IT’S officially cuffing season –  the term used to describe how singletons hope to get coupled up for the colder season.

But it looks like not everyone is here with pure intentions when it comes to getting into a relationship around Christmas and winter.

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This is because there’s a new trend in the dating world – ”sledging”, which has got nothing to do with the innocent activity that brings us so much joy from childhood.

Forget getting pushed down a slope by your mum and dad as, in 2024, the meaning of sledging might push you over the edge.

Gen Z singletons are taking part in the sledging trend where they purposely ”drag someone along” over the winter months, continuing seeing a person they know they’re not interested in.

New research by dating app Happn found that over one in ten (15%) of single 18-25 year olds continued to keep dating the same person over the festive season, despite not actually fancying them on a romantic level.

But things are about to get even more ”toxic”.

That’s because sledging is not only for singletons looking for their next partner to be wary of – but also for those already in a relationship too.

Happn discovered that in their research of more than 600 daters that a further 15% of Gen Z have wanted to end things with their partner for some time.

Despite the feelings, the ”sledgers” decided to wait to do so until after Christmas and New Year.

It turns out that a staggering 75% of these people made the decision to break up in November.

However, they’ve delayed the move until after the New Year to avoid being alone.

What’s worse, 25% of the so-called ”sledgers” decided to drag their partner all the way from August to after Christmas.

Now happn’s dating expert Claire Rénier has shared how to keep your wits about you in this bizarre “red flag” dating trend.

Claire told Daily Star: “Gen Z should look out for signs that they’re being ‘sledged’ to avoid their partner staying with them just through the winter, with intention to break up soon after.

“This can be toxic and a red flag.

“People shouldn’t be treated this way in what should be a loving and trusting relationship.

”It plays with people’s emotions and fosters short-term satisfaction.

“Instead, young people should find more authentic connections with people with shared locations and hobbies.

”This way they can find partners that are genuinely interested in them and sustain a relationship to last beyond just the winter!”

ONE of the stars of EastEnders has opened up on his behind-the-scenes depression battle.

Nitin Ganatra previously played Masood Ahmed on the long-running BBC serial drama between 2007 and 2019.

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The 57-year-old actor has now revealed the toll the COVID-19 lockdown had on his mental health.

He admitted that the tough period triggered trauma from his childhood where he experienced racism and bullying.

Nitin explained how the depression he felt hit him “like a slap in the face”.

But the TV star turned to drawing and painting as a “coping strategy,” just like what he used to do when he was younger.

He explained: “It was an outpouring of work and stories and paintings and feelings and emotions. I would do a painting, finish it, put it in a box.

“But then I posted one on social media, and another and the reaction started to grow.

“And then suddenly it became a reality that I could possibly start being the person that I wanted to be. Going back to painting was like falling in love with the younger me again.”

Nitin also revealed that he always dreamed of being a painter, however that was soon put to bed as a teenager.

This was after an art dealer saw his portfolio of work as he was on the way to an interview for a university.

The actor admitted: “He said ‘you’re never going to make it’… It broke me, so I decided to become an actor instead.”

He also hinted that he would be open to a return to EastEnders one day in the future if bosses approached him.

When asked if he would make a BBC One comeback, Nitin replied: “I get asked this every day, but not as far as I know.

“I haven’t had that phone call yet. But – never say never. I’ll take my canvas with me.”

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EastEnders is available to watch on BBC One and stream on BBC iPlayer.

A BRIT army chief says the British Army would be ready to “fight tonight” after a top North Korean general was blown up in a Storm Shadow attack as Putin warns the UK of nuclear armageddon.

Senior officer Rob Magowan made the chilling statement to MPs as tensions between Russia and the West continue to spiral.

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The army chief said that Britain’s armed forced would be ready to fight their Russian counterparts “tonight” if mad Vladimir Putin were to invade another Eastern European nation.

The deputy chief of the British defense staff blatantly told the House of Commons defense committee: “If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight.

“I don’t think anybody in this room should be under any illusion that if the Russians invaded Eastern Europe tonight, then we would meet them in that fight.”

It comes after a senior North Korean general was injured in a Ukrainian strike in Russia’s Kursk region on Thursday in a Storm Shadow attack.

And Putin’s pal Kim Jong Un warned of “destructive” nuclear war as he rages against the West for helping Ukraine in targeting Russia.

In a speech at a military exhibition on Thursday the tubby dictator warned that “never before” had the Korean peninsula encountered “such a dangerous and acute confrontation”, KNCA reports.

He added that the boiling tensions “could escalate into the most destructive thermonuclear war.”

Meanwhile Ukrainian MPs are preparing for a Russian missile attack on their parliament building as one of the country’s ex-top general’s eerily claims that World War Three had officially begun.

Nato’s Eastern European members including Latvia and Estonia have been anxiously watching Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine since it began in 2022.

Finland, which borders Russia to its east, has taken its own action in ramping up national security by publishing advice for citizens to prepare “for incidents and crises”.

Nordic citizens were also told to prepare for war and handed chilling survival guides and Germany’s World War Three preparation plans were revealed in a 1,000-page secret document.

Putin said on Thursday that his war in Ukraine was escalating towards a global conflict after the US and Britain allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with Storm Shadow and ATACMS.

He has since warned the West that Moscow could devastatingly strike back.

In direct response he said Russia had launched a new kind of hypersonic ballistic missile dubbed “Oreshnik” at a defence enterprise in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

This deadly missile, according to Putin, travelled at 10 times the speed of sound and therefore couldn’t be intercepted.

Russian sources claim the range was 5,000 km – which would allow Russia to devastatingly strike most of Europe and the west coast of the US.

It was initially thought that Russia had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but the US clarified that this was incorrect.

In a televised address on Thursday, Putin said: “Russia considers itself entitled to use weapons against military facilities of countries that permit the use of their weapons against Russia.

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“Since this moment, as we have underscored repeatedly, the conflict in Ukraine, provoked by the West, has acquired elements of global nature.”

Confirming the use of the new Oreshnik, the mad dictator gloated: “One of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested, among other things,” he said in his TV address.

“In this case, with a ballistic missile in a nuclear-free hypersonic equipment. Our engineers named it Oreshnik.

“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on November 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine.”

He warned that it could use the weapon against countries that have allowed Kyiv to use its missiles to strike Russia.

And that there is currently no means to counter such a weapon.

The dictator added: “If necessary, we will choose targets for destruction. There are currently no means to counter such weapons. It is impossible.

“‘I recommend that the ruling elites of those countries which are considering allegiance against Russia seriously consider this.”

Ukraine branded Russia’s strike a major ramping up of the “scale and brutality” of the war by a “crazy neighbour”.

And the US said that Moscow was to blame for escalating the conflict “at every turn”.

Zelensky said the new hypersonic ballistic missile reached the speed and heights of an ICBM.

ICBMs have a range of over 5,500km and were designed for nuclear war.

They blast into the edge of space and can reach speeds of 13,000mph before hurtling almost down to their targets.

Britain’s defence secretary John Healey said Russia had been planning the strike “for months”.

China has reiterated calls for “calm” and restraint by all parties in the war.

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Bejing said on Friday: “China’s position on the Ukraine issue has been consistent and clear, advocating for resolving the crisis through political means and avoiding an escalation of the situation.”

China claims to be a neutral party when it comes to the Ukraine war and says it is not sending any assistance to either side – unlike the US and fellow Western nations.

But it’s known that China remains a close political and economic friend to Putin and indeed Russia.

Nato has previously labelled Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war.

Kyiv launched US ATACMS missiles against Putin’s territory overnight on Monday – and British Storm Shadow rockets on Wednesday.

Russia threatened to “react accordingly” as embassies in capital city Kyiv closed down yesterday in fear of a retaliation.

Moscow’s ambassador to the UK accused Britain of being “directly involved” in the Ukraine war after the Storm Shadow strike against targets deep inside Russia.

Andrei Kelin told Sky News: “Britain and the UK is now directly involved in this war, because this firing cannot happen without Nato staff, British staff as well.”

Moscow warned for months that the use of Western long-range missiles by Ukraine would mark a major escalation.

In September, a snarling Putin said it would “mean that Nato countries are at war with Russia”.

And on Tuesday the rattled despot double down, approving a new nuclear doctrine just hours after the ATACMS strike.

The new policy allows Moscow to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states and Russia said the move should be seen as a warning to the West.

Putin’s propagandist puppets blasted threats against the US and UK on TV – with top Kremlin lap-dog Dmitry Peskov swearing that the use of Western non-nuclear missiles by Ukraine’s armies could spark a nuclear response.

A DOLPHIN has been talking to himself and crying into the void for years as he swims in the Baltic Sea alone, a heartbreaking study has found.

The bottlenose dolphin called Delle explores the Baltic Sea alone despite his species being incredibly social.

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They often interact with each other by whistling and commonly travel and hunt in pods usually made up of between 10 and 30 members.

However, superpods have been recorded of over 1,000 bottlenose dolphins.

In 2019, Delle arrived in Denmark’s Svendborgsund Channel, a location that is not typical for his species.

Despite no other dolphins being in the area, he was still there years later when researchers launched a study between December 2022 and February 2023.

To learn more about the lonely dolphin and to see how his presence in the area was impacting other animals, scientists used underwater recording technology to capture his sounds.

Over 10,800 bursts of clicks, whistles, and other sounds were picked up during the 69-day study.

Though he had a lot to say, his unanswered calls lacked “intentionality” as Delle is entirely alone, the results published last month revealed.

Even more heartbreaking is that researchers initially thought there were multiple dolphins as he spoke to himself using a variety of noises, almost mimicking other friends.

Three distinctly different whistles were recorded.

This is unusual as bottlenose dolphins have “signature whistles, believed to be unique to each individual, much like a name,” Olga Filatova, the lead author of the study told Live Science.

Researchers noted: “If the dolphin’s solitary status was unknown, one might conclude that the recordings captured a group of three different dolphins.

“It is highly unusual that the dolphin produced these sounds without any conspecifics present.”

No reason was found that explained Delle’s loneliness.

Scientists believe his “self-talk” likely comes from his need for social interaction.

Bottlenose Dolphin Facts

Bottlenose Dolphins can be found in most oceans across the world, typically in tropical and temperate climates.

Usually grey, these mammals are between two and four metres long and have a distinctive beak that makes it look like they are smiling.

They are incredibly social and live in pods that can have hundreds of members.

This species of dolphin eats fish, squid, small rays and crustaceans.

The females are pregnant for about 12 months and they then typically nurse a calf for up to 24 months.

Bottlenose dolphins have an average lifespan of 22.8 years.

An initial theory was that Delle was trying to communicate with humans such as a local paddleboarder.

However, this idea fell through when he was recorded making the same noises at night and other times when no humans were around.

Due to the length of time he has spent alone in the region, it is also unlikely that he is still trying to find other dolphins.

Filatova believes the sounds could be involuntary and triggered by emotion, like when humans laugh even if they are alone.

The researchers wrote: “Dolphin ‘communicative’ sounds may be produced unintentionally as emotional signals or serve functions other than communication.”

It is not known how long the 17-year-old dolphin has been alone and if his solitary lifestyle predates his arrival off the Danish coast.

GK Barry planned to introduce a secret signal on I’m A Celebrity with her YouTube pals.

Calfreezy and Chip asked for the 25-year-old to “think of them” when she’s in the jungle, joking: “Maybe as you’re being smothered by a Boa constrictor you could show this sign.”

They then decided on creating the letter F with her right hand – although the YouTube star used the wrong hand at first.

The signal is famously used in the gaming world to indicate a forfeit – when a player chooses to end a game early.

GK Barry, whose real name is Grace Keeling, acted it out on her podcast Saving Grace, but failed to do it on last night’s show.

Celebrities often communicate with their families back home during the live section of the show.

When hosts Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly enter camp to reveal the public vote results they know they’re live on TV.

It means they know exactly when they’ll be seen by loved ones at home – without risking the move being edited out.

Alan Halsall has been holding up a heart sign to signal to his 11-year-old daughter Sienna back home.

Meanwhile Coleen Rooney communicates with her sons during I’m A Celebrity by touching her personalised necklace with her sons’ names on it – Kai, 13, Klay, ten, Kit, seven, and Cass, six.

It’s happened most years, with radio DJ Chris Moyles seen making a letter T-shape with his hands to his girlfriend Tiffany watching at home in 2022.

However last year, eventual winner Sam Thompson was left gutted he did not organise a secret signal to send to Zara McDermott like some of the other campmates.

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