Some travellers spent hours in lines at airport, with kiosks not working, little seating and few staff on hand to help

Some travellers passing through the new EU entry-exit system (EES) have faced huge delays at border checks, with some waiting for up to three hours, airports say.

The new rules have gradually been introduced in Europe since October 2025, and came into effect on Friday in the Schengen countries – 25 of the EU’s 27 states plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

Consumer insight tracker shows 85% are worried about food prices and a majority think the economy will deteriorate

Three million UK households are being forced to skip meals as consumers resort to drastic measures to deal with rising costs, according to a Which? report published on Thursday.

The conflict in the Middle East and subsequent surge in oil and raw material prices has led to businesses preparing to raise prices, putting more pressure on household finances and hitting consumer confidence.

Learn Cornish launched few months after language given new level of protection

Listeners tuning in to the BBC’s latest podcast offering on Friday may find themselves saying dydh da to a language that is enjoying something of a resurgence. The new programme called Learn Cornish will be fronted by the Radio 1 host Danni Diston and includes guests such as the Bafta-winning director Mark Jenkin.

Diston, who is from north Cornwall, said that she initially did not know any Cornish “other than small words that I’ve learned growing up and mainly dialect … [but] the idea would be to learn alongside other people”. She will be joined by co-presenter Sarah Buck, a fluent Kernewek speaker, throughout the weekly episodes that are designed to introduce basic phrases in the Cornish language.

Elusive nightingale ‘doing well’ at Northward Hill, Kent, but experts cite concerns around loss of habitat

The dawn chorus at RSPB Northward Hill in Kent is a riot of sound: the melodic robin, the two-tone cuckoo, the whitethroat’s scratchy warble. Even the garbling geese and mooing cows from the neighbouring Thames marshes add to the symphony.

But in late April one energetic singer hogs the limelight. For a few weeks after arriving from West Africa, the nightingale spends the night – and early morning – in complex song. As it searches for a mate and marks its territory, its song is at times as sweet and tuneful as a soul singer, at others as frantic as a car alarm.

Musician and his wife, a creative consultant, hope the Hodge Podge can expand ideas of creativity and community

A new exhibition curated by Jarvis Cocker and his wife, the creative consultant Kim Sion, will open at Hepworth Wakefield next year, aiming to encourage people to discover their own creativity.

Opening in May 2027, the Hodge Podge will bring together a personal selection of works challenging conventional ideas of what art can be.