Badenoch vows to scrap stamp duty in bid to free up housing market

Kemi Badenoch has vowed to abolish stamp duty if the Conservatives win the next election, as she unveiled a raft of tax cuts in a bid to claw back voters and boost the party’s ratings.

Outlining the major policy announcement to a packed audience at her Tory conference speech in Manchester on Wednesday, she said the move to scrap the “bad tax” would “help achieve the dream of home ownership for millions”.

The plans, which the Tories say would cost around £9bn, have been praised by economists, but questions remain over how the party would pay for them.

After a lacklustre party conference, Ms Badenoch also used her speech to take aim at Labour, pledging to overturn a series of policies brought in or bolstered by Sir Keir Starmer’s government, including:

Having focused on securing the UK’s borders by withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights in her opening address, Ms Badenoch then set out her vision of a country where the state “does less but does it better” and “profit is not a dirty word”.

She pledged to impose a “golden rule” on her budget plans, spending only half of any savings made through spending cuts, with the rest going to reduce the deficit.

Committing to freeing up the housing market by abolishing stamp duty on people’s primary homes, Ms Badenoch said: “Stamp duty is a bad tax … a society where no one can afford to buy or move is a society where social mobility is dead.”

Stamp duty brought in an estimated £13.9bn in the last financial year, but a large proportion of this is from additional homes and other buildings.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has estimated that abolishing stamp duty on primary homes would cost around £4.5bn and backed the plans.

Paul Johnson, the organisation’s former director, told The Independent scrapping the tax would be his “first port of call” – but called for it to be accompanied by an increase in council tax on higher value properties to claw back some of the money spent.

“It would be great to scrap stamp duty,” he said. “If you’re going to do it, there is a very strong case for increasing council tax on higher value properties. Stamp duty is a drag on the housing market.”

However, he warned it would need to be accompanied by a cut for second homes to prevent the policy from increasing the “distortions and disincentives for rentals”.

“If you got rid of it for first properties and left it there for others, it would even further increase the distortions and disincentives for rentals, so you’d need to reduce it by the same amount at least,” he said.

But former government economist Jonathan Portes accused the Tory leader of having “no remotely credible plan” to pay for her planned tax cuts – dubbing her package of spending cuts “laughable”.

While he agreed that stamp duty is a “very bad tax”, he warned: “She claimed the Tories were the only party offering fiscal responsibility and yet is offering large tax cuts, including this, with no remotely credible plan to fill the gap, since her spending cuts package is laughable.”

Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at estate agents Knight Frank, said the move would be “warmly welcomed” by buyers and sellers and would “inevitably have positive repercussions for the wider economy and increase social mobility”.

The Home Owners Alliance backed the policy as a “real vote winner”, saying stamp duty has denied the opportunity of homeownership to “too many for too long”.

“Kemi Badenoch is right: it’s a tax that traps households, hampers mobility and suppresses market activity,” it said.

However, Theo Bertram of the Social Market Foundation warned that the plans would disproportionately benefit “homeowners and those in the southeast and London”. He said the test would be whether the Tories can really make savings “of at least £12bn annually to fund the cut”.

Claiming that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is planning a significant increase in stamp duty in her autumn Budget, the Conservatives said they had “cautiously” estimated that scrapping the tax would cost £9bn.

They said it would be paid for from a £47bn pot of savings shadow ministers claim to have found, made up of welfare cuts, downsizing the civil service and further slashing the country’s foreign aid budget.

It comes amid reports that the Treasury is considering a new national property tax on the sale of homes worth more than £500,000 as part of a major overhaul of stamp duty and council tax.

The Tory leader’s address brought to a close a conference that had been overshadowed by questions about her leadership and the threat from Reform UK.

Only yesterday, Nigel Farage’s party announced that 20 councillors had defected from the Tories, while a poll published by More in Common on Wednesday showed the Conservatives continue to languish in third place.

Following the speech, Labour Party chair Anna Turley said Ms Badenoch had been in “complete denial” on the party’s record, adding: “The public saw the Tories’ disastrous blueprint for Britain across their 14 years of failure in government – and the Conservatives still won’t apologise for the mess they left.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged One Nation Conservatives to join his party, accusing Ms Badenoch of deciding to “abandon the traditional British values of tolerance, decency and the rule of law” over plans to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said Ms Badenoch had been “speaking to the room, not listening to the nation”.

Sean Ono Lennon: ‘People say I grew up in the shadow of my dad – but Yoko really did’

A lot of older people think, ‘Oh, everyone knows The Beatles; everyone knows John Lennon.’ And that’s simply not the case,” says Sean Ono Lennon. “I meet my niece and nephew’s friends, I talk to Gen Z kids, and some of them don’t know the difference between The Beatles and The Monkees, I swear.” The son of the late Beatles star and artist Yoko Ono might have a point. For anyone over a certain age, the Fab Four are an immutable part of the culture, as constant and familiar as the air we breathe. But who says it’s going to stay that way?

This was, in short, the core motivation behind Lennon’s new project, a lush new boxset of 123 remastered recordings by John and Yoko, during the period when their political activism was at its most daring. The release follows on from this year’s documentary film One to One: John & Yoko, which focused on the couple’s 1972 benefit concert for the children at New York’s Willowbrook school (who were victims of a massive abuse scandal) and their politically radical life in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s. The boxset contains extensive, cleaned-up recordings from the performance and others around that time, with George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder and Keith Moon among the collaborators.

“If people think we need to stop putting out new versions of this music, I think they’re very wrong,” says Lennon. “Because I don’t want to live in a world where people don’t know that music. So I have a duty to keep putting it out and making it sound as good as possible, and finding ways to get young people interested. And it’s not just for me and my parents. It’s for the world – I don’t think the world can afford to forget The Beatles or John Lennon.”

There is something faintly surreal about speaking to Lennon, who resembles his late father so very much, facially. He has the same long, ovular face. The same shrewd eyes. (His styling doesn’t exactly discourage comparisons either: on our call today he has long, straight hair, a beard, and tinted glasses rest on the bridge of his nose.) At 50, he is now a decade older than John was when he was murdered, 45 years ago.

Often, the children of celebrities take pains to obscure their background, lest they be hit with accusations of nepotism, or professional privilege. Lennon, though, wears his lineage with pride. Like his half-brother Julian, Lennon is also a musician, having been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (formed with his longterm partner, Charlotte Kemp Muhl), and the Claypool Lennon Delirium, as well as the revival of the Plastic Ono Project, his parents’ former musical group, which Ono revived in 2009. “Until the 20th century, most people did what their parents did,” he says. “It’s quite natural. But I do think in the modern world it seems weird, because most people expect you to reject your parents in a way, especially if they were famous. But there are only really two options – go out of your way to avoid what your parents did, or embrace it.”

While he was just five years old when John was shot dead in New York, performing has been a way of connecting with his late father. “I first was interested in music because of my dad,” he says. “I always felt like music was a way of getting closer to him.” He smiles, ever so slightly.

Lennon gives long, considered answers to the questions I pose, tightening up only slightly when I ask about Ono’s current life, as a 92-year-old retiree. “I live with her mostly, actually,” says Lennon. “I try to give her privacy now – she doesn’t want to do press and she’s not interested in being a public figure any more.”

“It’s funny,” he says. “People always talk about how I have grown up in the shadow of my dad – which is true, but my mum really did.
She had a thriving art career, and then as soon as she got together with my dad, that sort of went out the window for a while. People think about how Beatles fans didn’t accept Yoko, but the avant garde fans didn’t accept The Beatles! The modern art community was very snobby about rock and roll.”

Listening to and reading the material in the new boxset (titled Power to the People), one thing that’s striking is just how significant Ono was, as an artist and activist. Over the past few years, there has actually been a notable shift in the public’s perception of Ono – from the longstanding smear as the “woman who broke up The Beatles”, towards a more appreciative recognition of her work and life.

“At that time in England, when my dad and mum got together, it was really shocking to see a British guy with a Japanese woman,” says Lennon. “Then you add to that the fact that she wasn’t just arm candy, she was a really radically weird and interesting artist – incredibly unconventional and wild, in terms of the way she viewed the world.”

Even before getting together with Lennon, Yoko had been disowned by her parents for a previous relationship (her second marriage, to artist-producer Tony Cox) that flouted cultural norms. “She came from this conservative world, and she was too radical for Japan,” says Lennon. “She was too radical for swinging London, too. It’s such a cliche to say ‘The world wasn’t ready,’ but I think in the case of Yoko Ono, it’s really applicable.”

There was also, as Lennon points out, a lot of “unnecessary animosity” directed at his mother. “There was a small degree to which she didn’t make it easier for some people either,” he says, tilting his head pragmatically. “It’s a complicated story. But the bottom line is she was misunderstood, and she was misunderstood for over 50 years. And I think she is finally being considered for who she is as an individual.”

Another factor in this re-framing of Ono’s image has been Get Back, the 2023 Disney+ series composed of vivid, illuminating behind-the-scenes footage from the recording of Let It Be. Ono features intermittently in the series, and the band’s acceptance of her presence completely undermines the longstanding notion of her as a destabilising interloper.

That spellbinding series was notable for its use of AI technology in restoring the archival footage. AI – a rightly touchy issue for many artists – was also used to help isolate John’s vocals in the assembly of the “final” Beatles song, “Now and Then”, released two years ago. “I think people really misunderstood what we were doing when we said ‘AI’,” insists Lennon. “Because really, what it was, was a better way of filtering noise out of a track. It wasn’t about creating anything – it was sophisticated noise filtering.”

Get Back was most illuminating on two fronts: firstly, as a glimpse into the band’s immediate creative process; and secondly, as a look at the unguarded human personalities within the group. Power to the People, though, brings to the fore a different side of Lennon’s life, his politics. The 1970s saw John and Yoko organise on many fronts at once; one minute he’s campaigning against the US war in Vietnam, the next against the imprisonment of poet-musician John Sinclair. “To me, it feels like his activism came from his first principles – peace and love and humour – that core belief system that he had,” says Lennon.

Lennon’s own politics are perhaps a little harder to pin down than his father’s, though he has advocated for progressive causes in the past, and continues to proselytise John and Yoko’s message of peace above all. “In terms of where the progressive movement has gone, I do think John and Yoko’s philosophy has been too much forgotten,” he muses. “My dad always said that what [the establishment] can’t deal with is love and humour. And I think that the young activists trying to change the world would achieve more if they were loving and humorous, not violent.”

He does, however, voice doubts about the efficacy of protest in the modern age – and of modern-day songwriters engaging in it. “I always remember after 9/11, there was the biggest peace march in history, against the potential invasion in Iraq. And about a week later, they invaded Iraq. It didn’t move the needle at all. Whereas during the civil rights movement, those protests really had an impact on the culture, on the government. People listened.”

He continues: “If Taylor Swift wrote a song about Gaza, I don’t know that it would have the same impact as when, say, my dad wrote ‘Revolution’. I think people are more cynical than they used to be. Part of it is good, because we’re less enamoured with celebrity – we don’t worship in the same way. We’re more aware that these are human beings, because we see them, you know, going to the dentist on Instagram. It’s easy to be cynical about it… and I don’t know what the answer is.”

I don’t know what the answer is either. But if there’s one to be found, then Power to the People – a fascinating time capsule of energised political protest and liberating ideas – is a good place to start looking. Despite Lennon’s fears, The Beatles are not on the verge of being forgotten. Their music endures, and will continue to for decades to come. But what John and Yoko stood for might be just as important to remember.

‘Power to the People’ is released on 10 October via Universal Music Group

GP admits trying to kill mother’s partner with poisoned wine

A former GP who has been jailed for attempting to murder his mother’s partner with a fake Covid jab has admitted another plot to kill him using poisoned bottles of wine.

Thomas Kwan, who is already serving a 31 year sentence for the attempted murder of 73-year-old Patrick O’Hara, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court to admit a previous plan to kill him after setting up a fake wine club.

Kwan further admitted to administering a noxious substance to Torquil Gundlach, who also consumed some of the wine which was laced with thallium – a highly toxic metal.

The 54-year-old contacted Mr O’Hara via the fictitious Northern Wine and Drinks Tasting Gentlemen’s Club and sent him between 18 and 21 bottles, some of which were poisoned.

Mr O’Hara drank some of the bottles and gifted one to Mr Gundlach.

This is a breaking story – more follows…

Trump hosted an ‘Antifa roundtable’…it was worse than you’re imagining

Wake up, babe, new civil liberties infringement propaganda just dropped! Today’s instalment of America’s ongoing descent into farce brings us a White House press release about “Antifa terror” and a presidential roundtable devoted entirely to the group that famously isn’t a real entity.

Around noon, a press release appeared on the official White House website, quoting numerous anonymous Portland residents, including a “man,” a “woman,” and a “business owner,” all of whom absolutely want the National Guard to storm their city. “I kind of support it 110%” is an actual quote.

But that was just the appetizer. At 3 p.m., the televised meeting began. And boy, was there a lot of meat.

Held at the table of “independent journalists” (far-right activists) and moderated by Donald Trump, it opened with a statement by the president that “paid anarchists” want to “destroy our country,” followed by bizarre, conspiracy-laden claims that anti-Trump protesters have signs made of expensive paper “with beautiful wooden handles” that therefore must have been printed in the basements of secretive organizations, and that “we have a lot of records already, a lot of surprises, a lot of bad surprises” in store for the people who align themselves with anti-fascism.

And by the way, he noted, “we got rid of free speech” because flag-burning is bad.

Attorney General Pam Bondi jumped in to underline the message: “We’re not going to stop at just arresting people in the street.” No, they’re going to “take down the organization brick by brick” and “destroy the organization from top to bottom.”

In chimed Kristi Noem, everyone’s favorite puppy killer: Antifa wants to “destroy the American people and their way of life” and is a group that has “infiltrated our entire country,” from “city to city,” cried the Homeland chief. Never mind that the anti-fascist protesters in Portland, Chicago and other Democratic cities are pretty much all homegrown Americans.

No, insisted ICE Barbie — they are invaders. They are traitors. They are “just as dangerous” as MS-13, Isis and Hamas. Her priority is “making sure they never see the light again.” This, by the way, is the woman who grandstanded about “staring down” Antifa when footage showed it was actually a couple of photographers and a guy in a chicken suit.

The quotes came thick and fast from the others around the table. At one point, someone casually addressed an imaginary Antifa member, saying: “You will be crushed by the Constitution.” Just as the Founding Fathers intended, no doubt.

The frenzied energy in the room was palpable even through a screen. Influencer Brandi Kruse did a monologue about how she used to “suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome” and how, since she changed sides, “I’m happier, I’m more healthy, I think I’m even a bit more attractive.”

Not to be outdone, in came Jack Posobiec, one of the right’s weirdest hangers-on, who is perhaps most famous for the time he spread the “Pizzagate” theory and then got removed from the pizzeria in question by police for filming a child’s birthday party. Running with the major theme of the hour — that Antifa is definitely, certainly, really real despite all evidence to the contrary, and that everybody needs to stop saying it’s not real — Posobiec made a startling claim: Antifa is so clearly real that it “has been going on for almost 100 years … going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany.”

And look, yes, it is absolutely true that there were anti-fascist protesters in the Weimar Republic. If you’ll remember, those were the people taking issue with the early versions of the Nazis. But it’s sort of difficult to position yourself as the good guys if you’re aligning yourself with the Nazis in your historical analogy. I’m just saying that, if I was Posobiec’s publicity guy, I might ask him to drop that soundbite from future public appearances.

I think we all know what’s going on here. But let’s begin with the fundamentals: Antifa isn’t real — at least, not in the way one convenes a roundtable. It has no central command structure, no coherent leadership, no membership rolls, no headquarters. It is a loose ideological umbrella — a term that is sometimes used by disparate activists and local groups, but much more frequently by the far right than by the supposed lefties who are part of it.

Obviously, the fact that there’s no proof anyone even really identifies as Antifa didn’t stop the White House from designating the “group” a terrorist organization a couple of weeks ago.

Research shows that genuine political violence remains overwhelmingly driven by far-right actors, not nebulous “Antifa” networks. But this, truly, is where MAGA has arrived at: a place so far removed from observable reality that it now holds official government functions with imaginary enemies. Once, conservatism prided itself on being “the party of realism.” Today’s version treats politics as fan fiction, complete with invented villains and lore.

Such productive unreality takes the energy that could be spent on governing or solving problems and redirects it into myth-making. Instead of talking about wages, housing or climate disasters, we’ll talk about black-clad anarchists who can’t be fact-checked because they’re mostly not real. And then we’ll use their alleged existence to justify sending masked men with rifles into cities that, it just so happens, didn’t vote for us. You could almost admire the absurdity if it wasn’t attached to actual state power.

The constant threats at this roundtable aimed at “people with money” who are supposedly “funding” Antifa are the real point. And, like a lot of the White House’s output at the moment, it is intended to intimidate as many people as possible into silence.

In their little room with their teeny little microphones, a bunch of very important people in heavy makeup entered into a collective delusion today. They’re desperate for everybody else to join them. But there are some facts that just won’t un-fact. And for those of us who fancy ourselves OK with words, let’s remember that, no matter how much you twist it, being anti-anti-fascism means being fascist, even — especially — in the Weimar Republic. That’s just elementary logic.

Dolly Parton says ‘I ain’t dead yet’ after sister sparks frantic health concerns

Dolly Parton has a simple message for fans worried about her health: “I ain’t dead yet.”

The 79-year-old country icon shared a video statement on Instagram Wednesday after her sister, Freida Parton, sparked concerns about her health.

On Tuesday, Freida, 68, asked for prayers for Parton, who said last month she’s been dealing with “some health challenges”.

Parton said in her video Wednesday: “I wanted to say I know lately everybody thinks I am sicker than I am — do I look sick to you?

“I appreciate your prayers because I’m a person of faith. I want you to know that I’m okay. I’ve got some problems as I’ve mentioned.”

She continued: “Back when my husband, Carl, was very sick, that was for a long time. When he passed, I didn’t take care of myself. So I let a lot of things go that I should’ve been taking care of. So anyway, when I got around to it, the doctor said we need to take care of this, we need to take care of that. Nothing major but I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home and closer to Vanderbilt [University Medical Center], you know, where I’m kind of having a few treatments here and there.”

Parton went on to joke about an AI image of her circulating that showed her on her “deathbed” with Reba McEntire beside her.

“We both looked like we need to be buried,” she quipped.

“There’s just a lot of rumors flying around, but I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was okay,” Parton said, concluding: “I’m not ready to die yet. I don’t think God is through with me and I ain’t done working. So I love you for caring, and keep praying for me.”

“I ain’t dead yet,” she added in the caption.

Earlier Wednesday, Parton’s other sister, Stella, 76, gave further insight into the “9 to 5” singer’s wellbeing, saying that she had “kidney stones and is getting treatment”.

Hours after Freida’s initial Facebook post, in which she asked fans to pray for Parton, she later clarified that she didn’t mean to scare anyone or give a grave impression with her message.

Freida said that, while Dolly had been “a little under the weather”, she “simply asked for prayers because I believe so strongly in the power of prayer”.

“It was nothing more than a little sister asking for prayers for her big sister,” she wrote on Facebook.

Last month, Parton was forced to postpone her Las Vegas residency in order to undergo a series of medical procedures.

“As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures. As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!” she said on Instagram.

“In all seriousness, given this, I am not going to be able to rehearse and put together the show that I want you to see, and the show that you deserve to see. You pay good money to see me perform, and I want to be at my best for you.”

Her Vegas residency, which was scheduled to run last month, will now go ahead from September 17 to September 26, 2026.

Earlier this year, Parton lost her longtime husband, Carl Dean, who died at the age of 82.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” Parton said at the time.

Norwegian nature: Enjoy wild, wonderful adventures on a safari-at-sea

Norway’s rugged coast is chock-full of natural beauty, dotted with steep fjords where the mountains meet the sea and teeming with all kinds of curious wildlife, from orcas, humpbacks, and over 80 species of seabirds to red foxes, reindeer, and otters. Norwegians are famous for their deep love of the outdoors, which even has its own word: friluftsliv. It helps that it is home to more than 150,000 lakes and is known for its dramatic fjord-fringed landscapes and shimmering glaciers. It’s also one of the best places to catch the technicolour magic of the Aurora Borealis.

What’s more, if you explore this breathtaking region on a Hurtigruten cruise, you’ll do so alongside the expert local Expedition Team, who have spent years traversing Norway’s rugged coastline. They are always on hand to provide engaging insights into the nature, wildlife, and culture you’ll encounter on every voyage. They go above and beyond to ensure you experience more than just the tourist hot spots. Each team member has their own area of expertise and hosts regular lectures for those who want to delve deeper into a specific interest. They also encourage you to join them on their hand-picked hikes and activities, which are at an additional cost and subject to availability but offer the chance to explore with those who know the area best.

Drawing on over 130 years of travel experience, Original and Signature Hurtigruten Voyages lead passengers along Norway’s dramatic Arctic coastline, showcasing its remarkable natural beauty in all its glory, with options to stop off in various locations along the way. As you sail between destinations, keep your eyes peeled for the abundance of wildlife that frequents the area. The coastline is a popular haunt for mammals like giant humpbacks, frolicking seals and playful porpoises.

During time spent on land, depending on your route, you might also come face-to-face with reindeer in the north or the elusive lynx, not to mention the flora that decorates the landscape in various seasons. Some routes stop at Mehamn, a traditional fishing town with only 800 inhabitants. From here, you can embark on an excursion to learn about the Sámi, an indigenous people from Europe’s northernmost region, known for reindeer herding, traditional handicrafts, and a deep connection to nature. Get to know the family, hear their stories and joik chanting, and try dried reindeer meat around a fire in a lavvo tent.

There are many different journeys you can take, depending on what you want to get out of your cruise. Trace the historic Coastal Express route on one of their Original Voyages, Hurtigruten’s first and most iconic route, established in 1893 and often hailed as the world’s most beautiful voyage. You’ll cover 2,500 nautical miles and visit 34 ports, starting in Bergen, Norway’s second-largest city, where you can hop on a funicular to the summit of Mount Fløyen and soak up the incredible views of the city, the nearby fjords, and the surrounding mountains.

The North Cape Line Winter route is another popular cruise for nature lovers. This Signature Voyage adventure starts and finishes in Norway’s Capital, Oslo. The Signature Voyages take things up a notch, offering unmatched views of Norway’s best bits with more time to explore each stop. They’re also a hit with foodies, thanks to the all-inclusive option featuring award-winning restaurants and seasonal produce from Norway’s bountiful coastline.

Åndalsnes is also a favourite stop on the route, home to soaring mountains overlooking the surrounding town. It’s the ultimate hotspot for hikers, climbers and skiers thanks to its abundant accessible natural beauty. The Troll Wall is a highlight for adrenaline seekers here; this 1,000-metre vertical cliff in the Romsdalen valley boasts some of the most epic views from atop, including 360-degree vistas of Romsdalshorn, Åndalsnes town centre, and the Rauma River.

This route also takes you to The City of Northern Lights, Alta, where you can stand at the northernmost point in Europe, Cape Point in Honningsvåg – the perfect vantage point for those trying to catch this incredible natural phenomenon. Hurtigruten is so confident you’ll see the lights that they even offer a ‘Northern Lights Promise’: a free cruise if you don’t see them during the season (valid on 11-day plus voyages from 20th September to 31st March).

Many of the routes stop at Lofoten, an archipelago with immense peaks and fishing villages sandwiched between slopes. It’s not hard to see why this chain of islands is referred to as one of Norway’s most beautiful locations. Hiking opportunities abound here, and most trails lead to spectacular vistas, or if you prefer to stay on the water, you can hop in a kayak and enjoy a leisurely paddle.

Lofoten isn’t the only archipelago you’ll see on specific routes — keep an eye out for the Vega archipelago, a collection of around 6,500 islands, skerries, and islets. On Gardsøy Island, you’ll find a UNESCO World Heritage Centre with dedicated huts for local eider ducks to build their nests.

Journeying south along Norway’s west coast, many of the routes also take you past some of the country’s most famous fjords, including Hardangerfjord, measuring a whopping 179 kilometres in length, making it the second longest fjord in the country and fifth longest in the world. Get your cameras ready, as you’ll be treated to panoramic mountain vistas from every direction, with snow-capped peaks peeking over the fjord reflected on mirror-like water.

Hurtigruten cruises stop at Torsken on the southbound leg of the Svalbard Line, one of their premium, all-inclusive Signature Voyages that sails from Bergen to the Arctic archipelago and back. The secluded fishing village of Torsken is perfect for outdoors enthusiasts, tucked away in Torskenfjorden on the rugged west coast of Senja Island. It’s home to just a handful of houses, workshops, and small piers sprinkled with fishing boats and is the ideal base for exploring Norway’s second-largest island, Senja.

Senja’s stunning coastline has been rightly nicknamed the ‘Caribbean of the North’ thanks to its white-sand beaches and towering mountain peaks. It’s best to take an excursion and explore by small boat to spot white-tailed eagles, seals, seabirds like cormorants, and maybe even a golden eagle. Whether exploring Senja or simply soaking up sea views from onboard, a Hurtigruten cruise offers a chance to connect with nature, wildlife, and Norway’s stunning landscapes, with countless routes to choose from.

Book your Norwegian adventure for less, with up to 30% off, plus 10% off excursions on selected Coastal Express and North Cape Line voyages. For offers, routes and excursion info, visit Hurtigruten.

Is it ever OK to date a friend’s ex-boyfriend?

Dear Vix,

A close friend of mine was dating someone for a few months – nothing big, nothing serious – and then he ended it, because he didn’t feel they were compatible, long term. They’re very different: she’s an introvert, he’s extroverted. She likes quiet nights in, he likes going out clubbing. I can see how he came to that conclusion.

My friend didn’t seem that upset about it – she said, too, that she didn’t think they had a future together; that it was just a short-term, fun fling. She’s already dating someone else she appears much more comfortable with. She seems happy.

The problem is: the first time I met her ex, I was super attracted to him – and we were so compatible! I couldn’t believe she had met someone so suited (to me) and I’ll admit I was pretty envious. But, given he was dating my friend, I put him out of my mind… until a few weeks ago.

We ran into each other at an event and the spark was definitely there – nothing happened, but now I feel so guilty. He asked for my number and yes, I confess: I gave it to him. Since then, we’ve been talking a lot and he’s asked if I want to meet up – but I keep hesitating and putting off answering, because I don’t know what to do.

Is it ever OK to date your friend’s ex-boyfriend, even if it “wasn’t that deep”? I know you’ll probably say to talk to her about it, but people are weird about things like this. I don’t want to risk jeopardising our friendship.

Scared Of Missing Out On A Good Thing

Dear Scared,

I understand why you’re feeling so nervous about this awkward situation. You clearly care a lot about your friend and are putting her first – rightly so, as I’d always remind people that nine times out of ten, friendship lasts a hell of a lot longer than a romantic relationship (with the exception of meeting the love of your life, of course).

In fact, I often muse on the fact that, particularly for women, our friends can be our most romantic entanglements. Who else is there to support you when you’re sad or unwell, who would drop everything to check in on you when you’re heartbroken, who would (quite literally, in my friend Dayna’s case) drive round every morning to leave a coffee and a croissant on your doorstep when you’re going through something difficult? With very rare, very few exceptions, I’d maintain a hard line of: keep the friend, forget the man. And yet.

In your situation, things aren’t quite so clear-cut. The reason I say this is because on the surface, at least, your friend does not seem particularly heartbroken by her break-up – the way you tell it, things didn’t really get below surface-level between them. It’s entirely plausible that she might turn around and tell you to “fill your boots and have fun” with him.

But here’s the thing: you don’t know how she feels about it, because you haven’t asked her. And as a result, you’re making a lot of assumptions (and, likely, overthinking or overreacting, based on your own anxiety around losing a friend). Talk to her. Bring up the guy you like, say: “Hey, here’s something funny. I ran into XX recently – and he asked for my number!”

See how she reacts. See how crushed (or not) she is. I think you’ll soon be able to tell whether she’s bothered; she might even revel in the potential for romance for you – especially if she’s already moved on and is happy with someone else. If you need to be clearer than that, for your own peace of mind, you can add this on: “How would you feel if I met up with him?” – and then take her at her word.

Even if she says she doesn’t like the idea, you still have a choice. She is your friend, yes, but dating is hard. It can be difficult, veering on savage, to find someone you feel that elusive “spark” with and who you think might be matched or suited to you, long term.

You can choose to tough it out, to point out to her that she’s moved on – that they weren’t compatible anyway; that she said that, right from the beginning. Whatever possessiveness or jealousy or simple, human feelings of being “put out” because it feels like he is choosing someone else, chances are, if she wasn’t in love with him (which it sounds like she wasn’t), she’ll get over it. You might just have to give her a bit of time to lick her wounds, but she’ll come round.

I’m willing to bet your friendship also means more to her than any man.

Do you have a problem you would like to raise anonymously with Dear Vix? Issues with love, relationships, family and work? Email dearvix@independent.co.uk

New research reveals the key to unlocking long-lost childhood memories

Adults may find themselves unlocking long-forgotten childhood memories simply by viewing their own face through a digital ‘baby filter‘, new research suggests.

Fifty participants were involved in a study, where they were asked to observe a live video feed of their face, digitally altered to appear childlike.

As participants moved, the on-screen face mirrored their actions, creating a strong sense that the youthful face was their own.

A control group, meanwhile, viewed their unaltered adult reflections.

Afterwards, all participants completed an autobiographical memory interview, recalling events from both their childhood and the past year.

The research, led by neuroscientists at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, indicated that “participants who enfaced (embodied) their child-like face recollected more childhood episodic memory details than those who enfaced their adult face”.

The experiment did not assess the “extent to which the participants felt that the morphed face resembled their childhood face”.

The researchers believe their findings offer new insights into how bodily self-perception interacts with memory.

They believe it could pave the way for new techniques to access previously inaccessible memories, such as from the ‘childhood amnesia’ phase, which is typically before the age of three.

Lead author Dr Utkarsh Gupta, who conducted the study as part of his PhD at Anglia Ruskin University, said: “All the events that we remember are not just experiences of the external world, but are also experiences of our body, which is always present.

“We discovered that temporary changes to the bodily self, specifically, embodying a childlike version of one’s own face, can significantly enhance access to childhood memories.

“This might be because the brain encodes bodily information as part of the details of an event.

“Reintroducing similar bodily cues may help us retrieve those memories, even decades later.”

Dr Gupta is now a cognitive neuroscience research fellow at the University of North Dakota.

Senior author Professor Jane Aspell, of Anglia Ruskin University, said: “When our childhood memories were formed, we had a different body.

“So we wondered: if we could help people experience aspects of that body again, could we help them recall their memories from that time?

“Our findings suggest that the bodily self and autobiographical memory are linked, as temporary changes to bodily experience can facilitate access to remote autobiographical memories.

“These results are really exciting and suggest that further, more sophisticated body illusions could be used to unlock memories from different stages of our lives – perhaps even from early infancy.

“In the future, it may even be possible to adapt the illusion to create interventions that might aid memory recall in people with memory impairments.”

The research is published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.