Christina Ricci stars in Betsey Johnson’s fall 2025 campaign. Photo: Zoey Grossman / Betsey Johnson
Christina Ricci takes center stage as the face of Betsey Johnson’s Fall 2025 campaign. She channels the label’s fearless mix of drama and play. The actress, long admired for her gothic screen presence, slips into the brand’s extravagant universe with striking ease.
Betsey Johnson Fall 2025 Campaign
The clothing is rich in contrasts, designed to celebrate excess with a sharp edge. A sweeping black dress, trimmed with feathers at the sleeves and hem, feels both glamorous and defiant. A tougher note arrives in a leather jacket layered over a tiered cage skirt. It shows how Johnson’s designs balance attitude with theatrical appeal.
Ricci’s beauty look ties it all together: sleek, pin-straight hair with blunt bangs that sharpen her gaze and amplify the collection’s darker undertones. The campaign’s black-and-white images highlight cascades of tulle and textured layers, including a striking portrait of Ricci standing side by side with Betsey herself.
Accessories are no afterthought, from sparkling embellishments to unexpected props like candy machines and carousel horses. Each touch adds wit and wonder, reminding us of Johnson’s legendary taste for irreverence.
Scott Adams, the creator of the famous ‘Dilbert’ comic strip, talked about the murder of Charlie Kirk during his ‘Coffee With Scott Adams’ podcast today and suggested that the Democrat party has to be ‘totally dismantled.’
Citing a tweet from conservative activist Mike Cernovich, Adams pointed out that the Democrat party is supported not just by a small group of progressive billionaires, but also by an endless web of non-profits and various NGOs (non-government organizations).
Adams emphasizes the fact that he would not have made these comments just a few days ago, but that he took the murder of Charlie Kirk personally and that Democrats not only spread the rhetoric that led to this, they have actually made it worse in the two days that followed.
Scott Adams: The Democrat Party needs to be ripped out by the roots
@ScottAdamsSays “Two days ago I would have said the healthiest thing for the country is that there are two strong political parties battling it out, in a war of ideas.
But you know who else thought that? Charlie f-in’ Kirk.
He thought that we could talk it out. His whole model was based on polite debate and doing it in public so everybody could see it.
That didn’t work. He got sh-t. So now we just need to destroy the entire Democrat Party.
They haven’t stopped calling [Trump] Hitler. They’re blaming him for the shooting.
It didn’t get better; it got worse.”
Watch the video below:
Scott Adams: The Democrat Party needs to be ripped out by the roots⁰⁰@ScottAdamsSays “Two days ago I would have said the healthiest thing for the country is that there are two strong political parties battling it out, in a war of ideas. But you know who else thought that?… pic.twitter.com/gftStZkR7j
It might seem like a harmless habit to linger on the loo with your phone while “taking care of business”, but research shows that prolonged toilet time can increase the risk of several health problems. Earlier this month the Daily Express revealed how a new study proved that smartphone use while on the loo is linked to a 46 percent increase risk of developing haemorrhoids.
Now Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy at Lancaster University, has produced a full, alarming list of seven health conditions that can be cause by spending too long on the toilet. A healthy toilet trip should only last two to three minutes, yet the study found that 37% of participants who used their phones while on the can spent more than five minutes there.
So here in The Conversation are the seven main health issues you may want to avoid by shortening your stay in the smallest room in the house:
1. Haemorrhoids
“Haemorrhoids are enlarged blood vessels occurring in or around the anal opening. They develop due to increased pressure in the anal cushions – a part of the spongy tissue that surrounds your anus. These cushions allow the anus to expand as faeces is expelled.
“Sitting too long on the toilet places extra pressure on these cushions, leading to haemorrhoids, as does straining to force faeces out.
“It’s estimated that between 50-85% of people worldwide suffer from haemorrhoids. Symptoms include painless bleeding, irritation, itching and discomfort. However, haemorrhoids aren’t always symptomatic. Some people have them without knowing.
“Haemorrhoids can also lead to complications such as anaemia from prolonged bleeding, and strangulation or clotting within the haemorrhoid – both of which cause severe pain.”
2. Anal fissures or tears
“Sitting on the toilet too long can cause anal fissures or tears. They are small cuts in the anal lining. Anal fissures are often accompanied by significant pain – likened to passing broken glass when having a bowel movement, alongside bright red blood.
“The anal lining is thin and sitting on the toilet for too long causes pooling of the blood, which stretches the lining, making it more prone to damage as faeces passes out.”
3. Prolapse
“Faeces may not be the only thing that passes out the body after sitting on the toilet. Extended loo time can increase your risk of having your rectum fall out of your body – a condition known as a rectal prolapse.
“This uncommon condition occurred in one man who would often spend up to 30 minutes on the toilet playing smartphone games. One day, he found nearly 14cm of his rectum protruding out of his body while attempting a bowel movement.
“Prolonged sitting on the toilet increases pressure in the abdomen, which subsequently increases pressure on the pelvic floor muscles. These muscles help hold our internal organs, including our rectum, inside. But prolonged pressure can weaken these muscles.
“In women, this could also result in other pelvic organs – such as a uterus – prolapsing out of the body.
“Rectal prolapse is often painful, and you’ll need to visit the hospital if you have one so it can be re-inserted. If it happens repeatedly or if the case is particularly extreme, it will require surgery.”
4. Pressure sores and ulcers
“Prolonged sitting on the loo, particularly in the elderly, may increase the risk of pressure sores occurring on the skin that comes in contact with the toilet seat.
“Prolonged sitting compresses the tissues, reducing blood flow to them. This then results in toxic substances building up in the blood which damage the tissues and cause them to breakdown. Pressure sores are painful.”
5. Hiatal hernia
“Prolonged sitting on the toilet and straining to defecate may contribute to hiatal hernia, particularly in susceptible people (including those who are obese or over the age of 50).
“This is where part of the stomach and other abdominal organs slide through the opening in your diaphragm (a dome-shaped muscle that helps us breathe), ending up in the chest cavity.
“Hiatal hernias are common, affecting 20% of people. They typically result in indigestion, stomach pains and discomfort around the ribs and chest. They can be treated with medication to reduce the amount of acid produced by the stomach or in more severe cases require surgery.”
6. Toilet seat neuropathy
“Sitting too long on the toilet compresses the major nerves and blood vessels, reducing blood supply to the legs. This can cause your legs to go numb as a result – a phenomenon known as toilet seat or toilet bowl neuropathy. It usually goes away after a few minutes.
“But there have been some case studies where patients who passed out on the toilet after a night of drinking – subsequently spending the night there – found themselves entirely numb and unable to move. In one extreme case, a man developed gangrene, sepsis and sadly died after falling asleep on the toilet.”
7. Fainting
“Prolonged toilet time combined with straining may also result in fainting.
“This condition, called vasovagal syncope, occurs when prolonged straining on the toilet irritates the vagus nerves. These nerves control many of the body’s automatic functions – including heart rate and blood pressure.
“In the case of defecation syncope, blood pressure can drop suddenly when we stand up from the toilet. Heart rate also drops causing dizziness, light-headedness and fainting.”
The healthy way to poo:
“To reduce your risk of suffering any of these conditions, spend as short a time seated on the loo as possible.
“You could also potentially modify your position when using the loo. Some evidence suggests squatting is better for defecation, as it reduces the stress and straining needed to poo. However, other studies have shown this position could potentially increase risk of other health problems – such as risk of stroke and damage to the achilles tendon.
“Other advice includes eating more fibre and drinking water if you’re someone who regularly takes longer than five minutes to do your business as both can help you have healthier poos. They will also prevent straining while having your bowel movement.”
College students today have “more resources available to you in your phone than anybody in the history of everything,” said Mark Cuban earlier this week at the All-In Summit. And that’s exactly the advice he tells his college-aged kids.
Cuban told the audience that he is advising his three kids (two are in college) to shy away from looking for a job at a big company. In the joint interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, Cuban said getting a job at a large corporation now is tougher than ever — especially as these companies integrate AI into everyday workflows.
“I got two kids in college, and what I tell them is if you were looking for a job at a big company, you’re not going to get it,” said Cuban, whose net worth is reportedly around $6 billion.
Instead, he told them to look for a smaller-to-medium-sized company that could benefit from hiring Gen Z employees who are AI-native.
“The small to medium-sized companies need all the help they can get from AI natives,” Cuban explained. “Because walking in and understanding AI and being able to implement [it] for that company is a huge step forward [for] them. That’s one way we will adjust.”
Cuban could be on to something. Despite many executives and even the “Godfather of AI” predicting mass unemployment due to artificial intelligence implementation, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seems equally excited about what this all means for current students and recent graduates.
Altman told the “Huge Conversations” podcast in August that if he were 22 years old and just finishing college, he would “feel like the luckiest kid in all of history” because of the new opportunities, from starting new companies to writing code, that AI can provide.
“You have access to these tools that can let you do what used to take teams of hundreds,” Altman said.
College students today have “more resources available to you in your phone than anybody in the history of everything,” said Mark Cuban earlier this week at the All-In Summit. And that’s exactly the advice he tells his college-aged kids.
Cuban told the audience that he is advising his three kids (two are in college) to shy away from looking for a job at a big company. In the joint interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, Cuban said getting a job at a large corporation now is tougher than ever — especially as these companies integrate AI into everyday workflows.
“I got two kids in college, and what I tell them is if you were looking for a job at a big company, you’re not going to get it,” said Cuban, whose net worth is reportedly around $6 billion.
Late designer Giorgio Armani has instructed heirs to gradually sell the fashion brand he created 50 years ago or seek a stock market listing, his will said, marking a surprising turn for a company highly protective of its independence and Italian roots.
The will, reviewed by Reuters, states heirs should sell an initial 15% stake in the Italian fashion house within 18 months and later transfer an additional 30% to 54.9% stake to the same buyer between three and five years after Armani’s death.
The designer, known in the industry as ‘King Giorgio’ died on September 4, at 91 and with no children.
Giorgio Armani at The Park Avenue Armory during the Giorgio Armani Fashion Spring 2025 fashion show on Oct. 17, 2024. Tamara Beckwith
The will also says that priority should be given to luxury giant, beauty heavyweight L’Oreal, eyewear leader EssilorLuxottica or another group of “equal standing” identified by a foundation the designer set up to preserve his legacy with the agreement of Armani’s business and life partner Pantaleo Dell’Orco.
Alternatively, an initial public offering should be pursued, in Italy or in a market of equal standing, it said.
The explicit mention of stake sales and of France-listed players as potential buyers is in stark contrast with Giorgio Armani’s persistent refusal to dilute his control or list his fashion group on the stock market.
Over the years, the maker of popular unstructured suits that gained him international fame received several approaches, including one in 2021 from John Elkann, scion of Italy’s Agnelli family, and another from luxury brand Gucci, when Maurizio Gucci was still at the helm.
Armani was the sole major shareholder of the company he set up with his late partner Sergio Galeotti in the 1970s and over which he maintained a tight rein – both creative and managerial – until the very end.
He has left behind no children to inherit the business, which generated relatively stable revenue – $2.7 billion in 2024 – but whose profits have shrunk amid a broad luxury industry recession.
Giorgio Armani reacts to the audience at the end of the Haute Couture collection fall/winter show in Paris on July 4, 2017. AFP via Getty ImagesPeople walk past the Giorgio Armani store in Paris, France after the fashion designer’s death on Sept. 4, 2025. REUTERS
The will gives the Fondazione Giorgio Armani and life partner and right-hand man Pantaleo Dell’Orco 70% of voting rights in the Armani group combined.
The foundation will retain a 30.1% stake in the event of a listing, according to the will.
Heirs should consider other fashion and luxury companies with which Armani’s company has commercial ties for a future sale, the will also said.
As a result he was also being misrepresented — as so often — over what he had said.
The evening before Kirk was killed CNN’s Van Jones claimed that Kirk was “race-mongering” over the Zarutska killing.
Jones and his CNN colleagues continued to pretend to be mystified about why the Charlotte killing happened.
Charlie Kirk hands out hats before speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. AP
But Kirk wasn’t race mongering, he was highlighting a horrible act of random crime that CNN wanted to ignore and cover up.
Any healthy society would be able to contend with an issue like that. Any healthy society would be able to discuss it.
It would not need to gloss over such facts.
It would have them out and discuss them in the clear light of day.
But our society is not a healthy society.
It is a society where much of the media and others want to cover over uncomfortable facts — or facts that do not support their personal political narrative.
Charlie Kirk didn’t believe in that.
He believed strongly in the clash of ideas.
He believed and lived his life in the understanding that civilized discussion and debate is the most healthy and American thing of all.
That Americans who disagree with each other should bring their best arguments together and hash them out.
He was absolutely right in that belief — and it is a signal of his patriotism and his belief in this country that he did so.
Not least because as he always said, debate is not just the best way, but the only way, to avert political violence.
Others have observed this about America in centuries past.
When the great Alexis de Tocqueville came to America, almost two centuries ago, he marveled about the way in which American society operated.
One of the things that he was most impressed by was the willingness of America’s citizenry, as well as its politicians, to have discussions out in face-to-face exchanges.
The crowd at Utah Valley University reacts after Kirk was fatally shot. AP
While seemingly obvious to Americans, de Tocqueville knew that it was very different from the way in which people in France or Europe behaved in his day.
And de Tocqueville saw this fact as being enormously to the advantage of Americans.
He saw that face-to-face exchanges allow for something special to happen.
If two people are in disagreement but are looking into each others’ faces then the other person is a human being in front of them — like them, just with different views.
The nature of face-to-face exchanges is that they do not allow for, or at least minimize, any efforts to dehumanize people with whom we disagree.
Charlie Kirk speaks to an individual in front of a large crowd at Utah Valley University moments before he was fatally shot by an unknown assailant. AP
We are more likely to extend empathy, compassion and courtesy when we see someone face-to-face.
How different that is from our online age.
An age in which videos of brutal killings crop up all the time in our X timelines.
An age in which TikTokkers and others “LOL” at violence if it suits their own viewpoints.
An age in which online influencers moon over the killer of a healthcare executive and father if the man’s killer seems “hot” to them.
Donald Trump posts on Truth Social after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed by an unknown assailant at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. The White House/ X
An age in which Netflix and other streaming services offer up endless dramas and documentaries in which perpetrators of savage acts of violence are “explained” and “understood”.
In our age face-to-face interactions seem to be the last thing anyone is thinking about.
And fewer and fewer people practice it.
People online rage at public figures anonymously or behind made-up identities.
There — faceless as they themselves are — they can make the people they rage against equally faceless.
People take cover and run after Kirk was fatally shot at a speaking event at Utah Valley University. via REUTERS
They can treat real, living people, as though they are players in some kind of computer game.
Or they can pretend that a real event was fake even while at the same time praising the shooter.
Or asking that the shooter aims better next time.
Law enforcement officials enter the campus of Utah Valley University after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk. REUTERS
Or that other shooters emerge and teach the same “lesson” to other people with whom they disagree.
All of this — this online world in which everything is front of you and nothing is real — is the opposite of the value-system that built America.
And it is the opposite of the value system that Charlie Kirk, like so many Americans before him, believed in and admired.
Charlie believed in going out and debating with people.
He literally set up tables on campuses and gave a microphone to anybody who wanted to come and debate him.
The US flag flies at half-staff on the roof of the White House in honor of Charlie Kirk. AFP via Getty Images
You might say that anybody could have done that.
But anybody didn’t, and anybody doesn’t.
And in any case, Charlie Kirk was not just anybody.
He didn’t just give people a platform and debate his ideas and theirs.
He listened.
A well-wisher is overcome with emotions while another individual lays flowers at the headquarters of Turning Point USA after Charlie Kirk was killed by an unknown assailant. AP
As anyone can see from his thousands of exchanges he had over the years — especially with young people — he treated his interlocutors with respect.
People could often be savagely rude and ungracious towards him.
But he treated his fellow Americans — even those he was in passionate disagreement with — with courtesy.
That value — “courtesy” — stood out because it has become so rare in American society.
It is increasingly rare among the online and offline left and right.
A Make America Great Again hat sits at a table where Kirk was sitting before being fatally shot at Utah Valley University. REUTERS
But Charlie Kirk knew that it was vital.
That there is no point in two people simply screaming at each other.
That Americans should instead bring their best arguments to the table and have them out in a civilized manner, respecting the other person as a citizen and as an American.
Of course many people turn out not just to dislike that idea but have an active desire to kill it.
They do so while claiming that words — like the words Charlie Kirk used — are “violence.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson holds a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk. C-SPAN
That speech they don’t agree with is “hate-speech.”
That people who speak “hate speech” have to be “shut down.”
And that if that doesn’t happen then the people exercising their right to free speech are “literally killing people.”
There is one other age-old truth which needs to be inserted into this mix.
Which is the truth that many people on the conservative side have noted for many years: that we live in a political culture but one in which there is a key difference between the two sides.
A surfaced clip that has circulated across social media shows the alleged assailant who killed Charlie Kirk moments before the shooting occurred.
For while the right tends to believe that the left is simply wrong, large portions of the left in this country believe that their opponents are not just “wrong” but “evil.”
When he said that there are only two biological sexes, his opponents accused him not of having a different view from themselves but of trying to eradicate an entire community.
When he defended the traditional Christian idea of marriage they said that he was engaging in “hate” against all gay people.
And when he said that race might be a factor in a killing like that of a beautiful young Ukrainian woman in Charlotte, they suggested that was evilly trying to whip up hatred and violence against all black Americans.
Flowers are shown at the Keller Building on the Utah Valley University campus after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed. AP
None of these, or a hundred other things, said about Charlie were true.
But with enough repetition and enough dehumanization of him, you will always find someone who will take that “argument” to its own illogical conclusion.
Stay up to date on the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk
If you say for long enough that someone is guilty of “literally killing people” then in a large country with a lot of excitable people you will eventually find someone is willing to take the shot.
Sometimes that person will be someone who believes that they are inserting themselves into the history books.
That by their act of violence they are going to change the course of history.
People attend a vigil at the Utah State Capitol to pay tribute to Charlie Kirk. REUTERS
Or — in the case of too many attempted and actual political assassinations in this country — you will find someone who believes that they can enact the fantasy scenario of going back in time and killing Hitler.
People who think that are delusional of course — and badly, badly misinformed about their opponents. But there are many deluded people around.
That could be seen yesterday in the aftermath of Kirk´s murder.
If contributors on CNN and MSNBC were bad, it was nothing compared to the slew of online hateful rejoicing and “LOL”-ing and mem-ing about Kirk’s fate.
It is so easy for these people not to look into Charlie’s eyes, or the eyes of the young wife and children that he leaves behind.
It is so much easier to treat it all like a computer game.
But this isn’t a game.
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This is real life.
And the stakes are sometimes so wildly high and dangerous that we need to remind ourselves of that.
Charlie Kirk believed in face-to-face dialogue. He died not just doing it, but demonstrating it and embodying it.
If any good can come from this terrible act it should be that many more of us in American do it too.
Hundreds of South Korean workers arrived home from the US after they were detained in a large-scale immigration raid.
The plane, carrying more than 300 South Koreans, landed at Incheon airport on Friday, where they were met by a crowd of journalists and TV cameras.
It followed a week of intense negotiations by Seoul to win their release.
The raid, which saw 475 people detained, was met with horror in South Korea, a key US ally, after they were taken into custody in handcuffs and shackles.
They were then released and flown home from Atlanta.
Image: 475 people were arrested during the ICE raid at the Georgia plant
The raid sparked outrage in South Korea and has threatened to destabilise crucial economic ties, at a time when both countries are seeking to finalise a trade deal.
It also threatens to harm South Korean investment into America, something US president Donald Trump has been keen to secure.
Hyundai CEO Jose Munoz said on Thursday that the battery plant is now facing a minimum startup delay of two to three months.
According to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the arrested workers had the wrong visas.
He said in an interview with Axios: “I called up the Koreans, I said, oh, give me a break. Get the right visa, call me.”
South Korean businesses have long struggled with securing proper visas for specialist workers, needed at project sites for months at a time.
Image: The raid sparked horror in South Korea, at a time the country is in trade negotiations with the US
That has led to some workers relying on grey areas in US visa enforcement.
South Korea’s foreign minister, Cho Hyun, said the two countries are looking to establish a working group to consider a new type of visa for Koreans.
Mr Hyun met with US senators, where he relayed the concerns of South Koreans regarding the arrest of the professionals who had participated in investment projects in the US.
The plane was also carrying 10 workers from China, three from Japan and one Indonesian international.
Britain’s Prince Harry, right, arrives at a railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025.
Railway of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia/AP
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Railway of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia/AP
LONDON — Britain’s Prince Harry has arrived in Ukraine for a surprise visit in support of wounded service members.
Harry’s representatives confirmed they were in the capital, Kyiv, on Friday, though they declined to discuss the prince’s schedule for security reasons.
This is the second time Harry has visited Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full scale invasion in 2022. He made a trip to the western city of Lviv in April.
“We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process,” Harry told the Guardian newspaper while on an overnight train to Kyiv.
Harry, a British Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, is the founder of the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style event designed to inspire military veterans around the world as they work to overcome battlefield injuries. Ukraine is bidding to host the games in 2029.
The Archewell foundation set up by Harry and his wife Meghan announced this week that it had donated $500,000 to projects supporting injured children from Gaza and Ukraine. The money will be used to help the World Health Organization with medical evacuations and to fund work developing prosthetics for seriously injured young people.
The Guardian said that Harry will visit the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, spend time with 200 veterans and meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
His visit coincided with a trip to Ukraine by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who announced a new set of U.K. sanctions targeting Russia’s oil revenues and military supplies.
Cooper said the visit is a show of solidarity with Ukrainians facing intensified assault from Russia – including 6,500 drones and missiles in July, 10 times the level of a year ago.
In this photo provided by the Railway of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, Britain’s Prince Harry arrives at a central railway station in Kyiv.
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Harry’s appearance in Ukraine follows a four-day trip to the U.K., where he met his father, King Charles III, for the first time in 19 months. The meeting was seen as a first step in repairing frigid relations between Harry and other members of the royal family, which deteriorated after he and his wife, the former Meghan Markle, gave up royal duties and moved to California in 2020.
Harry and his father last met in February 2024, when the prince flew to London after receiving news that Charles had been diagnosed with cancer. Harry spent about 45 minutes with Charles before the king flew to his Sandringham country estate to recuperate from his treatment.
Prince Harry’s last trip to Ukraine included a visit to the Superhumans Center, an orthopedic clinic in Lviv that treats wounded military personnel and civilians. The center provides prosthetic limbs, reconstructive surgery and psychological help free of charge.
Harry’s visit Friday come as Russia escalates its war against Ukraine.
It is less than a week after Russia’s largest aerial attack on Ukraine since its all-out invasion began more than three years ago — an attack in which the main Ukrainian government building was hit. It also comes just days after numerous Russian drones entered the airspace of NATO member Poland — the country Harry traveled through to reach Ukraine.
When hunting for undervalued dividend stocks, I occasionally come across some unusual businesses with surprisingly high yields. Every so often, one jumps out as especially intriguing. This week that stock is Doric Nimrod Air 3 (LSE: DNA3).
The company’s business model seems relatively straightforward, although it’s not something I’ve encountered before. It buys aircraft, leases them to airlines (in this case Emirates), and eventually sells them on.
That structure was severely tested during the pandemic when all air traffic ground to a halt and the company fell into the red. But the turnaround since then has been impressive.
Return on equity‘s (ROE) surged from a painful -54.3% in March 2020 to 41.5% in March this year. Meanwhile, the share price has climbed 87.7% in the past five years.
The dividend story
For investors chasing income, the real attraction here is the dividend yield. Currently, the company offers a massive 13% yield — the kind of number that immediately sparks interest.
What’s more, it’s not a recent gimmick. The company’s paid dividends consistently for the last eight years. Coverage looks reassuring too, with a payout ratio of 38.4% and cash coverage of 3.9 times. That suggests payments aren’t being stretched to breaking point.
The next dividend’s expected to go ex in around a month and should be paid in two months’ time. For anyone looking for near-term income, that’s a tempting timeline.
Of course, investors should always remember that historic payouts don’t guarantee future ones, but Doric’s record is certainly stronger than many other small-caps promising high yields.
Valuation and financials
On the balance sheet front, things look surprisingly clean. There’s no debt weighing the company down and liabilities are minimal. At a market capitalisation of just £138m, this is firmly in small-cap territory. That size brings both opportunities and risks.
Valuation-wise, it has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 3, leaving plenty of scope for growth if the business expands. On the other, small-caps can be far more volatile, with liquidity issues making it harder to buy or sell shares in bulk.
The company’s business model’s also simple to the point of fragility. It depends heavily on the ongoing success of a single airline partner and a single type of aircraft. Any interruption to air travel — whether from economic downturns, geopolitical issues or health crises — could seriously impact lease payments. There’s also no guarantee that Emirates will renew its leases once they expire.
My verdict
So where does that leave Doric Nimrod Air 3? On the one hand, it’s not the most secure or diversified business out there. Reliance on a narrow revenue stream and limited liquidity make it a riskier prospect than most. On the other hand, the company’s delivered reliable dividends for nearly a decade and the current 13% yield is hard to ignore.
Overall, I think it’s an intriguing stock to consider for income investors, but only as a small position in a diversified portfolio. Picking up a few shares at low cost could deliver some decent passive income — provided investors are comfortable with the risks.
This spring, a second-generation strawberry farmer in California stood in his fields with two generations of farmers by his side. Rows of ripe, red berries glistened in the sun — perfectly edible, yet destined to go unharvested because they were too small to end up in grocery stores. The farmer had already paid for the land, plants, water, fertilizer, and labor, but without a buyer, it didn’t make economic sense to pay workers to harvest the fruit. Eventually, he had no choice but to till the fruit back into the soil. Multiply this decision across thousands of farms nationwide, and the scale of the problem becomes staggering: a system that forces growers to shoulder the cost while perfectly good, edible food goes to waste.
Every year in the U.S., 30% of fruit and vegetables grown by hard-working farmers never leave the field, primarily because it doesn’t meet appearance standards like size, shape, or color. More than 36 billion pounds of surplus produce went unharvested or unsold on U.S. farms in 2023, representing an estimated economic loss of $13 billion. Consider strawberries alone: 400 million pounds are plowed under or left behind annually. The cost is more than wasted fruit. Farmers lose revenue on produce they can’t sell, and communities miss out on nourishment that should have made it to their kitchen tables.
There’s a better way. It starts with rethinking the way Americans value the food that’s left in the field: produce that’s perfectly delicious and nutritious, even if it’s a millimeter too small.
That’s where secondary markets come in, turning waste into opportunity. Secondary markets buy what the primary market won’t take, then channel it into ingredients for buyers and processors where appearance doesn’t matter, without sacrificing taste or quality. According to NC Extension, widening the sellable range is a direct lever to increasing marketed yield by up to 20%. Crops are left unharvested in response to market conditions, but they could be marketed with connections to more flexible buyers.
Rethinking the end result
Not all produce needs to end up in the fresh aisle. Processing channels like frozen, dried, purees, sauces, and meal kits offer enormous potential to utilize every strawberry, apple, and tomato that comes out of the field. Partnering farms with manufacturers that can integrate excess produce into their product line presents a tremendous opportunity. In Tennessee field studies, researchers found that 76% of the produce left unharvested was still marketable or edible—the kind of “second-pass” fruit and vegetable that a secondary market can aggregate and sell into puree, frozen, or foodservice channels.
We first came together when we partnered to bring surplus food from farmers to hungry families in Twin Falls, Idaho, and upstate New York—an effort that inspired the idea for Planet Harvest. Planet Harvest was founded to create this secondary market and connect farmers directly with food companies and retailers to create sustainable, scalable solutions that reduce waste, expand access to nourishing food, and set the global standard in whole harvest sourcing. To scale this work, it partnered with Chobani, a company that is able to use the unused fruit and ensure it doesn’t go to waste. This year the company bought over 1.2 million pounds of Planet Harvest strawberries that would have been discarded from farms — enough fruit to produce over 55 million yogurt drinks – and is expanding these efforts with more fruit purchased from more farmers.
The result is increased revenue for farmers, water conservation, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, better-tasting food for the consumer, and diversification of the supply chain.
Chobani has been here before. Years ago, we made the decision to use rBST-free milk, without the synthetic growth hormone called recombinant bovine somatotropin, long before the industry thought it possible. That choice created a movement, and within years, rBST-free became the norm across dairy. We see the same opportunity today: to make “whole-harvest sourcing” not an exception, but the standard.
Farmers already report earning $0.27 per pound for fruit once considered worthless, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars across just a dozen farms. That is new income flowing into rural communities. Independent analysis by the World Wildlife Fund shows that saving one million pounds of fruit conserves 320 billion gallons of water and avoids 169,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. These are not marginal gains. They are system-changing dividends.
And consumers have a role to play. Just as we once embraced “organic” and “fair trade,” we can now demand “whole harvest.” Every time someone buys a product made from fruit that would otherwise have been wasted, they are voting for a smarter food system—one that feeds people, not landfills.
Better stewards of what we grow
We don’t need to grow more food to help solve hunger in this country. We need to be better stewards of what we already grow. The 400 million pounds of strawberries left in fields this year represent a failure, yes—but also an opportunity. If farmers, food companies, policymakers, and consumers act together, we can reimagine the journey from farm to table and build a system that rewards stewardship over waste.
This business model is good for farmers, good for the environment, and an even better experience for customers. With better marketplaces, flexible standards, and creative processing, we can ensure that fewer farmers watch their harvests go to waste and more families enjoy the fruits of their labor.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
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