With Halloween on the horizon, Britain is looking at a pumpkin shortage due to a poor harvest impacted by the weather.
There's something about carving a pumpkin, popping a tea light in it and placing it proudly on your doorstep that really gets you in the spooky spirit.
Whether it's a toothy, triangle-eyed terror that you're hacking away at with a blunt knife or a detailed witch on a broom which you've carefully stencilled out, it's truly a right of passage when it gets to Halloween.
However, pumpkin lovers may be in for a serious scare as farmers across the UK fear there might be a pumpkin shortage in time for the autumn festivities.
Image: Unsplash
Bad weather has said to have ruined a whopping one third of the pumpkin harvest in Britain this year.
According to the experts, the hot weather has caused the orange fruit to ripen a lot earlier than usual, which has had a huge impact on it's quality.
Subsequently, the shortage may lead to higher prices on this year's harvest for those who want to get creative with a Jack-o-lantern.
Guy French, a pumpkin farmer in Basildon, told The Mirror, “We are selling at a higher price, but the main factor for that is our input costs. We always say to customers, if you think the price of filling up your car with diesel has doubled, think of what it does for a tractor."
“The quality of the pumpkin is good - the skin finish is good, they’re a really good orange. But the drought had a knock-on impact on yield. You just haven’t got the volume there."
It is said that a lot of farms have already sold out their crops due to a large number of pre-orders, possibly due to manufacturers pre-empting this shortage.
So keep your eye out for pumpkins early this year and if you can't find one, then you may have to settle for another spherical shaped fruit. Perhaps a watermelon might do the job?
In honour of National Chocolate Week, two big brands are joining forces.
Fancy a freebie? Silly question, of course you do.
Tony’s Chocolonely and Yorkshire Tea have joined forces for National Chocolate Week to ask Brits to declare themselves a ‘Melt’...yes, really.
It comes after the brands discovering a new Gen Z dunking trend, with research finding that 80% of 18–24-year-olds say chocolate is their preferred tea-dunking treat.
To understand why the perculiar pairing has become so popular, the brands recruited Associate Professor of Psychobiology, Dr Lorenzo Stafford, to investigate what happens when tea and chocolate come together.
Associate Professor, Dr Lorenzo Stafford said: "It's fascinating to see how much thought Brits put into what makes a great dunk. Flavour, texture and temperature all shape how we experience food, and the combination of hot tea with melting chocolate creates a particularly enjoyable sensory experience.
"When it comes to dunking, tea and chocolate have great chemistry so it’s no surprise young people have embraced it."
If you want to try it out for yourself, then you can for free - but there is one catch.
From Monday 19 to Friday 23 October, anyone who walks into one of Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds and says ‘I'm a Melt’ will get a free mug of Yorkshire Tea and bar of Tony's Chocolonely.
Not only that, but the first 100 customers will also get a limited-edition ‘Melt’ cap.
Yorkshire Tea & Tony’s Chocolonely said of the partnership, “Brits love their tea and their chocolate and now the science shows why. This National Chocolate Week, we’re inviting everyone to give it a go, embrace their inner Melt and discover just how well chunky chocolate and a proper brew can work together.”
Leeds Bradford Airport strikes will NOT go ahead following ‘late offer’ over pay
Clementine Hall
This weekend's strikes at Leeds Bradford Airport have been cancelled.
Around 130 workers were set to walk out this weekend, Unite said, but this has been suspended to allow air traffic controllers to consider a new pay offer.
The Unite members planning on to go on strike were a mixture of air traffic control workers, customer experience staff, security staff and cleaners.
The workers involved in the dispute had recently come out of a four-year pay deal, with some of the departments having fallen behind other airports in equivalent roles.
Pay talks have been happening since December 2025, with the airport's formal offer not going far enough to address the lack of pay parity which led to the decision to strike.
However, as of yesterday 15 October, the workers have been given new pay offers from the airport and the strikes will not take place to allow a ballot on the offers.
Air traffic controllers and hourly paid staff are being balloted separately on their respective offers.
Unite regional officer Neil Whitaker said: "After receiving offers from Leeds Bradford Airport, we have suspended this week’s strike action in good faith to allow members to vote on pay deals.”
In a statement, Leeds Bradford Airport said: "While the ballot process continues with certain members of our frontline colleagues, we remain hopeful that a positive outcome can be achieved and that an agreement can be reached which works for everyone involved.
"Regardless of the outcome of this ballot, LBA has a robust contingency plan in place and will be operating as normal this weekend.
"Our focus remains on supporting a smooth and reliable experience for customers while maintaining safe and efficient airport operations."
Clementine Hall -
1st September 2022 
