I don’t have hay fever, but based on how I react to walking outside on a hot day, I’d forgive you for believing I do.

For some reason, getting off the train into the sun, opening my door onto a ray-soaked street, and even leaving a tree’s shadow into a bright spot triggers a huge, eye-watering sneeze – and until now, I had no idea why.

But it turns out it might be my genes, per the Cleveland Clinic.

It sounds like I’m experiencing a “photic sneeze reflex,” also known as “autosomal dominant compelling helio-ophthalmic outburst syndrome” (ACHOO syndrome – teehee).

An extract from Medical Genetics Summaries says that “Affected individuals report a ‘prickling sensation’ or sneezing in response to a bright light.”

It’s elicited by going from a darker area to an area of brighter light (like stepping into sunlight from indoors), or simply having a bright light shown to you.

This can be “uncontrollable.”

“About one in four individuals who already have a prickling sensation in their nose will sneeze in response to sunlight, but ‘pure’ photic sneezing is far less common,” Medical Genetics Summaries shared.

If one parent has the condition, their child has a 50% chance of developing it.

But the Cleveland Clinic says we don’t know exactly how many people have the condition.

On average, they add, it seems to be about 15-30% of us: white people, especially white women, may be more likely to have the trait.

It’s a genetic issue, but we don’t know yet which genes are responsible.

It happens because of a misfiring in a facial nerve that goes from your eyes to your nose. The constriction of your pupils as your eyes adjust to the light triggers the sneeze.

It can be if you’re operating heavy machinery or driving: “for example, exiting a road tunnel on a bright day.”

Pilots might need to be more cautious, too.

There’s no cure for ACHOO syndrome, but you can make the journey from darker spots into lighter areas easier on the eyes.

Shielding your eyes with a hat or sunglasses might help.

And the Cleveland Clinic recommends we “Use the ‘transverse philtral pressure technique,’ which involves applying pressure to the area between your nose and your lips.

“If you’re doing it right, it should look like you’re giving yourself a moustache with your finger,” they said. This may interrupt the sneezing signal.

I’m learning so much more about myself than I expected today…

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: having to decide what to eat three times a day is an impossible task.

It’s really indicative of us being in late stage capitalism (sorry Marx, you would’ve hated 2026) that even thinking about our meals is an exhausting endeavour, but unfortunately that’s not something we can cure.

What we can solve, though, is the effort required to simply make dinner at the end of the day.

Whether you’re a parent, living with a partner, or simply need to be able to get home and not worry that you’re going to get your intake of protein and fibre at the end of the day, I’ve made it my job to find the very best recipe boxes and meal kits on the market.

Until now, I’ve been quite fundamentally opposed to having someone else tell me how to cook. Call me a control freak, but I really do think I know better than a recipe what I will like.

So I’ve had high standards going in to this, and I’ve tested each box in the list to make sure I find the best options for people at each cooking level.

For each recipe box, I’ve considered how clear the included recipe cards were, the number and range of options, the packaging and storage, how easy they were to cook, the quality of the ingredients, the flavour of the end result, and who I thought each box would be best suited for.

Keep reading for a round up of my favourites.

• Packaging is recyclable
• Healthy and protein-heavy
• Plant-based
• Donates a meal to a child in need every time a box is ordered
• Easy to follow instructions

• Plant-based isn’t for everyone

When people hear the term ‘plant-based’ they immediately jump to the conclusion that it won’t be good.

Proving that you can make restaurant-quality plant-based food at home (and we mean the same quality as a regular restaurant, not a vegan one, before you shut off!) Grubby has created a recipe box that’s healthy and easy to follow.

You can choose a box for two or four people, and the options all state how much protein and fibre they include, making it easy to stay healthy.

What I loved most about this box is that everything about the packaging is great quality, not just because the paper is thicker than other flimsier recipe cards, but because most of it is recyclable and there’s minimal plastic.

As for the ingredients, you can tell they work with seasonal suppliers; that’s what makes Grubby a B-corp!

While the recipes were easy to follow, they might be for slightly more advanced chefs than other recipe boxes in this list – as in, one recipe called for making your own hummus in a blender. Personally, I enjoyed that, because I don’t like being treated like I don’t know how to boil a kettle.

And I have to say, every time, the overall end result was more delicious than any of the other boxes I tried. It was consistent, and even my meat-loving girlfriend enjoyed everything I made.

Grubby also makes ready meals, which are equally as tasty and can. be kept in your freezer for a rainy day.

• Recipes are easy to follow, and you can double if you’re making a recipe for four
• Specialised diet options
• Ingredients are fresh
• The finished result is tasty

• Uses lots of little plastic packages

Unlike Grubby, Green Chef has options for every kind of dietary requirement. You can choose from keto, high-protein, calorie conscious, vegetarian, vegan, lower carb, pescatarian, or flexitarian meals, and the menu is updated every week.

It arrives neatly packaged so it’s easy to store in the fridge, however there were some random ingredients loosely packaged so I wasn’t sure which meal they correlated to.

As I’m pescatarian, I chose meals with a combination of fish and vegetables, and most of the recipes I chose had a lot of fibre.

Each recipe card includes photos, which makes it straightforward to follow, and although I was suspicious of the fact they use random ingredients I wouldn’t normally use, the overall flavour was very good.

You can also choose add-ons like mozzarella or soups to keep you going throughout the week, and I appreciated that the meals often take no more than half an hour to make – perfect for a mid-week dinner.

• Recipes are beginner-friendly
• They have an option for meal boxes for one
• Very family-friendly recipe options

• Again uses lots of different plastic sachets etc
• Uses creme fraiche in everything (why?!)

Whether you find cooking a drag or you’ve been told you’re not very good at it (kids and partners are cruel, I’m sorry) Hello Fresh creates a recipe box that takes all the thinking out of cooking and really leads you through it step by step.

There are plenty of recipe options for meat eaters and vegetarians, and it’s the only recipe box I know of that has an option for one. As someone who mostly cooks for herself, I really appreciated this detail – it also cuts down on waste!

However, Hello Fresh was the box I liked the least. Maybe I ordered the wrong recipes, but every single meal I made included creme fraiche, and by the end of the week my stomach was paying the price.

Plus, the taste just wasn’t as good as other recipes. I don’t know if it’s because it’s trying to be family friendly and include options kids and fussy eaters would approve of, but some of the recipes use creme fraiche and other ingredients seemingly for no reason.

Some of the instructions seemed anti-intuitive and unclear, and I’m not entirely convinced this will make you a better home cook.

There are also fewer options for dietary requirements, and less information about the nutritional value of each recipe than other boxes.

I’d say this is really best for absolute beginners or completely time-crunched families, as it leads you through things at a granular level and doesn’t require much thought.

• Lots of dietary options available
• Can be kept in the freezer or fridge
• No need to chop or fry anything
• Tasty
• It offers seasonal menus
• Great employer

• You gotta turn the oven on

Sometimes you want to come home and not have to think about anything other than turning the oven on, and maybe boiling a few peas.

If there’s one thing that will save you trouble of an evening, it’s COOK.

These ready meals come in a whole smorgasbord of different cuisines, and there are options for all the family, from fish pie to tikka masala, and even canapés for a dinner party.

On the whole, the quality is really excellent, and I love that they have desserts.

However, whoever they work with for their delivery needs to figure it out because they often leave things at the wrong address – our deputy editor’s neighbour is well-fed, she reports.

If you’re ever looking for a gift for new parents, COOK is the one. They’ll be able to keep it in the freezer, and it even has a new parents bundle.

And, on a side note, COOK is an excellent employer – it has a RAW Talent scheme that employs people struggling to find work for various reasons. Big up COOK!

We all lead busy lives, and whether you’re a Michelin-grade cook or complete newbie, deciding what to eat at the end of the day is a lot.

One thing I’ve loved about having recipe boxes is never having to go to the supermarket. Often, I find myself buying ingredients with lofty ideals of making a specific meal, only for it to expire before I have time to use it.

You’ll also never have to decide what you feel like eating, or figure out if you’re consuming a balanced diet because most boxes tell you about the nutritional value of each recipe.

Recipe boxes can also be a great way to learn new recipes, or at the very least get inspiration from.

However, you might not always want the meals you have in your fridge. Some recipe boxes come with tiny sachets of ingredients that somehow never get used, so they end up hanging around your fridge forever.

This might also mean more waste than if you went to the supermarket, because things can go off pretty quickly.

Overall, recipe boxes and meal kits can be a great way to save time, money, and energy.

Lots of the ones on this list have offers for first time buyers. The best one I tried was Grubby, as it’s healthy and plant-based. But, if you’re staunch about having some meat or protein in your diet, I’d go for Green Chef, as it has a ton of dietary options and the final result was consistently great.

Yesterday, parts of London’s Underground network reached a sweltering 33°C, The Standard reported.

That’s three degrees above the government’s upper limit for the safe transport of cattle.

According to Bloomberg UK, the network of underground trains can be 5°C hotter than the high temperature on the street.

To be honest, I hadn’t put much thought into why that might be. Hot day, little air con, and tonnes of people – a recipe for a sauna-level carriage, I reckoned.

But it turns out that a good chunk of that notorious heat comes from an unexpected source, which has nothing to do with either the air temperature or the mass of people.

In 2007, a Rail Engineering report found that a lot of the heat comes from braking.

That’s because the friction created during the process is very intense, creating a lot of kinetic energy that gets converted into heat energy.

Forbes says braking is responsible for about half of the higher heat, while passengers account for 2% of the warmth. Rail magazine puts the combined effects of braking and train motion at 80% of heat input.

Then, there’s the ground into which the tube network was built.

It’s largely clay and chalk, both of which hold onto heat. This is particularly troublesome for deeper tube lines, which have less access to air.

This heat builds up – per Rail Magazine, the average tube temperature in 1900 was 14°C, compared to today’s 20-25°C.

Not all tube stations have adequate ventilation, either, meaning hot air has nowhere to escape. The heat simply builds and builds, and because extracted hot air often has nowhere to go, not even air conditioning will provide an adequate solution.

It’s no easy feat. London Underground’s Programme Director for Infrastructure, George McInulty, told Rail magazine: “We can increase the capacity of shafts, and we did this during the upgrade of the Victoria Line in 2011/12.

“But we were lucky that it was only built in the 1960s, with half an eye to improving ventilation at a later date and introducing a service of over 30 trains per hour. Elsewhere we’ve been less lucky, and have had to look at retrofitting stuff where we can.”

Air conditioning is simply not an option for tunnels that can’t let hot air out; it’ll simply heat some older, hotter lines up more.

Some solutions, like turning a lift in St Paul’s into a fan, have helped. In Victoria Station, water from a nearby river is circulated in pipes around the tunnels to keep them cool.

But these clever workarounds are not universally available.

McInulty said: “We can make gains from deceleration, and we are buying trains with regenerative braking, which produces electrical energy from braking rather than all that heat from friction.

“And there are other things that go unseen by the public that make a difference – we have put a thin film on the windows of Central Line trains, so they absorb less energy on the outside parts of the line which is then dumped underground. We’ve also made massive steps in using LED lights which give out less heat.”

Still, it’s hard to see how the tube will cool down significantly any time soon.

Eurovision bosses have announced that Canada will be taking part in the competition for the first time in 2027.

Back in November 2025, it was first reported that the Canadian government was looking to “explore participation” in the Eurovision Song Contest through its national broadcasters, CBC and Radio Canada.

On Wednesday afternoon, it was revealed that these plans had moved forward considerably, with Canada set to make its Eurovision debut next year, when the contest will be held in Bulgaria, following Dara’s win with Bangaranga back in May.

Eurovision director Martin Green enthused: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome CBC/Radio-Canada to the Eurovision Song Contest family – a further sign that, while born in Europe, the Contest continues to welcome the world.”

He also pointed out that Canada has a “proud and memorable connection to the Contest, with Canadian artists”, most notably former winner Céline Dion, “having taken to our stage many times leaving a lasting mark on audiences around the world”.

Céline represented Switzerland back in 1988 with her winning song Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi.

Despite its name, countries do not need to be part of Europe to compete at the Eurovision Song Contest, but must simply have a broadcaster as a member of the European Broadcasting Union, which Canada officially joined last week.

Australia has been part of the contest for more than a decade now, while Israel has been involved since the late 1970s, and has won four times in the past, most recently in 2018.

The latter’s continued presence at Eurovision has become a contentious issue in recent years, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Last year, five competing countries announced that they were withdrawing from Eurovision in solidarity with Palestine due to Israel’s participation, with a sixth having also indicated that they’d be doing the same ahead of next year’s event.

Following the recent (and upcoming) UK heatwaves, you might have considered buying an air conditioning unit. But if you live in a flatshare, that decision can be a little fraught.

According to shared accommodation site SpareRoom, “almost half” of those who share a flat earn less than £30,000, while 16% make £50,000 or more a year.

That imbalance can mean decisions like buying air conditioning – which involves not just a hefty upfront cost, but also higher electricity bills – can become a bit of a minefield.

It really depends on the flatmates. That said, SpareRoom’s research found that around 20% of respondents think the gap between their highest and lowest-earning flatmates is at least £20,000.

And 9% reckon the chasm is even bigger, at more than £30,000. These results come from a survey of 826 flat-sharers across the UK.

The site’s research found that “flatmate wealth gaps” cause friction for 43% of UK flatmates.

The top issues include energy and heating usage (77%); the amount each flatmate contributes to bills (52%) and communal items, like loo roll (48%); the fairest rent split (39%); and whether or not to get a cleaner (35%).

A renter, who did not wish to be named, said their flatmate’s experience of living in their shared accommodation is very different to their own.

Their flatmate’s dad is very wealthy, they told us, adding that their flatmate, who is currently living in another country, “is completely oblivious to real life”.

Meanwhile, another unnamed tenant said their wealthier former flatmate led them to lose their deposit due to permanent decorative changes they hadn’t been consulted on.

“They saw our deposit as a ‘decor tax,’” the renter shared.

SpareRoom’s director, Matt Hutchinson, said: “It used to be the case that a good salary would get you onto the housing ladder, or else renting alone or with a partner. But the cost of renting and living is now so high, sharing makes sense for people on higher incomes too.

“Sadly, it’s become much less viable to rent on a lower salary. We know from our analysis of SpareRoom users by age that younger adults, who generally earn less, are being priced out of the rental market altogether…

“But as our survey shows, wage gaps in flatshares can also be the root cause of household arguments if outgoings aren’t sensitively managed,” he added.

Hutchinson suggested sitting down as a household to discuss the fairest way to split rent, bills, and shared expenses, so that most of you are happy with the split. Communication, as ever, is key.

Images created by artificial intelligence (AI) have long been associated with certain “tells”, including anatomically impossible hands and a “glossy”, soft-focus finish.

Still, enough of us are fooled by them that multiple fake pictures have gone viral. These include a made-up mugshot of US President Donald Trump, a Prince William and Harry reunion that never happened, and AI-generated images of Dua Lipa and Callum Turner’s wedding that multiple publications shared.

Tom Holland even claimed he had to debunk deepfakes of his nuptials to his own family.

Worse, AI detection tools, which are designed to tell real text and images from those made by machines, are seen by experts as ineffective and inaccurate. So how are we meant to spot the real from the fake?

Well, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says us humans can use six tools – none of which are machine-based.

Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) Emotions and Faces Lab trained people to spot AI-generated images of faces from real ones.

“Training on visual artifacts, like looking for a sixth finger or odd earrings, has had limited success, partly because the AI is getting too good, and fraudsters may avoid using pictures with obvious flaws anyway,” lead researcher Associate Professor Amy Dawel said.

“Our training directs people’s attention to global qualities that differ between AI and human faces. AI faces tend to be more symmetrical, proportional and attractive, but without training we often think these are markers of being human.”

By the end of the training, all people were better at spotting AI faces. And those who were already good at it became “near perfect”.

The scientists trained participants by asking them to focus on six factors:

1. distinctiveness,
2. memorability,
3. proportionality,
4. symmetry,
5. attractiveness, and
6. expressiveness.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Associate Professor Dawel explained: “AI faces tend to be more symmetrical, proportional and attractive but less distinctive, memorable and expressive than human faces”.

Student Tanya George, who helped to train the participants, said: “We found that even relatively short training sessions helped participants improve their accuracy in detecting AI-generated faces, highlighting the potential for practical education tools in this area.”

She added, “AI image-generation technology is improving extremely quickly, and many people underestimate how convincing these faces can be. Research like this can help people navigate increasingly complex online environments.”

By the way, if the topic takes your interest, the Australian National University has said their Emotions and Faces Lab are interested in hearing from people who might want to undertake training or participate in related studies.

You can register to participate here.

Graham Norton has spoken candidly about his experiences of interviewing Madonna.

Over the years, Graham has crossed paths with the Queen of Pop multiple times, most recently for a pre-recorded BBC special to promote her upcoming Confessions II album, which aired last week.

In the lead-up to the special, the Bafta winner made an appearance on Gary Davies’ Radio 2 show, where the host asked if it was “scary” to interview the Like A Prayer singer.

“Yes,” Graham responded bluntly, before clarifying that it hasn’t got any less scary with each meeting.

“She’s one of those people, she does not suffer fools, and so she’s quite intimidating,” the talk show host continued. “And you know, if she [tells you], ‘I’m not enjoying this line of questioning’ or ‘I don’t want to talk to you anymore’… it’s over.”

He added: “She won’t play the game, I don’t think. I don’t know [from experience] – I’ve never pushed it! I’ve never got to that point. Thank god!”

Graham has been a vocal Madonna fan throughout his time in the public eye, but also admitted back in 2024 that the Grammy winner “doesn’t make it easy” in an interview setting.

Madonna has been a guest on Graham’s show twice before, first in 2012 while promoting her film and W.E., and later in 2019, ahead of the release of her Madame X album.

He was also a surprise guest when Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour came to London’s O2 Arena in 2015, where she brought the Drag Race UK judge on stage with her for an impromptu dance.

“I went to one of her concerts and somebody came and tapped me on the shoulder beforehand [and told me], ‘there’s a part in the show where Madonna brings someone up on stage to dance. Would you do it?’,” Graham recalled to Radio 2.

“And, of course, everything in me was saying ‘no, no, do not do this, it’ll be so humiliating’. But my 21-year-old self would have punched me in the face if I didn’t say yes. So I had to say yes. And then I had to commit. So, it was some epic dad dancing.”

While promoting the Madonna & Graham special, he noted: “As a lifelong fan it is always a thrill to interview Madonna, but to meet her on the dance floor where she first performed in London over 30 years ago felt incredibly special.

“She remains a legendary pop icon who is still doing what she does best – getting people up to dance!”

Madonna & Graham is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer. Madonna’s 15th album Confessions II is released on Friday 3 July.