Ditch the sun cream, it's dangerous – or so say increasing numbers of influencers.  To the horror of dermatologists and skin cancer specialists, the internet is being flooded with claims that the ingredients in sunscreen are harmful and may even cause cancer, rather than helping to prevent it.

How does sunscreen work?
Sunscreens contain organic or inorganic filters that absorb UV light and then release it as heat. High-quality evidence, accumulated over many years, has consistently shown that using sun cream significantly reduces the risk of developing both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer.

Why do some influencers claim it's harmful?
Some claim that sun creams contain toxins that can disrupt hormones; others that they cause vitamin D deficiency. The most extreme believe they cause cancer and are part of a "broader conspiracy designed to 'keep people sick'", said The Independent.

What does the science say?
There's "zero evidence" for the claim that sunscreens cause cancer, Antony Young, professor of experimental photobiology at King's College London, told The Guardian. Studies by Young and his team also show that even using sunscreen every day has little impact on the body's ability to make vitamin D.

The claims around the toxicity of sun cream formulations are more complicated to unpack, but probably originate from misinterpretations of two studies. The first, by University of Zurich researchers in 2001, found that baby female rats fed a UV-filtering chemical compound called oxybenzone had malformed uteruses. But the oxybenzone quantities were unfeasibly large: according to expert estimates, to reach the same level of absorption, a human would have to apply a sunscreen containing 6% oxybenzone (the maximum percentage found in formulations sold in the UK) every day for 277 years.

The second study, by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2019, analysed people's blood after they applied large amounts of sun cream all over their bodies, and found traces of oxybenzone and other UV filters at a level that exceeded the federal agency's safety threshold for sunscreen testing. But the study authors said their findings shouldn't stop people from using sunscreen, because the test subjects had slathered on far more sunscreen than people usually would. 

Subsequent research has found no evidence that oxybenzone in sunscreen is harmful but, as a precaution, the amount of oxybenzone in sunscreen sold in the UK and EU will be reduced to 2.2% from 2026.

"Nicola Sturgeon isn't someone for whom oversharing comes naturally," said The Spectator's political correspondent Lucy Dunn. Scotland's former first minister has "regularly been labelled 'dour' or 'frosty'" by both opponents and supporters. Her new memoir "Frankly" seems like "an attempt to shrug off that reservedness" and give people the chance to "see things from her point of view". But "her critics say she is less offering insight, more rewriting history".

'Nigh-on useless'
It's definitely more the latter than the former, according to Shona Craven in The National. Two and a half years after Sturgeon was "grilled" about the implications for Scottish prison policy of saying "trans women are women", she still "stumbles" when asked if rapist Isla Bryson, who was sent to a woman's prison, is a man.

Sturgeon "began and continues to fight" the gender row, said Alan Cochrane in The Telegraph. This issue and others, like "the stupid coalition deal" she struck with the Scottish Greens and the "record drug deaths" in Scotland, brought the SNP "to its knees in last year's election". But her book is "getting pretty fair and positive licks in the media", because she "long ago completely conned a large part of the Fleet Street commentariat" into admiring her.

I agree that Sturgeon does have "many good qualities", said Cochrane, including a "wicked sense of humour", and she's a "more than decent public speaker". But it's her "gallus nature – Scots for chutzpah – much more than political judgment that's got her to where she is today".

'Nicola Was Right All Along'
You might ask why "a fierce advocate for Scottish independence" chose London-based Pan Macmillan to publish her memoir, said Kevin McKenna in The Herald.

There is a "gulf" between those who saw her every day and those for whom she was "a more peripheral, and hence more idealised, figure", said The Times' Alex Massie, and it is obvious from the book's promotional blurbs. None are written by people who live in Scotland. Her autobiography is "designed to demonstrate, once and for all, that Nicola Was Right All Along".

But she "sidles away from the only obvious and inescapable verdict on her record": poor educational and health outcomes, despite Scotland's 25% higher spending per capita than England. "Still, it is a weakness of contemporary politics that good intentions are expected to substitute for good outcomes. In that respect, Sturgeon was an archetype of a particular type of political success."

Cricket fans try to catch a six during the second Twenty20 International match between Australia and South Africa in Darwin. Australia won the series opener by 17 runs but lost by 53 runs today, propelling the two teams to a deciding match in Cairns on Saturday.

William West/ AFP / Getty Images

For every traveller who relishes spending months planning their perfect holiday, there's another who would rather avoid all the prep. If you fall into the latter category, you might want to consider a mystery trip: when the entire itinerary is organised for you, before the destination is revealed at the last minute.

First, such travellers decide their budget and what kind of trip they want: a cruise, an overseas adventure, or perhaps a road trip closer to home. Then they can choose from a pre-planned trip with a secret agenda, such as a mystery cruise, or a company that will build an itinerary around their interests and preferences. After a trip is finalised and the departure day approaches, travellers typically receive a weather forecast and packing list – and then learn where they are going.

Mystery trips were "once a niche option" that only a "handful of travel agencies" offered, said Thrillist. Today, more companies are playing along. Last year, Scandinavian Airlines launched a Destination Unknown flight for loyalty members, with tickets selling out in "minutes". If waiting until the day of departure sounds a "bit too anxiety-inducing", Lufthansa offers surprise trips but reveals the destination once you've paid. Companies including Journee and Wowcher also create itineraries of varied lengths. And with Wowcher, you can choose themes from options such as day-trip, ski, spa or golf.

These adventures are not for everyone, said HuffPost. But if you are willing to gamble on a lucky dip, it might "inject a little fun and sense of spontaneity" into your travels.

As asylum seekers are engulfed by slurs and lies, our leaders shrug. Truly, this is shameful
Frances Ryan in The Guardian
The idea that asylum seekers pose a disproportionate "danger to British women and girls" is being "encouraged" by "mainstream news outlets and politicians", writes Frances Ryan. The government could "dispel" this myth "by making the facts around sexual violence clear" but it doesn't, creating "a vacuum that bad actors are left to fill with bigotry and misinformation". This is a "dark kind of summer", during which "the political class shrug their shoulders while the angry mob grows".

JD Vance has more in common with Henry VIII than he realises
James Ball in The i Paper
The US vice president "tells Americans he's one of them", writes James Ball, but "he's developing a taste for luxury". Hampton Court Palace, "once home of King Henry VIII", was closed on Sunday morning so that J.D. Vance could visit. Was he there "for ideas"? Henry was "a devout Catholic" who broke with the Church for "selfish ends"; Vance, also a Catholic, was "disillusioned" when Church leaders "clashed with Maga". Maybe he sees "something he likes" in Henry.

Grey-haired granny activists are ruining Britain 
Tom Slater in The Telegraph
"Who radicalised Nan?" writes Tom Slater. If the arrests at last weekend's Palestine Action demonstrations "are anything to go by, the world of crank-Left protest is a hell of a lot older than its youthy reputation". If "middle-class oldsters keep getting banged up", Saga Cruises won't recover. These "grey-topped" activists aren't "reflective of where most retirees are at politically", but they're a "useful reminder that age and wisdom do not always go hand-in-hand".