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<\/p>\nMillions of workers aged under 40 face having to work until they are 70 before they can claim their state pension \u2013 even if the triple lock is abolished.<\/p>\n
Experts believe the state pension age will increase to 70, even if the guarantee for pensioners is scrapped following repeated warnings about the strain it places on the public finances.<\/p>\n
The triple lock ensures that the state pension rises each year by the highest of inflation, wage growth or 2.5 per cent, but costs have ballooned in recent years following economic shocks.<\/p>\n
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health<\/p>\n
How salsa classes improve your mental health<\/p>\n
![\"Salsa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_305515562.jpg\")
Caption: Salsa dancers perform during the \u201cThe Legends of Salsa\u201d event as part of the 20th World Salsa Festival in Cali, Colombia, on September 25, 2025. (Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO \/ AFP) (Photo by JOAQUIN SARMIENTO\/AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: JOAQUIN SARMIENTO
Provider: AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP
Copyright: AFP or licensors<\/p>\n
Salsa is one of the world\u2019s most popular dance forms, and new research suggests that it could reduce anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n
\nA closer look at the study\n<\/p>\n
In the study conducted by the University of Oxford and the Oxford Health NHS Trust, 121 young adults aged 18-24 years old with mild to moderate depression and anxiety were randomly assigned to either a salsa dance programme or a control group.<\/p>\n
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Caption: ALBANY, NY \u2013 JULY 8: Salsa dancers at the opening event of Arts in the City program on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at Empire Live Underground in Albany, NY. The new, free weekly series to promote creativity and wellness through the arts will continue on July 15. (Jim Franco\/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
Photographer: Albany Times Union\/Hearst Newspa
Provider: Albany Times Union via Getty Ima
Source: Hearst Newspapers<\/p>\n
![\"LIMA,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_305515598.jpg\")
Caption: LIMA, PERU \u2013 JULY 4: Hundreds of couples gathered for the world??s largest salsa dance class on July 4, 2026, in Lima, Peru. More than 2,000 couples joined a massive salsa class in Lima, setting the Guinness World Records title for the world\u2019s largest salsa dance class. Organized by the Municipalidad del Callao, the event brought together dancers of all ages in a lively celebration of music, rhythm, and community. The record highlighted Peru\u2019s strong salsa tradition and its role as a key reference for the genre, while also reflecting the cultural energy and public enthusiasm that keep salsa central to life in the country. (Photo by Klebher Vasquez\/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Photographer: Anadolu
Provider: Anadolu via Getty Images
Source: Anadolu<\/p>\n
Both groups in the study, which was published in the journal Psychological Medicine, completed mental health quesitonnaires before, during and after the eight-week programme.<\/p>\n
The findings<\/p>\n
The study found the salsa dancers showed a significantly greater reduction in depression and social anxiety symptoms, plus greater increases in daily happiness.<\/p>\n
Further clinical trials would be needed before salsa could be reliably prescribed to treat clinical depression, but the researchers say their \u201cnoteworthy\u201d findings show \u201cmental health shouldn\u2019t begin and end in a consulting room\u201d.<\/p>\n
\t LIFESTYLE<\/p>\n 3 min read<\/p>\n \t LIFESTYLE<\/p>\n 4 min read<\/p>\n \u2018An adjunctive intervention\u2019<\/p>\n GPs and social prescribing services could consider accessible social-dance classes as an optional wellbeing or adjunctive intervention, particularly for young people who find them appealing.<\/p>\n Brennan delattre, lead author of the research<\/p>\n \u2018Treating a dance deficiency\u2019<\/p>\n This study does not suggest that salsa is a cure for depression, rather a useful tool to add to existing options.<\/p>\n Dr Keir Philip, a clinical lecturer for the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, suggested the research \u201cis actually treating a dance deficiency that we didn\u2019t know we have\u201d.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s america<\/p>\n How the World Cup has exposed the great American lie<\/p>\n The World Cup is built on the idea that anyone can belong anywhere for a moment. <\/p>\n Yet, watching from America, that freedom feels distant.<\/p>\n \n\u2018Unmistakable contrast\u2019\n<\/p>\n Here, movement is something you measure, calculate, sometimes avoid. Visa denials, immigration enforcement and racialised policing turn the simple act of going somewhere into a negotiation with risk.<\/p>\n I worked for two US presidents, which taught me how national systems are meant to protect people. This World Cup makes it impossible to ignore how unsafe America has become for many communities under Trump. The contrast between global ease and domestic insecurity is unmistakable.<\/p>\n \u2018World Cup shows it can be simple\u2019<\/p>\n For several weeks, I have seen a statement circulating across social media. It reads: \u201cThe World Cup is proof that, if it were not for our leaders, the vast majority of people around the world would get along just fine.\u201d The sentiment is simplified, the reality far more complex, yet it captures something real about this moment. It reflects the sense that ordinary people, given the chance, can share space, joy, and belonging without fear.<\/p>\n \t FOOTBALL<\/p>\n 3 min read<\/p>\n \t WORLD<\/p>\n 4 min read<\/p>\n \n\u2018Safety is conditional in America\u2019\n<\/p>\n This tournament showed how easily connection can happen when it is not mediated by borders, surveillance or political agendas.<\/p>\n It offered a glimpse of people moving through the world without fear, when belonging is assumed rather than negotiated. Watching from America made the contrast impossible to ignore. Here, safety is not a shared condition. It is something granted, withheld, or withdrawn depending on race, status, political climate.\u00a0<\/p>\n And when it\u2019s all over\u2026<\/p>\n The World Cup will end. The flags will come down. The stadiums will empty. The question it raised will remain.\u00a0<\/p>\n America likes to imagine itself as a place where anyone can belong. The tournament showed how far we are from that ideal.<\/p>\n Everything we know about Andy Burnham\u2019s policies<\/p>\n Here is what we know so far about the positions of the incoming prime minister Andy Burnham in several key policy areas.<\/p>\n \nDevolution discussion\n<\/p>\n Burnham\u00a0has spoken about pushing powers to local leaders outside Westminster, which could include giving town halls further control over tax-raising powers in a bid to help areas build transport links and housing, create jobs and control their own prosperity.<\/p>\n He has pledged to create \u201cNo 10 North\u201d, a Downing Street outpost in Manchester which will serve as the \u201cnerve centre\u201d to deliver priorities like reindustrialisation and redistributing power across the UK.<\/p>\n Some wiggle room on taxes<\/p>\n On taxes, Burnham\u00a0says he plans to stick to Labour\u2019s 2024 manifesto.<\/p>\n This would mean no rises to income tax, VAT or individual national insurance contributions.<\/p>\n However, he has suggested there is \u201csome room\u201d for movement on taxes within the manifesto.<\/p>\n He plans to raise taxes on warehouses for online giants like Amazon, to help fund rate cuts for hospitality businesses.<\/p>\n \t Interview<\/p>\n 4 min read<\/p>\n \nPushing for reform\n<\/p>\n 1Burnham has frequently supported electoral reform, eyeing a more proportional voting system.<\/p>\n 2Social care reform is on his agenda, too \u2013 he has hinted at bringing forward a funding review to the end of 2026.<\/p>\n 3On defence, Burnham said he wants to rebuild Britain\u2019s \u201chard power\u201d and vowed to reduce foreign dependency.<\/p>\n Welfare and work<\/p>\n Burnham has pledged not to scrap the state pension triple lock, meaning he faces similar welfare problems to his predecessor. <\/p>\n He has mentioned creating \u201cparity\u201d between technical training and university education, so young people can choose the career path right for them, as well as creating jobs by reindustrialising parts of the country hit hard by the loss of heavy industry.<\/p>\n \t POLITICS<\/p>\n 2 min read<\/p>\n \t Big Read<\/p>\n 5 min read<\/p>\n \nHousing and the environment\n<\/p>\n Housing<\/p>\n Burnham claims No 10 North would oversee \u201cthe biggest council house-building programme\u201d since WW2.<\/p>\n Public control<\/p>\n He has called for \u201cgreater public control\u201d of water and energy companies.<\/p>\n Net zero opportunity<\/p>\n He has also championed the push for net zero as a chance to reindustrialise.<\/p>\n \nForeign affairs\n<\/p>\n Burnham\u2019s policy agenda has, so far, been largely domestically focused. <\/p>\n But he has said Britain\u2019s support for Ukraine \u201cwill not waver\u201d and has spoken of forging closer ties with the EU.<\/p>\n Burnham\u00a0has also backed further sanctions against Israeli figures involved in settler violence.<\/p>\n \nWhat about migration?\n<\/p>\n Burnham\u00a0said during the Makerfield by-election that net migration into the UK needs to \u201cfall further\u201d than it has, and on Monday he voted in favour of asylum reforms aiming to cut small boat crossings and direct people to alternative \u201csafe and legal routes\u201d.<\/p>\n \t POLITICS<\/p>\n 2 min read<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t The state pension age, currently set at 66, is already set to increase to help manage the costs of an ageing population, as rising life expectancy mean people can spend significantly longer in retirement.<\/p>\n It was due to go up gradually to 68 between 2044 and 2046. However, a report this week by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the Government\u2019s fiscal forecaster, said this timescale was expected to be brought forward by seven years, to 2037-2039.<\/p>\n The change would mean about five million people currently aged 49 to 55 would need to work for a year longer than they would have expected before qualifying for the state pension, unless they had sufficient private funds to retire on.<\/p>\n Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, told The i Paper it was \u201cnot sustainable\u201d to hold the retirement age \u201cregardless\u201d of the debate over the triple lock<\/a> policy and its strain on the public finances.<\/p>\n Webb<\/a>, who was a Liberal Democrat minister in the Coalitoin government with the Conservatives, was the architect of the triple lock. He is now a partner at consultancy LCP.<\/p>\n He said the Government\u2019s pensions review, which was launched last yeat and is ongoing, could recommend setting a date for the state pension age to rise to 69.<\/p>\n The OBR\u2019s forecasts expect the retirement age to rise to 69 in the 2070s.<\/p>\n \u2018Under-40s at risk\u2019<\/p>\n But Webb said that workers under the age of 40, and \u201cparticularly the under-30s\u201d, are \u201cat risk\u201d of the pension age hitting 70.<\/p>\n He said such a controversial change was likely to be \u201cdecades away\u201d as no politician would want to take the \u201cflak for raising the pension age to 70\u201d when it remained a long way off in the future. \u201cThe outcome could indeed be precisely that, but we won\u2019t know for sure for many years to come because no one wants to announce it,\u201d Webb added.<\/p>\n The annual cost of the state pension is already about \u00a3150bn and is expected to rise from 5 per cent of GDP to 9 per cent over the next 50 years without a change of policy, according to the OBR.<\/p>\n Tom Selby, director of public policy at AJ Bell, said that the rising expenditure \u2013 largely due to improvements in life expectancy \u2013 meant the Government \u201cmust do something\u201d to bring costs down, otherwise it would need to \u201csubstantially pare back spending in other areas\u201d.<\/p>\n He added that it would be \u201cno surprise to see the state pension age eventually hit age 70 for today\u2019s younger workers\u201d and urged them to build up private pensions.<\/p>\n Abolishing the triple lock<\/a> is often touted as an option for bringing spending on pensions under control. The OBR has estimated that doing so would reduce projected spending in 2076 from around 9 per cent of GDP under the current policy, to around 7 per cent.<\/p>\n High inflation has seen costs balloon to about \u00a3146bn a year, which is already equivalent to 5 per cent of GDP and more than double the amount spent on defence.<\/p>\n
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Caption: WARSAW, MAZOVIA, POLAND \u2013 2025\/07\/13: Dancers enjoy the free Latin dance party. Norblin Factory Foundation and Dance Studio Salsa Libre invite Varsovian visitors to a unique series of dance meetings. Led by Maja Borkowska and Lukasz Marynowski, the program includes free Salsa and Bachata lessons then an open-air Latin dance party. (Photo by Neil Milton\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Photographer: SOPA Images
Provider: SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Gett
Source: LightRocket
Copyright: ? 2025 SOPA Images<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_305515593.jpg\")
Caption: a couple dance the salsa alongside Camden Lock in north London on May 28, 2020, as lockdown measures are eased during the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Tolga Akmen \/ AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN\/AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: TOLGA AKMEN
Provider: AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP<\/p>\n![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_304197617-e1783348817990.jpg\")
Was Trump\u2019s intervention really worth it? (Photo: Reuters) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_302900293-e1782977825794.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_282118953-e1769687050595.jpg\")
A federal agent lobs a teargas canister towards protesters during clashes following Alex Pretti\u2019s killing in Minneapolis (Photo: Kerem Yucel\/AFP)<\/p>\n![\"WASHINGTON,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_305428715.jpg\")
The Balogun saga was a stain on the tournament (Photo: Getty)<\/p>\n
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Police across the United States have used heavy-handed tactics to deal with protests in recent months (Photo: AFP)<\/p>\n![\"PHILADELPHIA,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_302877956.jpg\")
Curacao fans cheer for their team at a World Cup 2026 group match against the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia, USA. \u2018The tournament showed that ordinary people can share space, joy, and belonging without fear,\u2019 says Karine Jean-Pierre (Photo: Abdulhamid Hosbas\/Getty) <\/p>\n![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_305437023.jpg\")
Caption: U.S. President Donald Trump, right, is presented a referee red card by Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Photographer: Al Drago\/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Photographer: Bloomberg
Provider: Bloomberg via Getty Images
Source: Bloomberg
Copyright: 30189031A<\/p>\n![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_305515705.jpg\")
Caption: Andy Burnham speaks after being confirmed as the Labour Party\u2019s new leader and the country\u2019s next prime minister, during \u2018Labour\u2019s Special Conference\u2019 in central London on July 17, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS \/ POOL \/ AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: HENRY NICHOLLS
Provider: POOL\/AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_303831811.jpg\")
Caption: The site of the former Central Retail Park, in Great Ascots Street, Manchester, the location for the Manchester Digital Campus development, which is the proposed site for Andy Burnham\u2019s \u201cNo10 North\u201d department if he becomes prime minister. The campus is located on a disused brownfield site in the Ancoats area of Manchester city centre. Picture date: Friday July 3, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Peter Byrne\/PA Wire
Photographer: Peter Byrne
Provider: Peter Byrne\/PA Wire
Source: PA<\/p>\n![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_303378775.jpg\")
Makerfield MP Andy Burnham said: \u2018I heard on doorsteps in Makerfield how people need a bit extra now to help with rising costs\u2019 (Photo: Temilade Adelaja\/Reuters)<\/p>\n
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There are now 131,140 homeless households in England living in temporary accommodation, up 12 per cent on last year (Photo: Chris Harris\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"LONDON,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_289737595.jpg\")
Caption: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM \u2013 2025\/09\/01: Thames Water workers stand next to a van at a street repair site in Central London as reports state that Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has called for a \u201cmarket-based solution\u201d for the troubled water company while ministers are preparing for all possibilities, including special administration. (Photo by Vuk Valcic\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Photographer: SOPA Images
Provider: SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Gett
Source: LightRocket
Copyright: ? 2025 SOPA Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2178856557.jpg\")
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM OCTOBER 15: The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero Sign is seen in Whitehall on October 15, 2024 in Whitehall, London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Peter Dazeley via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_305518141.jpg\")
Caption: Andy Burnham speaks after being confirmed as the Labour Party\u2019s new leader and the country\u2019s next prime minister, during \u2018Labour\u2019s Special Conference\u2019 in central London on July 17, 2026. (Photo by Henry Nicholls \/ POOL \/ AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: HENRY NICHOLLS
Provider: POOL\/AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP<\/p>\n
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