We’ve been talking about sex around my house a lot lately.

As my 10-year-old gets ready to enter middle school next year, he’s been getting increasingly curious about bodies, puberty, and of course, s-e-x.

He’s not interested in having sex, he’s quick to inform me – in fact, the first time I explained the physical machinations of intercourse, his initial response was, “I don’t know, I’d rather play video games.”

But he is interested in understanding sex, a circumstance that has led to a series of increasingly difficult-to-answer queries along the lines of “But what does semen look like?”.

We’ve looked at a diagram of the inside of a penis together. We found out that the hole on the tip of the penis is called the “urinary meatus”. I finally convinced him that a man doesn’t pee inside a woman to make a baby. It’s been a wild time.

I try to answer his questions as honestly as is age-appropriate while using the clinical and appropriate terms for body parts and sex acts. Sometimes, I get a little stumped or tongue-tied by questions I didn’t anticipate, like when he asked me how old you have to be to have sex. (I came up with: “There’s no set age, but you want to make sure you’re emotionally mature enough to handle it, that you’ve found someone you trust enough to take that step with, and that you have the necessary information to do it safely. Also, sex should never happen between children and adults.”)

While it’s not always easy or comfortable to have these conversations, I love that my preteen feels comfortable with himself and unashamed to approach me with any and all questions about sex and sexuality. (Although I did have to tell him recently that it’s not necessary to inform me every time he has an erection.)

I have also, throughout his life, been careful not to assume my son’s sexuality; if we talk about the idea of a future partner, I refer to a potential “boyfriend or girlfriend,” “husband or wife.” He has queer people in his life, and he knows other kids with gay parents. He knows about trans and nonbinary people, and he once told me a great joke that went: “What are a chocolate bar’s pronouns? Her/she.” The time he came home from school repeating what some boy had told him – “Boys can’t kiss each other” – I didn’t hesitate to tell him that, my dear, they can and they DO.

I am very much a parent who says gay, because my son’s sexual orientation (and potentially, gender identity) has yet to be revealed to me, and it’s imperative to me that he knows I will love and support him no matter who he turns out to be attracted to.

So, the other night, when he asked me if two men can have sex together, I had no problem telling him enthusiastically: “Of course they can!” It’s when he asked me HOW they do it that things got hairy.

Tripping over my words, I gracelessly gave him the main idea. (Clinically, and not in excessive detail, but he got the gist.)

Then I immediately started to second-guess my decision. I should have said something nebulous like, “People have different ways to kiss and touch each other,” I thought to myself, feeling the itchy discomfort I get when I overshare with another mum at soccer practice.

So later, when he thought to ask me how two women do it, I sort of pawned him off with a nonanswer and sent him to bed. (But not before he asked me if I had ever done it, to which I responded with a swift and only slightly panicked “NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS,” which I stand by.)

The next day, I was still thinking about our conversation and sitting with the vague feeling that I hadn’t handled it correctly.

In light of the “Parental Rights in Education” law passed in Florida, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in the popular lexicon, there’s been a lot of talk about how supporters are assuming that discussion about the existence of sexual orientation or gender identity and related topics is somehow sexual in nature, and thereby inappropriate for children. That is wrong.

Knowing that some families have two mommies or two daddies is not sexual information. Small children don’t sexualise things in that way, and there’s nothing inherently deviant or inappropriate about knowing that LGBTQ+ people exist.

But what about when children are old enough to be taught about sex? (And experts do agree that these conversations are perfectly appropriate for children between 9 and 12, or even younger, especially considering they are on the cusp of puberty.)

If my son is old enough to have gotten a frank explanation of the mechanics of hetero sex, why did I feel so uncomfortable giving him the same information about queer sex? Especially considering that the sex acts engaged in by queer people are also performed by straight folks.

Somehow, when he asked me about two men together, the same information had just felt instinctually more, well, sexual.

I had to look at that discomfort. How had someone as well-intentioned and liberal and frankly not even entirely straight as me fallen into the idea that gay sex is somehow dirtier or less appropriate to talk about than straight sex?

And I don’t think I’m alone. When I started trying to research the topic, I found a lot of information on how to explain the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity to children, but practically nothing about actually talking to them about queer sex, at any age.

And what if my son does turn out to be gay? Wouldn’t my ability to provide LGBTQ-inclusive sex education then be of dire importance? Don’t I want my son to be sexually prepared, informed, and provided with the information he needs to stay safe, no matter what his sexual orientation? Who would tell him about things like safety in anal play and dental dams?

Not necessarily the teachers at his school. According to the GLSEN 2019 National School Climate Survey, only 8.2% of students (including those who received no sexual education at school) “received LGBTQ-inclusive sex education, which included positive representations of both LGB and transgender and nonbinary identities and topics.”

As a high school junior who identifies as a lesbian told The Atlantic in a 2017 article on LGBTQ-inclusive sex education, “We were informed on the types of protection for heterosexual couples, but never the protection options for gay/lesbian couples.”

Despite my attempts to resist assuming my son’s heterosexuality, when I half-answered his questions about gay sex, wasn’t I assuming it was information he didn’t need? If I was truly considering the possibility that my son might not be straight, wouldn’t I have answered him differently? Pretty sneaky, heteronormativity.

The more I Googled and the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I’d gotten it wrong. Luckily, this is no uncommon experience for a parent. I make mistakes all the time, and when I do, I think there’s great value in modelling my ability to admit it, take responsibility, and apologise.

So last night, around bedtime, when all the most important conversations seem to happen, I went back in.

“Last night, you asked me some questions about how two men and two women have sex together,” I told him, “and I think I felt a little bit uncomfortable, or nervous, and I didn’t really answer what you asked. But I thought about it more and I realised that if you’re old enough to know how straight people have sex, there’s no reason you’re not old enough to know how gay people have sex.

“So we can talk about the different ways that gay people have sex together, which, by the way, are also ways that straight people have sex together, and I will answer any questions you have.”

There was nothing dirty or inappropriate about the conversation we proceeded to have, and at the end, he just wanted to know which acts could result in pregnancy, which, hey – is really important information to have!

He even made me proud when he pivoted from a reaction of “Wow, that’s so weird” to “Actually, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I shouldn’t call it weird,” in less than three seconds with no prompting.

Maybe as importantly, I told him that I’d felt uncomfortable talking about all this because of a prejudice I had, and that everyone has prejudices, but we have to investigate them and try to move beyond them when they come up.

I hope that’s a lesson we all can take to heart because the core belief contributing to my discomfort around the topic of talking to my son about gay sex feels to me like it’s on the same continuum of the ideas fuelling Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” and copycat bills.

To be clear, I do not think that we should be educating young children about how anybody has sex. But just as gay people are not inherently inappropriate, and education about LGBTQ topics is not inherently sexual, providing education about gay sex to children who are old enough for sex education is not any dirtier than providing them with information about straight sex.

And in the case of LGBTQ kids, it just may be vital.

Emily McCombs is the deputy editor of HuffPost Personal. She writes and edits first-person essays on all topic areas including identity (race, gender, sexuality, etc.), love and relationships, sex, parenting and family, addiction and mental health, and body politics.

This piece was previously published on HuffPost and is being shared again as part of HuffPost Personal’s “Best Of” series.

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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defied Donald Trump to launch retaliatory air strikes on Iran.

The US president had claimed “I call the shots” just hours before the Israeli action.

Israel’s military said it carried out strikes on military targets in central and western Iran early on Monday morning.

Netanyahu’s decision is a major blow to Trump’s hopes of striking a peace deal with Iran to end the war which began on February 28.

Tehran launched missiles on northern Israel on Sunday, which Trump told Fox News was “certainly not going to help negotiations”.

The president said: “What I would suggest to Iran: You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough, get back to the table and make a deal.”

Trump also said he was “not happy” about strikes in recent days by Israel on Lebanon.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the president said Netanyahu “won’t have any choice” but to agree to any peace deal he strikes with Iran.

“I call all the shots – he doesn’t call the shots,” he said.

Nevertheless, it appears as though Netanyahu ignored Trump’s call for Israel not to strike Iran.

The Associated Press quoted a US official who said the president had “got [Netanyahu] to hold off for the time being”.

The US president told Israel’s Channel 12 news he did not want to see “an additional attack tonight”.

“The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody,” Trump said. “Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.”

It is understood that Iran launched its own fresh strikes on Israel on Monday morning, threatening a further escalation in the latest Middle East conflict.

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There’s been growing concern for some time now over the popularity of manosphere content, particularly among young boys who might not necessarily question what they’re viewing.

The manosphere is “a collection of websites, social media accounts and forums dedicated to men’s issues, from health and fitness to dating and men’s rights”, says Robert Lawson, an expert in sociolinguistics at Birmingham City University.

Yet it’s increasingly become associated with anti-women and anti-feminist sentiments.

The impact of this kind of content is worrying – and parents and teachers are seeing it trickle down to school-age children. In fact, most primary and secondary school teachers are now “extremely concerned” about the influence of online misogyny on children and young people.

Parents fear it, too. New research from EE found over three-quarters (77%) admit they’re concerned about the influence of online content on their son’s attitude or behaviour. Two fifths (42%) said they’ve heard their sons use language or phrases they didn’t recognise, but believed may have come from negative online sources.

Not only can this kind of content impact the mental health of boys and men, according to UN Women, but it amplifies harmful sexist stereotypes, teaches dangerous social and dating behaviour, and makes both digital and real-life spaces more hostile for women and girls.

For parents, it can be hard to know how to tackle the issue – especially as much of the content promoting these harmful views is online and it’s hard to monitor teens’ internet use. Experts have also suggested the longer kids are spending online, the more likely they’re coming across misogynistic content.

EE’s survey, conducted in partnership with Professor Ben Hine, found over half (54%) of parents haven’t sought guidance for talking about the online content their son’s consume because they feel out of their depth, yet 80% would welcome more practical support and advice on having these conversations.

Just this week, the London Assembly published a guide suggesting that a ‘N.O.I.S.E. check’ might be a good place to start to help boys think critically about what they’re viewing online.

It’s a conversation tool parents can use to help teenagers “recognise patterns, reflect on how content makes them feel and build resilience to manipulative messaging”.

Parents are urged to look over content with their teen and then work through the following prompts.

N (negative): Ask them whether the content they’ve just watched leaves them feeling worse (ie. triggering strong negative emotions)? This could be anger or shame, or not feeling “good enough”. You could ask something like: “Do you think this creator wants viewers to feel upset or angry?”

O (opposition): Ask whether the content frames women as the enemy. You could say, “Does this encourage conflict between men and women?” or “Is it blaming women for complicated problems?”.

I (insecure): Talk to them about whether the content profits from insecurity – whether that’s around appearance, money, dating, status, confidence or masculinity. You could ask, “Does this make you feel like you’re not enough?” or “Who benefits if young men feel insecure?”.

S (simplistic): Talk about whether the content is offering a simple answer to a complex issue. The advice sheet urges boys to “be cautious of creators who claim: there is only one way to be a man, one group is causing all men’s problems, they alone have the answers, [or] success or happiness can be achieved through one simple formula”.

E (earning): Discuss who’s making money from their outrage? You can then talk about what the creator gains by keeping people watching, engaged and angry.

The aim of the tool, per the London Assembly, is not to tell boys what to think, but to “help them notice when someone else is trying to do their thinking for them”.

Parents have previously opened up about their sons being ‘red-pilled’ (influenced by misogynistic content) and have said teaching critical thinking was crucial to shifting the needle on these views.

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about the fact that some paprika is made from a type of bell pepper called Capsicum annuum (more traditional kinds, however, usually contain Aleppo or various Hungarian varieties, among others).

That made me wonder about the rest of the spices, condiments, and pickles in my cupboard.

This includes the small, briny flavour bombs, capers – which, as it turns out, are actually baby flowers.

They’re made from the flower buds of the Mediterranean Capparis bush (yes, really).

The small, unbloomed flowers are picked by hand, which is why they can run a little dear. Then, they’re dried, salted and/or pickled.

These closed buds offer a nook-and-cranny-rich surface for salt to seep into, making the end product powerfully saline.

But that’s not the only transformation that takes place: when capers are brined, salted, or pickled, they release mustard oil (glucocapparin), leading to their “intense” flavour.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison added that “This enzymatic reaction leads to the formation of rutin, often seen as crystallised white spots on the surfaces of individual caper buds”.

Smaller capers are generally considered of higher quality. They can be more tender and less acidic than their bigger counterparts – some reccomend picking salt-packed, rather than pickled, capers if you can, as the salty flavour can be more concentrated.

French “nonpareille” types are some of the tiniest (about the size of a peppercorn), and are a bit of a cult foodie favourite.

Capers are graded by size. The options, from largest to smallest, include:

• Grusas,
• Fine,
• Capotes,
• Capucines,
• Surfines,
• Nonpareille.

These are the fruit of the same bush. They’re seed-filled berries that can also be pickled or salted.

They have a milder flavour than capers and are a lot bigger than the buds.

Caper leaves can also be pickled and eaten, and are sometimes used as a vegetarian alternative to rennet in cheese-making.

Speaking to HuffPost UK previously, experts at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Flight Operations Specialist Group explained that there are two reasons why we can’t recline our chairs during takeoff and landing.

“The first is that the seat gives the occupant maximum impact protection when upright, and its structure locks into position accordingly,” the spokesperson shared.

“Being upright also reduces the possibility of the occupant ‘submarining’ under their lap belt in the event of a violent deceleration.”

After all, the most dangerous parts of a plane’s flight are when it leaves and returns to the ground.

Fine – but how much of a difference can the mandatory opening of blinds make, especially when added lights are detrimental during the same phase?

According to aviation training services BAA Training, it’s actually done for similar reasons to those which lead staff to turn lights off during takeoff and landing.

Per pilot and YouTuber Captain Joe, the lights get dimmed to help our eyes adjust to the light outside, which means that our eyes will find it easier to adjust in the event of an emergency evacuation.

“If the cabin lights were to be fully bright, you would jump onto the slide into absolute darkness as your eyes struggle with the sudden change,” he said.

BAA Training stated that “If anything happens during a take-off or landing, your eyes will already be used to the day or night light outside, thus you will be able to react more quickly”.

Yes. It’s not just to do with light levels within the plane, but what the crew can see outside of it.

“If any problems occur with the engine or wings, the crew can see [them] out of those tiny round windows in a cabin.

“If the aircraft needs to be evacuated, passengers and the whole crew is able to see which side of the aircraft is safer for evacuation,” BAA Training added.

By the way, that’s what those little black triangles you can sometimes see above plane windows are for – they provide the most straightforward view of the wings for staff.

The seat these are placed above is sometimes known as the “Shatner seat”.

A BBC Question Time audience member savaged the Reform UK candidate in a crunch by-election over his “sexist” views.

Robert Kenyon has been forced to defend social media posts he made before being chosen to stand for the party in Makerfield, Greater Manchester.

The plumber wrote that women can’t “ref, drive or give directions” on an online rugby fan forum in the 2010s.

He said women presenting rugby games on TV “aren’t up to the job and only there to tick a box”, adding: “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.”

On the same forum, he also said that women have abortions get them for “vanity purposes” and so they can “shag anyone they want”.

In a now-deleted social media post, he also interacted with a message sent on X to former Countdown host Carol Vorderman, which said: “Happy birthday Carol, my God I would love to smell and lick your arsehole.”

Kenyon replied: “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking,” along with a thumbs up and a laughing emoji.

The Reform candidate, who is up against Labour’s Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester and a former cabinet minister, has insisted he no longer holds the views he expressed before entering politics.

But in a special edition of Question Time broadcast on Thursday night from Makerfield, one woman in the audience said: “I’d rather have a career politician than a plumber who’s a sexist.”

Her comment was met with loud applause from other audience members.

Kenyon said he “won’t accept that label” and insisted a lot of his comments were made 15 years ago.

“I hold my hands up, I’ve made mistakes,” he said.

Kenyon added: “I was brought up by a single parent and my grandma, who was a widow, and an older sister. So I was brought up by women. I’ve got nothing but respect for women.

“I’ve made mistakes. I said things years ago that I wouldn’t say now and I definitely don’t believe that.”

Subscribe 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.

Horror is having a resurgence, with films like Obsession, Backrooms, Sinners and Weapons becoming some of the most talked about films of the last 12 months.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Scary Movie franchise has been rebooted for a sixth outing, this time taking shots at the likes of The Substance, Get Out and the latest instalments in the Scream series.

This time round, the comedy-horror follows Anna Faris’ Cindy, Marlon Wayans’ Shorty, Shawn Wayans’ Ray and Regina Hall’s Brenda as they’re targeted once again by a mysterious, masked killer.

It’s been 13 years since the last Scary Movie was in cinemas and 25 years since the Wayans brothers last appeared in the franchise, so anticipation was high among fans for the new iteration.

However, critics aren’t quite as hyped about the horror parody franchise’s return, calling it “exhausting”, “predictable” and “dull”.

Here are what the reviews are saying about the sixth Scary Movie…

“This ‘rebootiquel’, as one of the characters refers to it, needs fresh inspiration and not just a lazy retread of the same old meta contortions if it’s to have a life much beyond its opening weekend.”

“As ever, the film is really just an excuse to string together a bunch of cinematic in-jokes, meaning it lives or dies on the strength of its sketches. The result is a slow death that drags even at 96 minutes.”

“The new film, which steps right up to mock itself for being a ‘rebootiquel’, is as thick and layered with legacy characters, and also new characters, as the most convoluted straining-for-a-demographic-home-run Scream sequel.

“It’s jammed with spoof-genre history, but that makes it feel more exhausting than exhilarating. It’s a top-heavy satirical party that’s become so meta it’s meh.”

“It’s hard to see a world where young folk not brought up on the originals, who probably weren’t born when Scream came out, would have any interest in this old-fashioned format which isn’t funny, certainly isn’t scary (not that it tries to be) and feels about as current as a Carry On film.

“Instead it’s an unchallenging stinky old sweater of a movie, which might be deeply unfashionable and unappealing but reminds you of the days when you could smoke inside pubs and people used landlines.”

“For all the expected (if not all that pointed) mockery of legacy sequels, there is a certain comfort and cheer in seeing this cast back together again in pursuit of dumb laughs, even if the earlier films weren’t especially good either.

“Yet there are also increasing notes of sourness as Scary Movie goes on – a lack of generosity toward the younger generation that goes past playful ribbing and sometimes feels downright hostile to the very existence of anyone who dares follow them.”

“Scary Movie tradition is to refer to job-lots of other films in scenes which only barely qualify as send-ups. It’s also series tradition to be just behind the curve, so nods to Terrifier, Sinners, Get Out, Weapons, Longlegs, M3GAN, Candyman, The Substance and Nosferatu will be old news to audiences who’ve moved on to Backrooms, Obsession, and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (the likely targets of a seventh instalment).”

“While new elevated Gen Z horrors like Obsession and Backrooms are pulling record box office, Scary Movie is determined to dumb the genre back down again: stoned blokes exclaiming ‘I’m so high!’; dated pronoun gags; a lazy reliance on sex toys and penis size to provide punchlines.”

“It’s expected to make some big box office bucks this weekend, but sadly this reboot, simply called once again Scary Movie, is surprisingly devoid of many laughs. Instead we get a flat-footed and predictable satire that looks like the Wayans just threw whatever tired ideas they had at the wall to see what still sticks.”

“Oh boy, is Scary Movie frantic. With no less than five screenwriters spitballing ideas at director Michael Tiddes, his film has absolutely no flow. It jars and bumps like a bucking bronco – sketch comedy at a hyperactive pace, tossing out clunkers and punchlines, just to see what sticks.”

“The irony here is how resolutely inoffensive Scary Movie actually is. What you think you’re going to get here is pretty much exactly what it is, only further eroded by its loose idea of a narrative arc. Even by parody movie standards, it falls prey to our age of meta humor, cramming in too many movie references where the reference itself is often the punchline.”

“Sucky or not, Scary Movie is still a broad comedy, and a lot can be forgiven if it’s funny. It’s frequently funny. Some of the jokes backfire, horribly, and others are so tired they’re pathetic, but one out of every four punchlines hits hard.

“The celebrity cameo in the pre-credits sketch is inspired, and whenever Scary Movie falls back on old-fashioned slapstick, the comedic timing and Looney Tunes physics are hilarious as hell. The old cast knows how to make bad jokes work, or at least how to get away with them, and the new cast is extremely game.

“If you want to gaggle about gay panic jokes and celebrity cameos – including an admittedly great one in the cold open that I won’t spoil – then the new Scary Movie lives up to its legacy. But it also sinks beneath it too often to give it a free pass.”

“In some ways, Scary Movie 6 reads less like a parody of real horror culture and more like a vague representation of what some Hollywood executives think a modern scary movie is.”

“In general, Scary Movie 2026’s joke success rate is unfortunately on the low side, feeling like maybe 3 or 4 out of every 10 jokes hit the mark.

“There are genuinely funny and clever gags here, to be sure, including surreal touches such as a moment involving a knife stabbing a poster and how the poster itself reacts. But there are also too many jokes that are whiffs or fall into the ‘hey, I remember when that happened in that other movie’ basket.”

Scary Movie is in cinemas now.

On 1 June, the official start of summer, the Met Office released its three-month outlook for the UK.

The meteorological service explained on its site that this outlook is not an exact prediction or a guarantee of what will happen in the season. Instead, they say, it’s about broader trends; you can’t say for sure whether something like a heatwave will happen based on this information.

Nonetheless, they added, the most “notable” part of their most recent outlook is the expected hotter-than-usual UK summer temperatures.

“It follows that there is an increased chance of heatwave conditions developing at times,” they said.

We have already had an unusually hot start to the year, with temperatures reaching a record-breaking 35.1°C in Kew Gardens this May.

The Met Office has previously said that hotter summers are becoming more likely in the UK in general.

This outlook doesn’t aim to calculate exact dates, nor does it say there definitely will be heatwaves.

But it did mention that higher pressure, linked to hotter weather, is expected in the middle of June after a rainy start to the month.

“Towards the end of June, low pressure may begin to have more of an influence, especially across the south, where heavy showers and thunderstorms become more probable. It may also become hot in parts of the south,” the Met Office shared.

Even for the UK, 2026′s weather has been especially volatile. We went from record-breaking heatwaves to floods in a matter of days.

The Met Office’s Dr Emily Carlisle previously said this is part of a broader warming trend.

“This spring highlights both the natural variability of the UK’s weather and the longer-term warming we are observing. While conditions varied through the season, all three months of meteorological spring recorded mean temperatures within the UK’s top ten warmest on record,” she stated.

“While we expect fluctuations from year to year, this spring shows some of the changes we’re seeing in our weather patterns, with more extreme conditions becoming more frequent. The fact that nine of the ten warmest springs in England have occurred since 2007 illustrates this ongoing shift in the UK’s climate.”

The Met Office added that factors like the predicted 2026 El Niño can inform their three-month outlooks.