Love it or hate it, Brendon McCullum is not going to ditch Bazball now

Don’t back down. Double down.

If you hoped that England’s two-day defeat to Australia would lead to a change of strategy, mindset or personnel from Brendon McCullum’s side, I’ve got bad news.

Under Ben Stokes and McCullum, England are consistent in process, and inconsistent in results. After the initial honeymoon period of Bazball, during which they won 10 of their first 11 matches, the 31 games since have seen 15 wins, 14 losses and two draws. You win some, you lose some.

For the most part, the entertainment factor has outweighed the results. Cricket is a national but niche sport in the United Kingdom, so throwaway defeats to Sri Lanka at the end of the 2024 summer or series defeats away to Pakistan a couple of months later are often either forgotten or forgiven for the overall shot in the arm the Bazball era has given the game in England.

Like it or not, people turn out en masse to watch it. But the Ashes is English cricket’s front-page moment. For the briefest of periods, the scrutiny is akin to what footballers experience. Entertainment becomes secondary to results, and no extra motivation is needed for a fanbase who have drunk the Kool-Aid and believed that, finally, this was England’s time.

“This was the one Test [I’ve got tickets for]” said one fan in an interview with BBC Sport. “I’ve always wanted to do the Ashes for years … I just feel like I’ve been let down.”

Another fan said: “I’m absolutely disgusted with the way they’ve played. Bazball has completely failed. What is this all about, why are we here?”

Thousands of fans have spent thousands of pounds on a trip of a lifetime to watch England, if not win, then compete. For the first time, fast-paced defeats could lead to real-life consequences.

At an existential level, this series is a referendum on how cricket should be played. McCullum dipped his quill into the world of coaching Test cricket three years ago and started writing a new chapter. No-fear, no-nonsense, attacking cricket, always. It has been riveting and in large parts a success, with one massive asterisk sitting next to it. It has never beaten either Australia or India. Aussie fans look at it with scorn – “Let’s see them do it here” is the stock response. They didn’t have long to watch; it was over in two days.

Low down on the England management’s frustrations, but present nonetheless, will be that this Test should have acted as an example of their refined, more considered approach that they have been championing in the media. For years, England have mainly named their team two days out from the start of the match. On this occasion, they delayed and delayed until ultimately choosing to name it at the toss when they’d had the maximum amount of time to analyse conditions. Their decision to leave out spinner Shoaib Bashir also went against the grain of what is commonplace under Stokes, who on only the rarest of occasions goes without one.

But in Perth, England were able to hit play on one of their longest-standing plans. To hit Australia with pace. The stars had aligned to have Jofra Archer and Mark Wood both fit and able to play a Test together for only the second time. Even after England’s first-innings batting collapse, their own five-man pace attack came back and bowled with terrifying speed. It both felt – and was – the fastest England attack in history, with Australia 122 for nine and 49 runs behind at the close of play. Stokes, McCullum and managing director Rob Key had reason for smugness. They had planned this and it had worked. Any notion of a laissez-faire attitude could be laid to rest. Twenty-four hours later and they had lost.

England do wins and losses in extremes. When they win, they win big. And when they lose, it is equally dramatic. Last year, they became the first team in history to lose two Tests in a calendar year by more than 400 runs.

“Sometimes we get beaten and it looks pretty ugly,” McCullum said afterwards. “But there are times when having that type of mentality allows us to still believe in our abilities when we step out to play.

“There are times we don’t get it right, but we have to believe in what we believe in because it gives us the best chance. Just because we are one down doesn’t change what we believe in. We have to stay calm, stay together and plot our way back into this series, as we have done before.”

With such a long break until the next Test, which starts on Thursday 4 December, England will be keen to roll out the same bowling attack. They have thrown their support behind Zak Crawley, who made ducks in both innings and dismissed the idea of the need for a change of attacking mindset when batting.

“We believe he is a quality player,” McCullum said of Crawley. “Particularly in these conditions against this sort of opposition. How many balls did he face, 10 or 11? He got out cheaply, but we believe in Zak.

“I’m not saying we didn’t go hard enough, but there was a player [Travis Head, who made 123 off 83 balls] who had total conviction in his method and has done it across different formats and on different stages over the last few years.”

The scrutiny on their build-up will now turn to Canberra, where England decided not to release any of the Test team from Perth to play in the Lions’ two-day pink-ball match against an Australian Prime Minister’s XI. None was due to play, but after the scale of defeat, former England captain Michael Vaughan said it would be “amateurish” were they not to change their plans. And they haven’t.

From an optics point of view, England were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. Alter course and it’s Ashes panic, refrain from playing and they’re scared of exposing their batters to more failure. Either way, the decisions made will be those that McCullum, Stokes and Key will be judged against come January.

“Have conviction,” McCullum concluded after the first Test. “That’s been what we’ve said. Choose a method and have conviction in it. If it works, then great. But if it doesn’t, at least you’ve done it your way.”

If nothing else, McCullum practices what he preaches.

Australian far-right senator accused of ‘blatant racism’ after wearing burqa to parliament

Australia’s Senate was suspended for more than an hour on Monday after a far-right senator entered the chamber wearing a burqa, sparking widespread outrage.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who has long campaigned for a national ban on burqas, was barred from the chamber for the remainder of the day after she repeatedly refused to take off the Muslim face covering.

Ms Hanson was condemned by all parties in the Senate over her action, reminiscent of a similar stunt carried out in 2017 when she caused a procedural dispute that delayed the final sitting week of the year, ABC News reported.

Senate president Sue Lines ordered her to leave, but Ms Hanson refused, prompting Ms Lines to suspend proceedings, a measure that has been used only rarely. The chamber reconvened at about 5.50pm without Ms Hanson present.

On social media, Ms Hanson accused her colleagues of hypocrisy for preventing her from putting forward her bill. She said she wore the burqa to highlight what she described as security risks and the mistreatment of women, arguing that parliament had failed to address the issue. Ms Hanson was unable to name a single safety incident linked to the burqa.

“If the parliament won’t ban it, I will display this oppressive, radical, non-religious head garb that risks our national security and the ill treatment of women on the floor of our parliament so that every Australian knows what’s at stake,” she wrote.

The independent senator Fatima Payman, the first woman in Australia’s federal parliament to wear a hijab, criticised Ms Hanson’s actions, describing the stunt as “abhorrent and disrespectful to the chamber and the public”.

“For her to wear the burqa, walk in, and just not listen to the procedures or the ruling that was given before her is typical of her trying to stay relevant,” she told ABC Radio. “The fact that this is the last week of sitting for 2025 and the Senate is suspended… where are the priorities of the government and Pauline Hanson?”

“This is a racist senator, displaying blatant racism,” said Mehreen Faruqi, a Muslim senator from New South Wales.

National Party MP Barnaby Joyce, who has left open the possibility of joining One Nation, said elected representatives were free to make political statements so long as they did not involve violence, but he did not comment directly on Ms Hanson’s sanction.

Earlier in the day, Aftab Malik, the special envoy to counter Islamophobia, said Ms Hanson’s argument that the burqa posed a national security threat was “frustrating” and risked fuelling hostility toward Muslim women.

“This will deepen existing safety risks for Australian Muslim women who choose to wear the headscarf, the hijab, or the full face and body covering, the burqa,” he said. “They already face harassment, threats of rape, and violence, not because of what they have done, but because of what they wear. All women should be free to choose what they wear or do not wear.”

Ms Hanson previously wore a burqa in the Senate in 2017 during an earlier attempt by One Nation to introduce a national ban. She defended the stunt, claiming “it was proving a point … it was lack of security”.

She has also sparked controversy over indigenous issues, once declaring: “There’s no definition to an Aboriginal,” and calling for “a big debate on this”.

In her 1996 maiden speech to parliament, she warned that Australia was at risk of being “swamped by Asians.”

Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican music star and actor, dies aged 81

Jimmy Cliff, the Jamaican star behind hit songs such as “You Can Get It If You Really Want” and “I Can See Clearly Now”, has died aged 81.

The news was announced by his wife, Latifa, in a post to Cliff’s official Instagram page, which said: “It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia.

“I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and coworkers who have shared his journey with him. To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career.”

Latifa said that her husband appreciated “each and every fan” for the love they showed him, while also thanking the medical team who were “extremely supportive and helpful during this difficult process”.

“Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace,” she said. “I will follow your wishes. I hope you all can respect our privacy during these hard times.”

Her message was co-signed by the couple’s children, Lilty and Aken.

Born James Chambers in the impoverished village of Somerton, Jamaica, on 30 July 1944,he was one of nine children raised by their father in a three-bedroom home. His remarkable voice made him a local celebrity aged six, singing in his local church.

Listening to Jamaican music on the radio inspired him to pursue a career as a singer; he moved to Kingston when he was 12, then scored his first hit, “Hurricane Hattie”, just two years later.

“Kingston was rough,” he told The Independent in a 2003 interview, “because in the city you know no one. You can’t go to your neighbour like in country and say, ‘I’m hungry, give me something.’

“But by the time I got there, I was prepared to face whatever came. Even that young, I knew what I wanted to do. I had songs I had written, and I wanted them recorded. I had no consciousness about money. It was about getting my art exposed.”

He went on to achieve international success by his mid-twenties, thanks to the singles “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and “Vietnam”, the latter dubbed “the best protest song” by none other than Bob Dylan.

A starring role in the 1972 crime movie The Harder They Come, for which he also provided the soundtrack, was widely credited with helping bring Jamaican culture to the rest of the world.

Yet he initially balked at the idea; it took writer-director Perry Henzell flying to the UK, where Cliff was preparing for an extensive tour, to convince him.

“He said one sentence to me that stopped me in my tracks,” Cliff recalled in a 2022 interview with The Independent. “He said, ‘I think you’re a better actor than a singer.’ I said to myself: wow! Nobody ever said that to me before, and I had always thought that! Somebody’s reading my mind! It happened like that. I cancelled the European tour that I was planning, and went to do the movie.”

Along with Cliff’s own music, The Harder They Come featured a soundtrack of acts such as Toots and the Maytals and Desmond Dekker.

Despite the film’s huge success both at home and overseas, Cliff returned to his music career after its release. “I went into it thinking, I’m going to do this piece of work with my life, and when I’m finished I’ll go back to touring,” he said. “That’s how I looked at it.”

Over a career spanning more than 50 years, Cliff released 33 albums, his latest being the 2022 record Refugees. The title track was inspired by “what’s happening all over the world” and marked his first collaboration with Wyclef Jean, whom he met when the Fugees star inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

His cover of American singer-songwriter Johnny Nash’s song, “I Can See Clearly Now”, featured in the 1993 film Cool Runnings – loosely based on the Jamaican bobsleigh team who competed in the 1988 winter Olympics – and peaked at No 18 on the US Billboard 100.

Another famous cover, of Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ “Wild World”, transpired when he walked into the offices of Island Records in early 1970 and heard his publisher playing the demo. At the time, Stevens was unsure over whether to release it: “I told him I loved the song and if he didn’t want to record it, I would,” Cliff told The Independent.

“I put him on the spot! I didn’t want to put him off because he might change his mind.” Cliff recorded the song the very next day, achieving his first Top 10 single in the UK: “It was a hit, so I was very happy, of course, and then Cat Stevens decided to record it himself.”

He was one of just a handful of musicians to be awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit, alongside Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer.

While many fans believed that Cliff’s throne was “stolen” by fellow reggae star Marley, who was signed to Island after him, he insisted he had no regrets in moving away from reggae and into rock and soul.

“I felt, ‘If I put me in this one little bag, I’m going to be suffocated. How am I going to say what else I want to say?’” he explained. “And that has been a big struggle in my career. They say, ‘You’re a Jamaican, you’re known for reggae,’ so you’re supposed to do that. But I won’t.

“I felt like, ‘I’ve done my part; now I’m on another path.’ It was perceived by others that I was wrong, that I could have been like Bob. But I felt good. Looking for the new, that’s fundamental to me.”

Starmer and Trump did not discuss BBC Panorama fallout in call

Sir Keir Starmer ducked raising the legal challenge between Donald Trump and the BBC when he spoke to the US president on Sunday.

The 30-minute call between Mr Trump and the prime minister focused on Ukraine, according to the readout, with sources admitting he did not discuss the BBC.

Sir Keir had been under pressure to intervene over the row between the White House and the BBC after the broadcaster had apologised for the presentation of the US president’s 6 January speech in a Panorama programme and Newsnight report.

However, with senior figures at the BBC, including chair Samir Shah, set to give evidence in the Commons today over the fiasco, the president has made it clear he intends to go ahead with suing the corporation for $1bn.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey had urged Sir Keir to intervene to protect the BBC and a call between the president and prime minister had been expected for more than a week.

But sources now admit that the subject of the BBC was not raised, as Sir Keir instead tried to press the president on his controversial plans for Ukraine.

It comes as the BBC chair is set to join BBC board member Sir Robbie Gibb and former editorial adviser Michael Prescott in facing questions from MPs on Monday.

They will be quizzed about the corporation’s editorial standards guidelines in the evidence sessions with the culture, media and sport committee, set to begin at 3:30pm.

The MPs on the committee wrote to the BBC to ask about action being taken after a report by Mr Prescott raised concerns that a Panorama episode included selective editing of a speech made by Mr Trump before the attack on the US Capitol in 2021.

BBC director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness resigned in the fallout from the report becoming public, while Mr Shah apologised on behalf of the BBC over an “error of judgment” and accepted that the editing of the 2024 documentary gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.

Sir Robbie, a former senior Conservative Party adviser, has faced calls for his removal from board, with creative industries union Bectu saying his position was “untenable”.

It added that he was perceived by corporation staff as being “sympathetic to, or actively part of, a campaign to undermine the BBC and influence its political impartiality”.

Earlier this month, Sir Ed also called on Sir Keir to sack Sir Robbie, branding him a “Conservative crony” in the Commons, but the prime minister declined to comment on “the individual runnings of the BBC”.

Sir Robbie, who served as director of communications for Theresa May, has not spoken about the criticism of his board role.

The committee of MPs will also hear from former BBC editorial standards adviser Caroline Daniel and non-executive director Caroline Thomson.

Last week, BBC board member Shumeet Banerji announced he would be leaving his role.

Cruise through Cajun Country on this unforgettable Louisiana road trip

A circular route from New Orleans takes you north along the Mississippi through Louisiana’s River Parishes to Baton Rouge. Loop through Lafayette and Houma on Highway 90, before returning to New Orleans. Whilst the 300-mile road trip can be done in a week, a fortnight or more best suits the southern laidback spirit to truly discover treasures along the way.

Best planned for early spring, when Louisiana jumps to its feet with music festivals and parties, or in the calmer autumn months when food festivals, gumbo cook-offs, and fall colours light up the oak-lined avenues. Here’s what not to miss en route…

New Orleans gives main character energy, even though the state capital, Baton Rouge, sits just 80 miles west along the river. Start the journey here with a day (or night) lost in the French Quarter, where lacy iron balconies and pastel facades are the backdrop to Jackson Square street performers and jazz music on every corner. Grab a coffee and oh-so-light powdered sugar beignet at Café du Monde, to fuel exploration of the city’s great cultural institutions, such as The National WWII Museum or the evocative Historic Voodoo Museum. Ride the St. Charles Streetcar past moss-draped oaks and stately mansions in the Garden District, or explore the city by foot to find your own adventure.

For a quirky day trip, drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway – the world’s longest continuous bridge over water, according to the Guinness World Records – to find Abita Mystery House in Abita Springs; a curious folk-art installation of animated miniature towns and oddities from the mind of local inventor, John Preble.

Follow the Mississippi River north towards Baton Rouge, with a few stops en route. Explore Houmas House Estate and Gardens: once one of the largest sugar plantations in the country, visitors can now dine at one of the many restaurants and take guided tours showcasing the extensively-restored manor house and expansive gardens. Whitney Plantation, about 30 miles downriver gives a heartbreaking and evocative account of enslavement, and visiting these two plantations gives a sense of how both sides lived.

Baton Rouge emerges like a stately figurehead, rocking on the porch at the top of the Great River Road. A hub for art, music and politics, Baton Rouge is also a food mecca with fine dining, soul food, and the Red Stick Farmers Market – filled with homemade goods on the weekend. The gothic inspired Old State Capitol museum wouldn’t look out of place in a medieval fairytale, whilst climbing the current State Capitol building’s tower unravels views of the Mississippi river snaking through the landscape below.

Drive 55 miles westward, and find yourself in Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge – halfway along Interstate 10. The conservation area protects over 15,000 acres of hardwood forest and swamp habitat; spot alligators paddling through the bayous riverways, bird watch for woodpeckers, wrens and warblers, or just take in the impressive scenery.

Follow the sound of zydeco music down the Interstate to the dance halls of Lafayette. The heart of Cajun and Creole country, Lafayette is the ultimate place to tap your feet to this blend of French accordion and Afro-Caribbean beats. Louisiana’s French history is very much alive, as French conversations linger in the porchlight or come to life in Vermilionville folk museum, the re-creation of a 19th-century Acadiana village. Lafayette is also a food lover’s paradise. Try spicy boudin sausage from a roadside meat market, feast on gumbo as dark as a bayou at dusk, or savor po’boys and crawfish étouffée stew at a local café.

U.S. Highway 90 takes you southeast to the coastal wetlands of Houma. If you like it spicy, make a stop off in New Iberia and follow the pepper-scented air to Avery Island, home to the world’s only Tabasco factory and the botanical Jungle Garden of conservationist and hot sauce founder, Edward Avery McIlhenny.

As you travel further south, sing along with the southern leopard frogs on a guided swamp tour, spot another alligator, or drop into Houma’s Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum to hear the story of shrimpers, oystermen, and how this slice of coastline has been shaped by cultural, industrial and ecological events.

With a suitcase full of memories and joie de vivre, head back to New Orleans. Every mile offers a detour worth taking; from the turbulent history and uplifting music, to watery labyrinths and astounding swamp wildlife. A Louisiana road trip invites you to slow down and enjoy a journey into the true Deep South.

For more travel inspiration and information visit Explore Louisiana

Royal Navy intercepts Russian warship and tanker off UK coast

The Royal Navy intercepted a Russian warship and a tanker off the coast of the United Kingdom.

HMS Severn, a patrol vessel, shadowed the RFN Stoikiy corvette and a tanker vessel in the past fortnight, the Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.

The navy monitored the Russian movements through the Dover Strait and west through the English Channel. The ministry did not say exactly when the interception happened.

HMS Severn later handed over monitoring duties to a NATO ally off the coast of Brittany, but continued to observe from a distance, the MoD said.

The ministry reported a 30 per cent increase in Russian vessels “threatening” UK waters in the past two years.

Commander Grant Dalgleish, HMS Severn’s Commanding Officer, said the operation reinforced the Navy’s close work with Nato allies and highlighted the value of patrol ships.

The announcement came just days after defence secretary John Healey said that a Russian spy ship was spotted on the edge of UK waters, where it pointed lasers at the RAF pilots tracking it. There were no injuries sustained by British pilots and no damage to their planes or equipment.

While tailing spy ship Yantar, a Royal Navy frigate and other civilian ships experienced GPS jamming.

The frigate HMS Somerset’s combat capabilities were not affected, the MoD said. The Yantar is one ship in a fleet of Russian vessels that are part of a Russian ministry of defence deep sea research programme known as GUGI (Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research).

GUGI has both specialist surface vessels and submarines that are used to survey underwater infrastructure, but also has the capability to damage or destroy that infrastructure.

Mr Healey told a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday that his message to Russian President Vladimir Putin is: “We see you. We know what you’re doing. If the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.”

The Royal Air Force has since deployed three P-8 Poseidon aircraft to Iceland’s Keflavik Air base to conduct surveillance operations as part of what the MoD called Nato’s collective defence.

The reconnaissance planes will patrol for Russian ships and submarines in the North Atlantic and the Arctic.

Wing Commander Higgins, Officer Commanding 120 Squadron, said: “This deployment to Iceland highlights the enduring importance of the North Atlantic and Arctic to the security of the Alliance.

“Operating the P-8A Poseidon, we continue that legacy by contributing to NATO’s collective defence and ensuring the security of this strategically critical region.”

The problem creating a pension gap and why the Budget could worsen it

Many Brits are facing a pension shortfall in retirement as a result of concerns that, as a country, we’re not saving enough. But the problem is even worse for women – and the upcoming Budget could only exacerbate the problem.

Research from Royal London shows that on average women have less than half the pension savings of men – £39,000 compared to £92,000.

Although auto-enrolment in workplace pensions has helped a huge swathe of people put money towards their retirement, it’s still not an equal playing field.

Part of that relates to older workers who were not in a workplace pension earlier in their lives, says Rowan Harding, an expert in women’s ethical finance, while other factors like the gender pay gap have widened the problem.

“Someone who is younger is more likely to have been paying into a pension compared to someone from the older generation, due to auto enrolment,” Ms Harding said.

“But there’s a much greater disparity among older workers. Women were previously not included in pension schemes – it was almost a case of, ‘you’re in the typing pool, stay there’ for many roles.”

She added that there are still some people who will not benefit from auto-enrolment. “You have the self-employed, for example, who might not have a workplace pension set up, or women trying to get jobs around family life or care responsibilities.

“They might not think about pensions, or be able to, until a point in life where they don’t have dependents.

“And even if they do, there’s also still a gender pay gap so you may have less surplus cash to put into savings [compared to a man in the same job]. It may be similar roles, but you get a gap in pay.”

Rather than just focusing on the take-home amount, pensions show how the gender salary gap can have an outsized effect over time.

While a smaller wage for the same job is itself problematic, if the same percentage number of both salaries is paid into a workplace pension, the smaller salary pays a smaller amount in. And, over time due to the impact of compounding, a larger starting number will have a far greater return decades down the line when the pension is needed.

An additional sticking point is that, when it comes to spare money to save from the take-home pay, the lower salary has less available for either long-term saving or investing into a personal pension plan,. Research from Royal London shows women have 42p put towards retirement for every £1 men save.

Meanwhile, there are concerns over Rachel Reeves’ reported plans to cap salary sacrifice schemes. The Treasury may raise £3-4bn through limiting the National Insurance relief on payments made into pensions – but this could instead lead people to simply not pay as much into their workplace pensions, taking the money in their pay packet instead and not saving as much for retirement.

A snap poll ahead of the Budget from pension provider Penfold – though with a limited number of respondents – suggested almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of people believe the government will not protect pensions in the upcoming Budget.

The prospect of people continuing to under-save for retirement means living standards later in life could only continue to deteriorate – and that may be a bigger problem for women who have less money behind them to begin with.

Sarah Pennells, personal finance expert at the company, has pointed out that women have mid-career additional barriers to overcome too.

“Menopause in the workplace needs attention. It’s an issue that is not only impacting women’s financial futures through missed pension contributions, but is also resulting in a significant loss of talent and experience for UK employers,” she said.

Ms Harding also added that pensions can get overlooked during divorce settlements when the people involved are more focused on property, child care or other assets, and encouraged those going through the process to seek professional advice on a complex topic.

New research from Canaccord Wealth suggests almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of women are actively taking steps to manage their finances, yet fewer than two in ten (18 per cent) say they feel in control of money matters.

Getting started on doing something is key to overcoming that barrier, says one expert – with many people finding the thought of a financial admin task is actually tougher than completing the task itself.

Alice Wright, investment director at Canaccord Wealth, said: “The core challenge for many women is not the task itself, but the thought of the task at hand. Most financial actions – from checking pensions to updating a budget – can be completed in less time than it takes to scroll social media or run a short errand. But for many women, it’s the stress and anxiety that financial and wealth planning presents. It is really important for people to feel that they can grow their wealth with confidence and we’re not seeing enough of that.”