STRICTLY Come Dancing fans already think they know who is going to win the 2024 series – and it’s only just kicked off.
Viewers at home were delighted to finally find out which pro dancers each of the the 2024 celebrities have been paired with.
Many have praised the chemistry between Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał – with some even salaciously joking that they will be hit with the Strictly ‘curse’ this year.
Fans were also excited to see Chris McCausland preparing to take to the floor with Dianne Buswell.
But there was one couple in particular that audience members think are going to walk away with the Glitterball.
Amy Dowden made a dramatic comeback to the Strictly dance floor for the first time in a year after a battle with cancer took her out of the competition.
Show bosses revealed that she has been paired up with British singer and TV presenter JB Gill.
A TRAVEL presenter has revealed some sneaky ways to stop people going through your suitcase.
TV presenter Catriona Rowntree explained the “luggage policy” she always sticks to in a recent video.
Famous for presenting Australia‘s longest travel and lifestyle television programme, Getaway, Catriona has spent almost three decades travelling the world.
It’s safe to say she has learned a thing or two about packing a suitcase.
“I get asked about packing tips all the time”, she admitted to 9Travel.
In a recent video, Catriona shared her top tips with us all – we’ll start at the top.
Say someone, who isn’t security, is trying to take a sneak peek into your bag, here is Catriona’s top tip.
“Sometimes you’re not allowed to lock your bag, and so I have any dirty undies, socks, etc, at the top of my luggage,” she said.
“Because I always think if someone’s going to raid my luggage or steal my luggage, they’re probably going to open up and go, ‘Oh, look at those socks’, but you really need to be mindful of those things.”
Catriona is adamant there is only one rule when it comes to etiquette and overhead luggage.
“You have to be able to put it up yourself,” she said.
Putting something fragile in the overhead space is entirely at your own risk, as things easily get squashed, she added.
The more flashy your bag is, the more attention it’s likely to receive, which isn’t always a good thing, the TV presenter claimed.
“That will be the first to be stolen” she warned.
“If you’ve got really cheap, dingy luggage, you will be the first to be checked by security.
“So you want something that’s middle of the road.”
Also, opting for a hard case might just save some of your more fragile belongings.
“So much of my stuff has been broken over the years”, Catriona explained.
THREE of the biggest mistakes you can make when getting on a long flight have been revealed by travel experts.
Casey Brogan, consumer travel expert at Tripadvisor, told HuffPost not having enough entertainment was a big mistake.
She said: “Before your flight, download movies, music or podcasts to your devices like phone, iPad or laptop and ensure they are fully charged before traveling so you have guaranteed entertainment options.
“On a recent flight, my in-flight entertainment was not working properly, so I was glad to have downloaded movies to my iPad as a backup for the hours in the air.”
Ms Brogan said that books and crossword puzzles were also good options to bring.
Co-founder of The Vacationer, Phil Dengler, said: “I always bring my own snacks on long-haul flights, and I have never regretted it.
“Food options can be limited, so this guarantees I will be able to eat what I want and when I want.”
Vice president at Kayak North America, Paul Jacobs, said: “Window or aisle ― you really need to decide what is more important to you.
“You can lean on the window ― or have the freedom of getting up and stretching whenever you feel like it. I prefer the aisle any day.”
BORIS Johnson has warned that Ukrainians are being killed and maimed because of the failure to let Kyiv fire British missiles into Russian territory.
The former PM said there is “no conceivable case” for delay in signing off the use of our storm shadow missile system.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer and Joe Biden failed to come to an agreement on the use of the long-range weapons during White House talks on Friday night.
In a blistering attack on the dither and delay, Bojo said: “It is heartbreaking to visit wounded veterans in recovery centres – as I have in Kyiv this weekend – where Ukrainian heroes are being treated for the injuries they have suffered in the past few months.
“And to think that some of these causalities could have been avoided if we had given Storm Shadow permissions earlier.”
He added: “There is no conceivable case for delay.
“The only person who fears escalation is Vladimir Putin and every day that goes by is a lost opportunity to save lives and bring about a just conclusion to this war.”
Former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace also heaped pressure on the UK and US to let Ukraine use the missiles.
He told the BBC: “All of that delay, all of that tug of war favours Russia and allows Putin to insert threats and new red lines and efforts to divide and rule in the international community,”
Volodymyr Zelensky has begged the West to let him use the missiles so he can hit back at Russia in what is expected to be a long, hard winter of fighting.
In a furious Twitter post, he warned that dither and delay only emboldens Moscow’s war machine.
He posted: “It’s difficult to repeatedly hear, “We are working on this,” while Putin continues to burn down our cities and villages.
“He doesn’t need anyone’s approval. Putin interprets delays in helping us and in making strong decisions for Ukraine as permission to do whatever he wants.”
But Putin warned that Russia would be “at war” with NATO countries – including the UK and US – if Ukraine is allowed to use the long-range missiles.
Speaking after his White House talks, Sir Keir said: “We had a wide-ranging discussion about strategy in Ukraine, of course, in the Middle East and other parts of the world.
“This wasn’t a meeting about a particular capability. That wasn’t why we got our heads down today.”
He will continue his diplomatic blitz to persuade world leaders to let Ukraine use Storm Shadow missiles at the UN later this month.
THE DOOM-LADEN warnings we are now hearing from the Government about next month’s ‘painful’ Budget set a rather different tone from Labour’s pre-election pledges to be unashamedly pro-business and pro-growth.
Given the fiscal mess that Rachel Reeves has inherited, it’s understandable hard choices must be made.
But it’s also vital that the Government maintains a laser focus on promoting the growth of the UK economy.
Because the wealth that successful businesses create is the absolute key to delivering growing tax revenues and the investment in public services we all want to see.
I’ve personally got broad shoulders and would be happy to pay some more personal tax – though Labour has ruled out raising the 45% top rate.
But the budget that really matters to me is the weekly budget of my customers, and particularly those who are struggling to feed
their families after years of cost-of-living hikes, despite Iceland’s best efforts to cut prices and help them in many other ways.
Our colleagues and customers are also desperate to see an urgent improvement in the state of the nation’s high streets, which play such a vital role across Britain as community hubs and give us our sense of place. Far too many of these are broken or in spiralling decline.
We could all get behind a budget that promised to deliver fewer potholes, better buses and local services, improved connectivity, more housing, lower crime and the NHS restored.
I’m a great believer in putting more money in the pockets of those who need it most.
The last increase in the National Living Wage cost our business £50m, but we welcomed it as the right thing to do.
Government should certainly look to keep the minimum wage moving upwards, but it needs to do this working with the private sector to phase in changes – and I am confident from my
conversations with Labour that this is the approach they will adopt.
A sudden and dramatic hike in wages risks being unaffordable for the businesses in Britain that are key to our economic success.
I am also in favour of the Labour agenda of enhanced workers’ rights, but again this needs to be done by working with business rather than by imposing unrealistic restrictions and conditions on companies that are genuinely trying to do their best for their employees,
Iceland included.
To stem the decline of our high streets, we have seen the first steps on the road to reform of the planning system to speed the opening of new shops and other job-creating enterprises, and the liberation of all the potential new housing that exists in town centres,
above shops and in place of those that are no longer viable.
We also need an urgent and far-reaching reform of business rates, rebalancing the burden so that online retailers pay a much fairer share of the total than they do today.
Whatever happened to Labour’s digital sales tax on the tech giants?
They can and should pay more tax.
A week ago my Dad and I visited one of our inner-city Iceland stores in Middlesbrough, where our brave colleagues recently fought off far-right rioters and still wage a daily battle against shoplifters who do not hesitate to use violence to make off with our goods.
We were shown a picture of a colleague whose head was a bloody mess after he was hit on the head with a shopping basket by a despicable toe-rag thieving from the store.
This is not about hungry individuals stealing a little to feed themselves: it is systematic criminality for financial gain, and it needs to be met with firmness and resolve.
Government should now act to strengthen policing, make it clear that thefts of less than £200 do deserve attention, and deliver on the promise to make assaults on shop-workers a specific criminal offence.
But we also need to end this data protection pussy-footing to protect known criminals.
The Information Commissioner – who polices our data laws – should make it clear right now that the sharing of images of thieves between retailers and the police is permitted, and that we and our staff will not be put at risk of sanction for fighting crime.
After 14 years of broken promises and disappointment, Britain now stands at an inflection
point.
A positive and optimistic Budget next month could set us on the path to future prosperity by leveraging the power of the state to invest in long-term projects and people skills that will drive economic growth, which will in turn stimulate increased investment by
the private sector.
There is everything to play for.
But the Tories have already imposed the highest tax burden the UK has ever seen, and Government must recognise that business is already bearing heavy costs.
It is not a lemon that can keep being squeezed without any adverse impact on employment or consumers.
I hope and expect to see a Budget that fulfils Labour’s promises, delivers sound public finances and green-lights investments that will deliver a growing economy, a better environment and a stronger society for the benefit of us all.
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