The director of Backrooms has revealed he’s already got ideas for more films set within the film’s bizarre universe.

Released last week, Kane Parson’s critically-acclaimed new horror movie centres around the lonely owner of a struggling furniture shop, who stumbles upon an unsettling other dimension through the wall of his store’s basement.

As he progresses further into the seemingly limitless space, he becomes increasingly obsessed with what he discovers and how it relates to the world outside.

During a new interview with Variety published on Backrooms’ release date, its director teased: “Without a doubt, Backrooms has always been planned to be more of a series that goes outside the confines of this film.

“If anything, I would say this is a bit of a foot in the door that would lead to more of a progression towards the true root of the narrative, which has been set up online for years. But a version that maintains accessibility and lets this be the way in.”

He continued: “For people who are into it, I’ve got a contract, and I got a hold at my end, and that means I am definitely not done with Backrooms.

“I’ve got very specific things that I’m working on, things are in the works right now that I am eager to be able to talk about, but, currently, it’s still in a secret mystery world.”

Backrooms’ origin story is a bit of an interesting one in itself.

The idea stems from a 4chan post from back in 2019 showing an environment similar to the one seen in the Backrooms movie, which then became its own “creepypasta” (an online term for a widely-shared horror story that gains notoriety and viral fame by being copied and pasted around various corners of the internet) when someone came up with text to accompany it.

While Backrooms’ original “creepypasta” was shared anonymously, Kane Parsons began a YouTube series based on the idea in 2022, the success of which led to his new film.

He added to Variety that he has no intention of “leaving YouTube behind” now he’s crossed over into feature-length filmmaking.

“I immensely enjoy the work I’ve done there, and I feel creatively fulfilled by it in a way that’s proportional to what I’ve done with this film,” he insisted. “I personally think there’s merits, because there’s a lot of projects that I just could never do outside of YouTube, or outside of a more free-form internet multimedia container.

“So I wouldn’t limit myself just to one spot, but I do think it’s a way of saying that I’ve got a bit of a good thing going right now that I want to utilise with the energy and positivity around this film.”

Backrooms is in cinemas now.

This article contains spoilers for Obsession.

As word of mouth continues to spread, Obsession remains one of the most talked-about films of the year right now.

The latest big-screen offering from former YouTuber Curry Barker centres around close friends Bear and Nikki, whose worlds are turned upside down when the former makes a wish for the latter to love him “more than anyone in the fucking world” – only for it to come true, with disastrous and tragic circumstances.

By the end of the film, almost all of the main characters are dead, aside from Nikki, whose realisation about what has transpired comes only after Bear has taken his own life and the wish’s hold is released.

However, it turns out this wasn’t the original ending that Curry had in mind.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly around the film’s release, the filmmaker revealed it had originally been his intention for Nikki to kill herself too, drawing comparisons between a Shakespearean tragedy.

“I was really obsessed with this Romeo and Juliet ending, actually,” he claimed, revealing that he was originally adamant that Nikki should die, and even filmed this conclusion to the film.

Curry recalled: “We had shot a ton of different versions of the official ending, the one that’s in the script, the one that I was excited about, and I was like, ‘Okay, we’ll do one ending where [Nikki] survives, but we’ll just do one take of it, and then we’ll move on’.”

However, in the end, actor Inde Navarette’s “performance was so good” that everyone who saw the ending where Nikki survives convinced Curry that this was the one he should go for.

“I just remember my dad and multiple people around me being like, ‘Dude, I think it’s way more disturbing if she just survives this thing’,” he revealed. “I was like, ‘Ah, you’re right’. And so we switched it.”

Obsession has so far been a hit with critics and cinemagoers, with an enviable critical score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 4.2 stars from fans on Letterboxd.

Curry has also addressed the possibility of another film set in Obsession’s in-universe, albeit with new characters, while Inde has made it clear she’d be up for playing Nikki again if the opportunity arose.

Obsession is in cinemas now.

A trade union boss has dismissed Nigel Farage’s claim that Reform UK is now the party of the working class.

He spoke out after new polling showed that union members are now just as likely to vote Reform as they are Labour.

The Times reported that 28% of them would now back Farage’s party, the same proportion as back Labour.

It follows a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of both parties since the general election in 2024.

At that time, just 16% of trade union members backed Reform, while 48% supported Labour.

Reacting on X, Farage said: “Labour is no longer the party of the patriotic working class. That mantle now belongs to Reform.”

But speaking to HuffPost UK last month, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham pointed out that Farage’s voting record in the House of Commons flew in the face of his claim to speak for working people.

She said: “The reality is that Nigel Farage has shown no indication to me that he’s the voice of workers. He voted against the Employment Rights Act, for example.

“He’s said that when he goes into the local authority areas he’s going to be looking at [cutting] local authority pensions. So to me, if your go-to lever in terms of what is happening in councils is to attack workers, then you can’t be the voice of workers. That is just the reality of it.”

Graham said she had “put Reform on notice” that Unite will fight any attempts by the party to attack the rights of public sector workers.

“We will not accept that in any way, shape or form,” she said.

“I’ve been asked would Unite work with Reform. I’m on record saying I’d dance with the devil if it was something that was important to my members. But the broader issue here is ‘is Reform the party of workers’? No, it isn’t.”

She added: “I very often hear words about people backing workers, it’s very different when you’re asking them to do something about that.

“If Reform go after workers in local councils, then Unite will be going after Reform.”

However, Graham also accused Labour of “abandoning” the party’s traditional working class supporters.

She said: “The problem that Labour have is that they are supposed to be the voice of workers, and essentially workers feel abandoned by Labour.

“The working class feels abandoned by Labour, and now the working class have abandoned Labour. The question is can Labour get that back?

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It’s bloody hot. It’s half-term. And for many, that means it’s holiday season.

However, 2026 fliers might want to check some details before arriving at their airports. It’s not just that multiple airlines have issued advice following new EES checks, or that some routes may have changed following ballooning jet fuel costs.

Recently, a flight was diverted after a passenger reported a charging power bank in another flier’s bag, too (we’ve written before about why that’s a problem, as well as how to tell if your portable chargers are compliant).

So what about other devices, like handheld electric fans?

We thought we’d ask the experts.

HuffPost UK asked Helen North, Head of Dangerous Goods at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, whether all handheld electric fans can come on board.

“Portable electric fans may contain lithium batteries, so they should be carried in the cabin, not packed in your checked bag,” she said.

“Keeping battery-powered items with you will make your flight safer for you and the other passengers you’re flying with.”

Lithium batteries are the same kind of batteries that devices like smart bags and power banks use.

They’re not usually allowed in the hold of planes (i.e., checked luggage).

That’s because they can short-circuit and catch fire, which can be especially disastrous in an unattended baggage space.

Generally, the Civil Aviation Authority said, lithium batteries should be carried as hand luggage.

And they added, “if carried as checked baggage, the devices must be completely switched off (not in sleep or hibernation mode) if the batteries exceed:

1. for lithium metal batteries, a lithium content of 0.3 g per device; or
2. for lithium-ion batteries, a Watt-hour rating of 2.7 Wh per device.”

Yes. Most airlines won’t let you bring more than two power banks onto a plane, and you can’t use them to charge another device while you’re flying.

They generally aren’t allowed in the hold because of lithium battery limits.

Additionally, lithium batteries over 100Wh and under 160Wh will need to be cleared by your specific airline (those over 160Wh can’t come on board).

If you can’t find this, you can work it out from the milliampere-hour (mAh), ampere-hour (Ah), and/or nominal voltage (V).

Once you find these, the UK Civil Aviation Authority said: “You can arrive at the number of watt-hours your battery provides if you know the battery’s nominal voltage (V) and capacity in ampere-hours (Ah) using this calculation: Ah x V = Wh”.

Congratulations are in order for singer Dua Lipa and actor Callum Turner, who tied the knot in Old Marylebone Town Hall over the weekend.

Per The Sun, the “intimate” ceremony involved just eight guests and was followed by a small dinner.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Nikita Thorne, a wedding planning expert at Guides for Brides, said the Future Nostalgia singer’s low-key nuptials are part of a controversial “shift”.

“Since Covid, we’ve definitely seen a shift towards smaller, more intentional weddings,” Thorne told us.

“During the pandemic, couples were forced to strip weddings back, and for many people, I think that encouraged them to focus more on what genuinely mattered to them… Chic city weddings, private ceremonies and smaller guest lists are now often viewed as aspirational and stylish rather than a compromise.”

In 2025, The Economist wrote, town hall weddings in London’s popular Old Marylebone and Islington venues jumped 29% and 51% respectively.

No matter the venue, the expert said, guest lists seem to be shrinking.

“Currently, we are seeing a significant increase in couples only inviting those with whom they have a direct relationship, often leading to them excluding plus-ones, even when it’s a long-term partner of the guest invited,” Thorne shared.

“This is causing a lot of controversy, but from the couple’s point of view, [it] is understandable if they want the most stress-free wedding surrounded by those who know them well.”

When I asked Thorne if she recommended an upper limit for wedding guests, she said it really depends on the couple.

“Some couples genuinely love the atmosphere and energy of a big wedding. On one hand, larger weddings naturally come with more hosting responsibilities and cost,” she said.

But “smaller weddings can feel more pressured as each guest has more time to spend with you,” too.

Some couples like the combination of a low-key ceremony followed by a more buzzy party (as with Charli XCX, whose wedding was also a town hall do, Dua Lipa and Callum Turner are rumoured to be planning a huge Italian bash later on).

“Be intentional with your guest list,” Thorne said.

“You want to feel relaxed, comfortable and genuinely happy with the people surrounding you on the day.”

If you think your morning cup of coffee is a “guilty habit,” you might want to think again.

Drinking up to about three or four cups of coffee a day has been linked to a longer life. Black coffee with no sugar in particular could help us live longer and age better. However, we aren’t definite about why that may be.

But a new paper published in Nutrients suggests researchers have found a clue: it seems to relate to a process involving protein NR4A1.

The scientists wanted to look at the link between coffee and NR4A1 receptors, which are involved in a range of biological processes from tissue repair to metabolism.

NR4A1 is “involved in protecting the body from stress-induced damage,” Prof Dr Stephen Safe, who co-wrote the study, said.

“If you damage almost any tissue, NR4A1 responds to bring that damage down.. If you take that receptor away, the damage is worse.”

After looking closer at both coffee and this protein, they found that some parts of the caffeinated drink, including compounds like caffeic acid, seemed to bind to NR4A1 and change its activity level.

“What we’re saying is that at least part of coffee’s health benefits may come through binding and activating this receptor,” Prof Dr Safe said.

They also saw that compounds in the coffee seemed to reduce cell damage and slow cancer cell growth in lab models, an effect that disappeared when NR4A1 was removed from cells.

The researchers found that caffeine might not actually be a major driver of these effects. Instead, other components seemed to matter more.

“Caffeine binds the receptor, but it doesn’t do much in our models. The polyhydroxy and polyphenolic compounds are much more active,” said Dr Safe.

Still, the professor said, this is likely only one of many ways the beverage might help to protect us from the effects of ageing.

“There are many receptors and many mechanisms involved,” he shared.

But this finding “helps explain why coffee has the effects that it does,” and may show “there’s a mechanism behind it.”