The next release of the long-running Football Manager series of games - Football Manager 24 or FM24 - will be the last of its kind. This year's edition, the 20th instalment of Football Manager (where funnily enough, you act as a football manager for one of the world's many football clubs), will bring an end to the current iteration of games - and that's a promise directly from studio manager of Sports Interactive; Miles Jacobsen. With FM23, it seemed like the games change to digitize the behind-the-scenes of a football club had hit an apex - a rather boring apex for consumers. Instead of the growing addition of features that had underlined each new edition, FM23 simply existed as a slightly better FM22. And that was echoed by Jacobsen in a blog post for SI, who in response to FM23's reception has agreed that FM24 will simply bookend the series as the pinnacle of Football Manager. A complete edition. One where you can finally transfer a save from the previous game so your 400 hours of work doesn't go to waste. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "Football Manager 2024 will be the 20th game in Sports Interactive’s Football Manager series, and will be the last of its kind," said Jacobsen in his post. "It’s a love letter to football and the FM series as we know it. It’s the closing of this chapter of our history. You can expect a host of improvements, big and small, both in new features and revamps to existing areas of the game." But is Football Manager ending? No chance. In fact, it might be better than it has ever been by the time FM25 arrives, which will start a new chapter for the series. As part of a set of changes made to the technology powering the games, Sports Interactive's desire to revamp the engines behind FM led to the formation of 'Project Dragonfly' which would deliver a new vision for the game. However, the pandemic and multiple issues led to this being pushed back from FM22, released in 2021, to Autumn 2025. This previously unknown four-year delay will now herald and entirely new Football Manager, in a new Unity-powered engine, promising better graphics across the board and rehauled animations. "In simple terms, FM25 will have a significantly better-looking matchday experience - both on the pitch and the supporting stadium environments, alongside a vastly improved user interface that will dramatically improve how you navigate through screens and access all the information available to you as manager. We’ll also have new technology for Newgens and manager creation which are already looking really promising at this early stage," added Jacobsen. Women's football will also be added - and don't worry, your saves will continue to be transferrable. It's all change for one of the biggest series in the history of gaming. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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We’re all looking for ways to make Christmas dinner easier – and if you’ve got an air fryer, festive food could be a whole lot simpler. Christmas dinner normally requires a lot of effort to pull together all the starters, turkey and side dishes, and chef Poppy O’Toole says she’ll “definitely” be using her air fryer to help everything come together. Michelin-trained O’Toole, 29, is something of an early adopter of air fryers – she first fell in love with them in 2018, and says: “I was working in kitchens at the time, and I was like, I don’t know how chefs are going to feel about this. It might fade, but I was intrigued – and it’s got bigger and bigger.” She adds: “It was so easy to get on board with because of how convenient they are. As a chef, I wasn’t at home a lot – so my partner could use it really easily without me having to be over his shoulder.” They’ve got speed and energy efficiency going for them, O’Toole suggests, and she’s even dedicated her most recent cookbook to air fryer recipes. Her air fryer will go into overdrive on Christmas day, “because I need all the space for everything”, the Worcestershire-based chef says. “I’m going to be feeding a lot of people.” “There’s not enough space to do everything, but what it’s really good at is giving you the capability to do more stuff at the same time,” she notes. “So you’re not just relying on the oven and the hob – you’ve also got this other piece of equipment, which is amazing at cooking things and it can be done quicker and more energy efficiently.” Before diving in, there are a few mistakes O’Toole warns against making with your air fryer on 25 December. “Make sure you put a timer on. I’ve done that a few times, where I’ve gone, it comes out in 20 minutes or whatever and you go, ‘yeah, I’ll come back in a few minutes, it’ll be fine’. And I’ve left it in there the whole time and it’s burned to a crisp.” The second thing to watch out for? “Don’t overcrowd,” she says. “It can be very easy to throw it all in, it’ll be fine. But it doesn’t work that way – the whole point is that the air circulation gets around everything, so it needs a gap where that can happen.” And if you’re looking to impress your guests with beautiful-looking food, O’Toole recommends keeping your air fryer clean. “This is another thing that I do very regularly, and I think a lot of people do – I don’t wash it enough, I don’t clean it enough. I end up getting these little dark bits on the rest of my food, which is fine when you’re cooking for yourself – that doesn’t matter. “But when you’re cooking for other people, if you’ve got family coming over, you want to make sure it’s the best. So make sure in between each thing you cook, you give it a little wipe down.” Interested in using your air fryer this Christmas? This is what O’Toole recommends doing… Starters “I always like little nibbly bits on Christmas,” admits O’Toole – and these can be easily whipped up in the air fryer. “It’s something a little bit different around lunchtime, because I have my Christmas dinner a bit late – I have it more as a dinner around three, so around 12 you’re getting a bit peckish. So I do some lovely little nibbles – like crispy wontons, spring rolls, samosas, that sort of thing. They’re really tasty and fill everybody up, without having to do much.” If you’re feeling industrious you can make these yourself, but they’re just as delicious from frozen – and you can save all your cooking efforts for the main meal. The main event For O’Toole, the best way to use your air fryer is for all the festive sides. “It’s really good for roasted parsnips, roasted carrots, sprouts or chestnuts,” she says. You can cook the parsnips and carrots together. “And then they can be ready and waiting for when you want them – you can get them into a tray, and once they’re cooked, you can keep them at the bottom of the oven or in a tray that you can warm back up”. And one of the most important parts of any Christmas dinner: “I’ve got to say roast potatoes are very good in there, and you don’t have to pre-boil them – so that’s given you more space on the hob.” How can you pull off perfectly crispy roasties in the air fryer? “Chop them up, get them in a bowl, add a tablespoon of water, a little bit of oil and salt – give it a mix, so we’ve got a bit of moisture on them. Then you get them into the air fryer and cook them about 160C or 170C for about 20 to 30 minutes, so they’re a little bit cooked, then you whack it up to about 200C to get the golden crispy outside.” Dessert While O’Toole doesn’t plan on making Christmas pudding in the air fryer this year, there are plenty of sweet treats you can do in there instead. Her sister will be clamouring for a pecan and pretzel blondies recipe (or you can try any variation on brownies you like – even mince pies would work), and O’Toole adds: “Custard tarts – they’re so simple and something about doing them in the oven is always terrifying to me, but being able to put them in the air fryer for literally a few minutes is perfect. “That’s definitely something I’ll be doing.” ‘Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook’ (Bloomsbury Publishing, £20). 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"Let's grab a drink" is a far too familiar phrase for avid daters – but now, a cultural shift has emerged geared towards more mindful dating. Enter sober dating. With more and more people making conscious decisions towards mindfulness, there's no surprise that the movement has racked up almost 5 million views across TikTok. A specialist team at Private Rehab Clinic, Delamere, has witnessed the latest trend and believes it to be a "more positive approach" to alcohol consumption and changing drinking behaviour. "We live in a society where binge drinking is part of everyday life and has a lot of influence over our culture and how individuals socialise, especially when dating," Martin Preston said. "This way of living is inspiring the ‘sober curious movement’ and the latest trend of ‘sober dating’, which is about thinking more consciously about consuming alcohol and our drinking habits." According to their research, 60 per cent of people post-pandemic reduced their intake to improve their health and well being. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It is predominantly Gen Z driving the new sober dating trend by seeking alternative booze-free ways to socialise. "We’re also seeing a rise in the number of alcohol-free dating apps, which allow those in recovery or simply those exploring their relationship with alcohol to find love," Martin added. "This dating trend has many benefits, from feeling more safe and secure when meeting strangers to getting to know an individual's real personality instead of their drunk personality, to feeling more clear-headed and having an emotional connection." The clinic advises people wanting to try it to join sober dating apps to connect with people with the same mindset. They also believe daytime dates take the pressure of alcohol away, including walks, a show or a creative activity such as pottery painting. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Gemma Atkinson has hit back at trolls who called her “fat and unfit” just three weeks after giving birth to her second child. The Hollyoaks actor, 38, who welcomed son Thiago with Strictly professional Gorka Marquez, revealed she had been branded “fat and lazy” by trolls after her mum pushed her son’s pram back from a doctor’s appointment. Gemma, who had a C-section with son Thiago only last month, said: “I didn’t want to overdo it. “I’ve had a message saying how lazy I was letting my mum push the pram. I got another saying ‘you used to be fit and you’re still fat’.”