Government plans to ban leasehold flats mark the "beginning of the end" of the "feudal" leasehold system, according to Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook.

The proposals, published today, aim to give homeowners in England and Wales more control over their property, and include a ban on developers selling new flats under the leasehold system. The move follows "years of complaints" from leaseholders about "crippling service charges and crumbling buildings", said The Guardian.

What is leasehold?
England's leasehold system dates back to the days of the Domesday Book, when serfs were given the right to work a piece of land. Leasing allows someone to own a property, but not the land on which it sits. That is owned by a different person or organisation – the "freeholder" – who leases it out for a fixed period of time. When the lease expires, the land reverts to the freeholder, together with any property on it. There are around five million leasehold homes in England and Wales. In contrast, freehold gives the purchaser full control over the property and the plot of land on which it is built.

What are the problems with leasehold?
Buying a leasehold property "might be the worst mistake you'll make", said The Telegraph in 2023. Agreements may mean buyers have to pay an annual ground rent, with clauses that allow the freeholder to double the amount "every 10 years or so". In addition, the freeholder can impose service charges, "which cover everything from building insurance, to management costs, running costs, repair and maintenance". 

There can also be issues when it comes to selling a leasehold property. A shorter lease is unattractive to potential buyers, meaning owners must often factor the cost of extending the leasehold into the expense of selling their home.

What is the commonhold system?
The government proposals, along with banning the sale of new leasehold flats, would make it simpler for homeowners to co-own the buildings they live in – a form of ownership known as commonhold, which is used all over the world and which the government claims would be a "radical improvement" on the current system. Reforms introduced last year have already prohibited the sale of new houses under leasehold. Commonhold means each flat-owner owns the freehold of their property, but shares the responsibility for common areas and upkeep with others.

The "parade of skeletons" at recent showbiz events shows that the "body positivity" movement was "built on wishful thinking", said Paula Froelich on The Free Press.

The movement celebrating all physiques and body types, no matter how big or small, first emerged during the 1960s and enjoyed a revival during the 2010s.  But images from Hollywood have fuelled fears that its latest chapter is coming to a close.

'New-old ideal'
The pictures from the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards red carpet "speak for themselves" and "make for uncomfortable viewing", said The Telegraph's head of fashion Lisa Armstrong. Body diversity is "rapidly becoming a distant memory", replaced by the "new-old ideal" of weight loss.

Last year, Chioma Nnadi, the editorial director of British Vogue, told the BBC that the fashion industry "should be concerned" by the resurgence of underweight models, pinning some of the blame on the popularity of the weight-loss drug Ozempic.

A recent report that the Advertising Standards Authority banned a Next advert because the model's pose and the camera angle made her appear "unhealthily thin" seems like "the kind of story that should be straight out of 2002", said Olivia Petter in The Independent. It appears that body positivity, "fun as it was for a while", was "only ever going to be transient" in the industry.

'Insidious, inescapable argument'
The movement's "vague, platitudinal statements" were supposed to be "subversive rallying cries" and "signals of a shifting culture", said Sarah Manavis in The New Statesman, but that "blurry language" can be used to "promote the exact beauty standards it set out to disrupt". Now, an "insidious, inescapable argument" sees many people "encouraging women to prioritise skinniness above all else" and "flipping body positivity language back on itself" by using its "self-care underpinnings" to "rebrand thinness as a health issue".

But body positivity isn't "over", psychology professor and body image specialist Dr Charlotte Markey told Page Six. At its core, it isn't about corporate platitudes or red-carpet looks, but rather the "psychological health" of the individual. "Most people want to feel positive in existing versions of themselves and body positivity was never about seeking perfection," she said. "It was always about psychological health."

Brits are "shunning" lemon and sugar in favour of more "creative" pancake toppings such as bacon and kimchi, said the Daily Mail.

Some young people are still opting for Shrove Tuesday "staples", but others are ditching the "classic condiments" in a "race" to try globally inspired pancake recipes. According to research by Waitrose, recipe searches for Korean-style vegetarian pancakes and buttermilk blueberry pancakes are up by more than 300% compared to this time last year.

When whipping up a batch of pancakes, "don't be afraid to tweak the batter", said The Telegraph. A "pinch" of ground cardamom is "delectable" with chocolate and marshmallow pancakes, or add a "handful" of desiccated coconut to the batter and serve the pancakes with passionfruit, chopped mango, a "good dollop" of Greek yoghurt and a "drizzle" of honey.

Other fruity options include swapping lemons for a generous squeeze of juice from halved Seville oranges and a dusting of sugar, or bake rhubarb in the oven with vanilla pods to make a deliciously tart compote.

Prefer something savoury? Try spreading pancakes with n'duja and sprinkle with chunks of buffalo mozzarella before serving with a squeeze of lemon juice and sliced avocado, said The Times. Alternatively, add chopped chives to your batter and serve the pancakes with a dollop of horseradish crème fraîche and a sliver of smoked salmon.

If you really want to impress, food magazine delicious suggests adding spinach and basil to your batter to give the pancakes a "bright-green hue", then finish "just like a florentine pizza with mozzarella, Parma ham and an egg".

The 'goodies and baddies' era of world politics is over
Sam Leith in The Spectator
"Petulance and bullying" is "priced in" with Donald Trump, writes Sam Leith, but what's "more alarming" is how the "chapter is closing on the 'rules-based international order'" and how "we're returning to the primordial condition of great-power competition". Yet morality "isn't antagonistic, in the long run, to national self-interest" – "where people can trust each other, they can do business". If we abandon morality for ruthless realpolitik, "we're all cooked".

Too many parents are trying to be perfect
Libby Purves in The Times
"The evolution of baby books" reveals the "erosion" of "cheerful amateurism", writes Libby Purves. "Handed-down wisdom" has been replaced by baby gurus suggesting parents study "evidence-based neurobiology". In the old days, "no one darkly suggested" that you'd damage your child's mental health "if you had the odd bad day". Now, this "huge advice industry" places a "heavy weight of judgment" on parents that I find "dismaying".

Men are turning against 'women's rights' in record numbers
Kamal Ahmed in The Telegraph
"Much has changed for the better" for women over the years, writes Kamal Ahmed, not least legal protections and "radically different" opportunities. But "equality fatigue is settling in". With boys and young men falling behind in education and careers, new survey data suggests that a "growing number of voters" across the developed world believe that "feminism has gone far enough". "How we respond" to this trend "will shape the next decade of politics".