If you’re looking for your new staple sandals this summer, that don’t compromise comfort for style, look no further than this Timberland sale, where you can save a mega £30
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Timberland sandals hailed ‘most comfortable shoes ever’ now have a £30 saving(Image: Timberland)
With summer now in full swing, we’re all seeking that perfect pair of sandals that’s set to carry us through the sunny weather in style. Whether you’re heading off on holiday or just planning family days at the beach, sandals are a must-have for keeping your feet cool and comfy while you go about your summer activities. That’s where Timberland could be your new best friend.
Currently part of the iconic brand’s summer sale, this pair of Malibu Waves Backstrap Sandals have been touted as “the most comfortable sandals ever” by shoppers who have fallen in love with them. And what’s more, they’re not up for grabs with a major £30 discount.
READ MORE: Estee Lauder radiance skincare routine bundle worth £132 is now under £80 in flash sale
READ MORE: Shoppers ‘always get asked if they’ve had Botox’ thanks to this £5 retinol cream
These Malibu Waves Backstrap Sandals for Women in Brown have 30% off(Image: Timberland)
Coming in two stylish colourways, versatile black and chic tan brown, and available in a wide range of sizes from 2.5 to 9, these sandals would normally set you back by £90, but are currently up for grabs for the reduced price of £63 while this sale lasts.
Constructed from Premium Timberland Leather, these sandals add a level of luxurious glamour to any look. They help keep your feet comfortable and in style through the sunny season. Promising to be chic, durable, and ready to take you anywhere, these sandals offer versatility and function.
Coming in a side buckle to ensure a perfect and comfortable fit for your individual feet, these shoes boast OrthoLite footbeds that promise moisture transport, letting you wave goodbye to sweaty feet, making you slide around as you walk in the warmer weather.
These sandals feature long-term cushioning and a synthetic lining that ensures your comfort isn’t sacrificed for style. Plus, the EVA rubber outsole/insole provides added support and practicality no matter the terrain, whether you’re crossing the road or climbing a sand dune, these shoes promise to carry you through it with ease.
One shopper who picked up a pair of these sought-after sandals shares: “Excellent some with a great level of support and suppleness. The leather straps are super comfortable and look surprisingly elegant once the sandals are worn.”
And another chimes in: “Lovely comfy Sandles, true to size. I am a size 6 and have wide feet and fit perfectly.”
A third writes: “My purchase was all about comfort as I have Plantar fasciitis, they are comfy and I am able to walk pain free, so much so I purchased a second pair in a different style/colour the colour of these I like but is more dark grey/navy.”
More praise comes from this buyer who recommends: “The most comfortable sandals ever. Just take one size bigger than usual.”
Article continues below
You can pick up these Mailbu Waves sandals from Timberland for £63 while this sale lasts, or head over to Daniel Footwear, where you can find the same pair for £60.
Legendary singer Connie Francis has died aged 87. The country and pop star’s friend Ron Roberts confirmed the sad news of the Pretty Little Baby hitmaker’s death.
He said: “It is with a heavy heart and extreme sadness that i inform you of the passing of my dear friend Connie Francis last night. I know that Connie would approve that her fans are among the first to learn of this sad news.”
Earlier this month, Connie was hospitalised and admitted into the intensive care unit. She was forced to pull out of her planned July 4 Independence Day show.
Radio star Cousin Brucie revealed Connie had been experiencing “extreme pain” in her pelvic and needed to use a wheelchair. Connie provided a health update just a couple weeks ago as she thanked her fans for their prayers and well wishes.
Connie has died aged 87 ( WireImage)
“Today I am feeling much better after a good night, and wanted to take this opportunity of wishing you all a happy Fourth of July,” she wrote.
Connie’s track Pretty Little Baby has seen a whole new generation of fans drawn to it in recent weeks, thanks to TikTok. It has proved a hit on social media as influencers have been lip syncing to the lyrics.
She first released the song back in 1962, over 60 years before it has gone viral. Connie was aware of its recent success as she admitted to being “thrilled and overwhelmed” by the new love it was receiving.
Pretty Little Baby has been streamed more than 74.8 million times on Spotify. Connie even confessed to forgetting about the hit song before it’s resurgance.
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t even remember the song,” she told People. “I had to listen to it to remember. To think that a song I recorded 63 years ago is touching the hearts of millions of people is truly awesome. It is an amazing feeling.”
Tributes have poured in for Connie following her death. One fan said: “RIP Connie, thank you for all your beautiful songs and movies.” Another added: “Very sad news. An amazingly talented and lovely lady.”
Her hit Pretty Little Baby has gone viral on social media ( Bettmann Archive)
Someone else commented: “I’m so sorry to hear this.” A fourth wrote: “May she rest in peace. She will always be in our hearts because of her music.”
Connie’s success came in the 1950s and 1960s with her hits Stupid Cupid, Lipstick on Your Collar, Who’s Sorry Now, and Where the Boys Are.
Who’s Sorry Now went to number one in the UK in 1958 and stayed their for six weeks. Away from the stage, Connie shared how she was misdiagnosed with bipolar, ADHD, as well as attention-deficit disorder.
Throughout her life, Connie married four times however many of them only lasted a few months. She married press agent Dick Kanellis in 194 and in 1971 she wed hair-salon owner Izzy Marion but they split 10 months later.
In 1973 she married restauranteur Joseph Garzili and they adopted a baby boy named Joey. However, Connie and Joseph split in 1977 and she went on to wed TV producer Bob Parkinson in 1985 but they divorced the same year.
She went on to have a long-term relationship with Tony Ferretti from 2003 until his death in 2022
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTubeand Threads.
The BBC releases its annual rich list every year, but some of the biggest names on the network don’t make the official cut due to working for the commercial sector of the network
Daniel Bird Assistant Celebrity and Entertainment Editor
John Torode and Gregg Wallace, who have been axed by the BBC, have taken home hefty salaries(Image: PA)
The BBC’s official rich list has been revealed, but some names didn’t make the official cut. Every year, the corporation releases the salaries of some of its biggest earners, including Gary Lineker and Zoe Ball, who is the highest paid female at the network.
But a handful of famous faces who appear on the network don’t make the official cut due to working for the commercial branch of the BBC, BBC Studios, which does not have to publish the salaries of its famous faces.
The report for 2024/2025 revealed that Lineker, who has since stepped back from his work at the BBC, was paid a staggering £1.35 million. Meanwhile, Zoe, who works part-time, took home a hefty £519,000 – making her the highest paid female at the corporation.
However, some of the biggest stars whose salaries aren’t disclosed can now be revealed. Most on-screen talent register their earnings through their own businesses via Companies House, which details their takings as well as any money owed to them. But just who gets paid the most?
Stacey Solomon
Stacey has taken home a hefty salary thanks to her TV work and business ventures(Image: Mike Marsland/WireImage)
Stacey may have found fame on The X Factor, but since turning her back on music, she’s gone on to become a household name thanks to her presenting work. The 35-year-old who fronts Sort Your Life Out has seen her earnings go from £1.4million in 2023 to £3million the following year.
Now, her business, Key Map Entertainment, is valued at over £7million. She’s banked the huge sum thanks to various business ventures including her TV work, collections with Primark and Asda, as well as working with Jet2.
Richard Osman
Richard took home over £3million(Image: Getty Images)
Richard presented the BBC One and BBC Two programme, Pointless, between 2009 and 2022, appearing on 22 seasons of the programme. Now, he fronts House of Games. But records for his business, Six Seven Entertainment, which lists him as the only director, have bagged a hefty salary.
Documents state his earnings at £3,702,23 in 2025, a hefty profit from the £1,904,477 from the year before.
Louis Theroux
Despite his huge salary, Louis is said to be moving over to Netflix(Image: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
He’s the face of dozens of documentaries on the BBC, having worked with them for almost three decades. However, it was recently speculated that Theroux has since decided to step back from the BBC and focus on working with Netflix.
Accounts for his business, Blobfish Limited, reveal a total of £2,883, 786, sitting in the bank, which saw an increase in around £1million between 2022 and 2023.
Graham Norton
Graham’s TV work saw him earn £2,774,145(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Chat show king Graham interviews some of the biggest names in the world, including Hillary Clinton and Lady Gaga, on The Graham Norton Show, which he has fronted for 18 years. Last year, he signed a deal with ITV, estimated to be worth around £1million, to front the revived Wheel of Fortune.
So Television, his former production company, was also bought by ITV in a deal which was said to be worth around £17 million in 2012. Just last year, he took home a hefty sum of £2,774,145 from the production firm.
Michael McIntyre
McIntyre profited just over £1.7million in 2023(Image: PA)
Michael is arguably the face of Saturday night television on the BBC thanks to his shows, Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel and The Big Show. It was announced earlier this year by the Beebs that he had secured another two seasons of both programmes.
His production company, which he owns with TV producer Dan Baldwin, Hungry McBear, was worth a staggering £1,753,861 in 2023.
Claudia Winkleman MBE
Claudia is one of the Beebs top earners and most in-demand presenters(Image: PA)
Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman is perhaps one of the most recognisable faces on the network thanks to her signature heavy eyeliner and glossy black fringe. But her firm, Little Owl Production, shows a sum of £1,575,279 for her 2023 accounts.
It was recently claimed that she’d signed a new £1million deal to continue fronting The Traitors, as well as raking in around £600,000 for presenting Strictly with Tess Daly.
Rylan Clark
Rylan took home over £1.4million(Image: Getty Images)
Like Stacey Solomon, Rylan found fame on The X Factor and while singing may be in his past, he’s pocketed a hefty amount thanks to his presenting work. He has his own BBC Radio 2 programme and just last year, he won a Bafta TV award alongside Rob Rinder for their show, Grand Tour.
According to his Companies House records, he profited a nice sum of £1,447,866.
Wynne Evans
Despite being axed, Wynne took home a very large salary in 2024
Wynne may have found himself being axed by the Beebs after his controversial comments made on the Strictly Live tour came to light in January. His BBC Wales radio show was also scrapped by the corporation, leaving him to launch his own, The Welsh House.
Elsewhere, his travel series with Joanna Page was axed after just one series. But he still took home the sum of £734,000 in 2024.
John Torode
Torode, who fronted MasterChef alongside Gregg Wallace, was sacked by the corporation after “using an extremely offensive racist term,” which he strongly denies. He said on Instagram that he has “no recollection” of the incident, which is said to have happened after work drinks.
Caspar 10 Ltd, John’s firm, revealed he took home £47,351 for this year.
Article continues below
Gregg Wallace
Gregg has recently denied all allegations made against him during his time fronting MasterChef. The chef and TV star was fired by Banijay after a report found that 45 out of 83 allegations of inappropriate behaviour were upheld following a seven-month investigation.
But documents show that Lobster Enterprises, his firm, made £24,830, as of February of this year.
Eight healthy babies have been born in the United Kingdom using a groundbreaking new IVF technique involving DNA from three people, offering hope to families with mitochondrial diseases, according to a world-first trial.
Experts at Britain’s Newcastle University and Monash University in Australia published the results of the much-awaited trial on Wednesday in several papers in the New England Journal of Medicine.
These genetic diseases, which affect one in 5,000 births and have no cure, can cause severe symptoms like vision loss and muscle wasting.
The new procedure, approved in the UK in 2015, uses DNA from the mother’s egg, the father’s sperm and a small amount of healthy mitochondrial DNA from a donor’s egg. This has led to the controversial but widely used term “three-parent babies”, though only about 0.1% of the baby’s DNA comes from the donor.
Out of 22 women who underwent the treatment at the Newcastle Fertility Centre in northeast England, eight babies were born. The four boys and four girls now range from less than six months to more than two years old.
For six of the babies, the amount of mutated mitochondrial DNA was reduced by 95-100%, and for the other two, it was reduced by 77-88%, which is below the disease-causing threshold.
The children are currently healthy, although their long-term health will continue to be monitored.
Despite this success, the procedure remains controversial and is not approved in many countries, including the United States and France. Opponents cite ethical concerns, including the destruction of human embryos and fears of creating “designer babies”.
On July 8, Indian Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan delivered a pointed message at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, raising alarms over a budding alignment of strategic interests between China, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The general cautioned that such a trilateral convergence, if it gains traction, could have serious implications for India’s security and disrupt the regional balance of power.
His remarks came in the wake of a widely circulated photograph from Kunming, China, showing diplomats from the three nations meeting during the inaugural trilateral talks held alongside regional economic forums. While the meeting was officially billed as a diplomatic engagement, the image has sent ripples through India’s strategic community.
Bangladesh, clearly aware of the sensitivities involved, has moved swiftly to contain the narrative. Touhid Hossain, foreign affairs adviser to Dhaka’s interim government, publicly disavowed any intention of joining bloc-based or adversarial alliances. Dhaka reiterated that its foreign policy remains firmly nonaligned and anchored in sovereign autonomy.
Despite these assurances, New Delhi’s strategic calculus appears to be shifting. There is now a growing perception in New Delhi that, under the interim leadership of Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh may be recalibrating its foreign policy, moving away from the overt closeness seen under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Under Hasina, India and Bangladesh enjoyed unusually warm ties characterised by deep security cooperation, cross-border connectivity projects and shared regional objectives. Dhaka took strong action against anti-India insurgents, gave India access to transit routes through Bangladeshi territory and generally aligned itself with New Delhi’s strategic priorities.
Whether real or perceived, this shift is influencing how India reads the regional landscape.
Chauhan also drew attention to a broader, troubling pattern: External powers – chiefly China – are leveraging economic fragilities across the Indian Ocean region to deepen their influence. With countries such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan increasingly beholden to Chinese investment and aid, concerns are mounting that Beijing is systematically encircling India through soft-power entrenchment.
Bangladesh’s case, however, remains somewhat unique. Its economy, though under pressure, is relatively resilient, and Dhaka continues to emphasise pragmatic, interest-driven diplomacy over ideological alignment. The Kunming meeting, while symbolically charged, does not yet represent a formal strategic realignment.
Still, the formation of a trilateral framework marks a significant development. Unlike previous bilateral engagements, this format introduces a new dimension of coordination that could evolve in unpredictable ways.
The echoes of history are hard to ignore. In the 1960s, China and Pakistan maintained a tight strategic axis that tacitly encompassed East Pakistan – what is now Bangladesh. That configuration unravelled in 1971 with Bangladesh’s independence.
Today, however, subtle signs suggest elements of that strategic triad may be resurfacing – this time in a more complex geopolitical theatre.
For Beijing, deepening ties with both Pakistan and Bangladesh serves its broader objective of consolidating influence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. For Islamabad, it provides a layer of diplomatic insulation and strategic leverage. For Dhaka, the relationship is more tactical – an attempt to hedge against regional volatility at a time when its once-stable ties with New Delhi appear increasingly uncertain.
Bangladesh’s cautious posture is also shaped by volatile domestic politics. Since the July protests and the installation of an interim administration, internal cohesion has frayed. Polarisation is resurging, and with national elections looming in early 2026, the government’s priority is stability, not strategy. Foreign policy in this climate is reactive – not transformative.
Dhaka understands the risks of leaning too far in any direction. Lingering historical resentments with Pakistan remain politically sensitive while an overreliance on China would strain crucial trade and diplomatic ties with the West, especially the United States, where concerns over democratic backsliding and human rights have sharpened.
In this context, any overt strategic alignment could invite unnecessary scrutiny and backlash.
The Kunming meeting, despite its symbolism, was primarily economic in focus – touching on trade, connectivity, infrastructure and cultural cooperation. However, when China and Pakistan floated the proposal to institutionalise trilateral cooperation through a joint working group, Bangladesh demurred. This was not indecision. It was a deliberate, calculated refusal.
Dhaka’s foreign policy has long been defined by “engagement without entanglement”. It maintains open channels with all major powers while avoiding the traps of bloc politics. This nonaligned posture is a core principle guiding its diplomacy. Bangladesh welcomes dialogue and economic cooperation, but it draws a firm line at military or strategic alignment.
For India, interpreting Bangladesh’s moves requires nuance. While Dhaka continues to broaden its international partnerships, it has not abandoned its critical role in India’s security calculus, particularly in the northeastern region. The challenge for New Delhi is not just to monitor emerging partnerships but to reinforce the value of its own.
Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, security cooperation between New Delhi and Dhaka under Hasina’s Awami League was pivotal in stabilising the border region. Bangladesh’s decisive crackdown on militant groups, coupled with close coordination with Indian intelligence and security agencies, played a crucial role in suppressing insurgent threats.
Today, with India’s ties to both China and Pakistan under severe strain, any perceived shift in Dhaka’s stance is scrutinised intensely in New Delhi. The fear that Beijing and Islamabad might exploit Bangladesh as a strategic lever to apply asymmetric pressure remains deeply ingrained in India’s security mindset.
Yet, Bangladesh’s explicit rejection of the proposed trilateral working group reveals a clear-eyed understanding of these sensitivities. It underscores Dhaka’s intent to steer clear of actions that could escalate regional tensions.
This evolving dynamic poses a dual challenge for India: It demands a recalibrated response that moves beyond reactive defensiveness. New Delhi must embrace a more sophisticated, forward-looking strategy – one that transcends old political loyalties and adapts to the shifting diplomatic contours of South Asia.
South Africa promised debt solutions for low income nations during its G20 presidency. Has it kept its word?
Debt is holding back economic growth for many low income countries. When South Africa took over the Group of 20 presidency last year, it promised it would take on that challenge, improve food security and represent African nations from the head of the table.
As the G20’s finance ministers meet in Durban without the United States Treasury secretary and with just four months left in its term, has South Africa lived up to those promises?
Can organisations like the G20 ever really bring about change?
