Local residents have been evacuated and streets closed off after a Surrey village this week became the latest in a series of locations worldwide to be hit by sinkholes. A massive hole opened up in Godstone on Monday night and engulfed a garden, with a second then swallowing up a "large chunk of the street" and leaving a car "teetering" on its edge, said the Daily Mail.

Sinkholes have been causing problems for communities in regions ranging from Greenwich to Guatemala. They have swallowed cars, ravaged homes and even ruined AFC Wimbledon's pitch last year. 

Why do sinkholes happen?
Some are caused by a naturally occurring phenomenon, as water gradually dissolves soluble rock to form an underground cavity. Loose sedimentary rock from nearer the surface level gradually falls into the cavity, until the surface is unable to sustain itself and collapses. Periods of persistent heavy rain or flooding are most likely to expose these holes.

Another type is a "crown hole", a cave-in of a cavity caused by human activity, such as abandoned mines and sewage works. Disused clay pits were blamed for creating fissures in the ground that led to a sinkhole in St Albans in 2015.

Are we making things worse?
Kind of. "These are primarily natural phenomena, which humans can occasionally influence," said The Guardian's Karl Mathiesen. The timescale for many of these events is thousands of years, meaning that most sinkholes began forming long before humans started interfering.

But ongoing climate change raises the likelihood of extreme weather, so the torrential rain and flooding conditions that often lead to the exposure of sinkholes are likely to become increasingly common.

Is it possible to predict a sinkhole?
Wet weather leading to saturated ground is the primary trigger for natural sinkholes in the UK, where they tend to appear in areas that stand on soluble chalk, gypsum or salt rock.

Predicting naturally occurring sinkholes is unfeasible, but surveying can establish whether a property is built over any man-made features, such as a disused mine or tunnel, that increase the risk of a crown hole. 

The circumstances around the apparent suicide of South Korean actor Kim Sae-ron last Sunday are "depressingly familiar" to those who follow the country's entertainment industry, said the BBC.

The 24-year-old star (pictured above) had been "bombarded with negative press coverage and hate online" following a drink-driving conviction in 2022, in the latest example of the nation's harsh celebrity cancel culture.

'Double-edged sword'
Kim was "one of the brightest young stars in South Korean cinema" before the drink-driving incident sparked public outrage, said The Associated Press. Celebrity, or "idol", culture in South Korea is notoriously intense, with dedicated fanbases devoting themselves to those they admire – but that admiration can be a "double-edged sword", Kookmin University sociology professor Choi Hang-sub told The Korea Herald. One misstep and the attention can quickly turn negative, sparking a deluge of vicious criticism.

Despite repeatedly apologising, Kim lost roles, "had her scenes cut from Netflix productions and was blacklisted by brands and media outlets", said the news site. Her attempts to reconstruct her life were "met with further ridicule and online harassment" – a familiar story for the famous in South Korea.

'Not a legitimate matter of public interest'
Scrutiny from mainstream media also intensifies the problem, with entertainers on the edge "fearing further negative coverage" if they seek help for mental health issues, said AP. "In the about 1,000 days between her drunk-driving crash in May 2022 and her death, South Korean news organisations published at least around 2,000 stories" about Kim.

Heo Chanhaeng, executive director at the Center for Media Responsibility and Human Rights, said that the comment sections on entertainment stories should be shut down to protect stars. Kim's private life "was indiscriminately reported beyond what was necessary", Heo said. "That’s not a legitimate matter of public interest."

Legal action to protect celebrities from media-driven hatred have so far stalled. After two South Korean stars died by suicide in 2019, "lawmakers proposed various measures to discourage harsh online comments", but none passed.

"Break out the bodices and bonnets," said The Times. Jane Austen fans are "flocking" to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the world-renowned author's birth this year. Here are some of the events that Austenites won't want to miss:

Bath
Bath is "basically the Jane Austen capital", said Time Out, so it's little surprise that the Somerset city is "hosting a vast array of revelries to mark her birthday". While the "full details are still under wraps", Bath's annual Jane Austen Festival will include a "big costumed promenade" on 13 September and a series of "Austen-inspired gala balls".

Derbyshire
In December, Chatsworth House – which became Mr Darcy's country estate in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" – will host a Regency ball inspired by the novel, said Time Out. The memorable evening will be the final event in Chatsworth's Austen250 programme, a series of talks, workshops and dressing-up events throughout the year.

Hampshire
The Jane Austen House museum in Chawton – where the author lived for the last eight years of her life and wrote most of her novels – is preparing for a busy year of events, from a "Pride and Prejudice" walking tour to a "Persuasion"-themed festival. The museum is also running an exhibition, "Austenmania!", celebrating the landmark 1995 TV and film adaptations of Austen's works. And in June, No.8 College Street in Winchester – the house where Austen died in 1817 – will open to the public for the first time.

A simple solution to falling birth rates is staring Farage in the face
Zoe Gardner in Metro
Nigel Farage has "pivoted 180 degrees" from his "dire warnings" about a "population explosion", writes Zoe Gardner. The Reform leader now "wants us to have more children". Clearly, "it's time for some honesty": politicians "ramping up anti-migrant politics" have "utterly failed to bring home what an ageing population means". We "must take action" because the UK "needs people desperately, and – as luck would have it – there are people who desperately need to come to the UK, too".

Reciprocal tariffs really mean chaos for global trade
The Economist's editorial board
Donald Trump "hopes to find out" what happens when you "ditch the principles that underpinned global trade" for decades, says The Economist. Our "stable multilateral trade system" has, "for all its flaws", nurtured "miraculous rises in global prosperity", but must now "give way to arbitrary judgments made in the Oval Office". Trump may want "a full-scale trade war" but it would deal "a blow to the American and world economies alike".

The elderly don't need more political representation
John Oxley in The Spectator
Young people feel "economically adrift", writes John Oxley. They have "borne the brunt of wage stagnation" and "homeownership is increasingly unaffordable". Yet politicians think we need to "focus more on the feelings of the ageing". Old people "do face discrimination", but the notion that they are "in need of extra representation is flawed". The reality is that they actually "have perhaps some of the biggest sway in our society".