Politics
Chris Philp: Crime doesn’t just harm individuals, it hurts economic growth too
Chris Philp is the Shadow Home Secretary and MP for Croydon South
Crime changes how businesses behave.
It raises risk, erodes margins, and forces firms to think about survival before growth. Theft, damage, rising insurance premiums, security costs, shorter opening hours, staff shortages are pressures that push businesses away.
If crime increases, and crime raises risk for business, then investment will be lower, leading directly to weaker productivity growth, slower employment growth, and lower output. Crime is both an economic and a social problem. A drag on growth with severe effects on the investment environment.
Investment is a central driver of growth, expanding productive capacity. Where investment is insufficient, productivity growth stagnates, output remains weak. Too often, this debate is reduced to GDP statistics that mean little to people’s daily lives. What does it mean? Our economy is the aggregate of millions of individual decisions, and it should be seen as such. Decisions taken by individuals willing to take risks in pursuit of a better life. Unless government policy creates the conditions that lower risk and reward enterprise, those decisions do not happen at scale and the economy cannot thrive.
Higher risk and uncertainty change how businesses behave. They raise required rates of return and, at the margin, deter investment altogether. We see this most acutely for small and medium-sized businesses. Here, margins are thin and exposed. Even modest increases in risk can decisively alter decisions about expansion, hiring, or operation.
That is exactly what we are seeing under Labour.
Crime has risen across a wide range of serious offences in England and Wales. Shoplifting has surged by 5 per cent and robbery of business property has increased by 66 per cent. Structural costs in doing business, undermining footfall in town centres, and a signal to shopkeepers and small traders that risk is rising faster than returns.
At the same time, policing capacity is being cut.
Police officer numbers fell by 1,318 in the year to September 2025. That is 1,318 fewer officers on the streets, fewer investigations pursued, fewer overstretched teams backed up when it matters. Thanks to Labour and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, the public and businesses are less safe.
The question, then, is whether this trend can be reversed. Empirical evidence across multiple jurisdictions indicates that increased police presence and enforcement reduce certain categories of crime through deterrence and incapacitation effects. Marginal increases in effective enforcement have been shown to deliver measurable reductions in crime, especially in high-risk areas.
In my own constituency of Croydon, we have seen what happens when that trend is reversed.
Targeted neighbourhood policing has focused on crimes such as phone snatching and shoplifting. As a result, injuries resulting from violence have fallen to their lowest level in five years, while more than 1,000 additional offenders have been arrested each month. For businesses on Croydon’s high street, lower crime has translated into reduced losses from shoplifting and greater confidence to invest, hire, and expand.
Live facial recognition has helped police make more than 1,000 arrests across England and Wales between January 2024 and July 2025 and delivered a 70 per cent reduction in robbery at the Notting Hill Carnival. In Croydon itself, its deployment contributed to a 12 per cent reduction in crime in Fairfield ward, including the arrest of a man wanted on suspicion of kidnap and the identification of a registered sex offender breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
The value for businesses is straightforward.
A small number of persistent offenders drive a disproportionate share of shoplifting and robbery. Identifying and removing them changes behaviour fast. Crime becomes riskier, repeat offending is disrupted, and high streets become less attractive targets. That is why the next Conservative Government will have forces deploy live facial recognition routinely in high-crime areas. Safer streets lower risk for businesses and allow local economies to grow rather than retreat. Croydon offers a concrete example of how policing, when effective, delivers public safety partnered with measurable economic dividends.
Labour’s proposed policing reforms risk cutting directly across this logic.
Central to Labour’s plans is the forced merger of police forces. There is no evidence that dismantling local police forces improves crime outcomes or raises performance. On the contrary, top-down reorganisation introduces disruption, dilutes accountability, and pulls decision-making away from the communities where crime is experienced and prevented. Proposals that would see a single force span areas as large as Dover to Oxford, or Penzance to Swindon, a route to remoteness. Centralisation may simplify control, but it weakens local responsiveness, hitting rural towns and villages hardest.
More troubling still is what Labour’s plans omit.
Total police officer numbers are falling under this Labour government and yet their plans fail to address this matter. Labour are reshuffling officers between teams to create the appearance of reform while overall capacity declines. Fewer response officers mean slower emergency responses. Fewer investigators mean crimes that go unsolved. Fewer officers mean weaker deterrence and a visible retreat of policing from the streets. As enforcement thins, confidence erodes, and the public is left less safe as a result.
Analysis by the Office of the Police Chief Scientific Adviser and the National Police Chiefs’ Council estimates that each £1 spent on policing generates approximately £4.17 in economic benefits. These benefits reflect avoided losses and increased economic activity resulting from safer commercial environments. Conceding that estimates are necessarily subject to uncertainty, they provide a robust indication that policing expenditure delivers net economic returns.
The Conservative Party’s Policing Plan will restore law and order in our country and keep the British public safe. Namely, we will hire 10,000 extra police officers, backed by £800 million of funding. Applying the cost-benefit analysis to our £800 million annual investment in policing, we could expect to generate approximately £3.3 billion in economic benefits per year.
By reducing crime-related risk, policing changes how businesses make decisions. It restores predictability to local trading environments, lowers the premium placed on caution, and shifts behaviour away from retrenchment and back towards expansion.
We also recognise that crime in Britain is not evenly spread.
A small number of streets and neighbourhoods account for a disproportionate share of serious offending. In London alone, just four per cent of neighbourhoods generate more than a quarter of all knife crime. That concentration matters, because where serious violence clusters, acquisitive crime such as robbery and shoplifting follows.
Hotspot policing reflects this reality by focusing officers, stop and search, and enforcement activity where offending is most entrenched. The deterrent effect is immediate. Criminal routines are disrupted, repeat offenders are removed, and the perceived risk of being caught rises sharply. For businesses operating in or near these areas, that visible enforcement is decisive.
hat is why the next Conservative Government will mandate intensive hotspot patrolling in the 2,000 neighbourhoods responsible for a quarter of violent crime. These areas make up just five per cent of the country, but account for 25 per cent of the harm. Focusing enforcement where crime concentrates is how high streets are protected and business confidence restored.
Making the streets safer delivers for the economy.
£3.3 billion is a material contribution, achieved by restoring the basic conditions under which businesses are willing to invest. Restoring law and order is therefore an economic imperative.
A prerequisite for rebuilding confidence, revitalising local economies, and getting Britain working again.
Politics
Donald Trump Warns Iran Against Retaliation After Khameneis Death
Donald Trump has warned Iran against launching retaliatory strikes after the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an attack by the US and Israel.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the early hours of Sunday that the 86-year-old dictator had died, and said it would launch its “most-intense offensive operation” against American and Israeli targets in response.
But in a post on Truth Social on Sunday morning, Trump said: “Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before. THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!”
Hours earlier, Trump announced Khamenei’s death in another Truth Social post and urged the Iranian people to seize “the single greatest chance … to take back their country”.
The US and Israel described Saturday’s attacks on Iran as a “pre-emptive” strike against a Tehran government intent on developing nuclear weapons.
It retaliation from Iran, with strikes reported in several Gulf countries including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Hundreds of thousands of British nationals are believed to be present in the Gulf, and those in Bahrain, Israel, Palestine, Qatar and the UAE have been urged to register their presence with the Foreign Office.
In a statement from Downing Street on Saturday, Keir Starmer “played no role” in the strikes on Iran.
“But we have long been clear – the regime in Iran is utterly abhorrent,” he added.
“They have murdered thousands of their own people, brutally crushed dissent, and sought to destabilise the region.”
The PM said Iran had “backed more than 20 potentially lethal attacks on UK soil” in the last year alone.
Starmer said Iran “must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon” and called for the resumption of diplomatic efforts to prevent that from happening.
He said: “Iran can end this now. They should refrain from further strikes, give up their weapons programmes, and cease the appalling violence and repression against the Iranian people – who deserve the right to determine their own future, in line with our longstanding position.
“That is the route to de-escalation and back to the negotiating table.”
Politics
What Is ‘Empty Weekend Parenting’?
There are plenty of families who have weekends so jam-packed there’s not a moment to spare. Then there are the families embracing ‘empty weekend parenting’.
As the name suggests, empty weekend parenting is about keeping your weekends, well, empty.
Instead of rushing around trying to get kids to a combination of extra-curricular activities (football, ballet, swimming, climbing, you name it), alongside the inevitable double-bill birthday party, empty weekend parenting is about clearing the schedule and just seeing where the weekend takes you.
After a busy week of school, childcare and work, it’s all about maintaining a relaxed, low-stress environment (well, as low-stress as is possible with kids) and focusing on family bonding with spontaneous activities or prioritising rest.
Colin Drury has made a consistent point of keeping his weekends free with his kids. Writing for the i Paper, he said: “We wanted their weekends to be filled with something those clubs don’t necessarily provide: new experiences, variety and spontaneity.” He also noted they wanted to have the odd lie-in, too. (And hey, who can blame him?)
This way of weekending has meant they’ve enjoyed the odd trip away, museum visits, woodland walks, bike rides, trips to farms, adventure playgrounds, you get the idea.
But it has also meant “playing with cars on the living room floor, getting crafty with old toilet tube rolls, and having them do some weeding in the garden”.
“And it has been fabulous,” he noted.
My kids are under five so I’m yet to really feel the pressure of extra-curricular culture; however we’ve also made a concerted effort to deliberately keep weekends free over the years – and I have to say, after each chaotic week which usually ends in a big Friday meltdown from one or both children due to sheer exhaustion, I love that all of us can recharge during our empty weekends.
Perhaps it is most suited to those with young children – as Drury noted, his children are both older now (five and seven) and have both developed a love of gymnastics, which led to him caving and booking them in on a Saturday morning. (Goodbye lie-ins.)
Research by The University of Bath has found that kids who participate in extra-curricular activities gain confidence and build up their social skills – so it’s clearly important for development. Yet being overscheduled has also been linked to poor mental health in kids.
As with everything, balance is key.
Empty weekend parenting offers a more manageable schedule littered with lots of downtime and the ability to be bored (which, yes, is good for them). Some parents find that sticking to one main activity per day strikes the right balance.
With plenty of parents (mums especially) feeling depleted and burnt out, and Pinterest’s Parenting Trend Report highlighting rising interest in ‘slow motherhood’ and ‘slow parenting’, an empty(ish) weekend every now and then surely wouldn’t go amiss.
Politics
What Straight Men Bring Up Most Often In Sex Therapy
Sexologist comment provided by licensed sexologist, relationship therapist, and author at Passionerad, Sofie Roos.
Sexologist and therapist Sofie Roos tells me that, in her job, “straight men regularly seek my help to get guidance” on their sex lives.
In fact, she said, “I want straight men to know that they’re far from alone” when it comes to physical and mental issues in the bedroom.
Here, she told HuffPost UK about what straight men bring up the most in her sessions.
Erectile changes are the most common topic Roos hears
Issues like erectile dysfunction are the “main reason for hetero men seek professional help,” Roos said.
That can include getting and/or keeping an erection. “Stress, performance anxiety, and increased age are the most common causes.”
The sexologist said premature ejaculation is the next most common topic.
Thirdly, straight men often come to Roos with concerns about “problematically high and low libido, where a high interest in sex feels difficult to control… while a low libido often negatively affects romantic relationships”.
And body image concerns, like “being worried about penis size, looks, or one’s sexual skills,” which Roos said are “often affected by porn and unrealistic ideals,” are “common causes that make straight men seek professional sexual help”.
Throughout many of these concerns, the sexologist told us that “performance anxiety is almost always part of the picture.”
She said the men she sees in her work often don’t feel “man enough”, and “have difficulties… separating sex from performance… many men have been taught that their sexual value is what they can perform in bed.
“Many hetero men have grown up hearing that they should always be strong, know what they want, never show weakness, they should always want sex, and they need to perform.
“To say ‘I can’t get hard’, ‘I’m not in the mood’, or ‘I’m a bit unsure of what to do’ then feels like a threat to the ‘manly’ identity, which makes it way more difficult to talk with a partner or a friend.”
That, the sexologist said, can mean some straight men wait too long to get professional help.
What advice does Roos have for straight men?
In general, the sexologist said she wished straight men were less focused on their erections. “Remember that it’s a complicated function, and that it not always will work the way you want it to, just as a woman not always will get wet ― and this is okay, and must not mean that something is wrong,” she said.
“Secondly, I wish that more men could try to separate performance from intimacy. Sex is not a sport, but an emotional experience, and you should therefore shift focus from ‘How do I maximise my accomplishment?‘, to ‘How does this feel between us?’”
This, she told us, can relieve feelings of pressure and lead to better sex.
She also said that some men could benefit from considering lifestyle choices when evaluating their sexual satisfaction. “Diet, exercise, sleep, alcohol and porn consumption,” as well as communication with your partner and stress management, can all play a role.
Lastly, she said, “don’t stay away from seeking help if you feel you can’t deal with these issues alone. Sexual health is part of your general health, and should be treated that way.”
Politics
Trump Says He Brought ‘Justice’ To Iran. His War Boosts Fears The US Has Gone Rogue.
Roughly twelve hours after he launched a war on Iran early on Saturday morning, President Donald Trump said his military campaign had killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
But Trump’s effort to frame his war of choice as just and worthy of international celebration is a long shot. Instead, the administration’s latest military escalation is boosting a perception globally that could permanently and significantly hurt America’s and Americans’ role in the world: the view of the US as a rogue actor, fuelling instability, acting illogically and even illegally and risking innocent lives.
For all the questions remaining about the offensive – How long will it go on? Does the US have a plan to replace the regime if it falls? Is there any remaining hope for de-escalation? — a further degradation of America’s image abroad, including among its traditional allies, is one of few certainties.
“Even before today, the pattern was clear: this is a state that actively disregards international law and its protections for civilians, which makes civilians – makes children, makes pregnant mothers, make people who have nothing to do with geopolitical aims at all – less safe everywhere: in Gaza, in Canada, in Europe, in Asia,” said Mark Kersten, a professor at the University of the Fraser Valley in Canada. “Even in America itself, because international law is an important way to protect people in their own countries.”
Kersten characterised the new war as “unequivocally illegal… a wanton and clear violation” of the United Nations charter.

Trump began his offensive in Iran, in partnership with Israel, without even attempting to rally broader support from other countries or some legal basis for an attack through the UN Security Council, as former president George W. Bush did before the invasion of Iraq. He proceeded to assassinate Khamenei, who, while widely reviled, was a sitting head of state.
An anonymous US official eventually claimed to reporters that the U.S. acted preemptively in anticipation of an Iranian missile attack on American forces – but the administration has released no evidence of an imminent assault, experts see that prospect as very unlikely and another anonymous source contradicted the Trump administration’s claim to CNN. And the war represented the second time in less than a year Washington purported to be prioritising diplomacy with Tehran before choosing war.
Meanwhile, the administration has not offered any US plan to prevent a spiral of violence and atrocities in Iran and across the Middle East. A strike in the US-Israeli operation hit an Iranian primary school, killing more than 100 people, mostly schoolgirls, and throughout Saturday, Iranian retaliation struck neighbouring countries aligned with the US, wounding people and targeting civilian sites like airports and a hotel.
Given those facts, officials in the region and in Europe are alarmed, and their US counterparts are unlikely to be able to reassure them and encourage confidence in Trump’s strategy, said Jennifer Gavito, a former State Department official with senior roles across administrations of both parties.

“I look back to Libya and Iraq,” she said, referring to the chaos and mass death following American regime change missions in both countries. “I don’t know what reassurance could have been given in that moment – and especially with the benefit of history now on our side how you confidently project” success.”
Gavito noted public comments decrying the war from the foreign minister of Oman, which had sought to mediate between the U.S. and Iran: “It speaks to the betrayal that [other nations] feel that yet again we seemingly used negotiations as a cover and pretext for a strike that makes us in the future less of a credible partner.”
Reports suggest US and Israeli officials quietly planned the Iran campaign for months, even as Trump repeatedly said publicly that he wanted a deal.
The coming days and weeks are likely to bolster scepticism of the American strategy as Trump has offered conflicting visions of the resolution to the conflict, saying that he wants to see Iranian civilians abandon and topple the government and that he plans to continue bombing. A quick settlement on the core area of disagreement between Tehran and Washington – Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities – is hard to imagine as a more hardline leadership is expected to succeed Khamenei and seek to project strength and resistance.
“We have already made this existential for the Iranian regime….so they have no incentive,” Gavito said. Already loath to make big concessions, Iran had reportedly this week offered greater limits on its nuclear development than it had in a previous nuclear deal with world powers, which Trump abandoned.
Waging a bloody, domestically unpopular and unauthorised war without a clear end, the Trump administration is unlikely to attract greater international backing.
Disdain rooted in the Iran policy will compound wariness of the US’s conduct and judgment in recent years in various contexts, from Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuela’s president last month to Gaza, in which Trump and before him President Joe Biden have defied calls to reconsider heavy American support for devastating Israeli policies decried by most countries.
“Coming after the Gaza war, where the US was seen in violation of international law and working against all human rights statutes by enabling Israeli genocide, we have now another instance by another admin of a different political view, confirming again that the US does not work according to international law,” said Randa Slim of the Stimson Center think tank. “The US is increasingly seen as a country that does not play by the book.”

Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images
To the Trump administration, its allies and others, global goodwill and legitimacy may seem irrelevant. Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch proponent of attacking Iran and defender of Israeli conduct, on Saturday attacked European countries for suggesting the US should return to diplomacy with Tehran.
“It is so sad to see Western democracies lose their passion for justice and a sense of right and wrong,” Graham wrote on X. “You’re suggesting we should continue to negotiate with religious Nazis. It is pathetic.”
And Iran on Saturday also drew criticism from national security and legal analysts and other observers for its attacks on nearby countries, which had repeatedly said they did not want to see a war with their neighbor and attempted to overcome years of mutual distrust.
“These actions …set back years of rapprochement,” Slim said, noting Arab nations had recently come to see Israel’s heightened regional power as a greater threat but the risk posed by Iran was now “reemphasised.”
But with many people around the globe now wondering how US policy could unexpectedly spiral and harm them, Kersten described a heightened foreign focus on disconcerting Washington policy-making and the hope of changing it.
“Blatant threats to [Canada’s] sovereignty were in some ways a harbinger for how states can navigate [the Trump era] and I don’t think they have figured out how to navigate this,” he said, pointing to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s embrace of the attack on Iran despite his high-profile recent remarks urging countries to re-emphasise the importance of law and principles in international politics.
Kersten suggested foreigners are still searching for “voices of reason” in the United States, and feel dismayed by what they are seeing.
“If this dangerous path is to stop, it is only going to stop because of the actions of people within the United States,” Kersten said. “Canada can’t stop it . Middle Eastern partners have demonstrated they can’t stop it .. the UN will not. No international organisation or tribunal or coalition of states, whether [the European Union] or any other entity can.”
Politics
Bridgerton Season 5: What Do We Know About The Show’s Future?
Times may change and TV tastes evolve, but there’s something enduringly appealing about a period drama – especially when it’s one as doused in sauciness as Bridgerton.
Four seasons in, Netflix’s Regency romp is still going strong after raking in nearly 40 million views in the new series’ first four days alone, proving that there’s still a market for yearning and a well-crafted sex scene.
If you’re all done with season four and wondering what the future holds for Bridgerton, we’ve done all the research to answer fans’ most burning questions.
Bridgerton has officially been renewed for two more seasons by Netflix, which will take us up to season 6. But with two more books and Bridgerton siblings left to take the spotlight after season 6 – it’s probable that won’t be the end (especially if Shonda Rhimes gets her way).
Here’s everything we know so far…
When will Bridgerton season 5 be filmed?
Although there hasn’t been any official line on this yet, showrunner Jess Brownell teased that production on Bridgerton season 5 will begin “very soon” in an interview with Decider.
This seems to tee up with recent unconfirmed reports claiming that filming would begin in March 2026.

When will Bridgerton season 5 be released?
That’s a trickier question to answer.
Again, Netflix hasn’t given any official indication on this yet – but based on the previous Bridgerton release pattern of there being around 18 months to two years between seasons, we could be looking at a release date of late 2027 or early 2028.
Having said that, Jess has said she is keen to cut down the two-year gap between seasons, recently telling Radio Times that the creators never planned for what many fans deemed a lengthy wait.
“I think there’s only been a year and a half actually between season three and four,” she claimed. “And we are on track with season five so far, fingers crossed, to either meet or match that year and a half mark.”
“We’re always trying to keep the trains going faster and faster,” she added.
Which Bridgerton sibling will season 5 be about?
It’s already been confirmed that seasons five and six will follow Bridgerton sisters Eloise and Francesca played by Claudia Jessie and Hannah Dodd, respectively. As for which of them will go first and get their story told in season five, Jess is still currently keeping us all guessing.
There’s a possible hint that it could be Eloise’s turn next in season four’s post-credit sequence, where she declares “I do love a wedding”.
Meanwhile, the death of John in season four also suggests that Francesca’s burgeoning relationship with Michaela could be the focus of the next run of episodes, too.

So far, Netflix hasn’t stayed entirely true to the order of the books Bridgerton is based on.
While seasons one and two were faithful to the novels’ running order – following Daphne and then Anthony – the TV series switched the third and fourth stories to focus on Colin in season three and Benedict in season four.
Should Netflix decide to follow the books again, season five will follow Eloise. But for now we’ll have to wait and see…

How many seasons of Bridgerton have been confirmed by Netflix so far?
Bridgerton has officially been renewed for two more seasons by Netflix, which will take us up to season 6. And with with two more books and Bridgerton siblings left to take the spotlight after season 6 – it’s probable that won’t be the end.
What have the creators of Bridgerton said about the show’s future?
Creator and producer Shonda Rhimes has no qualms about sharing her plans for Bridgerton to run for “exactly eight” seasons.
She’s also teased “a possibility for spin-offs”, which means as long as people are streaming Bridgerton, there could be a healthy future for the series.
All four seasons of Bridgerton are streaming now on Netflix.
Politics
Bridgerton Season 4: 11 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About How The Show Was Made

Bridgerton is back for a new run of episodes with more dramatic romances, extravagant costumes and even bigger wigs.
The second half of season four follows bohemian Benedict Bridgerton as he continues his search for the mysterious Lady in Silver, after meeting her at a masquerade ball, not realising she’s actually Sophie Baek, who a maid he has also fallen for.
As the love story between Benedict and Sophie – played by Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha – unfolds, the pair must overcome a societal divide in order to be together.
With season four proving just as popular with Netflix users as ever, we’re going behind the scenes to find out how the team brought Julia Quinn’s books to life – and how the actors made those steamy love scenes look so realistic…
Yerin Ha initially had doubts about playing Sophie in Bridgerton as she was worried her British accent wasn’t up to scratch
Australian actor Yerin Ha has admitted she was surprised to land the role of Sophie because she thought her attempts at a British accent were “terrible.”
Speaking to InStyle, she said that even after she landed a chemistry read with Luke Thompson over Zoom, she still thought there was no way she’d get the role.
“I just assumed that he probably had a day full of auditions, and he must be tired,” she recalled. “So I didn’t want to waste his time. I didn’t even really have chit-chat. I just got straight into the scene.”

Fortunately, Luke didn’t share her feelings about the Zoom call, and remembers their chemistry read very differently.
“I just remember feeling, despite the artifice of an audition, the Zoom delay, and shaky internet connection, that we were actually talking to each other,” he explained.
The Bridgerton writing team changed Sophie’s original surname to reflect Yerin Ha’s background
In Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton book series, Sophie’s surname is Beckett. In the show, they switch it to Baek to honour Yerin’s own background.
Yerin revealed that the showrunner Jess Brownell asked the actor if there were any Korean names that start with B, so there was still a connection to the character from the books, with the actor offering up Baek, feeling it was a seamless swap.
“I was just super appreciative of her changing the last name so that it fits with my identity and my culture and how I look,” Yerin told Elle.
“For some people, it might feel like a small thing, but for a production of that size to mold a character to me really empowered me.”
Sophie’s costumes in Bridgerton were also inspired by Yerin Ha’s South Korean heritage
The costume designer added some Korean influences to Sophie’s outfits in a special shout-out to the actor’s heritage.
“Her necklace is based on an Asian necklace that’s amethyst, which is the stone of Korea. That’s a little tiny Easter egg to her history that her mother gave her,” costumer John Glaser told The Kit.
Yerin added to Refinery29: “The fact that the costume department even thought about that and nailed the details, it just goes to show how much thought goes into everything, from the set to the costumes.”

Benedict Bridgerton’s glow-up for season 4 was a subtle one
In the past, when a Bridgerton brother becomes the main focal point of a series, they usually get a glow-up and a new wardrobe to make them more leading-man-ready.
For Benedict, this transformation was more subtle than those of his brothers – although there were some subtle shifts.
Costume designer John Glaser told The Kit that Benedict’s wardrobe was inspired by 1980s New Romantics, making use of sheer fabrics and frilled collars.
“This season we’ve taken the men and we Gucci’d them up,” he joked.
In an interview with Vogue, Glaser explained that his wardrobe was also inspired by Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare In Love.
“Because we’ve gone forward in time a little bit in the show, the men’s silhouette has become softer and a little more open,” the Emmy winner explained. “And Benedict specifically, we’ve pushed him into the future a bit so that he’s not as restricted as the other men on the show.”

Araminta’s look in Bridgerton season 4 was also inspired by someone from modern times
Sophie’s “evil” stepmother Araminta Gun (played by Katie Leung), does something no woman has ever done before in all four seasons of the period drama.
“As far as women in Bridgerton, she’s our first character to wear black,” Glaser told The Kit.
The decision to dress Araminta in black was not because she was supposed to come across as evil, though. Instead, her dark attire represents the fact she’s a widow, who feels separated from the rest of society.
“Her shape and silhouette aren’t Regency – it’s a little 1820 mixed with 1970,” Glaser told Vogue. “We gave her as much texture and subtle sparkle as possible – it’s like this reflective shield that she’s wearing, it’s her armour.
“She has a stronger silhouette than other characters and we never see her skin.”
Showrunner Jess Brownell compared Araminta to Anna Wintour, telling Vogue: “Anna, when you see her walking down the street, you know right away who she is. You’re not afraid of her, but you’re going to respect her. You see her coming and you better be ready. She’s a strong person.”

The kite scene was the first that Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha filmed together
While their masquerade ball meeting was what set the ball rolling for their characters, this was not the first time that Yerin and Luke were on set together.
In fact, episode three’s kite-flying sequence was the first scene the duo filmed together, something they have admitted to feeling relieved about, because it allowed them to let their walls down and relax into the characters.
“The weather was beautiful. I was wearing Daphne’s borrowed dress. I felt really beautiful. I felt like Cinderella,” Yerin told Town & Country.
“That’s really where Benedict and Sophie’s relationship blossoms,” she also told Tudum. “It’s a parallel between Luke and me, because that’s where our friendship started to blossom as co-stars. I have a nostalgic, sentimental attachment to that place now.”

The costumes at Bridgerton’s first masquerade ball were supposed to look ‘mismatched’
The scene of Benedict and Sophie’s first meeting was an elaborate feast for the eyes, with Bridgerton’s resident costume designer creating more than 172 costumes for the scene.
Costumer John Glaser has opened up how they put together the looks for the masquerade, telling Town & Country: “We actually thought the people from the town would come to the ball, so it would be a mixed match of everything, which is what we tried to do.
“We just thought of each person that would come, what they would make up at home. It’s not a Halloween party, but at a Halloween party, everybody has made their clothes or borrowed clothes. It’s just a mismatch stuff. And we wanted it to be exotic.”

As for the wigs, the team made 160 in total for the scene, with the most elaborate one being worn by Queen Charlotte.
Her elaborate design featured “a heart-shaped outer cage crafted from hair and adorned with silver leaf, and inside sits a replica of the nuptial crown that George gifted her – also made from hair”.
This was a nod to the queen’s late husband, and the Bridgerton prequel Queen Charlotte which followed the couple in their younger years.
The set of the Bridgerton masquerade ball was inspired by one literary classic in particular
It wasn’t just the costumes that the team put immense detail into for the ball scene.
The production designer, Alison Gartshore, themed the masquerade set around William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, adding lots of drapes to the dream-like setting alongside white florals.
Gartshore explained to Town & Country that the flowers were meant to feel like “the servants had gone out into the estate and just got whatever they could find – ivy, twigs, birds’ nests, the odd horn here and there, and they really kind of woven these garlands together from their own land”.
“All the florals had to be white because we wanted to look sort of moonlight flavour to it,” she continued. “It ended up looking really quite magical.”
Bridgerton’s racy staircase scene was much less sexy to film in real life than it appeared on screen…
Bridgerton is known for its sex scenes, and season four was no different.
In the first half of the season, Benedict and Sophie have in an intimate moment in a stairwell – in what served as a metaphor for the class divide between them.
This may have looked steamy on screen, but the atmosphere on set was apparently a lot less sexy.
“What we actually did is we both got ill. But different scenes. We kept falling ill!” Luke told E! News.
Yerin added: “We were very mentally a little bit weak, a little bit nervous, my immune system was down…”

…And, for that matter, so was Bridgerton season 4’s infamous bathtub scene
Benedict and Sophie’s bathtub sequence was one of the most anticipated moments of Bridgerton season four.
Luke and Yerin have admitted that the scene was an especially slippery one to film – namely because production kept putting oil in the water.
“We were like two seals, because they kept pouring in this thing to make it milky, but I think it had oil in it,” Luke explained to Refinery29.
Yerin also revealed that, at just 5’2”, the long bathtub prop presented its own issues, with Luke joking: “She kept floating down the river. We had to sort of brace a little bit.”
It wasn’t just oil and the depth of the bathtub that caused issues for the actors, though.
“I put baby powder all on me because I was told it would help dry my skin to put the intimacy wear on with my tape,” Yerin recalled to Capital Breakfast.
“And then, basically, the next day, after the bathtub, I got hives all over my body, and I got folliculitis, so I needed steroid cream!”
Bridgerton fans can visit Benedict’s cottage in person
Sophie and Benedict take refuge in Benedict’s sizeable countryside estate, imaginatively named My Cottage.
In real life, the scene where the couple has breakfast together was shot at Loseley Park. The Grade I listed manor was built in the 1560s and is closely linked to the Tudor family.
You can visit this 1,400 acre Surrey estate in person as it’s open to the public. You can even stay in one of the cottages on the estate – although sadly, it does not include a Bridgerton brother.
All four seasons of Bridgerton are now streaming on Netflix.
Politics
Trump Says Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Is Dead
Donald Trump has said that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was dead following the joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.
Khamenei was “unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems,” Trump wrote, adding that there was “not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do.”

TruthSocial/@realDonaldTrump
Khamenei, 86, had held ultimate control over Iran’s political, military and religious institutions as Iran’s supreme leader since 1989. He had no known successor, per the Associated Press, making his death likely to create a power vacuum.

Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP
Trump had announced in the early hours of Saturday that the US and Israel had launched a major attack on Iran.
In his announcement, he seemed to push for regime change, urging the Iranian people to “seize control” of their “destiny.” He echoed that sentiment in his statement on Khamenei, calling the situation “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”
However, Trump said that “the heavy and pinpoint bombing” of Iran will continue “uninterrupted throughout the week” or “as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!”
Iranian state media said on Saturday evening that at least 201 people were killed and 700 injured in the strikes, with more than 50 killed in a strike on a girls’ school.
Iran retaliated with its own strikes on Israel as well as US military bases throughout the region. As of Saturday afternoon, the US military had reported no American casualties.
Politics
FIFA hypocrisy after Israel murder over 400 Palestinian footballers
The Board of Peace and FIFA have announced plans to build 55 football pitches, an academy, and a national stadium in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel has murdered over 400 footballers, destroyed every football pitch in the country, and made millions of Palestinians homeless.
Yet now, a board of rich, old, and (all but one) white men is deciding Gaza’s fate. This is after supplying weapons and supporting Israel’s genocide for over two years.
The hypocrisy is off the charts.
🚨🇵🇸 WATCH: FIFA and the Board of Peace have announced they are building 55 football pitches, a FIFA academy and a national stadium in Gaza pic.twitter.com/G1cB5NVSe1
— Politics Global (@PolitlcsGlobal) February 26, 2026
Follow for the very latest political news!
The proposals include:
– 50 FIFA Arena Mini Pitches ($50,000 per pitch)
– 5 Full Sized Pitches ($1 million per pitch)
– A FIFA Academy ($15 million)
– A National Stadium ($50 million)— Politics Global (@PolitlcsGlobal) February 26, 2026
Since October 2023, Israel has murdered at least 437 Palestinian footballers — and that figure could actually be far higher.
At least 437 registered Palestinian footballers murdered by Israel since 7 October with half of them being children and FIFA continues to allow Israeli domestic and international teams to play in their competitions and tournaments https://t.co/ubzxvkKH0R
— Cllr Martin Abrams (@Martin_Abrams) February 26, 2026
Over half of these were children.
Built on child’s corpses.
— Antifa HR Director (@berniehoe2) February 26, 2026
Israel destroyed all 51 football clubs, along with 9 stadiums and the communities that came with both.
51 clubs and 9 stadiums destroyed in Gaza. Many of them date back to before 1948. At least ten football academies were erased.
FIFA’s plan is to build only one stadium and 50 mini-pitches as well as 1 academy.
This is colonialism but packaged as sports reconstruction. https://t.co/gDjx74LrU5
— Abubaker Abed (@AbubakerAbedW) February 27, 2026
Turning pitches into graveyards
At one point, Israel bombed a football pitch at a Palestinian refugee camp in Southern Lebanon, whilst 13 children were playing on it.
Israel then claimed it struck a ‘Hamas training compound’.
Of course, FIFA has turned a blind eye for over two years as Israel has murdered innocent people.
FIFA quickly suspended Russia from international tournaments after it illegally invaded Ukraine. But of course, it did not take the same action when Israel launched its full-scale genocide on Palestine.
As the Canary previously reported:
FIFA has ignored restrictions on the movement of Palestinian players and the targeting of stadiums and sports facilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the imposition of Israeli clubs in settlements at the expense of Palestinian federations.
Now, FIFA is using a Trump-esque AI video. Could they create something more fucked up if they tried?
an AI generated video of a fifa stadium erupting out of the leveled ruins of gazan neighborhoods is the most disturbing and dehumanizing thing i’ve seen on this godless app, no one involved in this will be seeing heaven i can make that guarantee
— ℑℭ𝓔𝔅𝔒𝔜 (@exsdys) February 27, 2026
Anyway, in what world is this Gaza:
This looks more like the UAE than Gaza.The men’s attire shown above is primarily associated with Gulf states. The racist AI video generator clearly cannot distinguish between different Arab populations — and FIFA apparently didn’t bother checking what its own use of AI produced before publishing it.
Orientalism at its finest.
FIFA enabling ethnic cleansing
As if it was not bad enough that FIFA has been allowing Israel to compete internationally. Now, it is an active participant in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
This is as disgusting as the Trump Gaza AI video…
FIFA is participating in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza directly with the Board of Peace.
BOYCOTT FIFA. BOYCOTT THE CRIMINALS. https://t.co/5J8ZvkjeL5
— YourFavoriteGuy (@guychristensen_) February 27, 2026
Israel has murdered tens of thousands of Palestinians, and the West collectively ignored it. Now they’re going to jump on the graves of children to expand their capitalist empires as if Palestine has not suffered enough for the last 70 years.
I want to fucking cry, tens of thousands of innocent people slaughtered without a care in a world, just so that the capitalists can expand their empire further, all on top of the body of a nation that suffered for the last 70 years. You cant hate these people enough. https://t.co/LDOv34XQv9
— Radya🇵🇸 (@radishart_) February 27, 2026
We can only presume that this is some sort of soft launch for a future tournament in Israel. Of course, the powers that be – who happen to be mainly friends-of-nonces- will have no intention of including Palestine in said tournament. That’s if there are even any footballers left to invite because Israel has murdered them all.
Fifa are testing the waters and soft launching a tournament in Israel https://t.co/pRrloFVMx9
— Лайк! 🔻 (@_Ventfull_) February 26, 2026
sportswashing a genocide by building football pitches on the bodies of dead Gazans? using AI garbage to depict fast-tracked construction around the rubble? truly, truly sick. they’re paying $70m to put the FIFA stamp on ethnic cleansing. may these depraved ghouls never know peace https://t.co/YoIfR65Ire
— amadí (@amadoit__) February 27, 2026
If the board of peace, Israel, or FIFA think that a few new stadiums will make the world collectively forget the brutality of the last two years, they have another thing coming.
And who’s to say Israel would not bomb new stadiums as soon as Palestinians set foot in them? The rest of the world watches on as Israel labels whatever the hell they like Hamas targets and gets away with cold-blooded murder.
Neither a sporting governing body nor a ‘board’ made up of rich old men should be allowed any part in building on the graves of children.
Politics
Churchill statue branded ‘zionist war criminal’ in Whitehall
Conservatives and fascists got two absolute spankings last night. First, their man lost in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Then an activist graffitied Churchill’s statue in Whitehall — and not for the first time. That’s a tough 24hrs for people who think they’re living in the movie Zulu because they once saw an Asian person in Big Asda.
Here’s the Canary’s news report on the incident.
You can see the ‘damage’ — I mean, it does just wash off — below:
⚡️Churchill statue in London defaced with “Zionist war criminal” graffiti pic.twitter.com/SlCkWCAGUs
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) February 27, 2026
Poor Winston got called a ‘Zionist war criminal’. Another part of the graffiti said ‘stop the genocide’. Thing is… Churchill was a proud Zionist and a key architect of several British imperial genocides. So while it is a bit naughty to spray that stuff on his statue… what was said isn’t technically inaccurate. The graffiti also said ‘free Palestine’, which doubtless added to the right-wing meltdown.
Met Police said a man was arrested at the scene at 4am on 27 February. It’s striking that he was detained for “racially aggravated criminal damage”:
Overnight, the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square was graffitied with red paint.
Officers were on scene within two minutes of being alerted shortly after 4am.
A 38-yr-old man is in custody having been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 27, 2026
Proud Zionist
Churchill was a racist, Zionist and imperialist to his core. In fact to be fair to him he never said he wasn’t. He held these views proudly and loudly. The only people who have an issue with this basic fact are his weird cultists. Who, perversely, are often also racists.
Left-wing writer Tariq Ali wrote a (bloody good) book about the cult of Churchill and the reality of the man’s views. He told Current Affairs in May 2022:
He was a supporter of the Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco. He supported Franco like Hitler and Mussolini did in the Spanish Civil War.
Churchill was also “a terribly open admirer” of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini:
He said, what a great role Mussolini was playing in Italy. [“I could not help being charmed by his gentle, simple bearing,” Churchill said of Mussolini.
Then we have the 1943 Bengal famine, which may have killed 3mn people. A British-manufactured horror which:
Churchill refused, explicitly, to intervene to stop that famine.
And don’t forget Churchill’s 1944 crushing of the Greek resistance in favour of fascism:
the order given to the British commander, who the resistance had allowed to enter Athens, that if the resistance doesn’t do as we say, treat Athens as a colonial city. And the bloodbath that occurred in Greece as General Scobie tried to crush the Greek resistance.
Churchill’s views, as you can imagine, on Palestine flow quite naturally from these.
Churchill and Israel
Churchill, like so many imperialists in his day and ours, was both a supporter of Zionism AND an antisemite.
He supported the Balfour Declaration (the colonialist Middle East carve-up which helped get us where we are today) as British colonial secretary:
I am in full sympathy with the historical traditional aspirations of the Jews.
And said:
Jerusalem must be the only ultimate goal. When it will be achieved it is vain to prophesy; but that it will some day be achieved is one of the few certainties of the future.
Yet he wrote in 1940 that Jews
have been partly responsible for the antagonism from which they suffer.
And that:
there are times when one feels instinctively that all this is only another manifestation of the difference, the separateness of the Jew.
Of the Palestinians and their claim on their homeland, he had absolute contempt:
I do not admit that the dog in the manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time.
He also denied that:
a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the Black people of Australia.
Churchill said such people had just been replaced with “a higher grade race.”
Nice bloke…
Now vandalising public monuments these days is going to get you in trouble — whether the politics are agreeable or not. In this case it seems to have been Dutch pro-Palestine activists. But if we’re talking about the graffiti itself, the claims made aren’t inaccurate. So maybe it’s time butthurt Churchill fans stop pretending and own their hero’s legacy as a racist and bigot.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
Pakistan declares ‘open war’ as fighting with Afghanistan rages
Fighting on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has intensified. One Pakistani minister has described it as a state of “open war”. And Pakistan has hit the Afghan capital Kabul with airstrikes.
Afghan forces launched attacks across the British-created Durand line on 26 February. And Pakistan has called the Taliban regime — which replaced the US-led occupation in 2021 — illegitimate and accused it of harbouring militants.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on 27 February:
Afghan soil is not being used; but, the Afghan Taliban regime is fully aligned with these terrorists and is completely backing these terrorists.
Al Jazeera reported on 27 February:
Pakistan launched air strikes on Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as on Kandahar and Paktia, early on Friday. The attacks targeted Taliban military installations as Islamabad declared “open war” on the group’s government, in the most serious military confrontation between the two neighbours in years.
One Kabul resident described her terror:
Then we heard gunfire. When we looked out of our apartment window, we saw bullet-like flames going up in the sky.
Al Jazeera said the airstrikes:
came hours after Afghan forces launched coordinated cross-border attacks on Pakistani military positions in six border provinces late on Thursday. Kabul claimed 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 19 outposts captured.
Border war
Border fighting broke out in October 2025. A subsequent Turkey and Qatar-brokered ceasefire has now broken down.
The origins of the fighting are complicated. Ahram Online reported:
Islamabad argues that the authorities in Kabul, led by the Taliban, have failed to curb the activities of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, a separate but ideologically aligned group that has intensified attacks inside Pakistan since 2021.
The Taliban deny this is the case. Kabul-based political analyst Obaidullah Baheer said:
Pakistan claimed that it was doing that in response to TTP attacks based on the bogus claim that the Taliban are supporting the TTP, an insurgent group operating within Pakistan.
Drop Site News posted a timeline of the breakdown in diplomatic relations since January 2026:
Lead-up: January – Mid-February 2026
▪️Early January: Pakistan warns that Afghanistan is becoming a hub for foreign militants.
▪️February 6: A suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Islamabad kills 31–36 worshippers. The attack is claimed by ISKP, but Pakistan blames the Afghan…
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) February 27, 2026
The Pakistan has also banned personal drones after Afghan forces used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in their attack:
The ban is effective nationwide immediately and will remain in place until further directives are issued. All provincial governments and chief secretaries have been asked to ensure strict enforcement of the directive.
Vast US arsenal
A vast arsenal of US military equipment and weaponry was left behind in 2021. Those weapons are now fuelling the war. As the Canary reported on 4 February:
those weapons have flooded neighbouring Pakistan
The Foundation for Economic Education broke down some of the numbers involved. They said the giant arsenal included:
includes up to 22,174 Humvee vehicles, nearly 1,000 armored vehicles, 64,363 machine guns, and 42,000 pick-up trucks and SUVs.
There were mind-boggling amounts of small arms — and even artillery:
the list of allegedly abandoned weaponry includes up to 358,530 assault rifles, 126,295 pistols, and nearly 200 artillery units.
CNN reported that the border region holds vast quantities of copper and other minerals and metals which the US craves:
Pakistan says there is much more wealth beneath its soil –– an estimated $8 trillion in copper, lithium, cobalt, gold, antimony and other critical minerals.
This reality has:
oiled an unlikely friendship with US President Donald Trump, who has put mineral acquisition at the heart of US foreign policy
Pakistan and Afghanistan’s colonial underpinnings
The colonial nature of the conflict zone can’t be ignored either. National Geographic describes the Durand Line as:
part of a long history of colonizing countries establishing borders that serve their own political purposes while ignoring the cultures and ethnicities of the people living there.
As Ahram Online explained:
The roots of the crisis trace back to 1893, when British diplomat Sir Mortimer Durand signed an agreement with Afghan ruler Abdur Rahman Khan to demarcate a frontier between British India and Afghanistan. That line split Pashtun tribal lands between two political entities.
After independence in 1947, Pakistan:
inherited the Durand Line as an international boundary under the principle of state succession. Successive Afghan governments, however, avoided formally recognizing it as a permanent border. The dispute has simmered for decades, occasionally flaring but rarely disappearing.
The neighbours view the border very differently:
Pakistan views the border as legally settled and central to its territorial integrity. Afghanistan’s position has historically been more ambiguous, shaped by ethnic ties, nationalist sentiment, and resistance to what many Afghans see as a colonial imposition.
This explosive combination of competing territorial visions and competition for vast mineral resources is compounded by colonial history and the presence on both sides of the border of vast arsenals of lost American weapons. And ordinary people of the region aren’t without agency, yet to some degree they remain hostage to imperialisms both old and new.
Featured image via the Canary
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