It was predicted that Labour would lose seats and councils in Thursday’s local elections, but the results have delivered a verdict even more damning than expected.
This will only add to the pressure on Sir Keir Starmer – who has said today that the results “hurt” and that he will take responsibility. But should he resign? Our experts give their perspective.
Adam Boulton: The leadership alternatives would all be worse
When threatened by a grizzly bear, the experts say do not run away: stay stock still in the hope that it lumbers past. Labour has undergone a terrible mauling in this year’s local and national elections, but my advice to the Prime Minister is to stay where he is and do nothing dramatic – in the interests of the country.
For the simple reason that the eager alternatives – Ange, Andy, Wes and Ed would all be worse. To please the “soft left” they would be sucked into the party-pleasing vortex of more unaffordable spending mainly on welfare and even less firm government.
I doubt Sir Keir will take my advice. On past form he’ll look for scapegoats, and soon chuck competent New Labour ministers out of his cabinet, weakening his government further or fall into Ed Miliband’s trap of announcing a distant date for departure in the fond belief that he’ll last that long.
Adam Boulton presents Sunday Morning on Times Radio; he was formerly editor-at-large of Sky News
Zoë Grünewald: Starmer must plan his orderly exit, and let his party regroup
When Jeremy Corbyn clung to the Labour leadership despite a parliamentary no-confidence vote, a generation of Labour MPs, among them Keir Starmer, were appalled. Fast forward to 2026, and the Prime Minister’s declaration that he will “not walk away” as the party bleeds councillors feels uncomfortably familiar.
The local election results were unambiguous: Reform has swallowed Labour’s heartlands, swathes of councillors have been wiped out, and the historic majority of 2024 has turned into national contempt. Even his own loyalists privately concede he was a liability on the doorstep.
Starmer pledged to be different, from Corbyn, from Johnson, from Truss, from the whole catalogue of leaders who put ego before party and country. And while he says he takes full responsibility, a leader with a -45 approval rating does not get to define what responsibility looks like. Saying the words is not the same as acting on them.
The consensus inside the party is already hardening that this man cannot lead Labour into the next election. Starmer must plan his orderly exit, and let his party regroup – once again – without him.
Zoë Grünewald is a journalist, broadcaster and political commentator
Hugo Gye: Britain is in crisis and needs stability
In case you had any doubt, Labour is very unpopular and Reform UK is on the rise – the Greens, too. The results of the local elections confirm these basic facts. Sir Keir Starmer bears a great deal of the responsibility for his party’s dire position.
But for the Prime Minister to step down at this point and hand over to a novice, with Labour in crisis and Britain in turmoil, would be the wrong course of action.
It would be out of character as well: Starmer is stubborn to a fault, and his political career shows him to be a man who likes a fight more than his buttoned-down image might suggest. He will surely seek to stay in No 10 as long as he can.
Can Labour recover under his leadership? The evidence suggests quite possibly not. But if he is to leave before the next general election, the party should engineer a smooth transition after a long period of serious reflection – not echo the chaotic panic of the Conservatives’ leadership merry-go-round.
Hugo Gye is The i Paper’s political editor
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Starmer is our Joe Biden
Even when humiliated, Keir Starmer sounds haughty, his words tinny, unconvincing. “They are very tough and there’s no sugar coating it… that hurts and should hurt and I take full responsibility.” To him I say, it hurts us far more than it does you.
He chased Reform voters and disdained Labour’s loyal voters. His advisers pushed that strategy. Look what happened. These results will, I believe, convince him that his destiny is to be PM. That he is being tested by fate.
Since he took office, our country has become more fragmented. That won’t change. He is our Joe Biden. Overweening, hopeless, convinced of his own greatness, morally unsound and so blindingly arrogant, he cannot see the harm he has done. He’s got to go.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a columnist at The i Paper
The trend tends to go: the bigger the club, the bigger the financial loss. And in League One, they don’t get bigger than Bolton Wanderers.
Last season, the cumulative losses across all 24 teams were £154m in the third tier of English football.
Bolton contributed just under £14m. In a league awash with debt and negative numbers, that did not even move the dial. In fact, the club insisted it was a “deliberate strategy”.
Then nothing else was said. Remember: this is League One, where money has a very short shelf life.
The Toughsheet Community Stadium requires high upkeep (Photo: Getty)
Those losses can be offset if promotion is achieved – which is why the spending was planned.
Yet with a wage bill that is astonishingly 98.8 per cent of Bolton’s turnover, failure to climb the ladder could lead to the most spectacular fall.
“It costs millions just to turn the lights on at places like this,” a source close to the club told The i Paper.
“This is a Premier League stadium that costs the same as a Premier League stadium to put matches on, yet we are charging League One prices.
“You have to gamble in this division like nowhere else. I’m not sure how much longer it can go on.”
Late goals have become a regular feature for Bolton this season (Photo: Getty)
For so long a top-flight staple, Bolton have been dragged down by the financial burden of the stadium, stuck in the third tier or lower for seven years.
It is all well and good when you have owners who are willing to take on these debts.
But what happens when they get bored?
There are only a finite number of businesspeople willing to adopt a loss-leading enterprise from the outset, one with little hope of breaking even, never mind making a profit.
Carlisle United had a wage bill of £7m in a season they were relegated from the Football League.
Bolton simply must go up. Everyone is banking on it. But living on the edge is not just the modus operandi of the club’s hierarchy.
Boss Steven Schumacher was appointed head coach in 2025 (Photo: Getty)
Supporters have been given the roughest of rides this season.
A breathless 13 stoppage-time goals have earned Bolton a crucial 18 points that have been the difference between a shot at promotion and mid-table obscurity, followed by the impending financial oblivion.
The average minute of a Bolton goal this season is 58 – by far the highest in League One. And they keep getting later, and later.
Ibrahim Cissoko’s 101st-minute strike in the 3-3 draw with Huddersfield Town lays claim to being one of the latest goals ever scored by the club.
It is likely to take another of these last-gasp interventions to get the better of a Bradford City side who Wanderers drew with in their final league match of the campaign.
Read more
The alternative does not bear thinking about.
“So many clubs fly by the seat of their pants in everything they do,” a source says.
“It is just numbers to them. As long as they go up, they can write those losses off down the line.
“It isn’t clubs like ours’ fault, though. But it cannot go on like this.”
Nigel Farage is the ultimate political gambler, so it was fitting he used a racing metaphor to describe Reform UK’s overnight surge.
He compared the substantial gains to a notoriously difficult jump in the Grand National, where even experienced jockeys lose their seats in a flurry of spruce branches and runaway horses.
“This for me was our Becher’s Brook,” Farage said, in early morning comments. “If we cleared Becher’s Brook and landed well, we go on to win the Grand National. What is very clear to me is that our voters will stick with us now all the way through. They are not lending their vote to Reform.”
Farage’s suggestion that his party was on course for a general election victory after these local successes now doesn’t look outlandish. He has shown that Reform isn’t a fresh Ukip, doomed to stutter and fall. His clear wins might even silence those who claimed his party is a modern SDP, which flew high at the start of the 1980s but never converted high polling numbers into actual votes.
Of course, we don’t have all the results, and the early declarations were always going to favour Reform target areas. But on the emerging picture, Farage can point to substantial success, securing about a third of the seats that have been declared. By contrast, Labour lost just under half of the seats they had been trying to defend.
Look more closely at the results and Reform has racked up wins in areas long dominated by Labour. They include Tameside, which Labour lost after 47 years in control. In Redditch, Labour also lost control, and in Hartlepool, Reform became the largest party. That latter is where the loss of a parliamentary seat to the Tories in 2021 made Sir Keir Starmer seriously mull resignation as leader of the Labour Party.
Don’t forget the psychological implications of these losses on those in the Cabinet, who are thinking very carefully today about Starmer’s future. Tameside is the patch of former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and in Wigan, where the MP is Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, Labour lost 22 of the seats it was defending to Reform.
Not content with smashing through Labour’s heartlands, Farage took his teal sledgehammer to those parts of the red wall Starmer painstakingly won back from Boris Johnson’s Tories. And he looks set to take Tory strongholds too in Kemi Badenoch’s backyard, taking 15 of the first 21 seats to be declared in Essex.
And it’s also looking set to be a bad day for the Tories. Early analysis by elections expert John Curtice found the Tories’ support is down on 2022 by 11 points across all the wards that have declared so far. So far, the Liberal Democrats have made a modest gain of seats, but any surge for Ed Davey’s party should come later.
With full results in from 13 of the 136 councils, Reform gained 103 seats to Labour’s loss of 80. But Labour sources countered the party’s vote had held up in places like Lincoln and Reading, where Reform and the Greens could have made inroads.
The central point of Labour’s argument is that local elections always present challenges for governments and do not accurately predict the results of the next general election. But this only works as an argument if you ignore the fact that the governing party didn’t go backwards in terms of seats in 2011, 2015, 2017 or 2021.
Starmer started the day defiant, insisting he was “not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos”, despite growing noises of concern within Labour. Friday might end very differently.
As more results come in, Labour will engage in soul-searching about which way to head. And their conclusions might be different depending on where they are in the country. Northern Labour members may see the imminent danger of Reform. But in London, where the Tories have just about retaken Wandsworth, local Conservative sources pointed out their success is down to the Greens swiping Labour votes.
For now, Farage has his morning in the sun. “It can’t continue to be a fluke or a protest vote,” he insisted in an early press conference outside Havering Council. It was a hard message for Labour and the Tories to digest before breakfast.
Paul Eastwick, professor of psychology at UC Davis, has been studying the science of attraction and relationships for 20 years. Here, the author of Bonded by Evolution: The New Science of Love and Connection and co-host of the podcast Love Factually explains four widespread myths about marriage and what we can learn from them.
Research on close relationships only really took off in the late 80s and the 90s, so it’s a fairly young science compared to other fields. We know that when our relationships are going well, they can be one of the biggest sources of joy and support in our lives, but this topic is also one of the biggest sources of nonsense on the internet. Either the science is misinterpreted or people completely invent garbage.
Some of the most common myths about marriage stem from outdated evolutionary psychology theories, while others are old-fashioned gendered ideas that have been disproven by modern science. Unfortunately, it is remarkably hard to persuade people that the explanation they have come to understand is not supported by research, especially when they’ve spent a long time perusing the internet for evidence to confirm what they believe.
Most people aren’t going to change their minds overnight, but they could benefit a lot if they did. Research shows that relationships have a huge effect on people’s health and wellbeing – and those effects often dwarf the stuff that we sink a lot of money into and spend a lot of time talking about, like smoking and obesity. Challenging those long-held beliefs could improve – or even save – your marriage.
These are four widely held myths about marriage that have been debunked by science.
1. You have to be completely compatible with someone to make a marriage work
This is the idea that there needs to be a match between the traits, attributes and values that each spouse brings to the table. For example, if you see yourself as an adventurous, exciting and intelligent person, you might think you can only be happy with a partner who is the same.
Scientists have tested different versions of this hypothesis for many decades, looking at things like shared values, activities and hobbies. You can measure all these different metrics of matching, and ultimately they don’t predict very much at all about relationship success.
We know that compatibility is important in the sense that not everybody is a good fit for everybody, but compatibility has a lot more to do with the way two people construct their relationship in the first place. Rather than a perfectly constructed team, it’s more like two kids playing in a sandbox, working together to try and build something with no blueprint.
Research even shows that having opposing political views – say, if one spouse is a Tory and the other a real Labour lefty – isn’t correlated with relationship dissatisfaction. Those couples just decide, “We’re not going to talk about that.”
2. To fix a marriage, you need to fix your spouse
A lot of people won’t want to hear this, but I think therapists will echo it too. When couples go to therapy, they often go in with the assumption that the therapist will “fix” their partner. They feel sure that when they talk about the conflict, the independent party is going to side with them. But, surprise, surprise, therapists usually have a way of finding that issues need to be worked on on both sides.
There’s a deeper myth here: that relationships go badly because some people have attributes that make their partners miserable, and these people need to have their traits fixed for them to be good relationship partners. I’m not saying that this never happens, or that it wouldn’t be worth fixing someone who is a narcissistic jerk. But as an explanation for why relationships go badly, it tends to be among the weakest. It misunderstands the locus of the problem.
This is where therapists are coming from. They say, “Rather than trying to fix this person so you’re happier with them, we’re going to work on your dynamic.” In many cases, it’s better to work on the relationship, or even work on yourself first with individual therapy. That’s a good starting point most of the time.
3. Women trade off their physical attractiveness to land a rich husband
This was a pretty popular evolutionary psychological idea rooted in a classic study from 1969, which found that when women rated the qualities they want a partner, they cared about ambition and earning potential more than men, while men said they cared about attractiveness more than money.
The problem is, the researchers didn’t even assess whether the guys were hot and whether the women had money. When sociologists figured this out and started asking men and women the same questions, lo and behold, they found no gender difference. Sometimes people trade money for attractiveness or attractiveness for money, but there’s no gender difference in this sort of marriage trade-off, and no impact on your relationship happiness later down the line.
It’s similar to the manosphere idea of “high-value” men and women. Having a healthy relationship where two people are deeply in love with each other and support each other has very little to do with any of that “value” stuff to do with money or looks.
4. A marriage can survive as its own island if the couple is strong enough
This may not come as a surprise to a lot of people in, say, the collectivist cultures of Asia, but for Westerners, this myth reflects a common individualist approach, the idea that it’s “us against the world”. That if a marriage is strong, it will survive, but if it fails, it’s because the people were weak.
What this myth underestimates is the power of context and what’s going on around a particular couple. Many times, stress, and whether or not a couple is supported by their broader community, can have a huge impact on whether or not a relationship survives.
It’s related to some broader ideas in social psychology. For example, if a marriage ends in divorce, outsiders often look at that marriage and say things like, “They did something wrong, they screwed up, they didn’t have what it took, they didn’t try hard enough”. We may fail to see the context around them, the stress that they were under. Those aspects can end up being invisible to outsiders, so we overattribute failure to the people in the relationship.
Couples often let their broader social networks go if they’re stressed or they’ve got all going on. While it is important to tend to your relationship, keeping other people around and involved is a really good idea as well.
Equally, it’s a good social psychology lesson to keep our own judgments about other people in check. It’s really easy for us to miss the context, so try not to overdo it with the personal attribution.
European countries have been forced to ease controversial EU border checks at airports as thousands of UK passengers have faced long delays following their roll-out last month.
Greece has already suspended the Entry/Exit System (EES) checks and other popular destinations are expected to follow suit amid fears of worse problems during May half-term and the peak summer holiday period.
Earlier this week, Portugal began informally relaxing the border checks during excessive queues at Lisbon, Faro and Porto airports.
Shorts – Quick stories
HEALTH
The diet that can slash high blood pressure risk by 30%
Various kinds of vegan protein sources on beige background. Set of food supplements. Gluten free cereals as ground hemp seeds, quinoa. Nuts and legumes (green mung beans, chick-pea, red lentil, kidney bean, almonds, hazelnuts). Flat lay, top view – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Eating beans, lentils and soy products dramatically reduces your risk of high blood pressure, a study has found.
The high levels of minerals, fibre and bioactive compounds in the plants also reduce the risk of other heart problems, especially when consumed daily.
How to be full of beans
Colorful Array of Mixed Beans – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Eat 170g per day of legumes like beans, lentils or chickpeas.
Pair with 60-80g daily of soy such as tofu, edamame or soy milk.
Include regular exercise in your routine to further protect the heart.
LIFESTYLE
6 min read
What did the study find?
Eating a portion of legumes and soy each day led to a 28-30 per cent reduction in risk of high blood pressure. Those on this diet had up to 19 per cent less risk than those eating the least of these products.
Experts writing in the British Medical Journal looked at the results of 12 previous studies for this research and concluded that the high levels of potassium, magnesium and dietary fibre contributed to the lowering of risk.
Charity urges us to eat more beans
Simple swaps, like choosing beans, lentils, chickpeas or tofu in place of processed meats, can make a meaningful difference and help support healthier blood pressure as part of an overall balanced diet.
TRACY PARKER, SENIOR DIETITIAN AT BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION
Adult and child hands holding red heart, health care, donate and family insurance concept,world heart day, world health day,,health care, concept – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
TRAVEL
The next airports which could suspend EES checks
Joe Duggan
Senior Reporter
Greece has suspended EES checks for UK holidaymakers until at least September after queues of three hours or more at the border.
As the summer holiday season approaches, other popular destinations for British tourists could follow suit.
Why are the queues so long?
The new European border system, launched last month, requires non-EU citizens to have a facial scan and fingerprints taken to enter the Schengen Area.
Passengers have reported having to queue for the checks several times. A body representing 600 airports says the queues are causing “major concerns” with some passengers missing flights.
TRAVEL
4 min read
TRAVEL
4 min read
Which countries could pause checks mext?
While only Greece has fully suspended checks for British tourists so far, airports in Portugal, France and Italy have all initiated temporary pauses to help ease long queues. Belgium has postponed introducing EES.
Syros is a quieter alternative to Mykonos (Photo: Getty)Caption: City of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. Europe. Photographer: Jose A. Bernat Bacete Provider: Getty Images Source: Moment RF Copyright: @
The Spanish and Dutch governments have said there are no problems with the new system despite the delays. Opposition parties in Spain are calling for checks to be lifted, with one leader saying the queues are “typical of a Third World country”.
Health
How eggs could lower your risk of Alzheimer’s
Eggs were once the original superfood, but then concerns over their cholesterol and fat content led to them being seen as bad for the heart (Photo: Getty)
Clare Wilson
Science Writer
Eggs were once the original superfood, but then concerns over their cholesterol and fat content led to them being seen as bad for the heart. So, what do and don’t we know about the effects of eggs on our health? And does the way that we cook them make a difference?
How has health advice about eggs changed?
Up until the 1970s, eggs were considered a nutritious breakfast, as the famous marketing slogan “go to work on an egg” suggests. People were later advised to limit their egg intake because of the cholesterol in the yolk, which was considered to be bad for the heart. As understanding of how cholesterol works has improved, eggs have been restored to their “superfood” status. The NHS now recommends eggs as part of your diet, with no upper limit.
LIFESTYLE
5 min read
LIFESTYLE
7 min read
What does the study show?
Having eggs at least five times a week suggests a…
27%
lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s, compared with those who rarely or never eat them.
The research followed nearly 40,000 adults aged 65 and over for an average of 15 years.
980,000
people are estimated to be living with dementia in the UK, with Alzheimer’s the most common cause.
This is forecast to rise to 1.4m by 2040 as the population ages.
What’s so special about eggs?
Photographer: Andrew Brookes Provider: Getty Images/Image Source Source: Image Source Copyright: Copyright Andrew Brookes
A no-brainer
Eggs contain choline, which the body uses to make acetylcholine, a chemical involved in memory and learning.
Nutritious and delicious
Eggs contain lutein and zeaxanthin, the yellow-orange pigments in food which could slow down eyesight loss.
(Photo: Laurie Ambrose/Getty).
Caption: Eggs are seen in a carton on Monday, April 13, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) Photographer: Jenny Kane Provider: AP Source: AP
Egg-ceptional
They also provide some omega-3 fatty acids, which have been linked with cognitive function.
Caption: A detail of cracked egg falling into the pan as woman holds egg shells in both hands. Photographer: SimpleImages Provider: Getty Images Source: Moment RF
You must be yolking
By just having the whites, you could be forgoing all of these beneficial nutrients.
Nutrition researcher Dr Emma Derbyshire advises against the cartons of egg whites favoured by bodybuilders for their low-fat, high-protein content.
All the nutrients associated with health effects are found in the yolk, so you must eat the whole egg to benefit from the boost.
Starmer’s plan revealed as Labour loses seats in local elections
Sir Keir Starmer will pivot his political message to deliver a more left-wing pitch to voters in a bid to fend off a leadership challenge.
We’ve built a political class allergic to spontaneity and terrified of taking risks (Photo: Toby Melville/AFP)
Starmer’s four-point plan to fight off Labour coup
The Prime Minister is understood to have abandoned the election strategy that helped secure a landslide in 2024 to one that will aim to unite progressive voters in both working-class and urban areas. It marks a shift away from trying to court Reform voters with strong immigration rhetoric.
Analysis
3 min read
Big Read
10 min read
Focus shifts to progressive block
Insiders say the view is that whoever can unite the left or the right will win the next general election, with Starmer hoping to appeal to progressive voters by focusing on issues they care about.
Closer relations with the EU including greater alignment with the single market.
Increased defence spending including a long-delayed investment plan.
Commitment to the environment and energy security through green sources.
Focus on values and making the case for a diverse and tolerant Britain.
Local election results as they come in
Labour loses nine councils so far – as Reform gains hundreds of seats
Of the 136 local authorities in England holding elections, 40 have so far declared their results.
Labour suffered significant blows, losing more than 240 seats across England overnight.
Reform has taken Newcastle-under-Lyme and Havering, London, gaining over 350 seats
Counting began in Scotland, Wales and the remaining English councils this morning.
Labour MPs react to losses
The Defence Secretary has supported Starmer as the man who can “turn it around” for Labour, saying that he “won the mandate for five years from the public” and he thinks “he can still deliver”.
Caption: Defence Secretary John Healey delivers a statement on recent UK operational activity at 9 Downing Street in Westminster, central London. Mr Healey said the UK and allies monitored a Russian attack submarine and two spy submarines in the North Atlantic for a month before they retreated. Picture date: Thursday April 9, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire Photographer: Yui Mok Provider: Yui Mok/PA Wire Source: PA Copyright: PA Wire Sir Keir Starmer is faced with finding a replacement for Shadow Education Secretary after he sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey (Photo: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Not everyone in the party is so confident in their leader, though, with Labour MP Johnathon Brash calling for Starmer to resign and Rebecca Long-Bailey labelling it a “soul-destroying night”.
Starmer takes the blame
We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country; these are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party. And that hurts, and I take responsibility…Tough days like these don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised. They strengthen my resolve.
PRIME MINISTER SIR KEIR STARMER
Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 08: British Prime Minister and Labour leader Keir Starmer speaks to supporters and councillors following local elections at Kingsdown Methodist Church on May 08, 2026 in London, England. Voters went to the polls yesterday in the local elections across England. Results counted overnight show widespread losses for the Labour Party. Several key Labour councils have surrendered their majority as Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats make significant gains. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) Photographer: Leon Neal Provider: Getty Images Source: Getty Images Europe Copyright: 2026 Getty Images
Caption: HARTLEPOOL, ENGLAND – MAY 07: A general view outside a polling station during the local elections on May 07, 2026 in Hartlepool, England. The 2026 UK local elections involve approximately 5,000 seats across 136 local councils in England, taking place alongside major devolved elections for the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd (Welsh Parliament). (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images) Photographer: Ian Forsyth Provider: Getty Images Source: Getty Images Europe Copyright: 2026 Getty Images
Politics
Election results at a glance – and key battlegrounds to come
Some English councils have already declared their results, with counting now underway across England, Scotland and Wales.
We take a look at what the results mean so far, as well as some to watch out for later today.
The results so far
Early results paint bleak picture for Labour
Of the 136 local authorities in England holding elections, 41 have so far declared their results.
Heavy losses for Labour, including nine councils, have translated to wins for the smaller parties across the board.
Reform has taken control of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Havering, London, as well as over 350 seats.
Many councils remain in no overall control as all the parties struggled to command majorities.
When will we get results in Scotland and Wales?
Counting began this morning and will likely take most of the day
Scotland: 12pm-6.30pm
SNP projected to lose their majority but retain control as the biggest party.
Wales: 2pm-5:30pm
Labour expected to lose control for the first time since devolution in 1999.
Interview
7 min read
Key seats to watch
Caption: PENARTH, WALES – MAY 7: Zack Polanski, Leader of the Green Party, talking outside of a polling station at St Augustine’s Parish Hall on May 7, 2026 in Penarth, Wales. The 2026 Senedd election marks a major overhaul of the Welsh Parliament as the number of Members increases from 60 to 96. Under a new proportional system, voters cast a single vote for a party list across 16 new constituencies, each electing six representatives. (Photo by Jon Rowley/Getty Images) Photographer: Jon Rowley Provider: Getty Images Source: Getty Images Europe
All eyes are on the Greens as their target London councils declare.
Five London boroughs and Watford await new mayors.
Six county councils in southern England will declare later today.
Big Read
5 min read
The Government is being urged to focus on providing practical steps and clear communication to the public to avoid panic-buying of fuel (Photo: Michael Garner/Getty)
NEWS
How cutting speed limits could reduce Iran war price impact
Lowering speed limits on motorways and urban roads could lower drivers’ costs, according to a think-tank.
This is part of a package of measures which it says would soften the impact of price hikes resulting from war in the Middle East.
What the Institute for Public Policy Research calls for
Cut fuel duty by 10p
This would be a temporary measure.
Energy price cap £2,000
The cap would be per customer per year.
Lower speed limits by 10mph
Across 30mph and 70mph zones.
Explained
8 min read
How would this help?
Reducing the speed limit on motorways to 60 mph and 20mph in towns and cities could stretch fuel further in a shortage, as well as capping demand and helping drivers save money.
International bodies for fuel monitoring have recommended that countries impose speed caps to curb fuel usage.
CONSUMER
3 min read
NEWS
5 min read
‘A dual win’ – thinktank
[Benefits include] lowering fuel demand, while safer streets support swapping short trips to walking and cycling. This should be packaged with advice on how to drive more efficiently alongside recommendations for increased home working and carpooling.
INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
Photographer: Justin Paget Provider: Getty Images Source: Digital Vision
Caption: Undated handout composite photo issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of Chung Biu Yuen (left), 65, a former Hong Kong police officer currently working at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, and Chi Leung Wai, 40, a former UK Border Force officer and special constable with the City of London Police. Both individuals were convicted under the National Security Act 2023 following a trial at the Old Bailey. Issue date: Thursday May 7, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: CPS/PA Wire
NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. Photographer: CPS Provider: CPS/PA Wire Source: PA
CRIME
UK immigration officer among two guilty of working for Chinese intelligence
A Border Force official and a retired Hong Kong police officer have been found guilty of conducting “shadow policing” operations for China on British soil.
What you need to know
Dual Chinese-British nationals Peter Wai, 38, and Bill Yuen, 65, were convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service under the National Security Act. Wai was also convicted of misconduct in a public office by searching the Home Office computer system for people of interest to Hong Kong authorities.
Caption: Chung Biu Yuen arrives at the Old Bailey court, during a trial where he and co-defendant Chi Leung Wai are accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service, in London, Britain, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Toby Melville Photographer: Toby Melville Provider: REUTERS Source: REUTERS
Exclusive
4 min read
A closer look at the detail
The jury, which deliberated for 23 hours and 38 minutes, was discharged after failing to reach a verdict against the defendants in respect of a charge of foreign interference by forcing entry into the Pontefract home of alleged fraud suspect Monica Kwong on 1 May 2024.
Caption: Chung Biu Yuen arrives at the Old Bailey court, during a trial where he and co-defendant Chi Leung Wai are accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service, in London, Britain, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Toby Melville Photographer: Toby Melville Provider: REUTERS Source: REUTERS Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 02: Chi Leung Wai arrives at the Old Bailey on March 02, 2026 in London, England. Chi Leung (Peter) Wai and Chung Biu Yuen have been charged under the National Security Act with assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service and foreign interference, for allegedly agreeing to undertake information gathering, surveillance, and acts of deception. A third man, a Home Office immigration officer and former Royal Marine, Matthew Trickett, had also been charged, but was found dead in Maidenhead in May 2024. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images) Photographer: Jack Taylor Provider: Getty Images Source: Getty Images Europe Copyright: 2026 Getty Images
The prosecution announced the Crown would not seek a retrial and the defendants were remanded into custody to be sentenced on a date to be fixed on 15 May.
Who were their targets?
Wai worked for Border Force at Heathrow Airport having formerly been in the Royal Navy.
He had gathered intelligence on the orders of ex-Hong Kong superintendent Yuen, who was a senior manager at the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO) in London.
Targets included Hong Kong dissidents and protesters living in the UK – with “special attention” paid to politicians including Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
Analysis
8 min read
The EES system now requires non-EU citizens, including British nationals, to have fingerprints registered and a facial scan taken to enter the Schengen Area’s 29 countries.
Once processed the first time, passengers’ EES details are valid for three years, but travellers have reported having to repeat the checks despite already queuing for hours to go through them.
The European Commission insists the system, which tracks non-EU nationals to make sure they don’t stay more than 90 days in any 180-day period in Schengen countries, has been working “very well” in the “overwhelming majority” of member states since its full launch on 10 April.
A Brussels spokesperson added that registering a traveller takes on average only 70 seconds.
But ACI Europe, a body representing over 600 airports, warned this month passengers were facing delays of up to three hours during peak travel periods and said “major concerns are now a reality”, with some passengers missing flights due to prolonged border processing times.
Here’s the measures being taken across Europe to manage the queues.
Spain
Passengers arriving in Spain have reported being stuck in long queues since EES was incrementally introduced from last year, with delays reported at popular holiday destinations like Malaga, Alicante and Lanzarote.
The Canary Islands’ Popular Party (PP) is among those who have called for the Spanish government to suspend EES with PP tourism spokesperson David Morales lamenting images of “British tourists, our main source market, crammed into the halls of our airports and even queuing in the sun”.
Morales said the images of such lengthy lines were “typical of a Third World country”.
However, a spokesperson for Spain’s interior ministry insisted the roll-out of EES had been “positive” so far adding there had been “no relevant incidents”.
Spain’s interior ministry has not ruled out a full suspension of the border checks, however.
“EES border control system has been fully operational in Spain since April 10th and is being implemented as initially planned,” a spokesperson added.
Italy
A border officer at Milan Malpensa Airport and provincial secretary of Italy’s SAP police union says the full roll-out of fingerprint and facial scans from EES since 10 April has led to three-hour queues and hundreds of passengers missing flights.
Travellers to Italian airports such as Milan Malpensa Airport have faced long EES queues (Photo: Giannis Alexopoulos/NurPhoto via Getty)
Forecasts for the peak summer holiday travel period are “worrying”, said Cristian Sternativo, adding that police are expecting queues of more than four hours at major airports during July and August.
Border police at Milan and other airports have temporarily paused the EES checks to avoid passengers missing their flights as queues build up, a provision allowed by the EU until September.
The SAP has described queues at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport that spilled outside the terminal building and of a “risk of system collapse” at airports across the country, with EES delays at holiday hotspots including Pisa, Verona and Milan Linate.
The Italian airport association Assaeroporti has called for EU member states to be able to completely suspend the checks when waiting times “compromise the regularity of airport operations”.
Greece
Greece has said British passport holders will not be subject to biometric checks at its airports.
This is despite EES rules only allowing for a temporary rather than a permanent postponement and not for the suspension of rules for specific nationalities.
The UK Foreign Office advises that Greek authorities have indicated that they will not collect EES biometric data for UK travellers.
Chris Wright, the managing director of tour operator Sunvil Group, said: “I passed through four airports [in Greece] last week and UK passengers were moving through dedicated queues without biometric checks and without delay.”
Portugal
In January, Portugal suspended EES for three months after chaotic scenes at Lisbon airport that left passengers stuck in queues of six hours.
To help, the Portuguese government said it would increase by 30 per cent the capacity of electronic and physical equipment for controlling external borders.
There would also be an increase in border police carrying out EES checks, with Portuguese media reporting another 500 offices are being trained.
Self-service EES kiosks have been installed at airports, while Portugal is one of only two countries – the other being Sweden – that has adopted an app designed to help travellers save time by registering details before travelling.
Since the full roll-out on 10 April, Portugal is among the countries that have also temporarily suspended EES during busy periods at airports including Lisbon, Faro and Porto.
France
An official from the main body representing French airports has told The i Paper that EES kiosks at main hubs in France are also currently not working due to technical issues, with border police having to manually carry out the fingerprint and facial scans required at booths.
Nicolas Paulissen, general delegate of the Union des Aéroports Français (UAF), said French airports had also been suspending EES checks temporarily as queues built up to prevent massive tailbacks.
Paulissen, whose body represents 173 airports, said the current situation with EES was “difficult” with a technological problem impacting pre-registration kiosks at main airports not likely to be fixed before June.
Instead, French border police – the Police Aux Frontières (PAF) – are manually carrying out the fingerprint and facial scans on passengers which is adding to processing times.
But he said there are fears logjams could cause passengers to miss flights this summer – and of concerns there is “no plan B” after September when a grace period that allows EES to be temporarily lifted ends.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is home to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, one of the busiest in Europe.
A spokesperson for the Dutch border police, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, told The i Paper there were no plans to fully suspend EES.
The temporary relaxation of checks was occurring only in “very exceptional circumstances”, a police spokesperson said.
Additional measures to help manage passenger flow at Dutch airports includes the deployment of extra staff, such as “floor walkers”, to guide passengers and ensure they are directed to the correct queues.
Belgium
Just before the full 10 April EES roll-out, Belgium announced it would postpone the introduction of biometric data registration under EES.
The announcement came after long delays at Brussels airport with interior minister Bernard Quintin admitting wait times had become “unacceptable”.
This week, opposition MP Michael Freilich shared a video showing long non-Schengen queues at Brussels and said the ongoing problems were harming business and tourism, citing a lack of e-gates for EU members and police understaffing.
“People from the UK, they tell me the passport control is twice as long as my flight,” he told The i Paper.
Introducing EES checks when queues were already so long would be a “disaster upon a disaster” he added.
“It’s going to be horrible. You can’t have wait times of six hours in airports. Now it’s really two to three hours. But imagine it goes to six hours, then that’s the end. The airport will shut down.”
With almost a million people in the UK currently living with dementia, figures which are only anticipated to rise over the next decade, it’s easy to feel a little anxious at the first hints of forgetfulness.
But memory issues are also a very normal part of ageing. “As we get older, we lose brain cells and some mild symptoms like forgetting why you went upstairs or misplacing your phone or your glasses every now and again is considered normal,” says Dr Jay Amin, an associate professor at the University of Southampton, who also leads an NHS memory clinic.
According to Simon Cox, professor of brain and cognitive ageing at the University of Edinburgh, this is because brain function begins to decline in various subtle ways from our twenties onwards. “Processing speed, reasoning, memory, they rely on lots of different parts of our brain working together, and when one of those key systems gets disrupted, it’s inevitable that other bits are going to fall over a little bit too,” says Cox.
Yet at the same time, the brain can still compensate to a remarkable degree. As a result, people in their seventies and eighties sometimes have a far wider vocabulary than those decades younger, due to their many years of acquired wisdom and learning.
Instead, when it comes to “red flag” memory symptoms, there are many more subtleties to be aware of than mere forgetfulness on its own. Here’s what to look out for.
Getting lost in familiar environments
According to Cox, a particularly concerning sign is getting lost in familiar environments. “So driving down neighbourhood roads and forgetting where you turn off to go home when you’ve lived in that house for 20 years,” he says.
This not only reflects memory deterioration, but damage to certain brain hubs which serve as an inner GPS system, enabling your brain to create and store maps of different routes. These regions are some of the earliest brain areas affected in the progression of diseases like Alzheimer’s, meaning that getting unexpectedly lost can be a key early warning sign.
Repeating yourself in a short space of time
As we get older, it becomes common for people to repeat the same stories, often to the exasperation of younger family members. However, this behaviour becomes more concerning when the repetition happens in a relatively short space of time.
Dr Semiya Aziz, an NHS GP and founder of the private service Say GP, recalls a patient in her early sixties who had previously been treated for an array of symptoms including anxiety and brain fog which had all been attributed to the menopause. However, Aziz became worried when the patient repeated the exact same life story to her at both their first and second consultation.
“That just rang alarm bells for me,” says Aziz. “I was thinking, ‘That’s not quite right.’ So we referred her to the neurologist, and she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.”
Forgetting important birthdays, events or PINs
Forgetting words is also completely normal, but Amin says that this is a red flag if it’s happening in every conversation. It’s also problematic if you’re forgetting simple words, how to use everyday household objects, or the names and birthdays of close friends and relatives.
“It’s a sign that memory symptoms are starting to interfere with someone’s life,” says Amin. “They might also be finding that they’re forgetting their PIN or forgetting how to use the microwave.”
One of the reasons this can start to happen is that the processes underpinning cognitive decline are affecting mesh-like structures in the brain known as perineuronal nets. These nets surround neurons and provide a critical barrier which enables them to communicate. A recent study from scientists at the University of Arizona found that the deterioration of perineuronal nets could be one of the reasons why people with dementia forget things of emotional significance.
Forgetting to be discreet
Another key red flag is if someone is starting to forget that they shouldn’t say certain things to certain people, for example revealing long-held family secrets. This can reflect an underlying loss of inhibition, pointing to damage to the frontal regions of the brain which play a critical role in reasoning and self-control.
“If you’ve been told something about a family member, asked not to share it, and then blurt it out in a family setting, that can be a worrying symptom regarding memory,” says Amin.
Losing track of a book or TV series
Patterns of cognitive decline can vary from one form of dementia to another. Amin notes that while Alzheimer’s disease tends to result in a steady, progressive decline in memory, other conditions such as dementia with Lewy bodies can see significant fluctuations from one part of a day to another.
“For some hours of the day their memory can be completely fine,” says Amin. “But other times of the day it’ll be really poor. So that’s a concerning symptom.”
Such fluctuations can often be seen when reading a book or watching a TV series. If a person is experiencing spells where they’re suddenly struggling to recall a previous chapter or episode, that can be a red flag.
Big changes in your baseline memory
Finally, another key shift to watch out for is when there’s a sudden change in a person’s baseline memory. Researchers point out that some people always struggle to remember names, even as a teenager or young adult, simply because of how their brain is wired. But if they’ve always had an excellent short-term memory or a good ability for remembering numbers, and that’s now gone away, it’s a sign to be concerned.
“Partners or spouses are often a good barometer for picking this up and noticing these kinds of subtle changes in behaviour,” says Cox.
Why it’s important to spot red flags early
Traditionally, many people have preferred to try and ignore signs of cognitive decline as best as possible because of the lack of treatments, and the sense that nothing can really be done.
However, this is starting to change, in part due to our growing understanding of the various causes of cognitive decline. Amin says that in some cases, memory issues do not actually reflect dementia at all, and are being driven by other causes such as depression, the side effects of certain medications such as benzodiazepines, some beta blockers and painkillers, or poor sleeping habits.
Memory can also be affected by other chronic conditions relating to vitamin or mineral deficiencies, such as anaemia, folate deficiency, and B12 deficiencies. “We know that the gut completely changes with age which affects the absorption of different nutrients,” says Aziz. “In an older patient, memory problems can be a result of an underlying B12 or folate deficiency.”
However, even if the underlying cause is dementia, there are now a growing number of clinical trials exploring all kinds of novel drugs for slowing down the disease process, ranging from medications which aim to lower the amount of inflammation in the brain to improved ways of clearing amyloid plaques.
Amin says that it’s important to detect warning signs and receive a diagnosis as soon as possible, because many trials are primarily interested in recruiting patients with relatively mild cognitive impairment.
“Having an accurate early diagnosis can help with future care planning,” he says. “But there are lots of research trials that people can get involved in. And the earlier you are in the disease process, the better.”
An excitable crowd urges Hayley McAuley to look again. The 38-year-old from Wigan has just finished assembling a white bedside table and is already packing away her tools, convinced she has retained her title at the Flatpack World Championships on the opening day of Grand Designs Live in London.
But she hasn’t noticed the slightly wonky drawer.
Around her, three fellow finalists – two of them also professional flatpack builders – are still working, the tension mounting. Then, within seconds, McAuley spots the mistake. This is the moment she has trained for.
She fixes it quickly. With slightly trembling hands, she drives in the final screw.
Cheers erupt as her time flashes on screen: eight minutes and 20 seconds – smashing her 2025 personal best of nine minutes and 33 seconds. McAuley breaks into a relieved smile and raises two thumbs in the air.
It is a victory years in the making.
Hayley with her award after beating her 2025 personal best (Photo: Sam Frost)
“I knew I was good from when I was about nine,” says McAuley, now a warehouse team leader. “My dad would build something and I’d notice things he’d done wrong – I’d step in to fix it. Most people are overwhelmed by all the screws and fittings, but it doesn’t bother me.”
What began as a natural aptitude turned into a flatpack support business in 2024, after she posted a photo on Facebook of furniture she had built for her stepdaughter and was flooded with requests. When a friend mentioned a radio advert for a competition, McAuley saw an opportunity to take things further.
Now a two-time champion, she is already planning her defence.
After posing with her golden Allen key medal, the emotion catches up with her. She speaks about her aunt Vanessa, who had hoped to be in the audience but is currently undergoing cancer treatment. “I can’t wait to tell her,” she says, wiping away a tear.
The competition may be light-hearted, but the recognition is not. Flatpack assembly is rarely celebrated, yet McAuley’s success gives it a moment in the spotlight – and, for her, it carries real meaning.
“It’s actually my best achievement,” she says. “I really wanted it – and the fact I did it means everything.”
Most people won’t be chasing records with an Allen key. But McAuley’s approach offers lessons anyone can use…
Start the right way
“People often don’t read the instructions properly – and that’s where it goes wrong. Read them from start to finish first, not just step one. It helps you to understand the whole process.
“Then empty everything out and check every piece against the manual – right down to the screws. You don’t want to get halfway through and realise something’s missing.”
Don’t overtighten
“Don’t tighten everything fully straight away. If you make a mistake, it’s much harder to fix – and you can even break screws trying to undo them.
“My rule is to keep things loose until the end, then secure everything once you know it’s correct.”
The competition was fierce (Photo: Sam Frost)
Use the right tools
“I always recommend a Pozidriv screwdriver – it grips better and stops slipping. And use a rubber mallet instead of a hammer. If you hit plastic fittings with a hammer, you can easily break them.”
Choose wisely
“I work with lots of brands, and I’m always happiest when customers pick Ikea. The quality is consistent and the pieces are sturdy.
“Also think about materials. Metal furniture can be tricky – lots of tiny fasteners, sharp edges and alignment issues. Wood or plastic is much easier if you’re building it yourself.”
Don’t get stressed
“People get frustrated because they expect it to be easy – but it isn’t for everyone. If you’re getting annoyed, step away and come back later. You’re not being timed.
“And one last small tip: trim your nails. It makes handling tiny screws much easier – it sounds silly, but it saves a lot of time.”
Sir Keir Starmer promised change at the general election. He has not changed the country to the satisfaction of the electorate but he has certainly changed the fortunes of the Labour Party.
Labour has gone from its loveless landslide to having no political heartland in the UK to call its own.
Overnight, Labour lost control all over the map – in Oxford, Tameside, Tamworth, Exeter, Hartlepool, Wandsworth and Redditch. Reform UK surged in terms of seats but only took control of a handful of councils. More trouncing for Labour will be counted out later today, hardest of all at the hands of the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.
Starmer’s future as Labour leader and prime minister will hang in the balance this weekend. Only two months ago, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, a former Labour leader and close friend, advised Starmer and the country to walk away from the precipice of getting rid of him. In the run-up to today’s anticipated disaster, Miliband reportedly counselled his friend to set a timetable for his departure from No 10.
Overnight on my Times Radio results programme, Labour MPs described the crisis as “existential”, “soul-destroying” and “sheer horror” for both their party and its leader. They split into two camps: those who thought he could not survive and those advocating “a period of reflection”, which sounded as if it would end up in the same place anyway.
As his local party suffered heavy losses in the council election, the MP for Kingston upon Hull, Karl Turner, claimed the main problem he encountered “on the doorstep” was that voters “just can’t stand Starmer” – a conclusion which is reflected in the Prime Minister’s record unpopularity in poll ratings.
More loyal MPs don’t deny a problem; they just claim that the prime minister’s personality simply doesn’t come up during canvassing.
Neither Starmer nor his government were on the ballot this week in what were supposed to be local elections for councils to run local services. Successive prime ministers of all parties have so centralised control from Westminster and Whitehall that voters can hardly be blamed for treating local elections as glorified opinion polls.
Starmer has run up an impressive charge sheet to be judged on. He and Chancellor Rachel Reeves imposed a straitjacket on themselves not to raise the main taxes. The acceptance of freebies from a Labour peer. Numerous U-turns mainly on welfare spending. Appointing Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. An extraordinarily extended list of sacked personal aides – culminating in the scapegoating of Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins. Above all, Starmer simply fails to inspire the nation or to lead it effectively.
It seems an obvious conclusion that Labour should change its leader, and its problems would go away. Obvious but wrong. More than half of Labour MPs were first elected in 2024 and have little experience of the flow of Westminster. While they were waiting to get there, they had supped full on the bloodshed of the Conservatives’ five prime ministers in a single administration but failed to notice that such a butcher’s bill did not ultimately improve the Tories’ fortunes.
Ordinary folk dislike Starmer but they would dislike the instability of replacing him more. Even if it could be done without a months-long contest, it would still take months for the new man or woman to get a grip on government.
Neither former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner nor Health Secretary Wes Streeting seem confident enough to spark a challenge now. And there is a growing mood that if there is to be a contest to replace Starmer, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham should be in it.
But even if Starmer and Labour’s National Executive Committee changed their minds and let Burnham fight a by-election, assuming he could find a seat, there is nothing in last night’s results to say he would be elected. Labour took a pasting on his potential home turf of Merseyside and Greater Manchester.
Starmer or his rivals could well destroy the Labour Party in the next few days – they have a poor leader who has led them into an electoral catastrophe, but without him, things could always get worse.
In a home office in Pittsburgh, an American named Kenn Moritz with a history of investing in industrial companies is dreaming big for English rugby.
Moritz, John Tippins and their fellow principals in the Pennsylvania-based Stonewood Capital Management are paying a “seven-figure” sum for a stake in Cornish Pirates, currently placed seventh in England’s second division, the Champ.
Stonewood are more used to turning round manufacturing and distribution companies in the eastern United States, although as Moritz told The i Paper today, they have dabbled in a frozen-dessert retail chain and a software company, too.
So why leap cross the Atlantic to put money into the Pirates and their modestly-sized Mennaye Field in Penzance, which at a 4,000 capacity is well short of the 10,000 required to play in the Premiership, and knowing that clubs in the top division have been losing money, year after year?
The Pirates’ home ground does not currently meet Premiership standards (Photo: Getty)
In common with the Black Knight group whose takeover bid of Exeter Chiefs was put to members on Thursday, and the former NFL star Tom Brady reportedly interested in starting a rugby franchise in Birmingham, the revamp of the club scene in England is piquing American interest.
From next season, the Prem will be an expansion set-up, with a greater geographical spread of clubs among the stated aims.
“English rugby is a sleeping giant,” Moritz said on Thursday. “If they get their ducks in a row, there’s no limit as to how this can grow, and the value of these franchises can grow.
“The entire sport in England will be much better off. But I think there’s going to be a period of flux in the Prem while they stabilise some franchises. We are patient investors, and for us as Americans it [the Champ] was a better investment opportunity.”
Asked how English clubs can start turning a profit, Moritz cited advertising and sponsorship, while affording the costs of the players. “Professionally managed sports teams are things we’ve become accustomed to here in the United States. These people that have been bankrolling these [English club] franchises, they’re timing out; they don’t want to do it any longer. There is a discipline associated with it, and the management team in place at Cornish Pirates has it, and that’s what got us really excited.”
Pirates’ chief executive Sally Pettipher said there are no immediate plans for a new stadium – hopes of one in Truro in the past have foundered in fundraising and political opposition. The Mennaye could attain a 5,000 capacity, and Exeter and Harlequins have played friendlies there this season.
A more local tycoon, Richard Wastnage, who made his money in pharmaceuticals, is another member of a new Pirates owners group relieving the pressure since the long-time backer Sir Richard Evans suffered ill health and reduced his stake.
Asked how much money might be required to reach the Prem, with a P-share to be purchased and a minimum squad salary spend of £5.4m among the considerations, Pettipher said: “You can ask Bill Sweeney, because he told me it’s £50million a year. But let us be clear: we don’t know, and that’s why we are going to follow our plan, create our destiny and when there is more to know, we can plug that into our plan. What I would say is, don’t expect us to do anything traditional.”
The second tier of English rugby is far from fully professional (Photo: Getty)
Moritz said it is “serendipitous” that his home city of Pittsburgh is bidding to stage matches when the US hosts the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031, with possible crossover promotion and sharing of player pathways.
So is this a rugby version of Wrexham and its Hollywood backers Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney shooting for the stars?
“I do see the parallels [with Wrexham],” said Moritz, who was “a huge Pirates fan” growing up – that’s the Pittsburgh Pirates in baseball.
“I’d love this to be a case study in the success of a franchise and the story that’s been written to this point is quite remarkable, and to build on that legacy and to make it the best it can be, I would love to see somebody make a series – a documentary or otherwise.
“We are going to our role in the stewardship very seriously. Where that goes and what people’s expectations are for success will evolve. Obviously, we want to take it to a greater level than today. Whether that ends up being champions of our league currently, or jumping into the Prem, I think people should be excited about the future for Cornish Pirates.”
He is a creature every bit as rare as those he stalks in the undergrowth to observe. He may, in fact, be the last living example of a breed facing extinction. And so, on the occasion of his 100th birthday, his continued existence is one that must be celebrated.
Sir David Attenborough bestrides our culture like a colossus, possibly the only person who we all agree on. He is a titan of the ages.
Barack Obama once said that he is “a great educator as well as a great naturalist”, while Keir Starmer asserted that he has “done more than anyone to teach us about the wonders of our planet”. Today, as Attenborough passes his centenary, there will be many similar encomia from cultural and political figures, and it is truly remarkable that this polarised, quarrelsome world can still find someone to unite us. He is the last person on Earth that anyone has a bad word to say about.
Well, almost. The environmentalist journalist George Monbiot has been critical of Attenborough’s opinion that, in a broadcasting sense at least, were he to concentrate on the human destruction of the natural world, it would be a “turn off” on the grounds this would be “proselytising” and “alarmist”. Monbiot, however, posted in 2018 his controversial view that “for decades, Attenborough has created a false impression of the health of the living world”.
But maybe it’s because of, rather than despite, his unwillingness to be overtly political that makes Attenborough such a venerated figure. He brings joy and enlightenment, rather than politics and polemic. We may be tired of being told what to think.
But of all of Attenborough’s qualities, it is possibly his voice – as distinctive as the call of the red-legged seriema or the vocal range of the lyrebird – which distinguishes him. Unhurried, composed, classless, neither posh nor accented, precise but not self-aware, capable of conveying the life and death struggle of a lemur in calming, comfortable, respectful, sensitive tones, for seven decades it has been the soundtrack to several generations’ discovery of our planet. Our parents, our children, and us – we could all recognise that voice and immediately recognise what it signifies.
What he is conveying, above all, is wonder. At the natural world, at its kindnesses and cruelties, at its range and complexity, at its simple beauties. He is estimated to have travelled almost two million miles in his career, and has visited 90 countries and all seven continents in his quest to enhance our understanding of nature.
And yet he still finds himself in awe. Through a slight lift in his voice, a controlled change in cadence, Attenborough lets us know that what we are seeing is extraordinary. His is the wonder of a scientist who has retained an almost child-like capacity for astonishment, eschewing the performative “oh my gods” and “amazings” of others who have trodden a similar path.
That Attenborough has maintained his pre-eminent place in our broadcasting pantheon for so long is because he gives us a perspective that is not bound by political allegiance, cultural mores or indeed fashion, but by time and by geology. Set against the majesty of nature, our lives seem somehow trivial and ordinary. And that’s not a bad perspective to have these days, if you ask me.
Nature is a constant, imperilled though it may be by our destructive actions. And Attenborough is, at 100 years old, the very embodiment of that constancy and longevity. It may not be the moment to consider this, but who will be the secular saint (as Stephen Fry called him) of the next generation?
It is hard to think of someone. Attenborough is a specimen of a dying breed: a human who has dedicated himself to something bigger than himself, and, in so doing, helped make sense of the mysteries and marvels of the world. Let’s just hope he keeps going. Many happy returns, Sir David Attenborough.
