Infidelity, divorce, even "soft-swinging" - not words traditionally associated with Christianity, but just some of the themes in the hit US reality show, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

The TV series follows a group of female influencers in Utah - the home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) - as they deal with friendship fall-outs, romantic problems, and their relationship with their faith.

"These Latter-day Saints are no angels," last month's trailer for season three declared, setting the tone for what was to come. The show became the most-watched unscripted season premiere of 2024 on Hulu and continues to attract millions of global viewers there and on Disney+.

And the cast of women, who previously gained notoriety on TikTok under their "MomTok" banner, have gained scores of social media followers.

But do Mormons living in the UK think the show gives a fair portrayal of their religion? BBC News has spoken to some, many of whom prefer to be referred to as members of the Latter-day Saints rather than Mormons.

"We're normal people," Ben, a podcast producer who lives near Burnley, says.

"So there is still infidelity, there are still extramarital affairs, probably at a significantly lower percentage because we are intentionally trying not to do that. But those things still happen."

The show is appointment viewing for Ben's wife Olivia, who he says "loves it" - having put the new season in their calendar so she didn't miss it.

When the first series aired last year, Ben, 27, feels there was "hesitancy" in the LDS community about it. Now, he says people are mostly supportive of the women on the programme and wouldn't say they are "embarrassed" by them - "because we're not".

"In the UK, if you spend a week with a Latter-day Saint family, it will probably be generally quite boring and average," he says.

Ben and Olivia are among the approximately 185,000 LDS members in the UK. The church was founded by Joseph Smith in the US in 1830, who said he received a revelation from God, which he translated to become the Book of Mormon.

Members of the LDS believe the Book is the word of God, like the Bible. Unlike other branches of Christianity, members do not believe Jesus is himself God, rather that they are separate beings.

They are perhaps best known for their missionary tradition, where every year thousands of young Mormons are sent by the LDS to different locations around the world to recruit others to the religion.

In 1837 the first missionaries from the newly founded LDS arrived in the UK in Preston, Lancashire - now home to Europe's largest Mormon temple. Earlier this year, plans to expand the temple, where Ben and Olivia sometimes worship, were approved by councillors.

'It's not the way they live their life'

In Buckinghamshire, Traci, 57, tells BBC News after growing up in the LDS, she moved away from the faith aged 17 when her mother died. About a decade later, pregnant with twins, she says she prayed every night, scared and asking for help. When her sons were born, and missionaries knocked on the door, she says she "felt the Holy Ghost's presence".

Since then, she's been a practising member of the LDS - which, among other things, means abiding by a health code that prohibits drinking tea, coffee and alcohol, and eating meat sparingly.

Traci, a psychotherapist based in Olney, decided not to watch the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, but from what she's been told about it, says "it's not representative of the women" she knows in the LDS. "It's not the way that they live their life."

She says she understands "sometimes people do have a curiosity about members of our church, they do want to know what makes us tick", but adds: "Sometimes I worry, how are we being represented? How do you see us?"

One of the major themes of the TV show is the pressure the women feel in their family lives. Jessi, a woman in the show whose storyline revolves around an emotional affair she had, says avoiding to deal with issues in her marriage contributed to infidelity - and blamed Utah's Mormonism for creating "a lot of pressure to have the perfect relationship, the perfect family and everything's great".

Back in the UK, we also spoke to Ben and Olivia's friend Ashlyn who went to university in Utah and now lives in Burnley with her husband Joe, and their nine-month-old son.

She says the show is "a really accurate representation of the church in Utah, and culturally what Utah looks like, where belief meets cultural practices".

The sheer number of Mormons there means that pressure to have a family comes not just from the Church, but from "everybody that you interact with", Ashlyn, 25, adds.

"That pressure is very real. A lot of us call it the Utah bubble."

But she says it's not the same in the UK. She describes the show's US cast as "probably more culturally members" of the LDS, rather than devout believers.

Ashlyn describes her experiences of the LDS as encouraging, rather than pressuring. "Some people view a lot of the commandments, and what people might label 'rules', as very confining and almost like there's all these gates holding me in," Ashlyn says, "whereas for us, it's viewed a little bit more as safety. It helps direct us in the right way."

'Soft-swinging' and race issues in the show

And so-called "soft swinging", one of the show's scandals, would "definitely" be "discouraged" by the Church, she says.

Influencer Taylor Frankie Paul was at the centre of the story in series one of the show, when she described her and her then-husband as being sexually intimate - but stopping short of "going all the way" - with two other couples at various parties.

Ashlyn explains how in the LDS, "we have something called the law of chastity that says we should really save sexual relations within our marriages".

She says her lifestyle in Burnley is "very family-centered, very healthy, trying to focus on going to church on Sunday, serving others, being a really good example to others, and helping in the community".

Ashlyn adds: "I don't think it would be as entertaining if The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives was actually just them bringing cookies to their neighbours and just living very wholesome family lives."

Another theme in the show centres on Layla, a black member of the LDS, who stops attending because she says the Church didn't "resonate" with her any more as a person of colour, having converted to LDS and moved to Utah when she was 16.

"There is an old scripture in the Book of Mormon that states that black skin is a curse. It's something that I am aware of now that I wasn't aware of when I first converted," she says in the latest series.

In 2013 the LDS "disavowed" those teachings, and now believes "everyone is an equal child of God regardless of race".

BBC News spoke to Naomi, a 'Young Women's President' in her local congregation in London, meaning she looks after girls between the ages of 12 and 18 in her area. She told us how as "a black female", she hopes the children "can see me and my example and know what's possible".

Naomi says she hasn't "had any negative experiences" in the Church based on her race, and says the teachings "have been denounced".

The members of the LDS in Britain we spoke to had mixed opinions on whether The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives represents their way of life, with most agreeing that parts of it were exaggerated depictions.

Ahead of the first series of the show last year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the UK released a statement titled, "When entertainment media distorts faith".

While it didn't name the show, it said: "A number of recent productions depict lifestyles and practices blatantly inconsistent with the teachings of the Church.

"We understand the fascination some in the media have with the Church, but regret that portrayals often rely on sensationalism and inaccuracies that do not fairly and fully reflect the lives of our Church members or the sacred beliefs that they hold dear."

Naomi, who is a TV producer working on reality shows, knows all too well that it's a classic of the genre that "things are going to be heightened, things are going to be produced to get the desired effect".

"I'm very aware of that."

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'Tis the season to slob out on the sofa and demolish a packet of mince pies in front of a good movie, or a bad movie - or a movie that's so bad it's good.

This year, as ever, a crop of new Christmas films are hoping to be part of our festive viewing - and perhaps even join the ranks of enduring classics alongside the likes of Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually and Die Hard (don't start).

So, in an effort to bring you a vital public service by sorting the crackers from the turkeys, and in an attempt to get myself into the Christmas spirit, I binged as many new Christmas films as possible in a day.

7.17am - A Very Jonas Christmas Movie

Starting, hopefully, on a high. This is the only 2025 release on Rotten Tomatoes' list of the greatest 100 Christmas movies of all time. (No, honestly, it is, you can check.)

The Jonas Brothers find themselves stuck in the UK after wrapping up their world tour and must get home for Christmas. Their attempts are hampered by an evil Santa, who breaks into song to say they won't get home until they "rediscover their brotherly magic".

The banter between the bickering brothers is entertaining even for the uninitiated, while fans will no doubt pick up on lots of in-jokes as they attempt to get back to their families using any means of transport necessary.

It's private planes, trains and automobiles.

It's not an all-time classic after all, but is great for fans and a good start to the day.

Christmas tree rating:🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄for Jonas Brothers fans or🎄🎄🎄for Jonas Brothers fans' family members who will have to sit through it

On Disney+

8.45am - Tinsel Town

Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland has been cast as a Hollywood star cast in a pantomime.

"A panto-what?" asks Sutherland's "difficult" and ageing action hero Brad Mack, who has fallen on hard times and whose agent has tricked him into thinking he's starring in prestigious English theatre.

His Aladdin cast-mates inform him he's playing Buttons. "Oh no I'm not," he insists angrily. You can guess their reply. Unless you're unfamiliar with traditional panto catchphrases.

There are some very funny lines, some cockle-warming sub-plots, and the rest of the cast is cracking, too.

Rebel Wilson plays the panto's choreographer (with a Yorkshire accent), Derek Jacobi plays the theatre stage door manager, Meera Syal plays the director, Jason Manford and Asim Chaudhry play the ugly sisters, Lucien Laviscount plays the prince, Katherine Ryan plays Brad's agent, and Danny Dyer plays Danny Dyer.

It's the type of film that would be a bit naff at any other time of year, but is a lot of fun at Christmas.

Christmas tree rating:🎄🎄🎄🎄

On Sky Cinema/Now

10.19am - Christmas Karma

Danny Dyer pops up at the start of this film, too, calling someone a mug for the second film in a row. Is this a new Christmas tradition?

This time, he's a singing black cab driver who picks up Mr Sood, the latest spin on Mr Scrooge from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Mr Sood is played by The Big Bang Theory's Kunal Nayyar and Christmas Karma is directed by Bend It Like Beckham's Gurinder Chadha. The familiar story unfolds as the miserly Mr Sood is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, played by Hugh Bonneville, Billy Porter and Boy George.

This Indian Scrooge is at least different from all the others, but unfortunately he's not very charismatic and Nayyar's performance is flat - a problem when he's so central to everything.

Christmas tree rating:🎄🎄

In cinemas now, and buy and rent on digital platforms from Monday 15 December

12.04pm - Stuffed

There's time before lunch for the BBC's original festive film (well, a 60-minute comedy-drama special) - which stars Guz Khan as a lovably grouchy guy who "doesn't really do Christmas".

But after he gets an £8,000 Christmas bonus at work, his wife (Morgana Robinson) persuades him to blow the money on a family trip to Lapland.

There's just one problem - he discovers there was an error with his bonus, which should have been £800, and he has to figure out how to pay back the difference.

Enjoyable but forgettable.

Christmas tree rating:🎄🎄

On BBC One and iPlayer on Tuesday 23 December

1.12pm - Champagne Problems

This is one of those Christmas films where the tree, fairy lights and snow are in the background - Christmas is the setting of the film rather than its raison d'etre - but it feels cosy and festive all the same.

Ambitious executive Sydney (Minka Kelly) is sent to a French chateau to do a deal to buy a champagne business. En route, she meets a guy in a book store who promises to show her Christmas in Paris.

Journalist and author Olly Richards recently told the Bah Humbug Christmas film podcast this is the best new Christmas film of the past few years. That's a bit of a stretch, but it is a Christmas romance with a touch of class and gives the required warm and fuzzy feels.

The scene with a lengthy discussion about Die Hard is very good too.

I'm starting to feel a bit festive, and pop out to buy some mince pies to keep me going for the rest of the day.

Christmas tree rating:🎄🎄🎄

On Netflix

3.29pm - Finding Father Christmas

Sixteen-year-old Chris, played by Lenny Rush, refuses to stop believing in Father Christmas, despite the attempts of his dad (The Inbetweeners' James Buckley) to tell him otherwise.

The truth is out there, and Chris sets out to find it with the expert help of Sir Stephen Fry, Hannah Fry, Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Jason Fox.

It's low-key but charming, and good viewing while waiting for Santa to visit.

Christmas tree rating:🎄🎄🎄

On Channel 4 on Christmas Eve

4.39pm - Oh. What. Fun.

Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of a quarrelling American family who come back together for the holidays - including fellow Oscar nominee Felicity Jones, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman and dad Denis Leary.

Pfeiffer begins by referencing classic festive films like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, It's A Wonderful Life and Home Alone, before saying: "They need to make a movie about the true heroes of the holidays - moms."

So that's what this is, but in reality it's really a jumble of those forerunner films, at least until Pfeiffer's character finally comes into her own.

Christmas tree rating:🎄🎄

On Amazon Prime Video

6.43pm - A Scottish Christmas Secret

The day's gone downhill, but thankfully here's a new entry in the crowded field of formulaic, schmaltzy, badly acted - and highly entertaining - festive fodder.

It's a tale as old as time, or as old as the Hallmark Channel at least. An American woman goes on a quest to a distant snowy land and ends up stumbling across romance.

In this case, Caprice Bourret plays a publisher who travels from LA to the Scottish Highlands (with sister Patsy Kensit back at home) and tracks down an author who must clear his writer's block, solve a family mystery, and save the local castle from Duke Hamish.

Cheap and cheesy is by no means a bad thing for a Christmas film and it's given me a more unashamedly festive feeling than most of the others.

Christmas tree rating:🎄 but🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 if you know and like what you're getting.

On Channel 5, streaming service 5 and Paramount+

8.19pm - Goodbye June

I've saved the most intriguing for last. This is Kate Winslet's directorial debut, and she stars alongside Dame Helen Mirren, Toni Collette, Timothy Spall, Andrea Riseborough and Johnny Flynn.

It's not your typical feelgood festive fun. Dame Helen's character has cancer and may or may not make it to Christmas. It's an intimate family drama with top-drawer performances.

I was ready to be cynical about the fact it was written by Winslet's son Joe Anders when he was 19, a nepotastic endeavour, but the script is skilled and sensitive, if sentimental.

You wouldn't put it on for an easy Christmas comfort watch, but it does have levity and warmth as well as tear-jerking realism, so stands out from the festive films that are as gaudy and hollow as a bauble.

Christmas tree rating:🎄🎄🎄🎄

In cinemas now and on Netflix from Christmas Eve

There are lots more new Christmas films, but that's probably more than is healthy for one person to watch in one day.

Despite the huge variety, they're all about journeys of self-discovery and the appreciation of what's important in life. Are there any future classics? Probably not.

I'm finally feeling festive enough to put up the Christmas tree, though, and will decorate it with Die Hard on in the background.

Disaster, catastrophe and nightmare. That's how Hollywood's creative workers describe the fall of the once mighty Warner Bros, as Netflix and Paramount battle to buy the historic studio and tinsel town braces for more upheaval and job losses.

Warner's decline and impending sale – whether it's to Paramount Skydance as a whole, or to Netflix cut up in parts – is being mourned in Hollywood, where a historic production slump has already battered the entertainment industry. The loss of the studio, which has created iconic films ranging from Casablanca and Goodfellas to Batman and Harry Potter, likely means more job cuts and definitely means one less buyer of film and TV projects.

Interviews with dozens of actors, producers and camera crews by the BBC reveal an industry attempting to weigh the lesser of two evils: control by a tech giant blamed for killing movie theatres (Netflix) or billionaires seen as too cosy with President Trump (Paramount).

"David Ellison is a right-wing billionaire Trumper," a camera assistant said of the Paramount Skydance CEO who is the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder and close Trump ally Larry Ellison. "Netflix is much more historically inclined to not micromanage production."

If Netflix gets the deal they want, they will buy Warner Bros' crown jewels – the 102-year-old studio, HBO, and its vast archive of films and TV shows – leaving Warners's legacy TV networks, like CNN, TNT Sports and Discovery, for another buyer.

Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance's $108bn(£81bn) hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros includes backing from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and a fund started by Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law.

It has raised concerns about the possibility of censorship and government overreach.

President Trump added fuel to the fire when he said "it's imperative that CNN be sold".

The Warner Bros deal is the latest in a long line of major shake-ups in Hollywood since the pandemic.

Film and TV productions ground to a halt in 2023 during simultaneous actor and writer strikes. Seemingly everyone in Hollywood was working in 2022 as studios and streaming services went into creative overdrive after Covid shutdowns. But when the labour strikes ended, the production boom never returned.

The fallout has meant that many media companies have had to close doors - or merge. David Ellison's Skydance Media bought Paramount, another legendary Hollywood studio, earlier this summer, leading to thousands of job losses.

When Warner Bros put up a for-sale sign, Paramount launched an eager campaign to buy the company. But the studio ultimately announced a tentative deal with Netflix. A spurned Paramount then went direct to Warner Bros Discovery shareholders with a hostile takeover offer that they say is "superior" to the Netflix deal.

Whether they're rooting for Paramount or Netflix or another potential buyer, the one thing people in Hollywood seem to agree on is this story's villain - Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who earned $51.9m last year as Warner Bros lost more than $11bn and the company's stock fell nearly 7%.

"I watched Warner Bros struggle since David Zaslav became the CEO and ran it into the ground," says an actor who lost his home after his work dried up. He did not want to be identified because he still hopes to work for Netflix and Paramount.

More than one person compared Mr Zaslav to the fictional movie character Gordon Gekko who proclaims "greed is good" in the 1987 movie Wall Street.

Mr Zaslav took over in 2022 during another massive merger of Discovery, Inc., which he ran, with AT&T's WarnerMedia, creating Warner Bros Discovery. The consolidation saw several thousand jobs cut - and lavish pay packages for Mr Zaslav.

"Zaslav is just Gordon Gekko – he came in, broke it and sold it all," says a producer who was working on the Warner Bros lot. "He said I will make all shareholders rich and who cares what the history of this place is."

Warner Bros objected to that characterisation.

"Under the leadership of David and the talented team at WBD over the past three and a half years, the studio has regained its leadership position with a unique slate of films led by original content, seen the relaunch of the DC Universe under a single unified leadership team with ten year plan and the streaming service has launched globally and become profitable for the first time ever," Warner's head of communications Robert Gibbs said in a statement to the BBC.

For many film workers, whoever buys Warner Bros has felt almost irrelevant. They have instead been focusing on how to reinvent themselves as the industry shrinks amid consolidation and the growing use of AI in entertainment.

"Every morning, no matter how much I tell myself to stay positive, I wake up feeling like I've failed in every direction," says an actor who is now homeless with his wife and two children, relying on the kindness of friends and food banks while he works odd jobs. He asked not to be identified out of fear it could impact future work.

"I would rather see Netflix purchase Warner Bros then foreign money," he says.

Others are not so sure. The tech giant has arguably been the industry's greatest disrupter since Warner Bros pioneered "the talkies" in 1927.

"I think it's a disaster," says a film exhibitor who did not want to be identified because they work with Netflix. "This is a company openly, proudly saying theatres aren't necessary anymore. That's scary. It's a nightmare."

Many theatres in the US refuse to screen Netflix movies because of their streaming-first strategy.

"At least with Paramount, we know movies will make it to the big screen. They didn't kill movie theatres," said one producer who has worked for all three companies.

Netflix has sought to alleviate those fears, saying they expect "to maintain Warner Bros' current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films."

Many in Hollywood want to believe them.

John Evans, a sound technician who dabbles in acting, writing and producing, points to Netflix's loving restoration of The Egyptian Theatre along iconic Hollywood Boulevard as a sign of their good faith.

The Egyptian, a classic 1922 theatre, was the site of the world's first movie premiere – Robin Hood starring Douglas Fairbanks – and had fallen into disrepair before Netflix bought the property in 2020 and gave it a $70m makeover.

"I think it's a good sign," Mr Evans said, adding that streaming is how many film workers consume movies and TV like the rest of the world.

On the backlot at Warner Bros, tourists snap selfies in front of the Central Perk cafe set from Friends, and stroll by facades of buildings that stand-in for New York or Los Angeles. Inside the offices and writers' rooms, for those still working, it's business as usual.

"I've gone through seven mergers," a producer working on the Warner Bros lot said while developing a new show, explaining it's sad to lose a studio because it means it will be even harder to get shows made and sold with one less customer. "But if you make good stuff, you make good stuff."

The producer spoke on the condition of anonymity on the day that Paramount Skydance announced their hostile takeover bid. They said they were too busy to worry about the sale because they were trying to get a show on air – and they wouldn't be surprised if another billionaire or trillionaire made another offer for the studio by the end of all this.

"I joke about Elon walking in and doing this, but he could," they said of the Tesla and X owner. "When you have people worth a trillion dollars, there are no rules."

Standing around a kitchen island with a small group of other food writers, I pull on a pair of plastic gloves and begin massaging a bright red paste into wedges of cabbage.

We are in Korean-American TV chef Judy Joo's London flat, learning how to make kimchi from scratch.

Kimchi - sharp, funky, fermented cabbage - has become a kind of shorthand for Korean food in the UK. Judy calls it "the cornerstone of Korean cuisine".

"Traditionally, Koreans eat kimchi 365 days a year," Judy tells me. Kimchi recipes are passed down "like heirlooms", she adds.

The group joke about the chilli under our nails and the smell lingering on the train home, but we're all excited to have a jar of homemade kimchi ready to put in the fridge.

Judy, who's known for bringing Korean food to British audiences, was leading a class tied to Ocado's new Korean food aisle. It's part of what appears to be a growing trend of bringing Korean food further into the British mainstream.

Growing up as a Korean in London, I was used to my culture turning up at school in the form of food. On "international day", my mum would be asked to send in Korean dishes for pupils to try. Teachers were often more curious than students, and there was usually confusion about whether it was another type of Chinese food.

Korean food has never been in competition with other Asian cuisines – it simply wants to be seen and tasted on its own terms. As more Korean restaurants have opened, and as I've gone back to Korea and explored its food there, I've watched that shift happen in both places.

'Fermented foods, such as kimchi, have become mainstream'

Back in 2009, the South Korean government launched a "Global Hansik" campaign to raise the profile of Korean food abroad, putting public money into restaurant promotion, chef training and overseas marketing. The programme drew criticism at the time for lacking clear results but, later, government studies suggested awareness of Korean food in major overseas cities rose over the first half of the 2010s.

Since then, Korean food has increasingly travelled alongside the broader "K-wave" of pop culture. Food-centred drama Bon Appétit, Your Majesty has showcased Korean fusion dishes, while South Korean competition show Culinary Class Wars returns for a second season on Netflix this month after topping the platform's global non-English TV chart in its first run.

The shift is also visible on UK shelves. Searches for "Korean BBQ" on Waitrose's website are up more than 60% year on year, and sales of its gochujang paste have risen more than 70%. Kimchi is among its fastest-growing international products.

"Fermented foods, such as kimchi, have become mainstream," explains nutritionist Emer Lowry. "They enhance flavour and texture, but also offer benefits including improved digestion and a diverse, healthier gut microbiome."

And the interest in Korean food didn't just happen overnight - it's driven by curiosity. Analysis by Bibigo, part of food giant CJ, suggests TikTok posts by UK users mentioning Korean food have risen from just under 10,000 in 2023 to more than 17,000 in 2025.

At Cálong, a restaurant in North London, chef Joo Won is exploring what it means to cook Korean food in Britain. In his early career in a London hotel kitchen, he worked with chefs from France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Thailand. Between shifts, they would take it in turns to cook meals from home for each other and, one day, the others asked him to make something Korean.

"When they asked me to cook Korean food, I realised I couldn't," he says. "As a Korean person and a chef, being unable to cook Korean food was embarrassing."

He began revisiting the dishes he grew up with, not just restaurant staples but the home cooking most non-Koreans never encounter. "In Korea, the real foundation of our food is jang," he says, referring to fermented pastes and sauces such as doenjang, ganjang and gochujang.

But ingredients in Britain are different. "We can't get exactly the same ingredients here that we have in Korea," he says. "So a big challenge is: how do we reinterpret the character of British ingredients in a Korean way?

"We're a restaurant that uses Korean techniques and flavours, but we also rely heavily on what's available here in the UK," he continues. "If an ingredient doesn't suit Korean seasoning, there's no need to put gochujang on it. If every dish at an Italian pasta restaurant came out with the same sauce, it would feel strange."

As the popularity of Korean food grows, Joo thinks chefs may find it easier to source the authentic products they need. "At the moment, I'd say we're only at the beginning. It feels like we've just reached the starting line."

Food is the most important part of Korean dining culture. But Yoonsun Chang - who runs a Korean supper club - says Jeong, a deep warmth and care often associated with Korean hospitality, and inyeon, a sense of meaningful connections formed at the table, are also key. "What I try to give is jeong, but what's created through these gatherings is also inyeon."

LoKoLi – short for "Lovely Korean Life" – is a one-woman project run by Yoonsun, who creates one-off dining experiences built around Korean food and culture. I first came across her on Instagram and was struck by how much of it she was doing alone, driven by her own desire to show a version of Korean life that reflected what she loved.

Guests at her monthly clubs, which she usually hosts at home, often say they want more than the obvious elements of K-culture. They already know the music and dramas. What they're seeking is the quieter, domestic side of Korean life: the table setting, the stories behind everyday dishes.

She also pays close attention to how Korean food appears outside Korean spaces. She recalls a time when "kimchi burgers" in Britain used "just some generic pickles". Now, she says, pubs and restaurants increasingly use real kimchi. "Seeing that makes me feel Korean culture has really spread," she says.

'The flavour profiles were so different to what we were used to'

For British YouTubers Armand and Max, their introduction to Korean food came after taking part in a viral video for the Korean Englishman YouTube channel. Now in their early 20s, they say that day changed the way they eat.

The video, which featured the pair trying Korean street food in their school playground, was seen by tens of millions - and eventually took them to Korea itself, where they tried barbecue, late-night ramyun and school lunches.

"The flavour profiles… were just so different to what we were used to," says Max. "Fermented cabbage, kimchi, we'd never had that. That was delicious. I can't even compare it to anything."

Back in Judy's kitchen, as cabbages disappear into jars, she explains that proper kimchi needs weeks to ferment, though we were encouraged to taste it as it developed - as people do when making it at home.

The jar I made that day is now bubbling away in my fridge. It's not the kind of kimchi my family would have made, but the process - rubbing paste into each leaf, waiting for the tang to deepen - connects back to kitchens thousands of miles away.

Korean food in Britain is still young compared with other cuisines. It has not replaced anyone's Friday-night takeaway. But from supper clubs and YouTube channels to supermarket aisles and small flats where people are learning to make kimchi for the first time, it is steadily becoming part of everyday life.

Dan Houser was one of the masterminds behind revolutionary video game series Grand Theft Auto.

Now, after leaving Rockstar Games and launching his own company, he's released a debut novel about a very different type of game.

A Better Paradise is a dystopian vision of the near future in which an AI-led computer game goes rogue.

Set in a polarised world, it finds Mark Tyburn attempting to create a virtual haven for people to find sanctuary and reconnect within themselves against an all-consuming social media hellscape.

But it all goes wrong when it ends up unleashing a mysterious, sentient AI bot named NigelDave into society - "a hyper-intelligence built by humans" - flaws included.

Readers get to see his thought processes as he struggles with "infinite knowledge and zero wisdom".

"What would an incredibly precocious child, who remembers everything he ever thought - because computers don't forget things - feel like when he started talking?" Houser says.

Written before ChatGPT

It feels a bit like A Better Paradise predicted the future.

First released as a podcast, the book comes as AI's continued boom means the sector's big seven companies are now collectively worth more than China's economy.

But Houser says he began writing the book "a good year" before OpenAI's ChatGPT went live to the masses in 2022, complete with a logo eerily similar to his fictional creation.

Instead, it was humanity's technological dependency during Covid - at a scale he'd underestimated - that inspired his thinking.

In his novel - which sometimes feels monologue-heavy - Houser envisions a hyper-digital, alienating world where people retreat from deepening political problems into a spiral of social media and generative AI.

Enter CEO of Tyburn Industria, Mark, who dreams of building the Ark, an immersive gaming experience users can enter in order to reconnect with themselves. It generates a world and mission tailored to each player's innermost wants and needs.

But during testing, the Ark becomes a Pandora's box of addiction. Some players find joy; others encounter terror. One even reconnects with his dead sister.

Meanwhile, a rogue AI bot named NigelDave slips into the real world, controlling minds and engineering realities no one can control.

Mined for advertising, people are left wondering if their thoughts are genuine. Everything is tracked, and nothing is secure. As climate emergencies intensify, society falls to pockets of civil war.

The only way to escape is to "drift"- which means hiding from a thousand algorithms by living off-grid, constantly moving and suppressing maddening paranoia that your thoughts are not your own.

Mirroring our world

To the reader, NigelDave feels like a nightmare ChatGPT gone wrong.

The AI tool recently reached 800 million weekly active users, according to boss Sam Altman, and Houser believes some people are becoming dependent on the technology's affirming "human veneer".

Microsoft's head of AI Mustafa Suleyman has warned of a rise in AI psychosis - a non-clinical term describing incidents where people increasingly rely on chatbots like Claude, Grok and ChatGPT and become convinced that something imaginary has become real.

In some cases, the chatbot fuels grandiose fantasies about future opportunities. In others, it presents in a romantic connection. More troubling are reports of parents saying bots have encouraged their children to kill themselves.

In response to the increased scrutiny, ChatGPT creator OpenAI recently tightened its welfare protocols, with updates designed to ensure its chatbot responds "safely and empathetically to potential signs of delusion or mania".

The dizzying algorithm-fuelled society in which NigelDave is unleashed mirrors ours too.

Parents worry about exposing their children to false information or harmful content. Last year national police chiefs described the "quite terrifying" misogynistic radicalisation of boys and young men. And in 2014 Facebook admitted manipulating the news feeds of nearly 700,000 users without their consent to manage the emotions they were exposed to.

"As a parent, you always worry about anything that you expose your kids to that is going to either give them false information or simply bombard them with too much information," Houser says.

But is it bold for a video game creator to be warning of these dangers - given the long history of video games themselves being accused of making young people violent?

Houser insists there's a difference.

"We always had the data about game violence, and it was very clear: as people played more video games, youth violence went down.

"Whatever people were claiming, we knew the opposite was true."

Psychology professor and game violence researcher Pete Etchells says numerous studies have shown "no meaningful effect of playing violent games on aggression".

AI models and social media are another matter - a "new paradigm" in altering behaviour that gaming never threatened, according to Matt Navarra, social media consultant and author of the Geekout Newsletter.

He says dismissing concerns as a GTA-style moral panic "understates what is changing".

"We're talking about external systems that can potentially shape people's beliefs or manipulate attention, personalised experiences, nudge behaviour or even influence identity and emotional states."

Rockstar freedom

Could Houser have pushed forward with A Better Paradise at Rockstar? "I don't know if I would have had the bandwidth to think about it," he tells me.

He's previously described the fatigue of managing vast open-world sandbox games like Red Dead Redemption and GTA as playing a role in his departure.

The goal with his book was to create "something truly different in this era of crazy media saturation".

So where next? He's already writing the second instalment of the series, and plans are under way to develop a video game, for which he promises the visuals are ground-breaking.

A key message, he says, is to not let your device - or AI - "tell you what to think". Otherwise, Houser argues, "you're giving up control to your phone".

His biggest fear, as creator of worlds, is losing imagination because of the endless torrent of algorithms. Sometimes after scrolling for hours, he realises: "I've not had an idea all day".

"If you go offline for a bit - sometimes I make myself go for a walk with no phone, you start to have ideas.

"A human is better thinking than not," he says. "Thinking is a privilege."

If you've been affected by issues involving suicide or feelings of despair, details of organisations offering advice and support for people in the UK are available from BBC Action Line. Help and support outside the UK can be found at Befrienders Worldwide.

"When are you interviewing Haim?" my sister Emily texts, late one night. "I wanted you to ask if I can be their fourth member."

There's just one problem: I also want to be Haim's fourth member. And we're not alone. Taylor Swift and actress Brie Larson have also begged for the position.

Fellow Oscar-winner Emma Stone even teamed up with them for a Spice Girls tribute although, sadly, that wasn't a permanent deal.

There's clearly something going on.

Sisters Este, Danielle and Alana began their career playing gigs at local delicatessens with their parents. Now they're multiple Grammy nominees.

Like all the best bands, they're a tight-knit gang. Their videos often show them striding in unison down the streets of Los Angeles. On stage, they play with such unfettered joy you can't help but think, "I want to be part of that, too."

"The amount of times on tour that young girls came up to us and said, 'After your show, I got a guitar, I picked up drum sticks, I picked up a bass'," says Alana, the youngest of the Haim siblings. "That's the biggest honour. That's an award in itself. We've done our job if we can inspire young girls to start a band.

"So everyone is invited to be the fourth Haim sister."

(Emily, you're in!)

The band have called into the BBC from home, where they're resting up after an extensive tour in support of their fourth album, I Quit.

They're currently reeling from the news it's been nominated for best rock album at the Grammys - with Haim the first all-female band ever in contention for the prize.

"I watch the nominations every year, so it kind of feels like The Truman Show when your name is read out," says Alana. "I had to call my sisters to say, 'Did I hear this right or am I hallucinating?'"

The significance of the nomination isn't lost on the trio.

"We really set out to make a rock album this time, so it's a huge milestone," says Alana. "But we're just grateful for the women that came before us.

"All we looked up to were women rock artists," adds Este. "That was our world, growing up, whether it be Stevie Nicks, or Joni Mitchell, or Pat Benatar."

Heartbreak and humour

The record emerged from a period of emotional upheaval. All three sisters found themselves single, and the music inhabits that strange liminal space where you're relieved to be free, but not quite ready to move on.

"Can I have your attention, please, for the last time before I leave," sings Danielle, over an Americana-style acoustic guitar on the opening track, Gone.

Then: "On second thought, I changed my mind."

Este takes over the vocals on Cry, tracking her progress through the seven stages of grief. "I'm past the anger, past the rage / But the hurt ain't gone."

There are a lot of departures, a lot of goodbyes. The sisters want love, but not the specific love they've got. You can hear them working out in real time who they want to be, and refusing to be defined by how others see them.

"I love that description, yes," says Danielle. "I Quit is kind of like a mantra. You have to actively work on shutting out the noise and saying, 'I don't give an [expletive] what people think'.

"When we were in our 20s, I wasn't strong enough to say something like that," says Alana, picking up the theme.

"I was more like, 'Oh, please love me'.

"But by the time we get to I Quit, I'm like, 'Screw this, I'm done'. And with that comes an inner strength that I'm very proud to have."

That toughness required a new sound - more raw and immediate than anything the band had done before.

For Danielle, who co-produced the album with Rostam Batmanglij, formerly of Vampire Weekend, that started with the drums.

She plays an acoustic kit on every track, often layering multiple takes, recorded in different studios to capture specific tones. On Everybody's Trying To Figure Me Out, she even tuned her snare drum to match the "iconic" thwack of U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday.

"Drums are such a nuanced like thing, and I care so much about it, so much," she says, as if that wasn't abundantly clear already.

"'Journey of the drum sound' will be the name of our memoir," laughs Alana.

"I've said it a million times, our albums don't start until we find the perfect drum sound, and then we can continue on the journey of writing the songs."

The evolution of Haim's sound also helped them grasp songs that had slipped through their fingers over the last decade.

I Quit's first single Relationships is a glossy pop earworm that first came to Danielle on a flight home from Haim's 2017 Australian tour.

In the intervening years, it went through "hundreds" of re-writes, changing lyrics and tempos, before finally "coming to life" at Batmanglij's home studio.

By contrast, Take Me Back was made up on the spot, as the band shared raucous stories from their high school days - of boys who couldn't perform in bed and friends who lost control of their bowels "in the back of a truck".

"That one fell into place so quickly," says Alana. "We didn't even know if it was going to go on the album.

"It was just us riffing from the heart and being like, 'This is the kind of song that we want to make today', with no pressure. We were laughing through the whole experience.

"At the end of it, we were like, 'This is hilarious, we've got to put it on the album'."

That candour inspired the album's promotional campaign, where the sisters shared some of their dating horror stories.

One man broke up with Este when she told him their future children might have Type 1 Diabetes. He was like, 'Then why are we here?'" she recalls.

Alana shared the story of travelling to London to spend New Year's Eve with a musician she thought she was dating, only for him to high five her at midnight.

On tour, fans shared their own disaster stories on Haim's video screens.

Among them was a girl in Philadelphia who discovered her boyfriend's private safe contained neither money nor passports, but a shrine to his ex... And his mum.

"When you're going through these heartbreaks, you just feel like there's no light," says Alana.

'So to be able to laugh at those stories and share them with other people, and then have them tell you even crazier stories, it's so amazing.

"We can laugh at all these things, and it's not going to keep us from trying to find love in the future."

It's not difficult to sense a shift in the band. The first time we met in 2012, they were still wet behind the ears, and giddy from making their debut at London's O2 Arena.

As the support act for Florence + The Machine, the sisters were overwhelmed at the realisation they'd just played the same stage as The Rolling Stones.

"I've been crawling on the floor, trying to soak it all up," said Alana. "I think I have a little Mick Jagger in me."

These days, Haim are more confident of their place in the rock pantheon.

They're festival headliners, with two number one albums and an international fan base.

Not only that, but they have successful side hustles in acting (Alana has just been "shot in the head by Sean Penn" in One Battle After Another) and soundtrack work (Este's credits include The White Lotus and Loot).

But Haim will always be their number one priority.

"Me and my siblings have been playing music since I was four years old," says Alana.

"It's like there's nothing else that we were supposed to do. And I'm really grateful we've gotten here and we're still kicking."

When Rachael Parnell heard Aldi was selling a new skincare range that looked similar to products from luxury brand Augustinus Bader, she was "super excited".

She rushed to her nearest store to pick up the Lacura face cream for £8.49 for 50ml - a fraction of the £240 price tag of the Augustinus Bader 50ml product.

The sleek blue tube and gold lid of both products look remarkably similar. And though Rachael has never tried the high-end cream, she says she's impressed by the product so far.

The BBC reached out to Aldi about the likeness of the product packaging - but they have not provided a comment.

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's not alone.

More than a quarter of UK shoppers say they've bought a skincare or makeup dupe. This rises to 44% among 18-34 year olds, according to a survey by Barclays in February.

Dupes are skincare products that mimic bigger name brands and provide budget-friendly alternatives to high-end products. They often have similar names and packaging, but in some cases the ingredients can vary significantly.

Rachael, 34, from Warwickshire, says she's attracted by the low prices of budget alternatives and often finds the quality good.

When asked about two cleansing balms she has bought - one from a high-end brand and the other a low-priced equivalent - she says: "It's the same to me, I can't tell the difference."

'Expensive isn't necessarily better'

Skincare experts say some alternatives to high-end brands are good quality and help make skincare more affordable.

"I don't think more expensive is necessarily better," says consultant dermatologist Sharon Belmo. "Not every low-budget skincare brand is bad - and not every luxury skincare product is the best."

"Some [dupes] are absolutely amazing," says Scott McGlynn, who hosts a podcast in which he asks celebrities about their skin routines.

Many of the products inspired by luxury brands "sell out so fast, it's just insane," he says.

Aesthetic and dermatology doctor Ross Perry thinks dupes are fine to use for "basic skincare" like moisturisers and cleansers.

"Dupes will serve a purpose," he says. "They will do the basics to a reasonable level."

Ketaki Bhate, a consultant dermatologist, thinks you can save money when you're looking for single-ingredient products like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and squalane.

"If you're buying a single-ingredient product then you're probably going to be okay in using a dupe or something which is quite low cost because there's very little that can go wrong," she says.

'Don't be sold by the packaging'

But the professionals also suggest consumers do their research and say that more expensive products are sometimes worth the extra money.

With luxury skincare, you're not just paying for the brand and marketing - sometimes the higher price tag also comes from the ingredients and their quality, the concentration of the active ingredient, the technology used to develop the product, and studies into the products' effectiveness, Dr Belmo says.

Facialist Rhian Truman says it's worth thinking about how some dupes can be sold so cheaply.

In some cases, she says they could contain filler ingredients that don't have as many benefits for the skin, or the ingredients might not be as well sourced.

"The big question mark is 'How is it so cheap?'" she says.

Podcast host Scott says in some cases he's bought skincare items that look similar to a big-name brand but the product itself has "no resemblance to the original".

"Don't be sold by the packaging," he added.

For more complicated products or ones with ingredients that can irritate the skin if they're not formulated correctly, such as retinols or vitamin C, Dr Bhate recommends sticking to more specialised brands.

She says these will likely have been through expensive trials to evaluate how effective they are.

Skincare products need to be tested before they can be sold in the UK, says consultant dermatologist Emma Wedgeworth.

If the brand makes claims about the effectiveness of the product, it needs data to back it up, "but the seller doesn't necessarily have to do the testing" and can instead reference testing done by other brands, she says.

Check the back of the pack

Are there any ingredients that could indicate a product is low-quality?

Ingredients on the back of the bottle are ordered by quantity. "The baddies that you want to look out for… is your mineral oil, your sodium lauryl sulfate, parfum, benzel peroxide" being high up on the ingredients list, Miss Truman says.

The BBC sent ingredients lists of two BHA 2% salicylic acid toners with similar packaging to Dr Bhate. One is typically sold for six times the price of the other.

Dr Bhate says the the list of active ingredients in both products "looks pretty similar, no red flags," but she notes the products have different formulations with solvents and humectants, which break down ingredients and hydrate the skin respectively.

"This will likely lead to varying performance between the two products," she says.

Dr Bhate also looked at the ingredients lists for two serums with similar branding, one from a luxury skincare brand and one from a supermarket.

She says that though they have "lookalike packaging", the budget product "doesn't appear very similar in terms of ingredients" and the higher-end formula "seems more complex with barrier lipids and more marine extracts".

But for many people, trying to analyse the ingredients list on a bottle of moisturiser, cleanser or serum can be overwhelming.

"Sometimes it feels like looking at the back of a skincare product ingredient list is like having a chemistry lesson," says Riya Asher, a pharmacist and aesthetic practitioner.

She recommends focusing on how high up the active ingredient - the one that triggers the effect, like retinol or vitamin C - is in the ingredients list. And if you're not sure which is the active ingredient, she recommends doing your research online.

And Dr Belmo says you should focus on your skincare concerns when scanning the back of bottles, such as avoiding oils for acne-prone skin or staying fragrance-free for sensitive skin.

Victoria Woollaston posts reviews of skincare products on her website, Mamabella.

She's tried both an Augustinus Bader serum and the new product sold by Aldi, and tells the BBC the supermarket serum felt thinner, but that because Augustinus Bader's is stronger it could cause irritation for some people.

Victoria feels like there's a "perfect storm" for skincare dupes to become popular, as the cost of living crisis pushes shoppers to seek value for money and people have become more interested in the ingredients in their skincare products.

She says these companies aren't stealing customers from luxury beauty brands - in her opinion, many of the people who buy budget alternatives would never have been able to afford the high-end products in the first place.

"What my years of tests show," says Victoria, "is that value and efficacy can 100% coexist."

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While some get a boost of happiness by exercising and getting enough sleep, others are turning to interior design with bold paint and eye-catching patterns.

It is a craze known as "dopamine decor", which has more than 70,000 posts on TikTok, and involves adding bright, quirky items to your home for a happiness boost.

Rachel Verney shares decor inspiration videos of her colourful Surrey home to more than 800,000 followers on social media and she saw her popularity boom when she bought a bright orange sofa.

Known as The Shoestring Home, millions watch her renovation videos as she aims to make "aesthetic accessible" and help people create colourful spaces on a budget.

"It's my happy place when I work on a project," she said. "Sometimes I feel like an imposter as I'm not qualified to do the job."

On Facebook, she has experienced "division" over her interiors as some find the designs too bold.

But while she might not have a degree in interior design, her ideas have been a hit with younger viewers and she has made content creation her full-time job over the past year.

"Everything is so gloomy and the world is a bit of a scary place at the moment - houses want to be joyful," she said.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a crucial role in our brain's reward and pleasure systems. Often referred to as the "feel-good" hormone, it influences mood, motivation, and attention.

Psychologist Dr Natasha Sharma said vivid colours produced small dopamine hits, which, in uncertain times, provided a sense of optimism and reward.

She said dopamine decor allowed people to "externalise" their identity and boost their mood, giving a "heightened sense of wellbeing".

Dr Sharma, from Wolverhampton, added that a home dominated by grey or neutral tones could result in "feelings of emotional flatness".

Nicola Brighton is among those making a living from the trend, creating kitsch prints and neon mirrors in unique shapes which are stocked in stores across the UK and US.

Since 2022, her business Printed Weird, which is based in Birmingham, has grown 62% and her designs frequently sell out as customers look for nostalgia to add to their homes.

"When you come home from work and you've had a rubbish day, you can just look at things that bring you joy and happiness," Nicola said.

She started her business from her mum's spare bedroom seven years ago, fuelled by a love for colourful decor and a mission to put affordable items on the market.

"Through what you love, why not put that silliness on your wall? It's an extension of your personality and will bring you joy," she said.

But while Google searches for dopamine decor have risen more than 110% in the past year, estate agents warned the trend could put off potential buyers.

Paul Fox Estate Agents, based in Lincolnshire, recommended a neutral colour scheme over bold hues, adding "timeless" shades helped sell homes quickly.

"First impressions are everything, so by ensuring that the home is painted in popular colours you are likely to attract buyers," the agent said.

Despite the agent's advice, new homeowners like Jodie Edmonds have decided to add personality to their walls.

"I'm not bothered when it comes to reselling, people have different tastes and can change the decor," she said.

For Jodie, a colourful scheme is a way to express herself and make guests feel happier.

"A grey house would make me feel low, a bright house makes me feel motivated and inspired," she said.

How to add dopamine decor to your home without breaking the bank

• Rachel Verney recommends you introduce colours you love into your decor by starting with items like cushions and rugs, and not being afraid to mix colours and patterns

• Simple touches to practical items go a long way - vinyl wrap your fridge in an exciting pattern, paint your appliances and radiators any colour of the rainbow or add a fun printed shower curtain and quirky bathmat to a boring bathroom

• Get crafty to create affordable dupes of your favourite brands, like adding bows to cushion covers or updating candlesticks

• Shop second hand and upcycle pieces from charity shops and Facebook Marketplace to save money and items from landfill

• Add plants to shelves, mantlepieces and uninspired corners to boost your mood. If your fingers are not green, consider botanical prints on wallpapers, rugs or bedding to bring warmth and tranquillity to your home

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Mahad Mohamud is slowly readjusting to the heat, chaos and tension of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, after being deported from the US city of Minneapolis last month just as winter was closing in there.

Somalis know the 36-year-old as Garyaqaan - a word that can be translated as "judge".

This is the name he uses on TikTok, where he attracted almost half a million followers while he was abroad. Fans praised Mahad for his defence of his clan's interests - part of Somalia's lucrative TikTok roasting sub-culture.

But to those running the White House-linked "Rapid Response 47" X account, Mahad was a "criminal illegal scumbag". In an October post it accused him of being "involved in the kidnapping of French officials" from a hotel in the Somali capital.

Mahad has denied the allegation, saying that he was not in Mogadishu at the time. He was never convicted and the case was dropped.

He says his detention by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency was triggered after a rival TikToker leaked his address.

"ICE told me they had two cases against me - one was entering the country illegally and the kidnapping of a French official."

Mahad said the kidnapping case was handled by the FBI and after questioning, they cleared him.

But that didn't save him from being deported.

His journey from Somalia to the US started more than a decade ago and first took him to South Africa, where he lived until 2021. But he says he was assaulted by armed men in a xenophobic attack.

He then went to Brazil and made his way north, eventually crossing into the US, without documentation, through the Mexican border.

"When I jumped the fence from Mexico, I was arrested and detained for a month," Mahad says.

"I was later released with a work permit because my asylum case was active."

He then made his way to Minneapolis. "I used to work as an Uber driver. I was happy to finally be in the land of dreams. I hoped they would accept me."

His TikTok career also took off which gave him a steady income as fans sent him gifts as they watched his live streams. It also led to a threat on his life from the Somalia-based Islamist militant group al-Shabab because of his defence of the government.

Part of his asylum case in the US was based on that threat.

Mahad describes in vivid detail the early May morning when immigration agents arrested him this year.

Shortly after he had eaten breakfast, he went to his car thinking he was about to begin another day of Uber driving.

"Boom, they came for me," he says.

According to Mahad, he was taken on a 30-minute drive to the ICE headquarters serving Minneapolis and its twin city of St Paul, before being transferred on a six-hour journey to Kandiyohi County Jail Prison in Willmar, Minnesota, where he says he spent six months in detention.

He tells the BBC that three of those months were spent waiting for a decision on his asylum case, and the remaining three awaiting deportation. The authorities denied his asylum claim as they rejected the idea that he would be in danger in Somalia.

Mahad says there were brief periods when he was transferred to Arizona, from where deportation fights leave, but he was told on each occasion that logistical arrangements were not ready.

On one of these trips, he was part of a group of 39 detainees, including nationals of Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea, in a holding area for people waiting to board deportation flights.

Finally, when it came to his own departure, Mahad says he was put in a tight restraining jacket and travelled on a small plane with seven other deportees and some guards.

The journey first took them to Costa Rica, in Central America, then to Senegal in West Africa, before flying to Kenya's capital, Nairobi. There Mahad says the restraining jacket was removed and he was handcuffed and put on another plane to Mogadishu.

Having spent three months waiting to be deported, Mahad had already resigned himself to his fate and was not particularly emotional on his return.

After a decade apart, he has finally been reunited with his three children. "I wouldn't trade this moment for anything now... I haven't seen them for 10 years," Mahad says.

But he would still prefer to be in the US because he fears for his life after receiving text messages from al-Shabab, containing death threats.

He takes extra security precautions when he's out and lives in a well protected home but did not want to go into further details, or share the contents of the threats, for safety reasons.

On his return, Mahad was welcomed by many people from his clan, including local politicians, because of his TikTok profile. He understands that because of his social media presence he may get opportunities not available to other Somalis deported - or threatened with deportation - from the US.

Last month, President Donald Trump said he would end the temporary protection status that is supposed to prevent people from being deported while their home country is unsafe.

Earlier this month, he upped the ante, saying that he does not want Somali immigrants in the US, telling reporters they should "go back to where they came from" and "their country is no good for a reason".

Somalia has not had a central government in control of the whole country since the toppling of President Siad Barre in 1991. People have had to endure years of near anarchy and insecurity - and even now, despite a government being in place in Mogadishu, Islamist militants still dominate much of the country and occasionally stage attacks in the capital.

Trump's comments came after he was questioned about large-scale fraud in the state of Minnesota's social assistance programme.

Dozens of people have been charged over a scheme that federal prosecutors say involved a charity fraudulently billing the state's government for meals for children during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A number of Somali immigrants were implicated in that alleged scheme.

In the wake of the president's remarks about Somalis, videos have circulated on social media appearing to show immigration agents knocking on doors across Minneapolis, which includes an area known as Little Mogadishu, and St Paul.

For many in the city's Somali community, the largest in the US and numbering around 80,000, the posts have triggered alarm.

The BBC also spoke to five young Somali men who now spend their days confined to a friend's small house, moving carefully through rooms that are not their own. They left their rented apartment abruptly last week not because they wanted to, but because the lease was under their names.

As people who had been given temporary protected status, they feared it was only a matter of time before ICE traced the address and came for them. They grabbed what they could carry and slipped away in the night, hoping the change of location would offer some protection.

Now, their lives are suspended. Work shifts are missed. Meals are skipped or stretched. One of the men described how quickly everything has collapsed: "We're running out of food. We haven't reported to work for the past five days because we're scared that ICE might be waiting for us. I don't know what will happen to us."

Mahad is far from being alone in being deported to Somalia in recent months, although there are no official figures.

The BBC also spoke to another young Somali man, who asked to remain anonymous. He said he was struggling to rebuild his life back in Mogadishu.

From rural Somalia, he was desperate to leave as a prolonged drought had destroyed his livelihood. He illegally crossed into the US through the Mexican border after travelling north from Brazil but was detained shortly after. He spent 18 months in custody before being returned to Somalia.

Speaking on the phone, he describes feeling uncertain about his future.

"They sent me back to start from zero," he says. "Everything I worked for just disappeared."

He says he spent around $20,000 (£15,000) to reach the US, including money he had borrowed from friends and family.

Since returning home, he has had no money and says there are no opportunities in Somalia.

"I don't see a future here," he says. "There is nothing going on… no employment."

He is now considering migrating once more.

"I don't want to start life again. I just want to migrate to any country now."

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Specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams will be introduced to every police force in England and Wales by 2029, the government has pledged.

It is part of a long-delayed plan aimed at halving violence against women and girls within a decade.

The strategy - which will include funding for undercover units operating online, and a roll out of domestic abuse protection orders - is due to be unveiled on Thursday, after being pushed back three times this year.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the measures will help to "bear down on abusers, stopping them in their tracks. Rapists, sex offenders and abusers will have nowhere to hide."

The government says the new teams will have officers with specialist investigation skills for working on rape and sexual offence cases.

More than 50% of police forces already have these teams in place, but the government says every force will have dedicated officers by 2029.

It says staff will have the right training to understand the mindset of abusers and victims.

Announcing the move, the home secretary said: "This government has declared violence against women and girls a national emergency.

"For too long, these crimes have been considered a fact of life. That's not good enough. We will halve it in a decade."

Also announced is a roll out of domestic abuse protection orders, which have been trialled over the last year, across England and Wales.

They can ban individuals from contacting a victim, visiting their home or posting harmful content online, and can also be used in cases involving coercive or controlling behaviour. Breaching an order is a criminal offence.

There will also be almost £2m in investment for special undercover units of police officers operating online - to target those harassing women and girls on the internet.

A report released earlier this month found that more than a quarter of police forces in England and Wales had not implemented basic policies for investigating sexual offences.

It said sexually-motivated crimes against women in public remained widespread, criticised the limited nature of data on them, and called for urgent action to prevent predators from offending.

The publishing of the government's strategy has been long delayed. It was initially expected to be announced in the spring.

In Labour's general election manifesto last year the party pledged to use "every government tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence".

On Tuesday, the chairs of three Commons select committees raised their concerns over repeated delays in publishing the plans.

The BBC has previously been told that changing attitudes among boys and young men will be at the centre of what is proposed.

It is understood it will be built around three goals: preventing radicalisation of young men, stopping abusers, and supporting victims.

Some domestic abuse survivors have told the BBC the time for talking is over - and these measures must be implemented quickly.

Handsome, charming, a "gentle giant" - Katie Yates believed Jason Smith was a real catch after meeting him on a dating app.

But within months he had subjected her to relentless physical and mental abuse before raping her and attempting to drown her in the bath just before Christmas.

Katie, 42 and from Cardiff, has waived her anonymity as a victim of sexual assault to warn women to be wary of strangers they meet on dating apps who may pose as nice guys in an attempt to lure them in.

"You scroll on all the profiles with smiling photos and slick words but there are some people who should be looking for a therapist, not a girlfriend," she said.

Warning: This story contains distressing content and discussion of domestic abuse

Katie had been single for five years when she signed up to a dating app in February 2018.

At the time she was 35, a single mum of two, and had endured a painful divorce.

Smith, then 29 and a railway maintenance worker, messaged her and things seemed to be going well at first.

"He seemed so warm and friendly - like a gentle giant," Katie said.

"He told me he had a child and loved being a dad. It was a bonus he was handsome, too.

"He complimented me and he asked me lots of questions, like he really wanted to know everything about me."

'He was a real catch'

Warning: Distressing image

Katie, who was a trainee hairdresser at the time, agreed to meet Smith when he asked her to meet him in a local Wetherspoons in his hometown of Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

She said: "He greeted me with a big smile and he had the brightest blue eyes. He was incredibly charming with an infectious demeanour.

"We'd talk for hours about everything. I even introduced him to my children.

"I felt so lucky, I believed Jason was a real catch. I honestly wondered why he hadn't been snapped up already."

Katie said Jason turned up at her house weeks into their relationship asked to move in with her temporarily because he'd fallen out with his landlord.

She said she "wasn't ready for things to progress that quickly" but he was "very persuasive and sounded so desperate", so she let him stay.

His behaviour soon changed.

"Jason began accusing me of fancying everyone in sight," she said.

"One day he strangled me until I passed out after accusing me of fancying some random stranger. It was all pure fantasy in his head."

Katie said the abuse and jealousy continued but she struggled to end the relationship.

Smith sometimes called Katie "70 times and demanded" she video-called him so he could see where she was.

On one occasion he told her his ex-girlfriend was "much more beautiful" and another time, Katie found he'd stolen money out of her child's birthday cards.

"I got so used to wearing sunglasses, too, to hide my black eyes," she said.

"I remember one day looking in the mirror and I barely recognised myself. I'd become so thin and fragile with the stress. I even had to give up my hairdressing course because I couldn't concentrate on anything."

'Dad didn't recognise me'

In the week before Christmas in 2018, Smith lost his temper and ripped Katie's clothes and the children's toy elves.

When they returned home from a holiday, he raped her, then four days later he held Katie's head under the water in the bath because he thought she had been flirting with staff at a supermarket.

"He was so strong, my legs splashed frantically in the water. I thought he was going to drown me and I was going to die that moment," she said.

"Finally, he released me as I spluttered and coughed, frantic for breath before he dunked my head under again.

"After he'd finished, I just sat in the bath, shaking and trembling, too terrified to even move."

The following day, Jason beat Katie so badly she contacted her parents in fear of her life.

"My dad didn't recognise me when he saw me. I looked like something out a Halloween movie. When my mum saw me, she broke down and was white with shock," she said.

Katie reported Smith to the police, leading to the end of a 10-month campaign of abuse.

Despite him denying the charges during a trial at Newport Crown Court in 2019, a jury found Smith guilty of rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault by beating and he was jailed for 15 years. He was also given a restraining order for 10 years.

Katie said she still suffers "terrible flashbacks and nightmares", adding she is terrified Smith will try to find her when he leaves prison when he is eligible for parole in 2027.

"I believe he will come looking for me and that really frightens me but I don't regret speaking out - he was a danger to women.

"I thought I'd struck lucky when I met Jason, but I'd invited a monster into my life.

"For 10 months, my life was a living hell. It's made me think twice about ever going on a dating app ever again.

"I am lucky to be alive. It's taken a long time to rebuild my life."

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this story, support and advice is available via the BBC Action Line.

Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter have been been killed in Syria in an ambush by a lone Islamic State gunman, the US military has said.

The Pentagon said three other service members were injured in the attack, during which the gunman was "engaged and killed".

The identities of those killed are being withheld for 24 hours until their next of kin have been informed.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, said: "Let it be known, if you target Americans - anywhere in the world you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you."

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Everyone should "follow the rules" when guidance on single-sex spaces is released, the new head of the equality watchdog has told the BBC.

Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said "things could be sorted out if there is goodwill and recognition that everybody has rights", and that "nobody is expecting there to be a toilet police".

The guidance, for businesses and services, was drawn up after a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in April that legally a woman should be defined by biological sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.

The BBC interview, to be broadcast on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, is Dr Stephenson's first in her new role.

The EHRC's guidance was passed to the government three months ago, but it has yet to publish it formally, which would give the code of practice legal force.

It aims to provide advice to businesses and services - such as women's refuges, gyms, hospitals or shopping centres - about how the Supreme Court ruling should work.

Seen by the BBC after it was leaked, the 300-page document says single-sex spaces should only be open to people of the same biological sex, otherwise they cease to be single-sex areas.

That would mean, for instance, that a trans woman – a biological male who identifies as a woman - would not be able to use women's toilets and changing rooms.

The guidance says it may be legitimate for businesses or services to ask people to provide confirmation they are of the eligible sex "by proportionate means".

This has all caused controversy and anger among some transgender campaigners.

Dr Stephenson told the BBC: "Nobody is expecting there to be a toilet police.

"But equally if there are situations where there are complaints about regular problems, then people might need to... improve signage, improve explanations, or make sure they have got alternative provision."

She said she expected both service providers and people using these services to "follow the rules".

Dr Stephenson was challenged on what facilities trans people should use if there were no alternatives, or what businesses should do if they did not have the space or resources to make extra provision.

She said: "There's often unisex provision and where there isn't, as I say, we need to think more broadly about how we make sure those that those facilities are available…

"If you've got, you know, two self-contained cubicles, one of which is labelled men and one of which is labelled women, then the most sensible thing in those circumstances for a service provider to do is to make both of those unisex."

Dr Stephenson was appointed to the role in July and she started earlier this month.

It was greeted with hostility by some trans campaigners, in part because she had donated money to the case of lawyer Allison Bailey, who won part of a tribunal claim that she was discriminated against because of her gender-critical views.

In our interview, Dr Stephenson was adamant she could still be objective when considering trans issues.

She said she donated to the case because she was frustrated by situations where "women were being harassed and losing their jobs on the basis of lawfully held beliefs".

She said she had been concerned by the experiences of some women "when trying to have meetings to discuss proposed changes in the law".

"I thought it was important that actually in a democracy, if there is a proposed change to the law, people should be able to meet and discuss those changes without violence or intimidation," she said.

"If that's taking a side, it's taking a side on the side of kind of democratic norms and open discussion and dialogue."

The full interview will be on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter have been been killed in Syria in an ambush by a lone Islamic State gunman, the US military has said.

The Pentagon said three other service members were injured in the attack, during which the gunman was "engaged and killed".

The identities of those killed are being withheld for 24 hours until their next of kin have been informed.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, said: "Let it be known, if you target Americans - anywhere in the world you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you."

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King Charles has been praised for his candour in talking about his cancer treatment where he highlighted the importance of early detection and screening.

In a recorded video message, broadcast on Channel 4 for the Stand Up To Cancer campaign, the King said his treatment was being reduced and he urged people to take up offers of cancer screening, saying "early diagnosis quite simply saves lives."

The type of cancer he is being treated for has not been revealed and the King, 77, will continue to receive treatment and monitoring.

Clare Garnsey, associate medical director of Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said his message was "very powerful".

The King, who revealed his diagnosis in February last year, is not described as being in remission or "cured" but the regularity of his treatment will be significantly reduced in the new year.

In his video message, recorded in Clarence House two weeks ago, he said that he was "troubled" to learn that nine million people around the UK are not up to date with the cancer screening available to them.

"That is at least nine million opportunities for early diagnosis being missed," he said.

He added: "Too often, I am told, people avoid screening because they imagine it may be frightening, embarrassing or uncomfortable.

"If and when they do finally take up their invitation, they are glad they took part.

"A few moments of minor inconvenience are a small price to pay for the reassurance that comes for most people when they are either told either they don't need further tests or, for some, are given the chance to enable early detection, with the life-saving intervention that can follow."

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Miss Garnsey said she, "like the majority of health professionals who work in the cancer field" was "really thankful" for what the King said.

"I think the message was very powerful about the importance of early diagnosis and how important it is that we all attend for our screening," she added.

She said it is "really helpful" to healthcare professionals when people in "positions of influence" - such as the King - speak publicly about their experiences with cancer.

These messages highlight that it "can happen to anybody", she said, and raise awareness of the potential symptoms someone may experience.

Royal biographer and friend of King Charles, Jonathan Dimbleby, said the King's message demonstrated the "unique role of the sovereign".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said the King's decision to speak openly about his treatment in such "warm, gentle, thoughtful, kind terms" was "quite extraordinary and it has great impact".

Mr Dimbleby said that when it was announced that the King was having treatment for an enlarged prostate in 2024, there was a considerable surge in searches to the NHS website.

"No one else could have done this," he added.

What can be general symptoms of cancer?

Different types of cancer all have their own symptoms - but the NHS says general symptoms can include:

• A new lump or swelling
• Sweating a lot or a high temperature
• Feeling more tired than usual
• Unusual bruising or bleeding
• Unusual pain anywhere in the body
• Unexpected weight loss or loss of appetite
• Needing to pee more often or more urgently, or pain when you pee

Read more on the NHS website.

Until now the King has said little publicly about his illness.

In his video message, King Charles said he knew how "overwhelming" a diagnosis can feel, but stressed that early detection is "key" to give patients the "precious gift of hope".

The NHS has three cancer screening programmes - for bowel, breast and cervical cancer - available to certain age groups.

These tests can detect a problem even before someone experiences symptoms.

In his message, the King also urged people to use the screening checker online tool.

Cancer charity Macmillan Cancer Support said it was "incredibly grateful" to the King for sharing his experience "with such openness and honesty".

"The King's reminder of the importance of screening and early detection is an important message for us all," it added in a statement.

The prime minister said the King's message was "powerful" and that he was "glad" that the King's treatment will be reduced in the new year.

According to Buckingham Palace, the King's recovery has reached a very positive stage and he has "responded exceptionally well to treatment", so much so that doctors will now move his treatment "into a precautionary phase".

The regularity of treatment is going to be significantly reduced - but the King, 77, is not described as being in remission or "cured".

Meanwhile, Dr Harrison Carter, director of screening at NHS England, said the health service "fully supported" the King's call for people to attend screening tests.

"So, when your NHS screening invite arrives, whether it's for cervical or breast screening, or a bowel cancer testing kit through the post, please do make time to take it up."

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Crack open a tub of Celebrations or pull a Terry's Chocolate Orange from a stocking these days, and have you noticed, there seems to be a little less to go around?

Not only that, you might find – no, it is not your imagination – that some popular treats taste a little different, a little less "chocolatey".

To top it all the prices have risen too.

So will your festive favourites still hit the sweet spot this Christmas?

Chocs away

Many of the companies making popular bars and chocolates admit they have been looking for ways to save money. A tried-and-tested one is to replace some of the more expensive ingredients, like cocoa, with cheaper ones, a strategy that's been dubbed "skimpflation".

Some recipes have changed so much that bars like Toffee Crisp, Penguin and others can no longer be called chocolate.

There is even a debate among some chocolate fans over whether the year-round classic Cadbury's Dairy Milk has changed its recipe.

Becca Amy Stock, a TikTok influencer who goes by the name Becca Eats Everything, set herself the task of reviewing every milk chocolate bar at Britain's major supermarkets. The 29-year-old spent six hours and £100 on her rigorous research.

She concluded Dairy Milk was "more oily" since Cadbury's takeover by the American company Mondelez in 2010. And the brand, famous for its "glass and a half" of milk, was less milky, she said.

"You do notice the difference," Becca says, "Cadbury's does not taste how it used to taste."

Milk chocolate in the UK must have at least 20% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids to earn the name chocolate. Without that it has to be labelled "chocolate flavour" not chocolate. Cadbury's Dairy Milk still meets that standard.

Mondelez says it has not been fiddling with the recipe, at least not recently.

"Our Cadbury Dairy Milk products continue to be made with the same delicious recipes that consumers know and love," its spokesperson said. "The cocoa content has not changed for many years."

Crunching the numbers

But it is still one which you'll be paying more for.

Plenty of food manufacturers have been reducing the size of their products, without dropping prices, known as shrinkflation.

And some are also putting prices up, too.

Chocolate prices in supermarkets have risen by more than 18% on average from this time last year, according to market researchers Kantar.

We got these figures by analysing price data collected by market researchers Assosia across four of the UK's biggest grocers, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons, between December 2021 and December 2025.

They show:

• Cadbury's Dairy Milk weighs 10% less, while the cost jumped from £1.86 to £2.75 - a 48% price increase
• Mars Celebrations has shrunk by 23%. The price has risen from £4.25 to £6.11 - a 44% jump
• Terry's Chocolate Orange is 8% smaller, while the cost has risen from £1.49 to £2.25 - a 51% price rise

Mondelez's spokesperson said putting up prices was a "last resort" but ingredients are costing more - in particular cocoa and dairy.

"This means our products continue to be much more expensive to make.

"As a result of this difficult environment, we have had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight and increase the list price of some of our Cadbury products," they said.

Mars Wrigley told the BBC higher cocoa prices and manufacturing costs meant they had to "adjust some… product sizes... without compromising on quality or taste."

Sticky costs

So what has caused the price of cocoa and milk to shoot up?

Extreme weather caused by climate change has hit cocoa farmers' crop yields in Africa, says Ghadafi Razak, an academic at Warwick Business School.

Extreme rainfall in India, Brazil and Thailand in 2023, followed by droughts the following year have meant poor harvests in those countries too, pushing up prices.

The extra costs take time to feed through to customers, says Christian Jaccarini, a senior food analyst at the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit think tank, which means those extra costs are hitting shop shelves now.

"It takes about 18 months for the impact of a shock to be felt by consumers, so we still have quite a long time with higher prices for chocolate," he said.

Milk prices have shot up too. Diarmaid Mac Colgáin, founder of the Concept Dairy consultancy blames the rising cost of feed, fuel and fertilisers as well as farmers facing higher wage bills and production costs.

He says some brands have substituted palm oil and shea oil for some of the milk to make up the fat content of their chocolate.

Bad taste

Shoppers are becoming increasingly aware of these cost-saving tactics, but that does not mean they are happy about it.

It is the element of unwanted surprise that can leave a bad taste, according to Reena Sewraz, retail editor at consumer champion, Which?

It can feel "especially sneaky" when companies shrink products or downgrade their ingredients she said.

"With Christmas not far away, shoppers will be looking to get the best value from what they buy," she said. "Supermarkets and manufacturers should be more upfront about making these changes. Customers may not love the news - but [then] at least they don't feel misled."

But there is not much you can do about it. For Becca, who insists she's not "chocolated out" despite her chocolate-tasting marathon, quality not quantity is the way to go.

She suggests fellow chocoholics treat themselves to smaller premium bars such as Tony's Chocolonely. They'll cost more but she finds them more satisfying.

She also plans to treat herself to a selection-box on Christmas day.

Otherwise she generally advises against "food snobbery".

"I think supermarket own-brands are actually a much better way to get better quality chocolate."

Zoe Ball is stepping down from presenting her BBC Radio 2 Saturday show.

Announcing her departure on air, she said she would be replaced by broadcaster Emma Willis who she described as a "superwoman".

"I love you all to bits, but I'm not disappearing completely," she told listeners.

Ball's final show is set for 20 December, although she will continue to host specials on the station. She left her Radio 2 breakfast show last December after almost six years in the role, before returning to present the 13:00 to 15:00 GMT Saturday programme.

Speaking on the show on Saturday, Ball, 55, said: "I have loved being betwixt my dear friends Romesh (Ranganathan) and Rylan (Clark), and you know, I love you all to bits, but I'm not disappearing completely.

"Obviously, it'll be Christmas Crooners and I'm doing an eras show in the new year, more on that later."

Ball said she was "thrilled" to announce that Willis would take over the Saturday afternoon slot, "a superwoman who is no stranger to you all".

She added that the new host - known for shows including The Voice, Big Brother and Love Is Blind - "will officially become a member of the Radio 2 family".

In a statement, Willis, 49, said "I'm absolutely chuffed to be joining the family - and it's a real honour to follow in the huge footsteps Zoe leaves behind, who's someone I admire and adore."

She said that she would miss listening to Ball but will "happily be the filling to a Romesh and Rylan sandwich".

Willis hosted a show on Heart Radio from 2012 to 2018 and has presented on Radio 2 as a cover presenter since 2019.

Police to take no further action over claims Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor asked officer for information on accuser Virginia Giuffre

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Goodbye 2025 - almost. It's not worth saying, "Goodness me, the news is crazy".

"Normal" retired many years ago. But which events of this wild year actually changed us, and our politics? And what might 2026 usher in?

As the UK hurtles towards the holidays, I've been asking contacts from across the political spectrum for the moments that boggled their minds this year, and those daring, perhaps foolish, but fascinating predictions of what might come next.

2025 was chock-a-block with events scriptwriters would have found hard to come up with.

There was the Oval Office showdown when US President Donald Trump seemed deliberately to shame the leader of Ukraine, described by one MP as the "maddest moment".

At home: a Labour cabinet minister, Steve Reed, being feted with chants of "build, baby build" and a mini swarm of activists sporting red MAGA-style hats as if, for a moment, Labour's Merseyside conference was like a Make America Great Again rally. You wouldn't have bet on such a surreal scene this time last year.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves crying on camera in the Commons chamber counts too - not just because of the human drama, but because, as one source suggests: "Global investors changed their behaviour as a result."

Yes, the second most senior politician in the land was in tears in public in the bear pit of Prime Minister's Questions.

Yes, the financial markets seemed to react, and secured her job.

The whole Budget set of decisions being published in error by the official number crunchers, the Office for Budget Responsibility, before the chancellor stood up to deliver… the budget, takes some beating as a plot twist.

And a new force on the left emerging under the Corbynista banner, but falling into disagreements with each other in spectacular style - perhaps sadly, for many on the left, that might have been easier to predict.

Don't forget, No 10 advertising its own vulnerability by proclaiming that prime minister Sir Keir Starmer would see off any challengers seeking to oust him – before any of the would-be challengers were remotely ready to come out of the shadows. Nigel Farage's insurgent party, Reform, claiming to have more members than the Tories and Labour.

Those crazy bits aside, time and again, insiders point to three factors of 2025 that have really changed where things are at.

The rise of Reform

Whether you love, loathe or shrug at the idea of Reform UK prospering, the rise of Farage's party - ahead in the polls for many months - has changed much in the last 12 months.

One former minister says, without question, the most important phenomenon in 2025 is the "rise of Reform and the death of the Tories".

Reform's success in the elections in May gave them power over billions of pounds in local government for the first time. And it put the frighteners on the traditional parties, pushing their policy agendas on immigration in particular.

Labour now walks and talks as if Reform is their main opposition, not the Conservatives, even though their leader Kemi Badenoch's performance has improved in the last few months.

With Reform's polling success comes increased attention, and more scrutiny.

How they handle that, not least allegations of racism, is a question for 2026, but the standard symmetry of politics of Labour v Tories is firmly out of fashion, for now.

When Sir Keir's authority began to drain away

Second, multiple sources cite a specific moment. Cast your mind back to the government's ambition to change the creaking system that leaves too many people on benefits without support to find work or improve their prospects. They also wanted to save cash for the taxpayer.

Labour backbenchers were so angry about the implications that after months of campaigning, ministers at almost the very last minute ditched that plan.

The government couldn't be sure it would win the votes, so it gave up, even though ministers say they haven't given up on making changes.

But for a government with a majority you can see from space it was an extraordinary state of affairs, the moment when Sir Keir's authority began truly to drain away.

One Whitehall insider agreed it was the biggest moment of the year, because "almost everything else has flowed from it - from then, the government was not in control of its political destiny with its own party since, and we wouldn't have had the budget we did without it".

For the country's balance sheet, the hoped-for savings disappeared, and with this, critics would suggest, any Labour ambition of saving cash from big changes to policy at home.

That decision set the backdrop for the late autumn budget which had a traditional Labour clarity, but asked firms and families to pay more tax.

One opposition source said the government has showed this year that benefits are "out of control", adding: "The decision to increase this at the cost of working people will have a consequence at the polls."

Even in the Labour Party the upshot is both welcomed and worried about.

One source called the budget "the most significant as they have dumped austerity at all costs and moved away from welfare cuts".

Another told me the whole affair is why Sir Keir, despite his huge majority, ends this political year with no guarantee he'll keep his job in the next.

If 2024 showed Labour could win but would have a hard time adjusting to power, 2025 has raised questions about the extent to which they were really capable of governing well at all.

The behaviour of Trump 2.0

Whatever has happened at home, 2025 has also been another year of hefty international political moves.

Trump moved back into the White House and really seems to have meant all of the things he told the world he believed in while campaigning.

Sir Keir, while regularly under attack at home, seems to have impressed the American president and some of his home audience. His moment in the Oval Office, proffering the invite from the King for a historic second state visit, "the most heart in mouth" moment of the whole year for some of his allies.

Brokering the most sensitive and the most important diplomatic relationship you have, live on global TV, can't have been the most tempting prospect for a non-showy politician like Sir Keir, who nonetheless, made a success of that moment.

Many insiders suggest the most dramatic and the most important factor of 2025 has been the behaviour of Trump 2.0.

Trump's increasingly insistent demands that Europe pays much more to cover its own defence rather than rely on America have shaped politics everywhere.

His moves to create a ceasefire after the conflict between Gaza and Israel changed the course of the Middle East.

And that's before we even start to consider his flirtation with the notion of creating an all-out global trade war, which hasn't quite come to pass.

2025 saw the UK political establishment get used to feeling constantly nervous about what Trump might do next, the perpetual guessing game of whether he really meant what he said, and what the consequences might be.

As we prepare to say goodbye to 2025, Reform's rise, Labour's woes and Trump's presence have changed our politics. So what will the next twelve months bring?

Breath being held ahead of 'mega-May'

Predictions are by their very nature a guess.

2025's splintered politics, the current prospering of smaller political parties, the advance of Zack Polanski's Greens, for example, may not last.

The economic fug that has lasted for years might lift, slower inflation and interest rates cuts could shift that stubborn sense that the UK's economic fortunes are characterised by decline.

No 10 hopes its efforts to feed more kids before school by expanding breakfast clubs, cut back NHS waiting lists, provide more childcare and sort out the creaking asylum system could see not just the statistics turn their way but demonstrate that its choices might lead to better experiences for the public and, in time, some political reward - or at least an end to blame and shame.

Breath is already being held ahead of mega-May - a huge set of elections where some predict with confidence Reform will "trounce the others", a former minister says.

An ally of Farage says the "sense of disbelief and disappointment is even greater than it was 12 months ago", predicting huge success in England, and in the Welsh and Scottish elections in May too.

But an experienced Conservative source reckons the most important vector of next year is that Reform will "under-perform against expectations".

Plaid Cymru stopped Reform in its tracks at the Caerphilly by-election in 2025. Farage's rivals reckon voters on the left could come together in the same kind of ways in future.

Perhaps that's more hope than expectation, but it's not impossible that 2025's froth around Reform will subside.

Will the PM last the year?

The anxious wait until May's elections is linked to a very common prediction that would have been almost unimaginable 12 months ago.

You've heard the speculation about whether the PM is the right man for the job.

Even some cabinet ministers tell me the May elections will be followed by an attempt to remove Sir Keir.

Whether you think it would be crackers for Labour to try to get rid of one of the two leaders alive who have won a general election, or whether it makes sense to pull up stumps on a prime minister every poll suggests the public doesn't like, many Labour MPs are convinced 2026 will be defined by a "seemingly inevitable" change at the top.

Inevitable is a word used by many. But that doesn't remotely mean it is automatic.

One Labour source says "a lot of mad stuff is going to happen because everyone is acting really stupidly".

Downing Street is making significant efforts to build up the PM's appeal to his own party. Gags abound in Labour about how many MPs have been invited to the PM's country retreat for small talk and canapes.

But in the face of deep unpopularity there is a widespread belief that a bad performance in mega-May will mean the end for Sir Keir.

There is no consensus on who should be next if the PM was challenged.

And there is no certainty a hypothetical challenger would be able to oust him if he, as was provocatively briefed, tried to fight on.

Without doubt his leadership doesn't feel permanent, and that casts a genuine shadow over so much of what the government is trying to do.

But, even when politicians say, "We can't go on like this", a less-than-tasty status quo can still be more tempting than an uncertain road.

Whatever happens at home, naturally in our interconnected world what happens elsewhere - and most notably the whims and wherefores of the American president - will have much sway over everything in 2026.

As I write, European leaders are gathering their teams, fretting, planning, hoping.

Worrying that Ukraine's future is at risk, not just because of the original aggression of Putin's invasion, but because of America's attitude – the desire to end the war seemingly stronger than the belief in Ukraine's integrity.

But for the economy, for our continent's security, and the government's relationship with its most powerful ally, one senior official predicts "the most important thing will be the terms on which a Ukrainian peace settlement comes".

The costs to Ukraine could be costs to European security, and us all.

So as we prepare to say goodbye to 2025, 2026 might be even more eventful. It's not impossible the conflict on the edge of our continent will end, although any agreement to bring it to a close might just store up future problems.

It's feasible there'll be an attempt to get rid of the prime minister, and it's not impossible Reform and the smaller parties will grab more actual power. It won't be long till we find out.

Tomorrow, in our last programme of the year, we'll be joined by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and the new boss of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson.

Thank you to you for reading, watching and listening, and Happy Christmas!

Top image credit: Getty Images

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Israel said it killed a senior Hamas commander on Saturday in a strike on a vehicle inside Gaza.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had "struck a key Hamas terrorist" in Gaza City.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, told the BBC that four people were killed in the strike. He said multiple passers-by were also injured by the blast.

Local sources said the strike may have targeted Raed Saad, a senior commander in Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.

The BBC is prevented by Israel from reporting independently from inside Gaza and is unable to verify details of the incident.

Saad is believed to be a member of the newly formed five-member leadership military council established since a ceasefire took hold in October.

He is regarded as one of the most prominent Qassam commanders and led several brigades during Hamas's 7 October attacks on Israeli communities east of Gaza City.

Israel has attempted to kill him on multiple occasions.

One of the most notable attempts was during a surprise Israeli operation in Gaza City in March 2024, when Israeli forces reportedly sought to arrest or kill him. Sources at the time said Saad had been inside the targeted complex but managed to escape moments before the raid.

He has long been considered one of Israel's most wanted Hamas figures, with Israeli attempts to kill him spanning more than two decades.

Saturday's attack happened on the Palestinian-controlled side of the so-called Yellow Line which has divided Gaza since an unstable US-led ceasefire came into effect on 10 October.

Israeli forces control the area to the east of the line, which includes just over half of the Gaza Strip.

The first phase of US president Donald Trump's 20-point plan for peace in the region required the return of all 20 living and 28 dead hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

About 1,200 people were killed in the attack and more than 250 people were taken hostage.

All have been returned except for the remains of an Israeli police officer, Ran Gvili, 24, who is believed to have been killed while fighting Hamas gunmen in Kibbutz Alumim.

Since then, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military action.

The diplomatic focus is now shifting to the next stage of President Trump's plan which would require the disarmament of Hamas as part of what it calls the de-radicalisation and redevelopment of Gaza.

It envisages Gaza being run by the "temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee," overseen by a "Board of Peace" chaired by Trump.

Security would be provided by an International Stabilisation Force although its make up remains unclear.

The eventual aim is for a reformed Palestinian Authority to take control of the territory, and for Israeli forces to withdraw, after which "the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood".

Many aspects of the plan are controversial in Israel where prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Trump is due to meet Netanyahu to discuss the plan in the US on 29 December.

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a case that sparked national attention, watched as new testimony and never-before-seen footage from the day of his arrest in a McDonald's was unveiled during a hearing this week.

Mr Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges related to the 2024 murder of Mr Thompson, a father of two, as well as federal counts that carry the possibility of the death penalty.

The pre-trial hearing is focused on the defence's attempts to keep certain evidence out of the trial, which has not been scheduled yet, including items found in his backpack during his arrest and statements he made to officers.

During the first two weeks of the hearing, supporters of Mr Mangione - the scion of a prominent Maryland family and Ivy League graduate - filled the back rows of the Manhattan criminal courtroom, some wearing a pin portraying him as a saint-like figure.

Prosecutors and Mr Mangione's legal team are expected to question over a dozen witnesses from the day of his arrest, including the employees who spotted him and the police who arrested him.

Here is a look at some of the key pieces of evidence discussed that offer a window into Mr Mangione's trial.

An eyebrow giveaway

The pre-trial hearing has centred on the small-town McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where officers were shocked to find the high-profile suspect days after Mr Thompson was fatally shot - and hours from the busy Midtown Manhattan crime scene.

Witnesses suggested the arrest may never have occurred there if not for one of Mr Mangione's key features: his eyebrows.

During the first day of the hearing, prosecutors played a call to police from a McDonald's employee about a tip from a customer in the restaurant.

The employee said the customer thought a patron looked like the suspect in the United Healthcare CEO shooting. The patron was well covered, wearing a black hoodie, a medical mask and a tan beanie. But one key detail stuck out.

"The only thing you can see is his eyebrows," the employee told police.

It was not the only time Mr Mangione's distinguished eyebrows have come up.

Prosecutors also entered into evidence notecards they say Mr Mangione had, which appeared to be to-do lists for the days after the high-profile shooting.

One card reads: "Keep momentum, FBI slower overnight," while another said: "Change hat, shoes, pluck eyebrows".

'Proposterous': An unexpected day at McDonald's

Dozens of videos released by prosecutors show Mr Mangione's encounter with police and his eventual arrest in the McDonald's as other customers watched.

Officers who responded narrated the footage this week, telling the court what was going through their minds as they realised the 27-year-old appeared similar to the suspect in photos.

On Thursday, Altoona Lieutenant William Hanelly said a fellow officer responded sarcastically that he would "get right on it" when he heard the tip about the suspect.

Mr Hanelly told the court that he understood the sarcasm, because it seemed "preposterous" that a shooter from "New York City had found his way to a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania".

But at the scene, officers said they quickly saw the resemblance to New York Police Department pictures circulated to the public after days without any leads.

"It's him. I'm not kidding. He's real nervous. It's him," one officer can be heard telling Mr Hanelly in a phone call played for the court.

In one video, Mr Mangione eats a McDonald's meal as officers stand guard around him in the restaurant waiting for more officers to arrive.

At the hearing, Mr Mangione watched the videos quietly from the defence table, seated next to his lawyers - wife and husband Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo. The latter defended Sean "Diddy" Combs, who was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges just months earlier.

Wearing a grey suit and button-down shirt most days, Mr Mangione frequently took notes on a legal pad, and occasionally smiled and laughed with his lawyers.

A fake name leads to an arrest

In the series of police body camera videos played for the court, Mr Mangione's interactions with officers eventually lead to his arrest on 9 December as Christmas music plays loudly in the background of the McDonald's.

When officers first speak to Mr Mangione, they ask him to pull his mask down. He listens, and is heard telling officers his name is "Mark Rosario", handing them a New Jersey identification that police later said was false.

That identification gave officers enough cause to arrest Mr Mangione, Mr Hanelly told the court, and in the video, Mr Mangione tells officers his real name is Luigi.

In another body camera video, an officer tells the 27-year-old he is under police investigation for giving a fake identification and Mr Mangione is seen putting his hands on the wall as officers arrest him.

They then take a photo of Mr Mangione with his hands behind his back, an image widely circulated on social media after his arrest.

Bullets, a journal and cash: a peak into Mr Mangione's backpack

The pre-trial hearing also shed light on the items Mr Mangione was carrying when he was arrested.

Mr Mangione's lawyers have argued that a 9mm handgun as well as a notebook should be excluded from trial because officers did not have a warrant to search his backpack. Prosecutors allege that Mr Mangione wrote in his notebook about "the deadly, greed-fuelled health insurance cartel".

During the hearing on Thursday, Mr Hanelly argued that there were exceptions for warrants.

Earlier in the week, Ms Friedman Agnifilo questioned the officer who searched Mr Mangione's backpack, arguing they were searching the bag "because you thought he was the New York City shooter".

"No, we search everyone," said the officer, Christy Wasser.

Video played in court shows a police officer pulling a series of items from the backpack, including a handgun magazine that Mr Hanelly said contained 9 mm bullets - all as Holly Jolly Christmas plays over the speaker.

One law enforcement official comes across a journal in the backpack, and can be heard saying it reads like a "manifesto".

Ms Agnifilo objected after the "manifesto" part of the video was played repeatedly in court, arguing the prosecutor wanted to emphasise the line.

Eventually, Mr Hanelly testified, the officers decided to stop searching the backpack and take it to the police station because "it was going to be a mess".

Prosecutors this week entered into evidence images of other items Mr Mangione had with him, including a gun, a silencer, dozens of $100 bills, face masks, a hair trimmer and a passport.

The hearing is expected to continue into next week.

King Charles has been praised for his candour in talking about his cancer treatment where he highlighted the importance of early detection and screening.

In a recorded video message, broadcast on Channel 4 for the Stand Up To Cancer campaign, the King said his treatment was being reduced and he urged people to take up offers of cancer screening, saying "early diagnosis quite simply saves lives."

The type of cancer he is being treated for has not been revealed and the King, 77, will continue to receive treatment and monitoring.

Clare Garnsey, associate medical director of Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, said his message was "very powerful".

The King, who revealed his diagnosis in February last year, is not described as being in remission or "cured" but the regularity of his treatment will be significantly reduced in the new year.

In his video message, recorded in Clarence House two weeks ago, he said that he was "troubled" to learn that nine million people around the UK are not up to date with the cancer screening available to them.

"That is at least nine million opportunities for early diagnosis being missed," he said.

He added: "Too often, I am told, people avoid screening because they imagine it may be frightening, embarrassing or uncomfortable.

"If and when they do finally take up their invitation, they are glad they took part.

"A few moments of minor inconvenience are a small price to pay for the reassurance that comes for most people when they are either told either they don't need further tests or, for some, are given the chance to enable early detection, with the life-saving intervention that can follow."

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Miss Garnsey said she, "like the majority of health professionals who work in the cancer field" was "really thankful" for what the King said.

"I think the message was very powerful about the importance of early diagnosis and how important it is that we all attend for our screening," she added.

She said it is "really helpful" to healthcare professionals when people in "positions of influence" - such as the King - speak publicly about their experiences with cancer.

These messages highlight that it "can happen to anybody", she said, and raise awareness of the potential symptoms someone may experience.

Royal biographer and friend of King Charles, Jonathan Dimbleby, said the King's message demonstrated the "unique role of the sovereign".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said the King's decision to speak openly about his treatment in such "warm, gentle, thoughtful, kind terms" was "quite extraordinary and it has great impact".

Mr Dimbleby said that when it was announced that the King was having treatment for an enlarged prostate in 2024, there was a considerable surge in searches to the NHS website.

"No one else could have done this," he added.

What can be general symptoms of cancer?

Different types of cancer all have their own symptoms - but the NHS says general symptoms can include:

• A new lump or swelling
• Sweating a lot or a high temperature
• Feeling more tired than usual
• Unusual bruising or bleeding
• Unusual pain anywhere in the body
• Unexpected weight loss or loss of appetite
• Needing to pee more often or more urgently, or pain when you pee

Read more on the NHS website.

Until now the King has said little publicly about his illness.

In his video message, King Charles said he knew how "overwhelming" a diagnosis can feel, but stressed that early detection is "key" to give patients the "precious gift of hope".

The NHS has three cancer screening programmes - for bowel, breast and cervical cancer - available to certain age groups.

These tests can detect a problem even before someone experiences symptoms.

In his message, the King also urged people to use the screening checker online tool.

Cancer charity Macmillan Cancer Support said it was "incredibly grateful" to the King for sharing his experience "with such openness and honesty".

"The King's reminder of the importance of screening and early detection is an important message for us all," it added in a statement.

The prime minister said the King's message was "powerful" and that he was "glad" that the King's treatment will be reduced in the new year.

According to Buckingham Palace, the King's recovery has reached a very positive stage and he has "responded exceptionally well to treatment", so much so that doctors will now move his treatment "into a precautionary phase".

The regularity of treatment is going to be significantly reduced - but the King, 77, is not described as being in remission or "cured".

Meanwhile, Dr Harrison Carter, director of screening at NHS England, said the health service "fully supported" the King's call for people to attend screening tests.

"So, when your NHS screening invite arrives, whether it's for cervical or breast screening, or a bowel cancer testing kit through the post, please do make time to take it up."

Sign up here to get the latest royal stories and analysis every week with our Royal Watch newsletter. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Belarus has freed 123 prisoners, including prominent opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova, after the US agreed to lift sanctions on the Eastern European country.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski is also among those who have been freed following talks in Minsk with US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Belarus, John Coale.

The US has agreed to lift sanctions on potash, a key ingredient in fertiliser and an important export for the country whose president, Alexander Lukashenko, is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Coale said: "As relations between the two countries normalise, more and more sanctions will be lifted."

The EU has not recognised Lukashenko as president.

Kolesnikova has been in prison since 2020, much of the time in isolation.

Her sister, Tatiana, who campaigned tirelessly for her release was able to speak to her by video call soon after and confirmed the news to the BBC.

A group of those released are expected in Lithiana's capital Vilnius shortly. A crowd is gathering outside the US embassy.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

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If you're a Jane Austen fan, then Lizzy, Jane, Kitty and Lydia are likely to be the Bennet sisters you remember from Pride and Prejudice.

But in a new follow-on to the story, it's their anxious and awkward sister Mary who takes centre stage.

"I came to [Jane] Austen as a kid from Croydon, in my teens, thinking that she couldn't possibly have anything to say to me," says Sarah Quintrell, screenwriter for the upcoming BBC drama The Other Bennet Sister.

However, after reading the author's works, she couldn't believe how connected she felt to Austen's characters. It was as though she "knew everybody" in the 19th century novels, she says.

The new TV series, based on the novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow, centres on the Bennet family's middle sister, Mary, as she becomes a governess to the Gardiner family.

It continues on from Austen's Pride and Prejudice - a story that centres on the relationship of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, in which Mary's most memorable scene is her awkwardly playing piano at a ball.

Actress Ella Bruccoleri, who plays the teenage Mary, says she was drawn to the character because she's an "atypical period drama heroine" who is anxious, awkward and possesses none of the poise other Regency period protagonists hold.

Quintrell adds: "She's the odd one out. It's really hard for her to find her place in the world. And I think that that will really resonate with a modern audience."

The screenwriter encourages young people to engage with Austen's fictional worlds, as she has. "You will find so much that's recognisable."

On Tuesday, it is Austen's 250th birthday. With Pride and Prejudice published in 1813, why do the cast and crew of this new drama think her work continues to speak to people?

Coming of age

Maddie Close, who plays Jane Bennet in the upcoming series, says Mary's coming-of-age story and journey to self-acceptance is more relevant than ever.

"It is just so beautiful to watch her blossom and find herself," she says, adding that stories like Mary's are especially needed for teenagers trying to navigate the world and social media.

Grace Hogg-Robinson, who plays Mary's sister Lydia Bennet, agrees, and adds that Austen's characters stand the test of time because people often meet them at important junctures in their life - for example, when studying Pride and Prejudice at GCSE.

The actress believes Mary is "much more relatable" to a modern audience than some of the more iconic Austen characters, explaining that "so many people feel like the person that no-one ever quite remembers".

"It's really nice to tell that story," she adds.

Poppy Gilbert, who plays Lizzy Bennet, says Mary is the sister she relates to the most and says others will too, thanks to her experiences of feeling "constantly compared" to others.

Costume designer Sian Jenkins tried to demonstrate Mary's journey to finding herself through her wardrobe, which throughout the series transitions from creams and beiges to bold greens and reds, despite her mother, the infamous Mrs Bennet, berating her at every turn.

Bruccoleri adds that the biggest journey her character goes on in the show is trying to find a way to remove herself emotionally from her overbearing mother.

In order to do this, she has to learn to live without her "approval or validation" and give this to herself instead.

Relationships and society

Bruccoleri says Austen's dry, funny writing provides sharp societal commentary without shoving its message "down your throat".

"Mrs Bennet just doesn't value Mary in the way that she values the other sisters, because she sees their values as so closely linked to their marriageability," she says.

Molly Wright, who plays Kitty adds that Austen is "so ahead of her time" in her views on "marriage and feminism" in Pride and Prejudice.

Hogg-Robinson, who plays Lydia, says that it took her time to realise "how accurate and insightful" Austen's works were after skim-reading them for her GCSEs and then picking them up later as an adult.

She says that Austen's perspective on love and relationships continue to resonate, and points to a TikTok trend which centres on how Mr Darcy changes his behaviour to win over Lizzy in the original novel.

"Everyone was doing that [trend] 'Well, if he wanted to, he would', and Jane Austen got that 250 years ago," she explains.

Modern Austen

Screenwriter Quintrell feels very lucky to have contributed to a follow-on story in the world of Pride and Prejudice.

While two centuries may have elapsed, "the characters and the emotional journeys that they go on really feel like they haven't aged at all," she says.

This, she feels, is why people like her and novelist Hadlow want to continue to extend the Bennets' story.

Gilbert says the new series feels like a "behind-the-scenes" Pride and Prejudice, and that viewers can expect to see the siblings not just interact in ballrooms but "yapping in the bathroom" and looking after the family dog.

Ultimately, Quintrell says it's really important to open the story of Pride and Prejudice out, because growing up, she felt the works belonged to scholars and academics and that she was not allowed to "own" the texts.

"Wherever you're from, wherever you grow up, you'll find something to connect to in Austen's work, and hopefully in The Other Bennet Sister," she says.

The Other Bennet Sister is coming soon to the BBC.

Additional reporting by Samuel Spencer.

Migrants have been pictured arriving in Dover on Saturday after the longest period without any small boat crossings in seven years.

Photos appeared to show dozens of migrants wearing life jackets being brought in to Dover, Kent, aboard a Border Force vessel.

Before the weekend, no migrants had made the journey for four weeks, according to Home Office figures. The last recorded arrivals before Saturday were on 14 November, marking the longest uninterrupted stretch since 2018.

December is typically a quieter month for crossings due to adverse weather conditions, and this is thought to have contributed to the lull.

Home Office figures on the number of migrants that arrived in the UK on small boats on Saturday will be published on Sunday.

So far this year, 39,292 people have made the Channel crossing, the highest figure for any year other than 2022 when there were 45,774 arrivals.

More than 187,000 people have arrived in small boats since figures were first recorded in 2018.

The UK government has ramped up efforts to tackle small boat crossings in recent months, but the measures are not expected to have an immediate impact.

At the Labour Party conference, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he would "smash" people smuggling gangs and cut the number of crossings by 2029.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy met with ministers from other European nations last week to discuss reforms to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in a bid to make it easier to deport illegal migrants.

In November, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced asylum changes including making refugee status in the UK temporary and subject to review every 30 months, and sending refugees home if their country is deemed safe.

A "one in, one out" pilot agreed between the UK and France began in August. Under the scheme, for each migrant the UK returns to France, another migrant with a strong case for asylum in Britain comes the other way.

As of 27 November 2025, 153 people had been returned through this arrangement.

US President Donald Trump's overseas envoy will travel to Germany this weekend to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders for the latest round of high-level talks on ending the war.

Steve Witkoff, who has been leading White House attempts to mediate between Ukraine and Russia, will discuss the latest version of the proposed peace agreement in Berlin.

The Trump administration is pushing for a deal to be in place by Christmas and has held several rounds of talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in recent weeks, though there has been little sign a breakthrough is imminent.

It has not yet been confirmed which European leaders will attend the Berlin talks.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported details of the meeting, said UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz would all take part.

The Witkoff-Zelensky meeting comes days after Ukraine gave the US its revised version of a 20-point peace plan, the latest iteration of a proposal which first emerged in late November and has triggered a flurry of diplomatic activity.

The fate of territory in eastern Ukraine remains one of the most intractable topics in the negotiations, with Kyiv refusing to cede land which has been illegally occupied, and Moscow repeating its intention to take the Donbas region in full by force unless Ukraine withdraws.

Zelensky has reacted sceptically to the White House's latest proposal on resolving the territorial question, which is for Ukraine's army to pull out of the region and for it to be turned into a "special economic zone".

The Ukrainian president told reporters that under the US-proposed terms, the Kremlin would undertake not to advance into the areas vacated by Ukraine's forces, with the land between Russian-controlled parts of the Donbas and Ukraine's defensive lines effectively turned into a demilitarised zone.

The proposal, seemingly an attempt to resolve the question of legal ownership by creating a new status for the land, has been publicly questioned by Zelensky, who said: "What will restrain [Russia] from advancing? Or from infiltrating disguised as civilians?"

Ukraine and allies in Europe have said publicly that the US-led talks have been fruitful, and have hailed progress on securing amendments to a plan which was widely viewed as favouring Russia when it first emerged.

But there have been signs in recent weeks that Trump is losing patience with Zelensky and his backers on the continent.

In a scathing interview with Politico earlier this week, the US president labelled European leaders "weak" and renewed his calls for Ukraine to hold elections.

Zelensky said elections could be held within 90 days if the US and Europe provided the necessary security. Elections have been suspended since martial law was declared when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

As the White House's diplomatic push continues, attention in Europe is focused on how to support Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, with talks ongoing over security guarantees and funding.

The Ukrainian government faces a stark financial situation: it needs to find an extra €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) over the next two years.

On Friday, European Union governments agreed to indefinitely freeze around €210bn (£185bn; $247) worth of Russian assets held in Europe.

It is hoped that agreement paves the way for the funds to be loaned back to Ukraine if a deal can be reached at an EU summit next week, providing Kyiv with financial help for its military and efforts to rebuild parts of the country left devastated after nearly four years of all-out war.

That move has been condemned as theft by the Kremlin, and Russia's central bank has said it will sue Euroclear, a Belgian bank where the vast majority of Russian assets frozen after the invasion are held.

Officials were still negotiating the exact structure of a deal to repurpose the Russian assets on behalf of Ukraine, with the Belgian government being particularly sceptical due to its particular legal exposure as the main holder.

Elsewhere, it was reported that the latest version of the peace plan being circulated envisions Ukraine rapidly joining the European Union.

The Financial Times said Brussels backed Ukraine's swift accession to the bloc, an idea proposed by Ukraine in the latest draft it has given to Washington.

Ukraine formally applied to join the EU days after the 2022 invasion but despite promises of an accelerated process is still several years away from becoming a member.

Under the plan, Ukraine would become a member as soon as January 2027, AFP reported, citing an unnamed senior official. It was unclear whether Washington had approved that element of the draft.