Studio names ‘die-hard Bond fan’ who will direct next 007 movie

Denis Villeneuve will direct the next James Bond film, Amazon MGM Studios announced.

The Oscar-nominated director, known for the science fiction blockbuster Dune, will be joined by artistic partner and wife Tanya Lapointe as executive producer as well as Amy Pascal and David Heyman as producers.

“Some of my earliest moviegoing memories are connected to 007. I grew up watching James Bond films with my father, ever since Dr No with Sean Connery. I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory,” Villeneuve said in a statement on Wednesday.

“I intend to honour the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come. This is a massive responsibility, but also, incredibly exciting for me and a huge honour. Amy, David, and I are absolutely thrilled to bring him back to the screen. Thank you to Amazon MGM Studios for their trust.”

“Denis Villeneuve has been in love with James Bond movies since he was a little boy. It was always his dream to make this movie, and now it’s ours, too. We are lucky to be in the hands of this extraordinary filmmaker,” said Pascal and Heyman.

This will be the first Bond film after the franchise changed hands with Amazon MGM taking full creative control after striking a deal with long-time producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

While the duo still co-own the franchise, creative control of future James Bond productions is now in the hands of the American-owned Amazon, a development that has prompted a lot of concern from fans over potential changes to the beloved British film series.

Earlier in June, a report in Puck claimed Villeneuve was in the running to direct the forthcoming film, along with Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright, Westworld co-creator Jonathan Nolan, Conclave director Edward Berger, and Paddington’s Paul King.

There has been a lot of speculation about who will take over the role of Bond from Daniel Craig, whose last turn as 007 was in 2021’s No Time to Die. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Harris Dickinson and James Norton are all rumoured to be in the running.

“We are honoured that Denis has agreed to direct James Bond’s next chapter. He is a cinematic master, whose filmography speaks for itself,” Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said of Villeneuve.

“From Blade Runner 2049 to Arrival to the Dune films, he has delivered compelling worlds, dynamic visuals, complex characters, and – most importantly – the immersive storytelling that global audiences yearn to experience in theaters. James Bond is in the hands of one of today’s greatest filmmakers and we cannot wait to get started on 007’s next adventure.”

It was reported last week that production on the next Bond film was underway, and the film was expected to be in cinemas by the end of 2027.

Farage could become PM – and it’s not because Reform voters are stupid

There are plenty of things that my hometown – Boston, in Lincolnshire – is famous for. Sausages, for one, and the copious veg grown on its vast swathes of fertile land; those Jakemans throat sweets always by the tills in Boots. It’s famous for its landmarks – like St Botolph’s Church, or “the Stump”, as it’s known locally – and for the Puritanism running through its roots: the story of the Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed the Mayflower to the market town’s US namesake.

Twenty years ago, when I was at school, it was Boston’s teen pregnancies, its status as the town with the highest murder rate per capita, and its problem with obesity that attracted national headlines and became part of its precarious history.

More recently, it has made its name as a place brimming with racism, division, exhaustion, and frustration. It is also right at the centre of England’s radical political revolution.

That’s quite a lot for a small town with a population of 45,000 people to pack in.

Since delivering the highest leave vote in the EU referendum (75 per cent), the flatlands of Lincolnshire have become a barometer of the country’s discontent. What’s unfolding here isn’t just local grumbling or electoral churn (well, maybe a bit). It’s symptomatic of a much deeper fracture: one that speaks to lost faith in traditional parties, mounting pressure on public services, and a community caught between economic insecurity and cultural upheaval.

In this windswept corner of eastern England, there’s widespread certainty that Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, could be the next prime minister, as a much-dissected Ipsos poll suggested this week. In fact, if you have any doubt about that, you simply haven’t been listening to the inhabitants of places like Boston – and neither have those in Westminster.

The message has been loud and clear for almost a year now. In the days following the general election, I wrote about Farage’s unnerving presence and the threat posed by his newly formed party: despite winning just five seats, the infant Reform received more than 4 million votes. That’s 600,000 more than the Liberal Democrats, who took 71 seats in total. Only our first-past-the-post system prevented Reform from being the third-biggest party in the UK after it won almost 15 per cent of the vote.

On winning the Clacton by-election, Farage finally entered parliament, having secured 46.2 per cent of the vote. Since then, Reform’s visibility, along with its popularity, has surged in the polls. Back in March, a monthly tracker poll run by City AM showed Reform at 27 per cent, the party having overtaken both Labour (24 per cent) and the Conservatives (23 per cent) for the first time. By May, Reform had accrued 677 council seats, winning outright control of key county councils including Lancashire, Nottingham, Derbyshire, and, of course, Lincolnshire. The party also overturned a longstanding Labour seat in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.

“If you look at our parliament, and you see Labour with a massive majority, it looks very stable,” says journalist Fraser Nelson, who travelled the UK asking “Will Nigel Farage be our next PM?” for a special Dispatches report airing tonight (Thursday 26 June) on Channel 4. “But if you look at the country as a whole, it’s basically on the brink of a political revolution,” he says. “That’s how it feels.”

Nelson was first drawn to the subject after spending a week in Blackpool trying to understand its problems. He found a town at the tail end of societal breakdown, where education rates are terrifyingly low and poverty is high.

“You meet non-verbal kids who can’t speak, but who point at an iPad if they want to do something,” he explains. “You find out … that a third of the kids leave school without any GCSEs at all – these things were kind of mind-blowing. And then Blackpool turns out to be the place with a Reform pub opening – the only place in Britain. That’s fascinating: it is representing hope to these people.”

Fraser Nelson, the privately educated former editor of The Spectator – a magazine known for its right-wing views – might seem an unlikely candidate to be a voice for the deprived and disenfranchised. Though his programme may centre on Farage, it’s really “an examination of the forces behind support for his party”, he explains.

But why would the inhabitants of a town like Blackpool put their trust in the Reform leader, who attended Dulwich College, and his deputy Richard Tice, the “ordinary” multimillionaire property developer who won the Boston and Skegness seat last year?

Boris Johnson, too – not known for his humble beginnings – was hugely popular among voters in these constituencies. It’ll come as no surprise, then, that age and education have displaced class as the main dividing line in politics, according to data published this week by the National Centre for Social Research – a result, apparently, of trust in mainstream politicians being at an all-time low.

It’s clear that a privileged background is no obstacle to being embraced by these communities, even if, in some instances, a professed interest in the poor might appear to be less about nobly improving their lot and more about spotting an opportunity. But it’s not just about trust. The likes of Farage and Tice “speak our language”, locals in Boston say, in a way that other politicians are simply unable – or unwilling – to do.

It works. In a town like this – where more than a quarter of children grow up in poverty; where crime is rife and police funding is low; where the local rural hospital is at breaking point, and teachers in schools are having to become first responders in their communities – residents feel ignored, patronised, and consistently disregarded. They are angry.

Since Brexit, it’s been easy for those on the outside to dismiss their concerns as bigoted or plain stupid – many pointing to the fact that Leave voters are a lot worse off than they might have been had Britain stayed in the European Union.

It’s undeniable that there are factions who simply want “freedom of speech” to mean that harmful views go unchallenged; similarly, Reform’s call to arms – “common-sense politics” – is often packed with uncosted promises and intellectually lazy (yet effective) attempts to rationalise social regression. But it’s clear that it is – and always has been – dangerous to shut down those conversations and concerns altogether by labelling them as nothing more than idiocy.

We only have to look across the pond at US president Donald Trump’s strange appeal to non-white voters – a phenomenon very much present over here, too, as Nelson found – to see why. If the Labour Party wants to retain power, and if the rest of the country wants to keep Farage in his place, now is not the time for ill-thought-out assumptions about voters.

“It seems like [Labour and the Conservative Party] are psychologically incompetent in [refusing to believe] that these voters mean what they say,” says Nelson. “Farage is now some sort of Ghost of Christmas Future figure to terrify Starmer… He’s saying, if you fail these communities, this is what’s going to happen. And if you look at all the indicators – the social ladder is now more of a quagmire – they’re all set for failure.”

More accurately, these communities, including my hometown, have already been failed by successive governments, over and over and over again. In 20 years, nothing has been accomplished by voting blue or red. Farage is telling towns like Boston that there is another way – and now, the so-called “wild card” doesn’t seem so much of a risk.

It’s also not insignificant that Farage is making a narrative landgrab to the left. He recently claimed that he would implement a £250,000 “Robin Hood” fee for non-doms, exempting them from tax and giving the money directly to Britain’s poorest.

Reform’s position on the nationalisation of gas and water utilities is evolving – and increasingly pivoting away from the Thatcherite model that favours private ownership. It was Reform, not Labour, that pledged to scrap the Tories’ two-child benefit cap. On the surface, these policies appear unexpectedly liberal. Certainly, they were intended to appeal to the Labour heartlands – and crucially, such announcements have been designed to win hearts and minds, even if Farage has been hazy on the detail.

“This is a really important part of it,” explains Nelson. “Obviously, the Reform policies are very popular… But only one in five voters in our poll thought that Reform could actually do this without higher taxes or spending cuts, like they say. And, during my interview with him, Farage also pretty much admits that all of his pledges are ‘aspirations’. Right now, as far as I’m concerned, they have zero policies that would actually work. He’s not saying he will do this. He’s saying he would like to do this.”

Clearly, it’s not a shock that Farage could be being disingenuous, but it is a wake-up call. What the Reform leader’s strategy – both on the right, and in his phantom expansion to the left – is successfully doing is creating the political weather, further destabilising Labour as much as it is the Tories. And it’s time that Westminster smartened up, too.

The people of Boston – or Blackpool, or any other Reform-leaning town – don’t necessarily believe that Farage is going to transform their lives. But – and here is the important detail – they don’t believe that anyone else will, either.

Reform’s promises, and Farage’s “aspirations”, might be paper-thin when you cut through the noise. But for communities that have weathered decades of political neglect, even aspiration – and, very simply, someone appearing to listen to them and vocalise what they are feeling – represents more than what’s previously been on offer.

The danger, then, isn’t just that Farage could rise up via grievance politics. It’s that Labour and the Conservatives still don’t seem to understand how, or why, this might happen. Starmer might be delivering detailed policy reviews, but he is losing at politics and optics where they really matter. He is failing to capture the narrative in a language that people can hear, because he and Rachel Reeves are still talking more to Westminster than to the Dog and Duck. And it is a sign of the prime minister’s own lack of confidence that there has been a muting of the one person who could reach into these communities: Angela Rayner.

Meanwhile, Reform is gaining strength because the mainstream parties refuse to properly engage with voters in these towns, or to offer bold and imaginative solutions to problems that have persisted for decades. Farage barely needs to try, given the litany of own goals.

Residents in places like Boston are tired of empty promises, but they aren’t stupid – as Nelson found, they’re used to finding hope in unusual places. They know Reform is a gamble, but what Farage is selling them is the dream of taking a risk in a world that feels as if it will never change if they don’t.

Sue Barker on Jack Draper’s transformation and kinship with Raducanu

From her days as a player, to helming the BBC’s coverage of Wimbledon, to now attending as a fan, the first thing Sue Barker does on arrival at the All England Lawn Tennis Club is to look out over Centre Court. An experience that was always “terrifying” as a player – particularly as a home favourite – has nonetheless never lost its shine.

Barker’s love for tennis – if it was in any doubt – is apparent the moment we start talking. Before I can even ask a question, she wants to know whether Jacob Fearnley, playing earlier that day in the last 16 at Queen’s, won his match. (He did, a tricky three-set tussle with Corentin Moutet.)

The strength in depth of British tennis is a source of joy to Barker, the 1976 French Open champion and the anchor of Wimbledon coverage until 2022. She notes drily, “When I worked at the BBC it was always, two players have got in and the rest require wildcards. Now they’re getting in by right.”

There is also a host of talented junior players, many of whom are making their main-draw or qualifying debuts this year. Barker tells The Independent, “I think a lot of that is to do with Andy [Murray]. He’s just been such a role model and set the standard for them. He’s shown them how hard you’ve got to work to be the best, and I think now it’s really beginning to pay off.”

Nowhere is that more obvious than in the form of British No 1 and world No 4, Jack Draper. The 23-year-old reached a maiden semi-final at Queen’s last week and has underlined his status as a name to watch at SW19 – despite having never previously gone past the second round.

“Jack has just been a revelation,” Barker says. “I spoke to him a couple of years ago when he was having shoulder issues and wondering whether he’d ever play again, and now to see him – what the heck was wrong with his shoulder, because now these bullets are coming out, the serve, the ground shots he’s hitting! Most impressive is physically how he’s changed. He’s super-strong now, but I guess he has to be to compete with the top guys.” She doesn’t name the top guys, but they hardly need to be spelled out: world No 1 Jannik Sinner and two-time defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.

“We always wondered who was ever going to take over from Roger, Rafa, Novak, and Andy. Now we have the answer,” she says. “I thought we’d have a few lean years, but these guys are amazing. And now to have Jack right up there, being talked about in the same sentence, is fantastic.”

Achieving consistent results on the tour is one thing, but Wimbledon is a different beast. “There’s so much pressure on British players,” Barker says, “so I don’t want to put a huge amount of pressure on him – but I will! Because he’s being talked about as a grand slam champion, a multiple grand slam champion, and this is in an era of Alcaraz and Sinner. And it’s not just me saying it: John McEnroe, who I bow down to [for] his greater experience, is so excited by Jack and what he can achieve.”

Draper has wins over both Sinner and Alcaraz – but is there something missing in his game to bridge the gap to the world’s best? Barker doesn’t believe so: “He’s doing everything he can, he’s got the weapons, because it’s going to be the serve and the forehand [that make the difference], he’s got such power.

“Those guys are like little road runners, which Jack isn’t going to be; he’s strong. They’re like little Duracell batteries. Whereas Jack, physically, is going to bash them off the court.

“He certainly has the game to take to them, absolutely. The way he’s improved in the last two years, I can’t wait to see what he does now.”

She brings up Draper’s Queen’s last-16 encounter against Alexei Popyrin, when the Brit trailed 4-2 in the deciding tiebreak only to win the next five points to seal the match. “Those last few points were world-class,” Barker says. “To see a British player raise his game like that, it just shows mentally how strong he is, to do it when it matters.”

At the other end of the spectrum are the talented British youngsters. Barker says that as a player she preferred earning a place via qualifying rather than being “gifted it”, and notes that, “We’ve seen at Queen’s, going through qualifying often sharpens you up so much to go into a grand slam.” (Tatjana Maria won the women’s title this year as a qualifier.) “Emma [Raducanu] winning the US Open, coming through qualifying gave her so much confidence.”

Barker, whose best result at Wimbledon was a semi-final appearance in 1977 – the year Virginia Wade won her last title there – is enthusiastic about the future of British tennis. She has followed the likes of teenagers Hannah Klugman and Mimi Xu for some years, but strikes a cautionary note when discussing them. “Now is the time we’ll be hoping to see a bit of a breakthrough, but hopefully not too much. I think we learned from Emma that sometimes too much can be too much.”

Barker won her only major title aged 20 and never made another grand slam final, although she thought there would be plenty more in her future. Injuries hampered the latter stages of her playing career before she turned to an incredibly successful second act as a broadcaster and presenter. There is perhaps an element of kinship between her younger self and Raducanu.

“I think everyone expects too much from Emma,” she says. “It was a fairytale, a fluke, whatever you want to say – a qualifier coming through to win a grand slam, it should be a Hollywood movie. And yet everyone thinks that because she’s done that, she’s now going to be top 10. It doesn’t work like that – she wasn’t a top-10 player [when she won], she’d hardly played the game.

“I’m thrilled that this year she’s playing really well, the serve’s improved, the forehand’s improved, Petch [Mark Petchey] is in the corner, I think that’s a great signing. I hope she really builds a relationship with a coach, like Jack, because to have that longevity and trust with someone is important.” But she adds, “Physically, I worry about the injuries. It doesn’t matter how well you play; if your body breaks down, you’re gone. As Jack found out – Emma has got to do the same, build up her strength.”

Barker has advised 16-year-old Klugman previously about staying grounded as hype around her begins to build. Social media is another minefield, particularly for young players, and Katie Boulter’s recent interview discussing online abuse has put it back in the spotlight. Barker, who is acquainted with the dark side of fame – a man who sent her death threats in 2004 went to prison – describes social media as “frightening”.

“For me, everything has to change. Everyone should have an identity and should be answerable to anything they write on any public platform. I don’t see why social media should be different from regular media – and these are young, impressionable girls [dealing with it]. I find it really upsetting.

“It’s so easy to say don’t read it – but they read it! It’s difficult not to. I just think everyone should be accountable for what they say, and gambling has made it a huge problem now. I don’t see how they can correct it, but I wish they would.”

Sipsmith Ambassador Sue Barker spoke to The Independent at an event hosted by Sipsmith, the official Gin Partner of Wimbledon, to celebrate the launch of Top Seed Gin.

Harvey Elliott heroics give England U21s another shot at history

Harvey Elliott spectacularly fired England Under-21s into the European Championship final as they moved one win away from becoming back-to-back champions.

One year on from the men’s senior team beating the Netherlands in the Euros semi-final, the Young Lions followed suit, with Elliott’s second-half double earning a 2-1 win in Bratislava.

The 22-year-old, a Premier League champion with Liverpool, scored both goals, first putting his side ahead just after the hour and then firing a superb 86th-minute winner after Noah Ohio had levelled for the Dutch with his first touch.

Lee Carsley‘s side will meet Germany or France in Saturday’s final when they will hope to retain the crown they won two years ago.

Victory was fully deserved in searing heat in Slovakia as they were the better team throughout, with the Dutch goal coming out of nothing.

Carsley’s men almost took the lead in the fourth minute. Omari Hutchinson caused trouble down the left and sent in a low cross to Elliott at the far post, but the midfielder’s low shot was brilliantly saved by the outstretched leg of Dutch goalkeeper Robin Roefs.

Roefs denied Elliott again in the 12th minute as England piled the pressure on, again staying big to deny a low shot after Jay Stansfield’s cut back.

The Young Lions stayed on top but the chances dried up until a brilliant move just before the break, when James McAtee set Hutchinson free, he played in Elliott whose cut back was perfect for Alex Scott, but the Bournemouth midfielder’s shot was deflected over.

The Netherlands, who failed to have a shot in the first half, improved after the break and began asking questions.

They tested James Beadle for the first time just before the hour when Aston Villa full-back Ian Maatsen drilled a 25-yard shot through a crowd of bodies, but the goalkeeper was equal to it.

Just as England were being pushed back, they went ahead in the 62nd minute. Elliot Anderson set Elliott clear, he advanced into the box and fired a fine right-footed finish in at the near post.

But the advantage was short-lived as Ohio made the perfect impact from the bench.

Moments after coming on, the former Manchester United and Manchester City academy player scored with his first touch. He latched on to the ball after Charlie Cresswell miscontrolled, spotted Beadle out of position and shot first time from the left wing into the near post.

But England were not going to be denied and some Elliott heroics sent them into the final for just the second time since 2009. He picked the ball up 30 yards out, turned his marker, beat another man and advanced towards the penalty area before whipping a low shot into the bottom corner.

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Inside the disturbing life of the Hainault sword attacker

For Daniel Anjorin, 30 April last year started as any normal day would do. The 14-year-old woke up, packed his schoolbag and waved goodbye to his family. He then picked his favourite music to listen to on the way to school.

As he stepped out of his front door, the devoted Arsenal fan – described as a “true scholar” by his school, Bancroft’s in Woodford Green, east London – had no idea of the horror that was about to unfold.

Moments later, Marcus Arduini Monzo unleashed a violent 20-minute rampage that left Daniel dead and five others injured.

Believing that an event “like an Armageddon” was happening, the attacker – who had spent the early hours of his morning consuming drugs and, disturbingly, attempting to eat his cat – ambushed Daniel from behind with a samurai sword, virtually decapitating him. When the ambulance arrived, he swung his sword towards the vehicle, delaying paramedics from reaching the boy’s lifeless body.

Minutes before the attack, Monzo, 37, had used his Ford transit van to mow down pedestrian Donato Iwule before slashing him in the neck.

During his police interviews, Monzo likened the events to the Hollywood film The Hunger Games, and claimed to have “many personalities spread out”, including one of a professional assassin.

Despite his claiming that he had been suffering from a psychotic disorder, the jury has now found him guilty of murder and three counts of attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary, and possessing a bladed article. He was cleared of one count of attempted murder but found guilty of the lesser offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

While growing up in Brazil, Monzo claimed to have experienced bullying and violence. When he moved to London in 2013, he started smoking cannabis and taking magic mushrooms. Despite quitting in 2015 as it made him feel “unproductive”, he started the habit again a few years later.

Following a mixed martial arts (MMA) injury in 2016, Monzo turned to yoga. He told the court he developed an increased interest in spirituality and began following the YouTube guru Sadhguru.

Over the following years, he would attend a year-long retreat to India to detach from family and friends, and also began to take ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew traditionally from South America.

During subsequent trips to remote parts of Brazil and India, as well as attending breatharian festivals – where individuals claim to live without food or water, sustaining themselves solely on “life force” – in Italy and Denmark, he was seen “looking skinnier” and said that he had begun taking ayahuasca in “ceremonies”.

It was following these experiences that he began drinking his urine for “cleaning” purposes, also using it to wash his hair and clean his face.

He and his family fell out over his hygiene and lifestyle, and he ended up living in Newham, where he continued to smoke cannabis regularly.

The court heard how, in the days before the attacks, he “received guidance and communication” in his head that his pet cat Wizard “was being used against me by negative forces”. He took it to a park to get rid of it.

But the cat returned to his flat on the morning of the attack. He told the court he strangled the animal, despite claiming he did not want to.

Asked why it was skinned, he told jurors: “After I strangled him, he (the communication) was telling me that the cat had taken energy from me and to replenish and get the energy back, I had to eat the cat.”

Monzo said he tried to cook it, but became “panicked and rushed”, believing an event “like an Armageddon” was happening.

The defendant told jurors that he “didn’t have time to eat the cat”, so he put it in the back of his Ford Transit and picked up swords, a ball-bearing gun and a backpack containing clothes.

He said: “I had this idea that the world was collapsing… something big was happening, I didn’t know exactly what, I had the idea that I wasn’t coming back.”

After setting off towards his parents’ house, Monzo used his van to knock Mr Iwuale into a garden and attack him while shouting, “I’m going to kill you.” CCTV captured his victim’s terrified screams.

After Mr Iwuale escaped, Monzo attempted to stop a woman and talk to her. But then he caught sight of Daniel and launched his fatal attack.

When the police arrived, PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield chased the defendant through alleyways. Monzo then struck her three times with the sword, which prosecutors said had a 60cm blade.

Monzo then entered a property and attacked a couple who were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom, near to their young daughter, while shouting “Do you believe in God?”

He also struck Inspector Moloy Campbell once with the sword before he was arrested.

The defendant, who claimed he had no memory of what happened until he was tasered, admitted possessing two swords but denied the other charges.

He has now been found guilty of murder, attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.

For Daniel’s family, however, no prison sentence can bring back their “beloved son”.

In a tribute last year, they said: “It is difficult for us at this time to process what has happened to him and that he will never come home.

“Daniel had left the house for school, and then he was gone. Our children have lost their loving and precious brother, and we have lost the most loved and amazing son.”

What’s the secret to a truly stress-free holiday?

High-end cruising has entered a new era. Today’s luxury travellers aren’t looking for big flashy experiences. They want slow-paced, intimate travel and authentic cultural immersion. More than anything else, they’re looking for ease: that feeling of being genuinely cared for, safe in the knowledge that they’re experiencing the best of the best.

That means excellent quality food and drink, of course – it’s got to be restaurant standard and cater to all tastes – but also onboard enrichment experiences of the highest calibre. The great beauty of cruising has always been that not a second is wasted. Savvy travellers get to explore a rich and rewarding variety of exotic, off-the-beaten track locations, but instead of spending half their holiday stuck in motorway traffic, they’re honing their swing in the golf net, or sipping on a cocktail on the upper deck as they travel from destination to destination.

When they’re onshore they want genuinely immersive experiences that get them under the hood of a destination: think cellar tours of local vineyards or speedboat cruises to hidden beaches. Done right, a high-end all-inclusive cruise is the ideal form of slow travel, offering a perfect balance of adventure and indulgence, proper pampering and a thrilling sense of discovery.

The world’s most luxurious fleet

First among equals when it comes to the new era of luxury cruising is Regent Seven Seas Cruises, which offers more than 170 different itineraries visiting over 550 ports of call worldwide. Each of the six ships in their fleet is opulently appointed with beautifully designed communal areas and a huge array of amenities, but none of them has a capacity of more than 746 guests, ensuring space and freedom for all aboard.

The all-suite accommodation means that the private spaces are similarly roomy, each having a private balcony and marble bathroom. And service is always impeccable with a crew-to-guest ratio that’s nearly one-to-one, meaning that the team can always go that mile extra for all travellers.

Across the ships, the food is uniformly excellent. As well as Regent’s signature Compass Rose restaurant, with its daily changing menu of bistro classics like lobster bisque and New Zealand lamb chops, the different ships also feature a range of speciality dining venues. These include Prime 7, a New York-style steakhouse, Pacific Rim with its pan-Asian menu (be sure to try the miso black cod), and fine-dining destination, Chartreuse, where the chefs turn out sophisticated plates of upscale French cooking like Beef Tenderloin Rossini and Seared Foie Gras.

With a number of long cruises on their roster, Regent has made sure that each of its ships is akin to an ultra-luxury, boutique floating hotel with an incredible variety of things to do during the day and top-level entertainment at night. There are courts for paddle tennis and bocce, and the onboard spa offers a range of exclusive bespoke treatments. The ships host talks by experts in their field and cooking lessons are also available on some of the ships at the culinary arts kitchens where visiting chefs guide guests in how to make wow-factor dishes that relate to the ports of call. In the evening, the Constellation Theatre hosts lavishly staged productions from a team of Broadway choreographers and artists.

Destinations that match the onboard luxury

Of course, none of this onboard luxury would mean much if the destinations weren’t up to scratch, but Regent’s superbly curated itineraries are up there with the very best. Its week-long trips include culture-packed European tours like Glories of Iberia which sails from Barcelona to Lisbon, and thrilling frontier explorations such as the Great Alaskan Adventure from Whittier to Vancouver.

Longer trips include four-week Legendary Journeys from Athens to Montreal, and fully immersive explorations of the Arctic. Long or short, these itineraries are all underpinned by a commitment to taking guests right to the heart of a destination with the kind of bespoke onshore activities and expert-led insights that mean on a Regent Seven Seas Cruises voyage, adventure is guaranteed.

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Archaeologists find what could be world’s oldest boomerang in Europe

A mammoth tusk artefact discovered in a Polish cave could be Europe’s earliest example of a boomerang and even the oldest tool of its kind in the world, archaeologists said.

The tusk was found along with what seemed like a human little finger or toe bone fossil at the Obłazowa cave in Poland, and it could be nearly 40,000 years old, according to a study published in the journal PLoS One.

The previously oldest-known wooden boomerang came from the Wyrie Swamp in South Australia. It was dated to about 10,000 years ago, researchers, including from Jagiellonian University in Poland, said.

One of Europe’s earliest wooden throwing sticks was discovered at Schöningen in northern Germany and dated back about 300,000 years.

In southeastern Australia, prehistoric Aboriginal people employed several kinds of such curved sticks for hunting birds, fish and small mammals.

Several types of “non-returning boomerangs” have been found in central Australia as well. These were used for various tasks like “butchering animals, digging wells or cooking pits, scraping hot ashes from cooking carcasses, retouching stone weapons, and even producing musical sounds”. This shows the significance of boomerangs as versatile tools across diverse cultural and economic contexts.

While most ancient boomerangs found so far, mostly in Australia, are typically made of wood, the new find made of ivory highlights the resourcefulness of our early Homo sapiens ancestors.

Researchers found it to resemble “Queensland type of Australian boomerangs” with experiments hinting it could fly as a “non-returning boomerang”.

Markings on the boomerang provide cultural context critical for understanding the emergence and variability of symbolic behaviors among early Homo sapiens groups in Europe.

The discovery of the boomerang along with artefacts like a pendant also underlines “an emerging regional artistic identity” 40,000 years ago.

“This parallels the distinct regional traditions observed in Europe such as the ivory figurines and flutes of the Swabian Jura,” researchers said.

Archaeologists suspect the human digit fossil discovered along with the boomerang in the Obłazowa cave may be indicative of a shamanistic ritual.

“This interpretation draws parallels with rock art evidence of portrayed human hands with missing digits found in the Iberian Peninsula and France,” they said.

The findings offer insights into early human technological innovation, highlighting the creative solutions societies developed to suit their needs across time.

“The findings not only deepen our understanding of Homo sapiens’ adaptive strategies but highlight the nuanced interplay of technology, symbolism, and environmental interaction during the earliest phases of human dispersals in Central Europe,” the study concluded.

Starmer slaps down Streeting over assisted dying criticism

Sir Keir Starmer has slapped down Wes Streeting after he claimed there is no budget for assisted dying.

The health secretary last week said he is concerned MPs made the wrong choice by voting through Kim Leadbeater’s historic legislation last week.

But asked about his remarks while on the plane to the Nato summit in The Hague, the prime minister – who voted for the Bill – decisively hit back, saying: “It is my responsibility to make sure the bill is workable, and that means workable in all its aspects.”

“I’m confident we’ve done that preparation”, he added.

While Cabinet ministers were asked to avoid weighing in too heavily on the debate, as MPs were encouraged to vote with their consciences rather than on party lines, Mr Streeting became a vocal critic of the bill in the lead up to the vote.

Posting to Facebook after opposing the legislation in the Commons, he warned that legalising assisted dying would take “time and money” away from other parts of the health service.

The health secretary said better end-of-life care was needed to prevent terminally ill people feeling they had no alternative but to end their own life.

Mr Streeting also said he could not ignore the concerns “about the risks that come with this Bill” raised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians, the Association for Palliative Medicine and charities representing under-privileged groups.

“Gordon Brown wrote this week that ‘there is no effective freedom to choose if the alternative option, the freedom to draw on high-quality end-of-life care, is not available. Neither is there real freedom to choose if, as many fear, patients will feel under pressure to relieve their relatives of the burden of caring for them, a form of coercion that prioritising good end-of-life care would diminish.’ He is right”, he said.

“The truth is that creating those conditions will take time and money.

“Even with the savings that might come from assisted dying if people take up the service – and it feels uncomfortable talking about savings in this context to be honest – setting up this service will also take time and money that is in short supply.

“There isn’t a budget for this. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we’ve made the wrong one.”

But he said his Department of Health and Social Care “will continue to work constructively with Parliament to assist on technical aspects of the Bill” as it goes through the House of Lords after clearing the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday.

Assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen urged peers not to block the landmark legislation.

Dame Esther told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t need to teach the House of Lords how to do their job.

“They know it very well, and they know that laws are produced by the elected chamber.

“Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose.

“So yes, people who are adamantly opposed to this Bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber, which is the House of Commons who have voted this through.”

Dame Esther, who turns 85 on Sunday and has terminal cancer, acknowledged the legislation would probably not become law in time for her to use it and she would have to “buzz off to Zurich” to use the Dignitas clinic.

As it stands, the Bill would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, a senior legal figure and a psychiatrist.