationals emigrating has been “broadly stable” in recent years, with 257,000 leaving in 2024 and 255,000 in 2023.

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