AI fakes are spreading like wildfire – how can we tell what is real?

It rarely takes more than a few scrolls to see an AI-generated video in 2026.

From the capture of Nicolas Maduro by US forces in Venezuela to the fatal shooting of members of the public in Minneapolis by ICE agents, millions of people are consuming AI-generated videos and images on some of the world’s most significant news events – making it impossible to discern what is real or fake.

Experts have warned The Independent that AI-generated content is spreading at such a rapid pace that it is filling the information void before facts emerge, leading to the emergence of false narratives as news organisations scramble to verify details.

“As AI videos continue to improve, it’s becoming harder to trust what we see while scrolling through social media,”, says Sofia Rubinson, senior editor at Newsguard’s Reality Check.

“Visual cues that once helped us spot fake content are no longer reliable, increasing the risk of misinformation spreading at scale — especially when AI fakes are amplified by well-known or verified accounts.”

In such an unregulated information space, bad-faith political actors can now claim that real videos are fake.

“What we now see is a real video will start circulating and they will claim it’s an AI deepfake, which gives them plausible deniability,” warns Professor Alan Jagolinzer, co-chair of the Cambridge Disinformation Summit.

“That’s actually part of the danger here, and arguably it’s more insidious than people buying into a fake video.”

Even the White House recently provoked outrage after sharing a digitally altered photo of an activist who was arrested for organising an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church. The picture had been edited to make it look like she was crying.

Analysis by digital forensics expert Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, said the image was likely edited with AI.

“This is not the first time that the White House has shared AI-manipulated or AI-generated content. This trend is troubling on several levels. Not only are they sharing deceptive content, they are making it increasingly more difficult for the public to trust anything they share with us,” Farid told CBS News.

Asked whether other image-editing software had been used, the Trump administration directed The Independent to a tweet from Kaelan Dorr, the White House deputy communications director. It simply said: “The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Another video generated by AI purported to show a Somali woman caught at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport attempting to smuggle $800,000 of welfare support cash out of the country. The video, viewed by millions of people across multiple platforms, appeared to reference allegations that Minnesota’s Somali community participated in wide-scale social services fraud, which prompted ICE agents to swarm the state.

Footage appears to show a woman in a headscarf looking outraged in front of a suitcase full of neatly arranged cash. “You have no right! That’s my property, all of it,” she yells while airport security replies: “I know my rights.”

Jeremy Carrasco, a media consultant specialising in AI media literacy, told The Independent that he was “95 per cent sure” that the clip was generated using OpenAI’s Sora 2, without a watermark. The main giveaway for him was the suitcase.

“This looks like a briefcase size. This doesn’t look like any luggage size that we would have in the United States,” he said, adding that it had an unusually large shell. “If she was walking with this, the cash would have just like shaken around because there would have been too much space in the suitcase.”

Comments underneath the video were flooded with people agreeing with the actions of the officers, such as: “Well done TSA. STOP THE THEFT”.

The Independent has contacted Meta for comment about the post.

Outside the US, content generated by AI has also played a role in promoting false narratives about major global incidents including the arrest of Maduro, protests in Iran and the recent antisemitic terror attack on Bondi Beach.

According to Mr Carrasco, the biggest step people can take to discern the from the fake is a simple one. Ask yourself: do I trust this source?

“If you don’t trust the source or you’ve made a judgment that you can’t, move on with your day,” he says. “There are a lot of indications. For example, a page that just reposts a ton of different crap from everywhere isn’t going to be able to discern if they’re reposting an AI video or a real video either.

“You need to look at the original source or consume this through a news organisation that is accredited and has an authentication department. Just make sure that they’ve ruled out that it isn’t a real video that’s been modified.”

Trying to find an original source can also allow you to get the best quality of media, Mr Carrasco explains. Videos that get reposted or re-uploaded can get re-upscaled by a machine learning algorithm that is trying to make them higher definition, which can mean that perfectly legitimate videos can end up with a lot of the same qualities as an AI-generated video.

While AI-generated images can appear quite convincing in the foreground, Mr Carrasco says that the background is “oftentimes where a lot of the bodies are buried.”

Mr Carrasco highlights a debunked AI generated video that claims to show Venezuelans crying in celebration of the arrest of Maduro.

“I think anyone can see that the guy at the back is actually holding a flag at first and then after it goes behind her head he is no longer holding the flag.”

After looking at the edges of the frames in AI-generated videos, you can find things coming into scene that don’t quite make sense. These include hands or changing facial features.

Dealing with the impact of AI generated content and its impact on politics and society will take “patience and evidence”, experts say. But we can also ourselves by asking some basic critical thinking questions.

“Try to assess, not just the message, but the incentives behind the message. So who is communicating and what are they getting after?,” says Professor Jagolinzer.

“What’s in it for them to send that message out? I think people forget that when we communicate, we have incentives, we have a reason to communicate. So I try to get people to think about ‘why are they telling me this? what’s in it for them?’”

The scale of false information is “worse than anything we’ve seen before” because of how easily accessible generative AI apps are, Mr Carrasco said.

“It’s not only a question about how we detect individual things, but also about how society is processing this new wave, this flood of fake images and fake videos that they’re seeing every day.”

What do 16 year olds really think about a social media ban?

Sir Keir Starmer is coming under mounting pressure to approve a social media ban for under-16s, as MPs warn that young people are being dangerously exposed to violent and sexual content online.

Momentum for the Australia-style ban grew last month after the House of Lords backed the move in a vote. That result came despite the prime minister’s efforts to head off what was shaping up to be a government defeat by launching a consultation on potential restrictions.

In a bid to further reassure peers, education minister Baroness Smith of Malvern said the government would bring forward an amendment that would allow the government to enact the outcome of the consultation without the need for a standalone law.

Labour MPs say that they have had a huge response from their constituents on the issue, with much of it backing a ban. A number of backbenchers told The Independent they would like to see movement on restricting social media to young people in the King’s Speech expected in May, which sets out the government’s legislative priorities for the year ahead.

But while politicians, parents, teachers and campaigners argue over the merits of a ban, The Independent heard from three 16-year-olds who know firsthand what it is like to grow up in the world of social media.

Gabriel Lam, a founder of student-led campaign group Vote16, backs a social media ban, as he warns of the violent and harmful content that young people are being exposed to online.

While the 16-year-old acknowledges that social media can also be a force for good, he argues that children should not have unrestricted access.

Gabriel believes a phased approach, barring under-13s entirely and allowing tightly regulated use for those aged 13 to 16, would be the best way to do it.

He said: “I think why this ban is actually so important is that we don’t actually know the negative long-term effects of social media.

“Things like cigarettes, alcohol and films, they’re restricted to certain age groups because we know them to be dangerous, and every other product that children can use has been rigorously safety tested to prove that it’s safe.

“Social media is the only product that has not gone through the rigour of safety testing to prove that it’s safe for young people.”

As the government consults on a potential ban, he says it should also be holding tech companies to account and taking steps to make platforms safer in the meantime.

“They could certainly be standing up to big tech companies in different ways. Instead of just the blanket ban on social media, they could be looking to regulate the algorithms used on social media.”

Jessica Morris, 16, lives in rural Scotland, with no one her age nearby. For her, social media is not optional, but the only link to people outside of her family.

“It’s a part of my everyday life,” she says. “Social media is the only way I communicate with my friends online. Even if I were to be making plans and going out, I wouldn’t be able to do that.

“I could meet them at school. But at the same time, school isn’t really a social event… So really, social media is the only way that I can talk to people.”

Jessica fears that teenagers would simply bypass restrictions, pushing them towards more dangerous and unregulated platforms.

She said a ban would be “useless” and would punish young people for problems that have been created by adults.

Despite that, she supports stronger safeguards to protect children and prevent them from being exposed to dangerous content.

Elie Sabanci, 16, another founder of Vote16, says she has already seen the benefits of restricting social media in schools.

While she believes a blanket ban would be a difficult transition, she argues it would ultimately help children and those who have lost their ability to connect.

Elie said: “Banning phones in schools was hard at first, and it was difficult to adjust, but in the long run, communication and connection have just been so much better.”

One of the main problems, she says, is the jealousy and unrealistic standards social media can create between friends and groups. “It distorts the reality of what’s normal, which is really harmful for growing minds to think that everyone’s life is so great and good things are happening, and it’s just them who is struggling.

“A lot of people talk about how their childhood has been taken away from them simply because of this standard that teenagers put on each other that they need to be using their phones all the time and need to be engaging with trends.

“So I think it will really give back that sense of childhood back to younger people.”

One of the main arguments against a ban is that it would cut young people off from communities, but Elie believes social media often acts as an escape rather than a solution for these people.

”I think it’s kind of a vicious cycle… Community should be in person, it should be human to human, and social media has allowed people to escape from that.

“I think saying that you have an online community is just an excuse and I think when that gets removed, it will be hard, but it will be great, because people will be forced to actually find real connection.”

Lord of the Flies will terrify parents as much as Adolescence

Before masculinity was toxic, before colonialism was a dirty word, there was William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. A staple of classrooms and thrice adapted for film, the cautionary tale of children reverting to a primal savagery is one of the most influential narratives in all of literature. But what is it about the present moment that makes the BBC think it is ripe for a four-part primetime reimagining?

An aircraft, carrying a manifest composed largely of school-age boys, goes down on an uninhabited tropical island. Summoned by Ralph (Winston Sawyers) blowing a conch, the children form a fragile society. Ralph is elected their chief, Piggy (David McKenna) his trusted, but bullied, lieutenant. Jack (Lox Pratt), runner-up in the chieftain vote, leads the group’s hunters, alongside Simon (Ike Talbut), a sensitive boy who serves as envoy between the two camps. They are British children of the immediate postwar era, hardened by the conflict and resolved to retain a stiff upper lip. “My father is in the navy, and he says there aren’t any unknown islands left,” Ralph tells his people. “The Queen has a picture of this island.” But thoughts of home – of Blighty and Her Maj – quickly become secondary to the harsh realities of life in their new home. Hope for rescue is subsumed by an atavistic desire to survive.

Golding’s classic novel was written as a response to imperialistic boys-own adventure fantasies, which fantasised a world in which children would bring the civilising force of British “values” to unconquered lands. Adapted here by Adolescence writer Jack Thorne (if other writers are available, British telly commissioners don’t seem to have realised), the narrative is more concerned with the teetering patriarchy than the end of Empire. “You don’t know anything about my father,” volatile Jack rages at gentle Simon. “No, but I know my father,” Simon replies. “And I have suspicions that they’re just the same.” Absent the steer of adults (“grown-ups just know things,” laments Piggy), their fragile society mirrors the world they’ve left behind. Some take responsibility, some shirk it; some defer to authority, some resist it. “Toilets, water, hut-building,” Jack lists off. “This is boring.” And so, the camp becomes divided by boys becoming men in very different ways.

“The child is father of the man,” wrote William Wordsworth in 1802. Two centuries on and Thorne has reignited public conversation about how we treat children, what we expose them to, and the impact that has on their eventual adulthood. His Lord of the Flies renders the themes of Adolescence in parable form. The tormented, divided soul that exists in all people – which generates fear and creates the conditions for violence – is present, too, in children. The boys on the island, unshackled from influence and responsibility, behave like adults. They tussle for power, imagine exogenous terrors into existence, rationalise their behaviours through the prism of survival. Their fathers – the men they will grow up to be – are present in the figures of these prepubescent castaways.

Like George Orwell’s Animal Farm, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is often approached by readers too young to fully understand it. This adaptation makes no apology for being aimed at adults. Blood-soaked pig hunts, trippy hallucinations, surges of sudden, shocking violence: Thorne’s island is a brutal place. Yet the BBC knows, too, that this narrative will resonate with Gen Z audiences (it is, after all, the basic premise of Fortnite) who eat up social satires like The Hunger Games and Squid Game, both of which owe a debt of gratitude to Golding. The issue is that the plot necessarily requires an almost entirely preteen cast, playing off one another in the depths of the jungle. Some of the acting here has the feeling of school drama, precocious children declaiming with excessive confidence. This unevenness is tempered with a rousing score, by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, and Mark Wolf’s arresting cinematography.

But even if some exchanges feel clunky, Lord of the Flies works because its coterie of child stars is largely very well cast. McKenna, as Piggy, is particularly convincing, as is Pratt, as the unravelling Jack. And while some elements of this adaptation – the use of fisheye photography, or the uncanny CGI wild pigs – don’t quite work, it is overwhelmingly a bold, ambitious vision for the novel. Thorne and series director Marc Munden do not hold back. The four-episode series, shot largely on location in Malaysia, feels feral. Liberated from cans of Lynx Africa, you can almost smell the body odour emanating from these writhing bodies.

“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill,” the imagined monster snarls, as the boys descend into chaos. For the second time in a year, after Adolescence, Thorne has written a television show that will terrify parents. In bold colours, Lord of the Flies depicts the, often inscrutable, journey to irreversible acts of violence, all perpetrated by little boys with spindly limbs, unbroken voices, and wide, seemingly innocent, eyes.

City breathing down Arsenal’s necks after frenzy and farce at Anfield

A farcical finish, but a fantastic win for Pep Guardiola. He had waited a decade to taste victory at a full Anfield. When he did, with a comeback for the ages, seemingly capped by a goal from the halfway line into an empty net, pernickety officiating injected an element of absurd with a decision that no one wanted or needed.

And yet the overall outcome was the same. As Liverpool led, it felt as though Arsenal were about to be anointed champions. “The whole team knew before the game if we lost it then the title race was probably over,” said Bernardo Silva. Instead, he helped revive it. Erling Haaland, policed well by Virgil van Dijk, enduring a frustrating afternoon, suddenly turned catalyst. A manager who had visited Anfield 10 previous times, winning only in lockdown, got the triumph that had always eluded him. “It is so difficult,” sighed Guardiola. “Anfield is Anfield: the tradition, the history, the crowd.”

His historic triumph had considerable consequences for Liverpool. Dominik Szoboszlai had shaped up as the match-winner and ended up sent off and suspended for Wednesday’s trip to Sunderland. Arne Slot beat Guardiola at home and away last season. Now there has been another reversal in fortunes – indeed City’s first league double over Liverpool since 1937 – and a second defeat in three league games left the Dutchman bemoaning misfortune. “So many times this year we haven’t got what I think we deserve and this is another time,” sighed Slot. “I am feeling anger and disappointment.”

An extraordinary end was a familiar one for a team who have conceded four injury-time winners this season. If, for much of the match, this seemed a pale imitation of some of the epic encounters between Guardiola’s City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, the last half-hour brought drama to rival any. And, for Szoboszlai, a cruelty.

It may be best to start at the end; with Alisson stranded in City territory, Rayan Cherki rolled the ball in from the centre circle. It was pursued by two scorers, former teammates and friends. Szoboszlai tugged Haaland back, then the Norwegian responded in kind to stop the Hungarian clearing off the line. And, as neither reached Cherki’s shot, City celebrated. A VAR check later, a needless intervention from Craig Pawson and, ludicrously, Szoboszlai was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity even as the goal seemed to be scored. A free kick was instead awarded. “Just give the goal, don’t give a red card, simple as that,” said Haaland, speaking for many. Guardiola concurred. “Come on referee, give the goal and go home,” he said. “It is common sense.”

So City only won 2-1 and so Haaland had the status of the scorer of the decider. He assisted the equaliser, too, heading Cherki’s cross down behind Van Dijk for Silva to slide in and score. The City skipper had been an injury doubt: instead the man Guardiola called “the perfect captain” completed the game and started the fightback.

Haaland finished it; officially, anyway. He still has not scored a Premier League goal in open play since Christmas. It is a statistic that seems to matter rather less when he has an ice-cool penalty at Anfield to his name, earned when Silva chipped the ball forward and Matheus Nunes was upended by Alisson; it was not the last time the Liverpool goalkeeper was found in the wrong place. Haaland drilled in the spot kick. His celebration was first wild and then calm, in his trademark meditative pose. He had taken off his shirt, willingly collecting his booking. Like Guardiola, he had unhappy memories of Anfield to exorcise: his only previous goal here came in a Red Bull Salzburg side featuring Szoboszlai.

Cherki’s role in the victory should not be underestimated. A surprise omission, City missed his creativity. An inspired substitution, he helped turn the game. He might have joined Liverpool last summer, but they preferred to buy Florian Wirtz. Marc Guehi almost joined them on deadline day in September, was booed by the Anfield faithful and defended brilliantly. When he tugged back Mohamed Salah on the edge of the box, a caution seemed a price worth paying for pragmatism. Slot disagreed, more aggrieved by this decision than Szoboszlai’s sending off. “If you follow the rule book, it is a red card on Mo Salah,” he said. But Pawson was probably right there, Guehi was terrific and Liverpool got a glimpse of what they missed out on: of what they lost, too, as Haaland encouraged Pep Lijnders, Klopp’s long-term assistant and now Guardiola’s sidekick, to accept the City fans’ applause after the final whistle.

Meanwhile, Gianluigi Donnarumma, whose spot-kick saves had eliminated Liverpool from the Champions League last season, made a stunning save to deny Alexis Mac Allister a 98th-minute equaliser. “Out of this world,” said Haaland.

When the Italian was beaten, it was in stunning, spectacular fashion. “What a strike,” said Guardiola. Szoboszlai produced a free kick that may have been even better than his winner against Arsenal, swerving in via the far post, leaving Donnarumma motionless. It seemed to leave City exiting the title race. Superior in the first half, without scoring, they were looking inferior in the second. But then it all changed in a fightback to anger Liverpool and annoy Arsenal. “Six points is still a lot,” counselled Guardiola. “All we can do is breathe down the neck of Arsenal.” And that may leave Arsenal feeling uncomfortable.

Taylor Swift’s obsession with self-mythologising makes for boring art

When Taylor Swift unveiled the music video for her latest single “Opalite” on Friday, it was pretty much guaranteed there’d be a few easter eggs in store. Because when it comes to the world’s biggest pop star, nothing – from the colour of her nail polish to the jewellery she wears on the red carpet – is a coincidence.

With “Opalite” starring Domhnall Gleeson, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, Lewis Capaldi, Cillian Murphy and Graham Norton, it quickly became apparent that Swift had recruited her fellow guests and their host from an October 2025 episode of The Graham Norton Show, in which she appeared to promote her latest album The Life of a Showgirl. Beyond that, the myriad articles, TikToks and Reddit threads shared in the past few days have pointed out clues hiding in the props, the posters in the background, the messages on the friendship bracelets…

Swift explained that she’d been inspired after Irish actor Gleeson quipped that he’d like to appear in one of her next projects. “He was joking,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “Except that in that moment during the interview, I was instantly struck with an idea. And so a week later he received an email script I’d written for the ‘Opalite’ video, where he was playing the starring role. I had this thought that it would be wild if all of our fellow guests on The Graham Norton Show that night, including Graham himself, could be a part of it too.”

Once, this kind of Swiftian manoeuvre would have delighted. Swift has been hiding clues in her work since she was 15: “My fans and I have… descended into colour coding, numerology, word searches, elaborate hints, and easter eggs,” she told The Washington Post. “It’s really about turning new music into an event for my fans and trying to entertain them in playful, mischievous, clever ways.” For years, Swifties have eaten this up, speculating, decoding and theorising with the sort of wild-eyed fervour usually reserved for tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracists – as her clues became more and more obscure. There is so much hidden in the music video for 2017 single “Look What You Made Me Do” that Swift has suggested fans still haven’t discovered every easter egg. It’s not just her music, either. Fans have been taught to scour every interview, every outfit choice, the live shows… just in case.

But these scavenger hunts have grown tedious. Swift’s penchant for self-referentiality and meta-narratives makes her music seem impenetrable to casual listeners, and the artist herself overly insular. With the exception of a loose narrative about the lengths people will go to in their search for “the one”, the video for “Opalite” has very little to say. Instead, it feels like another vehicle for Swiftian world-building – less an expression of artistic intent and more like a self-mythologising sales technique.

Swift’s inability to look beyond herself is affecting the music, too. One of the biggest roadblocks of 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department was how reliant it was on the lore of its own creator, while last year’s The Life of a Showgirl is her most solipsistic record yet. The problem is not that Swift draws on her own life to create her art. The issue is that she now appears unable to see that life in the context of anything other than herself. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this is that she’s proven on numerous occasions that she is more than capable of constructing narratives of great depth: from the masterful “Cardigan”, “August” and “Betty” trilogy from 2020’s Folklore, in which she fleshed out a tale of infidelity, regret and longing, to “Clara Bow” and “The Last Great American Dynasty”.

Along the way, though, this inquisitive and observational eye has turned exclusively inward. Take Showgirl’s lead single “The Fate of Ophelia”. The Swift of Folklore would have done her due diligence in accurately representing the nuances and complexities of Shakespeare’s doomed heroine. The Swift of Showgirl, however, fails to look beyond her personal and professional identity – and the marketing power attached – in order to do that character justice. The tragic story of Ophelia becomes a mere costume Swift dons to further mythologise (and commodify) her romance with American football star Travis Kelce.

Such navel-gazing affected the entirety of Showgirl, a record that has nevertheless become one of the biggest records of Swift’s career. While Swift was never a trend-chaser, frequently eschewing Top 40 fads in favour of thoughtful songwriting and smart production, her insularity is now isolating her. She no longer feels part of a wider cultural conversation involving other musicians, literature, history, film or visual art. What does casting a host of famous faces you appeared with on a chat show say about anything?

Swift is often an exceptional songwriter, and, as the Eras Tour demonstrated, a brilliant pop star. It’s why such hollow creativity is so exasperating. As one friend of mine recently suggested, imagine if Swift had returned to the calibre of storytelling of Folklore and written a concept album about Ophelia, tapping into her ability to capture emotional specificities with narrative detail. Likewise, she could easily adopt the archival approach Beyoncé took on Renaissance and Cowboy Carter, utilising her wit and intellect to explore her pop lineage.

Instead, Swift’s sole point of reference has become herself. Alone at the pinnacle of pop supremacy and consumed by her evidence board of easter eggs, she has lost her once-tenacious grip on the pen she used to expertly wield. The result is not only a lack of quality music, but, worst of all, a glut of boring art. Someone of Swift’s talents can do better. As it stands, she seems to have forgotten that there’s more to being a showgirl than simply existing in the spotlight.

Nordic flavours: Discover culture and cuisine on an enriching cruise

Norway’s food is more than just something to eat; it tells the story of a coastline shaped by freezing seas and centuries of being resourceful. It’s rooted in preservation, seasonality and local pride, and is a cuisine best understood not by crossing the country, but by tracing its edges, sailing from port to port.

With more than 130 years of experience along Norway’s rugged coast, Nordic cruise operator Hurtigruten knows these waters better than anyone, as well as the culture, community and cuisine you’ll find en route. On board, food is not an added extra, but an integral part of the journey itself, and as the ship sails north, so do the menus, reflecting the regions, communities and producers met along the way.

On a Hurtigruten voyage, ingredients are sourced directly from the coastline, picked up as ships travel between ports, with around 70 local farms, fisheries, bakeries, and producers in its network, and a focus on small-scale, homegrown suppliers.

Menus are chock-full of melt-in-your-mouth cod from Vesterålen, award-winning goat’s cheese from family-run Aalan Farm in Lofoten, and craft beer brewed in Bergen. Dining rooms are designed with floor-to-ceiling windows, so as fjords glide past outside, you’re eating dishes made from the very waters and landscapes you’re sailing through.

Each Hurtigruten ship has a main restaurant, a bistro-style eatery and a fine dining option, all guided by the line’s food philosophy, Norway’s Coastal Kitchen, with super seasonal menus grounded in local traditions.

On The Coastal Express, Torget is the heart of onboard dining, with mornings beginning with freshly baked bread, saxlmon and porridge, and evenings with three-course dinners with just-caught fish, Norwegian meats and plant-based dishes, best finished with traditional desserts and local berries.

For something more casual, Brygga reflects the bustle of Norway’s working wharves, serving hearty favourites such as soups, salads and the much-loved Norwegian shrimp sandwich, piled high with prawns, eggs, dill mayonnaise and lemon.

The ship’s à la carte restaurant, Kysten, offers a more refined take on Norwegian cuisine, with fresh seafood, wild herbs and carefully sourced meats, paired with thoughtfully selected wines, including Hurtigruten’s own sparkling wine, Havets Bobler.

Aged deep beneath the Norwegian Sea rather than in a cellar, Havets Bobler matures more than 30 metres below the surface, gently rocked by ocean currents in cold, dark waters. The result is a wine with fine bubbles, a subtle mineral finish, and a process rooted in the Norwegian sea.

On premium Signature Voyages such as the North Cape Line and The Svalbard Line, dining becomes an even deeper exploration of Norway’s culinary scene. These all-inclusive journeys feature three unique restaurants, each reflecting Norway’s past, present and future.

In the main restaurant, Flora, menus are inspired by Norway’s edible landscape, packed with herbs, berries, mushrooms and vegetables, and shaped by the seasons and the ports visited each day. Breakfast and lunch are served buffet-style, while evenings bring a changing à la carte menu, meaning no two dinners are ever the same.

Brasserie Árran celebrates tradition with hearty Norwegian classics such as Sámi reindeer stew, smoked reindeer with lingonberry, and pickled herring on rye. At the top end, fine-dining restaurant Røst draws inspiration from the ancient fish banks of the Lofoten Islands with tasting menus that might feature stockfish, salmon or reindeer, alongside more unexpected ingredients such as seaweed, kelp, sea urchin and Arctic pearls.

Across all venues, traditional preservation methods are at the forefront, with drying, fermenting and salting taking centre stage, honoured by chefs, sommeliers and mixologists who reinterpret age-old techniques especially for Hurtigruten voyages.

For the ultimate foodie adventure, Hurtigruten’s Culinary Voyage sails from Bergen to Tromsø over seven delicious days, mixing life on board with experiences on land, plus a chance to meet the people bringing Norway’s food scene to life. One day you might be tucking into a seaweed-themed 20-course dinner at a gourmet farm, the next enjoying tastings at the world’s northernmost distillery and brewery.

Hurtigruten’s connection to the coast goes beyond sourcing, with a sustainable approach that minimises waste. Leftover food from ships sailing The Coastal Express is composted in Stamsund in the Lofoten Islands, using a specially designed reactor. Within 24 hours, it becomes fertiliser for the nearby Myklevik farm, where herbs and vegetables are grown, some of which even return to the ships.

This quiet farm-to-fleet-to-farm cycle reflects Hurtigruten’s commitment to reducing food waste through reducing, reusing and recycling, helping care for both the coastline and the communities it serves.

Food is only part of the adventure on a Hurtigruten voyage, and alongside dining, the onboard Expedition Team brings Norwegian culture to life through lectures, talks, and foodie experiences that explore the country’s past, traditions, and way of life.

On land, excursions might include sampling local beers at Macks Ølbryggeri in Tromsø, heading out with fishermen in Kirkenes to haul up king crab from icy waters, or visiting a family-run dairy farm in Lofoten. In Lofoten, the Stockfish Museum explains how cod has been dried in the Arctic air for centuries, and in Bergen, the Hanseatic Museum shows how closely food and trade were woven into life along the historic wharf.

But head even further north, and you can meet indigenous Sámi families to learn about their long-standing tradition of reindeer herding, gaining a deeper insight into the incredible Sámi way of life.

A voyage of discovery

With a Hurtigruten cruise you can experience Norway in its most authentic way, gliding slowly along the coast, and immersing yourself in each fascinating destination – travelling the way it’s always been done. For more travel information and inspiration and to plan your trip, visit Hurtigruten. Save up to 30 per cent on a Hurtigruten cruise for departures until March 2027, when you book by 28th February.

Flood warnings and weather alerts for rain in place across the UK

Hundreds of flood warnings and alerts have been issued across the UK next week, following days of non-stop rain.

A total of 89 warnings, where flooding is expected and 223 alerts, where flooding is possible, were in place in England as of Sunday afternoon.

Most were issued across the south-west and the Midlands, according to the Environment Agency. In Scotland there are four flood warnings in place.

Ongoing flooding from groundwater is probable for Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and West Sussex over the next five days, and from rivers across Somerset, the Environment Agency predicts.

Local river flooding is probable for the River Severn over the next five days, and the Rivers Trent and Soar until Tuesday, the Agency says.

Properties are likely to be flooded and travel services are expected to experience delays.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for rain on Monday from 12 noon until 23.59pm. The alert covers parts of London and South East England, South West England, and Wales.

Heavy rain during Monday afternoon and evening may cause some flooding and disruption to travel. The Met Office warned to expect some chance of interruption to power supplies and other services.

Forecasters said: “Bands of rain and heavy showers will move east across southern parts of England and Wales during Monday afternoon and evening. 10-15 mm of rain is likely fairly widely with 20-30 mm in some places exposed to the strong south to southeasterly winds.”

Additionally, local inland flooding is likely for the South and West of England on Monday, and possibly on Tuesday. Local inland flooding is possible more widely from today (Sunday) until Wednesday, the Environment Agency says.

So far, rain has fallen every day of 2026 amounting to 36 consecutive days. In south-west England and South Wales, there was 50 per cent more rainfall than usual, the Met Office reported on Thursday.

Three named storms struck the UK in January, bringing floods and travel disruptions.

Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon said: “Rain has been reported somewhere in the network every day of the year so far. While amounts are trivial on some days, and some areas will have seen dry days, the UK has seen a wet start to the year, particularly in Northern Ireland and southern England.

“This has largely been down to a succession of fronts or low pressure systems arriving from the west, bringing heavy rain at times, as well as damaging winds for some. There’s little sign of a let-up in the current forecast, with further unsettled weather in the coming days and over the weekend.”

Powers that believe in democracy should rally to Jimmy Lai’s cause

It may puzzle some in the West as to why Jimmy Lai, facing a possible sentence of life imprisonment on bogus charges of sedition, did not long ago flee from his tormentors, but has persisted with his fight for human rights in Hong Kong. A successful entrepreneur, he was once extremely wealthy, a billionaire with a range of business interests, including newspapers and media channels. He was granted British citizenship as colonial rule there ended in the 1990s, and he has friends and supporters across the world. A life in exile would, in theory, have been comfortable and open to him.

Instead, Mr Lai stayed in Hong Kong, and would have done so even if he had not been arrested in 2020 under the Beijing-imposed Hong Kong national security laws. They were introduced after the pro-democracy protests in the “special administrative region” in 2019, and in direct contravention of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a recognised international treaty, and assurances by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that Hong Kong would be governed under the principle of “one country, two systems”. Mr Lai is only one of many to have been persecuted under these laws, but his prominence has made him a powerful symbol of the spirit of his home. That spirit is not broken, despite the intense pressures exerted on him. His treatment has been routinely cruel, and of a type unfortunately meted out to so many dissidents. Now 78 years of age and no physical threat to anyone, he is reportedly confined to a concrete cell with little access to fresh air, in solitary confinement, and in poor health. The offences he’s accused of carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and it is very likely he will die in jail.

The leadership of the CCP is haunted by history, and the exploitation of China by colonial powers such as Britain and Japan, which was mostly ended when Mao Zedong and his movement came to power in 1949. The nation that Mao and his successors forged is now a military and diplomatic superpower and, by some measures, the world’s largest economy. It is certainly the pre-eminent industrial power, succeeding Britain, Germany and the United States, previous holders of the title “workshop of the world”. President Xi and his colleagues have nothing to fear from Mr Lai, and everything to gain from setting him free and returning to Hong Kong the limited but crucial freedoms they promised when absorbing the former British territory into the People’s Republic in 1997. Hong Kong is and always was Chinese, but, like certain other regions, it has what may be termed distinct characteristics derived from its history and culture – assets that made it such a prized asset.

Sadly, the days that Sir Keir Starmer and his team spent in China recently will likely have made no difference to Mr Lai’s fate. On his return, the prime minister told the House of Commons that he had “raised the case of Jimmy Lai and called for his release, making clear the strength of feeling in this House. Those discussions will continue.” He also talked to President Xi about human rights concerns in Xinjiang, the home of the Uyghur Muslim people, Tibet and Taiwan; and pressed the case for China ending its support for the Russian war machine, currently conducting a war of terror against Ukrainian civilians. None of this seems to have made any tangible difference. Yet it is also clear that, such is the paranoia of China’s leadership, any concessions to regional or religious freedoms and identity cannot be countenanced, and its “no limits” friendship with Moscow is a further guarantor of national sovereignty. After all, this is effectively the same regime that calmly executed the massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and even now is purging the nation’s top generals for “serious violations of party discipline and law”.

There is little muscle the UK, especially post-Brexit, possesses to prevent these abuses – and that includes Mr Lai being able to access British consular advice, as his right under all diplomatic conventions. Even if the British prime minister threatened to end diplomatic relations, close the London embassy and impose sanctions, the Chinese Politburo would scarcely notice. Even President Trump had to back down in his trade war last year when President Xi matched him tariff hike for tariff hike. Mr Trump has also urged the immediate release of Mr Lai – to no avail. In the 21st century, in contrast to the 20th, China won’t be bullied and, as it sees things, humiliated by foreign powers.

The conclusion is not for the West to give up on Mr Lai and the other democracy activists unjustly imprisoned, which would be wicked, but for it to unite in a far more coordinated and constructive way to engage with the CCP. The strength of America, Europe and allies in east Asia combined should be leveraged to pressure China into easing the persecution of its own people. China is too proud and too powerful for any single power, even the US, to challenge it successfully, but the West together might just do so. We are, after all, the markets that China relies on for its contemporary prosperity. Such an international effort is the least that Mr Lai, and the people of Hong Kong he represents and is suffering for, deserve.