Kate rewrites the Royal playbook
Welcome to the ITV News digest bringing you the best of our original journalism, insight and analysis from across the nation and regions.
We were told on Monday to expect some health news from the palace but what we got was something totally unexpected: a glossy, highly-produced movie of the Wales family during their private summer holiday in Norfolk.
I’m Chris Ship, the Royal Editor at ITV News and, as most people will have seen this week, the Princess of Wales has been keeping us busy with an update on her chemotherapy treatment.
Kate told us she had stopped her chemo and will now start to do some more public engagements when she can.
She spoke about the “scary” cancer journey and her “new perspective” on life in an intimate video, complete with soft-focus and slow motion, showing the couple playing with their three children and even William and Kate kissing in the sand dunes.
It was not, to put it mildly, from the usual royal communications playbook.
But this is a new generation of royals who do things in a very different way to the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
Kate, we are told, wanted to make the film about the people who have meant most to her during her difficult health battles in 2024, which is why she allowed the cameras access to George, Charlotte and Louis as well as her parents Mike and Carole Middleton.
But it was also a privately-commissioned video which allowed William and Kate to control the narrative around her gradual return to royal life.
And, as the Princess’ office pointed out, she is not ‘cancer free’. She still had a journey to go.
A less controlled moment captured on camera this week was the big hug King Charles received from the Black Ferns, the New Zealand women’s rugby team. It’s well worth a watch.
Don’t forget, you can listen to our latest Talking Royals podcast with me and producer Lizzie Robinson chatting to presenter Mary Nightingale on ITVX.
Thanks for reading and enjoy some of the other brilliant original reporting from my colleagues below.
How far-right chatter surged on social media as rioting swept the UK
Like all shop owners, Parvez Akhtar takes measures to protect his stock in Middlesbrough, writes ITV News UK Editor Paul Brand.
But the barbed wire he showed us at his mobile repairs store is also there to protect his family.
New data shared exclusively with ITV shows the rise in far-right traffic on social media. Parvez and his family saw first-hand how the violent mobs were galvanised by that rhetoric…
You can watch Paul’s documentary on the Tonight show here.
Did the Post Office scandal begin before the Horizon software?
The ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office sparked anger among the British public and jolted politicians into action years after the scandal engulfed hundreds of innocent subpostmasters.
This week, we returned to those featured in the drama to see what impact the show had made - what happened in the aftermath to those on both sides of the Horizon story.
A new ITV documentary also reveals that before Horizon there was another suspect accounting software package in use, Capture.
Catch up on the documentary on ITVX.
Eating pets, executing babies and Swift support as Trump faces Harris
Philadelphia might be called the city of brotherly love, but after an initial handshake there was little warmth in the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
What there was plenty of was a rash of outlandish claims by Trump - from migrants apparently eating family pets in Springfield, Ohio to aborted babies being executed - and a good deal of evasion over past policy decisions by Harris.
Who won? Well while the US news channels were busy disagreeing with each other Taylor Swift weighed in post-debate for Harris.
ITV News spoke to some voters to see what they thought and you can watch highlights of the debate here.
Don’t forget to tune into our regular podcast, Talking Politics: USA for more insight into the race for the White House.
The childcare deserts where three kids vie for one nursery place
An estimated 1.5 million children in the UK are currently thought to be living in a childcare desert, where there are more than three children for every available nursery place.
New research, shared exclusively with ITV News, shows that almost half of nursery-age children in England have poor access to childcare, making it the second worst out of nine nations surveyed globally and falling just behind France.
Watch our special report on ITVX where we meet parents, professionals and nursery workers to discuss the shortfalls in provision.
Manchester's Moss Side: A resilient community's struggle with loss
Manchester's Moss Side is a community often thrust into the spotlight for tragic reasons...
It's one that has to grapple with the violent loss of young people. ITV Granada reporter Tasha Kacheri was raised on Moss Side.
This week, Tasha revisited the area, speaking to some of those left to live with the ruinous and heartbreaking fallout of gun and knife crime.
Watch her report on our Instagram account here.
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Cervical cancer smear test failings exposed
Calls are mounting for a statutory public inquiry to be launched in Northern Ireland, following the deaths of two women from cervical cancer whose cytology 'smear' slides were misread.
Lynsey Courtney and Erin Harbinson both died of cervical cancer, and both thought they were OK before they were finally diagnosed with the disease.
Thousands of other women have since been told their negative tests could also be in question. An investigation by UTV has found authorities knew of the extent of the problem for years.
You can watch a special report by UTV Reporter Sarah Clarke on ITVX here. And there’s a UTV vodcast on the investigation here.
Will Pink Floyd follow Oasis and reunite? Dream on…
Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour has quashed any hope of a reunion. He told ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nanaar that none of the remaining three members are particularly on talking terms.
You can take a look at what else he had to say to Nina on ITVX and give our arts podcast, Unscripted, a listen here.
What’s coming up…
Saturday September 14: Liberal Democrats annual conference in Brighton
Sunday September 15: Battle of Britain Day
Wednesday September 18: Supermoon event - the moon will be near its closest approach to the Earth
Friday September 20: Reform Party conference, Birmingham
And finally… travelling the world with Trudy
She’s 20 years old, and in the last five years has visited 29 countries and travelled 92,000 miles … meet Trudy, a two-wheel drive Fiat Ducato campervan.
Chris and Marianne Fisher, from Shropshire, sold everything in their home, put it up for rent and hit the road.
They and Trudy have now seen everywhere from Mount Fuji to the Las Vegas strip - and you can hear all about why they did it on ITVX.