After Kieran Trippier went down injured in England's opening game of the Euros, the defender stretched his leg out and necked a sachet of… pickle juice.

The latest wellness trend "might sound disgusting", said the BBC, but Gareth Southgate's Three Lions are using it to "combat cramp in players" this summer – and they are not alone.

What is pickle juice?
The "unpalatable-sounding" drink is "similar to the liquid inside your jar of pickled onions or gherkins", said The Times. But the "tart tipple" has many benefits "if you can stomach it". 

It can be more than "leftover brine", said Florence Cherruaultis, founder of The Pickle House. Her signature Original Pickle Juice is brewed for 18 weeks with sliced cucumbers and spices, and promises to be "both sweet and savoury".

Due to pickle juice's high salt content, it's recommended to drink no more than around 80ml, said the Daily Mail, but the "strong flavour" works well mixed with fruit juices and bitters for a mocktail.

How does it work?
The biggest benefit for athletes is that pickle juice has been found to stop cramping 40% faster than drinking water. 

Although the juice contains sodium, potassium and vinegar, which could replace the salts athletes have lost, it is "actually something different which makes it effective", said the BBC. When drunk, pickle juice "triggers a reflex in the mouth which sends a signal to stop muscles from cramping". 

So although the "salty potion" might "sound a bit bonkers", said the Daily Mail, there is a "method to the madness".

It is also low in calories and contains vitamin C and potassium. The "other thing it provides is a dose of probiotics, the healthy bacteria that can improve gut health", sports nutritionist Rob Hobson told The Times. All of this is making pickle juice popular in sport and beyond.

Who uses it?
It has been used in tennis for some time, with Wimbledon men's champion Carlos Alcaraz knocking it back during his five-set victory over Novak Djokovic last summer. And the BBC said as far back as 2019 that athletes were "turning to an unusual drink" to "boost performance".

Headlining Glastonbury has long been a career milestone for musicians, but booking the festival's top acts is becoming increasingly complicated.

"Eyebrows were raised" following the announcement of this year's main acts, which include the return of four-time headliners Coldplay along with R&B singer SZA and pop star Dua Lipa, said The Independent's music editor Roisin O'Connor.

With around 200,000 people descending on Worthy Farm this week – and millions more watching from home – "organisers are finding it near-impossible" to choose top acts that please so many music fans.

'Worst ever'?
Traditionally a rock festival, Glastonbury now attracts headline artists from all genres. Most are doubtless talented performers, said The Telegraph's Neil McCormick, but this increasingly feels like a "betrayal of the festival's roots".

With Shania Twain filling this year's legend's slot and K-pop boyband Seventeen on the Pyramid stage, you have a line-up that is "all bubble and fizz" rather than "an old hippy celebration of alternative music culture".

Disappointed fans have dubbed it "the worst ever", said the Daily Mail.

A crowded field
Finding the winning formula for a successful main act is not simple, said O'Connor. To become a "stone-cold Glastonbury headline success", artists are typically required to "capture the musical zeitgeist" at the given time, something which often changes quickly and can be subjective. Organiser Emily Eavis is under pressure to offer a diverse line-up, and "the bigger the festival becomes, the smaller the pool of artists who can please a larger group of people".

Another factor behind the muted reaction to this year's line-up may be the increasing competition from other festivals, with "dozens of sizeable weekenders filling up the summer", said The Times. As Glastonbury "pays considerably less than its competitors", despite its popularity, there have been a series of drop-outs from major artists enticed elsewhere.

Yet Eavis has "spoken about creating headliners of the future rather than relying on the same old bangers from the Sixties or, at the very latest, the Nineties". This year's line-up "is testament to that".

Lithuania has joined Estonia and Latvia to complete the Michelin guide's trilogy of Baltic countries. And it's Vilnius, Lithuania's vibrant capital, that scooped all four of the new one-star accolades. 

Nineteen18
Nineteen18 was awarded a Michelin star after impressing with head chef Andrius Kubilius's "innovative reinterpretations of Lithuanian cuisine", said Toyo Odetunde on the i news site. Highlights of the adventurous 10-course menu include pillowy mushroom dumplings that are "a joy to eat", as well as "beautifully cooked" Danish beef, according to the guide.

Pas mus
A "truly special spot" in the city's bustling old town, Pas mus translates to "our house", and it lives up to its name, from the beautiful wooden tables made by chef-owner Vita Bartininkaitė's partner, to the inventive dishes crafted from ingredients grown in her mum's garden.

Džiaugsmas 
The exterior of this grand period house "belies the industrial-style modernity that sits within", said the guide. Alongside the à la carte menu, there's a full tasting menu of tasty dishes such as a doughnut with black pudding, and halibut with shrimp mousse. Head chef Martynas Praškevičius produces "easy to eat" food with a "pared-back style" that lets the core ingredients "shine".

Demo
Ambitious young chef-owner Tadas Eidukevičius was said to have proved he was "wise beyond his years" with his "imaginative" set menus, which promise "excitement at every course", from the suckling lamb to the delicious kogel mogel (an elevated take on a traditional Polish dessert made with eggs and sugar).

Will Gaza affect the election? In Ilford, I saw the ways it already has
Nesrine Malik in The Guardian
Ilford North will see "one of the sharpest confrontations over Palestine during this election", writes Nesrine Malik. Here, Labour's Wes Streeting is being challenged by British-Palestinian independent Leanne Mohamad, whose top priorities are "a ceasefire in Gaza" and "an arms embargo against Israel". But with the east London town's large working-class Muslim minority largely "left cold by Westminster", Mohamad's campaign must reconcile "high feeling about Gaza and low engagement with electoral politics".

The soullessness of 'social mobility'
Bartek Staniszewski in The Critic
Social mobility initiatives are "rarely about breaking the class ceiling" as they "reduce class differences to only one thing – money", writes Bartek Staniszewski. The concept is "very palatable" across the spectrum: to the left, because it "promotes equality"; to the right, because "it does so without straying into the dreaded equality of outcome" and "extensive wealth distribution". But reducing social capital to income alone is "soulless": underprivileged young people need "culture, not just skills".

Singles or Doubles?
The Times editorial board
Alcohol is an "integral part" of watching tennis at Wimbledon, where "the booze flows freely", says The Times. "Thankfully", this tradition is "set to survive the suggestion" that organisers follow their French counterparts and "ban booze from the court". Without "the odd sozzled whoop", tennis "would be dull indeed". A few "annoying interventions are part of the fun, in moderation", and "for many, exchanges in the bar beat those on grass".