Between her work as an actor, comedian and presenter, Whoopi Goldberg is one of the most celebrated stars in Hollywood today – and she’s got the EGOT to prove it.

The “O” part of that coveted accolade came in the early 90s, when she picked up the Best Supporting Actress prize at the Oscars for her work in Ghost.

However, during an interview on the podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, Whoopi opened up about how the role of conwoman-turned-psychic-medium Oda Mae Brown in the hit romance drama didn’t come easy.

Initially, she recalled that “every Black woman and their mama” had been called upon to audition for the role of Oda Mae but her, quipping: “They got women out the grave to come audition for this – and I hadn’t gotten a call.”

When she enquired with her agent as to why this was, her team claimed: “[We] suggested you [for the part]. They didn’t want you, because they felt people would take you out of the movie. I said how would I take them out of the movie? I don’t understand!”

Apparently, the film’s casting director had been advocating for Whoopi to land the part, and when Patrick Swayze was cast as Ghost’s leading man, he also said he wanted her to play Oda Mae.

Eventually, this was enough to get the film’s male lead and director on a plane to visit her in Alabama, where she was shooting Long Walk Home.

“Patrick and I hit it off right away, because he was just a really funny, wonderful man,” she recalled. “They literally flew in, we had some fun and did some improv, and the next day, they offered me the part.

“And [Patrick] kept saying, ‘why haven’t you called her? Did she turn it down? Did she not want to do it?’. And they finally had to say to him, ‘no, we thought it’d be too much, and [she would] just weigh [the film] down in a way we didn’t want’.”

Host Keke then suggested to Whoopi this was a case of her successfully “advocating for yourself”, after which the View panellist opened up about some more of her biggest roles – and how few of them were actually written with her in mind.

“They wrote [Sister Act] for Bette Midler,” Whoopi said. “That wasn’t mine. I was looking for work [and] apparently I’m Black! And I guess I didn’t realise it! So, every time I went looking for [a role] they were like, ‘oh, no, no, no, this isn’t for you’.

“So, I started saying to my agents, ‘give me all the stuff that people have turned down’. So, I got that Burglar that way, that was Bruce Willis’ movie. Jumpin’ Jack Flash was Shelley Long’s movie. There’s several! A whole bunch of movies! Because I felt like people really wanted to make those movies, and then the person they wanted said no. Let me see what I could do!”

“People 30 years ago or 40 years ago had a limited idea what could be done, and had a limited idea of what I could do, because clearly they hadn’t seen my show – so they didn’t know,” she continued.

“So, I did [those films]! And you know, listen, they didn’t always work at the box office. But when they got on television, people lost their minds. And that’s how a lot of my movies have become these kind of classics.”

Although these days, Whoopi’s time is often spent offering her hot takes on The View, she made a big return to the acting world in the 2020s.

Her recent credits have included the historical drama Till, the dramedy Ezra and the Western Outlaw Posse.

She also made a cameo in the 2023 musical The Color Purple, having previously starred as Celie Harris-Johnson in the 1985 original, earning her the first of her two Oscar nominations.

Parts of the UK seem set for their fifth heatwave of the year, with no significant rainfall set to take place in parts of the south this month.

Claire Belcher, an Exeter University professor, told the BBC the risk of wildfires has “never been so high”. And firefighters warn that the risk of house fires rises in drier, sunnier conditions, too.

Speaking to the MK Citizen after a run of “near disasters” in Milton Keynes, a spokesperson for Bucks Fire and Rescue said: “As the bright weather continues, we’d like to remind everyone of an often unconsidered fire risk within homes.”

Multiple windowsill fires have broken out over the years due to glass items left in direct sunlight.

They’ve created blazes in places like Essex, Northamptonshire, Dorset and Wiltshire, Norfolk, Merseyside, Milton Keynes, and more.

The Bucks Fire and Rescue spokesperson said: “Recent incidents have highlighted that reflected sunlight can become concentrated enough to generate significant heat, resulting in marks, smouldering materials and, in some cases, fire.”

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service said to keep crystals; mirrors, especially magnifying ones; and glass ornaments off windowsills and out of direct sunlight in the summer.

The firefighters added you shouldn’t keep them near curtains or bedsheets in the heat either.

Other risky items include:

In general, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue explained, any glass ornament or object that’s curved can work as a lens, intensifying the sun’s heat.

“The principle is the same as using a magnifying glass to start a fire. It does depend on the angle of the sun, but any mirror or glass ornament with a curve in it should never be left on a windowsill or by a window,” their site reads.

A Bucks Fire and Rescue spokesperson added: “If you notice a bright spot of reflected sunlight inside your home, move the object immediately or close curtains or blinds.

“Check around windows regularly to ensure decorative items are not creating focused beams of light.”

Ben Wallace has hit back at Zia Yusuf after the Reform home affairs spokesperson called the ex-defence secretary a “traitor to Britain”.

Their social media row began when Wallace, who stood down as a Conservative MP in 2024, criticised Reform UK’s plan to fix the shortage of prison spaces by sending foreign criminals abroad.

The right-wing party has proposed deporting those with non-custodial sentences to their country of origin if they ever get into government.

Those with custodial sentences would either be forced to go home or to a third country, like El Salvador.

But Wallace, a former Tory cabinet minister, tore into the proposal while also accusing Yusuf of “making policy and facts up”.

He wrote on X: “If memory serves me right the top foreign nationalities in UK prisons are Irish, Polish, Romanian, Albanian and Baltics. Total number of foreign offenders always hovered around 10-11k.

“ Reform have to answer a.) how they will force those countries to take these offenders. For decades they have refused to.

“b.) If they won’t and then deport them but they are released how will that sit with their victims? And the Irish offenders will find it easy to return.”

Yusuf soon hit back by calling Wallace, who headed up the defence department for four years, a “moron”.

He wrote on X: “Incredible that this moron was defence secretary.

“Our policy today is in direct response to your government’s failures.

“If their home countries won’t take back, their citizens that are languishing in our jails, we are renting spaces in countries like El Salvador to put them.

“They will serve their full jail terms there, and will be banned from ever coming back to Britain.

“They may well include some of the thousands of Afghans you imported, including those who had not been vetted properly and including Taliban fighters (!).

“You know, the ones you took a super injunction out to keep secret from the British people? That’s why I call you a traitor to Britain. You fit the dictionary definition.”

But Wallace hit back: “Oh look a lesson from a man who never put a uniform on…just worked at bank.

“A man who is literally making policy and facts up.

“A man who cant even get his own party to pick him as an MP ( tell us why please?).

“When Reform stop taking £5m bungs and start being honest with people then people might take you seriously.

“No one is saying don’t send prisoners back when you can but don’t lie to the public you can do it with a magic wand. You guys are getting desperate. After all you recruited Suella!”

Suella Braverman worked in the Tory cabinet at the same time as Wallace but defected to Reform earlier this year.

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

Maybe it’s part of the current 2016 nostalgia, but I’ve been seeing a lot more sweet potato content recently.

There’s the classic orange fare, this time caramelised to crispy perfection – but in 2026, Japanese sweet potatoes (perfect for dessert) are all over my feed as well.

So, too, is the increasingly popular ube, a yam key to Filipino cuisine. It’s also sometimes called a “purple yam”, “water yam”, or “violet yam”.

But what’s the difference between a sweet potato and a yam to begin with?

Sweet potatoes – which aren’t actually that closely related to “normal” spuds – are from the Convolvulaceae family, while yams belong to the Dioscoreaceae family.

Yams are quite closely related to lilies and grasses.

Yams are tubers, while sweet potatoes are technically roots.

Sweet potatoes usually have thin, papery skin and a yellow or orange-ish inside. Sometimes they can have purple flesh too.

Yams have tougher, more “scaly” skin and can weigh as much as 45kg in extreme cases. They’re more cylindrical and sometimes have protrusions called “toes”.

Yams are common in parts of Africa and Asia, with about 95% of the plants being grown in Africa. It can be hard to find true yams in mainstream Western supermarkets.

Sweet potatoes are predominantly grown in China, India, and some African countries. They’re native to Central and South America and are more common in Western stores.

Yams are starchier and “not nearly as sweet as sweet potatoes,” America’s Test Kitchen said.

Sweet potatoes’ flesh is softer and fluffier when cooked, meanwhile, and can be creamier and more moist than yams.

Sweet potatoes have ever so slightly more protein than yams, while yams are considerably higher in carbohydrates.

Yams have slightly more vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6, and iron, while sweet potatoes are higher in sugars, fat (though neither has much at all), beta-carotene, and calcium.

But, Healthline notes, both are rich in nutrients, fibre, and vitamins.

Usually, yams are boiled, roasted, or fried.

Sweet potatoes are often baked, roasted, fried, pureed, or mashed.

Nigel Farage has admitted that the number of small boats coming across the English Channel is falling – but still insisted the migrant crisis is “completely out of control”.

The Reform UK leader vowed last week to use the British Royal Navy to return small boats to France if his party ever got into power.

This proposal triggered a row with the French authorities who called it a breach of international and maritime law.

The number of crossings has fallen this year overall, but the controversial topic resurfaced this week after a record 230 people arrived in the UK on just one large dinghy.

Farage said Britain is evidently heading towards the kind of migrant crisis seen in the Mediterranean during a press conference on Monday.

But, Sky News reporter Rob Powell hit back: “Yes this is the largest number of people arriving in one boat but overall numbers are down quite significantly, 42% down on last year.”

He asked if Farage would acknowledge numbers are falling, adding: “Are you being straight with the British public when you suggest this is an issue that is getting worse?”

The Reform leader replied insisting he “always” thought the boats would get bigger.

“The overall numbers are down,” he admitted. “But they’re still horrendous.”

“Whether we have fewer bad people thus far than last year, the situation is desperate, it should be declared a national security emergency,” Farage said.

“Yes, we have managed to stop some of the dinghies.

“But it doesn’t stop the problem. It doesn’t go away. It is completely out of control.”

He added: “The idea that we should be celebrating that numbers are not as extreme as they were is for the birds.”

Responding to concerns over the mega-dingy, prime minister’s spokesperson told reporters on Monday: “We’ve seen today some appalling images of young babies being put into these unseaworthy craft, and they’re shocking images, and they show the reality behind the ruthless smuggling gangs that are prepared to risk human lives for profit.

“That’s exactly why the government has signed a new payment-by-results deal with the French to prevent these perilous journeys from happening in the first place.”

He said the government was “not complacent” and noted how joint action with the French since the general election had prevented 47,000 crossings.

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A “dead bedroom” sounds final. Case closed – or in this case, the bedroom door closed to a cold bed. For many couples, a prolonged period without sex can feel like the beginning of the end.

“A difficult sexual phase can expose things a couple has avoided: resentment, loneliness, fear of rejection, body insecurity, different needs or the sheer impact of everyday life,” said Lisa Opel, the in-house sex educator at JOYclub. “That can be painful, but being able to see the problem also creates the possibility of responding to it.”

Opel, who once navigated a dead bedroom in her own marriage, said rebuilding a sex life does not necessarily mean returning to the way things were before.

“Bodies change, people change and relationships change. The goal may be to create a new form of intimacy that is more honest and better suited to who you are now,” she said.

Kiki Maree, a queer-inclusive somatic sexologist and intimacy educator, doesn’t use the phrase “dead bedroom” in her work because “I think it can feel quite hopeless and often misses what’s actually happening underneath. I prefer to think about it as a period of sexual disconnection.”

Maree has also experienced sexual disconnection with her partner, “but the relationship itself was never ‘dead.’”

“There was still love, care and commitment,” Maree said. “What had become difficult was the pathway back to intimacy.”

Both experts say finding their way back wasn’t about forcing desire or chasing a perfect solution. Instead, it required understanding what had created the distance in the first place, and learning how to reconnect with their partners without blame, pressure or expectations.

For Opel, one of the biggest obstacles wasn’t a lack of sex – it was the lack of talking about sex.

“One of our biggest mistakes was pretending everything was fine for far too long,” she said. “I think I was scared that saying, ‘I don’t really want sex anymore’ might break something, so instead I said nothing and hoped the problem would sort itself out.”

Instead, the silence gave hurt, confusion and feelings of rejection more room to grow until the lack of intimacy became “a large, silent third person in the relationship,” she said.

What helped was finally talking about it.

“Then, once we finally started talking, we made the very human mistake of hoping there might be one conversation, one technique or one gloriously sexy breakthrough that would fix the whole thing. There wasn’t,” Opel said.

“Rebuilding intimacy was much less cinematic: lots of talking, trying something, realizing it did not work, talking again and slowly becoming more honest.”

Both experts say one of the biggest mindset shifts was moving away from blame and toward curiosity. For Maree, that meant recognising that both partners were often suffering in different ways.

“One partner often feels rejected, lonely or undesirable, while the other often feels pressure, guilt or like they’re constantly letting the relationship down,” she said. “Once we stopped seeing each other as the problem and started seeing the dynamic as the problem, everything became much more collaborative.”

Opel says couples often get stuck when they treat low desire as one person’s failure, asking questions like, “What’s wrong with you?” or “Why don’t you want me?”

“Being treated as the faulty part of the relationship is rarely an aphrodisiac,” she said.

Instead, both experts say couples need to look beyond the lack of sex itself and understand what is happening underneath it.

“Low desire is often a symptom rather than the problem itself,” Maree said. “Stress, exhaustion, resentment, body image concerns, parenting, medical issues, performance anxiety, mismatched desire styles or years of pressure can all contribute. Understanding the function of the disconnection is usually far more productive than simply trying to increase frequency [of sex].”

Opel added: “The bedroom is often just where the consequences appear.”

Perhaps the most surprising strategy both experts recommend is temporarily removing the expectation of sex altogether.

“We actually banned sex for a while,” Opel said. “Which sounds like a slightly ridiculous solution to not having enough sex, but it helped enormously.”

Before that decision, she’d started avoiding even innocent affection because she worried every intimate interaction would eventually lead to sex she wasn’t ready for.

“I had started to avoid kisses and cuddles because I worried they would lead somewhere and I would eventually have to say no,” she said. “Once sex was officially off the table, I could relax into touch again. We could kiss, lie together or stroke each other without silently wondering what was expected next. It made affection feel like affection again instead of the first stage of a test I might fail.”

Maree often suggests something similar to the couples she works with.

“I usually suggest taking penetrative sex off the table temporarily – not because sex is bad, but because removing the expectation can dramatically reduce pressure.”

Rather than having couples try to manufacture desire, she encourages them to rebuild positive physical experiences through cuddling, massage, kissing, showering together or simply holding each other, instead of them trying to manufacture desire.

“Small, consistently positive experiences often rebuild trust more effectively than trying to engineer one perfect sexual encounter,” she said.

Both experts say reconnecting required letting go of the idea that intimacy had to lead to sex, or that rebuilding a sex life simply meant having more sex.

Opel encourages couples to create what she calls an “intimacy menu,” which might include kissing, massage, lying naked together, sharing fantasies, reading something erotic or simply spending uninterrupted time together.

Maree and her partner created something similar: a “pleasure menu” they could use to choose forms of intimacy based on how they were feeling in the moment.

“We also had to let go of the idea that fixing our sex life meant simply having more sex,” Maree said. “Instead, we became curious about what had made sex feel difficult in the first place and focused on creating experiences that felt emotionally and physically safe enough for desire to return naturally.”

She says the menu helped them reconnect without pressure.

“We used it to see what each of us were feeling like in our shared intimacy,” she said. “It included activities ranging from cuddling to mutual masturbation.”

By creating more ways to be physically close, both experts say couples can reduce the stress around sex and make affection feel enjoyable again rather than like an expectation.

Neither Opel nor Maree believes a prolonged period without sex automatically means a relationship is beyond saving.

For Opel, one of the clearest signs that her marriage could recover was that she and her husband still wanted a future together, even when they were questioning whether they could fix their intimacy.

“We did talk about divorce, but neither of us was calmly saying, ‘This relationship is over,’” she said. “We still laughed, parented well together and cared how the other person felt. We were upset because we missed each other, not because we had stopped caring.”

Maree says that’s often what gives her hope when working with couples experiencing sexual disconnection.

“I’ve worked with many couples who believed they would never reconnect sexually and later described their relationship as stronger than it had ever been,” she said. “Not because they found a magic technique, but because they stopped seeing each other as opponents and began working as teammates against the problem itself.”

Opel added: “Not every relationship should continue, and nobody should remain in a situation involving fear, coercion or persistent disrespect. But a quiet bedroom is not automatically a doomed relationship. Sometimes it is a signal that two people need to stop measuring what is missing and start listening to what has been neglected.”

Dr Pepsi’s name isn’t just catchy: originally called Brad’s Drink, the newer name reportedly “derived from dyspepsia (ie. indigestion), which the beverage was supposed to assuage”.

A 1907 ad describes the drink as “an absolutely pure combination of pepsin – for the ingestion – acid phosphate and the juices of fresh fruits”.

And yes, digestive biscuits were originally meant to aid digestion too (seems our modern gut health obsession is nothing new).

But marshmallows, which were apparently eaten by the Ancient Egyptians many moons ago, “originated as a versatile medicinal syrup and ointment,” Britannica explained.

We don’t know for sure that Ancient Egyptians definitely used them for health reasons, though they appeared to have been reserved for nobility.

It does seem, however, that Ancient Greeks were using marshmallows for everything from wound-healing to sore throats by the 9th Century BCE.

There is some evidence to suggest the original versions may actually have helped with everything from coughs to skin irritation, too.

“Marsh mallow” is a herbaceous plant from eastern Europe and northern Africa. The root of this plant was used to make medicinal “marshmallows” in the past.

According to the National Confectioners’ Association (NCA), Ancient Egyptians “squeezed sap from the mallow plant and mixed it with nuts and honey”.

We don’t know what this tasted like, but we do know that in the 19th century, the plant was introduced to France.

At this point, “owners of small candy stores whipped sap from the mallow root into a fluffy candy mould,” the NCA said.

This was a very long and labour-intensive process, and confectioners struggled to keep up with demand.

It took until later in the century for marshmallow makers to substitute marshmallow root for gelatin, which is still a standard ingredient in the no-longer-medicinal modern versions.

You can still get marsh mallow root tea, which contains the old-school sweet’s star ingredient. Its flavour is described as “earthy”, but obviously, that’s before it’s mixed with other ingredients.

Creator Phoenix Ross, who makes difficult, rarely spotlighted, and unlikely foods (including a giant potato smiley and fizzy grapes) by hand, recently tried an old-school marshmallow recipe, which included the root.

Noting the “snotty” texture it created when soaked (which was responsible for traditional marshmallows’ signature spring), he said the flavour was mostly “swamp”.

He added, “I think there’s a reason we’ve moved on from this”. I’ll take his word for it.