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From pagans to pansexuals... how civil servants are being encouraged to mark an array of 'woke weeks' at workOne of the clichés often trotted out about television shows is that the characters “start to feel like family”. After all, as we grow up, become more atomised, spread out across the world, it’s easy to find yourself spending more time with the cast of your favourite TV show than with your own kith and kin. But while it’s a trite observation, it’s also quite true of the BBC’s Outnumbered , which puts middle-class British family life under a microscope, revealing its facts and follies for all to see. As it makes its long-awaited return this Christmas, Sue and Pete Brockman (Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis) have some news. Some big, scary – whisper it – cancer news. But they aren’t going to let that derail their Christmas plans, as the three Brockman children – Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey), Ben (Daniel Roche), and Karen (Ramona Marquez) – descend upon the family home for the festive period. Oh, and then there’s Jane (Hattie Morahan), the local irritant the Brockmans can never shrug off, who becomes an extended interloper for the holidays. “This place is so much smaller than the last place,” says Sue, as the brood arrives at the new digs, “and they’re so much bigger.” And so they are: eight years have passed since the last Outnumbered special , and the kids are now in their mid-twenties. Adulthood brings new challenges. “Are you going to stop paying for our mobile phones?” the children ask, in unison, when their parents tell them that they have an announcement to make. But there is something bigger at stake here: Pete, the world-weary Brockman clan patriarch, has prostate cancer. It’s a revelation that breaks the children out of their own crises: Jake has relationship issues, Ben is about to backpack across the Andes, and Karen has left another job after falling out with her colleagues. But does the dynamic with your children ever really change? However old they get, aren’t they always children to their parents? Outnumbered has always been typified by a quiet sense of farce. Dennis, a master of dry British comedy, is a straight man whose visible self-repression always builds towards a frenzied release (here, he ends up, as the kids would say, yeeting the neighbour’s Christmas parcels over the fence). Skinner, meanwhile, is a ball of anxious energy, desperate for this fudged Christmas gathering to be a success. But while Dennis and Skinner are pros, the actors playing their children – who have been part of the cast since they were 11, 7 and 5, respectively – have lost something of the natural comedic instinct they displayed as kids. The rambunctious chaos of the Brockman household has given way to a gentleness that could be mistaken for blandness. Of course, a Christmas special ought to be mellow. Outnumbered has always been a show for the whole family. Parents will sigh along with that feeling that their children will never get out from under their feet; kids will chime with that creeping recognition that their parents are mere mortals. “We’ll know they’re OK when they start taking the piss,” Pete reckons, after delivering his cancer bombshell. It is a show to be watched as a family, in a turkey fugue, before, or between, arguments about politics or football or who was the least-favoured child growing up. An Outnumbered Christmas special is like a very simple two-act play. The cast assembles and a dramatic revelation is made. Curtain, go get a £5 tub of ice cream. Then, in the second act, everyone speeds towards a sense of acceptance with this new reality, demonstrating that blood is thicker than eggnog (figuratively, it’s actually not), and we’re all bound to our families by more than mere proximity. It’s a simple proposition, and a harmless one, and ought to provide 45 minutes of square-eyed communion over the fractious yuletide period. ‘Outnumbered’ Christmas Special 2024 is available on BBC iPlayer nowMARKS and Spencer shoppers cried "Christmas is ruined" after a festive favourite was axed. The popular treat had only been on the shelves for a short while before being pulled just weeks before the big day. Customers were baffled when they went on the hunt for M&S Chocolate Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Rolls and the goodie was no where to be seen. One confused shopper penned a plea to the superstore which read: "Please don’t break my heart so close to Christmas.... Your chocolate and cinnamon tortilla rolls have disappeared from our local store and I can’t find them online. "Say they’ll be back on the shelves again soon." A company spokesperson wrote back: "Hi Nicki. I'm truly sorry - we're no longer making these! Read More "We'll let the food team know that you (and me and my mum!) would LOVE to see them ake a return! Fingers crossed!" But fans were devastated by the confirmation. "Christmas ruined M&S.....It’s gonna take a while to forgive you for this one," said one. The Marks and Spencer spokesperson joked: "Apologies! We still have a great range of festive treats available in store. I hope you can forgive us." Most read in Money The festive sweet treat was available for £2.75 before being scrapped from stock. They were described by the supermarket as: "Crunchy cinnamon spiced tortilla rolls dipped in creamy milk chocolate". And, the snack was gluten free, as well as suitable for vegetarians. This comes as M&S shoppers also faced disappointment when learning about another discontinuation. The posh store confirmed it chopped one of its most popular breakfast items. They have pulled their "glorious" Cocoa & Cherry Bircher pot from shelves. Other discontinued M&S treats M&S shoppers have been left gutted after the chain axed a popular takeaway meal after less than two years. The supermarket's Vegan 'Chicken' & Pepper Pizza earned rave reviews before it was scrapped. It also discontinued its almond milk and vanilla hand wash , despite being described by shoppers as "amazing and affordable". The posh shop also removed some of its popular Percy Pig sweets from its range - leading to desperate calls for them to be reinstated. Percy Pig Phizzy Chews earned rave reviews before they were scrapped in the brand’s recent confectionery overhaul in July. What's more its popular Colin the Caterpillar in a jar treats recently disappeared from the shop shelves. Marks and Sparks also confirmed that a popular teatime meal has been axed as the supermarket carries out a shake-up. The supermarket has cut the Plant Kitchen : 2 No Beef Steak Pies. The supermarket then expanded to say that it was set to relaunch the Plant Kitchen range. READ MORE SUN STORIES Earlier this year, Marks and Spencer shoppers begged the retailer to bring an iconic flavour of ice cream back after learning it had been savagely discontinued. A customer was baffled when they came up empty handed while rummaging through the freezer section for Chocolate Millionaires Ice Cream. ANALYSIS by chief consumer reporter James Flanders. Food and drinks makers have been known to tweak their recipes or axe items altogether. They often say that this is down to the changing tastes of customers. There are several reasons why this could be done. For example, government regulation, like the "sugar tax," forces firms to change their recipes. Some manufacturers might choose to tweak ingredients to cut costs. They may opt for a cheaper alternative, especially when costs are rising to keep prices stable. For example, Tango Cherry disappeared from shelves in 2018 . It has recently returned after six years away but as a sugar-free version. Fanta removed sweetener from its sugar-free alternative earlier this year. Suntory tweaked the flavour of its flagship Lucozade Original and Orange energy drinks . While the amount of sugar in every bottle remains unchanged, the supplier swapped out the sweetener aspartame for sucralose.

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Louis Tomlinson has broken his social media silence to share some positive news after he attended Liam Payne's funeral last week. The former One Direction star , 32, took to his Instagram stories on Friday to tease the release of some new music as she shared a photo of his guitar. Louis had made a makeshift guitar capo out of a yellow pen. Alongside the photo, he simply wrote: "DIY." The picture comes after Louis said that he and Liam had plans to release new music together as he shared a heartbreaking tribute to his former bandmate following his death. Liam Payne's worries for son Bear revealed after One Direction star's tragic death Liam Payne's family to take 'legal action against anyone involved in his hotel fall' Louis took to Instagram to share a lengthy post a day after the star fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Louis claimed he and Liam had often spoke of making music together and hoped to recreate their chemistry from their days together in One Direction. The touching tribute saw Louis call Liam one of his best friends and the "most vital part of One Direction." Alongside a photo of the pair embracing and smiling, Louis wrote, "Liam was an incredible songwriter with a great sense of melody, we often spoke of getting back in the studio together to try and recreate the writing chemistry we had built up in the band." He continued, "And for the record, Liam was in my opinion the most vital part of One Direction. His experience from a young age, his perfect pitch, his stage presence, his gift for writing. The list goes on. Thank you for shaping us Liam." He then sent a heartfelt message to Liam, expressing how "beyond lucky" he felt to have had him in his life. Louis admitted their bond had only grown stronger since the band's split, with countless hours spent reminiscing over the phone about shared memories. In a poignant remark, Louis confessed he thought that would be a "luxury" he'd enjoy for his entire life. "I would have loved to share the stage with you again but it wasn't to be," he continued, expressing regret at not having the chance to say a proper goodbye and tell him he loved him. Louis also made a solemn promise regarding Liam's son, Bear, whom he shares with his ex-girlfriend Cheryl. Louis wrote, "I want you to know that if Bear ever needs me I will be the Uncle he needs in his life and tell him stories of how amazing his dad was." Liam was laid to rest last week, one month after his tragic death in Argentina. Friends and family of the One Direction singer gathered to mourn him as his coffin was brought to the church in a horse-drawn hearse, with fans lining the streets to pay their respects. Among those present at the funeral were Liam's former bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Louis, along with other celebrity friends. Cheryl also attended the funeral to bid a final farewell to Bear's father and was seen with his family. Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sport and entertainment stories. DAILY NEWSLETTER: Sign up here to get the latest news and updates from the Mirror US straight to your inbox with our FREE newsletter.

Donovan Dijak Reflects On the Art Of Ratioing Someone On Social MediaEx-Candidate Wants to 'Reinvent the Party'Baltimore is all Mariah Carey wants for Christmas during holiday visit

NoneIt looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. "The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more," Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. "There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie," said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction." Something in the kitchen was contaminated In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation, did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the "no-fault findings," as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report, Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist "saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities." But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's "decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable." But how did the drugs get into the kitchen? A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug "then entered the market through illegal channels," he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles," Li said. "The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice." New information sent to WADA ... eventually This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. "Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated," he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. "It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. "Which clearly it has not."Cadiz Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend for Q4 2024 on Series A Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — After losing to San Francisco in the playoffs three of the last five seasons, the Green Bay Packers wouldn’t mind seeing the 49ers get left out of the postseason entirely. The Packers (7-3) could damage San Francisco’s playoff hopes Sunday by beating the 49ers at Lambeau Field. San Francisco (5-5) dropped to .500 after losing at home to the Seattle Seahawks, though the 49ers remain just a game behind the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West. “I think we’re motivated to keep winning more than anything,” Packers center Josh Myers said. “Obviously, they have knocked us out quite a bit. There’s that extra motivation behind it, but at this point, we’re just trying to churn out wins.” The 49ers will be playing this game without starting quarterback Brock Purdy, who injured his right shoulder in the Seahawks game. Although an MRI showed no structural damage, Purdy's shoulder didn't improve as the week wore on. Brandon Allen will start in Purdy's place. Green Bay is third in the NFC North and two games behind the Detroit Lions, but the Packers appear on track to at least earn a wild-card playoff berth. History suggests their path to a potential Super Bowl would get much clearer if the 49ers aren’t standing in their way. The 49ers trailed 21-14 in the fourth quarter before rallying to beat the Packers 24-21 in the divisional playoffs last year on Christian McCaffrey’s 6-yard touchdown run with 1:07 left. Now, it’s the 49ers who are struggling to protect late leads, as they’ve blown fourth-quarter advantages in three games against divisional opponents. “You could look at, ‘Hey, we’re three possessions away from being 8-2,’ but you can’t really live like that,” 49ers tight end George Kittle said. “Those are the mistakes that we’ve made to be 5-5. It’s not exactly where we want to be. It is frustrating. The nice thing is we have seven games left to go out there and play Niners football and take advantage of those opportunities.” Green Bay’s recent history of playoff frustration against the 49ers also includes a 13-10 loss at Lambeau Field in the 2021 divisional playoffs and a 37-20 road defeat in the 2019 NFC championship game. Even the Packers players who weren’t around for last season’s playoff loss realize what this game means. “I think one of the first meetings that I was in here, we had a conversation about the Niners beating us,” said Green Bay safety Xavier McKinney, who joined the Packers this season. “So I understand how important it is, and we all do.” Both teams must figure out how to convert red-zone opportunities into touchdowns. The 49ers are scoring touchdowns on just 48.8% of their drives inside an opponent’s 20-yard line to rank 27th in the NFL. The Packers are slightly worse in that regard, scoring touchdowns on 48.7% of their red-zone possessions to rank 28th. In their 20-19 victory at Chicago on Sunday, Green Bay drove to the Bears 5 without scoring on two separate series. Purdy isn't the only notable player who won't be participating in Sunday's game. San Francisco won't have four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Nick Bosa available after he hurt his left hip and oblique against the Seahawks. Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander (knee) and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (hamstring) also have been ruled out. Kittle expects to play for the 49ers on Sunday after missing the Seahawks game with a hamstring injury. 49ers left tackle Trent Williams (ankle) is questionable. Green Bay’s defense feasted on turnovers the first part of the season, but hasn’t been as effective in getting those takeaways lately. The Packers have 19 takeaways – already exceeding their 2023 total – but haven’t forced any turnovers in their last two games. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan hasn’t eased McCaffrey back into the lineup in his return after missing the first eight games with Achilles tendinitis. McCaffrey has played 91% of the 49ers’ offensive snaps the past two weeks. Jordan Mason, who rushed for 685 yards during McCaffrey’s absence, has just five snaps on offense the last two games. Shanahan said he’d like to get Mason more opportunities, but it’s hard to take McCaffrey off the field. Green Bay nearly lost to the Bears because of its third-down struggles on both sides of the ball. The Packers were 1 of 5 on third-down opportunities, while the Bears went 9 of 16. The Packers’ defense could have a tough time correcting that problem against San Francisco, which has converted 45.4% of its third-down situations to rank fourth in the league. AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL