We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about the fact that some paprika is made from a type of bell pepper called Capsicum annuum (more traditional kinds, however, usually contain Aleppo or various Hungarian varieties, among others).

That made me wonder about the rest of the spices, condiments, and pickles in my cupboard.

This includes the small, briny flavour bombs, capers – which, as it turns out, are actually baby flowers.

They’re made from the flower buds of the Mediterranean Capparis bush (yes, really).

The small, unbloomed flowers are picked by hand, which is why they can run a little dear. Then, they’re dried, salted and/or pickled.

These closed buds offer a nook-and-cranny-rich surface for salt to seep into, making the end product powerfully saline.

But that’s not the only transformation that takes place: when capers are brined, salted, or pickled, they release mustard oil (glucocapparin), leading to their “intense” flavour.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison added that “This enzymatic reaction leads to the formation of rutin, often seen as crystallised white spots on the surfaces of individual caper buds”.

Smaller capers are generally considered of higher quality. They can be more tender and less acidic than their bigger counterparts – some reccomend picking salt-packed, rather than pickled, capers if you can, as the salty flavour can be more concentrated.

French “nonpareille” types are some of the tiniest (about the size of a peppercorn), and are a bit of a cult foodie favourite.

Capers are graded by size. The options, from largest to smallest, include:

• Grusas,
• Fine,
• Capotes,
• Capucines,
• Surfines,
• Nonpareille.

These are the fruit of the same bush. They’re seed-filled berries that can also be pickled or salted.

They have a milder flavour than capers and are a lot bigger than the buds.

Caper leaves can also be pickled and eaten, and are sometimes used as a vegetarian alternative to rennet in cheese-making.

Speaking to HuffPost UK previously, experts at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Flight Operations Specialist Group explained that there are two reasons why we can’t recline our chairs during takeoff and landing.

“The first is that the seat gives the occupant maximum impact protection when upright, and its structure locks into position accordingly,” the spokesperson shared.

“Being upright also reduces the possibility of the occupant ‘submarining’ under their lap belt in the event of a violent deceleration.”

After all, the most dangerous parts of a plane’s flight are when it leaves and returns to the ground.

Fine – but how much of a difference can the mandatory opening of blinds make, especially when added lights are detrimental during the same phase?

According to aviation training services BAA Training, it’s actually done for similar reasons to those which lead staff to turn lights off during takeoff and landing.

Per pilot and YouTuber Captain Joe, the lights get dimmed to help our eyes adjust to the light outside, which means that our eyes will find it easier to adjust in the event of an emergency evacuation.

“If the cabin lights were to be fully bright, you would jump onto the slide into absolute darkness as your eyes struggle with the sudden change,” he said.

BAA Training stated that “If anything happens during a take-off or landing, your eyes will already be used to the day or night light outside, thus you will be able to react more quickly”.

Yes. It’s not just to do with light levels within the plane, but what the crew can see outside of it.

“If any problems occur with the engine or wings, the crew can see [them] out of those tiny round windows in a cabin.

“If the aircraft needs to be evacuated, passengers and the whole crew is able to see which side of the aircraft is safer for evacuation,” BAA Training added.

By the way, that’s what those little black triangles you can sometimes see above plane windows are for – they provide the most straightforward view of the wings for staff.

The seat these are placed above is sometimes known as the “Shatner seat”.

A BBC Question Time audience member savaged the Reform UK candidate in a crunch by-election over his “sexist” views.

Robert Kenyon has been forced to defend social media posts he made before being chosen to stand for the party in Makerfield, Greater Manchester.

The plumber wrote that women can’t “ref, drive or give directions” on an online rugby fan forum in the 2010s.

He said women presenting rugby games on TV “aren’t up to the job and only there to tick a box”, adding: “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.”

On the same forum, he also said that women have abortions get them for “vanity purposes” and so they can “shag anyone they want”.

In a now-deleted social media post, he also interacted with a message sent on X to former Countdown host Carol Vorderman, which said: “Happy birthday Carol, my God I would love to smell and lick your arsehole.”

Kenyon replied: “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking,” along with a thumbs up and a laughing emoji.

The Reform candidate, who is up against Labour’s Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester and a former cabinet minister, has insisted he no longer holds the views he expressed before entering politics.

But in a special edition of Question Time broadcast on Thursday night from Makerfield, one woman in the audience said: “I’d rather have a career politician than a plumber who’s a sexist.”

Her comment was met with loud applause from other audience members.

Kenyon said he “won’t accept that label” and insisted a lot of his comments were made 15 years ago.

“I hold my hands up, I’ve made mistakes,” he said.

Kenyon added: “I was brought up by a single parent and my grandma, who was a widow, and an older sister. So I was brought up by women. I’ve got nothing but respect for women.

“I’ve made mistakes. I said things years ago that I wouldn’t say now and I definitely don’t believe that.”

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.

Horror is having a resurgence, with films like Obsession, Backrooms, Sinners and Weapons becoming some of the most talked about films of the last 12 months.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Scary Movie franchise has been rebooted for a sixth outing, this time taking shots at the likes of The Substance, Get Out and the latest instalments in the Scream series.

This time round, the comedy-horror follows Anna Faris’ Cindy, Marlon Wayans’ Shorty, Shawn Wayans’ Ray and Regina Hall’s Brenda as they’re targeted once again by a mysterious, masked killer.

It’s been 13 years since the last Scary Movie was in cinemas and 25 years since the Wayans brothers last appeared in the franchise, so anticipation was high among fans for the new iteration.

However, critics aren’t quite as hyped about the horror parody franchise’s return, calling it “exhausting”, “predictable” and “dull”.

Here are what the reviews are saying about the sixth Scary Movie…

“This ‘rebootiquel’, as one of the characters refers to it, needs fresh inspiration and not just a lazy retread of the same old meta contortions if it’s to have a life much beyond its opening weekend.”

“As ever, the film is really just an excuse to string together a bunch of cinematic in-jokes, meaning it lives or dies on the strength of its sketches. The result is a slow death that drags even at 96 minutes.”

“The new film, which steps right up to mock itself for being a ‘rebootiquel’, is as thick and layered with legacy characters, and also new characters, as the most convoluted straining-for-a-demographic-home-run Scream sequel.

“It’s jammed with spoof-genre history, but that makes it feel more exhausting than exhilarating. It’s a top-heavy satirical party that’s become so meta it’s meh.”

“It’s hard to see a world where young folk not brought up on the originals, who probably weren’t born when Scream came out, would have any interest in this old-fashioned format which isn’t funny, certainly isn’t scary (not that it tries to be) and feels about as current as a Carry On film.

“Instead it’s an unchallenging stinky old sweater of a movie, which might be deeply unfashionable and unappealing but reminds you of the days when you could smoke inside pubs and people used landlines.”

“For all the expected (if not all that pointed) mockery of legacy sequels, there is a certain comfort and cheer in seeing this cast back together again in pursuit of dumb laughs, even if the earlier films weren’t especially good either.

“Yet there are also increasing notes of sourness as Scary Movie goes on – a lack of generosity toward the younger generation that goes past playful ribbing and sometimes feels downright hostile to the very existence of anyone who dares follow them.”

“Scary Movie tradition is to refer to job-lots of other films in scenes which only barely qualify as send-ups. It’s also series tradition to be just behind the curve, so nods to Terrifier, Sinners, Get Out, Weapons, Longlegs, M3GAN, Candyman, The Substance and Nosferatu will be old news to audiences who’ve moved on to Backrooms, Obsession, and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (the likely targets of a seventh instalment).”

“While new elevated Gen Z horrors like Obsession and Backrooms are pulling record box office, Scary Movie is determined to dumb the genre back down again: stoned blokes exclaiming ‘I’m so high!’; dated pronoun gags; a lazy reliance on sex toys and penis size to provide punchlines.”

“It’s expected to make some big box office bucks this weekend, but sadly this reboot, simply called once again Scary Movie, is surprisingly devoid of many laughs. Instead we get a flat-footed and predictable satire that looks like the Wayans just threw whatever tired ideas they had at the wall to see what still sticks.”

“Oh boy, is Scary Movie frantic. With no less than five screenwriters spitballing ideas at director Michael Tiddes, his film has absolutely no flow. It jars and bumps like a bucking bronco – sketch comedy at a hyperactive pace, tossing out clunkers and punchlines, just to see what sticks.”

“The irony here is how resolutely inoffensive Scary Movie actually is. What you think you’re going to get here is pretty much exactly what it is, only further eroded by its loose idea of a narrative arc. Even by parody movie standards, it falls prey to our age of meta humor, cramming in too many movie references where the reference itself is often the punchline.”

“Sucky or not, Scary Movie is still a broad comedy, and a lot can be forgiven if it’s funny. It’s frequently funny. Some of the jokes backfire, horribly, and others are so tired they’re pathetic, but one out of every four punchlines hits hard.

“The celebrity cameo in the pre-credits sketch is inspired, and whenever Scary Movie falls back on old-fashioned slapstick, the comedic timing and Looney Tunes physics are hilarious as hell. The old cast knows how to make bad jokes work, or at least how to get away with them, and the new cast is extremely game.

“If you want to gaggle about gay panic jokes and celebrity cameos – including an admittedly great one in the cold open that I won’t spoil – then the new Scary Movie lives up to its legacy. But it also sinks beneath it too often to give it a free pass.”

“In some ways, Scary Movie 6 reads less like a parody of real horror culture and more like a vague representation of what some Hollywood executives think a modern scary movie is.”

“In general, Scary Movie 2026’s joke success rate is unfortunately on the low side, feeling like maybe 3 or 4 out of every 10 jokes hit the mark.

“There are genuinely funny and clever gags here, to be sure, including surreal touches such as a moment involving a knife stabbing a poster and how the poster itself reacts. But there are also too many jokes that are whiffs or fall into the ‘hey, I remember when that happened in that other movie’ basket.”

Scary Movie is in cinemas now.

On 1 June, the official start of summer, the Met Office released its three-month outlook for the UK.

The meteorological service explained on its site that this outlook is not an exact prediction or a guarantee of what will happen in the season. Instead, they say, it’s about broader trends; you can’t say for sure whether something like a heatwave will happen based on this information.

Nonetheless, they added, the most “notable” part of their most recent outlook is the expected hotter-than-usual UK summer temperatures.

“It follows that there is an increased chance of heatwave conditions developing at times,” they said.

We have already had an unusually hot start to the year, with temperatures reaching a record-breaking 35.1°C in Kew Gardens this May.

The Met Office has previously said that hotter summers are becoming more likely in the UK in general.

This outlook doesn’t aim to calculate exact dates, nor does it say there definitely will be heatwaves.

But it did mention that higher pressure, linked to hotter weather, is expected in the middle of June after a rainy start to the month.

“Towards the end of June, low pressure may begin to have more of an influence, especially across the south, where heavy showers and thunderstorms become more probable. It may also become hot in parts of the south,” the Met Office shared.

Even for the UK, 2026′s weather has been especially volatile. We went from record-breaking heatwaves to floods in a matter of days.

The Met Office’s Dr Emily Carlisle previously said this is part of a broader warming trend.

“This spring highlights both the natural variability of the UK’s weather and the longer-term warming we are observing. While conditions varied through the season, all three months of meteorological spring recorded mean temperatures within the UK’s top ten warmest on record,” she stated.

“While we expect fluctuations from year to year, this spring shows some of the changes we’re seeing in our weather patterns, with more extreme conditions becoming more frequent. The fact that nine of the ten warmest springs in England have occurred since 2007 illustrates this ongoing shift in the UK’s climate.”

The Met Office added that factors like the predicted 2026 El Niño can inform their three-month outlooks.

Though Ryanair recently cut flights across 19 airports, including those in the UK, Ireland, France, and Spain, they’ve also launched some brand-new routes for 2026.

But while Simple Flying reports the airline’s busiest bases include London Stansted, Dublin, Milan Bergamo, Brussels Charleroi, and Barcelona, none of the new routes are in those airports.

Instead, the 15 new routes, which were launched on 1 and 2 June respectively, include destinations like Poland’s Gdańsk and Albania’s Tirana.

The UK’s Manchester airport will get a brand-new Ryanair link to Spain’s Castellón, too.

Per The Daily Express, these include:

1. Bologna – Castellón
2. Forli – Cagliari
3. Parma – Reggio Calabria
4. Rimini – Cologne/Bonn
5. Rimini – Catania
6. Manchester – Castellón
7. Gdańsk – Bucharest
8. Gdańsk – Palermo
9. Katowice – Aarhus
10. Katowice – Lamezia Terme
11. Tirana – Alghero
12. Tirana – Genoa
13. Tirana – Parma
14. Tirana – Wroclaw
15. Zadar – Cork.

These changes mean passengers from Manchester Airport now have a direct Ryanair flight to Spain’s Castellón.

Lonely Planet wrote that while “you don’t hear a great deal about the province of Castellón, to the north of the Valencia region,” the region’s airport, which saw its first commercial flight in 2015, years after officially opening, made it more viable for visitors.

Ryanair was the first airline to fly to what was then dubbed a “ghost” airport, The Guardian reported in 2015.

Over a decade on, the carrier has added Manchester and Bologna connections to its existing routes at the Valencian base. They added an Essex route to the destination in April, too.

Airports aside, Castellón has often been lauded as a quieter Spanish location with fewer tourists but tonnes of local charm.

Stansted Airport described the area, located on the country’s East coast, as a hidden gem.

“Castellon de la Plana’s sleepy city streets hide many treasures for the discerning tourist. If you’re hunting for a holiday off the beaten track, away from the hustle and bustle of Barcelona or Madrid but still bursting with unique Spanish charm, there is nowhere better than Castellon de la Plana,” they wrote.

“It’s great for families too with loads of local attractions including nearby beaches, escape rooms and hot springs.”

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This is it… one of the best times of year is finally here. We love a sale, so aside from Black Friday and Boxing Day, we’re always eagerly waiting for the next Amazon Prime Day to roll around so we can stock up on our favourite essentials at a discount.

In 2026, Amazon is deciding to do things a little differently, and it’s moved its annual Prime Day Sale forward a few weeks – so it really is like Christmas has come early.

Although the sale doesn’t officially launch until 23rd June, some of the best brands out there have graced us by launching some early deals to get your hands on now.

That’s right, from today you can nab savings across beauty, tech, fashion, homes, and toys. Plus, some of our favourite brands are in on the fun, including Shark, Dyson, Samsung, Nothing, Russell Hobbs, adidas, Levi’s, LEGO, Garmin, and OATLY.

To make sure you’re prepared when the sale rolls around, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know to make the most of Amazon Prime Day, and some of the best early deals to shop now.

Prime Day is Amazon’s annual sale, which sees deals across hundreds of brands and a whopping 35 product categories.

Spread over four days, the sales are intended for Amazon Prime members only, so you’ll need to make sure you sign up here if you haven’t already to take part.

Funny you should ask, because Amazon Prime Day has just been announced for 23rd to 26th June. Although the sale usually runs in July, Amazon clearly felt our desperation and moved it forward to the end of June as a treat to our wallets (oh, and to celebrate its 20th birthday).

Expect sales to launch early on 23rd June, and end late on 26th June, with huge savings across on thousands of products.

Just like in previous years, you’ll need to be an Amazon Prime member to participate in the Prime Day sale.

You can create an account, and then you’ll be able to save early deals and keep and eye on them as they drop up to 40% off in savings when the sale launches on 23rd June.

This year, Amazon will be offering curated lists exclusively for Prime members, meaning you’ll get daily recommendations based on your previous purchases and you won’t miss if there are discounts on some of your favourite essentials. Thanks, Amazon.

We can’t speak for you, but we simply can’t wait for the sales to begin. So to help you get your baskets prepared, we’ve rounded up some of the best early deals to shop now, or to keep an eye on ahead of the sale.