The film industry has, traditionally, always been the preserve of the young and the beautiful – that is, unless you’re male. Actors such as Richard Gere, Michael Douglas, Jack Nicholson and George Clooney have headlined films well into their 50s and 60s, often opposite much younger actresses. Indeed, it’s still common practice, with this week’s The Mummy seeing Tom Cruise paired up with Annabelle Wallis, over 20 years his junior.

However, the same hasn’t always been true for women in film. With a few rare exceptions, actresses tend to find work offers become less frequent after they reach 40. Even some of the most dynamic, popular stars of the time find themselves with nothing other than broadly written support roles, usually playing an underdeveloped mother or wife character. Stars like Geena Davis, Rene Russo, Sharon Stone, Demi Moore and Goldie Hawn were all top of the Tinseltown tree until disappearing quite dramatically from studio films as they got older, either popping up again in minor roles or leaving the industry altogether.

Thankfully, times are changing. Studios are waking up to the realisation that, yes, women go to the cinema too; and that audiences of all backgrounds will appreciate a well-crafted story, regardless of the gender of the person telling it.

Rachel Weisz stars in this week’s new drama My Cousin Rachel, playing a woman suspected by her cousin (Sam Claflin) of murdering his guardian. It’s the latest in a career that hasn’t really dipped since her emergence in the late '90s, with the 47-year-old mixing arthouse fare ( The Lobster) with gripping dramas ( Denial) and blockbuster franchises ( The Bourne Legacy, Oz the Great and Powerful). The former star of The Mummy trilogy is not alone, with a number of today’s female stars bucking past trends – to the delight of movie fans.

For some actors, it’s simply that they will never cease in their pursuit of a strong role. 42-year-old Amy Adams may only just have passed that threshold, but it would take a very pessimistic view to argue that her career is about to downturn. The five-time Oscar nominee follows up the critically acclaimed Nocturnal Animals and Arrival with the small matter of playing Lois Lane in superhero team-up Justice League in December. Similarly, Jessica Chastain is just getting started at 40, having recently been cast as Ingrid Bergman and making headlines at Cannes for speaking out on the “disturbing” way women are represented on screen.

One star who certainly can’t be accused of being pigeonholed is Cate Blanchett. A bright light of the film industry for over 20 years, the 48-year-old has played a criminal, a journalist, a queen, a movie icon, an elf, Bob Dylan… she’s had the type of career anyone of any age would kill for, and still maintains that success. She’s soon to be part of the all-female Ocean’s Eight (four of whom, incidentally, are actors over 40), and has already won fans’ hearts in the trailer for Thor: Ragnarok as villain Hela. Blanchett and others like her form a group of actresses pushing past what studios are expected of them, maintaining the glamour of young stardom and mixing it with nuanced performances which are the result of years of experience.

In addition to this group, there are the performers whose talents have only been fully realised since they’ve gotten older. At 51, Viola Davis won her first Academy Award this year for her supporting role in Fences. Having just appeared in Wonder Woman and the new series of House of Cards, Robin Wright seems to be eclipsing her breakthrough years in the late '80s and early '90s with more interesting, complex characters. There’s also Hidden Figures star Taraji P. Henson, for years an under-appreciated actress, whose most successful roles didn’t arrive until her 40s. And while she started off strong in Jurassic Park in her 20s, Laura Dern’s most interesting work has come in her late 40s, with films like Wild, Certain Women and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master. Hollywood took notice (again), making her part of the forthcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

While a pattern is emerging, these stars remain exceptions in an industry still struggling in terms of gender equality. Film is a business of repetition, however, and just as younger names like Jennifer Lawrence, Daisy Ridley and Gal Gadot are showing the potential of women starring in traditionally male-dominated genres, Rachel Weisz and others can set a precedent for the vast array of interesting characters that are possible if women over a certain age are drawn towards the camera, and not pushed away from it.

My Cousin Rachel is in UK cinemas from 9th June.

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If you're considering a beauty overhaul for the summer months but bored of neon face paint, bold lids and rainbow glitter, why not let your lips make a statement instead? For festivals and long summer nights, we're saying goodbye to matte products and making space in our makeup bags for metallic, shiny tones.

Unlike glitter lip products, these high-impact lipsticks don’t have any fallout, making them easy to apply and comfortable to wear, with colour lasting all day and night. For maximum results, exfoliate lips and apply a balm before gliding on your futuristic shade.

Follow the call of the disco ball and click through for our pick of the best metallic lipsticks out there. See you on the dance floor.

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On the whole, celebrities aren't known for making political endorsements. Most of them seem too afraid of what their fans, management and PR people might think of their beliefs, so they just don't bother saying anything. In the run-up to this general election, however, something seems to have switched, with many laying their cards on the virtual table that is social media.

So, whose box will the stars be placing their 'x' in this year? Well, one party has a pretty clear lead when it comes to celebrity endorsements.

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Former FBI Director James Comey will say in his congressional hearing opening statement that President Trump told him, "I need loyalty. I expect loyalty," during a January dinner, according to documents released a day ahead of his planned testimony.

Comey is set to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday, and his prepared statement was released Wednesday afternoon. The former FBI director is expected to discuss the agency's investigation into the possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election. He is also expected to describe his interactions with Trump from right before the president was inaugurated in January to the weeks leading up to Trump firing him in early May.

In the opening statement, Comey said he and Trump dined together privately in January. During the meal, he said Trump asked him if he wanted to remain on as FBI director, and he replied that he wanted to serve out his 10-year term and "was not on anybody's side politically."

Comey said Trump then made his statement about loyalty. Comey replied that he could offer his honesty, and that when Trump said he wanted "honest loyalty," Comey paused and said, "You will get that from me."

He also said it was "very concerning" when Trump asked him to back off an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey described the exchange in dramatic detail, saying Trump asked him to stay behind in the Oval Office after a meeting with a larger group, and as they stood near a grandfather clock, the president described Flynn as a good guy who'd been through a lot.

Then the president said to Comey, "I hope you can let this go." This corroborates a The New York Times report from May.

Comey also said in his statement that he immediately prepared a memo documenting the February exchange and that the FBI investigation continued.

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Illegal drugs don’t suddenly become lawful and 100% safe the moment you set foot on the grounds of a music festival, regardless of how normalised they are at many events. While it’s generally pretty easy to get your hands on drugs if you know where to look, it’s much more difficult to ascertain what’s actually in them.

There has been an increase in drug-related deaths at music festivals in recent years, from 10 in 2010 to 57 in 2015, which has been attributed to a rise in the strength of ecstasy. Drug-testing services were piloted at Secret Garden Party and Kendal Calling last year, and now health experts are calling on all festivals to introduce similar initiatives.

All festival-goers should be able to test their drugs on site to ensure they’re safe, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) said, and some festival organisers have backed the call. Secret Garden Party, Kendall Calling and Boomtown festivals have confirmed they’ll offer drug testing this year, and more look set to follow their lead, including Reading and Leeds, NME reported.

The founder of Secret Garden Party, Freddie Fellowes, supports the idea, telling BBC Newsbeat that last year’s trial was a big success. “If it's a good idea in one place it's a good idea everywhere," he said, adding that “a remarkable percentage” of the people who had their drugs tested chose to bin them. "Otherwise they would have gone on to take something that's clearly not what they were expecting,” he said.

“There was a case of some anti-malaria drugs being powdered up and sold as cocaine. We also came across someone who was selling ecstasy tablets that turned out to be 100% concrete."

Melvin Benn, head of Live Nation subsidiary Festival Republic, which organises Reading, Leeds, Latitude, V Festival, Wireless and more, said last month he wanted to introduce drug-testing services with support from the police. “We’ll see it this year for definite… at Leeds I’m pretty certain,” he said. “It’s taken a long time and it won’t be at every festival, but where we think there is a need to do it we will be doing it.”

According to the RSPH, nearly a fifth (18%) of people who tested their drugs threw them away afterwards. Shirley Cramer, the chief executive of RSPH, called drug-related deaths at music festivals “a growing problem for policy makers, health authorities and events companies alike."

"While the use of stimulant 'club drugs' such as ecstasy can never be safe, and RSPH supports ongoing efforts to prevent them entering entertainment venues, we accept that a certain level of use remains inevitable in such settings. We therefore believe that a pragmatic, harm reduction response is necessary."

However, authorities say there are no plans for a national scheme. Simon Bray, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for drugs, said: "Any proposal would need to be considered at a local level by the police force, local authority and health services with a view on its legal, scientific and possible health implications," BBC Newsbeat reported.

He added that police forces would need "a strong understanding of the implications on policing" before any drug testing could be supported locally. "Police could not support initiatives that do not comply with the law or that have unintended negative consequences."

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I used to treat my dating apps the same way I’d treat trips to the gym — as a means to an end. I wanted my ass to be an inch higher than it is, so I’d drag it to the gym and squat it into submission until I wanted to die. (I’ve thankfully since given into my love of yoga — and stopped obsessing over my ass.) When it came to the apps, I wanted a boyfriend, so I considered swiping a second career. I’d pore over the profiles of men, attempting to figure out whether or not they wanted a relationship. Men who I found attractive and who were up front about their desire to couple up almost always got a swipe right. The guys who listed things like, “just looking to have fun,” or, “not interested in anything serious right now,” got a swipe left. Mama didn’t have any time to fuck around. In the words of every contestant on America’s Next Top Model, I’m not here to make friends.

That was until I came across Julio* on Bumble. Julio was up front from the beginning: He’d just gotten out of a long relationship, and he was taking the year to just have a good time. In the past, I’d toss him into the digital “reject” bin and move on with my day. But, for whatever reason, that day I decided to swipe right. Julio and I matched, and we starting talking on the app, where he once again reiterated that he wasn’t looking for anything serious. But I soldiered on, and we eventually moved on to text.

Julio and I got in the habit of texting each other just to check in and say hi. A friendship began to form, and our banter was so easy that I didn’t have any of the “what should I text him?!” dilemmas I’d had with men in the past. Around this same time, I started seeing a guy named Jude*, and then referenced him ever-so-subtly in this column. Julio read it, I came clean, and we decided to continue talking and being friends — even though I’d effectively taken romance off the table.

And Julio actually turned out to be a great confidant when it came to my love life. I’d ask for his insight, and he’d give me advice through the lens of the types of people I was actually dating — namely, straight men. In the past, I’d bounce cryptic text messages and shady behaviour off of my younger brothers, which was just as awkward as it sounds. But Julio gave me unfiltered responses from a dude’s perspective, sans the awkwardness. There was a point when Jude and I were going through some shit involving his ex-girlfriend, and Julio told me the thing none of my friends or either of my brothers would say to my face: You’re his second choice. When Jude and I finally ended things, those words were part of my breakup monologue — and then I repeated them back to all of my friends.

The strangest part about this entire situation was that my friendship with Julio grew completely over text messages for the first two months. We didn’t officially meet until the night after I ended things with Jude. I was sad, and Julio offered to take me out to dinner. We instead wound up at a bar, drinking margaritas, and then moved onto a pig roast my friends were hosting, where we proceeded to get completely drunk off of rum cocktails and red wine. That night, I knew I’d made a good friend.

I (and so many other people, I’m sure) have started taking this online dating thing way too seriously.

Now, the story of how we met has become our little hat trick that we like to pull out whenever we meet people in the other’s circle. “We met on Bumble,” one of us will say. “Yeah, but we have never hooked up,” the other will clarify. And when this conversation inevitably comes up, I think back to the hard-and-fast rules I used to have when it came to online dating. Had I stuck to my rigid outlook on the apps, I would have never swiped right on Julio, he would have never given me advice on navigating the Jude situation, and we would have never become friends.

It makes me realise that I (and so many other people, I’m sure) have started taking this online dating thing way too seriously. When I first started using apps and websites, I’d see dates as opportunities to meet interesting people who I’d never come across otherwise. But the older I got, and the more societal pressure had me considering marriage, the more I started skipping over people I thought were interesting, but whom I didn’t see a future with.

So now, along with mindfully swiping, I’m attempting to look at the men on my apps as actual people with interests, instead of humans who could potentially fill the role of “boyfriend.” You never know who you might meet on these apps, so you might as well have a little fun with it while you’re also looking for love. As for Julio, he and I are still just friends — and I’m happy to keep it that way. I successfully met a boy friend on Bumble, and I consider that as fortuitous an outcome as any.

* Name has been changed.

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Most, if not all, of us have had the supremely annoying experience of having our personal space invaded by a man spreading his legs on public transport. And if you’re anything like us, you may regularly find yourself pushing back against the entitled culprits in retaliation, because, feminism.

So, we’re pretty envious of women in Madrid, whose city will be installing signs on trains and buses prohibiting manspreading, as the phenomenon is known. The signs feature an illustration of a man with his legs spread wide on a Metro seat beneath a red “X”, to show it’s prohibited, and text urging travellers to “respect the space of others”, the Independent reported. It's not yet clear whether wrongdoers will be fined for their boorish behaviour, however.

Esta es la señal de los autobuses de la @EMTmadrid para respetar el espacio de los demás y evitar el #manspreading. https://t.co/dnqdMycgaO pic.twitter.com/Xwcx3bx8DG

— Ayuntamiento Madrid (@MADRID) June 7, 2017

The Spanish capital’s Municipal Transportation Company (EMT) will be putting up the posters in all its carriages and vehicles, along with others warning against different inconsiderate behaviours, including littering, smoking, eating and putting feet on the seats.

EMT said on Wednesday: “The new information icon indicates the prohibition of taking a seating position that bothers other people,” reported the Independent. “It’s to remind transport users to maintain civic responsibility and respect the personal space of everyone on board.“

Manspreading has been a talking point among Madrid's feminists for a while, with the group Mujeres en Lucha (Women in Struggle) heading the movement against it. They started a petition earlier this year and the accompanying hashtag, #MadridSinManspreading (#MadridWithoutManspreading), went viral on social media.

"It’s not difficult to see women with their legs shut and very uncomfortable because there is a man next to them who is invading their space with his legs,” the petition read.

In April, Spain's left-wing CUP party called for a national campaign against manspreading, hailing it an equality issue and describing the behaviour as an “exhibition of machismo and a micro-aggression that can make the person suffering it uncomfortable,” the Independent reported.

Madrid isn’t the only city to have a strong position on manspreading. New York was one of the first to confront the issue in 2014, with its "Dude…Stop the Spread, Please," poster campaign on its Metro system. Its police even arrested people but eventually dropped the charges. Tokyo's public transport system ran a campaign against it decades ago, in 1976, and more recently again in 2012, and Vancouver also threw weight behind the issue in 2011.

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Everyone may be freaking out over the imminent return of Orange Is The New Black, but there’s an entirely different Netflix series you’re going to be obsessed with this month. That show is Naomi Watts’ Gypsy and it’s basically the sexiest thing to hit the streaming site in history. The upcoming psychological thriller follows a cunning Manhattan therapist named Jean Halloway (Watts), who descends into illicit relationships with the people in her patients’ lives. The original teaser for Gypsy hinted just how crazy the drama would be, and now we’re here to debut the full-length trailer, which takes things so much further.

The nearly two-minute video proves we are in for a wild, wild ride as Jean’s seemingly perfect reality is ripped apart by her most forbidden desires. And we shouldn't be surprised, as Gypsy is directed by the woman who first bought sexy bad boy Christian Grey to the big screen, 50 Shades Of Grey helmer Sam Taylor-Johnson.

Within the first few seconds of the trailer, it’s clear the therapist is turned on by hearing about the individuals populating her patients’ world. Jean asks one man to talk to her like she's his apparent ex-girlfriend and seductively touches a pen to her lips as he speaks. But, she’s pulled back to her cookie cutter lifestyle by her husband Michael (Billy Crudup) and their adorable daughter Dolly (Maren Heary). Jean is the kind of woman who holds hands with her little girl, still eats family meals at the kitchen table, and has sex with her husband. She couldn’t have an entire secret life, right? Wrong.

The trailer shows Jean stalking her cute patient Sam (Karl Glusman), who’s kissing a mystery woman. Seconds later, the therapist has managed to track the beautiful brunette down and is also kissing her. Soon enough Jean is admitting she doesn't know which of her double lives is the real one. From there, things only spiral out of control with enough tears, sex scenes, and a yelling Billy Crudup to prepare fans to keep pressing “Next Episode” when Gypsy premieres on Friday, June 30. For a taste of all the Naomi Watts madness, watched the trailer now — and be happy your therapist isn't named Jean Halloway.

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A 23-year-old in Peru has died by suicide and left behind recordings inspired by the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. According to the Peruvian news outlet, Diario Clarín, Franco Alonso Lazo Medrano jumped from the balcony of his fourth floor apartment after yelling "I can’t stand a heartbreak." His mother was present during the act. Medrano survived the fall, but was later pronounced dead at San Juan de Dios hospital.

Diario Clarín reports that police found two suicide notes in his home, one to a woman named Claudia and another listing names of people for whom he had recorded tapes, claiming these people were the ones who caused him to commit suicide.

While neither of the notes directly referenced 13 Reasons Why, leaving behind tapes for people after suicide is the main plot point of the Netflix hit. Detractors of the show criticised this aspect specifically, as they believed it suggested that suicide is sometimes "justified."

"I can't get it out of my mind so I have to say, I think 13 Reasons Why discusses teen suicide & depression in an unhelpful & unhealthy way," tweeted Degrassi actress Aislinn Paul. "If you're struggling and this show helped you somehow, that's great and I would never want to take that away from you. But if it made you feel worse, misunderstood, isolated, or triggered in any way, please reach out for help! @KidsHelpPhone: 1(800) 668-6868"

A Canadian school is even attempting to ban students from talking about the series, and mental health organisations say the show is dangerous to those who are already at risk.

This backlash is what caused Netflix to strengthen the trigger warnings before the episodes in an effort to stop vulnerable people from watching something that could be harmful to their mental health.

"There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about our series 13 Reasons Why," Netflix said in a statement to BuzzFeed. While many of our members find the show to be a valuable driver for starting important conversation with their families, we have also heard concern from those who feel the series should carry additional advisories. Currently the episodes that carry graphic content are identified as such and the series overall carries a TV-MA rating. Moving forward, we will add an additional viewer warning card before the first episode as an extra precaution for those about to start the series and have also strengthened the messaging and resource language in the existing cards for episodes that contain graphic subject matter, including the URL 13ReasonsWhy.info — a global resource centre that provides information about professional organisations that support help around the serious matters addressed in the show."

If you are thinking about suicide, please contact Samaritans on 116 123. All calls are free and will be answered in confidence.

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If you want to be cynical, every movie and TV show is just a collection of tropes, shaken like Yahtzee dice and thrown onto the board of whatever world we want to live in that day. And while Hollywood is slowly but surely giving women more opportunities to expand beyond a limited selection of roles, there are a few staples that we just can't seem to shake: horrible stepmother, nagging spouse, gold digger. All of these fall under the general umbrella of "evil wife" — and I love them.

While yes, Wonder Woman is ~badass~ and, yes, I rooted for Reese Witherspoon in Wild along with the rest of you, my favourite character to stand behind is the kind we're not supposed to love at all. She's corrupt, she's ill-intentioned, she's the villain — but she's also perhaps the most fiercely feminist role an actress can portray.

Take Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, the most notorious of these characters. I'd argue she has stood the test of time because there's something in her we can't quite hate. She stands behind Macbeth, secretly pulling the strings for her own selfish, power-hungry gain. But in the 1600s, what other choice did a woman have? If she desired something beyond a life of serving someone else, she could either reluctantly extinguish that flame, or do whatever she needed to do to get it.

The same goes for Game Of Thrones ' Cersei Lannister. The brilliance of that show is that there's no good side or bad side. Everyone has their own valid motivations for the Throne, but Cersei is the one painted as evil because she exerts whatever power she can to get it, whether that's at the brutal expense of one human life or an entire town that she sends up in flames. But picture this: You were forced to marry a man who abused you, all your children have been killed, and the person you actually love is the one person you can't be with — yeah, you're going to light some stuff on fire.

Then there's Serena Joy in The Handmaid's Tale, or Claire Underwood in House Of Cards. For women who are trapped in a patriarchal structure, turning quote-unquote evil is the ultimate feminist act. The next woman to join the club? Rachel Ashley.

My Cousin Rachel, based on the book by Daphne Du Maurier, stars Hunger Games ' Sam Claflin as Philip and Rachel Weisz as Rachel, the widowed wife of Philip's cousin and guardian who died under mysterious circumstances. Based on a letter he received before his cousin's death, Philip begins the film convinced that Rachel is responsible for his cousin's demise, but coincidentally warms to her the moment she arrives in his home and starts making him her special tea.

What makes the film so gripping is that for every instance it seems Rachel is manipulating and poisoning Philip, there's another equally plausible, innocuous explanation. Whether or not Rachel is evil is completely up to the viewer, and it didn't take long for me to start rooting for it to be true.

Living in the 19th century, Rachel doesn't have much choice in her life than to be shuffled from suitor to suitor. As a woman, her livelihood can only come from family money or from her husbands, but taking advantage of that system immediately gives her a reputation. To live your whole life under the confines of being expected to marry well, only to be admonished when reaping the rewards of doing just that, is some Grade A level bullshit and reason enough, in my opinion, to start poisoning every idiot dude who tries to get in your way.

For instance, there were rumours that Rachel spent her first husband's money extravagantly: hell yeah. That she had loud and raunchy sex: hell yeah. That she gleefully accepted a clause in her late husband's will meaning she could never marry again, lest she lose her inheritance: hell! Yeah! Why would she? As she explains to Philip, being a woman means she doesn't have the luxury of living the life she wants. Her choices have to be calculated and sometimes cruel in order to ensure that she has a shred of independence. As a wife, she couldn't be in control of her own finances, couldn't transfer money to family abroad, had to lie on her back and suffer through sex straight-faced, or fake her orgasms loudly so she's known as a voracious lover.

As far as I'm concerned, seducing powerful men into giving her a sliver of their privilege, killing a husband or two in order to escape from the confines of patriarchy, and poisoning a dopey 25-year-old until he hands over his fortune doesn't make Rachel a villain. Rachel Ashley is a goddamn hero.

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Today's James Comey hearing may not have the slick production value and binge-worthy intrigue as Netflix' House of Cards, but onlookers are drawing plenty of parallels. The suspense, the high-profile players, the White House looming in the background, and one 6-foot-8 FBI director sitting at the centre of it all. Well, the actual House of Cards is taking notice, too, because the show's official Twitter account posted the perfect GIF to sum up the entire situation, as Mashable noted.

The intention may be open to interpretation, but the fact that the show's social media account posted just one thing for the duration of the hearing did make a powerful statement. Early this morning, HoC 's social media gurus pulled the perfect GIF, with Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) breaking the fourth wall and offering up an enigmatic, knowing expression.

pic.twitter.com/2YU4j1QP1z

— House of Cards (@HouseofCards) June 8, 2017

Fans of the Netflix series know that Underwood is privy to everything (and we mean everything) happening both in the storied halls and corrupt underbelly of our nation's capital, so this may be the show's way of saying that there's plenty bubbling under the surface of today's hearing.

Twitter users were quick to jump behind the GIF, adding their own Underwood images and drawing comparisons between the current administration and the slimy, cutthroat world of House of Cards ' fictional D.C. And because nobody knows exactly what's happening in the mind of Frank Underwood, it's safe to say that any speculation — regarding that GIF-able expression and the Comey trial itself — is fair game.

You're so savage​. {{-_-}}

— A MAN IS NO ONE ♠ (@JohnnyACE562) June 8, 2017

pic.twitter.com/i0kUnHqril

— Ministry of GIFs (@GIFs) June 8, 2017

@HouseofCards tweets on point, AGAIN

— Nancy Elyse (@NancyElyse7) June 8, 2017

Pretty much sums up what we're doing right now 😉

— DJ Spin (@Turntablez) June 8, 2017

this is soo fucking accurate

— Cosa Rota (@carcosahead) June 8, 2017

House of Cards ' fifth season just hit Netflix, but it looks like real-world politics is giving the show plenty of fodder for its sixth.

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When it comes to sexual assault, people often seem to assume that it's easy enough for survivors to just fight back, or somehow try to overpower and escape their attackers. But one new study provides some evidence as to why that's not always possible.

The study, published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, found that most sexual assault survivors "freeze up" during the assault, experiencing a temporary involuntary paralysis, known as tonic immobility.

According to the study tonic immobility as "an 'involuntary, temporary motor inhibition' when exposed to extreme threat," is believed to be a response to attack that occurs when there seem to be no other options to avoid it.

For the research, Anna Möller, MD, PhD, of the Karolinksa Institute and the Stockholm South General Hospital in Sweden, and her colleagues studied the cases of 298 women who visited the Emergency Clinic for Rape Victims in Stockholm within one month of a sexual assault.

Of those women, about 70% reported significant tonic immobility and 48% reported extreme tonic immobility during the assault. What's more, among the 189 women who completed a 6-month assessment, 38% had developed PTSD and 22% developed severe depression. Those who experienced tonic immobility were associated with increased risk of developing PTSD and severe depression.

The researchers said they hoped that the study will help us better understand how assault can affect survivors.

"The present study shows that tonic immobility is more common than earlier described," Dr. Möller said in a statement shared with Refinery29. “This information is useful both in legal situations and in the psychoeducation of rape victims. Further, this knowledge can be applied in the education of medical students and law students.”

If you have experienced sexual violence of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999.

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If there's anything New Yorkers are known for, it's being persistent in the face of obstacles. Nothing will get in their way; not mean-spirited bosses, trash-talking roommates, or the damn subway system.

Certainly not the damn subway system. When a new NYC transit rule went into effect back in October 2016 prohibiting animals on the subway, unless they're service dogs or working for law-enforcement agencies, people didn't just accept it and move on. Oh, no.

The new rule states: "[N]o person may bring any animal on or into any conveyance or facility unless enclosed in a container and carried in a manner which would not annoy other passengers."

So NYC dog owners followed the rule — to a tee. (And, of course, all the moments were captured on Twitter.) "Enclosed in a container"? No problem! An Ikea Frakta bag is a container. And no one ever specified that the dog's legs have to be inside this container.

My favorite picture EVER of someone bringing a dog "in a bag" on the subway 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/4PTUNofv68

— Pamela (@PamelasRageLove) June 7, 2017

An L.L. Bean-style tote is a container...and even a Husky does a great job of fitting into one.

the New York City Subway banned dogs unless they fit in a bag and the people of New York did not disappoint. pic.twitter.com/vluNcZHBmW

— C (@meanboysclub) June 6, 2017

"This is how we roll."

This is how we roll. Bag on dog on cheetah suitcase I stole from I Meemaw. Subway in style. pic.twitter.com/XfqCInfn1G

— Lizzie Poteet (@lizziepoteet) October 2, 2016

This loophole has even inspired camaraderie among those who want to stick it to the MTA (which is, let's admit it, everybody).

to the woman who helped me get my dog into his tote bag on the subway platform tonight: i genuinely love you.

— jiordan castle (@jiordancastle) December 1, 2016

Oh, hey there. Just another dog in a bag.

That's a dog. In a bag. On the subway. pic.twitter.com/4hfqXuMCml

— Steven Christoforou (@scchristoforou) November 3, 2016

It's one way to get someone to give up their seat on the subway!

My dog has gotten so heavy that when I carry him on the subway in his tote bag I start pouring sweat 😓😓 and people offer their seats to me

— Tom Stern (@SquirrelTalkTom) December 14, 2016

Let this be a lesson to you, bureaucratic establishment: You can't keep New Yorkers from doing their thing.

Scroll down to see more doggos in bags from @nycsubwaydogs

Photo credit: @sesame.cake #nycsubwaydogs #shibainu #nycdogs #dogstagram #dogsofnyc #dogsofinsta #newyorkdogs #nyc #nycsubway #travelwithdogs #cutecommute

A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Oct 19, 2016 at 5:03am PDT

Photo credit: @missmuffydayla #nycsubwaydogs #nycdogs #dogstagram #shitzumania #dogsofnyc #newyorkdogs #nyc #nycsubway #travelwithdogs #cutecommute #shitzugram

A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Oct 5, 2016 at 4:59am PDT

Photo credit: @carlton.banks #nycsubwaydogs #frenchielove #frenchieoftheday #nycdogs #newyorkdogs #dogstagram #nyc #nycsubway #travelwithdogs #cutecommute #dogsofnyc #dogsofinsta

A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Sep 29, 2016 at 5:04am PDT

Meet Jack #nycsubwaydogs #nycdogs #dogstagram #earsfordays #dogsofnyc #newyorkdogs #nyc #nycsubway #citydog #travelwithdogs #cutecommute

A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Sep 7, 2016 at 4:42am PDT

How to brighten up a Monday, Photo credit: @sully_and_finn #nycsubwaydogs #frenchiesociety #nycdogs #dogstagram #dogsofinstagram #dogsofnyc #newyorkdogs #nyc #nycsubway #citydog #travelwithdogs #cutecommute

A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Aug 29, 2016 at 5:04am PDT

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A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Aug 9, 2016 at 3:55pm PDT

Photo credit: @chelsearesnick, Cute credit: @paintedarmormike #nycsubwaydogs #pom #nycdogs #dogstagram #dogsofig #dogsofnyc #newyorkdogs #nyc #nycsubway #citydog #travelwithdogs #cutecommute

A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Jul 27, 2016 at 6:08am PDT

Photo credit: @chiefbrodycavalier #nycsubwaydogs #dogstagram #nycdogs #dogsofinstagram #dogsofnyc #dogsofig #newyorkdogs #nyc #nycsubway #citydog #travelwithdogs

A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Jul 21, 2016 at 6:10am PDT

#nycsubwaydogs #dachshundlove #nycdogs #dachshundsofnyc #dogstagram #dogsofnyc #newyorkdogs #nyc #nycsubway #citydog #travelwithdogs (photo credit: @dachshundsofnyc)

A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Jun 28, 2016 at 5:37am PDT

#nycsubwaydogs #nycdogs #dogstagram #dogsofnyc #dogsofinstagram #nyc #nycsubway #citydog #travelwithdogs #cutecommute (photo credit: @mightylittlelion)

A post shared by @nycsubwaydogs on Jun 14, 2016 at 5:35am PDT

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Jetting off to a far-flung island is one of our ultimate vacation fantasies, but not all of these locales are created equal. Living it up in a tropical paradise sounds amazing on paper — but the reality is that some gorgeous spots can be overrun with tourists during high season. For that extra bit of space and privacy, the rich and famous turn to private island resorts for their R&R needs.

Imagine strolling on a private beach, taking a dip in a secluded cove, and sipping on a sundowner concocted by your own personal bartender — this is the dream these secluded hotels are selling. And, let's face it: Life can't get any better than that.

We may not be billionaires or jackpot winners (yet), but we can certainly live vicariously through photos of these stunning retreats. Read on for our bucket list of intimate respites that are scenic, romantic, and just downright epic.

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Former FBI Director James Comey publicly testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, answering questions about his interactions with President Trump in relation to the federal Russia investigation. Comey testified that he found some of the president's behaviour disturbing, and senators pressed him on why he didn't stand up to Trump in the moment, or at least tell someone about his concerns soon after.

Many people tuning into the Senate hearing were quick to compare Comey's actions (and the way he was questioned about them) to the experiences of women who are sexually harassed at work or sexually assaulted. While they certainly aren't the same, they do share some commonalities.

One of the main incidents in question was a private meeting between Comey and the president in the Oval Office in February, during which Trump talked to him about the FBI's investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go," Comey recalled the president saying in his written opening statement released on Wednesday. Comey said he replied that Flynn is a good guy, and later talked about the bizarre encounter with other FBI leaders.

Plenty of women have been put into these precarious situations before — alone with a boss, made to feel intimidated and belittled, their livelihood threatened — and they face similar criticism and judgement that Comey came up against during the hearing.

Multiple senators questioned the former FBI director on why he responded the way he did. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California asked why he didn't tell President Trump "this is wrong," if he was concerned about the encounter as he said he was. "Maybe if I was stronger I would have," Comey replied. "I was so stunned by the conversation that I just took it in."

He later explained that agreeing that Flynn was a good guy was simply a way to end the awkward conversation, but that he didn't agree to stop the investigation.

These senators are doing everything but ask Comey why he wore such a revealing suit to meet with Trump.

— Andi Zeisler (@andizeisler) June 8, 2017

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida pressed Comey on why he didn't inform White House officials of his conversations with Trump if he felt they were inappropriate. "I don’t know," Comey said. "I think the circumstances were such that I was a bit stunned and didn’t have the presence of mind."

Following in Rubio's footsteps, the GOP tweeted, "If Comey truly felt uncomfortable, why not raise a red flag while under oath the first time?"

Bärí A. Williams tweeted that Comey keeping detailed notes about his uncomfortable meetings with Trump is what women of colour often do at work: "Trump somehow gave a privileged white guy the work experience of an under-leveled and underpaid Black woman via treatment. Mind blown."

Another observation... Comey keeping receipts on Trump gave him a taste of #BlackWomenAtWork, or really any person of color or woman at work

— Bärí A. Williams (@BariAWilliams) June 8, 2017

Trump somehow gave a privileged white guy the work experience of an under-leveled and underpaid Black woman via treatment. Mind blown.

— Bärí A. Williams (@BariAWilliams) June 8, 2017

The similarities between Comey's experience and women's experiences gives insight into how powerful men are protected. Really, Comey's privilege prevents him for truly understanding what it's like to be a minority in the workplace. But his testimony helped shine a light on why both men and women are sometimes too shocked or too scared to come forward about uncomfortable — even illegal — interactions with a superior.

It's too early to say if Comey's testimony will have an impact on the future of Trump's presidency, but there is something slightly satisfying in knowing that powerful white men can sometimes be intimidated, too. If only that would result in a few of them being more self-aware next time they interact with a minority employee. But really, that might be more unrealistic than the release of the infamous, unconfirmed pee tape.

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The wait for new episodes of Game Of Thrones may feel endless, but fortunately, we're getting extra-long episodes to make up for it. While the runtime for each episode of season 7 of HBO's hit fantasy series was reported to be about the same length as the previous instalments — an average of roughly 58 minutes — that turned out not to be the case. Instead, season 7 of Game Of Thrones, which will premiere on July 16, will feature episodes that range from slightly longer to nearly double the episode length.

According to reliable Game Of Thrones' fan site Watchers Of The Wall, who got their intel from HBO's official site, every episode of the new season, save for episode 4, will run 59 minutes or longer.

Here's the breakdown:

Episodes 1, 2, and 5 will run for 59 minutes, while episode 3 will be 63 minutes. Episode 4, the shortest episode of season, will only run for 50 minutes, but the later episodes will make up for the time loss in spades. Episode 6 will run for a whopping 71 minutes, while episode 7 — the season's finale — will run for an insane 81 minutes in length. That means that the penultimate and finale episodes will basically be like two mini movies — hopefully ones packed with the epicness we've come to expect from George R. R. Martin's brainchild.

One thing to expect from the upcoming season? Sansa (Sophie Turner) finally wielding her power. Turner spoke to Entertainment Weekly about Sansa's arc in the new season, and revealed we shouldn't underestimate Ned's daughter.

"She’s seemingly in control for the first time – and it really suits her,” Turner told EW. "She’s kind of having a bit of a power trip."

May the battle for the Iron Throne commence — we're ready to settle in for as long an episode as HBO can deliver.

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In the few hours I’ve spent trying to write this article, I’ve picked up my phone half a dozen times, opened and closed my Facebook page sporadically and scrolled through Instagram for a solid 15 minutes. So yes, I admit it. My name’s Tabi and I am addicted to distraction.

But then, I imagine, so are you. If it’s the evening, perhaps you’re reading this article on your iPhone, while catching up with Masterchef and painting your nails. Or perhaps you’re at work, flicking between this, Asos and an important email you’ve been thinking about writing for the last half an hour.

Hey, we’re all guilty of it. Modern technology is designed specifically to get our attention, and keep it. But what if I told you that music – or a specific type of music at least – could be the perfect antidote? Enter Focus@Will, a streaming site with hours and hours of music designed with one purpose: to help you concentrate. The site has attracted 1.5m users in five years, and its two most popular channels are a classical baroque channel and an up-tempo EDM trance dance channel. These two types of music have more in common than you’d imagine.

Music as a tool for concentration may be a fairly modern concept, but music as a tool for controlling the human brain is old. Berry-picking, hunter-gathering old. “It's an ancient tool for putting people into a trance and shifting their perspective,” explains Dr. Julia Mossbridge, the neuroscientist in the Focus@Will team.

“If you hear music some part of you – and I'm not saying it's a conscious part – some part of you knows evolutionarily the only way you could hear that music is if other people are around you,” she continues. “And the thing about music is that in order to produce it, people have to be safe. If a village is on fire, they're not going to be singing.”

The important part of Focus@Will’s fusion of science and art is that it attempts not to entertain you, but to tap into that unconscious part of your brain. The part that responds to your neighbouring cavemen drumming. “One of the reasons that humans love music is because it shortcuts your thinking brain,” explains founder Will Henshall.

“You could be in a supermarket tomorrow and hear a piece of music that was meaningful for you – maybe you heard it on a first date or when something big happened in your life – and it will immediately throw you back into that emotional state,” he continues. “And what happens is, literally, the sound goes through your ears straight to your limbic system, which is what some people call the 'reptile brain’. It’s the core emotional centre of your brain.”

The more you listen, the more your unconscious brain will associate the music with zoning in on whatever you're trying to achieve.

What the team have found through their work is that people get into flow states at certain tempos. The flow state is, simply, when your brain is fully focused on the task at hand. It’s when you’re most likely to solve problems, be creative or have (here’s hoping) ingenious thoughts.

It worked for Einstein, anyway. The lesser-appreciated musical side of Einstein is given some airtime in National Geographic’s current show Genius, starring Geoffrey Rush. “He used to play the violin to get himself into a flow state, to get himself into a creative space to be able to do the work that he was able to do,” offers Will. “And in fact he famously said that the theory of relativity was a musical theory.” National Geographic and Focus@Will have made an entire channel of music inspired by the great thinker.

Einstein was a huge fan of Bach in particular, and the team have now discovered a scientific reason why that may have helped him with his work. “It’s all about tempo. There’s a certain tempo when you can get into a flow state,” explains John Vitale, the music scientist behind the project. “So baroque happens to fall within these, and when you put electronic dance music production on top of it you have kind of a vitamin-fortified, more accentuated version – a focused version of Bach's great works.”

Another strand of their research to date has found that particular types of people respond better to listening to the music. Namely, creative introverts. These people, Will says, are often the writers, the developers, the designer and the artists... “They're the people who companies rely on to be their genius, to create” he suggests.

Quiet creative genius or not, we all struggle to get in the zone sometimes. But according to Julia, the difference between procrastination and that elusive flow state is not as great as you’d imagine. “In one state, the procrastination state, you're very aware of yourself and your failure,” she explains. “You do have focus, your attention is on something: it's on your own failure. But the flow state, your attention is on this piece of creativity that's coming out of you. So they're both in a way very focused states, it's just that one is you're focused on something that doesn't serve you.”

Even when you’re 30 minutes into a Facebook stalk you’re still in some kind of trance state, Julia explains. “They're trying to put you in a trance of constant communication and the brain loves that,” she says. “There are parts of the brain that are absolutely set up to constantly seek companionship because we are herd animals, we are not individual people. Anything that makes you feel like you're in constant connection to people, you will get addicted to immediately.”

Sounds familiar. Modern life often finds us walking down the road more interested in our phones than the people around us. Or trying desperately to concentrate on one task rather than jumping between 10 different tabs. But the trouble is, the more we do this, the more our brain needs to do it.

“ I think people are training their brains to have divided attention,” warns Julia. “Whatever you're doing, you're always training your brain. So if you're constantly dating guys who are arseholes, you're training your brain to seek out guys who are arseholes.

“If you're constantly leaving tabs open, you're training your brain to have divided attention and not really focus on one thing. So yes, you have to be careful about what you do because your brain assumes that whatever you do a lot of is something you want to get good at doing.”

The magic of the music that Focus@Will have made is it helps you train your brain to concentrate and enter that trance state. The more you listen to it, the more your unconscious brain will associate the music with zoning in on whatever you're trying to achieve. Just as being distracted leads to having divided attention, so repeat use of this music should technically teach your brain to get better at concentrating.

As the saying goes: practice makes perfect – so be careful what you practise.

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As anyone who's tipped over into the latter part of their 20s can attest, hangovers are no longer for messing around with.

As you get older, hangovers morph from being the sort of thing that you and your flatmates complain good-naturedly about across the breakfast table the next day, into the sort of ailment that turns you into a sickly Victorian child, confined to your bed, gasping for water. They last for two days as well. Which is cool.

So what is the solution? Obviously, drink less. That's a given. Most of my friends have pretty much given up midweek drinking and are drinking a lot less on weekends, too. But wouldn't it be great, for those times you accidentally go a little bit too far, if there were a magical pill that would allow you to stay out all night and get up and keep on trucking the next day. Could such a miracle exist?

Well, maybe.

Flyby is the brainchild of 23-year-old Eddie Huai from New York. Eddie created the pill after he went to university and (like many of us) started drinking more. Unusually, Eddie also lacked an enzyme to help him break down alcohol. Basically, his hangovers were extra crap.

After visiting an all-you-can-drink bar with friends during a trip to Tokyo, though, he was given a Japanese drinking supplement which, according to him, allowed him to wake up "feeling great". Back in the US, he set to work creating his own version (along with a little help from a PhD in biochemistry), and Flyby was born (along with its slightly unfortunate bro-friendly promo video).

So what's in a Flyby pill? Well, there's milk thistle (which you've probably already heard of people taking to combat hangovers), which "supports healthy liver function and increases the activity of your antioxidant enzymes to combat free-radicals". There's also liver hydrolysate, which comes from "Argentine cows" and is "packed with everything your liver craves most – natural B vitamins, minerals and 18 amino acids". There's also alpha lipoic acid, vitamin C, dihydromyricetin and n-acetyl-l-cysteine (all your favourite things), all working together to metabolise the toxins your body isn't able to break down in time.

But does it work? Reviewers at the Daily Mail had positive feedback, with just one out of four testers reporting no difference the morning after. So far so good, right? But how did it work on me?

I waited until I knew I was going to have more than four drinks and have to get up in the morning. So one Saturday, when I was headed to a fancy dinner in the evening and had an early start at work on Sunday, I tried Flyby out.

Eddie recommended taking two pills before I started drinking and two pills afterwards. So, pre-prosecco, I swallowed two and carried on with my merry eve.

FYI, in the end, my merry eve consisted of a glass of prosecco, which may or may not have been filled up at least once, and two large glasses of white wine over dinner. By the end, despite the valiant efforts of all the table bread, pork, cake, pastries and veggies, I was nicely merry. Not "Oh shit I'm about to do something stupid enough to be featured on @drunkpeopledoingthings " merry, but I was definitely in "Mum's had a glass of sherry at Christmas" territory.

So at home, before bed, I slip myself two more Flybys, drink a pint glass of water (always, always, always) and pass out.

And do you know what? The next day I am... fine? It's like I can tell I've had a drink – there's a slightly groggy filter over all my senses and getting productive is a little more of a struggle than usual. But that gym session I've got pencilled in later doesn't seem unachievable and my insides aren't churning like a cement mixer (a marvel for me at the best of times).

As the day wears on, I can still feel the effects of alcohol from last night but overall, I'm pretty A-OK.

Now, whether my good health was an accidental one-off, a rogue mysteriously-hangover-free morning, or whether it was due to the fact that I was drinking wine that cost more than £6 from the corner shop, who knows. But either way, I'd be willing to give Flyby another shot.

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A funny thing happened at 10pm last night – an unfamiliar feeling. As the exit polls were announced, there it was. Theresa May's Conservative party – so arrogant, so entitled – was going to lose seats in an unnecessary election that they called. That’s when I felt it: hope.

If you align yourself with liberal politics, hope will probably be a bit of a foreign notion to you. With the exception of backing the incumbent London mayor Sadiq Khan, it has been over 10 years since I marked an X on a ballot paper in an eerie school hall and actually welcomed the final result. Sometimes I don't even get a say, but I'm just as disappointed.

I was furious when I learned, at 5am via Twitter, that Donald Trump had been elected the President of the United States one bleak day last November. Earlier that year, on the morning of 24th June, I wept upon discovering our country had decided to leave the European Union. I sat mute when the general election exit polls arrived in 2015, suggesting not only that Labour would lose, but that they would lose badly. I could go on. That feeling – a heady mix of crushing disappointment, anger and fear – has become an iron jacket that I accept I will be forced to wear every now and then. It gets more comfortable every time. Certainly, there have been small victories along the way – Le Pen's defeat, the Richmond Park by-election – but, generally, I now read newspapers by peering through my fingers.

Of course, in reality, there’s not that much to be happy about. May is pretending like none of it happened, like she didn’t lose 12 seats, like she didn’t fuck up in a catastrophic way, and has promptly formed a coalition with the Democratic Unionist Party. How will this play out? Who knows. It’s scary. But it’s also exciting. Young people are rising up and making their voices heard in record numbers. Labour gained 31 seats, proving the country is rejecting hard right politics. Could this result in any way change Brexit? Will it be softer? Could – and this is dreaming big here – it lead to another referendum, at the very least about the terms of the deal?

Again: hope.

When you’re long used to backing the losing horse, this can make you giddy. As the exit polls arrived last night, my friends and I barely knew how to respond; we were already so tightly wound in the brace position, it took a while for us to untangle ourselves.

But when we did, we hugged, and drank, and rubbed our eyes in astonishment at this new, optimistic world. Perhaps next time we can go the whole way. Wouldn’t that be something?

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Updated 12:35 pm 9th June: The Liberal Democrats' leader says Prime Minister Theresa May "should be ashamed" for calling a snap election and joined calls for her to resign.

Tim Farron said May had called Thursday's election and gambled with Britain's future "out of sheer arrogance and vanity," adding: "If she has an ounce of self-respect she will resign."

He said that May's version of a 'hard Brexit' was rejected by the British people, and that Brexit negotiations should now be put on hold.

Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon says the Conservative Party's "reckless" approach to Brexit should be abandoned.

Speaking Friday after Theresa May lost her majority in Parliament, Sturgeon said the prime minister had "lost all authority and credibility," and should resign.

Updated 12 pm 9th June: Britain's general election saw more female lawmakers elected than any before.

With one seat still to be declared, 207 female lawmakers have been elected to the House of Commons — compared to 196 in the previous election in 2015.

Updated 11am 9th June: Theresa May has struck a deal with the Democratic Unionists that will allow her to form a coalition government, according to The Guardian.

The prime minister is expected to see the Queen at 12:30pm to confirm that a deal is in place.

Original story: Prime Minister Theresa May's gamble in calling an early election backfired spectacularly as her Conservative Party lost its majority in Parliament, throwing politics into chaos. The media, citing sources they did not identify, reported early Friday that May has no intention of resigning despite calls for her to step down.

The shock result could send Britain's negotiations to leave the European Union — due to start June 19 — into disarray. The pound lost more than 2 cents against the dollar. With 636 of 650 seats in the House of Commons declared, the Conservatives had 310 to the Labour Party's 258. Even if the Conservatives won all the remaining seats, the party would fall short of the 326 needed for an outright majority. Before the election the Conservatives had 330 seats and Labour 229.

May called the snap election in the hope of increasing her majority and strengthening Britain's hand in exit talks with the European Union with a "strong and stable government." Instead, the result means the Conservatives will need to rely on support from smaller parties to govern, with more instability and the chance of yet another early election.

"This is a very bad moment for the Conservative Party, and we need to take stock," Conservative lawmaker Anna Soubry said. "And our leader needs to take stock as well."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was among those calling on May to resign, said Friday morning that people have had enough of austerity politics and cuts in public spending. He ruled out the potential for deals or pacts with other progressive parties in Parliament.

"The arguments the Conservative Party put forward in this election have lost, and we need to change."

The results confounded those who said Corbyn was electorally toxic. Written off by many pollsters, Labour surged in the final weeks of the campaign. It drew strong support from young people, who appeared to have turned out to vote in bigger-than-expected numbers.

As she was resoundingly re-elected to her Maidenhead seat in southern England, May looked tense and did not spell out what she planned to do.

"The country needs a period of stability, and whatever the results are the Conservative Party will ensure we fulfil our duty in ensuring that stability," she said.

Many predicted she would soon be gone.

"Clearly if she's got a worse result than two years ago and is almost unable to form a government, then she, I doubt, will survive in the long term as Conservative Party leader," former Conservative Treasury chief George Osborne said on ITV.

British media later reported Friday that May had no intention to resign.

The result was bad news for the Scottish National Party, which lost about 20 of its 54 seats. Among the casualties was Alex Salmond, a former first minister of Scotland and one of the party's highest-profile lawmakers.

The losses complicate the SNP's plans to push for a new referendum on Scottish independence as Britain prepares to leave the EU. Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the idea of a new independence referendum "is dead. That's what we have seen tonight."

May had hoped the election would focus on Brexit, but that never happened, as both the Conservatives and Labour said they would respect voters' wishes and go through with the divorce.

Despite the surprise election result, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said he doesn't believe voters have changed their minds about leaving.

But speaking Friday on Europe 1 radio, he said "the tone" of negotiations may be affected.

"These are discussions that will be long and that will be complex. So let's not kid ourselves," he said. "I'm not sure that we should read, from the results of this vote, that Britons' sovereign decision on Brexit has been cast into doubt in any way."

EU budget commissioner Guenther Oettinger said the EU is prepared to stick to the timetable that calls for negotiations to start in mid-June, but said it would take a few hours at least to see how the results of the election play out in forming a government.

"Without a government, there's no negotiation," he said Friday morning by phone on Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio.

May, who went into the election with a reputation for quiet competence, was criticized for a lackluster campaigning style and for a plan to force elderly people to pay more for their care, a proposal her opponents dubbed the "dementia tax." As the polls suggested a tightening race, pollsters spoke less often of a landslide and raised the possibility that May's majority would be eroded.

Then, attacks that killed 30 people in Manchester and London twice brought the campaign to a halt, sent a wave of anxiety through Britain and forced May to defend the government's record on fighting terrorism. Corbyn accused the Conservatives of undermining Britain's security by cutting the number of police on the streets.

Eight people were killed near London Bridge on Saturday when three men drove a van into pedestrians and then stabbed revellers in an area filled with bars and restaurants. Two weeks earlier, a suicide bomber killed 22 people as they were leaving an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.

Voters were left flustered by the fast-moving events.

"It's a bit of a mess," Peter Morgan, 35, said in London. "I was kind of hoping it would just go the way that the polls suggested it would and we could have a quiet life in Westminster but now it's going to be a bit of a mess."

Steven Fielding, a professor of politics at the University of Nottingham, said Britain had seen an election "in which the personal authority of a party leader has disappeared in an unprecedented way."

"If she had got the majority she wanted, she would have been a supreme political colossus," he said. "She did not get that and she's a hugely diminished figure. She's a zombie prime minister."

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