Nothing has been more important to the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer than economic credibility.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has set out clear fiscal rules, such as getting debt falling as a share of national income by the end of this parliament, and she has made sticking to these rules a crucial test of the government's credibility.

That's what makes the recent rise in government borrowing costs potentially so dangerous for Reeves, the Treasury and - arguably - Sir Keir Starmer's entire political project.

If the government has to spend a lot more money paying interest on debt, then it is less likely to meet its rules.

On current trends, 26 March is set to become a critical date.

That is when the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will deliver its latest forecasts, including an assessment of whether the government is on course to meet its fiscal rules or not.

Suppose the OBR says the government is not on course. It's important to stress this may not happen - but it is something that senior government figures are growing more jittery about by the minute.

Reeves would have a decision to make.

She has previously committed only to make significant tax and spend announcements once a year at the autumn Budget.

A Treasury spokesperson said last night that "meeting the fiscal rules is non-negotiable".

That would suggest she would have to break her commitment and announce, or at least pave the way for, measures to bring the government in line with its rules.

What could that mean?

In principle, it could mean either tax rises or spending restraint.

In practice, given the significant increase in employers' National Insurance rates in October, it would mean spending restraint - Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, practically said as much in the Commons today.

To be clear, spending restraint would not necessarily mean spending cuts, just much lower spending increases than would otherwise happen.

This is where economics could collide with politics fast.

It's all very well for the Treasury to take measures to soothe the bond markets, where government debt is traded.

But just because a strategy is the most economically viable available, that doesn't mean it is politically viable in a Labour Party made up of MPs who have spent the past 14 years decrying Conservative austerity.

Many Labour MPs, among them cabinet ministers, believe there is little fat left to trim from the state.

They were already anxious about a tough multi-year spending review, expected to conclude around June, before borrowing costs rose.

There is almost a risk of a paradox: that any acts of spending restraint visible and significant enough to calm the markets might, by definition, be too visible and too significant to fly politically among Labour MPs - especially after the controversy of the cut to the winter fuel payment for pensioners.

Labour figures argue that successive Conservative governments dealt with similar problems by piling the most painful spending measures towards the end of five-year forecast periods - hoping that by the year at which those "pencilled-in" measures were reached, circumstances would have changed.

But some also voice a fear that - precisely because of the Conservatives having done this - repeating the trick would be given short shrift by the markets: the fiscal sins of previous governments being visited on this new one.

Unlike recent Conservative debates on economic policy, the Labour Party has one big asset.

In 2022, when Liz Truss decided to go big, with a radical tax-cutting agenda, the Conservative Party had no consensus on how to approach the economy.

The 2022 leadership election in which Truss defeated Rishi Sunak was essentially a clash of economic ideas.

She won that argument with Tory members, having lost it among the party's MPs - and then lost it unambiguously with the public and the markets within 49 days.

The Labour Party, give or take some sotto voce debates about tax for the wealthiest and welfare for the poorest, does broadly have an economic consensus, especially when it comes to what the Conservatives did wrong.

But what if these shared beliefs in how best to run the economy turn out to be products of the low interest rate era?

And how do you maintain that consensus if the markets disagree?

This is a political worst case scenario for Reeves.

Asking influential Labour figures about the markets this morning was to be told that lines go down as well as up, that the markets can move the other way in rapid time.

But all acknowledge that it is a bad sign when the value of the currency goes down at the same time as the cost of borrowing goes up.

And all are watching anxiously to see how things develop.

As one government source said to me: "It's definitely not tin hat time yet."

Government borrowing costs have been steadily rising in recent months, and have now hit their highest levels for several years.

Why is this happening and how does it affect ordinary people?

What's happening in the bond markets?

A bond is a bit like an IOU that can be traded in the financial markets.

Governments generally spend more than they raise in tax so they borrow money to fill the gap, usually by selling bonds to investors.

As well as eventually paying back the value of the bond, governments pay interest at regular intervals so investors receive a stream of future payments.

UK government bonds - known as "gilts" - are normally considered very safe, with little risk the money will not be repaid. They are mainly bought by financial institutions, such as pension funds.

Interest rates - known as the yield - on government bonds have been going up since around August.

The yield on a 10-year bond has surged to its highest level since 2008, while the yield on a 30-year bond is at its highest since 1998, meaning it costs the government more to borrow over the long term.

The pound has also fallen in value against the dollar over the last few days. On Tuesday it was worth $1.25 but is currently trading at $1.23.

Why are bond yields rising?

Yields are not just rising in the UK. Borrowing costs have also been going up in the US, Japan, Germany and France, for instance.

There is a great deal of uncertainty around what will happen when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House later this month. He has pledged to bring in tariffs on goods entering the US and to cut taxes.

Investors worry that this will lead to inflation being more persistent than previously thought and therefore interest rates will not come down as quickly as they had expected.

But in the UK there are also concerns about the economy underperforming.

Inflation is at its highest for eight months - hitting 2.6% in November - above the Bank of England's 2% target - while the economy has shrunk for two months in a row.

Analysts say it is these wider concerns about the strength of the economy that is driving down the pound, which typically rises when borrowing costs increase.

How does it affect me?

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has pledged that all day-to-day spending should be funded from taxes, not from borrowing.

But if she needs more money to pay back higher borrowing costs, that uses up more tax revenue, leaving less money to spend on other things.

Economists have warned that this could mean spending cuts which would affect public services, and tax rises that could hit people's pay or businesses' ability to grow and hire more people.

The government has committed to having only one fiscal event a year, where it can raise taxes, and this is not expected until the autumn.

So if higher borrowing costs persist, we may be more likely to see cuts to spending before that.

Some people may be wondering about the impact of higher gilt yields on the mortgage market, particularly after what happened after Liz Truss's mini-Budget in September 2022.

Although yields are higher now than they were then, they have been creeping up slowly over a period of months, whereas in 2022 they shot up over a couple of days. That speedy rise led to lenders quickly pulling deals while they tried to work out what interest rate to charge.

Analysts and brokers say the current unease in the markets is having some effect on the pricing of mortgages. Many were expecting to see some falls in rates at the start of the year but instead lenders are holding off from cuts to see what happens.

What happens next?

The Treasury has said there is no need for an emergency intervention in the financial markets.

It has said it will not make any spending or tax announcements ahead of the official borrowing forecast from its independent watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), due on 26 March.

If the OBR says the chancellor is still on track to meet her self-imposed fiscal rules then that might settle the markets.

However, if the OBR were to say because of slower growth and higher-than-expected interest rates, the chancellor were likely to break her fiscal rules then that would potentially be a problem for Reeves.

Flu cases are skyrocketing, causing huge problems for hospitals, NHS England bosses are warning.

Last week the number of patients in hospital in England with the virus topped 5,400 a day on average – around 1,000 higher than a week before.

NHS England's Prof Julian Redhead said cases were going up at a "concerning rate" with hospitals "bursting with patients".

He said this was causing delays in A&E and for ambulances as staff struggled to cope with the demands being placed on them.

It comes as around 20 NHS trusts have been forced to declare critical incidents because of the pressures they are facing.

Prof Redhead, NHS England's national director for emergency care, said the "skyrocketing" flu cases came on top of continued pressure being caused by other viruses, including Covid and the vomiting bug Norovirus.

He apologised for the problems being seen, saying staff were frustrated with the quality of care being provided under such pressures.

"I'm really proud of the way my colleagues have responded to the pressure...but nobody wants to see delays in the ambulances going out and the delays in patients getting to beds that they need. No one will be proud of that system which is occurring."

The number of patients with flu is more than three times higher than they were this time last year – and are now on par with what was seen in early 2023 – one of the worst flu seasons for many years.

Along with the bad weather and flooding, it has meant the NHS has had a "brutal" start to the new year, according to Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents health managers.

And she added: "We're not out of the woods yet. Things are likely to get worse before they get better.

"Stresses and strains on emergency services are a huge concern with many patients facing long waits for ambulances and in A&Es."

'Like Victorian workhouse'

Liz Shearer is just one of many people who have shared their experiences with the BBC of the care being provided.

Her elderly mother spent more than 30 hours in a corridor on a hospital trolley last week because there were no bays available. She was taken to hospital after collapsing at her care home.

"I've never experienced anything like that in my life. It was like a Victorian workhouse. The nurses were saying how bad it is, and they were saying they just had to crack on with it."

Yvonne Wolstenholme spent 13 hours in A&E after she was sent there by her GP because she was struggling to breathe.

"It was absolutely heaving," she said. "Staff are snowed under, they really are rushing around like headless chickens and it's not because of a lack of skill, it's the lack of time to see individual patients.

"While I was there, there were at least eight ambulance crews waiting to hand over patients and obviously they are not out on the streets if they are there waiting."

Official figures released on Thursday showed just how much the emergency care system was struggling.

• The average ambulance response time for immediately life-threatening category one calls, such as cardiac arrests, was 8 mins 40 seconds in December. The target is 7 minutes
• For category two calls, which includes heart attacks and strokes, it was 47 mins 26 seconds. The target is 18 minutes
• Just 71% of patients visiting A&E were seen and treated or admitted within the target time of four hours

But there was more positive news on routine treatment, with the hospital waiting list falling to 7.48 million at the end of November – down from 7.54 million the month before and below the record-high of 7.77 million in September 2023.

Similar pressures are being experienced in other parts of the UK with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all missing their key targets.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Scotland said this week hosptials there were "gridlocked" and in the middle of their own winter crisis.

Dr Tim Cooksley, of of the Society for Acute Medicine, said the NHS was experiencing an "appalling" winter crisis.

"The reality for patients and staff is corridors full of patients experiencing degrading care, being treated in the backs of ambulances because there is simply no space in hospital and the immense physical and emotional harm that inevitably results.

"The fundamental issue is that there is a continued lack of capacity throughout the year - a tough flu season must not be used as a political excuse for the current situation."

A judge has thrown out a man's attempt to sue a council to recover from a rubbish tip a Bitcoin hard drive which he says is now worth about £600m.

James Howells had argued that his former partner had mistakenly dumped the hard drive containing a Bitcoin wallet in 2013, and he wanted to access the site and recover the cryptocurrency.

But Newport council asked a High Court judge to strike out Mr Howells' legal action to access the landfill or get £495m in compensation.

Judge Keyser KC said there were no "reasonable grounds" for bringing the claim and "no realistic prospect" of succeeding at a full trial.

During the hearing in December the court heard how Mr Howells had been an early adopter of Bitcoin and had successfully mined the cryptocurrency.

As the value of his missing digital wallet soared, Mr Howells organised a team of experts to attempt to locate, recover and access the hard drive.

He had repeatedly asked permission from the council for access to the site, and had offered it a share of the missing Bitcoin if it was successfully recovered.

Mr Howells successfully "mined" the Bitcoin in 2009 for almost nothing, and says he forgot about it altogether when he threw it out.

The value of the cryptocurrency rose by more than 80% in 2024, and Mr Howells believes his 8,000 bitcoins to now be worth more than £600m.

But James Goudie KC, for the council, argued that existing laws meant the hard drive had become its property when it entered the landfill site. It also said that its environmental permits would forbid any attempt to excavate the site to search for the hard drive.

The offer to donate 10% of the Bitcoin to the local community was encouraging the council to "play fast and loose" by "signing up for a share of the action," said Mr Goudie.

In a written judgement the judge said: "I also consider that the claim would have no realistic prospect of succeeding if it went to trial and that there is no other compelling reason why it should be disposed of at trial."

The landfill holds more than 1.4m tonnes of waste, but Mr Howells said he had narrowed the hard drive's location to an area consisting of 100,000 tonnes.

Mr Howells has speculated that, by next year, the Bitcoin on his hard drive could be worth £1bn.

He told BBC Wales outside the court hearing in Cardiff last December that he believed in his case and was willing to take it all the way to Supreme Court.

Nothing has been more important to the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer than economic credibility.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has set out clear fiscal rules, such as getting debt falling as a share of national income by the end of this parliament, and she has made sticking to these rules a crucial test of the government's credibility.

That's what makes the recent rise in government borrowing costs potentially so dangerous for Reeves, the Treasury and - arguably - Sir Keir Starmer's entire political project.

If the government has to spend a lot more money paying interest on debt, then it is less likely to meet its rules.

On current trends, 26 March is set to become a critical date.

That is when the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will deliver its latest forecasts, including an assessment of whether the government is on course to meet its fiscal rules or not.

Suppose the OBR says the government is not on course. It's important to stress this may not happen - but it is something that senior government figures are growing more jittery about by the minute.

Reeves would have a decision to make.

She has previously committed only to make significant tax and spend announcements once a year at the autumn Budget.

A Treasury spokesperson said last night that "meeting the fiscal rules is non-negotiable".

That would suggest she would have to break her commitment and announce, or at least pave the way for, measures to bring the government in line with its rules.

What could that mean?

In principle, it could mean either tax rises or spending restraint.

In practice, given the significant increase in employers' National Insurance rates in October, it would mean spending restraint - Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, practically said as much in the Commons today.

To be clear, spending restraint would not necessarily mean spending cuts, just much lower spending increases than would otherwise happen.

This is where economics could collide with politics fast.

It's all very well for the Treasury to take measures to soothe the bond markets, where government debt is traded.

But just because a strategy is the most economically viable available, that doesn't mean it is politically viable in a Labour Party made up of MPs who have spent the past 14 years decrying Conservative austerity.

Many Labour MPs, among them cabinet ministers, believe there is little fat left to trim from the state.

They were already anxious about a tough multi-year spending review, expected to conclude around June, before borrowing costs rose.

There is almost a risk of a paradox: that any acts of spending restraint visible and significant enough to calm the markets might, by definition, be too visible and too significant to fly politically among Labour MPs - especially after the controversy of the cut to the winter fuel payment for pensioners.

Labour figures argue that successive Conservative governments dealt with similar problems by piling the most painful spending measures towards the end of five-year forecast periods - hoping that by the year at which those "pencilled-in" measures were reached, circumstances would have changed.

But some also voice a fear that - precisely because of the Conservatives having done this - repeating the trick would be given short shrift by the markets: the fiscal sins of previous governments being visited on this new one.

Unlike recent Conservative debates on economic policy, the Labour Party has one big asset.

In 2022, when Liz Truss decided to go big, with a radical tax-cutting agenda, the Conservative Party had no consensus on how to approach the economy.

The 2022 leadership election in which Truss defeated Rishi Sunak was essentially a clash of economic ideas.

She won that argument with Tory members, having lost it among the party's MPs - and then lost it unambiguously with the public and the markets within 49 days.

The Labour Party, give or take some sotto voce debates about tax for the wealthiest and welfare for the poorest, does broadly have an economic consensus, especially when it comes to what the Conservatives did wrong.

But what if these shared beliefs in how best to run the economy turn out to be products of the low interest rate era?

And how do you maintain that consensus if the markets disagree?

This is a political worst case scenario for Reeves.

Asking influential Labour figures about the markets this morning was to be told that lines go down as well as up, that the markets can move the other way in rapid time.

But all acknowledge that it is a bad sign when the value of the currency goes down at the same time as the cost of borrowing goes up.

And all are watching anxiously to see how things develop.

As one government source said to me: "It's definitely not tin hat time yet."

Lily Allen has said she is taking a break from her podcast for "a few weeks" because her mental health is "spiralling" and she is not "in a good place".

Speaking on the latest episode of Miss Me?, the pop star-turned-actor said she had been going through a "tough period".

It comes amid reports of a split from her husband, Stranger Things star David Harbour.

Allen, who co-hosts the show with her friend, presenter Miquita Oliver, said she was currently "unable to concentrate on anything except the pain I'm going through".

"I'm finding it hard to be interested in anything. I'm really not in a good place," she said on Thursday's episode.

"I know I've been talking about it for months, but I've been spiralling and spiralling and spiralling, and it's got out of control. I've tried.

"I came to the Miss Me? Christmas lunch and had a panic attack and had to go home," the 39-year-old added. "And I went to see something at the theatre the other night with my friends... and I had to leave at half-time.

"I just can't concentrate on anything except the pain that I'm going through. And It's really hard."

The singer, who now lives in the US, went on to say she was "going away next week", adding: "You're not going to hear me for a few weeks, listeners."

But despite "rumours" that she was going into drug rehab, she said that was not the case and she had not relapsed.

She didn't say where she's going, but said she is "not allowed my phone".

'Source of joy'

Allen also said her two daughters - whom she shares with her ex-husband Sam Cooper and recently went on safari with - had been a great help of late.

"It's really tough - they are always there and you have to be present and there for them," she said.

"And that's OK. When things in life are going well and swimmingly and you're coping, it's really nice to have the kids around - they're a joy to be around, in fact one of the main sources of joy in one's life.

"But when things are not going so well and life is tough - as it is for many people for all manner of reasons - having to hold things together is really hard."

Co-host Oliver told listeners she would "drive this ship" in Allen's absence and "wait for the captain to return".

The BBC Sounds podcast, which launched last year, sees childhood friends Allen former Popworld host Oliver indulge in twice weekly "transatlantic catch-ups, discussing the highs and lows of their lives and the biggest cultural moments of the week".

Allen made her West End theatre debut in 2:22 - A Ghost Story in 2021, and is due to return to the stage in Hedda, a new version of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, at Bath Theatre Royal's Ustinov Studio in July.

She is also reportedly filming a screen adaptation of Virginia Woolf's comic novel Night and Day.

The Brit Award winner mentioned in a previous episode that she was hoping to go back into the studio to record more music later this year.

Elon Musk's online attacks on former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown over grooming gangs draw on a baseless claim about a Home Office memo supposedly issued 17 years ago, research by BBC Verify has established.

A wave of social media posts - including some amplified by Mr Musk - allege that a 2008 Home Office document advised police not to intervene in child grooming cases because victims had "made an informed choice about their sexual behaviour".

But BBC Verify has carried out extensive searches of Home Office circulars issued across that period and found no evidence that any document containing this advice exists.

Brown - who was prime minister in 2008 - has called the allegations "a complete fabrication" and the Home Office says there "has never been any truth" to them.

'Informed choice'

Social media posts referencing a memo and using either the phrase "informed choice" or a variation like "lifestyle choice" have circulated for several years with some gaining traction.

But that intensified dramatically since the start of the year, with posts repeating the claim generating tens of millions of views in the past week after Mr Musk amplified several of them on his social media platform, X.

In one post, which has received over 25 million views, Mr Musk alleged that "Gordon Brown sold those little girls for votes" while reposting another user, June Slater, using words that were apparently a variation of the memo claim.

The original unfounded claim about a Home Office circular to police seems to stem from an interview Nazir Afzal - the former Crown Prosecution Service chief prosecutor for north-west England - gave to the BBC on 19 October 2018. He now admits that he had not seen any such circular himself, despite apparently stating its existence as fact.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's PM programme, he told presenter Carolyn Quinn at the time:

"You may not know this, but back in 2008 the Home Office sent a circular to all police forces in the country saying 'as far as these young girls who are being exploited in their towns and cities we believe they have made an informed choice about their sexual behaviour and therefore it's not for you police officers to get involved in".

Although the programme is no longer available to listen to on the BBC's website, a version has been uploaded to YouTube. BBC Verify has also accessed the programme through the BBC's in-house archives to confirm the audio is genuine.

The first post referencing Mr Afzal's claim appears to have been made one month after his interview, BBC Verify has found. But the first post to gain considerable traction was in July 2019.

Since then posts with versions of the claim have circulated occasionally on X and other platforms, with some posts from larger accounts in 2024 getting more attention, before intensifying massively in recent days.

Misinterpreted instructions

Speaking to BBC Verify, Mr Afzal clarified his position admitting that he has never seen any circular with the form of words that he used in his 2018 interview.

Instead he now says he was referring to police officers who had told him some officers had misinterpreted instructions in a circular sent by the Home Office.

Mr Afzal pointed us to Home Office circular 017/2008 which is about the police's powers under the 1989 Children's Act.

However, the words "informed choice" do not appear anywhere in the text, nor is the circular about child grooming gangs.

It does contain, however, a section on how to judge significant harm to a child. "It is important always to take account of the child's reactions, and his or her perceptions, according to the child's age and understanding," it reads.

It seems difficult to understand how any police officer could misconstrue this section in the way Mr Afzal described in his 2018 interview

He told BBC Verify he was "paraphrasing what I thought that meant to them", when he gave his Radio 4 interview.

Asked how officers could have interpreted circular 17/2008 in this way, Mr Afzal said:

"You're right, it doesn't stack up. It doesn't give an excuse or explanation, but I can't give you any other circular."

BBC Verify also asked Mr Afzal if he could put us in touch with any of the officers that may have misinterpreted the circular in way he described, but he was unable to do this.

Mr Afzal's claim was not a one off. One year before his 2018 interview, Mr Afzal wrote an article for the International Business Times where he also stated the claim as fact:

"The term "child prostitute" was used extensively to describe them and it should be noted both that the Home Office in a circular to police in 2008 used that term and spoke of girls making an "informed choice" to engage in this behaviour. Parliament only finally removed the term from all laws a couple of years ago."

Despite interest in the claim going back several years we have been unable to identify any individual who is able to provide evidence of any circular to this effect.

Home Office memos contain no reference to term

The purpose of the circulars - or memos - is to provide police forces with guidance, policy updates and administrative instructions.

The Home Office says all memos and circulars to police forces are published online in the National Archives. They are also kept in the library of the College of Policing website.

BBC Verify searched all the circulars for 2008 and could find no reference to "informed choice" or "child prostitute" or any phrase similar to the one cited in the social media posts.

Of the 32 circulars listed on the National Archives website for 2008, only one - 017/2008 - falls under the category "child abuse". We have also searched circulars for 2007, 2009 and 2010 and found no references to "informed choice". We also searched for other phrases in Mr Afzal's original statements and variations from later social media posts - for example "get involved", "sexual behaviour" and "lifestyle choice" - and found no occurrences.

• Victims want action, child abuse inquiry chair says
• What is Starmer's record on prosecuting grooming gangs?
• Starmer attacks those 'spreading lies' on grooming gangs

There have been several Freedom of Information requests regarding a supposed memo or circular with the "informed choice" phrase, but no police force has found any trace of such a communication.

We were able to find a circular from 2009 that links to a webpage that further links to a document on child sexual exploitation released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families that mentions the phrase "informed choice". It is not an instruction to police and the context it appears in is emphasising situations where local agencies might need to report sexual activity in order to protect children "unable to make an informed choice".

There were circulars in 2007 and 2010 that contained the phrase "child prostitute". The first was in connection with some technical changes to offences like "controlling a child prostitute". The second again dealt with technical changes but this circular on prostitution also said: "In short, any steps taken, whether relating to criminal proceedings or not, should be designed to protect the child from continuing sexual exploitation and abuse."

The term "child prostitute" was taken out of the law in 2015 as it could imply that children could consent to abuse.

Circulars and memos are received by senior individuals in each police force, former Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary Simon Bailey told BBC Verify.

"They would've gone to crime registrars and the head of the crime and they would've cascaded the guidance," he said.

If there was any doubt about how to interpret the guidance a force would have gone back to the Home Office to seek clarity, Mr Bailey added.

"And even going back 17 years, I cannot believe the Home Office would've sent out a circular of that nature."

'Never been any truth'

In a statement to BBC Verify, the Home Office said it had never instructed police not to go after grooming gangs:

"There has never been any truth in the existence of a Home Office circular telling police forces that grooming gangs should not be prosecuted, or that their victims were making a choice, and it is now clear that the specific circular which was being referred to does absolutely no such thing."

Jacqui Smith - now Baroness Smith - was the Labour Home Secretary in 2008. She told BBC Verify: "It is categorically wrong that the Home Office or I instructed police forces not to prosecute grooming gangs or not to protect young girls."

A spokesperson for Gordon Brown said: "There is no basis for such allegations at all. They are a complete fabrication. There is no foundation whatsoever for alleging that Mr Brown sent, approved or was in anyway involved with issuing a circular or statement to the police because it did not happen."

'Got lost in translation'

BBC Verify has attempted to speak to those who repeated the claim on X and had their posts amplified by Mr Musk.

In one post, Mr Musk alleged that "Gordon Brown committed an unforgivable crime against the British people" and shared a video clip from campaigner Maggie Oliver appearing on GB News.

In the clip, Ms Oliver alleged: "Gordon Brown sent out a circular to all the police forces in the UK saying 'do not prosecute these rape gangs, these children are making a lifestyle choice'."

Ms Oliver said that she based her claim on what Mr Afzal said:

"My knowledge of this comes from what Nazir Afzal said publicly in 2018 in his BBC interview."

BBC Verify also reached out to June Slater, whose post was also amplified by Mr Musk. She told us she had not seen the memo, but her claim was also based on what Mr Afzal and Ms Oliver had previously said:

"I thought he was a reliable source as is Maggie Oliver."

Asked if he regretted the misinformation that had stemmed from his statements, Mr Afzal told BBC Verify:

"I regret that people have interpreted what I interpreted and that it's sort of got lost in translation."

BBC Verify also contacted the Police Federation, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing about the alleged circular.

The NPCC referred us to the Home Office's statement while the College of Policing said it was not aware of any circular.

'Allegations ignored'

While there is no evidence for the existence of the circular, the performance of the police and other institutions in protecting victims and investigating abuse has been heavily criticised during this period.

Prof Alexis Jay - who carried out the independent inquiry into child abuse - said some victims would never recover from their experiences.

"We heard time and time again how allegations of abuse were ignored, victims were blamed and institutions prioritised their reputations over the protection of children."

Additional reporting by Ned Davies and Lucy Gilder.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Threads and Instagram users will no longer be able to opt out of being shown political content from people they do not follow, parent company Meta has announced.

The head of the platforms Adam Mosseri said it followed Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg's reorienting the company towards "free expression" - a move that saw it ditch fact checkers on Tuesday.

Mr Mosseri said Meta would begin recommending political content in a "responsible and personalised way" from this week in the US, and globally from next week.

It represents a U-turn on his previous stance on news and political content on Threads, which he said in 2023 the platform would not "do anything to encourage".

"Any incremental engagement or revenue they might drive is not at all worth the scrutiny, negativity (let's be honest), or integrity risks that come along with them," he wrote in a Threads post at the time.

But on Wednesday, he said it had "proven impractical to draw a red line around what is and is not political content" - and users have asked to be shown more, not less, of this content than in years prior.

A setting that currently allows Threads and Instagram users to toggle political content recommendations on or off will be changed to provide three options for how much they are shown - less, standard and more.

This will opt users in to seeing a "standard" amount by default.

Mixed response

Mr Mosseri said Instagram - which Meta acquired for $1bn in 2012 - was founded upon the values of creativity and "giving anybody a voice".

"My hope is that this focus on free speech is going to help us do even a bit better along that path," he said in an Instagram video.

There has been considerable criticism of the changes Meta has already announced, with concerns expressed about the impact on minority groups.

The company has also been accused of pandering to the incoming Trump administration, which has previously been very critical of Meta and Mr Zuckerberg.

Some users have also reacted to these latest changes on Threads and Instagram with dismay.

"Well, time to delete the Threads app. It was nice while it lasted," said one Threads user responding to Mr Mosseri's posts.

On Instagram - where Mr Mosseri said accounts focused on politics now "don't have to worry about becoming non-recommendable" to other users - some users praised the move as "a good step towards the freedom on the platform".

Many have also, however, expressed concern about the effect that increasing content recommendations about social issues and politics could have on amplifying misinformation and hate speech.

Mick Lynch, head of the country's largest railway union, has announced his retirement.

He became general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers in 2021, and under his leadership the union staged a series of strikes over pay in 2022 and 2023, culminating in a deal with the new Labour government this summer.

Feted by supporters for his straight-talking style, he was attacked by critics for his £84,000 salary and for the disruption caused by the union's industrial action.

In a statement, Mr Lynch did not give a reason for standing down but said it had "been a privilege to serve this union for over 30 years in all capacities", adding it was now "time for change".

Mr Lynch will stay in his role until May, when RMT members elect a new general secretary.

He said there was a need for a strong union for rail workers, but that a strong organisation needed "renewal and change".

He said he was proud of serving the union, adding: "This union has been through a lot of struggles in recent years, and I believe that it has only made it stronger despite all the odds."

At 16, he left school and trained to be an electrician, before finding work in construction.

As industrial action ebbed and flowed in the 1980s, Mr Lynch became involved in a breakaway union and was secretly blacklisted by constructions companies, leaving him struggling to find work for years.

When the blacklist was exposed decades later, Mr Lynch was compensated with a cheque for £35,000, a copy of which hangs framed on his office wall.

He went on to found the Electrical and Plumbing Industries Union (EPIU) in 1988, before joining the RMT.

He took charge of the RMT at a time of deep internal divisions.

Mr Lynch's predecessor as general secretary, Mick Cash, retired in 2020 after six years in the job, blaming a "campaign of harassment" by elements of the membership.

Mr Lynch was appointed acting general secretary, but soon stood down himself, accusing senior union members of "bullying" and creating "an intolerable, toxic atmosphere".

He then returned and won election to the role permanently in May 2021.

Firefighters in Los Angeles are battling a number of blazes in city suburbs, as tens of thousands of residents are forced to flee.

The rapidly changing situation is compounded by Santa Ana winds and extremely dry conditions. Currently authorities say there is no possibility of bringing the fires under control.

The Palisades fire, which is closest to the coast and also the largest, has ripped through picturesque suburbs which are home to many Hollywood stars. More than 1,000 buildings have already been destroyed.

Here's how the fires have spread and are affecting the Los Angeles area.

An overview of the current fires

Four major fires are currently being tackled.

The Palisades fire was first reported at 10:30 (18:30 GMT) on Tuesday, and grew in just 20 minutes from a blaze of 20 acres to more than 200 acres, then more than tenfold in a matter of a few more hours. At least 30,000 people have so far been ordered to leave their homes.

The Eaton fire grew to cover 1,000 acres within the first six hours of breaking out. It started in Altadena in the hills above Pasadena at around 18:30 local time on Tuesday.

The Hurst fire is located just north of San Fernando. It began burning on Tuesday at around 22:10 local time, growing to 500 acres, according to local officials. It has triggered evacuation orders in neighbouring Santa Clarita.

The latest of the four fires is the Woodley fire, currently 75 acres in size. It broke out at approximately 06:15 local time on Wednesday.

• Follow latest updates on the LA wildfires
• Watch: Smoke billows as thousands evacuate in LA
• 'Run for your lives!' residents abandon cars to flee fire on foot
• Timelapse shows rapid spread of Palisades wildfire
• Watch: Inside a neighbourhood totally lost in inferno
• Pacific Palisades: The celebrity LA area ravaged by wildfire

How did the Palisades fire spread?

The Palisades fire has so far burnt through more than 2,900 acres. The map above shows how rapidly the blaze spread, intensifying in a matter of hours. At just after 14:00 on Tuesday it covered 772 acres and within four hours it had expanded approximately to its current size.

Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate, as more than 1,400 firefighters try to tackle the blaze.

How does the Palisade fire compare in size with New York and London?

To give an idea of the size of the Palisades fire, we have superimposed it on to maps of New York and London.

As you can see, it is comparable in size with the central area of UK's capital, or with large areas of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

How the fires look from space

Another indication of the scale of the Palisades fire comes from Nasa's Earth Observatory.

The images captured on Tuesday show a huge plume of smoke emanating from California and drifting out to sea.

Effects of the Eaton fire

The Palisade fire is not the only one to have a devastating effect on neighbourhoods of Los Angeles.

The above images show the Jewish Temple in Pasadena before and during the Eaton fire.

The Jewish Temple and Centre's website says it has been in use since 1941 and has a congregation of more than 400 familes.

A wildfire that started in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on Tuesday morning has spread across the west of the city at an alarming rate throughout Tuesday and overnight.

High winds and very dry conditions further fuelled the flames, causing the blaze to rip through neighbourhoods at alarming speeds. The fires reportedly spread from a size of 10 acres to nearly 3,000 in a matter of hours.

Firefighters have been battling the flames throughout the night, as residents were forced to flee amid evacuation orders affecting tens of thousands of people.

Photographers have captured dramatic scenes across the west of the city as firefighters work to control the fires.

The BBC's Regan Morris reported on fires raging out of control, leaving those without power and phone signal unable to receive updates on the latest evacuation alerts.

Meanwhile, CBS reporter Jonathan Vigliotti said firefighters were no longer "trying to save" houses in the Palisades, "they're trying to prevent these flames from jumping to other neighbourhoods".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Russia is closely monitoring the situation, after US President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out military action to take Greenland from Denmark.

Peskov said the Arctic was in Russia's "sphere of national and strategic interests and it is interested in peace and stability there".

Trump's remarks on Greenland - a largely autonomous Danish territory - have drawn a warning from European leaders.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has stressed that "we have to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Greenland", and Germany's Olaf Scholz has made clear that "borders must not be moved by force".

Trump said earlier this week that the US needed both Denmark and the Panama Canal "for economic security", and refused to rule out using either economic or military force in taking them over.

He also referred to the border with Canada as an "artificially drawn line". Denmark and Canada are both close Nato allies of the US.

Dmitry Peskov said Trump's claims were a matter for the US, Denmark and other nations, but Russia was watching the "rather dramatic" situation surrounding his remarks. "We are present in the Arctic zone, and we will continue to be present there," he said.

Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to dampen concern about the president-elect's remarks during a visit to Paris: "The idea is... obviously not a good one, but maybe more important, it's obviously one that's not going to happen."

About 56,000 people live in Greenland, and it is home to US as well as Danish military bases. It also has considerable untapped mineral and oil wealth.

Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede has been pushing for independence, although the territory's economy relies heavily on Danish subsidies.

Both he and the Danish leader have emphasised that it is "not for sale" and that its future is in the hands of Greenlanders themselves.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy played down Trump's comments, although he acknowledged the "intensity of his rhetoric and the unpredictability sometimes of what he said can be destabilising".

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said Copenhagen has a clear interest in ensuring that the US - "absolutely its closest ally" - plays a key role at a time of rising tensions in the North Atlantic, particularly involving Russia.

The European Commission said Trump's threat to Greenland was "extremely theoretical" and "wildly hypothetical", considering he was not yet in office.

However, it has confirmed that Greenland, as an overseas territory, does come under a mutual assistance clause requiring all EU states to come to its aid in case of attack.

The Kremlin ridiculed the European response, suggesting it was reacting "very timidly... almost in a whisper".

Last week, Greenland's leader said the territory should free itself from "the shackles of colonialism", although he made no mention of the US.

A former Greenland foreign minister, Pele Broberg, who now heads the biggest opposition party, told the BBC that most Greenlanders he talked to believed the US was vital for their defence and safety.

"We are part of the North American continent, that's why the defence of the US is in such a great place with regards to Greenland, because we create a buffer zone that doesn't need to be militarised."

He has called for a "free association agreement" with the US covering trade and defence which would give Greenland independence but hand the US responsibility for security.

Trump's allies have reinforced his views on Greenland.

Keith Kellogg, chosen by Trump to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, said a lot of the president-elect's remarks on Greenland made sense, "putting the United States in a position of global leadership".

Republican congressman Mike Walz told Fox News that the issue was "not just about Greenland, this is about the Arctic", because Russia was trying to take control of the polar region, with its mineral and natural resources.

"Denmark can be a great ally, but you can't treat Greenland, which they have operational control over, as some kind of backwater - it's in the Western hemisphere."

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has sent a legal "cease and desist" letter to Sir Keir Starmer demanding he stop saying she "crashed the economy".

Her lawyers argue the claim made repeatedly by Sir Keir is "false and defamatory" and harmed her politically in the run-up to losing her South West Norfolk seat in the general election.

Truss was the UK's shortest-serving PM, forced to resign after just 49 days in office when borrowing costs soared in the aftermath of her government's mini-budget.

Downing Street has been approached for comment.

But Commons leader Lucy Powell told MPs "we won't cease and desist from telling the truth that they [the Conservatives] crashed the economy".

Also speaking in the Commons, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said the actions taken by the Conservatives in government were "not just reckless and negligent - they had a direct impact on family finances".

Meanwhile, the pound has dropped to its lowest level in over a year and government borrowing costs have continued to rise as concerns about the public finances mount.

Sterling began to fall in value after UK 10-year borrowing costs rose again, surging to their highest level for 16 years.

Economists have warned these rising costs could force further tax rises or cuts in spending as the government tries to meet its self-imposed borrowing targets.

Powell said the cost of government debt often fluctuated "because of global markets", but argued the Truss government's mini-budget, in September 2022, which included wide-ranging tax cuts, had led to a market reaction "directly and immediately".

A "cease and desist" letter usually represents a warning that the recipient will face legal action if they continue the allegedly unlawful activity.

In the letter sent to Sir Keir on Wednesday, Truss's lawyers say his statements about their client are "false and misleading".

"Their publication is not only extremely damaging but also grossly defamatory and indefensible... It would be hard to avoid a conclusion that they were made maliciously," the letter adds.

Truss's lawyers say they are seeking "an amicable basis on which you will agree to cease repetition of what is clearly a factually incorrect and defamatory statement about our client.

"This request is made in the context of the basic levels of civility which is due between senior politicians, and we trust that you will respond accordingly."

The letter argues that the movements in financial markets during Truss's tenure in No 10 should not be classified as an economic crash.

The weeks following the mini-budget saw adverse market reaction and mortgage costs soar.

At the Conservative Party conference in October, Truss said it would be "economic illiteracy" to suggest that tax rises from Labour - at that point anticipated in Rachel Reeves' upcoming first Budget - were a result of her economic inheritance.

Deadly wildfires have devastated parts of the city of Los Angeles and the wider county, destroying many homes and businesses, as well as schools and places of worship.

Here are some of the most striking images of places seen before and after the wildfires tore through them.

• Follow live: New wildfire sweeps through Hollywood Hills
• In maps: Thousands of acres on fire in LA
• What role is climate change playing?

Pacific Palisades

This affluent suburb is among those that have been the hardest hit, with many residents being unable to gather much or anything of value before they were had to flee.

Below are images showing the destruction some businesses have suffered.

The Palisades Charter High School is among landmarks in the Pacific Palisades area to have been damaged in the fires.

The well-known school counts celebrities including Will.i.am and Forest Whitaker among its alumni, and has been a filming location for Hollywood hits including Carrie, Teen Wolf and Freaky Friday.

Read more about what happened to the school here.

Pacific Coast Highway

Houses that sit along parts of the major state highway have also been hit by the Palisades fire, including in the city of Malibu.

Satellite imagery below shows what the coastline looked like before and after the fires took hold.

Altadena

The Eaton Fire has destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in Altadena, which lies behind the mountains north of Los Angeles.

Below you can see the damage the fire caused to one home, as well as a wider look at the full extent of the damage the neighbourhood has suffered.

Pasadena

In nearby Pasadena, a Jewish temple was among the buildings lost to the Eaton Fire.

According to its website, the temple's congregation has more than 100 years of history in the area.

A wildfire that started in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on Tuesday morning has spread across the west of the city at an alarming rate throughout Tuesday and overnight.

High winds and very dry conditions further fuelled the flames, causing the blaze to rip through neighbourhoods at alarming speeds. The fires reportedly spread from a size of 10 acres to nearly 3,000 in a matter of hours.

Firefighters have been battling the flames throughout the night, as residents were forced to flee amid evacuation orders affecting tens of thousands of people.

Photographers have captured dramatic scenes across the west of the city as firefighters work to control the fires.

The BBC's Regan Morris reported on fires raging out of control, leaving those without power and phone signal unable to receive updates on the latest evacuation alerts.

Meanwhile, CBS reporter Jonathan Vigliotti said firefighters were no longer "trying to save" houses in the Palisades, "they're trying to prevent these flames from jumping to other neighbourhoods".

Out-of-control wildfires are ripping across parts of Los Angeles, leading to at least five deaths, burning down hundreds of buildings, and prompting more than 130,000 people to flee their homes in America's second-largest city.

Despite the efforts of firefighters, the biggest blazes remain totally uncontained - with weather conditions and the underlying impact of climate change expected to continue fanning the flames for days to come.

What's the latest?

More than 137,000 people have been forced to leave their homes - many of them simply carrying whatever belongings they can.

Police say at least five people have died, and their bodies found near the Eaton Fire - but their cause of death is not yet known.

Like the even larger Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire remains totally uncontained. Meanwhile, the new Sunset Fire is menacing the well-known Hollywood Hills area.

More than 1,000 structures are known to have been destroyed - including houses, schools and businesses on the iconic Sunset Boulevard. A fire ecologist has told the BBC that "entire neighbourhoods... have been wiped out".

Among the celebrities who have lost their homes are Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, who attended the Golden Globes just days ago, and Paris Hilton.

There is a glimmer of hope for firefighters, as the fire weather outlook for southern California has been downgraded from "extremely critical" to "critical".

But BBC weather forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas says there is no rain forecast in the area for at least the next week, meaning conditions remain ripe for fire.

Mass disruption has been reported due to traffic buildup. A number of schools and the the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have been forced to close.

A political row about the city's preparedness has erupted after it emerged that some firefighters' hoses have run dry - an issue seized upon by US President-elect Donald Trump.

• Follow live updates
• 'Where do I go?' Chaos as people flee flames
• In pictures: Dramatic scenes from west LA
• The celebrities who have lost their homes

Where are the fires?

There are at least five fires raging in the wider area, according to California fire officials early on Thursday:

• Palisades: The first fire to erupt on Tuesday and the biggest fire in the region, which could become the most destructive fire in state history. It has scorched a sizable part of land, covering more than 17,200 acres, including the upscale Pacific Palisades neighbourhood
• Eaton: It has struck the northern part of Los Angeles, blazing through cities such as Altadena. It's the second biggest fire in the area, burning around 10,600 acres
• Hurst: Located just north of San Fernando, it began burning on Tuesday night and has grown to 855 acres, though firefighters have had some successlimited in containing it
• Lidia: It broke out on Wednesday afternoon in the mountainous Acton area north of Los Angeles and grew to cover almost 350 acres. Authorities say it has been 40% contained
• Sunset: It broke out Wednesday evening in Hollywood Hills, growing to about 20 acres in less than an hour. It now covers around 43 acres

The earlier Woodley and Olivas fires have now been contained, according to local fire authorities.

• In maps: Thousands of acres on fire
• Watch: Fires reach Hollywood, with fears for iconic sign

How did the LA fires start?

Officials have pointed to high winds and drought in the area, which has made vegetation very dry and easy to burn.

The likely impact of climate change has also been cited been blamed - although the exact circumstances remain unclear.

Some 95% of wildfires in the area are started by humans, according to David Acuna, a battalion chief at the Californian Fire Service, although officials are yet to state how they think the current fires started.

An important factor that has been cited in the spread of the blazes is the Santa Ana winds, which blow from inland towards the coast. With speeds of more than 60mph (97 km/h), these are believed to have fanned the flames.

• What are the Santa Ana winds?

What role has climate change played?

Although strong winds and lack of rain are driving the blazes, experts say climate change is altering the background conditions and increasing the likelihood of such fires.

US government research is unequivocal in linking climate change to larger and more severe wildfires in the western United States.

"Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says.

And following a very warm summer and lack of rain in recent months, California is particularly vulnerable.

Fire season in southern California is generally thought to stretch from May to October - but the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, has pointed out earlier that blazes had become a perennial issue. "There's no fire season," he said. "It's fire year."

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Acuna said the Palisades Fire represented only the third occasion in the past 30 years that a major fire had broken out in January.

• How climate change is stoking the fires
• A simple guide to climate change

The pound has fallen to its lowest level for nine months after UK government borrowing costs continued to rise.

The drop came as UK 10-year borrowing costs surged to their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis when bank borrowing almost ground to a halt.

Economists have warned the rising costs could lead to further tax rises or cuts to spending plans as the government tries to meet its self-imposed borrowing target.

The government said it would not say anything ahead of the official borrowing forecast from its independent forecaster due in March.

"I'm obviously not going to get ahead ... it's up to the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) to make their forecasts."

"Having stability in the public finances is precursor to having economic stability and economic growth," the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride claimed that the Chancellor's significant spending and borrowing plans from the Budget are "making it more expensive for the government to borrow".

"We should be building a more resilient economy, not raising taxes to pay for fiscal incompetence," he said in a post on X.

Gabriel McKeown, head of macroeconomics at Sad Rabbit Investments, said the rise in borrowing costs "has effectively eviscerated Reeves' fiscal headroom, threatening to derail Labour's investment promises and potentially necessitate a painful recalibration of spending plans."

The warning comes after the cost of borrowing over 30 years hit its highest level for 27 years on Tuesday.

Meanwhile the pound dropped by as much as 1.1% to $1.233 against the dollar, marking its lowest level since April last year.

The government generally spends more than it raises in tax. To fill this gap it borrows money, but that has to be paid back - with interest.

One of the ways it can borrow money is by selling financial products called bonds.

Globally, there has been a rise in the cost of government borrowing in recent months sparked by investor concerns that US President-elect Donald Trump's plans to impose new tariffs on goods entering the US from Canada, Mexico and China would push up inflation.

Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell, said chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget in October, which increased borrowing, may have had a small impact but said the UK rises were similar to those in the US.

"In the UK higher yields put pressure on government finances and increase the risk that Reeves will come back with another tax raising Budget," he said.

But he also said the current rises in borrowing costs could be "a storm in a tea cup which dissipates quickly."

The official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), will start the process of updating its forecast on government borrowing next month to be presented to parliament in late March.

Some local councils in England would need to see at least a five-fold increase in new housing to meet government targets, analysis by BBC Verify suggests.

The BBC's figures lay out the immense challenge Labour has set itself in government with its "milestone" of building 1.5 million new homes in England over five years.

In total, 16 local authorities across England have new annual targets that are five times or more what they have recently delivered.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said setting a specific target will "give the British people the power to hold our feet to the fire".

With that in mind, the BBC has created a new online tool for tracking the government's progress towards this key goal.

Type in your postcode and see the house building situation in your own area.

The government has also set annual housing targets for each local authority in England, based on what it judges their contribution to the overall total should be.

The most demanding target is for the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which has been set a target for new homes nearly 22 times its recent average.

The target for Sevenoaks in Kent is five times what it has been delivering on average in recent years, while the target for Portsmouth is more than eight times the average.

These specific targets will enable us to incorporate information into the tracker on what's happening on house building in every district in England.

It will show the number of homes added in an area and compare it with the local target set by ministers.

Our postcode lookup tool also shows the share of planning applications for new homes granted permissions in an area in the most recent year there is data for, and compares it with the England-wide average rate, so you can judge whether your council is approving enough building plans.

The tracker will be updated when relevant official data becomes available.

Hugely ambitious

The new government has described its housebuilding objective as "hugely ambitious" and that is no exaggeration.

To deliver 1.5 million homes, defined as "net additional dwellings", over five years implies a strike rate of about 300,000 a year - a number not achieved since the 1970s.

But while the England-wide target is highly ambitious in a historical context, the targets handed down to some local authorities are arguably even more so.

To create our postcode tracker we processed local data on:

• the number of annual net additional dwellings required
• the number of net additional dwellings created on average each year since 2021
• recent residential planning decisions by councils.

BBC Verify's analysis shows Kensington and Chelsea, a London borough, has been given a target of 5,107 new homes every year for the next five years. But the borough delivered an average of only 236 net additional dwellings between 2021-22 and 2023-24.

It did, however, approve 89% of planning applications for housing in the year to June 2024, considerably higher than the national rate of 71%.

Portsmouth, on the south coast, also has a very stretching target. The local council is being asked to deliver 1,021 new homes per year, almost nine times the 120 it delivered on average over the most recent three years.

Hastings has been tasked with a smaller total: 710. But this is still five times the 142 it has delivered on average in recent years.

Portsmouth approved 74% of residential planning applications in the year to June 2024 and Hastings 75%.

Councils were consulted on the targets last summer, with many expressing concerns they were "unrealistic", and the numbers were revised.

Councillor Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea, said it was "out of touch to let algorithms set targets without understanding local context".

"You only have to walk through the streets of our densely built borough to see how unachievable it would be to build 5,107 homes a year here; this borough is only 4.5 miles squared."

She said there were two major sites in the borough that would provide 6,000 new homes in total.

Councillor Darren Sanders, cabinet member for housing at Portsmouth City Council, said the target "does not work" because "most of the city is an island" with a dense population and "important heritage and natural assets".

"Portsmouth has approved more than 4,000 new homes in 2023 and 2024. Any lack of delivery is down to the rising cost of development," he said, "not whether the council approves them."

Sevenoaks councillor Julia Thornton said it was a "top priority" to protect greenbelt land, but added: "We will have a duty to do everything possible to meet the government's new housing targets."

Sir Keir's housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, has said if councils fail to deliver enough houses the government could intervene.

"The government can take a local plan off a local authority that is resisting putting one in place, and we are absolutely willing to do it, if we have evidence that [they] are refusing to comply," he told the BBC.

The obstacles

The government said it had "inherited the worst housing crisis in living memory" and "all areas must play their part".

It has set out "a major planning overhaul… unblocking barriers to building, and setting out targets for councils to ramp up housebuilding, so new homes are built where they are most needed."

Most housing experts agree planning reform is necessary.

Yet analysts say it is not the only obstacle.

The construction industry has warned it is dealing with a chronic shortage of skilled workers.

The Home Builders Federation has cited aging workers and Brexit as some of the factors behind shortages.

The Construction Industry Training Board estimates the sector needs to attract the equivalent of 50,300 extra workers per year to meet the levels of work expected.

There are also concerns about the availability of basic building materials including bricks and timber.

The Construction Leadership Council has warned a shortage of these could hinder the government's ability to get near its target.

Finally, many housing experts doubt private housebuilders are capable of delivering enough new homes each year to reach the targets.

This is because private housebuilders have a commercial interest in not building so many new homes that their average price declines.

The Competition and Markets Authority concluded in February 2024 "private developers produce houses at a rate at which they can be sold without needing to reduce their prices".

A sharp decline in residential planning permissions in England in the year to June 2024 - hitting a new record low - was due to a collapse in applications from private builders, not a decline in the share of applications being approved by local authorities.

This collapse in applications probably reflected the impact of still-high mortgage interest rates and high house prices relative to average incomes, undermining the ability of people to afford newly built houses.

That's why some argue meeting the government's targets will also require a major increase in Whitehall grants to not-for-profit local housing associations, enabling them to build tens of thousands of new social and affordable homes, mainly to be rented out, in the coming years.

Interactive tool developed by Allison Shultes, Scott Jarvis and Steven Connor

About the data

Annual data on new homes for England comes from the government's "net additional dwellings" statistics.

These figures are estimates of changes in the total number of homes in each area, taking account of new build homes and existing building conversions, minus any demolitions.

The targets are the government's new "local housing need" calculations, released following a public consultation.

Planning statistics are taken from quarterly data and combine applications decided for "minor" housing developments (fewer than 10 homes) and "major" schemes (10 homes or more).

The planning data for England is at local authority level. Applications decided by special authorities, such as those in charge of national parks, are not included.

We have included the latest data on new housebuilding "completions" by local authority area for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the 1.5 million homes target applies only in England.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

Former Scotland rugby union captain Stuart Hogg has been given a one-year community payback order after he admitted a domestic abuse charge against his estranged wife.

The 32-year-old was previously given a five-year non-harassment order and fined £600 after breaching bail conditions.

He had admitted shouting and swearing and acting in an abusive manner towards his wife Gillian.

Appearing at Selkirk Sheriff Court, he was given a payback order - meaning he will do supervised work in the community - and the non-harassment order was imposed again.

Last year, Hogg, who plays for Montpellier, admitted a single charge which related to repeated abusive behaviour towards his now estranged wife.

Over a five-year period, up to August last year, he engaged in a course of conduct which caused her fear or alarm.

The court previously heard how he regularly shouted and swore at his wife while they lived in Hawick, as well as when they lived in Exeter when Hogg played for Exeter Chiefs.

The charge also involved Hogg monitoring his wife's movements through the Find My Phone app after they had split up in 2023, and him sending her sometimes hundreds of text messages in the space of a few hours.

The former Glasgow Warriors fullback amassed a century of senior caps for his country and was involved in three British and Irish Lions tours.

He remains one of Scotland's all-time leading try scorers and was awarded an MBE in the 2024 New Year honours list for services to rugby union.

Hogg came out of retirement last summer to sign a two-year contract with Montpellier.

What is probably the world's oldest ice, dating back 1.2m years ago, has been dug out from deep within Antarctica.

Working at temperatures of -35C, a team of scientists extracted a 2.8km-long cyclinder, or core, of ice - longer than eight Eiffel Towers end-to-end.

Suspended inside the ice are ancient air bubbles which scientists hope will help solve an enduring mystery about our planet's climate history.

The European scientists worked over four Antarctic summers, racing against seven nations to be first to reach the rock under the frozen continent.

Their work could help unravel one of the major mysteries in our planet's climate history - what happened 900,000-1.2 million years ago when glacial cycles were disrupted and some researchers say our ancestors came close to extinction.

"It's an amazing achievement," says Prof Carlo Barbante at Ca' Foscari University of Venice who co-ordinated the research.

"You have in your hands a piece of ice that is a million years old. Sometimes you see ash layers coming from volcanic eruptions. You see the tiny bubbles inside, some bubbles of air that our ancestors breathed a million years ago," he says.

The team was led by the Italian Institute of Polar Sciences and included 10 European nations.

It had to transport the drilling equipment, laboratories and camp 40km by snow mobiles from the nearest research base.

The drilling site, called Little Dome C, is on the Antarctic plateau on the east of the continent, at almost 3000m elevation.

Ice cores are a vital to scientists' understanding of how our climate is changing.

They trap bubbles of air and particles that reveal levels of greenhouse gas emissions and temperature variation that help scientists plot how climatic conditions have altered over time.

Data from other ice cores, including one called Epica, helped scientists conclude that the current rise in temperature linked to greenhouse gas emissions is caused by humans burning fossil fuels.

But scientists wanted to go further back in time.

Now with this project Beyond Epica: Oldest Ice they have gained potentially another 400,000 years of history.

"There is a lot of the past in our future. We look at the past to understand better how the climate works and how can we project it into the future," says Prof Barbante.

The team had a "nail-biting last few days" as they were able to drill even deeper than anticipated from radar data, says Dr Robert Mulvaney, an ice core scientist at British Antarctic Survey.

The core was slowly pulled from the ice sheet using a drill machinery and scientists carefully carefully cleaned the ice using cloths.

It is now being cut into one metre pieces for transportation at -50C from Antarctica by boat.

The pieces will eventually reach the freezers of numerous European institutions, including the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, where scientists will begin their analysis.

Experts want to understand what happened in a period 900,000 to 1.2 million years ago called the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.

At this time, the length of the cycle between cold glacial and warm interglacials switched from being 41,000 years to 100,000 years. But scientists have never understood why.

This is the same period when, according to some theories, the ancestors of present-day humans almost died out, perhaps dropping to around just 1000 individuals.

Scientists do not know if there is a link between this near-extinction and the climate, explains Prof Barbante, but it demonstrates it is an unusual period that it is important to better understand.

"What they will find is anybody's guess but it will undoubtedly enlarge our window on our planet's past," Professor Joeri Rogelj from Imperial College in London, who was not involved in the project, told BBC News.

Follow Georgina on BlueSky.

Actor and comedian Russell Brand has pleaded guilty to speeding.

The 49-year-old was caught driving his Mini at 95mph on the M4 near Slough on 16 June 2024.

He also drove the car at 37mph in a 30mph zone in Shiplake, near his Oxfordshire home, on 23 March, High Wycombe Magistrates' Court heard.

The former Radio 2 presenter was fined £3,457 and handed eight points on his licence.

Brand, who did not attend the short hearing, was given three penalty points for the 37mph breach and five for the other.

He is currently under investigation by police over allegations of sex crimes made against him by multiple women.

An evidence file has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide if he should face charges.

It came after a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches revealed last year that four women had accused him of sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013.

Brand denies the allegations and previously said all his sexual relationships were "absolutely always consensual".

You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.

Commuters are being warned of icy roads and travel disruption, as temperatures plummeted again overnight across the UK.

Fresh weather warnings have been issued, with snow, ice and fog forecast across southern England, Wales, Northern Ireland and northern Scotland on Thursday.

It will be mainly dry elsewhere with winter sunshine, but temperatures could fall again to as low as -16C on Thursday night.

The cold snap has already brought heavy snowfall to some areas, and dozens of flood alerts and warnings are in place due to either heavy rain or melting snow.

On Wednesday the lowest temperature recorded was -8.4C (16F) in Shap, Cumbria, according to the Met Office.

It comes as an amber cold health alert remains in place for all of England until Sunday, meaning the forecast weather is expected to have significant impacts across health - including a rise in deaths.

The Met Office says travel disruption to road and rail services is likely on Thursday in areas covered by warnings, as well potential for accidents in icy places.

There are five warnings in place:

• A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place for northern Scotland until midnight on Thursday
• A yellow warning for ice has been issued until 10:30 across southern England and south-east Wales
• Two yellow warnings for snow and ice are in force until 11:00 GMT - one across western Wales and north-west England, and south-west England; and another for Northern Ireland
• A yellow warning for fog until 09:00 in Northern Ireland

On Wednesday snow caused some roads to close and motorists to be stationary for "long periods of time" in Devon and Cornwall, according to authorities there.

Gritters working into Thursday morning have been fitted with ploughs to clear routes in the area.

Car insurer RAC said it has seen the highest levels of demand for rescues in a three-day period since December 2022.

"Cold conditions will last until at least the weekend, so we urge drivers to remain vigilant of the risks posed by ice and, in some locations, snow," said RAC breakdown spokeswoman Alice Simpson.

National Rail have also advised passengers to check before they travel, as ice and snow can mean speed restrictions and line closures.

On Wednesday evening, poor weather was affecting Northern and Great Western Railway.

Buses are also replacing trains between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog until Monday.

• Get the forecast in your area on BBC Weather

The wintry conditions have caused significant disruption across the UK since snow swept many parts of the country at the weekend.

Hundreds of schools were closed in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including schools in Yorkshire, Merseyside, the Midlands and Aberdeenshire.

The country has also been hit by widespread flooding in recent days. Currently there are 68 flood warnings - meaning flooding is expected - in England and three in Wales.

The weather is expected to be less cold over the weekend.

Commuters are being warned of icy roads and travel disruption, as temperatures plummeted again overnight across the UK.

Fresh weather warnings have been issued, with snow, ice and fog forecast across southern England, Wales, Northern Ireland and northern Scotland on Thursday.

It will be mainly dry elsewhere with winter sunshine, but temperatures could fall again to as low as -16C on Thursday night.

The cold snap has already brought heavy snowfall to some areas, and dozens of flood alerts and warnings are in place due to either heavy rain or melting snow.

On Wednesday the lowest temperature recorded was -8.4C (16F) in Shap, Cumbria, according to the Met Office.

It comes as an amber cold health alert remains in place for all of England until Sunday, meaning the forecast weather is expected to have significant impacts across health - including a rise in deaths.

The Met Office says travel disruption to road and rail services is likely on Thursday in areas covered by warnings, as well potential for accidents in icy places.

There are five warnings in place:

• A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place for northern Scotland until midnight on Thursday
• A yellow warning for ice has been issued until 10:30 across southern England and south-east Wales
• Two yellow warnings for snow and ice are in force until 11:00 GMT - one across western Wales and north-west England, and south-west England; and another for Northern Ireland
• A yellow warning for fog until 09:00 in Northern Ireland

On Wednesday snow caused some roads to close and motorists to be stationary for "long periods of time" in Devon and Cornwall, according to authorities there.

Gritters working into Thursday morning have been fitted with ploughs to clear routes in the area.

Car insurer RAC said it has seen the highest levels of demand for rescues in a three-day period since December 2022.

"Cold conditions will last until at least the weekend, so we urge drivers to remain vigilant of the risks posed by ice and, in some locations, snow," said RAC breakdown spokeswoman Alice Simpson.

National Rail have also advised passengers to check before they travel, as ice and snow can mean speed restrictions and line closures.

On Wednesday evening, poor weather was affecting Northern and Great Western Railway.

Buses are also replacing trains between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog until Monday.

• Get the forecast in your area on BBC Weather

The wintry conditions have caused significant disruption across the UK since snow swept many parts of the country at the weekend.

Hundreds of schools were closed in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including schools in Yorkshire, Merseyside, the Midlands and Aberdeenshire.

The country has also been hit by widespread flooding in recent days. Currently there are 68 flood warnings - meaning flooding is expected - in England and three in Wales.

The weather is expected to be less cold over the weekend.

The Prince of Wales has wished his wife, Catherine, a happy birthday as she turns 43.

"To the most incredible wife and mother. The strength you've shown over the last year has been remarkable," William wrote in a message posted on social media.

"George, Charlotte, Louis and I are so proud of you. Happy Birthday, Catherine. We love you. W."

The princess has returned to royal duties after having preventative chemotherapy treatment as a result of being diagnosed with cancer last year.

Kensington Palace posted the personal written message from William alongside a previously unseen picture of Catherine taken by Matt Porteous in Windsor last summer.

The black and white picture showed the princess looking relaxed and smiling, wearing jeans, a white shirt and a scarf.

The Royal Family also wished her a happy birthday.

The monarchy's official media account shared a message on X saying: "Happy Birthday to The Princess of Wales!" along with a birthday cake emoji.

The post also had a photo of Catherine collecting flowers from wellwishers while attending church in Sandringham on Christmas Day.

That was the last time the Prince and Princess of Wales were seen together in public.

Some local councils in England would need to see at least a five-fold increase in new housing to meet government targets, analysis by BBC Verify suggests.

The BBC's figures lay out the immense challenge Labour has set itself in government with its "milestone" of building 1.5 million new homes in England over five years.

In total, 16 local authorities across England have new annual targets that are five times or more what they have recently delivered.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said setting a specific target will "give the British people the power to hold our feet to the fire".

With that in mind, the BBC has created a new online tool for tracking the government's progress towards this key goal.

Type in your postcode and see the house building situation in your own area.

The government has also set annual housing targets for each local authority in England, based on what it judges their contribution to the overall total should be.

The most demanding target is for the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which has been set a target for new homes nearly 22 times its recent average.

The target for Sevenoaks in Kent is five times what it has been delivering on average in recent years, while the target for Portsmouth is more than eight times the average.

These specific targets will enable us to incorporate information into the tracker on what's happening on house building in every district in England.

It will show the number of homes added in an area and compare it with the local target set by ministers.

Our postcode lookup tool also shows the share of planning applications for new homes granted permissions in an area in the most recent year there is data for, and compares it with the England-wide average rate, so you can judge whether your council is approving enough building plans.

The tracker will be updated when relevant official data becomes available.

Hugely ambitious

The new government has described its housebuilding objective as "hugely ambitious" and that is no exaggeration.

To deliver 1.5 million homes, defined as "net additional dwellings", over five years implies a strike rate of about 300,000 a year - a number not achieved since the 1970s.

But while the England-wide target is highly ambitious in a historical context, the targets handed down to some local authorities are arguably even more so.

To create our postcode tracker we processed local data on:

• the number of annual net additional dwellings required
• the number of net additional dwellings created on average each year since 2021
• recent residential planning decisions by councils.

BBC Verify's analysis shows Kensington and Chelsea, a London borough, has been given a target of 5,107 new homes every year for the next five years. But the borough delivered an average of only 236 net additional dwellings between 2021-22 and 2023-24.

It did, however, approve 89% of planning applications for housing in the year to June 2024, considerably higher than the national rate of 71%.

Portsmouth, on the south coast, also has a very stretching target. The local council is being asked to deliver 1,021 new homes per year, almost nine times the 120 it delivered on average over the most recent three years.

Hastings has been tasked with a smaller total: 710. But this is still five times the 142 it has delivered on average in recent years.

Portsmouth approved 74% of residential planning applications in the year to June 2024 and Hastings 75%.

Councils were consulted on the targets last summer, with many expressing concerns they were "unrealistic", and the numbers were revised.

Councillor Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea, said it was "out of touch to let algorithms set targets without understanding local context".

"You only have to walk through the streets of our densely built borough to see how unachievable it would be to build 5,107 homes a year here; this borough is only 4.5 miles squared."

She said there were two major sites in the borough that would provide 6,000 new homes in total.

Councillor Darren Sanders, cabinet member for housing at Portsmouth City Council, said the target "does not work" because "most of the city is an island" with a dense population and "important heritage and natural assets".

"Portsmouth has approved more than 4,000 new homes in 2023 and 2024. Any lack of delivery is down to the rising cost of development," he said, "not whether the council approves them."

Sevenoaks councillor Julia Thornton said it was a "top priority" to protect greenbelt land, but added: "We will have a duty to do everything possible to meet the government's new housing targets."

Sir Keir's housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, has said if councils fail to deliver enough houses the government could intervene.

"The government can take a local plan off a local authority that is resisting putting one in place, and we are absolutely willing to do it, if we have evidence that [they] are refusing to comply," he told the BBC.

The obstacles

The government said it had "inherited the worst housing crisis in living memory" and "all areas must play their part".

It has set out "a major planning overhaul… unblocking barriers to building, and setting out targets for councils to ramp up housebuilding, so new homes are built where they are most needed."

Most housing experts agree planning reform is necessary.

Yet analysts say it is not the only obstacle.

The construction industry has warned it is dealing with a chronic shortage of skilled workers.

The Home Builders Federation has cited aging workers and Brexit as some of the factors behind shortages.

The Construction Industry Training Board estimates the sector needs to attract the equivalent of 50,300 extra workers per year to meet the levels of work expected.

There are also concerns about the availability of basic building materials including bricks and timber.

The Construction Leadership Council has warned a shortage of these could hinder the government's ability to get near its target.

Finally, many housing experts doubt private housebuilders are capable of delivering enough new homes each year to reach the targets.

This is because private housebuilders have a commercial interest in not building so many new homes that their average price declines.

The Competition and Markets Authority concluded in February 2024 "private developers produce houses at a rate at which they can be sold without needing to reduce their prices".

A sharp decline in residential planning permissions in England in the year to June 2024 - hitting a new record low - was due to a collapse in applications from private builders, not a decline in the share of applications being approved by local authorities.

This collapse in applications probably reflected the impact of still-high mortgage interest rates and high house prices relative to average incomes, undermining the ability of people to afford newly built houses.

That's why some argue meeting the government's targets will also require a major increase in Whitehall grants to not-for-profit local housing associations, enabling them to build tens of thousands of new social and affordable homes, mainly to be rented out, in the coming years.

Interactive tool developed by Allison Shultes, Scott Jarvis and Steven Connor

About the data

Annual data on new homes for England comes from the government's "net additional dwellings" statistics.

These figures are estimates of changes in the total number of homes in each area, taking account of new build homes and existing building conversions, minus any demolitions.

The targets are the government's new "local housing need" calculations, released following a public consultation.

Planning statistics are taken from quarterly data and combine applications decided for "minor" housing developments (fewer than 10 homes) and "major" schemes (10 homes or more).

The planning data for England is at local authority level. Applications decided by special authorities, such as those in charge of national parks, are not included.

We have included the latest data on new housebuilding "completions" by local authority area for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the 1.5 million homes target applies only in England.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

The pound has fallen to its lowest level for nine months after UK government borrowing costs continued to rise.

The drop came as UK 10-year borrowing costs surged to their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis when bank borrowing almost ground to a halt.

Economists have warned the rising costs could lead to further tax rises or cuts to spending plans as the government tries to meet its self-imposed borrowing target.

The government said it would not say anything ahead of the official borrowing forecast from its independent forecaster due in March.

"I'm obviously not going to get ahead ... it's up to the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) to make their forecasts."

"Having stability in the public finances is precursor to having economic stability and economic growth," the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride claimed that the Chancellor's significant spending and borrowing plans from the Budget are "making it more expensive for the government to borrow".

"We should be building a more resilient economy, not raising taxes to pay for fiscal incompetence," he said in a post on X.

Gabriel McKeown, head of macroeconomics at Sad Rabbit Investments, said the rise in borrowing costs "has effectively eviscerated Reeves' fiscal headroom, threatening to derail Labour's investment promises and potentially necessitate a painful recalibration of spending plans."

The warning comes after the cost of borrowing over 30 years hit its highest level for 27 years on Tuesday.

Meanwhile the pound dropped by as much as 1.1% to $1.233 against the dollar, marking its lowest level since April last year.

The government generally spends more than it raises in tax. To fill this gap it borrows money, but that has to be paid back - with interest.

One of the ways it can borrow money is by selling financial products called bonds.

Globally, there has been a rise in the cost of government borrowing in recent months sparked by investor concerns that US President-elect Donald Trump's plans to impose new tariffs on goods entering the US from Canada, Mexico and China would push up inflation.

Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell, said chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget in October, which increased borrowing, may have had a small impact but said the UK rises were similar to those in the US.

"In the UK higher yields put pressure on government finances and increase the risk that Reeves will come back with another tax raising Budget," he said.

But he also said the current rises in borrowing costs could be "a storm in a tea cup which dissipates quickly."

The official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), will start the process of updating its forecast on government borrowing next month to be presented to parliament in late March.

Police are investigating the illegal release of two lynx in the Highlands and have urged the public not to approach the wild cats.

The alarm was raised at about 16:20 when they were spotted in the Drumguish area, near to Kingussie.

Specially trained staff from the Highland Wildlife Park are assisting officers to trace the animals.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority said they were shy and a "low risk" to humans but added they should not be approached.

A spokesperson said: "We condemn the illegal release of wild animals in the strongest possible terms and we are also concerned for the welfare of the lynx that have been released."

The authority also said people should not attend the area and appealed to anyone with information about the lynx to contact police.

The wild cats were once native to Britain, but were driven to extinction 500 to 1,000 years ago.

But some conservation groups have been campaigning to have the wild cats reintroduced to Scotland.

Lynx to Scotland, a three-charity partnership working to restore lynx to the Scottish Highlands, said it had been made aware of the release.

Peter Cairns, executive director of Scotland: The Big Picture, one of the charities involved, said: "The Lynx to Scotland Project knows nothing of the origin of these two lynx, their history, health status, or who may have released them.

"We understand the frustration of all those who wish to see lynx restored to the Scottish landscape, but an illegal release is not the way to achieve that aim."

Mr Cairns said the project had never supported or condoned illegal releases.

He added: "This is unwelcome and grossly irresponsible, but comes at the worst possible time, when stakeholders are engaging in good faith with productive discussions about the possibility of a responsibly managed and fully resourced legal reintroduction."

RSPB Scotland said it was collaborating with the police, relevant governing bodies and partner organisations.

A spokesperson said: "Whilst we support lynx reintroduction as a formerly native species to Scotland, we work within official conservation translocation guidelines and therefore do not support unofficial releases which only set back approved conservation projects."

A spokesperson for farmers' union NFU Scotland said: "We hope that the released predators are caught as soon as possible and before any livestock or any other animals are destroyed.

"We ask all those living and working in the local rural community to be vigilant and report any sightings."

There is huge anger among campaigners who have long been arguing for these apex predators to be returned to the wild in Scotland.

It is a highly controversial plan and has required some careful manoeuvring by conservationists to try and make it a reality.

They are convinced these two animals have been illegally released by someone who has grown tired of that process and taken the law into their own hands.

It has happened before with another species.

Beavers were released illegally in Perthshire while consultations over their formal reintroduction were still ongoing and the population has since exploded.

Farmers hate the idea of wild lynx because of concerns they might target their lambs for food.

If that happens in the coming days, campaigners fear it would end their ambitions of a reintroduction for decades.

It is possible the two cats could disappear into the wild, mate and produce the first genuinely wild lynx in more than five centuries.

But experts say the fact these secretive animals have been spotted several times suggests they might actually be too domesticated to survive in the wild.

Raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles have spread to Hollywood Hills, a residential neighbourhood overlooking the historic Hollywood area of the city.

The Sunset fire broke out at around 18:00 (14:00 GMT) local time on Wednesday, covering much of Hollywood in thick smoke and forcing an evacuation order.

While driving in Hollywood, I saw many people running away from their homes with whatever belongings they could carry.

As I pulled over, some of them responded to me in fear and anxiety.

"Are you here to help people? Where do I go?" Anna Waldman asked as I got out of my car.

"Where is it safe?"

Above us, sirens had gone off and helicopter blades were whipping.

As I helped her get to a safe area, she told me she was walking her dogs and had planned to stop by a grocery store when she smelled heavy smoke.

She went back home, looked out her windows, and watched the fire move quickly through the Hollywood Hills to within a block from her home.

She packed what she could: food, clothes, blankets, food for her three small dogs.

"I can't believe this," she said in exhaustion.

Makayla Jackson, 26, held her two-year-old son Ramari on the corner of a street as they waited for a ride. They had been evacuated from a homeless shelter that was in danger of burning.

"They just told us to get out and go," she told me.

She said she was heading toward Hollywood High School, where more help was being offered.

Much of the heart of Hollywood is blanketed in thick smoke. You can barely see the tops of the towering palm trees that line streets here.

It is utter chaos on the streets near the fire. People are using sweatshirts to cover their faces so they can breathe. Many are carrying bags and suitcases looking for a place to go.

Some are wearing pyjamas, clearly taken by surprise.

Many of the roads near the blaze, such as the iconic Hollywood Boulevard, which includes the Hollywood Walk of Fame, are gridlocked with traffic.

Some are even driving on the wrong side of the road to escape.

The inferno could be seen from nearby freeways, lighting up the dark with bright red hues.

On the outskirts of the legendary city though, it is as though nothing is happening. People are eating dinner, shopping and going about their evenings.

The announcement of this year's Oscar nominations has been delayed by two days because of the deadly wildfires raging in the Los Angeles area.

It had been scheduled for Friday 17 January, but the stars and films up for Academy Awards will now be revealed on 19 January.

The voting for the nearly 10,000 Academy members, which opened on 8 January, has also been extended by two days, until Tuesday 14 January.

Former Oscars host Billy Crystal is among the celebrities who have lost homes in the blaze, as well as Paris Hilton, James Woods and Miles Teller.

'We are thinking of you'

In a letter sent to members on Wednesday, Academy CEO Bill Kramer said: "We want to offer our deepest condolences to those who have been impacted by the devastating fires across Southern California.

"So many of our members and industry colleagues live and work in the Los Angeles area, and we are thinking of you."

Conan O'Brien will host the 2025 Oscars ceremony at the Dolby Theater on Hollywood Boulevard on 2 March.

• Follow live updates on the LA wildfires

The fires have caused havoc for residents in Hollywood, as well as the area's film and TV industry.

A raft of LA events and movie premieres - including Unstoppable, Wolf Man, Robbie Williams' Better Man and The Pitt - have been cancelled or postponed.

On Wednesday, an event to announce the nominees for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards was also called off.

The contenders were announced in a press release instead, with Wicked leading the nominations.

The Substance actress Demi Moore boosted her chances of an Oscar nomination by bagging a Golden Globe award last weeeknd.

The Globes, the first major ceremony of awards season, are considered to be a strong measure of which films have momentum ahead of the Oscars. Other film winners included Emilia Pérez, The Brutalist and Wicked.