Why recognising a Palestinian state – and doing nothing else – might be pointless

This weekend, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Portugal all recognised the state of Palestine. France, Malta, and four other states are expected to formally recognise a Palestinian state today.

It is a watershed moment, albeit painfully overdue for Palestinians who particularly feel this about the UK. Over 100 years ago, the then-British foreign secretary penned the Balfour Declaration announcing British support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”, with no mention of the Palestinians, triggering decades of conflict, bloodshed, and erasure.

Fast forward to Sunday, Keir Starmer said the UK was pushing ahead with the recognition of Palestine “to revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution”.

He has called it “a pledge to the Palestinian and Israeli people … that there can be a better future”.

The very future of the region – the chances of reaching a two-state conclusion – is being discussed at a UN summit convened by France and Saudi Arabia in New York.

But all these moves have been met with blistering fury by Israel.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the UK and others of “rewarding terror with an enormous prize”. In response, he declared, “there will be no Palestinian state”, and vowed to “continue on this path” of expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law. He signed off the message warning the world to “stand by” for further Israeli response.

Members of his cabinet have been even more explicit. Israel’s defence, finance, national security, culture and economy ministers have all called for the annexation of the occupied West Bank as “an appropriate response” to the slew of recognitions.

Meanwhile, Israel’s widely condemned offensive on Gaza City continues, and Israeli officials have said it will not stop. Extreme-right Israeli ministers have vowed the total destruction of the besieged enclave and the forcible transfer of its 2 million-strong population.

The situation is so grave that last week a UN commission of enquiry concluded that Israel has committed and is committing genocide in Gaza (a claim which Israel vehemently denies).

And so there is a deep concern among Palestinians right now that it won’t be enough for countries like the UK, which are allies and arms suppliers of Israel, to recognise Palestine without taking other concrete steps to deter Israel’s military and territorial ambitions. They worry that Israel will proceed with impunity and further violate international law.

They fear that the way everything is unfolding, there won’t be anything left of Palestine to recognise.

Dr Sara Husseini, director of the British Palestinian Committee, spelt it out: if the UK doesn’t follow it up with “concrete action” like sanctions and arms embargoes, Israel will continue to obliterate Gaza and the West Bank, advance annexation and pursue mass expulsions.

Right now, there is speculation in Israel that the “response” Netanyahu has promised online will likely be partial annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank.

Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel seized the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza – an occupation which the International Court of Justice has deemed illegal and is in defiance of the Palestinian right to self-determination.

And so over the last five years, Israel has expanded settlements to such an extent that the West Bank is now home to over 500,000 Israeli settlers and around 3 million Palestinians, who live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in scattered enclaves.

Within Israel, few think Netanyahu is likely to pursue full annexation, primarily because there are fears it would threaten the future of the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates. It is a landmark diplomatic and trade agreement, signed in 2020 between Israel and some Gulf states, that has been central to Israel’s political ambitions in the region, and Israel hopes other nations will eventually join.

However, the covert warning in Netanyahu’s recent social media post may point to partial annexation of areas such as the Jordan Valley, where Palestinian communities have faced displacement via settlements and military exclusion zones.

One source told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Netanyahu is also considering changing the status of an area which makes up about 22 per cent of the West Bank and is currently under joint Palestinian and Israeli security control.

They speculate that the land – known as “Area B” – could be placed under full Israeli military and civil authority, which would be devastating for the population there.

In the wake of the Palestinian statehood recognition, Netanyahu’s approval of the E1 settlement expansion plan to build over 3,400 housing units in the West Bank is underway, first conceived in the 1990s but never fully executed until now.

Rights groups and the Palestinian leadership have repeatedly warned that it would be yet a further blow to a viable Palestinian state, splitting the West Bank in half and preventing development around key Palestinian cities such as Ramallah.

The real concern right now is that, without concrete action, recognising the statehood of Palestine will ultimately be pointless, as there won’t be anything left to be a state.

Jay Slater sent warning to friend in haunting final Snapchat message

Jay Slater’s mother has revealed he sent a final social media message to a friend shortly before he fell to his death in a remote ravine in Tenerife.

The 19-year-old’s Snapchat message was only sent after his mother Debbie Duncan managed to log in to his account after finally retrieving his iPhone.

In a new documentary with Channel 4, she recalled it was received by his friend Bradley Geoghegan who was left unnerved by the message.

She said: “When we signed into Jay’s Snapchat there was an unsent message from Jay to Brad.

“So the message was obviously just flying around and then the message sent to Brad, which obviously gave Brad a fright.

“He messaged me straight away ‘Are you on Jay’s phone?’. I said ‘Yeah, we’ve just signed into his Snapchat’.

“He said ‘I’ve just got a message that’s just come through from Jay’. The last message he sent.

“He said ‘Listen, I’m not going to make it’. It’s kind of like he knew he just wasn’t going to make it.”

The teenager from Lancashire had travelled to the Spanish holiday island last June to attend the New Rave Generation festival with two friends.

During the early hours of 17 June, he left the Papagayo nightclub having met two older men from east London, and travelled 30 miles with them to their Airbnb in the remote Masca region.

A 6.22am, he posted his Snapchat location to his friends, before sending a final clip from outside their Airbnb at 7.21am.

In other messages, he sent a video saying he “just took a 12k rolly” referring to a stolen Rolex, and claimed to have grabbed two knives “in case it all kicks off”. However, the coroner ruled these were not relevant and were likely to be an example of Jay showing off.

According to his smartwatch, he began walking from the Airbnb at 8am, turning right into the mountains. He called his friend Bradley a few minutes later to tell him he was attempting to walk home.

At 8.32am, he called his friend Lucy Law to say he needed water and was frightened, and that he had cut his leg on a cactus. A final 22-second call took place at 8.50am, in which he told Lucy that his phone was on 1 per cent, he was lost, and all he could see was the mountains.

Recalling the moment she was informed her son was missing, Ms Duncan told The Times that she was called by Lucy at around 3.30pm and that her “legs turned to jelly”.

As a family, they decided to immediately fly to Tenerife, with Ms Duncan receiving an anonymous message on WhatsApp reading: “I’ll give you one warning. Your son won’t be coming back. He owes me enough fking G money.”

Over the following weeks, his disappearance turned into a social-media-fuelled conspiracy, with the family bombarded with pranks, cruel messages, and allegations that Jay was still alive and being tortured.

They also received criticism for a GoFundMe which raised money for the search efforts and eventually for Jay’s funeral, with Ms Duncan stating: “They dehumanised my child and if there is one thing he deserved it was the best. It was the last thing we ever did for him. I am not ashamed of using that money for his funeral.”

His body was discovered on 15 July above a dry stream bed, with a coroner ruling that he had fallen 65-80ft and fatally fractured his skull and pelvis.

For his mother, the inquest provided closure as it was ruled his death was caused accidentally by a fall.

“I think he saw the sea and went into the ravine heading for that. He could see the sea from the balcony of his hotel. Maybe he thought he could walk around back to his hotel? Nobody else was involved in his death, no. That’s what I think,” she said.

‘The Disappearance of Jay Slater’ airs next Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4

Is the dream of a vegan-only restaurant era over?

When Eleven Madison Park, once the most famous vegan fine-dining restaurant in the world, announced last month that it would reintroduce meat and fish, the symbolism was hard to miss. Daniel Humm, the chef behind the three-Michelin-starred New York dining room, had made headlines in 2021 by going fully plant-based – hailed at the time as radical, necessary and perhaps even inevitable.

Now, four years later, the experiment is over. “Over the last three years, we came to understand that while we gained some guests who celebrated this bold move, we had also unintentionally kept people out,” Humm admitted in a statement. From October, EMP will offer two tasting menus: one plant-based, the other featuring dishes such as honey-lavender-glazed duck.

So, was this the moment the vegan bubble burst? Or does it say more about how the conversation has shifted – away from absolutes and into something more nuanced?

What makes EMP’s reversal especially interesting for British diners is that Humm once tried the same here. In 2021, while running Davies and Brook at Claridge’s, he proposed turning the Mayfair restaurant fully plant-based. The hotel refused, saying it “respects and understands” his vision but that it was “not the path we wish to follow here … at the moment”. The partnership ended soon after.

That episode hinted at what we’re now seeing globally: prestige veganism colliding with commercial reality. Even Claridge’s sensed the market for all-vegan fine dining wasn’t strong enough in the UK.

And yet this is the country that gave us Veganuary, which still attracts millions worldwide. It’s also home to a thriving ecosystem of vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants, from long-standing neighbourhood spots to high-end innovators. Among them are Tendril, which bills itself as “mostly vegan”, and Plates in east London, which this year became the first fully vegan restaurant in the UK to win a Michelin star.

So what’s really going on?

Even with celebrity backing, vegan-only ventures have struggled. Neat Burger, the fast-food chain funded by Lewis Hamilton and Leonardo DiCaprio, announced that it would be closing all of its UK sites earlier this year. At its peak, it had more than a dozen outlets and ambitious global expansion plans. By 2022, it was posting losses of nearly £8m.

It’s sometimes assumed that a vegan menu should be cheaper to run. After all, vegetables and grains often cost less per kilo than meat or fish – Oxford University research even found that vegan diets can reduce household food costs by up to a third. But in restaurant kitchens, the equation is different. Processed meat substitutes remain pricier than animal equivalents, while cooking vegetables at a fine-dining level requires more labour.

This is where the backlash against ultra-processed foods (UPFs) matters. Plant-based burgers once fuelled the vegan boom, but they’ve since gained a reputation for being just as industrial as the meat they were meant to replace.

Studies suggest they can still be healthier – one 2022 trial found that swapping red meat for plant-based alternatives reduced LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular risk – but perception matters. Diners now want vegetables presented as themselves, not in disguise.

That helps explain why restaurants such as Tendril and Plates, which avoid substitutes entirely, are thriving while Neat Burger faltered.

Rishim Sachdeva, founder of Tendril, is candid about the limits. “There is that perception that people who follow a plant-based diet tend to drink less,” he says, “but I feel that’s becoming the norm these days anyway. People aren’t drinking as much.” At Tendril, drinks sales account for around a quarter of revenue – lower than average, but still workable. “That gives us enough room to manoeuvre with the teams, with the fun things, with wine pairings and nice cocktails, and gives us enough playground to really focus on our food.”

Alexandra Price, sommelier at Plates, doesn’t buy the idea that a vegan model is financially unsustainable. “Overall, we tend to have good monthly wine spend, bolstered by the fact that we offer pairings to go with the menu,” she explains. Guests can also choose non-alcoholic or 50/50 pairings – but, she notes, “wine sales are still the strongest”.

She attributes that partly to trust: “Most of our guests seem to eat an all-round diet and approach plant-based dining with a lot of interest … this willingness to try and be open towards the style also helps with wine sales as people put their trust in what we are putting in front of them.”

For a long time, veganism was driven by animal-welfare arguments, with environmentalism close behind. But many chefs now believe the motivation has shifted.

“The reasoning for me and the people that I know is that obviously it’s good for the environment, but it is definitely good for me,” Sachdeva says. “I feel much better eating it and I can really get on with it because it’s something I’m starting to believe in more and more.”

He calls this a “correction”: five years ago, the conversation was about animal cruelty; now it’s about human health. Nutrition scientists such as Tim Spector have helped popularise this shift, encouraging people to eat a diversity of plants – “30 a week” is his benchmark – not as a moral stance, but as a route to better digestion, stronger immunity and long-term health.

Making vegetables the star isn’t new. Indian thalis, Persian stews and Japanese temple food have long been largely plant-based. Even Raymond Blanc, hardly a trend-chaser, has championed vegetables. The difference now is framing: animal welfare once dominated, but gut health and longevity drive the appeal today.

David Taylor, chef director at Grace & Savour, agrees the picture is “more nuanced”. Many diners now “focus on how animals are raised and sourced … People are eating less meat while seeking better quality, choosing fish more carefully, and questioning how all food is produced.” He also warns that veganism isn’t automatically better for the planet: “Vegan products have their own issues too: heavy use of soya can drive deforestation, and almond milk production can cause serious drought.”

At the same time, meat is undergoing its own rebrand – not as an everyday staple, but as something rarer, more artisanal.

At Cycene, head chef Taz Sarhane says requests for vegan or dairy-free meals have “gone down to about once a month” compared with weekly a year ago. Instead, diners are seeking out offal and unusual cuts. “The recent craze for offal has taken off, with people showing growing interest in meat from smaller or less common animals, such as goats … diners are increasingly willing to try more unconventional cuts – from cow liver and spleen to cow udder.”

Sam White, executive chef at 45 Jermyn St, has seen the same. “One of the most popular dishes … is our liver with crispy onions and mashed potatoes. Even in the warm weather, people still want to eat it.”

For Isaac McHale, chef patron of The Clove Club, the explanation is cultural. “The idea to change your restaurant to vegan always seemed to be a hard thing, but maybe much easier in America where there is lower standards of husbandry and much more intensive farming. In the UK, we have some of the best meat in the world … we have so many rare breeds of farmed animals and I think we should celebrate that unique part of our country.”

The message from many chefs isn’t that veganism is dead, but that it’s become part of a broader, more flexible way of eating. Chantelle Nicholson, founder of Michelin green starred Apricity, puts it plainly: “We need to eat more plants, end of! However, in my opinion, we need meat and animals to have a balanced ecosystem. My hope is that consumers embrace more plants, and better meat, so they are more selective and it’s seen as something to savour and celebrate, not overdo.”

Sachdeva echoes that pragmatism: “Having meat seven days a week is not feasible for the world. It’s not feasible for your body. If you were to cut down to even once or twice a week, that will really help with the bigger picture … And if you do eat meat, then you should get it from the right farmers and the right butchers and then enjoy that, savour it more.”

And while EMP may have stepped back, Price believes the curiosity is still there. “As long as we put the effort into sourcing good ingredients and interesting wines, I think the interest will always be there for the curious.”

So, is veganism over? The answer depends on what you mean by veganism. If it means all-or-nothing restaurants with no animal products ever, perhaps that moment has passed. But if it means plant-led dining, eating less meat and the shift from ethics to health – then veganism hasn’t disappeared at all. It’s simply evolved.

As McHale notes, there are long-standing traditions of vegan cooking – “Japanese and Korean temple food, South Indian cookery, and it can be really delicious” – and they will always have their place. But in the mainstream, the movement has been absorbed into something more flexible, more sustainable and more aligned with how people actually want to eat.

The vegan-only experiment may have faltered. But the legacy it leaves behind is clear: a dining culture that is more plant-forward than ever, one where meat is occasional, valued and scrutinised – and where the conversation has moved from saving the planet to saving ourselves.

Christian Horner ‘receives £80m payout from Red Bull’

Christian Horner has received a reported payout of more than £80m from Red Bull and has officially left the company on Monday.

Horner was relieved of his operational duties as F1 team principal and CEO back in July, after 20 years with the Milton Keynes-based team, having lost a power struggle. No specific reason was officially given for his exit.

Horner, technically, has remained a Red Bull employee in the two months since and had a contract in place until 2030. However, after negotiations spanning several weeks, the 51-year-old has now officially left the company, with The Times reporting that Horner has received more than £80m.

The report adds that Horner can also return to Formula One next year. He has been linked with a move to Alpine, led by close friend Flavio Briatore and based close to his home in Oxfordshire.

Red Bull confirmed in a statement on Monday morning that Horner has officially left the company, with Horner himself adding: “Leading Red Bull Racing has been an honour and privilege.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we achieved as a team, breaking records and reaching heights no one would ever believe were possible – and I will forever carry that with me.

“However, for me, my biggest satisfaction has been assembling and leading the most amazing group of talented and driven individuals and seeing them flourish.”

Red Bull Racing’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, have been approached for further comment.

Horner had been in charge of the team since its inception in Formula One in 2005, leading them to six constructors’ titles and eight drivers’ crowns.

But just one year on from the personal scandal involving alleged “inappropriate behaviour” with a female colleague – an accusation he was cleared of twice after two internal investigations – Horner was relieved of his duties in July, after the British Grand Prix.

Horner, who is married to Spice Girl pop star Geri Halliwell, was replaced as CEO of Red Bull Racing by Laurent Mekies, formerly the team principal at sister team Racing Bulls.

Mekies has recently overseen an upturn in form for Red Bull, with Max Verstappen winning the last two races in Azerbaijan and Italy. The four-time world champion is now just 69 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri with seven races to go.

Horner fell out with Verstappen’s outspoken father, Jos, when embroiled in the scandal at the start of last season. Star driver Verstappen, in the weeks after Horner’s departure, confirmed he would stay at Red Bull for the 2026 season.

Horner added: “I wish Laurent, Max, Yuki and all of the Red Bull Technology Group the very best for the future. I am confident they will, as ever, deliver success on the track, for our fans, and continue to push to the maximum.”

Red Bull CEO of corporate projects and investments, Oliver Mintzlaff, said: “We would like to thank Christian for his exceptional work over the last 20 years.

“With his tireless commitment, experience, expertise and innovative thinking, he has been instrumental in establishing Red Bull Racing as one of the most successful and attractive teams in Formula One.

“Thank you for everything, Christian, and you will forever remain an important part of our team history.”

Ballon d’Or 2025 LIVE: First results revealed for football’s top prize

The countdown to tonight’s Ballon d’Or is underway, with the world’s best footballer to be crowned in Paris this evening. Both the best men’s and women’s player of the 2024/25 season will be honoured by the top award.

Paris Saint-Germain‘s maiden win in the Champions League plus another Ligue 1 title will boost the standing of the men’s current favourite Ousmane Dembele but he faces stiff competition from Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Raphinha. Another record-breaking year for Mohamed Salah, who helped Liverpool to the Premier League title, means he will be in the mix as well.

In the women’s category, England’s victory at Euro 2025 means there are several Lionesses nominated and Arsenal’s victory over Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League final could help the chances of Alessia Russo or Leah Williamson picking up the award. Spanish stars and two-time Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas cannot be discounted with Mariona Caldentey also nominated.

Follow all the latest updates ahead of the Ballon d’Or ceremony with our live blog below:

What to expect from Heathrow’s ‘Redefine Your Beauty’ experiences

As someone who’s regularly jetting off to different corners of the globe for work, to me the airport has come to represent just a means to an end: Pret, security queue, working charging socket. After years of this, I’ve pretty much got my routine on lockdown, which usually involves some purely functional eating, a quick pint in Spoons, and a last-minute visit to Duty Free to buy a moisturiser because I forgot mine, again.

So, when I heard Heathrow was rolling out a new experiential beauty and wellness campaign across all four terminals, with pop-up beauty bars, luxury treatments and skincare tech that tells you things about your face you didn’t even know were possible, I was curious. Airports are not where I usually go to feel (or look) my best. But a quick massage and some free beauty advice before a flight? Oh, go on then.

I’m due to fly out of Terminal 5 soon, which means I’ll get to check out the Personal Shopper Lounge and see what the hype is about. There’s a full-on treatment menu, the kind you’d expect at a boutique spa, except here, it’s been designed for travellers on the move, like me, with treatments lasting between 10 and 20 minutes. How often can you say an airport is offering La Mer facials, Elemis LED masks, Molton Brown hand massages and Estée Lauder’s ‘Age Reversal Sculpt Ritual’ facial? From neck and shoulder massages to cryotherapy and ultrasonic peels, it’s the kind of thing you’d usually have to schedule weeks in advance, and here it is, just a stone’s throw from your departure gate. I might even consider swapping my pre-flight pint for something a little more restorative.

Outside the lounge, the terminals are set to be abuzz with pop-up beauty bars from brands like Charlotte Tilbury, MAC, Molton Brown and Penhaligon’s – offering live demos, free mini-treatments and genuinely helpful skincare advice. There’s even a skin analysis station (powered by tech that looks like it comes from the year 3000), and perfume engraving on the spot. Fancy.

I wasn’t planning to splurge £200 on more beauty products,​​ but it’s hard to resist when there’s a free luxury beauty bag up for grabs when you do, packed with products from Elizabeth Arden, Versace, Benefit, Amouage and Elemis, to name a few. The offer’s available in all the main World Duty Free stores, and if you’re a Heathrow Rewards member, you can earn double points on qualifying beauty buys (up to 1,000 points), which definitely makes me feel a little better about splashing the cash.

Even the food spots are jumping on board with the wellness vibes. I usually go for a failsafe Joe & The Juice Tunacado, but I’ve spotted a Clean Green smoothie at Jones the Grocer and a Firecracker Chicken Salad from Leon. I might even grab a poké bowl from YO! Sushi for the flight, although word on the street is the plane meal is steamed seabream with romesco.

I never thought I’d describe an airport experience as relaxing and rejuvenating, but this campaign is definitely out to challenge me. Between the luxurious treatments and nutritious food choices, Heathrow has created the first airport rendezvous that won’t leave you feeling like you need a holiday from your holiday.

If you find yourself passing through Heathrow between now and early October, don’t just bolt straight to your gate. Give yourself an extra 30 minutes, book yourself in for a quick massage or facial, and visit World Duty Free to grab that beauty bag full of goodies to make your holiday that little bit more special.

Find out more about Heathrow’s Redefine Your Beauty campaign, including treatment menus, participating brands and exclusive offers here

Egypt pardons British activist after six years in prison

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pardoned British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah after six years.

The 43-year-old had been held in an Egyptian prison, becoming one of the country’s most prominent political prisoners, and is set to be released in days.

His 69-year-old mother, Laila Soueif, staged a high-profile 240-day hunger strike in protest of her son’s imprisonment, and was admitted to hospital last year.

His sister, Sanaa, wrote in an emotive post on social media on Monday: “President Sisi has pardoned my brother! Mum and I are heading to the prison now to inquire from where Alaa will be released and when… Oh my god, I can’t believe we get our lives back!”

Abd el-Fattah’s lawyer said on Monday that he would be released from Wadi Natron Prison in the north of Cairo in the next two days, once the decision is published in the country’s official gazette.

A statement from President Sisi’s office confirmed that an additional five prisoners had also been pardoned. Their release dates have not yet been confirmed.

Despite several local and international campaigns calling for his release – most notably during Egypt’s hosting of the COP27 climate summit in 2022 – President Sisi only ordered an investigation into his possible pardon in September after the activist’s name had been removed from the country’s “terrorism” list earlier in the year.

In 2014, Abd el-Fattah was sentenced to 15 years in prison for protesting without permission, which was later reduced to five years. He remained on parole upon his release in 2019 and was arrested later in the same year for accusations of spreading fake news about a prisoner’s death.

He was sentenced to another five years in prison and was expected to be released early due to time spent in pre-trial detention.

However, prosecutors argued that he should remain in custody until January 2027, prompting his mother to start a hunger strike when he was not released as expected in September 2024.

She was admitted to hospital and warned that her life was at risk on the 149th day of her protest. After more than 240 days on hunger strike, she is reported to have lost 36kg (around 42 per cent of her original body weight).

She met with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer earlier this year to push for her son’s freedom.

Abd el-Fattah obtained British citizenship through his mother in 2021 and hails from a family of well-known activists and intellectuals who had launched multiple campaigns to plead for his release. Earlier this year, a UN investigation concluded Abd el-Fattah was being held illegally.

The former blogger and developer had been detained before the Arab spring uprising that toppled Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and again during the upheaval that followed.

How your bedtime may be fuelling your social media addiction

People who are night owls have a much higher risk of developing an addiction to their smartphones compared to those who go to sleep earlier, a new study has found.

Scientists have discovered that many who stay up in the evening, who show symptoms of loneliness or anxiety, are using smartphones to cope emotionally and are developing addictions to social media, worsening their mental health symptoms.

Researchers from the University of Portsmouth and the University of Surrey describe the issue as a “vicious cycle” that primarily affects young adults in the UK.

“These young people aren’t using technology just because it’s available,” said Dr Anna-Stiina Wallinheimo, the study’s co-author. “They’re using it to try to soothe emotional discomfort. The tragedy is that it often deepens their distress instead.

“Young adults who are naturally more active in the evening often find themselves socially out of sync, which may lead to feelings of loneliness and anxiety. Many then turn to smartphones and social media to cope, but unfortunately, these tools can make things worse, not better.”

Problematic smartphone use is defined by a feeling of anxiousness when separated from one’s phone, compulsively checking notifications and neglecting responsibilities to go on it. Likewise, social media addiction is characterised by excessive and uncontrolled phone usage that disrupts daily life.

The researchers surveyed 407 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 and investigated how their preferred sleep schedules were related to problematic smartphone use or social media addiction. It found that loneliness and anxiety were the primary causes of these associations.

Dr Wallinheimo said: “While we’ve known that night owls are more vulnerable to problematic technology use, we haven’t understood why. Now we can see that emotional factors – especially loneliness – are playing a significant role.”

Previous research shows that going to sleep later is linked to depression and other addictive behaviours.

Nearly 40 per cent of students in the UK are believed to exhibit signs of social media addiction, with young women being particularly vulnerable.

The Liberal Democrats have called for a “doomscrolling cap” which would legally limit the amount of time that children are allowed to be on TikTok-style apps to two hours.

The Times reported that Labour ministers are seriously considering implementing a social media use cap for children and are expected to announce a change in the coming weeks.

The study’s researchers have called for targeted education and support systems for young adults who do not understand how their sleep patterns are placing them at risk.

Dr Simon Evans, co-author of the study, said: “Rather than simply telling young people to spend less time on their phones, we need to address the reasons behind their usage.

“That means providing effective strategies to manage loneliness and anxiety – particularly during late evening hours when support services are limited, and feelings of isolation can be most intense.”