Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson has admitted the way that things played out at this year’s Baftas left him with some questions.

John attended Sunday’s ceremony alongside the cast and crew of I Swear, the award-winning film based on his life story.

He has since said he experienced as many as 10 involuntary tics during the ceremony, resulting in him shouting several offensive terms, including the N-word while Sinners actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting on stage.

In his first interview since the Baftas, John claimed that he “made the decision to leave” early to avoid causing “upset” with any further tics.

“As I reflect on the auditorium, I remember there was a microphone just in front of me,” he explained. “And with hindsight I have to question whether this was wise, so close to where I was seated, knowing I would tic.”

HuffPost UK has contacted Bafta for comment.

Since the ceremony, Delroy Lindo has admitted he was disappointed with the way Bafta handled the incident, with the awards body having since issued an apology to both the Oscar nominee and his co-star Michael B Jordan, accepting “full responsibility” for what transpired.

A Bafta rep told HuffPost UK: “At the Bafta Film Awards last night our guests heard very offensive language that carries incomparable trauma and pain for so many. We want to acknowledge the harm this has caused, address what happened and apologise to all.

“One of our guests, John Davidson MBE, has Tourette Syndrome and has devoted his life to educating and campaigning for better understanding of this condition. Tourette Syndrome causes involuntary verbal tics, that the individual has no control over.

“Such tics are in no way a reflection of an individual’s beliefs and are not intentional. John Davidson is an executive producer of the Bafta-nominated film, I Swear, which is based on his life experience.”

“We take the duty of care to all our guests very seriously and start from a position of inclusion,” the statement continued. “We took measures to make those in attendance aware of the tics, announcing to the audience before the ceremony began, and throughout, that John was in the room and that they may hear strong language, involuntary noises or movements during the ceremony.

“Early in the ceremony a loud tic in the form of a profoundly offensive term was heard by many people in the room. Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the time, and we apologise unreservedly to them, and to all those impacted. We would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their incredible dignity and professionalism.

“During the ceremony, John chose to leave the auditorium and watch the rest of the ceremony from a screen, and we would like to thank him for his dignity and consideration of others, on what should have been a night of celebration for him.

“We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation and we apologise to all. We will learn from this, and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy.”

Elsewhere in Variety’s piece, John’s team made it clear that he has already reached out to the production company behind Sinners in order to apologise “directly” to Michael and Delroy, as well as production designer Hannah Beachler, who shared after the event that he had used the same slur while experiencing an involuntary tic in her presence.

Nigel Farage has been slammed by Keir Starmer for failing to sack a Reform UK councillor who shared a social media post saying a Labour MP “should be shot”.

Deputy leader of Lancashire council Simon Evans shared a Facebook post where Natalie Fleet said she had voted against the grooming gangs enquiry –along with the accompanying text from another user, which read: “Dozy cow, you should be shot.”

Evans later deleted the post and apologised, saying he had made a “genuine mistake” and had not noticed the additional message.

Reform said it considered it to be an “honest mistake” and that they would not be taking any action against Evans.

But Starmer asked Reform leader Farage during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday if would punish the councillor.

“When the death threats were made against the member for Clacton, I stood at this despatch box and condemned them outright,” the PM said.

“If he has any decency or backbone, he will stand up, apologise, condemn the comments and sack the individual question in his party. Will he do so?”

But Farage chose to criticise Starmer over his Chagos deal instead.

Farage said: “Can I ask the prime minister, for a government that is full of human rights lawyers, within and without, why do the opinions and human rights of the indigenous Chagossians not matter to him at all?”

Starmer immediately hit back: “So he has neither the decency not the backbone to condemn the death threat to a member of this House, whichever party they are in.”

He noted Farage has still not sacked the culprit, he said: “That just shows his party have got nothing to offer the country but grievance and division. Look at their candidate in Gorton and Denton.

“A man who says anyone who isn’t white cannot be English, endorsed by Tommy Robinson.”

Referring to GB News presenter Matt Goodwin who is standing for Reform in the south Manchester by-election tomorrow, Starmer said: “It doesn’t represent our country.”

Farage could be seen shaking his head at the prime minister from the opposition benches while Labour MPs shouted “shame” and urging him to apologise.

Starmer’s slapdown comes after Fleet, the MP for Bolsover, said on Tuesday that such offensive online posts are “so common I don’t bat an eyelid”.

However, she added: “They remind me why my husband and children begged me not to stand.

“My first thought is always for the loved ones who have to see it, and any women who may be putt off of getting into politics in the future.”

She said: “The last Labour government helped me so much. I got into politics because I wanted to pay that forward and help others in my community.

“Whatever party, we should be able to fight for our areas without death threats as standard.”

Access to education, health and care plans (EHCPs) – which hundreds of thousands of children currently benefit from – is set to change, as part of the government’s overhaul of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system.

An EHCP is a legally-binding document outlining the needs of a child and what support is required to meet those needs.

Currently, almost 640,000 children with SEND in England have one in place. But as part of the new plans, these documents will only be reserved for children with the most “complex” needs.

Understandably, parents who have fought hard to earn their children much-needed extra support through an EHCP are concerned by what this now means.

As part of the reforms, the government wants to put children with SEND into two main categories by 2035: Targeted, which is for those who are in mainstream schools and involves support from education, health and care professionals, where needed; or Specialist, which is for children with the most complex needs who are either attending a mainstream or specialist setting.

More than a million children with SEND will be legally entitled to a more “flexible” school-based support plan setting out a child’s day-to-day needs, this time called Individual Support Plans (ISPs).

Only those who come under the Specialist umbrella – meaning those with complex needs – will be entitled to ISPs and EHCPs, the latter of which the BBC noted is “the framework giving them legal entitlement to support”.

The government said the transition from EHCPs to ISPs for children without complex needs will begin from 2030. ISPs will be in place for children who are transitioning from an EHCP before they move to the new system, so there should be no break in support, it added.

The news has left parents with one key unanswered question, however. What constitutes ‘complex needs’?

In response to an Instagram post on the reform white paper, shared by @AutismDadcast, one parent said: “Big question – no definition or indication as to what complex needs looks like. Kept referring to it but who qualifies for complex needs and who’s deciding what that looks like?”

Another added: “How do they define children with the most complex needs?”

We don’t yet have a full definition. HuffPost UK understands more detail on this will be set out following the government’s consultation and work with experts over the coming year.

Broadly, though, it’s likely to refer to children who need more support than can be accessed through their local mainstream school and through ‘experts at hand’ (a team of local professionals like speech and language therapists, educational psychologists, etc, which schools will be able to draw from as part of the new reforms).

The NHS suggests that if a child has been “diagnosed with an illness, disability or sensory impairment and needs a lot of additional support on a daily basis”, they’re described as having complex needs.

“A child might have complex needs from birth, or after an illness or injury,” the service adds.

There has been some concern that children with conditions that present on a spectrum, such as autism and ADHD, might lose out on specialist support.

The i Paper highlighted that ‘Specialist Provision Packages (SPP)’ will be the new gateway to an EHCP, however also noted “children and young people with underlying needs linked to a condition which presents on a spectrum (such as autism) may not necessarily be supported by the same Specialist Provision Package”.

When pressed on this, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the system will be “needs-dependent, not diagnosis-dependent”.

She told the i Paper: “Some autistic children do need a [Specialist Provision Package]. Other children with autism – with the right level of support within mainstream [schools] – can thrive, can achieve.”

For now, parents are once again left to wait for more clarity.

Out of all the things we expect to get better with age, I don’t think sex necessarily tops that list. Surely in our 20s and 30s, with youth on our side (and – ahem – flexibility), our sex lives should be in their glory days?

Well, as it turns out, we couldn’t be more wrong. According to a new study, it’s actually incredibly likely that you’ve not even had the best sex of your life yet. Talk about something to look forward to, eh?

The new research from leading digital health and wellness platform Hims, shared exclusively with HuffPost UK, reveals that sexual satisfaction peaks at 55 for women, and 56 for men.

In fact, over half of the respondents to their survey (53%) aged 50+ said sex improves or may improve after the age of 50 – a far cry from the assumption that our needs will begin to ‘fizzle out’ as we age.

According to Dr Peter Stahl, Head of Men’s Health at Hims, this doesn’t come as a surprise to someone who works in the field: “In my experience as a urologist for more than 20 years, fulfilment is rarely defined by fitness peaks or stamina.”

It’s not physical vigour that makes sex better decade after decade – it’s the joys of increasing experience, confidence, and deeper emotional connection.

Over a quarter of respondents (27%) told Hims that they’re more confident during sex now than when they were younger, and 28% attribute better sex in later life to being more confident in their body. Additionally, 24% of all respondents report they’ve become better in bed with age – practice makes perfect, right?

As Dr. Stahl puts it: “Greater emotional maturity, stronger self-awareness, and more stable, trusted partnerships often come with age. Those factors can meaningfully enhance sexual wellbeing and experience.”

The biggest surprise in the data however? Their finding that the age reported as the lowest age for sexual satisfaction was just 27. It certainly backs up the idea that emotional maturity has a huge impact on how much we enjoy time between the sheets.

“In early adulthood, many people are still building self-confidence, navigating new relationships, and learning how to express themselves and their sexual needs. Sexual satisfaction is defined by much more than physical performance,” Dr. Stahl adds.

However, that’s not to say sex as we age doesn’t come with its own set of issues. Almost one in ten men surveyed (9%) stated that they have experienced erectile dysfunction, while the research also found that low libido for men and women (15%) and vaginal dryness (12%) have had an impact on some respondents’ sex lives.

Luckily it’s not the be all and end all for your sex life – as Superdrug Online Doctor previously told us at HuffPost UK: “The most effective approach for couples to enhance intimacy and revive their sex life in the presence of erectile dysfunction is to prioritise the journey rather than solely focusing on the end goal.

“Often, sex becomes too focused on achieving penetrative intercourse and orgasms, couples can benefit from cherishing the connection and intimacy they experience by simply being physically and emotionally close to one another.”

So, if you’re sitting reading this in your 20s or 30s and feeling as though you’re in a sexual satisfaction rut, never fear – the best is yet to… come.

House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle tipped off police that Lord Peter Mandelson was allegedly planning to flee the UK, it has emerged.

The former Labour peer was arrested by Metropolitan Police detectives on Monday over claims he committed misconduct in a public office by passing sensitive information to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when he was business secretary after the 2008 financial crash.

Mandelson, the UK’s former ambassador to Washington, was questioned for nine hours before being released on bail in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday night, his law firm Mishcon de Reya said Mandelson had previously agreed to be questioned by police “on a voluntary basis” next month.

They said he was arrested following “baseless” claims that he was planning to abscond to the British Virgin Islands.

The Times first reported that the source of that information was Hoyle, who claimed to have been told while visiting the Caribbean islands himself last week.

A Commons source told HuffPost UK: “It’s the talk of the town – he has messed up badly.”

In a statement to MPs, Hoyle said: “Members will be aware of comments in the media regarding the arrest of Lord Mandelson.

“To prevent any inaccurate speculation, I’d like to confirm that upon receipt of information, that I felt it was relevant I pass this on to the Metropolitan Police in good faith, as is my duty and responsibility.”

In a bizarre twist, Mandelson was mistakenly told by police that they had been tipped off by the Lord Speaker, Michael Forsyth, forcing him to put out a statement denying it.

He said: “Any suggestion at all that the Lord Speaker received information about Lord Mandelson’s movements or communicated any such information to the Metropolitan Police Service, is entirely false and without foundation.”

In their statement, Mandelson’s lawyers said: “The arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad.

“There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in any such suggestion. We have asked the [Metropolitan Police] for the evidence relied upon to justify the arrest.

“Peter Mandelson’s overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation, as he has done throughout this process, and to clear his name.”