Several missing after landslide rips through campsite in New Zealand

Rescuers in New Zealand were searching for several people, including at least one child, after a landslide tore through a popular holiday campsite as days of record-breaking rain and flooding continued to batter the country.

The landslide struck a campground at the base of Mount Maunganui on Thursday morning, overturning campervans, crushing tents, and hitting a toilet and shower block, according to emergency officials.

Rescue teams said they initially heard voices calling for help from beneath the rubble but had detected no further signs of life by late afternoon, as concerns grew about the stability of the hillside.

The landslide comes after days of torrential rain linked to a tropical weather system, which has dumped extraordinary volumes of rain across large parts of the North Island.

New Zealand’s emergency management minister, Mark Mitchell, said parts of the east coast resembled “a war zone”, with helicopters deployed to rescue families trapped on rooftops and local states of emergency declared across several regions.

“It’s a fluid and sensitive issue at the moment,” Mr Mitchell told Radio New Zealand. “Everyone is working as hard as they can to get the best possible resolution, but it is a very difficult and challenging situation.”

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said around 40 firefighters, including urban search and rescue teams and sniffer dogs, were working at the site, which has been fully evacuated. Two excavators have also been deployed to help remove debris.

Fire and Emergency commander William Pike said first responders had heard voices when they arrived shortly after the slip but were later forced to pull back because of the risk of further movement.

“Initially, when the first arriving crews arrived, there were some signs of life,” he told local media. “But we withdrew our people to make sure the slip didn’t move any further.”

Police said the number of people unaccounted for was believed to be in the “single figures”, though the exact number remained unclear as some campers had checked out without notifying authorities.

Witnesses described scenes of chaos as the hillside collapsed. Sonny Worrall, an Australian tourist who was swimming in nearby hot pools, told local media he narrowly avoided being hit by a caravan.

“I heard rolling thunder and cracking trees,” he said. “The whole hillside gave way. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever felt in my life.”

Authorities said the Bay of Plenty region, where Mount Maunganui is located, recorded its wettest day on record, with the nearby city of Tauranga receiving about 295mm of rain in just over 30 hours – roughly two and a half months’ worth of rainfall.

Local states of emergency have been declared in Northland, Coromandel Peninsula, Tairawhiti, Hauraki and parts of the Bay of Plenty, with residents urged to evacuate low-lying areas and avoid all non-essential travel.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said it had responded to more than 230 weather-related callouts since Tuesday, including rescues from rooftops and flooded homes. In the east coast settlement of Punaruku, firefighters described houses buried in mud, logging debris and floodwater.

At least 8,000 households remained without power on Thursday, down from 16,000 earlier, while dozens of roads were closed because of flooding and landslides.

Elsewhere on the North Island, police were continuing to search for a 47-year-old man who was swept away with his vehicle while attempting to cross a river near Warkworth on Wednesday. His wife told Radio New Zealand she was holding out hope that he had survived.

“I know his personality is strong, wise,” she said, adding that he was a fisherman back home in Kiribati and knew how to swim and dive.

In Papamoa, south of Mount Maunganui, two people were reported missing and one person seriously injured after a separate landslide struck a home early on Thursday.

Communities across the island have also reported dramatic rescues, including neighbours pulling a 94-year-old man from floodwaters in Coromandel and a woman rescued by kayak as fast-flowing water rose to neck height around her home.

New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency warned that further heavy rain was expected through Thursday, falling on already saturated ground and increasing the risk of additional landslides, flooding and dangerous river conditions.

Scientists say the pattern of increasingly intense rainfall is consistent with what is expected in a warming climate.

“It seems that these days, every storm brings with it orange or red flood warnings and devastation and misery somewhere in the country,” said James Renwick, professor of climate science at Victoria University of Wellington. “Sadly, this is exactly what we expect with a warmer climate that has more moisture in the air.”

Prime minister Christopher Luxon said the government was doing everything possible to support affected communities and praised emergency crews for their efforts.

“All those who are putting themselves in harm’s way to keep Kiwis safe, the whole country is grateful,” he said.

Pressure on PM as peers back Australia-style under-16 social media ban

The House of Lords has backed a ban on social media for under-16s, adding to growing pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to introduce an Australia-style crackdown.

The prime minister had tried to head off the vote by launching a consultation on potential restrictions.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall announced a three-month consultation this week, which will consider the advantages and disadvantages of a ban, as well as possible overnight curfews and actions to prevent “doom-scrolling”, reporting back in the summer.

However, former schools minister Lord Nash said the consultation simply represents more delay.

The Tory peer argued the evidence is “overwhelming” for a ban, with support ranging from “medical professionals to our police and national intelligence community, from our teachers to hundreds of thousands of parents”.

But peers backed Tory Lord Nash’s amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill calling for an outright ban by 261 to 150, a majority of 111.

Sir Keir now faces the prospect of a backbench rebellion when it returns to the Commons, after more than 60 Labour MPs publicly called for Britain to follow Australia, which has become the first country to bar young people from social media.

Just hours before the vote the chief inspector of the schools watchdog, Oftsed, said he would have consulted on a potential ban sooner.

Sir Martyn Oliver said that while he welcomed the government’s action it was “a little bit late”.

Lord Nash, a former schools minister, rejected the consultation, arguing it meant more delay when there was alreday “overwhelming” evidence for a ban. “The time for delay and procrastination is over,” he said.

His amendment had cross-party support and was co-sponsored by Labour peer Baroness Berger, Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Benjamin and the independent crossbench peer Baroness Cass.

Supporters of a ban say social media harming children’s health, including their mental health, and is driving radicalisation and crime.

But opponents warn it could drive young people on to the dangerous ‘dark net’ .

At the weekend the NSPCC among others also said blanket bans were “a blunt response that fails to address the successive shortcomings of tech companies and governments to act decisively and sooner”.

But filmmaker and children’s rights campaigner Baroness Kidron said the announcement of a consultation was “an insult” to Parliament, parents and youngsters, and warned it would delay action to keep children safe online.

Earlier Sir Keir Starmer had told MPs the consultation would “look at expert and international evidence to get this right”, including restrictions on age and addictive features as well as screen time use by under-fives.

The prime minister also pledged it would report by the summer.

Prue Leith quits Great British Bake Off

Dame Prue Leith has announced her decision to quit Great British Bake Off, saying it “feels like the right time to step back” from the Channel 4 show.

In a statement released on Wednesday (21 January), Leith said: “Bake Off has been a fabulous part of my life for the last nine years, I have genuinely loved it and I’m sure I’ll miss working with my fellow judge Paul [Hollywood], Alison [Hammond] and Noel [Fielding] and the teams at Love Productions and Channel 4.

“But now feels like the right time to step back (I’m 86 for goodness sake!), there’s so much I’d like to do, not least spend summers enjoying my garden.”

“Whoever joins the team, I’m sure they’ll love it as much as I have,” she added. “I feel very lucky to have been part of it.”

Channel 4 has said a new judge will be announced in due course.

Leith joined the programme after it moved from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2017, and faced the daunting task of replacing Paul Hollywood’s original judging partner, Dame Mary Berry.

Fortunately, the new judge soon found her groove in the famous Bake Off tent, winning over fans and critics with her kind-hearted critiques and statement looks. There was one blip, though: in her first year on the show, Leith hit headlines after accidentally revealing the winner hours before the finale aired.

A number of former Bake Off contestants have shared their sadness at her exit from the programme.

Commenting underneath an Instagram post on the show’s official account, 2025 winner Jasmine Mitchell wrote: “We will really miss you so much. You are just wonderful and incredible.”

Dr Rahul Mandal, who triumphed in 2018, added: “We adored you, you are kind, passionate and above all inspiring. You challenged yourself in every step of your life, which inspired us. I always [tell] my daughter to be as bold and brave like you.”

Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding are the current Bake Off presenters, but Leith has also worked with Sandi Toksvig and Matt Lucas.

In 2024, Leith revealed that she previously tried to quit the show after becoming fed up with “hardly seeing” her family and “never” having a summer holiday due to filming demands. The judge agreed to stay after the show’s production company changed the schedule so she could have more time off.

Channel 4 chief content officer Ian Katz said: “Prue Leith has been a joyous presence in the tent, pairing absolute culinary authority with great generosity and empathy for the bakers.

“We are grateful for her passion, her wit, her ineffable style, and all the summers she spent in the tent. She leaves an indelible mark on the show and all its bakers.

“We will miss her wry, gentle judgment but look forward to working with her on new projects.”

Why Roy Keane has embraced his role as the angriest man in sport

There was a moment on Sunday that spoke loud and clear about Roy Keane’s standing in the world. It happened in a London cinema at a special screening of Saipan, the new movie dramatising Keane’s infamous walk-out from the Irish football squad ahead of the 2002 World Cup. After it had finished, a question-and-answer session was staged, featuring the film’s directors, husband-and-wife Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, alongside its two stars, Eanna Hardwicke, who is quite magnificent as Keane, and Steve Coogan, who deftly characterises his adversary Mick McCarthy. The quartet were being quizzed about the project’s backstory. And the question was put that everyone in the audience was thinking: what was the man himself’s involvement? Had Roy Keane given it his blessing? Indeed, had they ever considered inviting him on board as an executive producer?

“Oh my God,” said Leburn, the tremor audible in his voice. “The thought of having Roy Keane on set.”

He had no need to elucidate. A mumble of recognition spread through the cinema as everyone pictured Keane in his Methuselah beard, standing at the side of the studio as the camera rolled, a look of disdain spreading across his features as he hears the director tell Hardwicke that the latest take was absolutely spot on.

“Why are you getting so excited about what he’s just done?” you could almost hear Keane sighing. “It’s his job.”

It turns out, beyond receiving a formal letter from the producers informing him it was happening, Keane has nothing to do with the film. In truth, you can understand their reluctance to have him involved. Because there can be no public figure in contemporary life with an image as terrifying as the one Keane maintains. As he sits in judgement on football, either for Sky or as an increasingly popular podcast presence, he appears to be a man ever on the brink of ferocity. His pronouncements, delivered with a stare of such glowering intensity it could stop a tank in its tracks, are almost invariably curt, dismissive, laced with disappointment. Those around him – his fellow pundits, the presenters seeking his opinion – appear continually alert, as if checking for the exit doors. This is broadcasting’s biggest bear, his appeal built on the possibility that at any moment he might be poked into rage.

And the thing is, as we watch, we have convinced ourselves it is no act. This is not the usual gob-for-hire member of the pundit class, happy to criticise for clicks. Everything we have seen and heard in the past insists the anger waiting to erupt from within Keane is for real. Very real. He is a man, we believe, who feels what he says.

Such authenticity is central to his appeal. This was, after all, a footballer for whom the very thought of compromise was anathema. I remember once watching him play for Manchester United and, in one of the moments when the Old Trafford crowd fell silent, hearing him unleash a lengthy tirade of ear-melting ferocity at one of his teammates. Funnily enough, given how the two are these days regular podcast colleagues, chatting about the modern game over coffee and croissants, it was Gary Neville on the receiving end of his verbal Exocet. And as the fan who berated him from the crowd at Ipswich Town when he was conducting his Sky duties on the touchline ahead of a game a couple of years ago found out, even long into retirement, he remains someone never shy of backing himself up physically.

“I wouldn’t argue with him,” Sir Alex Ferguson, his manager at United, said of Keane at the height of his playing prowess as the finest enforcer in world football. “Have you seen the size of his forearms?”

Not that Ferguson followed his own advice. The two later fell out spectacularly, a row which is clearly still recorded in Keane’s mental black book, as he recently dismissed the man he used to call Boss as “hanging around Manchester United like a bad smell”.

And Saipan, which is released in cinemas this week, will only enhance his reputation as one of society’s angriest men. It tells of the volcanic personality clash between Keane and McCarthy. These two are approaching the World Cup from very different positions: the one laser-focused, intense, determined, the other apparently happy just to be there, enjoying the moment. Almost from the film’s opening shot, we discover that Keane is more than a little dismayed by the lack of proper preparation that he believes stymies the pre-World Cup camp on the American island in the middle of the Pacific. He sees it as an affront. He wants his country to approach the tournament as other countries will, with a professional determination to win. McCarthy prefers to treat the time as a bonding exercise, an opportunity to relax after a long, hard season, more conga lines than circuit training.

“Not everyone is Roy Keane,” he says, of a group who share little of their captain’s fervency.

The gap between the two is taken by the film to represent something wider: the fissure between an Ireland personified by Keane as a society anxious to punch its weight in the wider world, and the old philosophy embraced by McCarthy of “we’re just here for the craic”. After the blistering verbal tirade that forms the dramatic climax of the movie, Keane puts aside any personal ambition of playing in the World Cup and storms home to Manchester. Looking back at it with a 24-year distance, it remains a stand at once both remarkably principled and ultimately self-defeating.

And it was a moment that didn’t just seal his reputation as an angry man. It became one mythologised in the wider Irish consciousness: everyone had an opinion of Keane. For some it proved him the epitome of integrity. But Hardwicke remembers at the time being a five-year-old growing up in Cork, coached by his grandad that if anyone asked his opinion of Roy Keane, it was that he had let down his country.

“He is a force of nature,” added Coogan. “Like a storm ready to break.”

Well, in truth, not all the time. Away from public scrutiny, there is a wry self-awareness about Keane. In private, a warm and loyal family man, he is a superb anecdotalist, his stories delivered with a comic’s timing. And a friend of mine, who walks his dog in the same stretch of Cheshire countryside that Keane took to in the aftermath of his departure from the World Cup, says he is still out there, every morning. The locals exercising their mutts, he adds, are united in terror at the thought of their pet misbehaving in front of Keane’s beautifully trained dog. But the reality is more nuanced. When Keane bumped into my friend exercising his new puppy, he stopped and chatted knowledgeably about the breed and its shortcomings. He was full of charm. Though ultimately, there was still a distance to be maintained. The next time they coincided on the walk, my friend issued a cheery “hello Roy, good to see you.” It was met with a dismissive roll of the eyes.

And that is the point about the cult of Keane: he is more than cognisant of his reputation. Indeed, in his broadcasting life, he plays it like a musical instrument, perfectly attuned to the meme-potency of a sideways sneer. It is a lucrative ability, too, making him the most in-demand pundit on the circuit, the one whose output we all love to scroll. No wonder advertisers queue around the block to cast him in their commercials.

For McCarthy, the post-football, post-Saipan world has proven far less of a money-spinner. Though, albeit without the same ubiquity as his nemesis, he has joined the podcast circuit. Sadly for his listening figures, you suspect that any invitation to Keane to join him on The Managers, the podcast he does with Tony Pulis, would be received with the same terse dismissiveness as we see at the conclusion of the movie, when Coogan as McCarthy makes a final, forlorn phone call to try and persuade his captain to return to play in the World Cup.

“I take it that if I asked you back the answer would be no,” says McCarthy.

“Yes,” comes the reply.

“You mean: yes it’s a no?”

“Yes, it’s a no.”

The cult of Keane summed up in a sentence.

Saipan is on general release from 23 January

Typhoon jets to receive ‘cutting-edge’ radar upgrade

Defence Secretary John Healey is set to announce a £453 million investment to equip the Royal Air Force‘s Typhoon fighter jets with advanced radar systems, safeguarding up to 1,300 jobs across the UK.

Mr Healey will confirm the contract award during a visit to Leonardo UK’s Edinburgh site on Thursday morning.

The upgrade, involving defence firms BAE Systems, Leonardo UK, and Parker Meggitt, will install state-of-the-art radar technology over the coming years.

This work directly secures 300 roles in Edinburgh, 120 in Lancashire, and over 100 in Luton, as part of the wider Typhoon programme supporting more than 20,000 jobs across 330 British companies.

This announcement comes amidst increasing pressure on Nato, due to US President Donald Trump’s stated intention to acquire Greenland.

Mr Healey said: “Our Typhoon fleet is the backbone of UK and Nato air defence, operated across Europe by the Royal Air Force and our allies to protect our skies and security.

“As the threats we face increase, and as Russian drones continue to strike Ukraine and violate Nato airspace, this cutting-edge radar capability will keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad for many years to come.

“In Edinburgh and across the UK, we’re backing more than 20,000 skilled workers on the Typhoon programme who ensure our RAF remains ready to protect Britain.”

Earlier this week, the Government announced a £205 million contract for the long-term provision of specialist Typhoon engineering support by QinetiQ.

It said this week’s combined investment shows defence is an “engine for growth” that can create skilled jobs and strengthen national security.

Mr Healey added: “Our Government has backed their high-skilled work with more than £650 million of investment this week alone, securing British jobs and making defence an engine for growth in Scotland and beyond.

“This massive workforce will be sustained for years following the biggest fighter jet exports deal in a generation, worth £8 billion which we secured with Turkiye in October.”

The latest contract will see 40 advanced European Common Radar System (ECRS) Mk2 radars fitted to RAF Typhoons, including 38 new systems and modifications to two test systems.

The radars will simultaneously detect, identify and track multiple targets in the air and on the ground.

The Government said the technology will ensure the RAF maintains its operational advantage in contested environments by providing high-powered jamming capability whilst engaging targets beyond the reach of threats.

Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said: “This £453 million contract award to build state-of-the-art radar systems for Typhoon fighter jets shows just how vital Scottish expertise is to the UK’s national security, and why Scotland is globally recognised as a centre of defence excellence.

“This upgrade to the RAF fleet – sustaining 300 jobs at Leonardo in Edinburgh and many more in the supply chain – is the latest in an impressive line of defence dividend wins for Scotland.

“The UK Government is transforming our defence sector into an even more powerful engine for growth, because when we back our service personnel and Scottish industry, we keep ourselves and our allies secure whilst delivering skilled jobs and growth for communities and workers.”

Mark Stead, senior vice-president of radar and advanced targeting at Leonardo UK, said: “ECRS Mk2 isn’t just an exceptional radar – it’s equipped with advanced electronic surveillance and electronic attack capabilities which will make RAF’s Typhoons more potent against their adversaries, adapting to new and unpredictable threats.

“This contract secures 300 highly skilled jobs at Leonardo’s Edinburgh site, and 100 at our Luton site.

“As well as supporting over 71 UK-based suppliers, we hope ECRS Mk2 will see wider adoption by other Typhoon export users given its advanced capabilities against current and future threats.”

The UK Government committed to continue upgrading RAF Typhoons as part of its strategic defence review, and the planes are set to continue protecting British skies until at least the 2040s.

‘We installed a heat pump last year – here’s what I’ve learned’

In April last year, Paul and his wife replaced the 18kW gas system boiler in their four-bedroom house in south Liverpool with an Octopus Cosy 9 heat pump. Living with their three children, the couple was motivated by both environmental concerns and the potential for long-term savings.

Electrifying central heating offered flexibility they hadn’t had before: cheaper electricity rates, and in Paul’s case, the ability to use electricity generated from his own solar panels and stored in a home battery to help power the heating. While many homeowners may not have a solar system, it’s a bonus that shows how heat pumps can work even more efficiently when paired with renewable electricity generation.

“I’m very enthusiastic about phasing out fossil fuels from all areas of life as quickly as possible,” Paul says. “And I also love the extra flexibility that it gives you by electrifying central heating rather than relying on gas. Things like cheaper smart tariff rates, using the electricity I generate from my solar and/battery system and, of course, the occasional free electricity sessions from Octopus all help with our central heating and hot water as well.”

Before making the switch, Paul did his homework. He had no doubts about the system’s ability to heat their home, seeing the fears often voiced about heat pumps as similar to “range anxiety” with electric vehicles – something he had experience with and had long learned was largely unfounded. “I had zero anxiety at all about whether or not we’d be able to warm our house effectively. I guess that’s the heating equivalent of ‘range anxiety’. But both my wife and I have driven EVs for years, so we know that fears about them are a myth. I knew concerns about heat pumps not working in winter or in older houses are a myth too.”

The biggest barrier for many homeowners, including Paul, is the upfront cost. Government support, however, made the decision far easier. “I knew getting a heat pump would unlock far cheaper energy bills going forward, so it was worth doing everything I could to get one. Obviously, the £7,500 government grant was invaluable, and getting it was dead easy. Octopus did all that for me on my behalf.

Paul considered a Daikin system but ultimately chose Octopus’ own Cosy 9 heat pump. The decision was guided by integration and future-proofing: the Cosy’s controls sit within the same app as their electricity account, aligning perfectly with other smart systems in the home, such as EV charging and solar battery storage. “I feel that is where the future innovation and clever automations are more likely to be – in the same way that Octopus can intelligently charge my car when energy is cheapest and greenest, I’m hoping that will become an option one day,” Paul explains.

Installation took just four days and caused minimal disruption. The results have exceeded expectations. “Our house has been lovely and warm all the time this winter,” Paul says. “Don’t get me wrong, our previous gas boiler was capable of heating the house, but reservations about carbon emissions and the extremely high cost of gas central heating in recent years put us off having it on much in previous years.”

Noise has not been an issue. “99% of the time you’re completely unaware of any noise. The heat pump’s gentle whirring happens outside, and when it’s cold, you’re generally inside. During the warm summer months when you’re outside your house in the garden, it’s generally off apart from when it’s doing the hot water cycle – even then, you have to go and stand right next to it if you want to hear it. It’s so quiet.”

Comfort is now a priority rather than a compromise. There’s plenty of hot water for morning showers and the kids’ baths at night, and the family keeps the thermostat at 23–24°C, a significant step up from last year’s 17°C. “This winter is the first time since the energy crisis that we’ve been toasty and warm inside, without having to worry about huge bills. Heating your house using cheap off-peak electricity is a huge benefit which just doesn’t exist with gas,” Paul says.

Ten months on, Paul says there are many things he no longer misses: the gas standing charge, the risk of carbon monoxide, and the anxiety over fluctuating gas prices. He has become a passionate advocate for heat pumps, stressing that the technology works effectively even in homes that are far from “perfect” in terms of insulation or installation conditions.

“Just like with electric cars, don’t listen to the naysayers and the people who have zero actual experience of heat pumps when they trot out the tired old disproved myths about them being too noisy, not working, or costing a fortune. Take it from someone who has one and lives in a house with far from ideal and perfect installation conditions – they work brilliantly.”

For the family, the switch has not only brought tangible financial and environmental benefits but also a sense of reassurance and control over their home energy use. It’s a glimpse into what a greener, smarter and more cost-effective future for home heating could look like.

Explore Octopus heat pumps or verify our claims on the Octopus Energy website.

You’re wrong, Mr Trump, Nato DID stand by America in its hour of need – on 9/11

Of all the false claims made by Donald Trump in his speech at Davos one stands alone as the most ignorant and shocking.

In his latest broadside against Nato and its key European members including Britain, France and Germany, he complained it was a “one way street”. The US paid all the bills but had “never gotten anything back,” he said; American soldiers were always ready to take up arms in defence of any Nato country faced with attack, but Nato would never make the same sacrifice for the US in return.

President Trump said: “The problem for Nato is that we would be there for them 100 per cent, but I’m not sure they would be there for us if we gave them the call ‘gentlemen, we are being attacked by such and such a nation.’”

He continued: “With all the money we spend, all the blood sweat and tears, I don’t know that they’d be there for us. They’re not there for us in Iceland [he meant Greenland] – and Iceland [ditto] has already cost us a lot of money!”

Let’s put to one side his cringeworthy error in confusing Greenland with Iceland: it is dwarfed by his ignorance of Nato’s history. As most people know, it is underpinned by a simple core principle: an attack on one member country is an attack on all.

In such circumstances, under Nato Article 5 all members are required to take “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore security.”

Remarkable though it may seem given the many global conflicts that have taken place since Nato was set up in 1949, Article 5 has only been triggered once in its 77 year history. And on that occasion the country that its members shed “blood sweat and tears” to defend was none other than America itself.

When it came under fire in the appalling terror attack on New York’s World Trade Centre on September 11 2001, Nato was quick to respond and rally round America. On September 12, Nato took the historic step of triggering Article 5 to show the US that its allies around the world were ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with them in responding.

When evidence was found that the 9/11 attack stemmed from Afghanistan, Nato members showed the depth of their commitment to the US. Some 130,000 servicemen and women from no fewer than 25 of Nato’s 32 member states took part in the Afghanistan war over two long hard fought decades. And a total of 1,061 of them died in the conflict – in addition to 2,461 from the US and a small number from non-Nato countries. By far the highest number of non-US casualties came from Britain, with 457 deaths.

No one can fault Denmark either, at the centre of the dispute over Mr Trump’s attempt to seize Greenland, under Danish sovereignty, for its efforts in Afghanistan. Although the 43 Danes killed in Afghanistan was fewer than in many bigger nations, it was the second highest as a proportion of its population.

For the benefit of those, who, like Mr Trump, are unaware of the cruel price in human life paid by Nato members who rallied to the US led campaign in Afghanistan, here is the roll call of those from non-Nato countries who died, including their home nation: UK 457, Canada 159, France 90, Germany 62, Italy 63, Poland 44, Denmark 43, Spain 35, Romania 27, Netherlands 25, Turkey 15, Czech Republic 14, Norway 10, Estonia 9, Hungary 7, Sweden (which joined Nato in 2024) 5, Latvia 4, Slovakia 3, Finland 3, Portugal 2, Albania 2, Belgium 1, Croatia 2, Lithuania 1, Montenegro 1.

The next time Donald Trump questions whether Britain and other Nato countries would shed “blood sweat and tears” for the US, perhaps he should be sent a list of the names of all the brave individuals listed above. Armed forces members from many Nato countries were also killed in the Iraq War which, like Afghanistan, was a conflict fought largely at the behest of the US.

However, unlike Afghanistan, there was no specific Nato operation in Iraq: several member states such as France refused to take part because of controversy over the case for going to war.

But as with relatives of Nato troops who died in Afghanistan, try telling the loved ones of the 179 British service personnel who died in Iraq that the UK “wasn’t there for them” when the US called to say “gentlemen we are under attack”.

Help! My teenage daughter has an evil ‘frenemy’

Dear Vix,

My daughter started university this autumn and is having real problems with a “frenemy” (let’s call her “Amy”). Amy and my daughter became “best friends” very fast. I thought there were some red flags, as this girl seemed to be dominant and a bit controlling. She then started being very mean to my daughter and was very negative towards her, even in front of other people.

Fast forward a few months and Amy has now found another “best” friend who she looks up to and has “demoted” my daughter (a good thing, in a way). Except that they’re still all part of the same social group (they’ve even signed a contract for a house-share together, next year) and Amy’s meanness has escalated.

As a result, my daughter has become closer to two other girls in the same halls, who have started to defend her when Amy is mean to her. Amy and her new BFF have cottoned on to this and are now saying they don’t like the other two girls – and that my daughter has to pick sides. It’s put her in an impossible situation.

Amy is incredibly manipulative and shouty and I am really concerned for my daughter. She is being isolated from the only two girls who are kind and supportive towards her, and I feel like she needs to get out of her house contract for next year, even if we lose the deposit. I don’t see how she can live with Amy, but she’s worried that if she pulls out, it’ll cause all sorts of problems. She’s also asked us not to be too negative about Amy as she feels like she has to be friends with her – and make the best of it.

She’s stuck where she is for the time being, and I don’t know how to advise her on dealing with Amy and her mean entourage. I feel like it’s all getting worse and am encouraging her to develop new friendships, but the more we hear about Amy, the more I worry. I think my daughter is really scared about it all and is just hoping it will get better. But what if it doesn’t?

Worried Mum

Dear Worried Mum,

Your email really got me in the feels, because we’ve heard so much about toxic friendship groups and how to protect yourself from the “mean girl” mentality, recently. Even celebrities aren’t immune: one of the biggest talking points of the year so far has been Ashley Tisdale’s decision to leave her “toxic mom group” in LA because of their “mean girl” behaviour, which – like with your daughter – has consisted of leaving people out, forging breakaway groups and (by all accounts) being pretty bitchy.

“I remember being left out of a couple of group hangs, and I knew about them because Instagram made sure it fed me every single photo and Instagram Story,” Ashley wrote in an essay for The Cut. “I was starting to feel frozen out of the group, noticing every way that they seemed to exclude me.

“I could sense a growing distance between me and the other members of the group, who seemed to not even care that I wasn’t around much. When everyone else attended a birthday dinner together, I was met with excuses as to why I hadn’t been invited.” Ashley says she soon realised her group had a pattern of leaving someone out – “and that someone had become me”. So, she texted the group chat one final time, saying: “This is too high school for me and I don’t want to take part in it anymore.”

Boom. My unfiltered opinion for your daughter would be to absolutely in no circumstances live with this girl – “Amy” – next year. If she’s mean now, imagine the hell of having to put up with her moods, her cliques and her backstabbing not just for the next six or so months, but for a whole new year at university – a time when we’re finally allowed to shrug off the trappings of being inexperienced teenagers who go to school and live at home, and finally go out into the world to find out who we are and what we like.

I appreciate how worried you are as a parent (and I don’t know how much the house deposit has cost you all) but if you can withstand it financially if you don’t get the money back – and if it won’t be too hard paying a deposit for another place – then prioritise her happiness if you possibly can. And to your daughter, who (understandably) is worried about how her ditching the new shared house will go down with Amy and her acolytes, I would say: however bad it is to tell her, it’ll be a lot better than having to live with her and tread on eggshells to “keep the peace” throughout 2027 and 2028.

I’ve known a lot of “Amys” and am all for ditching those who are cruel to us or who make us feel bad about ourselves – we don’t have to be anyone’s “fall guy”. I’ve been as brazen as to cut off completely a few people who (whether consciously or not) bad-mouth others, who seem to go out of their way to cut me down, or who simply take, take, take without giving anything back. I want to focus on “cup fillers” – those people who lift us up and seek out the good. Life is too short to spend it fawning, people-pleasing or being a one-man band for attention seekers.

I have a hunch that as soon as she’s had her hissy fit about your daughter dropping out of the house arrangement (and for ease, she could always tell them that she’s been asked to live with friends they don’t know), she’ll soon get bored and move on to another victim. But at least your daughter won’t have to deal with it day to day.

She’s got a few months left until the university term ends: I recommend she stick with the two girls who have been so supportive and loyal, make plans with them and minimise her contact with Amy (and her disciples) as much as possible. Rather than friends, treat them as housemates. She can come and go to the house and use it as a base, but go out with her real friends. Perhaps you could get her a small TV or some comfy scatter cushions for her bedroom to give it a bit of a makeover, so she can keep it as her sanctuary and spend more time in there rather in common areas like the lounge and kitchen. The time will pass quickly.

Your advice about her seeking out new friendships is spot on – but a word of gentle warning: you might be in danger of over-performing in your role as mother, here. I would be exactly the same as you (frightened, worried, anxious and loving them so much that we want to fix it for them) but we also need to remember what university is all about: making your own way in the world. Finding your feet. Being an individual. Growing up.

Empower and trust your daughter to handle this difficult situation for herself. She sounds smart and wise, and she clearly cares about your opinion enough to tell you about what’s been going on. That tells me you’ve raised someone empathetic and capable and who has the security of knowing she has a loving home base to fall back on. She knows you will always be there for her – from a distance. That will help her work this out.

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