Former "Apprentice" contestant Thomas Skinner is the latest addition to the next "Strictly Come Dancing" line-up. But while a stint on "Strictly" seems like a natural step for a reality TV star, the 34-year-old from Essex has also been making headlines on the political stage.

Only days ago, Skinner – famed for his social media videos and "bosh" catchphrase – was among the guests at an exclusive barbecue in the Cotswolds hosted by US Vice President J.D. Vance.

Arthurian myth
Skinner’s presence at the vice president's barbecue would once have seemed "improbable", said The Telegraph, but the former market trader may now be "Britain's most influential political figure".

In today's fraught political climate, Skinner's "broad, cheerful demeanour" is as "welcome as an ice-cold pint of lager on a warm summer's day", said Simon Evans on Spiked. He's like "an earlier, healthier, more confident Englishman", or an "avatar of that stubborn Arthurian myth, of the sleepers under the hill that will awake in England's direst need".

Perhaps there's an "element of artifice" in Skinner's "presentation of himself to the world" as a "perennial British type", said UnHerd. But he nonetheless represents a "large but neglected demographic: the old aspirational working and middle class", who are "often culturally conservative, patriotic" and "tough on law and order".

Grafter to grifter?
Skinner delivered a speech at the right-wing Now and England conference in June that was "simple, stirring, populist stuff", said Nicholas Harris in The New Statesman. He has said at various times that Donald Trump is "brilliant", that Sadiq Khan has "ruined" London and that environmental protesters are "ruining people's lives", said Cockburn in The Spectator.

"I was a fan" of Skinner when he was on "The Apprentice" back in 2019, said Adam Miller in Metro, but in recent months he appears to have made "deliberate use of misinformation to stoke culture wars". There is potential for Skinner to become a "dangerously influential figure", and his "flirtations" with Reform UK have a "real impact", creating "more division" in a country that he "claims he wants to unite".

The Trump administration's 39% tariff on Swiss exports has put a country that typically stays out of global conflicts directly in the crosshairs of a global trade war.

The "worst-case scenario has become a reality", Swissmem, a group representing the Swiss engineering and tech industries, told The New York Times. If this "exorbitant customs burden is maintained", Switzerland's "export business to the USA will be effectively annihilated".

Why Switzerland?
Switzerland has "long prized what it describes as an 'excellent' relationship with America", said The New York Times. But while Switzerland has remained mostly neutral in recent American affairs, Donald Trump has railed against the country, grouping it among the nations that he says "treat Americans 'unfairly' by exporting more goods to the United States than they buy from it".

Is that true?
Switzerland does have a high trade deficit with the US — about $48 billion (£35.4 million), according to the US Census Bureau. That accounts for around half of Switzerland's overall trade surplus, but balancing it out seems "impossible", said the BBC. Switzerland's specialties, such as pharmaceuticals, gold, luxury goods and high-end machinery, fit American demand. Conversely ,"the population of Switzerland is just nine million, and, bluntly, many of them don't want to buy US products".

What does it mean for Switzerland?
The decision to hit Switzerland with the highest US tariff on any developed nation came as a "surprise to the European country", given that a "trade agreement had seemingly been imminent", said CNBC. There are tariff exemptions for Swiss gold and pharmaceutical businesses, two areas in which the US relies heavily on Swiss imports, but Switzerland's other industries have become "victims of Trump's economically misguided focus on bilateral trade balances", said The Economist.

Switzerland may be able to make up some of the lost trade by increasing its market in the EU, said the BBC, but "politically, being slighted by America hurts".

Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy chat over a cuppa in the garden at 10 Downing Street. The Ukrainian president visited today as he and his country's allies brace for Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump's summit in Alaska tomorrow.

Ben Stansall / WPA Pool / Getty Images

If you love a country stroll and you're partial to an exhibition, why not combine the two at a sculpture park? The UK is home to an impressive array of open-air galleries – here are some of our favourite spots.

Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, St Ives
Shortly after her death in 1975, Barbara Hepworth's studio in St Ives was turned into a public gallery. Outside in her "picturesque garden overlooking the sea" (pictured above) sit some of her most striking works, said Time Out, including the monumental bronze "Two Forms (Divided Circle)".

The Sculpture Park, Surrey
You'll leave this unassuming park in Surrey "bowled over" after an afternoon spent "wandering through what feels like miles of winding woodland paths, peppered with bronze gorillas and mirror-shiny steel bridges spanning lakes and streams", said Country Life. It's home to more than 800 sculptures, all available to buy.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
This "vast Georgian parkland estate" is dotted with "creations" by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, said The Times. Other works to search out include Andy Goldsworthy's "Peter's Fold", a permanent sculpture built using ancient dry-stone techniques around a common lime tree.

Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
Look out for pieces by "luminaries" including Anish Kapoor, Marc Quinn and Phyllida Barlow at this park just outside the Scottish capital, said The Times. Open from April to October, it hosts an annual arts festival, Jupiter Rising, each August, with poetry readings and live music among the sculptures.

So Gen Z need special coaching to make actual phone calls. Get a grip!
Victoria Richards in The Independent
A-level results day is "even more onerous than usual for teachers" this year, writes Victoria Richards. The "current cohort of wannabe adults" are "so frightened of making an actual real-life phone call" to higher education admissions service Ucas that "schools are having to offer workshops on how to do it". I know I sound like "some ancient crone", but I'm "despairing" about Gen Z's lack of "get-up-and-go". It's become "all too easy" for them to say they "can't do something".

Xi Jinping's weaponisation of rare-earth elements will ultimately backfire
The Economist's editorial board
When the Chinese government "choked off" the export of rare-earth elements earlier this year, producers and politicians worldwide were "quick to sound the alarm", says The Economist. At "first glance", the "use of rare earths as a weapon is working" but, in the long term, it will "backfire". Export controls have "unintended consequences" and "confronted with a ban", businesses "find ways around the shortage". So "the more China uses its rare-earths weapon", the "weaker it will become".

Why are we all so excited for The Life Of A Showgirl? It's because Taylor Swift is an antidote to loneliness
Rose Gallagher in Stylist
A key reason for the excitement that greets a new Taylor Swift album is "that we can get excited about it together", writes Rose Gallagher. "It's a shared joy" and an "antidote to the loneliness" of modern life. The "bubble" surrounding the singer "is a place to feel safe, find friends and just lose yourself for a moment". And "when you contemplate the world around us right now, it's easy to understand why that might sound appealing".