Fandom memes, influencers and TikTok deal helped secure industry’s holy grail: gen Z loyalty

There are not many plaudits left for The Celebrity Traitors, which has delivered tension, crowd-pleasing ineptitude and the most famous fart in television history.

Yet for all the show’s achievements, one in particular – a feat that TV executives across the globe have been desperate to deliver – may stand out as the most impressive: it has got gen Z watching live TV.

Lynne Besant met Paul as a teenager. After 40 years apart, she discovered she still had feelings for him

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In the mid-60s, my family followed my father’s work to a caravan park in Gladstone, central Queensland. He worked in construction and the sprawling transient accommodation for the hundreds of families who’d relocated to build an aluminium plant became our home. I was going on 16 and sulking about having to change schools, again. Then I met Paul.

Back in those days people made their own fun. We often had huge parties at the caravan park, and Paul, an apprentice electrician, would volunteer to rig up the lighting.

Ruth was 14 years old and being treated for an eating disorder when she died after being detained under the Mental Health Act. She wasn’t allowed to see her family for more than a few hours a week. How did the system we trusted – and I worked for as a GP – fail us so tragically?

I remember so clearly the moment it dawned on me that the mental health ward where my teenage daughter was being treated felt like little more than a prison. Ruth had been so trusting. So had we. That all changed the day she was moved from our local hospital to Thames Ward at Huntercombe hospital in Berkshire. When we left, she walked so easily down to the hospital transport with me and the play therapist – who hugged her tight and waved goodbye. When the van door opened at the other end, the stark building loomed over us. We were met and escorted up a flight of stairs and through the double, air-locked, doors, one slamming closed behind us, the person with the keys waiting for the first lock to click before opening the next. This was a sealed unit, devoid of natural light, my eyes aching already from the harsh glare overhead. We were taken to an inner room, lined with windows. The goldfish bowl, they called it.

Ruth’s hand slipped into mine, head down as they told me it was time for me to go. “But I haven’t settled her into her room or met any of the staff yet,” was met with: “Parents aren’t allowed on the ward.” I asked again, and they conceded I could see her room, just once, but then I had to leave immediately. It was hospital policy.

The budget could involve a range of rises – here’s how they would stack up for different levels of income

In a gloomy state of the nation speech this week Rachel Reeves signalled that a rise in income tax could be on the cards in this month’s budget.

Labour had promised in its election manifesto not to increase the levy (or the other two “big three” taxes – national insurance and VAT), but the chancellor appears to be preparing the ground for an almighty U-turn to fill a bigger-than-expected £30bn hole in the public finances.

We tested various curry kits and found they offer astoundingly good value compared with takeaways. Did somebody say just heat?

• The fair price for 14 everyday items, from cleaning spray to olive oil

Takeaways are so eye-wateringly expensive these days, they’re often even more costly than eating out. Delivery companies charge restaurants obscenely high rates, destroying profit margins, and add even more charges and cost to the consumer. Yes, they’re convenient (itself part of the problem), but I’d rather cook dinner myself and save my cash to eat out once in a while.

One way I stopped ordering so many takeaways – post-pandemic, during which I ordered far too many – was to tell myself that it’s quicker and cheaper to cook something simple, rather than order in. Sometimes, however, we all want something we haven’t cooked ourselves, right? And that’s where curry kits come in. They’re very quick to make up with the simple addition of a few veggies, a can of beans and/or some prawns or chicken from the freezer. OK, there’s still a little washing-up, but that’s a small price to pay.

The Tesla CEO once hinted he was done with politics – but he’s been leaning further into the international far right

When the far-right activist Tommy Robinson emerged from a London courtroom this week after a judge cleared him of a terrorism charge, he gave thanks to the man he said had bankrolled his defense.

“Elon Musk, I’m forever grateful. If you didn’t step in and fund my legal fight I’d probably be in jail,” Robinson said. “Thank you, Elon.”

Special report: Uniserve was paid £1.4bn for Covid contracts that included supply of £178.5m in never-used equipment

When Mrs Justice Cockerill handed down her judgment in the high court against PPE Medpro, the company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone, for supplying unsafe personal protective equipment during the pandemic, her findings were a landmark in a five-year saga that cast the opaque world of government deal making into stark light.

PPE Medpro was ordered to refund the full £122m that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) paid for unusable gowns in the summer of 2020, as Boris Johnson’s government scrambled to refill the UK’s depleted stocks.

Endocrinologists warn taking testosterone unnecessarily can suppress natural hormone production

Social media misinformation is driving men to NHS clinics in search of testosterone therapy they don’t need, adding pressure to already stretched waiting lists, doctors have said.

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is a prescription-only treatment recommended under national guidelines for men with a clinically proven deficiency, confirmed by symptoms and repeated blood tests.

Djeison Rafael, 21, also charged with two counts of assault and possession of blade after incident in city centre

A man has been charged with attempted murder after a woman was stabbed in the neck in Birmingham city centre.

West Midlands police were called to reports of a stabbing at Smallbrook Queensway outside the Bullring shopping centre, shortly before 9pm on Friday.

Security operations came as Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Washington to meet Donald Trump

Syria has carried out nationwide preemptive operations targeting Islamic State cells, a spokesperson for the interior ministry said on Saturday, as the country’s president arrived in the US for talks with Donald Trump.

Syrian security forces carried out 61 raids, with 71 people arrested and explosives and weapons seized, the spokesperson told state-run Al Ekhbariya TV.