Ticket inspections, passport control and further checks at the gate are just three of the barriers that illegitimate plane passengers have to evade, yet some are still managing it. A man boarded a Heathrow flight to Norway without a ticket, boarding pass or passport, in one of the latest cases of sky-high stowaways. 

What happened?
The unnamed passenger slipped onto a British Airways flight to Oslo on 13 December. Having “tailgated his way through the automatic gates at Terminal 3”, said The Telegraph, he passed through “full security screening” before reaching the gate. There, he pretended to be travelling with a family and boarded the Airbus A320. Once on board, he kept moving seats as the plane filled up, before cabin crew realised he wasn’t a legitimate passenger and removed him.

Why are stowaways getting through?
Stowaways often take advantage of “bottlenecks where passenger processing occurs”, Damian Devlin, a University of East London lecturer in aviation management, told The Telegraph. The situation “creates sufficient distraction”, with staff “so focused on a particular task and on maximising passenger throughput” that they “fail to notice tailgating taking place”.

An American woman, Marilyn Hartman, was dubbed the “Serial Stowaway” after she allegedly boarded at least 20 commercial flights without a ticket, including a 2018 British Airways flight from Chicago to Heathrow. Speaking to CBS News in 2021, Hartman said it was “so crazy” that she was able to get onto flights by simply “following someone”. 

Will such breaches continue?
We “don’t always know exactly how it happens”, said USA Today, because if a breach involves “lapses” at security checkpoints, the “relevant agencies” might not want to “broadcast their vulnerabilities”.
But as technology is increasingly used in the airport security process, “it will be less likely” that this “sneaking onto an aeroplane is possible”, said Thrillist.

“Technology is continuously improving and continuously making it more and more difficult for people that have ill intent to accomplish what they’re trying to do, whether it’s X-ray machines, metal detection, liquid detection, all of the above,” said Rich Davis, from security company International SOS.

Unprepared, arrogant, immature. These are some of the words being used to describe England’s cricket team following their Ashes defeat to Australia after just three Test matches and 11 days of cricket.

In the three-and-a-half years since Brendon “Baz” McCullum took over as coach of the England men’s squad, the so-called “Bazball” philosophy that he has pioneered with captain Ben Stokes “told us that nothing was impossible”, said the Daily Mail. But England’s final capitulation in Adelaide on Sunday “felt like more than the end of just a game of cricket. It felt like the end of an idea.”

‘Too far up their backsides’
“Perhaps nobody embodies the emasculation of this England team on this tour, and the emasculation of the philosophy that has underpinned their challenge”, more than Ben Duckett, said former England captain Mike Atherton in The Times. The “unorthodox, rasping opener”, who “prides himself on how few balls he leaves at the top of the order”, has racked up a grand total of 97 runs over the course of six innings in Australia, being dismissed for a golden duck in the second Test.

Contrast this with the famed England opener of yesteryear, Geoffrey Boycott, who won two tours of Australia and drew the other two.  In a scathing assessment of Bazball, Boycott described the team as “irresponsible, rubbish and too far up their backsides to care” and claimed “hubris has taken over from common sense”.

‘Bazball in the skip’
In its “pure form”, Bazball “defined Test cricket as a game of batting intent”, said The Guardian’s Barney Ronay. But “as Australia have demonstrated, it is above all a bowling game”. While there is “no disgrace at all in losing to these opponents”, England’s “failure lies in the nature of that defeat, in losing not just quickly but sloppily”.

Following his team’s Adelaide defeat, McCullum admitted that “we haven’t got everything right” in the series, including England’s much-criticised preparations and failure to play any proper warm-up matches. This rare moment of introspection “is a massive step forward” for the England coach, said the BBC’s chief cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew, but “Bazball as we knew it is in the skip”.

A Moscow Investigative Committee expert examines the wreckage of a car bombing that killed a top general this morning. Officials said Ukraine may be behind the attack on Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov, the third such killing of a senior Russian military officer in a year.

Sefa Karacan / Anadolu / Getty Images

Even if you don’t have an open fire for roasting them, chestnuts are a versatile ingredient to add flavour to all sorts of dishes. At this time of year, in particular, “I urge you to seek them out”, said Felicity Cloake in The Guardian.

Chestnuts “might not be the first treat you think of” during the Christmas season, said Phoebe Cornish on Express Online, but “they’re still deeply rooted in global festivities”. To roast them in the oven, Jamie Oliver recommends slicing a cross on top of the shells with a sharp knife and putting them “cross-side up” on a tray in an oven preheated to 200C/gas mark 6. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tops split open. Leave to cool, then peel away the shells. 

Although delicious on their own, chestnuts can also be the basis of delicious vegan alternatives to a traditional Christmas dinner. A buttery mushroom, chestnut and thyme wellington will knock your guests’ socks off, vegan cook and food writer Katy Beskow told Stylist. Easy to prepare, with only a handful of ingredients, it is a “failsafe for the big day”.

Chestnuts are equally good in sweet dishes. Nigella Lawson’s chestnutty twist on a classic pavlova is a real delight, said Food & Wine. “Crisp” meringue with a “soft, marshmallowy interior” is topped with a sweetened chestnut purée and then “swathes of softly whipped cream and splinters of bitter chocolate”. It’s a “fabulously festive” treat.

Keir Starmer’s government is leaving the hunger strikers to die
Harriet Williamson on Novara Media
“By the standards of even the most forgiving and lenient Santa, it can’t be said that Keir Starmer’s government has been good this year,” writes Harriet Williamson. “One shameful chapter” remains “wide open: the six hunger-striking prisoners” held in connection to Palestine Action activism. “Sniggering from MPs”, right-wing commentators and social media users “betrays their blindness” to “the reputational stains on those who turn a deaf ear”. Our leaders’ “commitment to safeguarding the operations of Israel’s largest arms company on British soil” feels “increasingly grotesque”.

We can’t let screens rob children of the magic of Winnie-the-Pooh
Jane Shilling in The Telegraph
“Get out the jars of honey in honour” of Winnie-the-Pooh, who turns 100 on Christmas Eve, writes Jane Shilling. “No book with an agenda can ever hope to charm, but woven into the best story-telling are themes of resilience, courage and ingenuity.” Our“cherished children’s books owe their longevity to each generation that passes them on”, so if we want Pooh and Co. to “carry on delighting, consoling and empowering children” in this screen-obsessed era, it’s “up to us to keep them alive”.

The hill I will die on:  ‘Small plates’ are fiddly and cost a fortune – ban them
Jonny Woo in The Guardian
“My heart sinks and I become inwardly furious” when a waiter announces that “we do ‘small plates’ and we suggest you order between three and 20 per person”, writes Jonny Woo. “Suddenly you’re hanging out a tenner here, a tenner there”, for “tiny saucers of pomegranate seeds, things sprinkled in petals and a random blow-torched lettuce leaf. Just give me a bloody dinner!” And don’t suggest we share, like “a pack of wild cats”. Instead, “grow up”.