Patients living with “long Covid” faced “dismissal” and “medical gaslighting” from medical professionals, research has found.
A study by the University of Surrey found participants were relying on data self-gathered from smart watches and phones to track symptoms and advocate for diagnostic tests.
A total of 30 participants, aged between 25 and 62, were recruited from three online long Covid support groups and interviewed about their experiences living with the condition and using self-monitoring practices to track their symptoms.
NHS England has been contacted for comment.
Dr Sazana Jayadeva, a research fellow at the university, said a “shift was needed in medical culture” following the findings.
Dr Jayadeva, who co-authored the study, added: “We found that people with long Covid are often led to fend for themselves in a system that isn’t adequately informed about their condition and doesn’t offer them appropriate medical support.”
There is no cure for long Covid – and currently no standard test. There are also more than 200 recognised symptoms, the most common being fatigue, breathlessness and brain fog.
Fellows heard that 12 participants had straightforward experiences of obtaining a diagnosis of long Covid based on their symptoms, but others had struggled, “facing gatekeeping from the medical practitioners they consulted”.
The latter experience was “especially common” among those who had developed the condition in 2020 rather than in later years, when it was more widely recognised, the study found.
The research was conducted in collaboration with teams from the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia and received an ethical go-ahead from the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge.
The study also found that online patient groups contributed to “the uptake of self-tracking technologies” and found that having wearable data gave patience “greater confidence to advocate for themselves” in medical settings.
Many participants still felt their data was “disregarded or even resented”.
Dr Jayadeva added: “We urge practitioners to treat patient-generated data as a valuable resource. Without this shift, patients with contested illnesses like long Covid risk remaining stuck in a system where they have to be their own doctors.”
The full study was published in Sociology, a flagship journal for the British Sociological Association.
For years, sugar has been blamed as a leading cause of type 2 diabetes (T2D) worldwide. However, recent research reveals that not all sugars impact diabetes risk equally. Studies now show that the type and source of sugar, whether from sugary drinks, fruit juices, or whole foods, significantly influence the development of T2D. Sugary beverages pose a higher risk, while sugars from whole fruits and dairy may be protective or neutral. This evolving understanding challenges previous assumptions and highlights the importance of focusing on sugar sources and dietary quality to better manage and prevent type 2 diabetes.
Understanding the role of different sugars in type 2 diabetes risk
A comprehensive study conducted by researchers from Brigham Young University (BYU), in collaboration with institutions in Germany, was published in the journal Advances in Nutrition. The study analysed data from over half a million individuals across the globe and revealed surprising insights into the role of sugar in the development of type 2 diabetes. Crucially, the research highlights that not all sugars affect diabetes risk in the same way; rather, the source of the sugar plays a significant role in determining its impact on metabolic health.The research highlights three key findings: Risks and benefits:
Sugar-sweetened beverages significantly increase the risk of T2D. For every additional 12-ounce serving consumed daily, the risk rises by 25%.
Fruit juices, often seen as healthy alternatives, are associated with a smaller but still notable 5% increase in diabetes risk per 8-ounce serving.
Conversely, sugars naturally found in whole fruits and dairy products do not appear to raise the risk of diabetes. In some cases, they may even offer protective benefits.
This evidence suggests that the form in which sugar is consumed, liquid versus whole food, can dramatically influence its metabolic effects.
Why the form of sugar is important
The reason sugar’s impact varies lies in how the body processes different foods:Sugary drinks and fruit juices lack fibre, fat, and protein, which are essential components found in whole foods. Without these, sugars are absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream, causing sharp spikes in blood glucose and insulin levels. This rapid absorption can overwhelm the liver and promote insulin resistance, a key factor in the development of diabetes.In contrast, whole fruits and dairy products deliver sugars alongside fibre and other nutrients that slow digestion and promote a steady, gradual release of glucose. This helps to maintain stable blood sugar levels and reduces stress on the body’s insulin-producing systems.
The complex role of artificial sweeteners in diabetes
While artificial sweeteners are often marketed as healthier alternatives to sugar, growing evidence suggests they may not be without risks. Some studies have linked high consumption of diet beverages and sugar substitutes with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as weight gain and larger waist circumference.Health experts now caution against relying on artificial sweeteners for weight management or diabetes prevention, advocating instead for diets rich in whole, unprocessed foods and natural beverages like water and unsweetened teas.
Other important factors in diabetes risk
It is essential to remember that sugar consumption is just one piece of the puzzle. The development of type 2 diabetes is influenced by multiple factors, including:
Genetics: Family history and inherited traits can predispose individuals to diabetes.
Obesity: Excess body fat, especially around the abdomen, significantly increases diabetes risk.
Physical inactivity: Sedentary lifestyles contribute to insulin resistance and impaired glucose metabolism.
Addressing these factors through regular exercise, weight management, and balanced nutrition remains vital for diabetes prevention.Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine or treatment.Also read | Does eating ‘roti and sabzi’ increase blood sugar? What diabetic patients must know
James Gunn explains ‘Justice Gang’ cameo in ‘Peacemaker’ season 2
James Gunn recently sat down with People magazine to discuss the second season of his DC Universe series, Peacemaker, and shed some light on the show’s connection to the broader DC Universe.
One of the key aspects he touched on was the cameo appearances in the show, particularly those featuring his brother Sean Gunn and other familiar faces from the Superman film.
In the show’s teaser trailer, John Cena’s Peacemaker is seen auditioning to join the Justice Gang, alongside Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), and Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion).
According to Gunn, the decision to include these characters was driven by the story’s needs. “For this show, it was really about what we needed for the story of Peacemaker,” he explains.
The scene showcases the Justice Gang’s dynamic, with James joking that Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi) wasn’t included because he’s “too together and kind of too nice” for the group’s mean-spirited banter.
The director also shared his thoughts on why he decided to continue Peacemaker’s story in the second season. “I think the first season of Peacemaker is really about this character coming to terms that he has these demons that have been motivating him, have been pushing him for his entire life,” he says.
The second season, however, sees Peacemaker confronting those demons head-on. James Gunn felt there was more story to tell, and the show’s transition from the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) to the new DCU was seamless, requiring only “a couple of minor permutations.”
When asked about the show’s transition, James Gunn explained that Peacemaker “was never really in any universe” to begin with, making it easier to bridge the two iterations of DC characters.
He joked that it was like “taking out a couple of screws” and “putting in a couple of new screws” to make things work.
The Justice Gang cameo is one example of how the show is connecting to the broader DC Universe, including the Superman film, which features a brief appearance by John Cena’s Peacemaker.
The Peacemaker series is not the only project that James Gunn has collaborated on with his brother Sean. Sean Gunn has appeared in various James Gunn-directed projects, including the Guardians of the Galaxy films and The Suicide Squad.
Their collaboration extends to the DCU, with Sean starring in Creature Commandos, which was written and created by James.
(Bloomberg) — US stock futures paused this week’s string of declines in uneasy trading ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole address, with markets scaling back bets on imminent rate cuts.
S&P 500 contracts erased early losses to rise 0.1% after the US benchmark slipped for five straight sessions. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 were little changed. European stocks advanced 0.2%, nudging closer toward an all-time high. US Treasuries held steady after Thursday’s pullback, with the 10-year rate at 4.33%. The dollar traded flat.
Listen to the Stock Movers podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen.
A selloff in big tech this week has halted US stocks’ record-breaking rally. Investors are awaiting Powell’s latest policy blueprint, weighing whether the Fed will stay cautious on inflation, which is showing signs of stickiness, or tilt toward supporting a softer labor market.
Swaps have sharply reduced the odds of aggressive near-term easing, now pricing about a 70% chance of a cut next month and fewer than two moves this year. Little more than a week ago, markets were betting on a full quarter-point reduction in September, with some traders even positioning for a half-point move.
The stakes are heightened by pressure from the Trump administration to cut rates and growing divisions within the Fed’s rate-setting committee. To keep his options open, Powell may emphasize that the Fed’s September move will be guided by employment and inflation figures set for release early next month.
He is due to speak at 10 a.m. New York time.
“If the Fed doesn’t cut in September, markets will drop because they are expecting the Fed to do something. If they cut too much, markets may take it as a sign that the Fed is losing its independence, which may trigger much higher inflation,” said Joachim Klement, a strategist at Panmure Liberum. “It’s like Goldilocks with two bears and a bull.”
In premarket trading, Alphabet Inc. rose more than 1%, leading gains among the Magnificent Seven heavyweights. Nvidia Corp., meanwhile, was the sole laggard, slipping about 1%. The firm instructed component suppliers to halt production of its H20 AI chip, The Information reported.
A Bloomberg equal-weighted index of the tech titans has dropped 3.4% since Monday, setting it on track for its steepest weekly decline since April’s market rout.
Corporate News:
Meta Platforms Inc. is hiring another key Apple Inc. artificial intelligence executive, even as the social networking company prepares to slow its recruitment, according to people familiar with the matter. Nvidia Corp. has instructed component suppliers including Samsung Electronics Co. and Amkor Technology Inc. to stop production related to the H20 AI chip, The Information reported, citing unidentified sources. Air Liquide SA agreed to buy South Korea’s DIG Airgas for an enterprise value of €2.85 billion ($3.3 billion) as it seeks to expand in Asia. Fonterra Co-operative Group has agreed to sell its global Consumer and related businesses to French dairy giant Lactalis for NZ$3.85 billion ($2.2 billion). The Trump administration will not seek equity stakes in chipmakers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Micron Technology Inc. that are boosting their US investments, as talks continue on taking a stake in Intel Corp., a US official said. The US Department of Justice has rejected claims by two whistleblowers that it failed to properly investigate allegations of sanctions violations by Standard Chartered Plc, the bank said. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2% as of 10:26 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.1% The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1597 The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 148.69 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1833 per dollar The British pound was little changed at $1.3416 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.4% to $112,856.14 Ether rose 1.6% to $4,309.99 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.34% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.75% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.76% Commodities
Brent crude was little changed Spot gold fell 0.3% to $3,329.60 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from James Hirai and Subrat Patnaik.
Researchers say they have found a way to turn cherries into a powder that could help protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
Studies have previously claimed that consuming cherries can lead to improved cognition among people with mild to moderate dementia.
But researchers at the University of Kent believe that developing the fruit into powder, rather than consuming just the juice, can have a greater impact.
They said this was due to the powder’s ability to retain anthocyanin – an antioxidant found in cherries which some claim may contribute to defending against dementia.
The study in Kent took damaged or discoloured cherries that would have otherwise been thrown away to create the powder.
Researchers say the powder was found to protect against harmful effects linked to age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, in laboratory models.
Dr Marina Ezcurra, the project’s lead researcher based in the University of Kent’s School of Natural Sciences, said: “Working with local growers has been key to this success.
“Together we are showing that agricultural by-products don’t need to go to waste – they can become part of the solution to producing sustainable and accessible healthy foods.
“Our newly discovered innovation is a scientific approach that could be adopted at scale in Kent and other agricultural regions, and we look forward to carrying out further research to help drive this forward.”
The study was carried out in partnership with Rent A Cherry Tree – a cherry tree business in Northiam, East Sussex.
Asthma affects an estimated 262 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. In Spain, approximately 3 million people live with this condition, based on estimates from the Center for Biomedical Research on Respiratory Diseases, Madrid, Spain.
Despite major therapeutic advances, poor asthma control remains a widespread problem. The excessive and prolonged use of rescue medications is the leading contributor. A 2020 Spanish observational study pointed to inappropriate prescribing, poor treatment adherence, and incorrect inhaler techniques as key factors.
Rescue Therapies
Rescue medications are designed to provide rapid relief from the symptoms. These include short-acting beta-2 agonists (SABAs), most commonly prescribed in clinical practice, and short-acting muscarinic antagonists (SAMAs).
Studies and guidelines, including the Spanish Asthma Guidelines (GEMA 5.5), have previously linked frequent SABA with adverse clinical outcomes, including higher rates of disease worsening and a higher risk for mortality.
A study by Spain’s Spanish Society of Primary Care Physicians (SEMERGEN) Respiratory Working Group, published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, analyzed SAMA use in asthma outcomes.
Researchers found that frequent SAMA use was associated with poorer asthma control, suggesting that it may serve as a marker of disease severity. Unlike the well-established link between SABA overuse and poor outcomes, the prognostic role of SAMA use has been less examined.
Clinical Gaps
Pharmacologically, SAMAs resemble SABAs in their short duration of action (approximately 4-6 hours), rapid onset, though slower than SABAs, and lack of anti-inflammatory effects. However, the long-term clinical consequences of SAMA overuse remain unclear. Researchers have emphasized that their work is the first to identify this clinical and regulatory disparity.
While international guidelines, such as GINA 2025, advise against SABA monotherapy and define risk thresholds, there are no specific recommendations on SAMA use despite their routine use in clinical practice.
On the basis of these findings, the authors proposed that frequent SAMA use should be treated as an early clinical warning sign that can be easily measured through electronic medical records and incorporated into automated monitoring and decision-making systems.
Study Details
The findings were obtained from a primary care-based cohort of 132 asthma patients, selected via stratified random sampling from electronic medical records at two Spanish National Health System centers in Valencia and Seville.
The analysis included 12 months of retrospective clinical and pharmacologic data for each patient, allowing a comprehensive evaluation of medication patterns and outcomes.
According to the authors, these data are directly applicable to everyday clinical practice and strengthen the role of primary care professionals in research and evidence-based treatment decisions.
The study challenges the traditional focus on SABA overuse as the primary indicator of poor asthma control.
In an official statement, the SEMERGEN noted:
“This work opens the door to using SAMA rescue medication not only as an indicator of poor control, but also as an indicator of the use of healthcare resource utilization and the prescription of oral corticosteroids or antibiotics.”
Vijay Sethupathi and Nithya Menen’s Tamil rom-com Thalaivan Thalaivii has finally made its digital debut today (August 22). Fans can enjoy the film in multiple languages, including Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi, along with English subtitles. The release on OTT comes just four weeks after its theatrical premiere. The film arrived in theatres on July 25, 2025.
Where to stream Thalaivan Thalaivii online?
Directed and written by Pandiraaj, Thalaivan Thalaivii is a major project as it marks his return to directing after nearly three years since his previous film, Etharkkum Thunindhavan. The film is currently available on Amazon Prime Video in all three languages. Vijay Sethupathi starrer tells the story of Agasaveeran, a cook who runs a small eatery with his family, and Perarasi, his wife. The film explores their troubled marriage and the many ups and downs they face as a couple.
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The film has been successful at the box office, collecting over Rs 80 crore globally and ranking among the top Tamil films of the year. Its commercial performance has been particularly strong in Tamil Nadu, where it earned over Rs 75 crore. However, the Telugu version, titled Sir Madam, received a more average response. Despite its financial success, the movie faced some criticism from reviewers.
Vijay Sethupathi and Nithya Menen’s on-screen chemistry is a highlight of the film. It was their second collaboration after their well-received Malayalam film 19(1)(a) in 2022. Besides them, the cast also includes Yogi Babu, Mynaa Nandhini, Saravanan, and Kaali Venkat. The music, composed by Santhosh Narayanan, has been praised for enhancing the emotional tone of the film. Behind the scenes, the film boasts the work of cinematographer M Sukumar and editor Pradeep E Ragav.
As Thalaivan Thalaivii becomes available on Prime Video, it is expected to reach an even wider audience. Have you watched the film, yet?
When I told friends I’d be talking to Pierce Brosnan, more than one jocularly suggested I should ask if he planned to stand for president of Ireland. That race is in a state of head-spinning chaos. This fellow is in. Then he’s out again. This person isn’t going to run. Now they are.
Madder notions than Brosnan have been suggested. You can easily imagine him welcoming the king of Belgium to a barbecue at Áras an Uachtaráin.
“I have never considered it, nor will I consider such a notion,” he says. “No, there are better men than I for such a post. I love being an actor. Being an actor has been my life force.”
He seems amused by the idea but also flattered that his name has come up even in jest.
“That’s very nice of people who say such things,” he says. “But I think, with us Irish folks, we travel well. There’s a warmth to our people. There’s a warmth, and there’s a strength. There’s a fine alchemy of madness and a delicious kind of boldness.”
There is no getting away from the fact that Brosnan, now in his early 70s, looks utterly fabulous. As we are settling into our seats at Claridge’s – still the grandest of the old Mayfair hotels – in London, he mentions he decided to put a suit on this morning. Well, obviously! I could no more imagine him arriving in casual clothes than I could imagine him turning up dressed as a Morris dancer. He is that bloody suave.
I suppose you could take him for a chap of his age, but, though a tad creased, he still looks as conventionally handsome as the Navan man who found fame on the American detective series Remington Steele 40 years ago.
Such is his image that many fans of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club were puzzled when he was cast as Ron Ritchie, former trade-union bruiser, in Netflix’s imminent adaptation of that hugely successful cosy-crime novel. They were expecting someone in the Ray Winstone vein.
“When I read it I thought: Ray,” he says, amused. “North London? Maybe south London? I’m Irish. My Irish accent has kind of diminished over the years. But it’s there somewhere. I just went with the flow of it, really. I went with the flow of the casting. I love Ron. Ron and I are joined at the hip.”
The Thursday Murder Club: Pierce Brosnan. Photograph: Giles Keyte/Netflix
Brosnan has done all right for himself. Childhood in Drogheda and Navan. Adolescence in London. Acting school at the city’s prestigious Drama Centre. Telly work in the United States. A life-changing stint as James Bond, Ian Fleming’s indestructible spy, during the millennial years.
But I do wonder if being that handsome might occasionally have been a problem. He doesn’t get the character roles that come the way of Brian Cox or Brendan Gleeson.
“Ha ha! They’re coming down the road. I’d like to think they are.”
Brosnan remembers meeting John Huston to discuss a role in the director’s famous 1987 adaptation of James Joyce’s story The Dead.
“I sat there with the greatest trepidation but absolute enthusiasm and passion for the work,” he says. “And then I heard this wheezing noise – the wheezing noise of emphysema. This man walked in. This great man with his oxygen tank. And he sat down. He just looked. And he said, ‘Too handsome! Too handsome!’ Handsome is as handsome does. It can get in the way.”
Brosnan has always come across as a nice fellow. But what isn’t so clear until you sit down alone with him is his singular eccentricity. He has always had a habit of drifting off into airy meditations on the role of the performer. As the monologues coil out, the soft Irish vowels take over.
“There are some Celtic genes here that have aligned themselves in this countenance and given me this lovely life of being an actor – an entertainer,” is something he actually says.
I left Ireland, 12th of August, 1964. It just happened to be the same day that Ian Fleming passed
It has been an odd and not always easy life. He is the only son of a carpenter dad and, still with us in her 90s, his indomitable mother, May. His father left the family when Pierce was just a child, and May subsequently went to London to work as a nurse. Raised by aunts, uncles and grandparents, Brosnan eventually travelled, at the age of 12, across the Irish Sea to reunite with Mum and meet her new husband.
“I left Ireland, 12th of August, 1964,” he says. “It just happened to be the same day that Ian Fleming passed. I found that out later in life. I was always touched by the curiosity of that. But I remember my first day in Putney, walking down the high street with my mum. I was looking for the big American cars. I was looking for America.”
Brosnan eventually made it there. But it took a leap of faith. He spent a while studying at St Martin’s School of Art – he still paints – but eventually answered a nagging urge and took himself to the Drama Centre, in northwest London. I have spoken to other alumni of that institution, and they talk of a tough training in the “method school”. The list of graduates is impressive.
“Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender, Frances de la Tour, Jack Shepherd. Great people, great actors,” says Brosnan. “So that’s my job. That’s my work. And you want to stretch yourself as much as possible.”
Work seems to have been intermittent after he graduated, in 1975. He had a famous small role as the IRA man who does for Bob Hoskins in the 1980 gangster classic The Long Good Friday. He was in the odd Play for Today, on the BBC. Life properly changed when he was cast in the ABC miniseries The Manions of America. That finally brought Brosnan and his then wife, the Australian actor Cassandra Harris, to southern California. The sleek detective show Remington Steele soon came his way.
Remington Steele: Pierce Brosnan with Stephanie Zimbalist
“Going to America, I kind of painted myself into a corner with this Mr Smooth, this Mr Sophisticated,” he says. “I tried to be Cary Grant while I was doing Remington Steele. I looked at all his films. I was already a great fan. The director, Bob Butler, said, ‘We’re doing an old movie. This is an old movie.’ Cary Grant movies move with the speed of light – the alacrity of the speech. I loved the elegance of clothes. So I leaned into that.”
The route to James Bond was a knotty one. Rumour has it that as far back as 1981, when Cassandra Harris appeared in For Your Eyes Only, Cubby Broccoli, producer of the 007 films, had his eye on Brosnan to eventually succeed Roger Moore.
When the role became free in 1986, Remington Steele looked to be winding to a close, but, in an awkward irony, the gossip around Brosnan’s possible elevation to 007 revived ratings and the series was renewed, thus eliminating him from Bond consideration.
It was nearly a decade later, following two films with Timothy Dalton and further hiatus because of rights issues, that Brosnan finally got the part. Goldeneye, in 1995, was followed by three further successful episodes.
I know Brosnan is sick to death of talking about the state of current Bond, but I am genuinely fascinated to hear his views on Barbara Broccoli, daughter of the late Cubby, handing creative control of the sequence over to Amazon MGM.
“Oh, I wish them well. Barbara was such a deep part of my life,” he says. “I don’t think Amazon will drop the ball. I’d like to think they will keep the legacy alive – and keep the passion for this character and all the emblems that go with the character alive. And also refresh it. Give it a shot in the arm with imagination and creative thinking.”
Goldeneye: Pierce Brosnan played James Bond for the first time in the 1995 film. Photograph: Keith Hamshere/Getty
There has always been a fear that playing James Bond can eat up a career. It is certainly true that you will be asked about the imperial thug for the rest of your life. But Sean Connery and Daniel Craig both managed to do other things.
So has Brosnan. Over the past two decades, since he vacated the position, he has broadened his range. Golden Globe nominated for The Matador, in 2005. As a variation on Tony Blair in The Ghost, from 2010. He was magnificent earlier this year as an intelligence chief in Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag.
“As I say often, it’s the gift that keeps giving,” he says of Bond. “It has allowed me to traverse the waters of independent films, which I love. I love making independent movies. I love the creative life of being an actor. It’s exciting. It’s exhilarating.”
He seems to have had no illusions about the brief.
“I was aware of it all, walking into that house all those years ago,” he says. I was aware that the label and the enormity of the character would be forever with me – and, one hopes, in a positive way.”
Brosnan, who says that if Denis Villeneuve, director of the next 007 film, “had something up his sleeve I would look at it in a heartbeat”, now finds himself part of a very different cultural phenomenon. Published in September 2020, The Thursday Murder Club, in which a gaggle of pensioners solve crimes, became a pandemic sensation for its famously lanky author.
Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie now costar in an agreeable adaptation from the Harry Potter director Chris Columbus (whose first big film was Home Alone, and who first directed Brosnan in Mrs Doubtfire). What may surprise some is how directly the film engages with mortality and the wider challenges of ageing.
The Thursday Murder Club: Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan. Photograph: Giles Keyte/Netflix
“It deals with the day-to-day ailments of diminishing life – of life dwindling down – and beautifully so, beautifully so,” says Brosnan. “I think that’s what will capture the audience’s heart. Richard’s storytelling and the characters he creates are so well founded.”
Has Brosnan any wisdom on the business of ageing?
“I’m 72 now, and I’m enjoying life enormously,” he says. “There’s an ease to it. There’s a charm to it. There’s a wisdom to it. There’s a patience to it that you have to give to yourself. Mortality is circling the wagons. You know you’re dealing with time. You’re dealing with time past, time present, time future, and just the gift of life and the joy of life.”
It is something to still have his mother around at his age.
“I saw her at the weekend there,” he says. “I took my son with me, Dylan Thomas. He’s a young film-maker. We went up to see May. She’s 93. She’s still going. She’s still strong, still wonderful. She had the Daily Mail on Saturday, and we were on the cover: Ben, Dame Helen, Celia and myself. I said, ‘Can I keep this?’ And she said, ‘No. It’s got my TV guide in there’!”
Pierce Brosnan with his mother, May, in 2016. Photograph: Europa Press via Getty
Brosnan seems genuinely delighted to have someone from home in the suite at Claridge’s. At one peculiar moment we are interrupted by a chap abseiling down to clean the exterior of the first-floor window. It really is like something from a Bond film.
“I’m trying to talk to my fellow countryman here!” he says in mock anger. “Trying to stitch some answers together that are cohesive.”
Living most of the year in Hawaii with his wife, Keely Shaye Smith – Cassandra Harris died of cancer in 1991 – Brosnan now has dual Irish and US citizenship. Is that a juggling act?
“I’m an Irishman,” he says. “I’m an Irishman through and through, burnished by a beautiful life as a young man, as an actor, in England, and now in America. America embraced me. I dropped in there in 1982. I found success and …”
Here he does something peculiar. His voice drops. He sighs deeply. Then he laughs in what sounds like disbelief.
“I’m … an … American citizen. Yes, I am. I raised my hand, and they let me in the door. And it hurts my heart to see what’s happening now with the country.”
He means politically?
“Oh, politically and just spiritually, economically – emotionally for the people. But, you know, as they say, the pendulum swings. One must have hope and faith that we shall come through these challenging times.”
The Thursday Murder Club is on Netflix from Thursday, August 28th
At the turn of the century, HIV was so rampant in Botswana that politicians and doctors viewed it as an existential threat. One in eight infants were reported to be infected at birth, while rates of mother to child transmission either through pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding ranged from between 20 and 40%, according to UNAIDS. Between 1990 and 2000, mortality among children under five almost doubled due to HIV.
With a population of just 1.7 million people, no cure available and the second-highest HIV prevalence in the world, the country’s then-president, Festus Mogae, declared in 2001: “We are threatened with extinction.”
“The situation was dire,” says Dr Loeto Mazhani, a now-retired paediatrician, public health official and academic at the University of Botswana.
“If your whole population was infected in utero, at birth or during early infancy, and the majority of them [were] either dying or living with significant disability, you could see there was no future.”
But out of this crisis would emerge one of the world’s most successful HIV-elimination programmes. Spearheaded by Mazhani, with backing from Mogae, a series of pioneering interventions were introduced which, over the course of two decades, slashed rates of mother-to-child transmission to just below 1%.
Patients wait for antiretroviral medicine in the general hospital of Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, in 2005. By then, more than 100,000 people had died from Aids. Photograph: Jérôme Delay/AP
Earlier this year, Botswana was recognised as the first country in the world with a high HIV-burden to achieve the World Health Organization’s Gold Tier status for eliminating mother-to-child – or “vertical” – HIV transmission as a public health threat.
Dr Ava Avalos, an HIV specialist and technical adviser to Botswana’s health ministry, says the transformation was so drastic that the WHO initially refused to believe the figures that were coming out of the country.
“We would report that our birth numbers [of HIV infections] were so low, and they’d say, ‘No, no, you have 10,000 children that are [HIV] positive,’” she says.
Dr Ava Avalos, HIV adviser at Botswana’s health ministry
“And this went on for years until they had to accept the fact that Botswana’s programme was as strong as we were saying.”
Today, new paediatric infections are so rare – with fewer than 100 HIV-positive infants born annually – that each case is subject to a thorough audit to understand how it happened.
Reaching this point required both significant political will, investment in scientific infrastructure and a sustained public health education programme to bring the latest science-backed strategies to those most at risk.
Mazhani recalls how one of the biggest challenges was convincing HIV-positive mothers to use formula milk rather than breastfeeding, due to the risks of transmission – something that went against conventional wisdom for infant nutrition.
“It meant that if a woman started getting formula milk, everyone in the community would know that she has HIV,” he says. “Mothers felt ostracised. But over time, that stigma of formula feeding slowly reduced.”
Roger Shapiro, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, has run an HIV research programme in Botswana since the 1990s. He says a particular turning point was the decision in 2013 to implement the WHO’s Option B+ strategy – making antiretroviral therapy that combined three drugs freely available to all pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV.
Prof Roger Shapiro. Photograph: Niles Singer
At the time, Botswana was one of the first countries in the world to fund Option B+ on a national scale. “It became clear that three-drug therapy was by far the best way to both treat mothers for their health, and essentially turn off vertical transmission,” says Shapiro.
Research, however, still indicated that these steps alone were not sufficient to completely prevent paediatric infections. Studies showed that a significant number of mother-to-child transmissions occurred when mothers unknowingly contracted HIV during pregnancy, with the unborn child becoming infected in the third trimester.
To eliminate these cases, Botswana’s health ministry invested in two laboratories in the north and south of the country capable of analysing thousands of PCR tests and began offering repeat HIV testing to all pregnant women.
Nurse Natefo Timothy explains HIV/Aids options to a girl at the Botswana-Baylor hospital in 2007. A third of those in children’s wards were then HIV positive. Photograph: Zuma/Alamy
According to Joseph Makhema, an internal medicine specialist who heads the Botswana Harvard Health Partnership, this enabled women who tested positive to be swiftly placed on antiretrovirals and post-exposure prophylaxis drugs to limit the possibility of transmission to the baby.
While other sub-Saharan African countries, notably Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, now also offer widespread HIV testing for pregnant women, Shapiro says that Botswana’s programme is particularly effective because of the near-universal antenatal coverage in the country, with the vast majority of women accessing services and giving birth in hospital rather than at home.
Max Kapanda, who heads Botswana’s antiretroviral treatment programme, says: “This also allows all babies born to HIV-positive women to be immediately tested, and if infected, started on treatment as early as possible.”
Such is the success of this testing regime that there is now a unique group of children and adolescents with HIV in Botswana who are thought to have suppressed the virus to nearly negligible levels, having been on antiretroviral medications since birth.
At the recent International Aids Society conference in Rwanda, researchers discussed how these children are ideal candidates for experimental trials that attempt to use emerging treatments to cure them completely of HIV.
Itebeleng Gaoswediwe about to take his antiretroviral medication in 2006, while his child looks on. HIV/Aids had created more than 28,000 orphans by then. Photograph: STR New/Reuters
Makhema says: “We think that if you treat children early, you’re catching them before the virus has seeded through different bodily tissues or infected a particular type of immune cell called memory cells, and become encoded in the gene pool. So, hypothetically at least, it should be easier to cure these children.”
This theory is now being tested in a landmark clinical trial in Botswana, which will see about 30 children receive regular infusions of broadly neutralising antibodies or bNAbs, a new class of HIV drugs capable of attacking different strains of HIV and stimulating the immune system to recognise them, over the course of 11 months.
Dr Gbolahan Ajibola, a physician working as part of the Botswana Harvard Partnership on HIV studies, draws blood from a study participant in 2023. Photograph: Courtesy of Roger Shapiro
It is hoped that after this time period, a certain number of children will be able to live long-term without requiring any drug treatment at all, in effect rendering them cured.
“We’re hoping there’s two ways they could be cured,” says Shapiro, who is leading the trial. “They could either be cured because there’s no more intact virus left or because their immune system is able to handle the small amount that remains.”
While a cure has long been HIV researchers’ ultimate goal, the importance of such trials has taken on an even greater weight both in Botswana and more widely across sub-Saharan Africa in recent months in the wake of foreign aid cuts and economic turmoil.
While Botswana’s HIV programme has been more resilient than most – both antiretroviral treatment and testing has long been funded by the government – the country is experiencing an economic downturn and was initially facing 37% tariffs imposed by the Trump administration before they were cut to 15% last month.
Botswana has achieved the WHO’s Gold Tier status for ending mother-to-child HIV transmission as a public health threat. Photograph: Ron Rovtar Photography/Alamy
“Botswana’s economy is very diamond-based,” says Avalos. “But there’s a lot now about the diamond industry which is challenging, with the rise of synthetic diamonds and the current situation with tariffs.
“It means our HIV programme is much more precarious. Previously if we ever had [treatment or testing] shortages, foreign partners would be able to assist us, but now those systems are not there.”
According to Makhema, it is unlikely that Botswana will be able to maintain its investment in HIV prevention and treatment over the long-term, making it all the more urgent to identify a strategy for curing infected individuals.
But given the country’s success in virtually eliminating mother-child transmissions, the availability of infrastructure required to support clinical trials, and a suitable population of children who may have the best chance of being cured, there is optimism that if a cure breakthrough can be achieved anywhere, it is most likely to happen in Botswana.
“If we can’t manage it here, I don’t know where we could do it,” says Avalos.
Scientists are calling for a new global regime to address air pollution caused by the space industry.
Prof Eloise Marais’s team at University College London (UCL) began tracking space activities in 2020. Their latest figures reveal 259 rocket launches in 2024, and 223 launches in 2023. These burned more than 153,000 tonnes of fuel.
Marais said: “More pollutants are being released into the atmosphere from rockets and satellites than ever before. We’re in uncharted territory, as humans have never added this much pollution to the upper layers of the atmosphere. If left unregulated, it may have serious impacts on Earth’s atmosphere.”
The team found that launches of mega-constellation communication satellites, including Starlink, OneWeb and Thousand Sails, have led to a threefold increase in emissions of climate-altering soot and carbon dioxide.
Although the amount of CO2 and soot from spacecraft is far less than other industries, researchers have warned that particles stay in the upper atmosphere much longer than Earth-bound sources. This results in up to 500 times greater climate warming impact than the same amount of soot from aviation or ground-level sources.
Marais said: “The amount of propellant used to launch mega-constellations has surpassed the amount of propellant used to launch all other missions combined. The mix of pollutants produced is likely going to change in the future with the advent of Amazon Kuiper mega-constellations. These plan to use the European Space Agency’s rocket that is propelled by solid rocket fuel and produces ozone-damaging chlorine compounds.”
Dr Connor Barker from UCL said: “Many more mega-constellations are planned for launch in the next few decades, which will have significant impacts for our climate, and undo progress made by the Montreal protocol to repair the ozone layer.”
The biggest change has been in the sheer number of objects launched and in orbit. In the late 1960s and 2016, 100 to 200 objects a year were launched into space, but now it is thousands each year and they have limited lifetimes.
Many of us will have been looking up at the night sky as the Perseids meteors reached their peak this month. Also obvious is the sheer number of satellites in orbit clearly visible to the naked eye as small bright dots slowly making their way from horizon to horizon.
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Prof Stuart Martin, the chair of trustees at the UK National Space Centre, said: “Current international law very much related to the principles of the high seas. The country that launched an object, owns it, and only the laws of that country apply to the object in space. This is one of the reasons why things like cleaning up is so difficult.”
Already many of these mega-constellation satellites are re-entering the atmosphere, vaporising into tiny and sometimes chemically reactive metal particles. The UCL team tracked 2,539 objects burning up on re-entry in 2024 and 2,016 objects in 2023, amounting to 13,500 tonnes of material from satellites, as well as discarded rocket parts.
