During the pandemic, the government announced a stamp duty holiday to help home buyers whose finances were affected by Covid. It meant no stamp duty was payable on the first £250,000 of a property.

It was widely thought to have stimulated the housing market and estate agents reported a surge of interest.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK average house prices increased by 15.5% over the year to July 2022, up from 7.8% in June 2022.

However, many things may have contributed to rising house prices.

“The final closure of the stamp duty scheme at the end of September 2021 may have had no impact at all,” says Nicky Stevenson, managing director at estate agents Fine and Country.

“Other factors are so much more important, namely the race for space, low supply, accidental savings [from the pandemic] and low interest rates.”

Hundreds of naked swimmers ran into the sea at Druridge Bay in Northumberland at sunrise to celebrate the autumn equinox.

The North East Skinny Dip celebrated its 10th anniversary as swimmers of all shapes and sizes braved the North Sea.

The annual event has raised more than £80,000 for mental health charity MIND since people first stripped off and took the plunge in 2012.

Organiser Jax Higginson described the morning as a “celebration of life”.

Brian May has said Queen will not play Glastonbury next year after clashing with the festival’s founder over the controversial badger cull.

The 72-year-old guitarist and animal rights campaigner rubbished claims that his band had been booked to headline Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary event next year.

Founder Michael Eavis, 84, who is also a dairy farmer, has called May a “danger to farming” and criticised him for his opposition to the badger cull, which is aimed at preventing the spread of bovine TB.

Last year, Eavis’s support for the cull prompted the Downton Abbey actor Peter Egan to call on music fans to boycott Glastonbury.

Speaking on BBC Radio 2 on Friday, May said Queen, who are touring with American Idol’s Adam Lambert providing the vocals, would not perform at Glastonbury in 2020 unless “things changed radically”.