It took quite some soul-searching for Nick Bowyer to cast his first ever vote for Labour. The 62-year-old from Hertfordshire’s pretty market town of Hitchin was a lifelong Conservative supporter. But like many recent Tory deserters, by July 4 he had come to feel that “a change of leadership was needed”.

This widespread notion, which tore through the previously faithful ranks of the party’s voter base, helped deliver Labour’s landslide victory in this year’s General Election. 

The honeymoon period Sir Keir Starmer might have hoped for, however, has proved to be remarkably short. Following a series of controversial moves – scrapping the winter fuel payment for all but the poorest pensioners chief among them – goodwill towards the new Government seems to be already ebbing away. 

This month, an Ipsos poll found support for Labour had slipped four points to 36 per cent, while almost half (46 per cent) of people viewed Prime Minister Starmer unfavourably – his joint worst rating since he became party leader. 

By contrast, even a year after Labour’s 1997 landslide, its support remained in line with its pre-election popularity, with pollsters MORI still putting it at 53 per cent by April 1998.

To explore what lies behind the rather more abrupt decline in the party’s approval ratings this time, The Telegraph joined Public First, a research and opinion consultancy, on a trip to Hitchin to hear from dozens of local residents. 

This newly-created seat swung to Labour this year, after decades of returning a Conservative MP as part of the former Hitchin and Harpenden constituency. (A Tory candidate had won here in every general election dating back to its formation in 1997.)

Voters like Bowyer, an aviation industry adviser, were behind the recent swing. But a notable number are now voicing misgivings.

“I decided, perhaps against my better judgement, to vote Labour,” says Bowyer. “My initial thoughts [about the new government] have not been very positive…I do regret [my vote].”

Sitting on a bench in the picturesque Market Place, he explains the two main turn-offs for him. The first is the so far unrealised threat of changes to inheritance tax and capital gains tax. Labour hasn’t ruled out increasing either.

“They implied they weren’t going to raise taxes and it looks like they’re backtracking on that,” says Bowyer. 

The second reason for his buyer’s remorse is the sleaze row that has so quickly cast a pall over the Government, with Starmer facing criticism for initially failing to disclose thousands of pounds of gifts from party donor Lord Waheed Alli. “Labour spent a lot of time in opposition attacking the Tories for sleaze and partygate, but it looks as if they haven’t cut their cloth accordingly,” says Bowyer. “[They’re] just following the same route the Tories were.”

This matters for a government that was meant to offer a change from the perceived moral turpitude of recent Conservative administrations, and Bowyer is not the only Hitchin voter to mention it. Arguably, it particularly matters at a time when public trust in governments of any political stripe is at a record low. 

Making her way through the square in the unseasonal warm autumn sunshine, Magda Kazimierczuk, 40, voices a similar sense of regret about her vote for Labour. “I thought it might change something, but I don’t see this happening,” she says. 

She had hoped to see the elderly better looked after, and is disappointed with the winter fuel payment cut. “We might have a really cold winter and people might need to choose between eating and heating,” she worries. 

The early release of about 1,750 prisoners to ease overcrowding this month has not gone down especially well either. Kazimierczuk, a first-time Labour voter who works in a school canteen, brands the move – which was first announced by the Conservative government earlier this year – a “really bad idea”. She adds: “I’m worried all these people [released] will come to places like Hitchin.”

And although originally from Poland herself, she would like to see Starmer take a tougher line on immigration. 

In the large, neatly manicured garden of the Angel Vaults Inn – formerly the Hitchin Conservative Club, now a Wetherspoon pub – Sandra Burge, 63, is enjoying a glass of wine with her daughter. Having mostly voted Tory in the past, the retired accounts payable manager chose Labour in July. How does she think they’re doing?

“Not too good,” she says flatly. “They’ve stopped the winter fuel payment, and I’m worried they’re stopping the 25 per cent [single person discount on] council tax. That will affect me” (Again, Labour has not ruled out scrapping this.)

Although Burge had wondered about their tax policies before casting her ballot, the fuel payment cut was a shock. The pay deal the Government cut with train drivers hasn’t sat well with her either. “I think they’re paid enough, to be brutally honest,” she says.

Mags Matheison, 75, a retired secretary walking past Hitchin’s medieval St Mary’s Church, is also “kind of regretting” lending Labour her vote for the first time in her life. “I’m not impressed with what they’ve done so far,” she says. “They seem to be hitting the pensioners and people who have tried to look after themselves. But the Tories were the same.”

The Tories, indeed, were the reason she voted Labour rather than sticking with the Liberal Democrats, whom she had previously supported. “I wanted to get rid of the Conservatives,” she says. Now she has her doubts. Widowed in February, she worries about whether an inheritance tax hike will hit her family when she dies. 

“I want to pass on my house and savings to my children and grandchildren,” she says. “I don’t want to give it to the Government.”

While any governing party must reckon with such hopes and fears among voters, and decide whom to disappoint, Labour faces a special challenge in keeping on side two very different sections of the electorate: those on the centre-right and right, who largely put them in power due to their bitter disillusionment with the Tories; and those to the left of Starmer, who would like to see the party take a more radical approach. Both types are to be found on the cobbled streets of Hitchin. And while anger over the winter fuel payment cut often unites the two groups, on much else they remain divided.

“Pre-election, Starmer was saying he was going to go back to his socialist roots, but I don’t think it’s happening,” complains a 64-year-old retired public sector worker having lunch with a friend outside a cafe in the square. 

Laura, 42, is eating a meal outside a deli on the quieter Churchgate alley, which leads to the site where the town’s big outdoor market is regularly held. “They’re not radical enough,” says the housewife. “The country is a mess and the problem was austerity. We don’t need austerity round two. Austerity caused the problems in the first place.”

She singles out for criticism Labour’s failure to remove the two-child benefit cap introduced by the Tories in 2017, a decision that has caused disquiet within the party. “My husband calls it performative cruelty,” she says.

In common with other locals, she has little time for Labour’s claim that a £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances has necessitated some belt-tightening. “They’re not the Labour party any more, they’re just competent Tories, and actually I’d quite like a change from more Tories,” she says.

As for Starmer himself, there are mixed feelings. While plenty of voters quite reasonably protest it is still too soon to judge either him or his government, some are perfectly willing to do just that – and not favourably. 

“I would have thought he would be a bit more visible,” muses Labour voter Chris Hepple, 57, a retired IT worker nursing a non-alcoholic beer in the pub garden.

“I don’t think he’ll last,” predicts Burge. “Maybe a couple of years.”

Bowyer meanwhile fears that like much of the current generation of politicians, Starmer lacks “statesmanship” or true leadership credentials. “Margaret Thatcher, Michael Heseltine, Michael Howard – they seemed to have an aura and personality about them,” he sighs.

He is, he says, unlikely to support Labour again in the future. Kazimierczuk expects she’ll return to the Conservatives next time. Laura will likely go Green. The onus, of course, is on Labour to draw them back.

“As Labour heads towards its first Budget, the clock is already ticking to start delivering with swing voters,” says Ed Shackle, head of qualitative research at Public First. “What they’ve seen so far – cuts to winter fuel allowance and releasing prisoners early – has gone down badly and led some to already question their vote.”

Starmer, then, has his work cut out in keeping his spectrum of 2024 supporters, famously broad but shallow, on polling day. If Hitchin is anything to go by, less than three months in, some already want out.

Rickshaw drivers are secretly shifting the decimal point on credit card machines to “swindle” tourists in London out of hundreds of pounds, newly released data show.

A dossier of complaints collected by Transport for London (TfL) reveals how some drivers have even charged £1,300 for trips of just a few hundred yards.

Others have billed customers twice to rip off those touring the capital’s landmarks in their garishly decorated pedicabs.

The complaints log was released following a Freedom of Information request and illustrates the techniques used by some unscrupulous riders who view tourists as easy targets.

One customer claimed she was swindled out of £1,300 for a 500-yard rickshaw ride.

She wrote to TfL: “I was swindled after taking transportation from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.

“We rode a few blocks going towards the Palace and something broke. We exited the rickshaw, and I paid the vendor and asked for a receipt. He said: ‘No.’

“I called my husband immediately to make sure he charged me correctly. My husband called me back and said the vendor charged me £1,278.96.”

Another woman wrote: “I took a rickshaw from Mayfair to High Street Kensington, and I was charged £336 instead of £33.60. I believe that it was intentional.”

She added that she believed she and her friend were targeted because they were women, adding: “He was enjoying it.”

A couple who flagged down a pedicab to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella at a West End theatre were told they would be charged £9.40.

The theatregoer wrote: “I tapped my card. It wasn’t until the interval when I checked my online banking app and saw that I had been charged £94.40.”

These examples suggest the vendor had added another zero to the bill, shifting the decimal point and hoping the customer would not check properly.

Two complaints stated that the driver insisted the fare was real because he had a “handheld meter”.

A mother contacted TfL with a picture of their crashed rickshaw saying: “Not only is it daylight robbery – he tried to charge me £130 for the journey – but it is also very unsafe.

“He tried to go through the cycle lane tunnel on Bermondsey Road and crashed at the end as there wasn’t enough space. He got very aggressive.”

There were also complaints from people who said that their payments had been pushed through twice – doubling the bill.

One couple was charged £296 for a 13-minute trip to the theatre.

They eventually agreed to pay £110 but reported the scam to their hotel, who encouraged them to make a formal complaint.

‘Pedicab industry should be banned’

Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, said “rip-off rickshaw riders” give London a bad name and the pedicab industry should be banned.

“TfL now have the powers they need to take action and stop this once and for all, and it’s high time they used them to keep visitors to our great city safe from these scam artists.”

The Conservative government brought in new rules allowing TfL to start regulating drivers who tout for passengers in the city’s tourist hotspots.

A TfL spokesman said it welcomed new “robust and effective” powers it will have under the Pedicabs (London) Act 2024.

“We are engaging with the pedicab industry and other interested parties to help us shape proposals ahead of a public consultation, including carrying out an impact assessment.

“Once these proposals are developed, we will launch a public consultation and we hope to do so in early 2025. Feedback from our consultation will help shape these important new regulations and will enable us to confirm a timetable for their introduction.”

In July, Henry Winkler, the actor who played the Fonz in the American comedy Happy Days, used social media to warn others about how he was ripped off by a rickshaw driver when visiting London with his family.

Winkler, 78, posted a “travel tip” saying: “Do not take one of those bicycle taxis without absolutely negotiating the price first.

“This person in London rode us around in circles then finally to our destination seven blocks away for $170!”

Traffic analysis by the Sunday Telegraph revealed that two rickshaw drivers carrying London visitors had shot red lights weaving between pedestrians on Westminster Bridge Road.

Hezbollah rockets struck a suburb in the Israeli city of Haifa, destroying cars and homes in the latest escalation of cross-border attacks.

The Israeli military said rockets had been fired “toward civilian areas,” after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.

Video footage shows explosions on leafy roads close to homes, while hospitals in northern Israel have been instructed to shift to war footing.

The attack comes as Israel fighter jets hit Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon with one of the most intense bombing raids since the war began.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday night it launched two waves of attacks – one attacking about 290 targets, and a second targeting 110 sites – across southern Lebanon.

It follows an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday that killed at least 45 people, including one of Hezbollah’s top leaders, and a sophisticated pager attack just days earlier.

Over 150 rockets, cruise missiles and UAVs were launched towards Israel overnight Saturday and early Sunday morning from Lebanon’s Hezbollah, some of which got through the Iron Dome defence system and landed on streets.

Northern Haifa’s Kiryat Bialik was most badly hit in a rare attack that saw residents told to stay near shelters. The targeting of civilians could be seen as a significant escalation.

Alana Cohen, a resident, said: “In Haifa we are not used to this, I have barely slept with all the booms and sirens through the night.”

Schools were closed in several areas of northern Israel and gatherings restricted while hospitals were ordered to move operations to facilities with extra protection from rocket and missile fire.

Hezbollah claimed it had targeted the Israeli Ramat David Airbase with successive barrages of missiles in part as revenge for the exploding pagers and walki-talkies thought to be carried out by Israeli secret intelligence.

Some of the missiles overnight came from Iran-backed groups in Iraq.

Israel’s wave of bombings overnight mark one of the largest sorties over southern Lebanon in months, and suggest Israel is increasing pressure on Hezbollah to leave the region.

Speaking Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: “If Hezbollah did not understand the message, I promise you – it will understand the message.

“We will not suffer this…no state will suffer this and we will do whatever necessary to return security,” reiterating the need to return the residents of the north of Israel to their homes.

Israeli intelligence analyst, Ronen Solomon, said Hezbollah rockets hitting civilian areas could change the dynamic of the conflict once more.

Usually, Haifa is a “red line”, he said.

The death toll in the pager and walkie-talkie attacks has risen to 39 with more than 3,000 injured. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in what has been the biggest security breach to Hezbollah in the group’s history.

Kamala Harris was “joking” when she suggested she would shoot a home invader, one of her top advisers has said.

The vice president told Oprah Winfrey on Thursday: “If someone breaks into my house, they’re getting shot.”

After making the comment, Ms Harris laughed, adding that she “probably should not have said that” and that her “staff will deal with that later”.

Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Harris campaign adviser, has now walked back on the comment saying it was “a joke” and designed to “humanise” her to voters.

“It was a joke, and she knew that we would still be talking about it today, but I think it‘s important that people know that the vice president respects the right to bear arms, that she supports the Second Amendment, but she wants responsible gun ownership and she wants our communities to be safe,” Ms Bottoms told CNN on Friday.

Ms Harris is striking a delicate balance between her own support for gun controls and the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which gives citizens the right to bear arms.

“Here’s my point, Oprah,” Ms Harris said on Thursday. “I’m not trying to take everyone’s guns away.”

Ms Harris has previously said she is a gun owner, and mentioned it again during her debate with Donald Trump on September 10. A source told CNN she had bought a small pistol that would fit in a purse.

“I am a gun owner, and I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do – for personal safety,” she told reporters on the campaign trail in Iowa in 2019. Tim Walz, her running mate, is also a gun owner.

Ms Harris has backed a ban on assault rifles, many of which have been used in mass shootings in the US, and described them as “weapons of war”.

She has also spoken in favour of so-called “red flag laws” that would enforce stricter background checks on gun purchases.

She said on Thursday that her support for the restrictions are “just common sense”.

Joe Biden, her running mate in 2020, has passed several restrictions on guns during his time in office, including a new rule that imposes stricter background checks on buyers under the age of 21.

Ukrainian forces have blown up one of Russia’s largest ammunition storage bases in a drone attack, causing a huge explosion in the southern region of Krasnodar.

Video footage posted on social media showed the moment of the attack, on a depot near the city of Tikhoretsk, which created an enormous explosion that lit up the night sky.

Ukraine also struck a weapons depot in the western Tver region as part of its ongoing drone offensive against key Russian army infrastructure.

In a statement, the Ukrainian army said the strike in Tikhoretsk had targeted one of the “three largest ammunition storage bases” in Russia. Kyiv’s military also said it struck an arsenal in Oktyabrsky village, in the Tver region, resulting in “fire and detonation”.

Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of the Krasnodar region, announced the evacuation of 1,200 people after a drone attack caused a fire that “spread to explosive objects” near Tikhoretsk.

Mr Kondratyev called it a “terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime” and said an unnamed village near the fire had been evacuated, with most people staying with relatives but others placed in temporary accommodation in Tikhoretsk.

Video on social media later showed smoke rising into the air in the distance as sirens wailed around Tikhoretsk, a city of some 50,000 people, in the daylight.

AFP, the news agency that first reported the images of the explosion, said they could not immediately be verified.

Krasnodar is separated from occupied Ukraine by the Azov Sea and has been largely spared from the types of attacks inflicted on other Russian border regions.

Authorities in the western Tver region also announced a night-time drone attack near the city of Toropets, which lies in the western part of the region. Its governor, Igor Rudenya, said the “consequences of falling debris” from the attack were being “cleared”.

He said there was no evacuation in Toropets but announced the temporary closure of the federal M-9 highway, promising that it would reopen soon.

The attack also caused some disruption on passenger trains, with railway officials saying a train going from Moscow to the western city of Pskov was sent on an alternative route, while another train was delayed.

Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had downed 101 Ukrainian drones, mostly over the border Bryansk region, bringing down 18 over Krasnodar. Russia has recently claimed it is shooting down Ukrainian drones almost daily.

Four people were shot dead and dozens left injured after ‘multiple gunmen’ opened fire on a crowd in the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, near the city’s university.

“We believe that multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people” in the Five Points South district of Birmingham just after 11pm local time, police officer Truman Fitzgerald told local media.

The area has numerous entertainment venues, restaurants and bars and often is crowded on Saturday nights.

Detectives are investigating whether the gunmen walked up to the victims or shot from a vehicle in a drive-by type attack.

Officers found two men and one woman unresponsive on the pavement suffering from gunshot wounds, Mr Fitzgerald said. All three were pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth victim died at a local hospital and dozens of people were wounded with at least four sustaining life-threatening injuries, he added.

The shots were fired outside Hush, a hookah and cigar lounge.

Police believe the shooting was not random and stemmed from an isolated incident and officers are trying to identify the intended target, according to reports.

Police told local news station WVTM they think Glock switches were used in the attack. Glock switches are devices used to turn a handgun into a machine gun.

Police do not have anyone in custody over the shooting, Mr Fitzgerald confirmed, and urged the public to provide any information that could help the investigation.

Several agencies are involved in the investigation, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Fire rescue services were at the scene Saturday night and had cordoned off the area.

This year, there have been at least 403 mass shootings – defined as a shooting involving at least four victims, dead or wounded – across the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

At least 12,416 people have been killed in firearms violence this year in the United States, according to the GVA.

In the heart of Xinjiang, the Chinese region where more than one million Uyghurs are believed to be detained in re-education camps, two carefree British travel vloggers cheerfully introduce their viewers to “one of the most controversial areas” of the country.

Journalists are harassed and heavily monitored in the rugged western province, where Western governments and rights groups have accused the authorities of suppressing Muslim minorities through mass surveillance, abuse and political indoctrination.

But foreign YouTube influencers are warmly welcomed by the normally censor-happy Chinese government, which seizes on their happy-go-lucky content to legitimise its own narrative that no human rights abuses are taking place.

“Nice, fancy Mustangs,” says one of the British vloggers, admiring sports cars on the streets of Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi. “It’s like a normal city, so what’s all the hype about? Negative hype as well. I don’t understand that,” he says.

It’s a message that chimes well with China’s own state propaganda machine.

As the country reopens for travel after years of pandemic isolation, foreign influencers, including many Brits, are heading East armed with cameras and tripods, eyeing an increasingly lucrative YouTube market with an eager audience ready to increase their ratings.

The Chinese government has given them a helping hand with a raft of new visa-free policies, and the country received over 17 million foreign travellers in the first seven months of this year, up by almost 130% year-on-year, according to foreign ministry figures.

“I myself have watched a good number of videos by foreign vloggers sharing their trips in China. I’m happy to see more and more foreign friends come to China and fall in love with China,” said Lin Jian, a foreign ministry spokesperson in August.

Many marvel at the bright lights of Shanghai’s skyline, Beijing’s imperial palaces and the impressive high speed rail network.

But a growing number are entering lesser-known regions including Xinjiang, which for years has been beset by allegations of severe human rights abuses and repression that Beijing justifies as necessary to fight terrorism.

Some YouTubers setting foot in the rugged region attempt to draw viewers with sensational titles about exposing Western media “lies” about Xinjiang or by alluding to the risks of travelling there.

But they often stress they are not pushing any narrative other than to see Xinjiang with their own eyes and to offer their viewers authentic firsthand accounts.

In a video titled “This is the XINJIANG the Western Media DON’T want you to see”, young Scottish couple Alan and Shannon explore Kashgar’s tourist district and dress in Uyghur traditional outfits for a photoshoot. 

Another Briton, Mike Okay, 28, offers a grittier, and at times humorous experience as he hitchhikes through the province in search of a toilet or a carpark or campsite to sleep in. He documents multiple identity checks by police officers, surprised by his travel methods, but not unfriendly.

Some videos have more political undertones, explicitly contrasting their content with media reports.

In Urumqi, Tauseef Ahmed, with partner Libby Collins, comments that “if you relied on the Western media..then you wouldn’t normally hear anything positive,” and cites the oppression of Muslims as an example of typical accusations.

As the couple walk through Urumqi, they point out mosques. They also comment on the higher number of surveillance cameras, but add: “if you haven’t done anything wrong then there is nothing to be worried about.”

There is no suggestion any of the vloggers are acting at the behest of the Chinese government or receiving its money, but titles about media deception echo official state messaging about the West’s perceived anti-China narrative, particularly on fundamental rights.

For China, the influx of influencers offers the opportunity to rebut overseas criticisms and reinforce its stance through highlighting the unimpeded visits of awestruck foreigners.

The footage, amplified by Chinese social media platforms and state-run outlets, receive hundreds of thousands of views and screeds of favourable comments.

An increasing number of international vloggers were visiting Xinjiang “with great curiosity,” noted a recent article in the Global Times.

“A somewhat remote and mysterious region in China, Xinjiang is nonetheless a name constantly spotlighted in many Western media stories, which are usually filled with misinformation.”

It namechecks Mike Okay among several vloggers, highlighting a conversation with a campsite owner who says police checks are for his own safety.

It then rams home the government line that enhanced security in Xinjiang “is not an overreaction” due to the threat of terrorism from religious extremists and ethnic separatists.

Mike Okay, who described his trip as a “wild adventure” with “incredible people” said he had tried hard to avoid politics and focus on simply showing a “relatively unexplored” part of the world.

“As a content creator when you sign up..you are putting your content out into the world. People are going to read it however they like. So of course it concerns me,” he said.

“My intention was not to go there and disprove anything. My intention was ‘what does it look like if a clueless relatively uneducated foreigner walks around Xinjiang with a camera’?”

Daria Impiombato, a cyber analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has co-written several reports on China’s multilayered ways of folding local and foreign influencers into its propaganda strategy.

She said vloggers with large platforms had a responsibility to inform themselves and to be sceptical.

“There needs to be a reckoning with that type of platform,” she said. “It’s like influencers who are going to Syria, just doing travel vlogs from Syria without talking about years and years of war and devastation. You can’t do that, and you can’t do that in Xinjiang either.”

But she stopped short of saying influencers should not go to Xinjiang, adding that some videos offered nuggets of valuable information.

Australian couple Michael and Josie, the creators of “josieliftsthings”, a YouTube channel with nearly 1m followers, raise questions in their Xinjiang video about the destruction of historical buildings in Kashgar and observe that the town centre appears to be set up for tourists.

They said their frankness had generated “heat” from viewers and made the video less popular as it wasn’t purely positive.

YouTubers had realised that “pro-China” content attracted more views, making it more profitable, they said.

“It’s a business decision and it comes down to whether you are honest about what you see or you are doing it for the cash,” said Michael.

“The reality of it is that it is a bit of a gold rush at the moment,” he said, adding that the couple were unlikely to return soon as the influencer scene had turned “a little bit ugly”.

“I do get very disappointed when I see a lot of YouTubers who use human rights as bait for their content and then say something in their video like ‘I’m here and..it looks completely normal,” he said.

“We never say everything is fine because we don’t know that,” added Josie. Scottish YouTubers Alan and Shannon did not respond to requests for comment.

Tauseef Ahmed and Libby Collins declined an interview and permission to feature their content. In a previous interview with the New York Times, Mr Ahmed said he did not worry about how their content was used by Chinese propaganda or others.

“At the end of the day, people can give it any narrative they want. It’s just two people going around and recording their travel adventures,” he said.

Maya Wang, the associate China director at Human Rights Watch, urged travellers to be more aware in societies suffering human right abuses and “not be complicit in the censorship and disinformation that the Chinese government hopes to achieve.”

But Prof Steve Tsang, the director of the SOAS China Institute, said vlogger videos were unlikely to sway already entrenched opinions about the Uyghurs.

The top priority for Chinese officials was how everything was seen in Beijing, he said.

“The propaganda machinery will be able to report back up the chain of command all the way through .. to Xi Jinping that we are doing it and doing it well, we are seizing and controlling the narrative.”

Even before Tuesday’s exploding pager attack on Hezbollah, war seemed to be looming on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Benjamin Netanyahu began the week promising to return 60,000 evacuees to the north of the country.

After the pager blasts Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, announced a “new phase” of the conflict.

Maj Gen Ori Gordin, head of Israel’s northern command, said he and his troops are “determined to change the security reality as soon as possible”.

So will there be a wider war? And what, if anything, could it achieve?

Days before the pager attacks, Israeli’s security cabinet updated its official war goals to include the return of around 60,000 residents to parts of northern Israel they were evacuated from following Hezbollah’s attacks in the aftermath of Oct 7.

Hezbollah has linked its rocket attacks to a ceasefire in Gaza. So in theory, there is a diplomatic solution: stop the war in Gaza, and the problem will go away.

That is clearly the solution that Israel’s key allies, including the United States and Britain, prefer. They have publicly and privately urged restraint and warned against derailing peace talks.

But rhetoric from Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant, the pager attacks, escalating air strikes, the redeployment of troops from Gaza to the north – and The Telegraph’s conversations with serving and retired IDF officers – suggest an Israeli action in Lebanon is a question of when, not if.

Three options

There are three options for Israeli planners to consider: air strikes; a massive, Gaza-style invasion; and a “limited” incursion to set up a “buffer zone”.

The first is, of course, the safest. Mr Gallant, the defence minister – no dove, even by Israeli standards – is said to have argued for this option.

It does not commit troops on the ground, avoids the risk of a quagmire, and would not require committing ground forces while the main effort in Gaza (and, increasingly, the West Bank) is still under way.

Compared to Israel’s first invasion of Lebanon in 1982, or even its last in 2006, aerial targeting technology has made a quantum leap.

On Friday morning, Israel said its strikes had destroyed 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers. But, as the 11-month war in Gaza shows, even modern, relentless air strikes cannot win a war alone.

In the end it is the infantry who must engage the surviving enemy to take and hold ground.

“There is no scenario where we can bring citizens back to the towns along the border, if Hezbollah is on the border,” said Brig Gen Amir Avivi, former IDF deputy commander of the Gaza Division and founder of Israel Defense and Security Forum.

“This means that if Hezbollah doesn’t willingly withdraw, according to UN Security Council resolution 1701, Israel is left with no choice but to do a ground incursion.”

Opposing forces 

But any ground invasion is fraught with risk and overshadowed by the memory of previous bloody, and ultimately unsuccessful, adventures north of the border.

In the semi-desert landscape of Gaza, Hamas has had to tunnel into earth and sand.

Hezbollah’s tunnels are dug into the solid rock of imposing mountain valleys, said Maj Moshiko Giat, an IDF special forces soldier who fought in Israel’s last incursion into Lebanon in 2006.

“So the infrastructure in Lebanon is pretty solid and very, very hard to break into. And that was one of our dilemmas, how we’re going to basically attack all this infrastructure that was built from 1982 to 2006,” he said.

Hezbollah, he added, is a country mile ahead of Hamas in both numbers and military prowess.

Independent observers believe Hezbollah can field between 20,000 and 40,000 fighters.

It is believed to have amassed an arsenal of up to 150,000 rockets and missiles, many of them advanced Iranian designs able to fire deep into Israel.

And it will have massively expanded the minefield, ambush sites and tunnel systems that caused Maj Giat and his troops so much bother 18 years ago.

“They act like an army and we would treat them like an army,” he said.

“They have undergone training, including in Iran, and they have a lot of combat experience, more than they had in 2006, because they fought in the civil war in Syria on the side of the Assad regime.

“We are not going to meet a militia, we’re going to meet a proper force.”

Opposing this force is the IDF’s 98th Division, an elite paratroopers and commando outfit, and the 179th and 769th armoured brigades, which have already been deployed to the border and are waiting for orders.

Mr Netanyahu must now decide what those orders will be. There are two options.

Invasion

A full-scale, Gaza-style invasion, fighting house-to-house and tunnel-to-tunnel in pursuit of the total destruction of Hezbollah and its (supposedly) enormous arsenal of rockets, holds an emotional appeal to Israelis who would like to secure the northern border once and for all.

But the IDF has still not destroyed the much less formidable foe of Hamas after 11 months of war in the much smaller territory of Gaza.

Trying to do the same to Hezbollah would mean repeating the bloody 1982 march on Beirut. Military casualties would be high, civilian ones probably much higher, and the patience of key allies like the United States tested to breaking point.

And if progress in Gaza is anything to go by, fighting building-to-building for years, and suffering heavy casualties.

The war that began on Oct 7 last year is already the longest in Israeli history. How much longer the economy, and public and international sentiment, can take is now a serious consideration.

Buffer zone

So that leaves the so-called third option. A more “limited” incursion to establish a buffer zone.

Even that would be a major operation.

It would take “several divisions”, or around 30,000 troops, to clear southern Lebanon, said Assaf Orion, a retired brigadier general and former head of the strategy division for the IDF general staff.

That would drop to one or two divisions – between 10,000 and 20,000 troops – to occupy and hold afterwards, he said.

It is not exactly clear how deep that zone would be.

Maj Giat said he understood the objective of any ground offensive would be to clear and hold a buffer-zone 6 to 12 miles deep.

Brig Gen Avivi said the goal would be to “destroy them in South Lebanon and push them north of the Litani river”.

That is only a rough guide: The Litani is 18 miles from the border at its mouth but further inland comes within little more than a mile of the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan heights.

Brig Gen Avivi insisted such an operation would be more than manageable. “Lebanon is not as densely populated as Gaza, and the towns and villages in southern Lebanon are pretty empty. This is not going to be as complicated as what we saw in Gaza.

“I think it can take a few weeks because it’s going to be very, very intensive. And also there will be huge pressure inside Lebanon on Hezbollah to stop, because, obviously, Lebanon is going to pay a heavy price here.

“I would assume that the war is not going to be long.”

Memories of wars past

But the ghosts of the 1982 and 2006 wars loom over any talk of fighting in Lebanon.

The first, also directed at creating a buffer zone, reached Beirut but ended in public disillusionment over high casualties.

It also catalysed the birth of Hezbollah.

The 2006 war, triggered by the Hezbollah abduction of three Israeli soldiers on the border, lasted 34 days and claimed the lives of 121 Israeli soldiers, an estimated 250 Hezbollah fighters, and around 1,200 civilians.

After it was over, a public inquiry concluded that Hezbollah had successfully resisted a superior force; that the war had been entered into without any clear strategy; and that the ground offensive came late, was not completed, and did not achieve its goals.

Another way?

Maj Giat says he’s not worried about repeating the same mistakes this time.

Lessons have been learned, the soldiers have been training hard for the operation, and there will be a greater emphasis on speed, aggression, and precisely identifying and then pursuing targets than in 2006.

“We know what we are doing,” he said.

The infantry battle is one thing though.

It is not clear how, if at all, Hezbollah’s anticipated massive rocket barrage would be dealt with. Another salvo of missiles and drones could be expected from the group’s allies in Syria and Iran.

And there is a strange dichotomy in Israeli rhetoric, and possibly thought. On the one hand, brash confidence in the IDF’s superiority on the battlefield. On the other, a recognition that this is a much more serious and difficult problem than such bravado would suggest.

The bottom line is that from the Israeli point of view, none of the options of invasion are good ones.

And Mr Netanyahu, for all his rhetoric, is considered by observers to be a cautious and even indecisive politician.

That’s led some to conclude that war is not inevitable.

Amos Yadlin, former Israeli military intelligence chief, told The Telegraph: “I am not sure either side wants a full-scale war and there are other ways for Israel to damage Hezbollah. We’ve seen that so far.”

There are those who argue the bloodshed of recent days – the device attacks, air strikes on the border and in Beirut – are meant to achieve something else.

Could the prospect of a full-scale war force Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah chief, to tell his fighters to cool down the rocket attacks?

Could he and his patrons in Iran could even lean on Hamas to sign a ceasefire in Gaza on Israeli terms?

If that is the Israeli strategy, it is a high-risk one.

And it is not – yet – bearing fruit.

A new eco “incineration tax” risks pushing councils to the brink, local authorities have warned.

Emissions from burning waste will be taxed from 2028 as part of Government efforts to encourage the uptake of greener technologies.

Around half of all household waste collected by councils is burned every year in facilities that produce the same greenhouse gases as around three million homes.

But the carbon tax could cost as much as £6.5 billion by 2036, and £747 million in 2028, according to research by the Local Government Association (LGA), the County Council Network (CCN) and the District Councils Network (DCN).

The tax, which currently applies to aviation, power and industry, adds around £65 per ton of carbon produced. Councils could be forced to raise taxes or cut other vital services unless the tax burden is shifted, the LGA warned.

All three bodies are calling for the taxes to be shifted to the industries that manufacture the materials, such as packaging, textiles and furniture.

Councils argue that they have no way of reducing the amount of waste they have to collect, while manufacturers can move to more recyclable materials.

The taxes would put an extra burden on councils already struggling to meet their financial obligations. Half of councils are warning of effective bankruptcy within five years amid rising social care costs, growing populations and caps on tax increases.

“Current proposals risk councils and local taxpayers facing enormous costs, which simultaneously risks the scheme failing to meet its objectives while exposing councils to significant additional financial risk,” said Cllr Adam Hug, the environment spokesman for the LGA.

Cllr Richard Clewer, the infrastructure and planning spokesman for the CCN, added: “If these costs are to be borne by councils, they will have to paid for by council tax or by reducing highly-valued services, so we are calling on the new Government to rethink these proposals.”

Waste incineration is the main destination for household rubbish that is not recycled, and the number of plants is expected to increase by 30 per cent in coming years.

But the practice has been criticised by environmental campaigners for the amount of emissions and air pollution produced, and over concerns that recyclable waste also ends up in incinerators. One analysis found that more than half of plastic that ends up incinderated is either “readily recyclable” or “potentially recyclable”.

Cllr Andy Graham, the DCN environment spokesman, said: “Taxing councils for the waste we have little option but to incinerate would be a bombshell for the delicately-balanced funding of local waste services – including district councils’ successful efforts to increase recycling.

“We want to make it easier for our citizens to recycle materials like clothing and medical waste so it doesn’t need to be incinerated. We can only do this through action from producers, who should be incentivised to produce recyclable goods and penalised if they don’t.”

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: “We are committed to expanding the UK ETS [emissions trading scheme] to include waste incineration and energy from waste facilities from 2028. We will continue to engage with the sector on our proposals, and will publish further detail in due course.”

Lord Goldsmith is reportedly to marry for the third time after becoming engaged to Ian Fleming’s great niece.

The 49-year-old Conservative peer, who has six children, separated from his second wife last year and has now reportedly asked partner Hum Fleming, 34, to marry him.

Ms Fleming, whose great uncle was the James Bond author, is a public relations executive in the fashion and lifestyle sector and a member of the Fleming private banking dynasty.

She suffers from epilepsy, and is an ambassador for the Young Epilepsy Foundation. Earlier this year she shared footage of one of her seizures on social media to raise awareness about the condition.

In an interview with The Telegraph two years ago, she described how her seizures have become convulsive in adulthood and how at night she sometimes bites her tongue so hard it bleeds.

A friend of the couple confirmed their engagement to the Daily Mail. “They are engaged,” the friend said. “Hum was wearing a big sparkler on a night out in Mayfair this week and said she and Zac were to be married.”

Lord Goldsmith’s split from his second wife, Alice Rothschild, 41, was revealed last year. The couple had been married since 2013 and share three children.

Their spokesman said at the time: “Alice and Zac have made the difficult decision to separate. They do so amicably and are committed to jointly raising their three children in a happy and healthy environment.”

Friends of the couple insisted that no one else was involved.

The environmentalist served two stints as an MP for Richmond Park in London in 2010-16 and 2017-19. During this time he held several junior ministerial positions, including for the foreign office, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and international development.

He and his first wife, Sheherazade Goldsmith, also have three children.

The Telegraph has contacted Lord Goldsmith for comment.

A man whose image went viral when he was hit in the head and groin by bricks during the summer riots was arrested after being recognised by police at A&E, The Telegraph can reveal.

The man was injured during the disorder in Southport that followed the fatal knife attack on three girls attending a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in the Merseyside town on July 29.

A video uploaded to social media showed a man wearing a grey tracksuit approaching a line of riot police who were being pelted with missiles.

As he got close to the line of officers a brick hurled from the crowd hit him on the back of the head, causing him to stumble away. Holding his head, he began to walk back towards the crowd before a second brick hit him in the groin area. 

The man, clearly in pain, was helped away to safety with blood coming from a head wound.

It is understood he later attended an A&E unit where he was spotted by police officers who were being treated for injuries sustained in the riots.

A source told The Telegraph: “The officers who were at the A&E had seen the footage, which had already gone viral, and immediately recognised the man who was waiting to be treated. It definitely was not his lucky day because, after he was seen by doctors, he was then arrested on suspicion of being involved in the disorder.”

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: “I can confirm that the male was arrested and is currently on bail.”

The investigation into the rioting that followed the Southport attack is continuing. More than 1,500 people have been arrested and a total of 960 charges have been brought for a range of offences.

Ministers are set to impose heat pump targets next year in a move that will lead to a “boiler tax” on households, industry sources have said.

Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is expected to introduce the policy from April, despite warnings that it will drive up the cost of a new boiler.

Under the plans, boiler makers would be hit with hefty fines if they fail to achieve targets on the number of heat pumps they have to sell every year. Manufacturers have warned that it would force them to add up to £180 to the price of a boiler, although campaigners have accused them of profiteering.

Officials have privately told the industry that the scheme will definitely be introduced next year, sources have told The Telegraph. A Government source insisted that no final decision has been taken.

The Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM) would set a number of heat pumps they must sell as a percentage of their overall boiler sales. It was initially drawn up by the Tories and had been set to come into force earlier this year before being shelved following a backlash.

Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, delayed the introduction until at least next April and privately indicated that she wanted to kill off the policy.

She said: “I scrapped this policy last year because I strongly felt we should think again. It’s a classic example of policy designed for the green lobby and vested interest groups rather than for the consumer.

“It will raise the costs of getting a boiler for ordinary families, perhaps by hundreds of pounds, when many of them can’t afford to get a heat pump.

“If Labour press ahead with this on top of cutting the Winter Fuel Payment, it will make an even greater mockery of their promises of bill savings for consumers.”

Mr Miliband is now set to revive it, with industry sources saying officials in his department have told them that the targets will be brought in next year. Manufacturers and suppliers have been alerted that legislation to introduce the scheme will be tabled in November, suggesting an April start date.

An industry source said: “Ministers and officials have been engaged with the boiler manufacturers with a view to bringing the CHMM in in 2025. What hasn’t yet been finalised are the details around the size of the fine. There’s a conversation to be had about whether it’s set at the appropriate level.”

Under the Tory plans inherited by Mr Miliband, manufacturers would have to make sure that at least six per cent of their overall sales were made up of heat pumps. They would be fined £3,000 for every missed sale, with companies warning they would have to pass the cost of multi-million pound penalties on to customers.

Industry insiders have said the demand for heat pumps, which are much more expensive than boilers, is not sufficient to meet the targets.

A second source said that “as far as we know the CHMM is still scheduled to start in 2025”, but added that there had been little engagement from officials. The source said manufacturers were still hopeful that ministers were “having second thoughts or making amends to the punitive measures that the policy will impose”.

Around 1.5 million new boilers are installed every year, with most being put in over the winter when the appliances are being used the most.

It is estimated that a quarter of those – some 375,000 a year – are in pensioner households, most of which have just lost the £200 winter fuel allowance.

Boiler makers temporarily put up their prices by £120 last January when they believed that a four per cent target for heat pump sales was about to be imposed. They reversed the price rise and issued refunds when the policy was delayed.

Industry sources said that, if Mr Miliband were to press ahead with the planned six per cent target this year, that would suggest a £180 rise will be needed this January.

Some green groups have accused boiler manufacturers of scaremongering about the policy and using it as an excuse for “price gouging”.

Jess Ralston, the head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: “The boiler tax was a self-imposed price increase brought in by boiler manufacturers to lobby against heat pump policy so they can keep selling gas boilers for longer.

“Unless the UK starts to transition away from gas boilers, we will have to import more gas from abroad as the North Sea output continues its inevitable decline, so this is a matter of energy security.”

Andy Manning, the head of energy systems transformation at Citizens Advice, added: “Boiler manufacturers must not raise their prices again in response to a scheme that would help homes across the country move to clean energy. Instead, they should focus on meeting the requirements of the scheme.

“If reintroduced, the Government must not water down the Clean Heat Market Mechanism in response to similar action from manufacturers. Doing so would reward behaviour that left many people out of pocket, and expose us all to volatile gas prices for longer.”

Fewer than 37,000 certified heat pump installations were recorded last year, significantly short of the 90,000 that would be required to meet a six per cent target.

Mr Miliband pledged whilst in opposition that he would “support the Clean Heat Market Mechanism” if Labour won the election. Speaking in March, he said: “On the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, we’re going to have to deal with what we inherit from the government.”

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “The energy shocks of recent years have shown the urgent need to upgrade British homes and secure our energy independence.

“Our Warm Homes Plan will set out a range of measures to support low carbon heating, including heat pumps. Our ambitious plans will protect bill-payers, reduce fuel poverty and get the UK back on track to meet our climate goals.”

The Princess of Wales has been seen in public for the first time since announcing that she has finished her chemotherapy.

She attended the Sunday service at Crathie Kirk in Balmoral with her husband the Prince of Wales, the King and the Queen.

This week, Catherine returned to work for the first time since starting her cancer treatment with a meeting about her early childhood project.

She appeared in the Court Circular, the official record of the Royal family’s activities, for a meeting at Windsor Castle as she begins easing back into “a handful” of engagements over the coming months.

The entry, published in The Telegraph, reads: “The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron, The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, this afternoon held an Early Years Meeting at Windsor Castle.”

She is understood to have been joined by members of her team at the Centre for Early Childhood, as well as Kensington Palace staff.

It is the first meeting noted in the Court Circular this year since the Princess withdrew from public life, first for major abdominal surgery and then for chemotherapy.

Earlier this month, she released a video explaining that she had finished her course of preventative treatment and saying she looked forward to returning to work in a limited capacity.

“Doing what I can to stay cancer-free is now my focus,” she said. “Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long, and I must continue to take each day as it comes.

“I am, however, looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months, when I can.”

The Princess is expected to attend a Remembrance Sunday service in support of the Royal family, veterans and their families. She is also set to host her annual carol concert at Westminster Abbey in December. No other engagements have been confirmed.

Rachel Reeves will not scrap the single person discount for council tax, Treasury officials have said.

At present, people get 25 per cent off their bill if they live alone, to take account of the fact that they benefit from fewer council services than couples or those with families.

Downing Street officials had previously refused to say whether or not the single person council tax discount would be scrapped next month.

But on Sunday the Treasury confirmed the upcoming Budget will not contain measures to scrap the council tax break claimed by millions of households, including four million pensioners who live on their own.

Analysis from the TaxPayers’ Alliance previously found that scrapping the discount would have raised £5.4 billion in the UK, £1.9 billion of which will be taken from single pensioners.

This is much higher than the £1.5 billion that the winter fuel allowance cut is expected to raise.

The Chancellor also ruled out creating a stand-alone wealth tax, despite pressure from Labour’s affiliated unions.

The move would have saved £3 billion a year, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), but Treasury officials have confirmed that there were no plans to do so.

It comes amid speculation of imminent tax rises ahead of the Budget on Oct 30, which Sir Keir Starmer has warned will be “painful”.

Although the Treasury has ruled out the specific measure, there could be other means by which the Government could launch a council tax raid in the Budget.

An overhaul of council tax bands, which were last evaluated in 1991, could affect millions of households.

The IFS found in 2020 that properties in band H, the highest council tax band, produced three times as much tax as those in the lowest, despite being worth at least eight times their value.

The changes suggested by the think tank could affect 17 per cent of households in England, 4.2 million, and see them lose an average of £1,230 a year, while up to 10 million would gain more than £200 a year.

In March, a spokesman for the then shadow chancellor said the party “has no plans to introduce this in government”.

Ms Reeves has also ruled out a bespoke wealth tax in the upcoming Budget.

“I’m not looking at creating some new tax, or a wealth tax,” she told the Sunday Times ahead of the Labour conference in Liverpool.

Her confirmation comes despite Unite, one of Labour’s major union backers, expected to bring forward a motion at the conference to demand a one per cent tax on the wealthiest.

Erkan Ersoy, the national coordinator for the union, told a fringe event on Sunday: “The myth of trickle down economics has to be challenged, it has never trickled down.

“Demand for a one per cent tax for the richest is a tactical step that my general is pushing.”

At the same event, Richard Burgon, the MP for Leeds East who was suspended from Labour after voting against the Government over the two child benefit cap, called for a wealth tax of two per cent.

“We really need a fresh start under this new Labour Government when it comes to the issue of living standards and the funding of public services.

“We need to steer clear of the siren voices on the political Right, in the media, for austerity and for cuts to living standards. The winter fuel allowance is an example of that.

“Of course, there are alternatives, a two per cent wealth tax on assets over £10 million, for example, that would raise up to £24 billion a year, and that affects less than 0.1 per cent of the population, 20,000 people.”

Russia has dropped more than 900 glide bombs on Ukraine this week, along with 400 Shahed drones and nearly 30 missiles, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.

One barrage on Friday injured at least 15 people in Kharkiv, including children, while on Saturday bombs hit apartment buildings in the city, wounding 21, including an eight-year-old child.

Ukrainian officials said that KAB-type aerial glide bombs – highly-destructive free-fall bombs that have been laying waste to eastern Ukraine – were used in both attacks.

For months Kyiv has struggled to counter the bombs, which are a relatively new development, cheap but devastating. The weapons, which weigh up to 3,300 pounds, are built by retrofitting old Soviet bombs with fold-out wings and satellite navigation.

Russia has used them to target Ukraine’s frontline defences and nearby cities, gaining a significant aerial advantage. Mr Zelensky said that 3,000 glide bombs hit targets in March.

“There are no words to describe the aftermath of a glide bomb attack,” Vovchansk police chief Oleksii Kharkivsky said in May. “You arrive to see people who are lying there, torn apart.”

The 900-figure comes amid repeated calls from Ukraine for restrictions to be lifted on firing Western-supplied long-range missiles into Russia. Currently, neither the UK nor the US has given Kyiv permission for ATACMS or Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian territory.

“We need to strengthen our capabilities to better protect lives and ensure safety. Ukraine needs full long-range capabilities, and we are working to convince our partners of this. We will continue these discussions next week,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on social media on Sunday.

The Ukrainian leader is hoping to discuss the topic with US President Joe Biden and both US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump this week, on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.

“There will be a new president in the United States. And we need to talk to each of the candidates about their perception of this,” Mr Zelensky said.

Over the weekend, attacks in Kharkiv, which has been bombed heavily this year, hit nine residential buildings.

Further south, a 12-year-old girl and a woman died after a Russian drone struck a passenger car in the city of Nikopol, local governor Serhii Lysak reported. Two others, including a four-year-old child, suffered wounds.

Russia also launched 80 Shahed drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said.

Ukrainian air defences shot down 71 drones, and another six were lost on location due to electronic warfare countermeasures.

A new statue of Oscar Wild has been branded “absolutely hideous” by the writer’s grandson.

The sculpture is set to stand in Chelsea, and will depict the author’s head and shoulders, lying horizontally and split into segments.

Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland, has criticised the piece of modern art and claimed that it looks nothing like his famous forebear.

Speaking to The Observer, he said: “I’m all for any sort of innovations in modern art. But this does seem to me to be unacceptable. It looks absolutely hideous.”

Designed by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, who died in 2005, the bust will stand near Wilde’s former home in west London

Leading writer and wit

Famed for his wit, Wilde became one of the leading writers in Victorian Britain with novels like The Picture of Dorian Grey, and his hugely popular play The Importance of Being Earnest.

He rapidly fell from grace when his relationship with Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas was discovered by the aristocat’s uncle, the Marquess of Queensberry, who accused the writer of being a “sodomite”.

This led Wilde to take legal action, but the trial further unearthed the extent of his same-sex relationships and ultimately led to his imprisonment.

The experience broke Wilde, who died impoverished in Paris aged 46 in 1900.

Mr Holland believes that the new statue evokes this tragic end, rather than his literary brilliance.

He said: “It seems to say: ‘Here is a monument to a man whom society decapitated.’ How do we want to remember him?Amusing, entertaining, engaging – or carved-up and beheaded for breaking the law of the time? I know which I prefer.”

Wilde has several monuments to his memory, and his tomb in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris has become a place of pilgrimage.

The grave has had to be covered with a glass screen to prevent Wilde fans marking it with lipstick.

A pub has cooked up what is believed to be Britain’s biggest bratwurst at 40ft long.

The 12.12m sausage was unveiled at The Castle pub in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, to celebrate its new Oktoberfest menu.

The length is meant to symbolise the 1,212km distance between Munich, which is the home of Oktoberfest, and The Castle, which is part of Seared Pubs.

Oktoberfest is an annual festival and celebration of German culture often associated with drinking Bavarian beer.

Dozens of patrons were given the chance to try the bratwurst topped with crispy onions, mustard, and curry ketchup.

The pub celebrated the occasion with an oompah band and stein-holding competition.

Rebecca Hall, general manager at The Castle, said: “Droitwich Spa is a long way from Munich, so we wanted to give our customers a taste of Oktoberfest in their local pub – and make history with the longest bratwurst in the Midlands.

“Our team had a lot of fun grilling this authentic bratwurst and will be delighted to serve customers German bratwurst from the same recipe and other Oktoberfest favourites until the end of October.”

Marc Razzell, The Sausage Man, who supplies the bratwurst for Seared Pubs, added: “When Seared Pubs approached us, we were keen to take on this challenge.

“We’ve been making bratwursts for decades using a recipe that’s been handed down from generation to generation in Germany – it’s as traditional as you can get.

“It’s exciting to know that there will be enough of this authentic bratwurst for everyone to try, alongside other Oktoberfest staples like schnitzel and Bavarian beer.”

A driver fled Britain after killing a cyclist in a hit-and-run and moved to Pakistan where he got married, fathered two children and worked as a taxi driver.

Harrowing CCTV footage shows Andell Goulbourne, 59, being flung 100ft through the air after being mowed down by Kashif Khan in Saltley, Birmingham.

The father-of-three was struck by the grey BMW M135i which was coming in the opposite direction on Washwood Heath Road at around twice the 30 mph speed limit at 11pm on July 30, 2020.

Mr Goulbourne was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services. Meanwhile while Khan had “slipped” away.

An investigation found that the driver was doing 61 to 64 mph at the time of the crash.

Within 20 hours Khan had bought a one-way flight to Dubai and then went on to Pakistan, where he remained on the run for four years. During that time he started a new life, getting married and having children and even working as a taxi driver.

Crimestoppers later issued an appeal with a £5,000 reward for information on his whereabouts.

Detectives established Khan had been driving the car using fingerprints from a drinks can in the vehicle and a receipt.

Mr Goulbourne’s family previously released footage showing how he was sent flying along the street by the impact of the crash.

Khan, 28, of Erdington, Birmingham, was arrested when he returned to the UK on July 2 2024. He pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was jailed for six years at Birmingham Crown Court. He was also banned from driving for almost 13 years.

In victim statements read to the court, Mr Goulbourne’s family described how his death had left a “huge void in many people’s lives, especially ours”.

They said: “Our lives changed forever upon hearing the news that our dad had passed away, and losing such a significant loved one left us in total disbelief with feelings of unbearable grief.

“We will always feel the pain of losing someone so treasured as our dad. However, here we are today when despite our anguish we stand to be given some sort of justice and closure.”

Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes of West Midlands Police said afterwards: “We can only hope that this sentence brings some comfort to Mr Goulbourne’s family.

“Mr Goulbourne was callously left in the road fatally injured by this driver, who was more concerned about trying to evade responsibility for his actions than try to help man he’d hit.

“He went so far as to leave the country within hours of this awful collision and remained away for years, but as soon as he tried to come back we were ready and able to bring him before the courts and see him admit the charge.”

Four people were shot dead and dozens left injured after ‘multiple gunmen’ opened fire on a crowd in the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, near the city’s university.

“We believe that multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people” in the Five Points South district of Birmingham just after 11pm local time, police officer Truman Fitzgerald told local media.

The area has numerous entertainment venues, restaurants and bars and often is crowded on Saturday nights.

Detectives are investigating whether the gunmen walked up to the victims or shot from a vehicle in a drive-by type attack.

Officers found two men and one woman unresponsive on the pavement suffering from gunshot wounds, Mr Fitzgerald said. All three were pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth victim died at a local hospital and dozens of people were wounded with at least four sustaining life-threatening injuries, he added.

The shots were fired outside Hush, a hookah and cigar lounge.

Police believe the shooting was not random and stemmed from an isolated incident and officers are trying to identify the intended target, according to reports.

Police told local news station WVTM they think Glock switches were used in the attack. Glock switches are devices used to turn a handgun into a machine gun.

Police do not have anyone in custody over the shooting, Mr Fitzgerald confirmed, and urged the public to provide any information that could help the investigation.

Several agencies are involved in the investigation, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Fire rescue services were at the scene Saturday night and had cordoned off the area.

This year, there have been at least 403 mass shootings – defined as a shooting involving at least four victims, dead or wounded – across the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

At least 12,416 people have been killed in firearms violence this year in the United States, according to the GVA.

“I feel really bad for him and his family because he was a really nice guy,” he recalled, as he served coffee from behind the bar. 

“He was a family man, a Monsieur Tout-le-Monde,” said Mr Flegon, using a French phrase meaning “Mr Everyone”, or “your average Joe”.

It has become the disturbing buzzword of the mass rape trial unfolding in Avignon, southern France, of a husband accused of repeatedly drugging his wife unconscious and recruiting dozens of “ordinary” men to abuse her while she lay comatose and he filmed.

Like many defendants, Delville, a 54-year-old state construction worker and father of two adult children who has been with the same partner for 32 years, has no criminal record.

His wife told police the pair had a “totally normal sex life” and made love “two or three times a week”, sometimes with the use of a sex toy but nothing more transgressive. He’d had a couple of mistresses and was an occasional porn watcher.

“Monsieur Tout-le-Monde” fits him well. Yet Delville and 50 other men each face 20 years in prison for the aggravated rape of Gisèle Pélicot, 72. 

Mrs Pelicot has become a figurehead for women after waiving her right to anonymity, so that she can face her assailants in court and raise awareness of “chemical submission” – drugging victims to commit sexual abuse.

Like two other defendants, Delville was a regular at Mr Flegon’s bar-brasserie, Le Siècle. The restaurant is the social heart of Mazan, the small village in Provence that has shot to notoriety as the former home of Dominique Pelicot, the 71-year-old pensioner at the centre of the trial.

“Unfortunately, he now has to answer for his actions,” said the bar owner, with a pronounced southern accent, shaking his head.

Since the trial began three weeks ago, Mrs Pélicot has bravely called on the accused – some 35 of whom deny rape – to admit that sedation had turned her into a “rag doll, a bin bag”, and had made it clear this was no libertine game to which she had consented.

“Rape is rape,” she told a defence lawyer who “humiliated” her by insinuating that her clients might have been duped into thinking she was a willing party.

“For once in your life, take responsibility for your actions,” she told the men, who represent a cross-section of society, including a journalist, joiner, prison guard, fireman and nurse.

Video evidence

A film of Delville in a dark T-shirt and black socks engaging in intercourse with Mrs Pélicot was found in her husband’s computer files, dating from September 2019. 

Delville also admitted filming Pélicot abusing his comatose wife, despite her snores. In the film, the two men whisper. When Mrs Pelicot stirs in her drugged slumber, the husband tells Delville to leave the bedroom.

When first questioned by police, Delville said he had come across Pélicot on a swingers’ website and had been sent photos apparently showing Pélicot’s nude wife with other men. Mrs Pélicot has since confirmed it is not her in the photographs.

Delville claimed he had no idea Mrs Pélicot was drugged without her knowledge. He denied rape and said he had “no doubt” she had “consented”.

But, shown the graphic videos, Delville backtracked to admit knowing Mrs Pélicot was aware of nothing, saying: “I did what [her husband] wanted, I don’t know why. I couldn’t stop. I was disconnected.”

In the dock on Friday, he told the court he had a tyrannical alcoholic father nicknamed Hitler who forced him to lie nude in the snow for wetting his bed. He was placed in a foster home.

His relationship with women? “I always respected my wife and her decisions. She didn’t belong to me: if she didn’t want something, I respected it.”

“He’s never made any inappropriate gestures towards me or any of my girlfriends,” said his daughter. “He’s respectful, helpful and hard-working. We have a close relationship. He taught me the values of life.”

The public prosecutor pointed out that eight months after his arrest, Delville told the investigating judge: “I did not have Madame Pelicot’s consent. I am guilty of rape.”

“Can we consider that this position is the one that should be retained, definitively?” asked the public prosecutor.

“Yes. I’m sorry, I was naive, stupid, an ass,” Delville said.

Outwardly unassuming

Two other defendants have been questioned over rape charges of Mrs Pélicot. Both appear at least outwardly unassuming.

Lionel Rodriguez is a 44-year-old former supermarket employee and father of three, described by his friends as “upright and honest, a loving husband and father”. He said he wrongly thought he was taking part in a libertine “game” and did not think it was abuse – but then noticed “something was wrong”.

Mr Pélicot sent him pictures of his wife naked in the couple’s garden, he said, adding: “I never imagined that she might not be part of this game. That was my first huge error.”

“I didn’t ask myself too many questions,” he confessed, when asked about how he set up a nocturnal rendezvous at the Pélicots’ home. “I’m not looking for excuses. I lost my bearings.”

His intention was not to rape, he said, but “since I never obtained Mrs Pelicot’s consent, I have no choice but to accept the facts”.

‘Kind and caring’

Among the oldest in the dock is Jacques Cubeau, a 72-year-old retired marine firefighter, truck driver, and pizzeria owner described by his family as “kind and caring” whose Catholic upbringing has led him to “do good around him”.

“I have the deepest respect for women,” said the grandfather, prompting the judge to ask: “How can one reconcile this declaration with the charges brought against you of rape of an unconscious woman?”

“I thought it was a fantasy of theirs… I got the idea that it was a shy woman in a swinging couple,” he said, offering his apologies but denying rape.

His insistence he did not have penetrative or oral sex (he claimed he didn’t use his tongue) with Ms Pelicot prompted the judge to show for the first time a shocking video of Cubeau apparently doing just that.

“I became aware that potentially I was abusing her but was a bit slow in catching on,” he mumbled by way of an explanation.

After the video was played, presiding judge Roger Arata ruled that further images would not be shown when the public or journalists were in court, despite Mrs Pélicot’s request the footage be made public without restrictions.

“We must not shy away from coming face to face with rape,” said Stephane Babonneau, one of Mrs Pélicot’s lawyers. “This is the trial with the potential to change society [but we] must have the courage to face what rape actually is,” she said.

Defendants booed

As the trial continues, defendants have been booed, leading some to threaten journalists and demonstrators. One even hit a camera crew and was caught on camera shouting: “Watch out or I’ll rape your mother too.”

Public support for Mrs Pélicot, meanwhile, is rising every day, with well-wishers cheering her court appearances.

France now wonders whether the trial could be a turning point for a patriarchal society that tolerates the treatment of women as objects.

Speaking to France Info, Rose Lamy, a feminist writer, said the case could finally end the idea that sexism and sexual violence were only committed by “others” – perverts, monsters, serial killers.

They were committed by “good family men” too, she said. 

Ms Lamy said the fact that the victim was drugged and unconscious makes it hard to claim she somehow asked for it, and the overwhelming visual evidence means rape cannot be downplayed. “There is no real angle of attack against the victim,” she said.

Above all, Ms Lamy said: “This trial sets in stone the idea that such violence is committed by Monsieur Tout-le-Monde.”

“Feminist activists have been promoting this idea for years, but perhaps in restricted circles. With this trial, everyone will certainly be hearing about it from now on.”