It began in 2021 when I caught a common cold. There were the usual symptoms: coughing, a runny nose, and generally feeling unwell. I took myself off to bed and, for the next day and a half, refused to get up, sleeping pretty much all day and night. I couldn’t even wake to eat. My anxious husband Scott brought me a bowl of soup. I started to cry. “I’m so tired,” I told him, then went back to sleep.
The next morning, my life changed forever. Scott couldn’t wake me, so I was rushed to the hospital near our home in Essex, where I began having seizures and was put on a ventilator when they wouldn’t stop. At first, doctors believed it could be a brain haemorrhage, but tests ruled that out, and after a week of further investigations, they couldn’t diagnose me.
I was transferred to the neurological ward of a larger hospital where further tests revealed encephalitis, an often fatal inflammation of the brain. The neurologists said there were many possible causes, such as a reaction to a vaccination, but it was most likely due to my cold and my immune system attacking my brain by mistake.
Even though I was still on a ventilator, the seizing continued, so my family and two boys, then aged 11 and nine, were told to prepare for the worst. I was totally out of it; I didn’t know who I was and had no idea my life was at risk. But amazingly, after 16 nights on life support and five weeks in hospital, I was discharged, with MRIs showing that only the front section of my brain had been damaged.
The flaws in Reform’s plan to scrap PIP and slash £50bn from benefits bill
Reform Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said it would stop some claimants “taking everyone else for mugs” by slashing personal independence payments, banning foreign nationals from receiving benefits and forcing long-term claimants to do community work.
What is in the plan?
- Under the plans, foreign nationals would be excluded from most benefits – including EU nationals with settled status in the UK.
- It would also shake up disability benefits through a new system of “Return to Work Cover”.
- Lastly, people on universal credit for more than 12 months who are fit to work would be required to provide 20 hours a week of community work.
4 min read
Renegotiating with the EU
Reform’s ban on foreign nationals receiving benefits would require a renegotiation of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
However, it is not clear that Brussels would want to rewrite the agreement, and the bloc would probably respond with countermeasures such as stripping British expats of benefits.
3 min read
Making employers pay
Making employers liable for sick employees for two years could have unintended consequences. It is not clear whether Jenrick’s promise that cutting 0.2 per cent to employer national insurance contributions would be enough to make up for the extra costs employers would be incurring.
It could also create a perverse incentive for employers to not hire people with disabilities or previous experiences of ill-health.
3 min read
3 min read
Voter backlash
- The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the new disability needs assessment plans are vague and savings could fall significantly short of expectations.
- This policy may not be very popular in many of Reform’s top target seats which have large PIP caseloads. It could also open up a vulnerable new flank for Andy Burnham’s resurgent Labour Party.
Less than half know how to stop someone from choking
St John Ambulance has warned too many people are choking to death because bystanders “do not have the knowledge or confidence to intervene”.
What the survey tells us
- Around 300 people die in England every year due to choking.
- A poll has revealed only 42 per cent know how to stop someone choking, by giving back blows and abdominal thrusts.
- 32 per cent did not know choking can become life-threatening in minutes without first aid.
- Jordan Davison from St John Ambulance said: “Choking is often dismissed as a minor incident.”
3 min read
‘Everyone should have first aid training’
Marine engineer Calum Glen was enjoying dinner when he noticed a woman at a neighbouring table choking. Following first aid training at work, he gave the woman five back blows before moving on to abdominal thrusts, when her airway was cleared.
“I hope I never have to use those skills again, but you never know when someone’s life could depend on you knowing what to do,” Calum said.
What to do if someone is choking
- 1Cough it out. Encourage them to cough and remove any obvious obstruction from their mouth.
- 2Hit it out. If coughing fails, you need to give five sharp back blows between their shoulder blades.
- 3Squeeze it out. If back blows fail, give five abdominal thrusts. Stand behind them with your hands just above their waist.
- 4If the blockage has not cleared, for emergency help straight away. Repeat steps until help arrives.
Russia and Ukraine trade more deadly strikes – the latest
Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said Ukraine sent 620 drones towards the city overnight, with 180 downed by Russian defence systems.
Ukraine faces drone attacks
Ukraine was also hit as the warring countries traded blows overnight. The state emergency service said a 59-year-old woman was injured in the Russian attacks.
Pictures posted on Telegram show firefighters battling blazes in two outbuildings hit by a drone in the northern Chernihiv Oblast.
Major e-commerce giant hit
- Yet another Wildberries warehouse was struck near Moscow.
- It is the latest in Kyiv’s campaign to take out Russia’s equivalent of Amazon, which it accuses of supplying Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
3 min read
go deeper on this topic
Putin’s fury at the UK could escalate his sabotage campaign
The news that Ukraine is using British-made drones in its deep strike campaign has prompted scornful words from Russia and talk of potential retaliation.
How AI can reveal invisible patterns in breast tumours
Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that can reveal patterns inside breast cancer tumours that were previously invisible.
Researchers believe the technology could help doctors predict how the disease might progress and pave the way for more personalised treatments.
What are these patterns?
- The patterns are caused by centrosomes – tiny structures that help divide DNA. Studying them has been “extremely challenging” because they are tiny and multiply regularly, which is what drives the disease.
5 min read
Distinct abnormalities discovered
The AI platform, known as CenSegNet, was developed to analyse hundreds of thousands of cells in tumour samples.
In doing so, it has uncovered two distinct abnormalities which had previously been thought to be the same process – one involved cells acquiring too many centrosomes while the other had abnormally enlarged centrosomes.
Defects behaving differently
Researchers found these defects behaved independently and could occupy different areas of a tumour.
The platform also helped discover that tumours with high levels of enlarged centrosomes were more aggressive, and patients whose cells had lower levels had a better chance of survival.
3 min read
2 min read
The expert view
For more than a century, centrosome abnormalities have been recognised as a hallmark of , but studying them patient tissues has been extremely challenging. CenSegNet allows us to uncover that were impossible to see.
dr pauline swift, the charity chair of blood pressure uk
The fastest home-selling hotspots in Britain revealed
Your house could sell up to seven times faster in some parts of the country, property site Zoopla has found.
It comes as around half of local authority areas record longer times to sell than a year earlier.
What you need to know
While the average time to sell remains at 42 days in the year to July, houses in some areas take significantly longer.
For example, properties in Melton in the East Midlands took 76 days on average to sell – a 21-day increase compared with July 2025.
Sitting in stark contrast is Falkirk in Scotland, where the average selling time is around seven times faster at just 11 days – one day less for the area than a year earlier.
Is your home in a selling hotspot?
Zoopla said 180 of the 363 local authorities it analysed had seen an increase in the average number of days taken to sell a property in the past year.
Here are the fastest-selling hotspots in July:
- Falkirk, with 11 days
- Renfrewshire, with 13 days
- Stirling, with 15 days
- Clackmannanshire, with 16 days
The Scottish lure
Many of the faster markets are in Scotland, according to Zoopla, due to the Scottish sales market working differently to the rest of Britain, and homes generally being relatively affordable.
Homes in Scotland are typically marketed as “offers over” a price, with homes having a valuation and home survey available, Zoopla added.
Locations with sluggish sales
It comes as house prices fall, according to figures published by Rightmove yesterday, with homeowners struggling to flog their bricks and mortar.
According to Zoopla, these are the slowest-selling local areas in July:
- Melton, with 76 days
- Westminister, with 63 days
- Teignbridge, with 63 days
- Torridge, with 61 days
- Isle of Wight, with 60 days
- Thanet, with 60 days
- Elmbridge, with 58 days
The kitchen gadgets under £25
Victorinox paring knife
It’s comfortable to hold, with a point sharp enough for scoring pastry.
ProCook cast iron pan
For unbeatable searing and heat-retention, cast iron is the top choice.
Tesco chopping board
Priced at just £22, I’ve yet to find another board that matches it for sheer value and quality.
The kitchen gadgets under £25
Pyrex jug
It is the perfect vessel for blending smooth sauces, melting butter, or warming stock. It won’t stain like plastic and the red measurements never fade.
Salter scales
“I’ve had my slim little set of Salter Disc Scales for over a decade, and I’m delighted to see they are still made to exactly the same reliable design today.”
Microplane grater
It uses photo-etched stainless steel teeth that stay razor-sharp for a decade, something the lookalike copycats simply can’t match.
Braun hand-held blender
It’s an essential for everything from making velvety soup to getting the lumps out of white sauce.
Bodum cafetiere
As well as delivering great results, cafetieres are easy to clean and there’s no ongoing filter paper costs or pod recycling to deal with.
5 min read
The kitchen gadgets under £25
Oxo peeler
What truly sets it apart is the chunky, rubberised handle that absorbs pressure and stays completely non-slip, even if your hands are wet. It is inexpensive and incredibly durable.
Falcon pie dish
Made by fusing porcelain onto heavy-gauge steel for smooth durability, it is dishwasher, freezer, hob, air-fryer and oven-safe.
The golden rules for a happy, secure relationship
Psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr Amir Levine, author of bestselling book , explains why we behave the way we do in love.
Golden rules for happy relationships
Start with your own behaviours
The foundation of a secure, connected life is being what I call CARRP: that means being consistent, available, responsive, reliable and predictable. All of these qualities can be enacted in small gestures every day.
Express your needs
People need consistency and connection to feel safe. This is not, ‘You hurt my feelings by never replying to me’, it’s more ‘this is the kind of contact that helps me feel secure’.
Golden rules for happy relationships
The appendix ‘inflammation’ rule
If a relationship repeatedly inflames your nervous system, you need to disengage and deprioritise it.
Lean on community
You don’t need hundreds of friends. You need people and places that regularly remind you that you belong.
Stop blaming childhood
Humans are much more complicated than: ‘this happened to you, therefore you are doomed to be anxious’.
Reach for a
secure script
When something unsettles you in a relationship, your first reaction is not always the most accurate one.
If you’re anxious, your brain may jump very quickly to: ‘this is the beginning of the end’. If you’re avoidant, your brain may say: ‘this person wants too much from me, I need to get away’. So one very practical thing you can always do is pause and ask: ‘What would a secure person do here?’
Loneliness elsewhere
When people talk about loneliness, they often assume it means you don’t have enough people in your life. But you can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely if those relationships leave you feeling excluded, ignored or disconnected.
What to do
- Build a community that works for your temperament and gives you regular, reliable moments of connection.
- You can still be kind to people while not treating them as someone who belongs in your inner circle.
- Explain what you need. Sometimes people simply don’t realise how you are experiencing them.
- Check in with people: does this person actually feel that I’m reliable? Do they experience me as predictable? That’s the only way that you can start to become more secure.
Do some foods leave
you feeling hungry rather than satiated? Experts say there are…
Foods that leave you hungrier
A bowl of cereal and glass of orange juice
More refined cereals are digested quickly, and fruit juice, whilst one of your five-a-day, contains less fibre than whole fruit. This might mean you find yourself hungry again within 1-2 hours of eating this breakfast.
Swap the orange juice for a whole orange, the cereal for oats and milk or serve it with Greek yoghurt or a boiled egg. This would increase the fibre and protein content; two nutrients strongly linked with fullness.
Foods that leave you hungrier
These pastries are made primarily from refined flour and butter, and are relatively low in protein and fibre.
Toast and jam
Shop-bought packs can contain a lot of white rice, which is digested quickly, and the protein content is often modest.
Foods that leave you hungrier
Vegetable soup
On its own, it is often very low in protein and calories, so hunger can return quickly.
Unless it’s loaded with veggies, it’s probably pretty low in fibre.
Liquids are generally less filling as they require little chewing which may not trigger satiety signals.
Foods that leave you hungrier
Snack bars
They are ideal for a quick pick-me-up, but if reducing hunger is what you’re after, it’d be better to swap it out.
Low-fat yoghurt
A full-fat plain Greek yoghurt with berries and seeds tends to be much more filling due to the protein, fat and fibre.
On an empty stomach, it can actually increase your appetite.
What to eat instead
Instead of thinking about avoiding foods, think about what you can add to them.
- Add beans, lentils or shredded chicken to your vegetable soup and pasta.
- Thicken your smoothies with Greek yoghurt, chia seeds and oats.
- Apple slices with peanut butter, yogurt with berries and hummus with oat biscuits are better snack options than a pre-made snack bar.
- Have alcohol alongside a balanced meal containing protein and fibre.
A recovery plan was meant to take place but didn’t. The hospital had accidentally missed me off home assistance to help me walk, talk, feed and dress myself. Scott had to take compassionate leave from his job to effectively become my stay-at-home nurse.
The burden on him was huge. He had to get up in the middle of the night when I needed to use the loo, as I couldn’t bear my own body weight. He had to watch our savings shrink as mortgage payments went out and my income from my freelance editor job stopped dead. He was the main point of contact for my extended family for hours each night about how I was recovering.
Meanwhile, I’d lost all dignity. Scott adapted our shower with a seat and helped me wash. Inside I used a walking frame; outside, a wheelchair. I hated both: I’d always been a keen runner. It was slow and frustrating. By the time assistance was offered, Scott had done most of the work.
Five years later, I’m now 47, and my life is back to normal. Except that it isn’t.
I have no real independence – encephalitis means I’m now epileptic – so I can no longer drive and must rely on Scott to take me pretty much everywhere. If the boys ask to go for sleepovers and Scott is away on a business trip, I can’t take them, and it would take hours by bus and train.
Encephalitis has damaged a part of my brain that stores my memories. I don’t remember my wedding day, the days my children were born, nor our family holidays.
While devastating – I’ve been told that if my memories haven’t come back by now, then they’re gone for good – this is not even the hardest part about living with the condition. My day-to-day forgetfulness is. It affects my family life, friendships, and work.
Every day, I wake up to my morning text from Scott saying: “Tablets!” I take my antiseizure meds before Scott messages again. “Please only order Lamotrigine, we have plenty of Levetiracetam.” I open the NHS app and order both, already forgetting what he said.
If I miss his morning text and forget to take my meds, I realise when it’s too late, as pins and needles run down my body due to abnormal electrical activity in my brain.
I go downstairs to find notes littering the kitchen. “We had risotto last night,” says one of my handwritten scrawls, stuck to the fridge door. I open the freezer and pull out some bolognese, then check to see if we have spaghetti. There are three unopened packets, along with a note stuck to the inside of the cupboard that says: “We don’t need any more pasta!” I’ll still forget and buy more.
I head upstairs to work from my home office and pass photos of friends I’ve known for years, two of whom I never see anymore. Even though they live just an hour away, they don’t drive to visit, knowing full well I can’t be behind the wheel. Since my diagnosis, messages from them have ground to a halt. The number of birthday cards have depleted.
On my 47th birthday last September, I had a quiet meal with Scott and our two boys. Before I went to bed, I was scrolling through Instagram and saw one of my former best friends had shared a photo of the whole group, without me in it, with the caption: “Besties forever.” That hurt.
My 16-year-old son, Jack, snaps me out of my reverie. “Where’s my X-Box controller?” he demands. I confiscated it last night when he refused to turn it off and I’ve forgotten where I’ve hidden it. I know I wouldn’t have written a note because Jack would see it. Or did I write a note and hide that as well? Maybe I wrote a note on my phone… which I can’t find anywhere.
I ring Scott’s work from my other son’s phone and ask him to call my mobile. “I’ve told you, you can ping it from your watch,” Scott says. I can’t remember how. “I showed you yesterday,” he sighs. I can hear his frustration and I’m instantly furious. One major side effect of encephalitis is a very short temper. I slam down the phone, not before shouting: “I’m not doing this on purpose!”
Once I eventually find my phone, I sit down at my desk and get to work. I read an email and open a web browser. I can’t remember why. I go back to the email to remind myself. As I’m re-reading it, the phone rings and I scream. Loudly. Another side effect of encephalitis is sensory overload. I don’t know why, but the phone gets me every time. It’s like I’ve never heard the sound before in my life.
Now, colleagues will WhatsApp, “About to ring you!” before they call, just so my neighbours don’t think I’m being burgled. Scott prefers a more light-hearted approach.
We’ll be in the car, and he’ll put it in Sports mode without me knowing, so we go from 30-60mph in around 1.6 seconds. I scream and swear at him. “We’ve got to get a compilation of your screams from the car camera,” he jokes. I must admit, it is a welcome moment of levity, instead of rage.
I’m lucky that I can still do my job – and do it well – thanks to all of the notes I make, which surround me as I sit at my desk. My colleagues are aware of my medical history, and they understand why I email to ask about something they told me over the phone earlier on.
The publisher regularly reassures me I am just as capable as I was before my memory loss and I take great comfort in this.
After work, we finish our spaghetti bolognese leftovers for dinner, my son finds the X-Box controller hidden in our pan cupboard, and I leave myself a note on the fridge door saying: “We had spag bol last night.”
I open Netflix and click on The Wolf of Wall Street. “Again? We watched that last week!” sighs Scott, but I can’t remember watching it at all. But before my short temper kicks in again, our phone alarms go off. “Tablets!” says Scott, grabbing them for me. We watch my choice of film because, Scott understands, people with encephalitis crave familiarity – and I’ve seen this one enough times that I can actually remember the storyline.
Then, we’re off to bed, before I wake up the next morning to his medication reminder. It’s a bit like , except that unlike Bill Murray’s Phil Connors, I feel I’ve lost the plot.