Comedian Jimmy Cricket, born James Joseph Mulgrew, died on Monday aged 80.

In a statement, his family said: “Our beloved Jimmy passed away this morning after a short illness.

“He spent his last few days surrounded by his family, love, laughter and songs. Jimmy brought so much laughter and happiness to countless audiences in his career over the years.”

“Whether on stage, screen or radio, or if you met him in person as well.

“But that was nothing to the happiness he gave to his family. A devoted husband to May for fifty-two years.

“A wonderful dad to his four children and very silly grandad indeed to his four grandchildren. He was our greatest champion and loved us all loudly. He also just loved people and he absolutely loved being a stand-up comedian. What a life he lived.”

“Forever our clown, he was cracking jokes to the wonderful NHS staff and to us all, right until the end. His courage, dignity and positivity through all he endured was inspirational,” the statement continued.

“A force for joy, we are just all very sad that the world is a far less sillier place today. We were going to end by using his famous catchphrase and say, ‘There’s no more’.

“But Jimmy was a man of great faith and a Papal Knight of the Catholic Church. He believed that death is not the end and was looking forward to eternity, so really… And there’s more.”

The Northern Irish comic was born in Cookstown in county Tyrone in 1945.

After getting into comedy in the ’70s and ’80s, he went on to win LWT’s Search for a Star talent contest and later got his own TV and radio shows.

Known for his catchphrases and iconic bowler hat and wellies, labelled “L” and “R” respectively, Jimmy’s persona was developed early in his career.

Comedian Tim Vine has responded to the news of his death on X, writing: “Ah Jimmy Cricket…what a lovely, inspiring, funny man. I have a great memory being at his home and he said ‘Do you want to hear my new song?’ I said ‘of course’. He then sang it to me live while dancing about in front of me. I thought ‘I hope I’m like this when I’m older’. RIP.”

Jimmy had previously said he was taking a “little sabbatical for health reasons”.

A GP is urging people to jump off the ‘maxxing’ bandwagon that’s taken the internet by storm these past few years.

For those who aren’t chronically online, the trend was born from ‘looksmaxxing’ – which describes maximising your physical appearance – which took off via online manosphere forums in the 2010s. (One online streamer known as Clavicular claims to have “looksmaxxed” himself from the age of 14 through a combination of exercise, steroids, surgery and taking a hammer to his face.)

Fast forward to 2026 and we’ve seen interest in sleepmaxxing, fibremaxxing, tanmaxxing, jestermaxxing and even proteinmaxxing gather momentum on social media.

Per The Times, the ‘maxxing’ suffix describes “the act of maximising your time, effort and focus on a particular thing”.

With looksmaxxing it was about optimising your looks; with fibre- and proteinmaxxing, it’s about upping your respective intakes; while with sleepmaxxing, it’s about maximising quantity and quality of sleep. You get the gist.

But health experts are increasingly saying: enough.

Dr Ahmed El Muntasar, an NHS GP who is also a cosmetic doctor, thinks it’s time to stop treating “maxxing” as though more is automatically better.

“It turns sensible health advice into a competition,” he said of the trend, “and encourages people to chase an extreme rather than asking what is appropriate for their own body, skin or lifestyle.”

The expert said he has noticed patients turning up to clinic with burning, redness and breakouts after stacking retinoids, acids, vitamin C and at-home devices in the same week.

Others have been taking long lists of supplements with no clear deficiency or reason, unable to say what half of them are for beyond a vague promise to “maximise” energy, hormones or longevity.

Even protein is getting pushed so hard that shakes are replacing proper meals altogether, he noted.

“The common theme,” said the doctor, “is that the person is no longer responding to what their body needs. They are responding to a number or trend.”

He’s not alone in his concerns. Psychotherapist Billie Dunlevy warned that doing anything to an extreme degree is often “a detriment to other areas of your life”.

Discussing the prevailing ‘maxxing’ trends with CNBC, he said: “[That] obviously isn’t healthy, and that isn’t something that any licensed mental health professional would advocate for.”

Meanwhile clinical psychologist Jennifer Hartstein told the publication maxxing could even “feed people’s anxiety and depression … if it doesn’t work the way they want, or if they fail”.

Some of these trends are physically dangerous, too. Taking a hammer to your face? Not advised. Similarly, tanmaxxing – which sees people try to achieve the most optimal tan possible – has skin cancer experts worried.

Dr Zainab Laftah, consultant dermatologist and British Skin Foundation spokesperson, previously told HuffPost UK: “The ‘tanmaxxing’ trend is concerning because there is no such thing as a safe tan.”

Dr El Muntasar reasons that consuming fibre, protein and taking pride in your appearance are not necessarily bad endeavours. But there’s usually an effective range – and beyond that, the doctor said “the benefits plateau and the risks begin to rise”.

He wants to see better language used on social media, not less ambition. This might look like fibre added gradually as part of a varied diet (rather than ploughing ahead with eating as much fibre as possible and ending up toilet-bound as a result), protein at a level appropriate to your age and activity, and “barrier-conscious routines” instead of a race to stack the most active skincare ingredients.

They say ‘everything in moderation’ for a reason. Fibremodding, anyone?

That means that after her final London date in her Eternal Sunshine Tour next month, Grande will step back from the limelight. She will also miss Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, which the Sweetener singer was set to co-star in alongside Jonathan Bailey as part of a 2027 Barbican production.

Since that announcement, the Wicked actor has clarified that the move was planned.

During a tour performance in Chicago’s United Centre last night, the singer took a moment to explain her decision to her fans.

She said: “Sometimes when a story comes out that’s not directly from me, things can get a little blown out of proportion. So I just wanted to speak to my fans directly tonight because I love you so much. The announcement that was made yesterday was not a reactive or impulsive thing.

“It is something that I had decided to plan that I had quietly made a long time ago and it’s a decision that was made from a thoughtful and empowered place. And I want you to know many things can be true at the same time. I want to share this because I heard that my fans were worried that negativity was ruining things for me, but I just have to say that could not be more the fuck opposite.

“Honestly, this is not what that is. And I just want to be very, very clear: Multiple things can be true at the same time. Yes, boundaries, they need to be set. Human beings can need a break sometimes. And also, this can be and will continue to be the greatest experience of my professional and creative life.

“No matter what noises exist out there, nothing will ever be able to distort my reality or be more real to me or elaborate to me than this love that we share.

“The rest of that shit is not mine to carry, so I don’t carry it. I need to get out here and differentiate that from my truth for you all because I love you and this tour has been the most healing, beautiful, corrective, magnificent, special experience of my life.”

Ariana’s exit from the public eye came days after the release of her new album Petal, in which Ariana plays a performer who is told she’s “not good enough” and alternately informed she’s had too little or too much work done.

Since the album came out, many have criticised or expressed “concern” about Ariana’s physical appearance, despite the singer’s previous objections to similar critiques.

In 2024’s Yes, And? she sang, “Don’t comment on my body, do not reply”, for instance.

And in a 2023 TikTok, she said: “There are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful. I know personally, for me, the body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body.

“I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly, and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider my healthy. That, in fact, wasn’t my healthy…

“If you think you’re saying something good or well-intentioned, whatever it is, healthy, unhealthy, big, small, this, that, sexy, not sexy. We just shouldn’t. We should really work towards not doing that as much.”

Kemi Badenoch has been slammed after a former neo-Nazi was selected as a Tory council election candidate.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine is due to stand for election to Somerset Council, despite previously describing himself as a “nationalist, fascist, theorist and supporter of white rights”.

The row comes after Badenoch announced that former Tory MPs who back net zero will not be able to stand as candidates at the next election.

According to The Guardian, Bonehill-Paine was convicted in 2014 of malicious communications over an anti-Islam hoax that led to death threats against the owners of a pub in Leicester.

Bonehill-Paine – the creator of the online satirical publication the Crewkerne Gazette – was jailed for more than three years in 2015 after posting anti-semitic material online ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally.

The following year, he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment of the Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger.

He was also the founder and leader of the far-right National British Resistance.

Despite that, the Conservatives chose him as a council candidate in Crewkerne South.

Defending the decision, Badenoch said “the Conservative Party believes in second chances”.

She added: “Joshua Bonehill-Paine is someone who actually has been certified by the Home Office to train police officers on anti-semitism and on countering extremism.

“Yes, he is somebody who had been previously convicted for this, but he is someone has shown contrition for his crimes, has been rehabilitated and is spending every day working to solve the very problem which he knew he had caused previously.”

Luciana Berger, who is now a Labour peer, hit out at the Tory leader and said she is “still haunted” by Bonehill-Paine’s actions.

She posted on X: “For the avoidance of doubt I don’t believe this man should have any role in public life – because of both his racism and his view of women.

“Kemi Badenoch, you’ve got this very, very wrong.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch is selecting a former neo-Nazi who was convicted for harassing a Jewish MP, while boasting about kicking out moderate Tories who back net zero. It’s a total disgrace.

“This tells you everything you need to know about the modern Conservative Party. They haven’t just failed to learn the lessons of their worst ever defeat – under Kemi Badenoch they’re becoming more extreme and more out of touch with Britain.”

A spokesman for the Jewish Labour Movement said: “It is truly appalling that the Conservative Party has picked Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a council candidate. This is a former neo-Nazi who was sent to prison for racially abusing a Jewish politician.”

Karen Newman, vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “It beggars belief that any party would select as a candidate a multiply convicted felon and the founder of a far-right group called National British Resistance.

“We have contacted the Conservative Party to set out our concerns and call on them to rescind his selection and review their vetting processes.”

Lord Mann, the former Labour MP who is the government’s independent adviser on anti-semitism, posted on X:”This convicted criminal should have no platform from a Parliamentary Party.

“His anti-semitism is as extreme as anyone I have ever seen.”

A Reform UK spokesperson said: “Kemi claims the Tories have changed and they will have a new generation of candidates – it’s now clear what calibre of candidates they will be.

“Kemi claims to support the fight against anti-semitism yet selects a convicted anti-semite Nazi as a candidate. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.”

Listen 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.

Still hate Twilight? Well, Robert Pattinson, who played co-lead Edward in the late ’00s and early ’10s flicks, reckons you need to get your priorities straight.

Last year, the The Odyssey actor said he still heard people talking about how the Stephanie Meyer series “ruined” the vampire genre – to which he replied, “Are you still stuck on that shit? How can you be sad about something that happened almost 20 years ago? It’s crazy.”

Since then, he’s compared his role in Nolan’s blockbuster to Twilight. Robert said his part as Antinous, a would-be suitor for Anne Hathaway’s Penelope, was “kind of like Jacob in Twilight… Penelope just can’t make her mind up between the two guys. And I’m just trying to, like, help her make a decision. It’s like, ‘It’s fine. [Odysseus is] dead, get over it.’”

But it seems that reference would be lost on his wife, musician Suki Waterhouse.

In a recent episode of the podcast In Your Dreams with Owen Thiele, Suki was asked whether she was Team Edward or Team Jacob (Twilight fans split themselves into corresponding camps depending on which of protagonist Bella’s suitors they preferred: Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, or Jacob, portrayed by Taylor Lautner).

Suki, however, admitted she’d never seen any of the five installments in the on-screen Twilight saga.

“I haven’t. I will one day, but obviously I’m Team Edward,” she said after struggling to work out whether her husband played Jacob or Edward.

“I can’t get that wrong.”

She added that she’s not against watching the movies one day, ideally with expert commentary from Robert; “I’m not just going to sit and watch the movie by myself!”

Still, Suki previously shared that both she and her daughter have been enjoying a behind-the-scenes preview of another of Robert’s movies, the upcoming The Batman: Part II.

Explaining that her husband often video calls in full Batman regalia, she said their child has taken to giving him a nickname: “She calls him ‘Daddy Batman’ now because he’s always dressed up like that now for the next seven months whenever he’s on FaceTime”.

You can watch the full episode of In Your Dreams With Owen Thiele here.

Adventurer Bear Grylls has defended his controversial involvement with the baptism of comedian Russell Brand.

Bear helped to baptise the actor in 2024, months after allegations of historic sexual misconduct against Brand were made public in 2023 as part of a joint investigation between The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.

Brand denied the charges at the time and has since pleaded not guilty to a subsequent investigation and charges of rape and sexual assault.

He will face trial this autumn.

At the time, Brand said his baptism as part of a ceremony in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire helped him to “leave the past behind”.

He also shared an X post in May 2024 that read “Me, Bear Grylls, The River Thames and of course, The Holy Spirit.”

Bear has previously stood by his participation, telling The Times in 2025, “I try and live in a way that I never judge and I always try and love. And that principle doesn’t just apply to perfect people with perfect lives”.

In 2024, he told the Daily Mail: “Faith and spiritual moments in our lives are really personal, but it is a privilege to stand beside anyone when they express a humble need for forgiveness and strength from above.

“Friendships when we go through tough times are worth so much.”

Speaking to Metro recently, Bear was asked whether his feelings about the baptism had changed over the years, especially given Brand’s recent admission that he slept with a 16-year-old when he was 30.

The Celebrity Bear Hunt star said: “I think all our faith changes and evolves, and I’d also say I have many doubts as well. I really struggle with so much of it.

“But I don’t know, I think at heart, my faith says we’re connected together and we need each other, and not to judge people and to love people.”

He added that the phrase “What would Christ do?” has remained a mantra throughout his personal and professional life.

“I really try and keep that as that compass in my life. I don’t know. It’s like I say, I’m not super religious, but I do try and just start the day as a discipline on my knees and to say sorry, and to say thank you, and then to say help for the day ahead, and then I crack on with it,” he added.

Speaking on The Megyn Kelly Show in April 2026, Brand said of his previous sexual behaviour: “Consensual sex, actually, with a variety of people when there is a strong power differential, because there is when you’re a famous man that has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation.

“I think it is exploitative. I recognize that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish and I did not apply enough consideration, barely any, I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.”

Olivia Colman’s new film Wicker is set to hit the big screen in October of this year. But if you can’t wait that long to see the Broadchurch star, it might be time to give her highest-rated movie of all time a watch.

The Father, a 2020 psychological drama, has gotten the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of any film Colman has been attached to – it’s earned an impressive 98% on the review aggregation site.

(Her lowest-rated title, if you’re interested, is 2014’s Pudsey The Dog: The Movie with an actually-quite-impressive 0%).

Based on Florian Zeller’s stage play Le Père, The Father follows Anthony (played by Anthony Hopkins), who refuses help from his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) as he ages.

Anthony’s dementia makes the retired engineer cranky and unpredictable as he wrestles with his future; Anne prepares to go abroad with a new love.

Mark Gatiss and Rufus Sewell also appear in the movie, which swept up six Oscar nominations for the 2021 Academy Awards.

Anthony Hopkins won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, making him the oldest winner in a competitive acting category, aged 83.

Hopkins wasn’t there to collect the award himself, however. Instead, host Joaquin Phoenix accepted the Oscar on the actor’s behalf in a night that saw Best Actor placed at the end of the ceremony’s telecast, breaking with decades of tradition.

The Guardian described The Father as “superb” and “unbearably heartbreaking,” giving the film five stars.

Roger Ebert’s site dubbed it “some of the absolute best work of Hopkins’ lengthy and storied career”.

And Variety said, “Hopkins is flat-out stunning.”

Meanwhile on Reddit’s r/movies, site user u/pardis said The Father is “one of the best movies I’ve ever seen,” adding it left them and their family “gobsmacked”.

The fan cited its “Exceptional script, direction, concept, cast, production, everything. Can’t fault it for anything. Wall to wall perfection.”

The Father is available to rent or buy on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, and Sky Store.

We are now around halfway through this scorcher of a summer and what a tough summer it has been for us gardeners with the record-breaking heatwaves and extended periods of dry weather, leading to hosepipe bans

If you’re one of the fortunate gardeners that has managed to keep their garden flourishing during this time, it’s time to start deadheading foliage and planning for next year’s flowering season.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) advises: “August is usually one of the hottest months of the year, making watering essential. Try to use grey water wherever possible, especially as water butts may be running low if it has been a dry summer. August is traditionally holiday time, so you might need to enlist the help of friends and family to look after the garden while you are away.”

The gardening experts at Greenhouse Stores say: “August is the month of abundance in UK gardens. Harvest tomatoes, courgettes, runner beans and soft fruit daily to keep plants productive.

“Sow winter salad crops now for autumn and winter cropping: winter lettuce, spinach, pak choi and rocket. Take semi-ripe cuttings of lavender, rosemary and box hedging. Order greenhouse heaters now because they sell out by October every year.”

If you’re falling a little behind on gardening or haven’t bought seeds in time, August is a great time to get back into the habit of gardening and reconnect with your green-fingered side. The experts at GrowVeg advise: “Summer is a great time to be sowing hardier leafy herbs like coriander and parsley, which are less likely to bolt after midsummer.

“If you live somewhere with very mild winters you may also be able to sow other last-minute crops like early or fast-maturing varieties of cucumber, beans and courgettes.”

The RHS says: “Towards the end of August sow hardy annuals directly into borders. They will overwinter and flower next summer.”

The society also recommends cutting back the foliage and stems of herbaceous plants that have already died as well as deadheading and watering plants in hanging baskets to make them last through to autumn.

As for what we should be planting this month, Dobies says: “In August the warm ground is perfect for sowing feverfew, field cornflower, calendula, myosotis, Siberian wallflower, cyclamen hederifolium and potentilla.

“You can also start off some pot plant seeds indoors. Why not try a cactus, cyclamen, or coleus?”

According to Verywell Mind: “Attachment styles in relationships describe how people seek closeness, respond to rejection, and interact in romantic relationships in adulthood.

“The four primary attachment styles are secure (comfortable with intimacy), ambivalent (desire closeness but fear abandonment), avoidant (value independence and shy away from intimacy), and disorganised (want closeness but fear it).”

The psychological theory has been making waves over the past five years and according to Google Trends, there has been a 400% increase in searches for “attachment style” compared to the preceding five.

Speaking on the University of Chicago’s Big Brains podcast, Amir Levine, who is an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center says that attachment styles are not our deep bonds with our loved ones but instead, how we feel internally.

He explains: “It really is a safety mechanism. That’s how we feel safe in the world through other people.

“The latest research shows that when people are secure, it also affects our health. We’re healthier. It affects longevity. We live longer, and have better immune systems. So the benefits of being secure goes way beyond our romantic relationships or even just our relationships in general.”

Writing for Therapist Aid, psychotherapist Christopher Guider, MA, LMHC says: “Shaped largely by early childhood experiences, insecure attachment can persist throughout the lifespan, affecting the quality and outcome of adult relationships. Thankfully, those with insecure attachment can learn to trust and commit to their relationships by adopting new beliefs and behaviours.”

He recommends the following steps to repair your attachment style and feel more secure in relationships:

• Learn about your attachment style
• Examine your beliefs about relationships
• Act opposite to your anxious or avoidant style
• Increase your emotional awareness
• Communicate openly and listen empathetically
• Seek out others with healthy relationships
• Minimise stressors

Guider adds: “These actions work with thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, giving you an integrated approach to breaking old patterns and becoming more securely attached.”