Ministers have given the green light to the Lower Thames Crossing, ending years of delays and false starts to a scheme that has become a "symbol of Britain's sclerotic planning system", said the Financial Times.

What is it?
Described by National Highways as "the most significant road project in a generation", the 14.5-mile road and tunnel project will connect Kent and Essex. 

The project is "aimed at reducing congestion on the Dartford Crossing by nearly doubling road capacity across the Thames east of London", said The Independent. A northbound and a southbound route to be built under the Thames will be "the UK's longest road tunnels", at 2.6 miles.

What was the hold-up?
Tuesday's announcement by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was "16 years in the making, with the project first mooted in 2009", said the BBC.

More than £1.2 billion has already been spent on planning, consultations, traffic modelling, environmental assessments, legal and advisory fees and land purchases, amid a storm of objections from local authorities and interest groups.

The scheme was forecast to cost between £5.3 billion and £6.8 billion when it was initially agreed in 2017, but the bill is now expected to reach £10 billion. Barring any further hold-ups, work on the tunnel is expected to begin next year, with the opening scheduled for 2032.

Why is the project controversial?
Residents of Thurrock in Essex told the BBC last October that the "looming" plans for the area had left them unable to sell their homes and move. Thurrock Council leader John Kent said that the tunnels would "cut Thurrock in two, severing communities, bring huge amounts of pollution to the borough, but bring no discernible benefits for local people".

The project has also faced "legal threats" from environmental groups, said The i Paper. "Conservationists claim several developments that are central to the Government's growth agenda" – including the Lower Thames Crossing – "do not take into consideration new laws designed to improve England’s protected national park and landscapes".

There has also been fierce debate about how to fund the project, with the government "yet to decide what method of private finance to use", said the FT.

Every year about 200,000 British men "opt for a hair transplant", said The i Paper, and the global hair loss industry is valued at "more than $23 billion". That financial growth is being boosted by a procedure that was "almost unknown until the early 2000s". The number of beard transplants performed worldwide has "shot up radically", quadrupling over the past 20 years, according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery.

'The Prince William effect'
For many years, men in the spotlight tended to be clean-shaven, but in the early 2000s, celebrities such as George Clooney and David Beckham "helped to bring the hirsute look into fashion", said The i Paper. Manish Mittal, a hair transplant surgeon in London, told the paper that he had seen an uptick in requests for beard transplants from clients (mainly men in their 30s) who "want to be taken more seriously" and look "manly".

Last year Prince William (pictured above) debuted a beard "so popular with royal fans that they actually mourned the dashing look when he shaved", said Marie Claire. It "inspired other men" to copy his look. One clinic in Istanbul claimed to have performed 200% more beard transplants, in what was dubbed the "Prince William effect". "They think it looks rugged and masculine," Murat Alsac, co-founder of a hair transplant clinic in Turkey, told the Daily Express.

A 'wild west' industry
The "wider outbreak of pogonophilia (love of beards)" in recent years was turbocharged by the pandemic, said The Guardian. Lockdowns created a "compelling combination of spare time and disposable income", compounded by a "harsh mirror of endless video calls". Demand soared for a "whole gallery of aesthetic tweaks", and "prompted a surge in bigger, fuller beards".

But that rising demand has "created a minefield", said the paper. "Slick websites and social media accounts" obscure "dodgy practices". In the UK, there is "no formally recognised training" nor any law preventing a doctor from overseeing multiple procedures done by "less qualified technicians". Clinics in "transplant-tourism hotspots" such as Turkey have boomed, offering procedures at a "fraction" of UK prices. "It's still a wild west, this industry," said Spencer Stevenson, a mentor for balding men, known as Spex.

BBC One's "This City Is Ours" has already been dubbed the "Scouse Sopranos". The new release can't really compete with the HBO hit, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph, but "it's cracking. I binged all eight episodes in two days."

The "tense crime thriller of betrayals and shifting loyalties" follows Liverpool gangster Ronnie Phelan (Sean Bean) (pictured above), who is running a successful cocaine-smuggling business with the help of his "capable right-hand man", Michael Kavanagh (James Nelson-Joyce). But when Ronnie decides to retire, a power struggle ensues between his jealous son Jamie (Jack McCullen) and his trusted aide.

Bean may be the bigger name but Nelson-Joyce is the "star of the show". He's "magnetic" as Michael, a young man eager to get the "top job" but also "yearning" to settle down and start a family with his girlfriend Diana (Hannah Onslow).

"And the fashion, oh the fashion!" said Harriet Addison in London's The Standard. "What would you wear to a christening? Probably not a lime-green, feather-trimmed mini skirt or pink trousers with a sequin shoulder-padded top", but maybe that's what your average font gathering has "been missing up until now".

"This City is Ours" is "gritty and supremely violent", but it also surprises with some "very funny moments". This might not be a "particularly nuanced or subtle" show, but it's a "good yarn" and "pretty entertaining".

Wishful thinking on climate won't make it so
Stephen Bush in the Financial Times
Kemi Badenoch has "watered down" the Tories' climate commitments "under the guise of 'realism'", writes Stephen Bush. This is "a party doing what first-term oppositions so often do – retreating from seriousness". The Conservative leader "appears to envision" that if the UK delays or abandons aims to change the climate, the climate will "delay or abandon changing the UK". But "real world challenges" must be "faced" and "can't be wished away".

Trump's show of support for Conor McGregor is making fertile ground for Ireland's far right
Justine McCarthy in The Guardian
"Middle Ireland" was "grievously insulted" when Donald Trump's official St Patrick's Day guest was "an unelected stooge" found liable for rape by a civil-court jury, writes Justine McCarthy. MMA fighter Conor McGregor probably "won't make it to the starting line" in his bid to be Irish president but his White House visit will "galvanise" the "hard right". Ireland "finds itself dragged into the international swamp of toxic masculinity".

Why we still love Pizza Express
Julie Bindel in The Spectator
"I love Pizza Express," writes Julie Bindel. "I've never had a bad time in the place." But it now has "upstart rivals": "artisanal pizzerias" that offer "all kinds of gimmicks, including 72-hour double-fermented dough" and "heritage grain bases". I miss "the days when all we had to worry about was pineapple chunks", and "it is, still, Pizza Express for me". The "joy" of this chain is that it is "without pretension" and "everyone is welcome".