For a good night’s sleep, the main thing is making sure you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Momentous sleep packs with apigenin and L-theanine are great, too. Don’t drink any caffeine after 1pm. I also use Ra Optics blue light blockers, plus, to track sleep, Eight Sleep, Absolute Rest and Whoop.

‘A surprise, a shock, an absolute pleasure and unexpected’ is how Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight describes it feeling, watching the TV show becoming a true global phenomenon.

Starring Cillian Murphy as the fearsome titular gang from Small Heath’s leader Tommy Shelby, the series has moved from BBC Two to BBC One and now to Netflix, which is directly involved with producing new follow-up feature film, The Immortal Man.

And after a run in select UK cinemas, it’s now hit the streaming platform.

For the Birmingham-born writer, 66, it’s been an ‘incremental’ process he’s been able to track through various friends and family members’ holidays over the years to Spain, Buenos Aires and China, all of which featured a Peaky Blinders-themed bar.

‘The idea that it’s gone really around the world, to places you wouldn’t expect – a few months ago in Afghanistan, some young men were arrested for being dressed as Peaky Blinders – for me, it’s felt very personal, because it was about Birmingham, and was about my family and stuff like that,’ Knight explains.

‘What it does do for me, ultimately, is it gives me confidence that you can do something that is just what you think is good – and if you’re lucky, the world will agree.’

And the world has agreed plenty with Knight since then, as the man recently picked to pen the latest James Bond movie, to be directed by Denis Villeneuve, after the successes of his other popular programmes like SAS: Rogue Heroes, A Thousand Blows and – most recently, also for Netflix – House of Guinness.

The Immortal Man also reunites Knight, Murphy and other original cast members like Sophie Rundle with director Tom Harper, who helmed some of Peaky’s very first episodes in 2013 and is delighted to finally return.

‘It meant that when I came back, we already had this sort of springboard from which to catapult us into the movie,’ Harper shares, who directed the likes of The Woman in Black: Angel of Death (starring late Peaky alumna Helen McCrory) and 2019’s The Aeronauts.

‘Peaky Blinders has exploded since what it was then, and so to get the opportunity to come full circle and tell this chapter in the life of Tommy Shelby as a film, and fulfil some of the ambition and the cinematic quality that we always had in the series, but as part of this, at this at this point, is wonderful.’

New cast members for the movie, reflecting Peaky’s pedigree, include Tim Roth, Rebecca Ferguson and Barry Keoghan.

A proud son of Brum, Knight is delighted to have both re-invented Birmingham’s reputation among the British and promoted its profile worldwide with Peaky Blinders.

‘People from Birmingham tell me that when they go abroad and they start speaking, people say ‘Peaky Blinders’ as the first thing, which is great! I remember saying to one of my brothers, “I’m going to try and make the Birmingham accent sexy,” and he said, “Good luck with that!” But, you know, I think Cillian manages it.’

It’s felt very personal because it was about Birmingham and my family

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The Irish Oscar winner ably manages the notoriously tricky accent, when the same can’t always be said for his co-stars, and told Metro he was also determined to make it ‘cool’ rather than the butt of jokes – which is something Knight has also managed for the city as a whole.

‘That’s one of the things about the whole process that I’m very proud of,’ he adds.

Why do audiences idolise Tommy Shelby?

Tommy is, to all intents and purposes, a villain – he intimidates, beats and even kills many people while leading a gang that hides razor blades in the peaks of their trademark flat-caps (historians classify this as urban myth, but Knight disputes this, citing family testimony).

But audiences nevertheless adore him.

‘I always think of him as a good man doing bad things for a good reason, or at least a reason that he believes he’s good. So I think as an audience, you can empathise with him,’ muses Knight. ‘But I find it astonishing; I remember watching a scene where Arthur [Tommy’s troubled brother, played by Pau Anderson] attacks a completely innocent Quaker with a razor blade, and it’s completely unprovoked. And the person I was watching with said, “Oh, poor Arthur!”’

Peaky Blinders sits in the grey area, where two things can be true at once, agrees Knight.

‘For example, in the first series we had Campbell [played by Sam Neill], who was just judgement – judging everything that everybody did – but he was a baddie. He was right though, all the things he was saying were right, but he was the baddie.’

‘It’s important if the drama can explore how people have broken, the trauma that they go through, the violence that they’re subjugated to, and they then pass on to other people. That’s interesting, you know?’ Harper adds.

From the intensive research Knight has done for Peaky Blinders across the years, which has spanned 1919 and the aftermath of World War One to the dark days of the Blitz in the 1940s now with The Immortal Man, he classifies what his father and uncles told him as the most important aspects for shaping the Peaky universe as a whole.

‘My dad telling me about running barefoot when he was about eight years old with a message for the Peaky Blinders – knocks on the door, door opens, smell of cigarette smoke and whisky, and there’s a round table covered in money and seven men dressed immaculately with razor blades and guns, drinking whisky out of jam jars. And it’s just that thing that here are men who will do everything for their appearance, but they won’t buy any glasses or cups! That, for me, is research.’

Knight knew ‘from the beginning’ that he wanted to tie up the Peaky Blinders – or at least, this generation – during World War Two, given Tommy’s ongoing struggles with the previous war, even if specifics changed over the years.

‘When you get into the Peaky spirit, lots of stuff comes. But I think in the end, when the cast started coming together, and when we knew we’d got Tom – every series since series one the first question was, can we get Tom back? And he was always busy – that’s when you start to think more we can be quite expansive.’

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.

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The sun was fun while it lasted!

After blue skies and sunny spells this weekend, the weather forecast suggests a return to wintry weather this week.

According to the Met Office, a “weakening band of cloud and patchy rain” will move southeast across the UK, followed by sunny spells and scattered showers in the north and some of these showers may turn wintry over higher ground.

The forecaster has said that a shift to a cooler north‑westerly flow will bring a drop in temperature and more unsettled weather, “including some hill snow in the north and brisk winds at times”.

READ MORE: Northern Ireland weather latest as snow forecast in parts of UK after sunny weekendREAD MORE: New ‘joyous’ series follows expert judges on the hunt for Northern Ireland’s ‘Greatest Garden’

This is what the Met Office has forecast for Northern Ireland:

Monday:

A chilly, but dry and bright start, before rain spreads from the northwest in the afternoon. Light winds at first but fresh to strong southwest winds by the afternoon. Maximum temperature 11 °C.

Outlook for Tuesday to Thursday:

Windy on Tuesday, with some heavy rain before clearing to showers through the afternoon. Colder northwest winds Wednesday with wintry showers. Dry and bright Thursday morning, before rain spreads east.

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Ross Wilson attacked the woman on three occasions while being abusive and controlling for around five years of their relationship.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 36-year-old was medically discharged from the military due to the impact his service had on his mental health.

Annelise Haugstad, prosecuting, said: “The relationship was experiencing difficulties primarily because the defendant was using alcohol and that led to arguments where he would blame her.”

The court heard how Wilson grabbed the victim by the throat twice while verbally abusing her and on one occasion it happened in front of the victim’s son.

Ms Haugstad on another occasion the defendant punched her in the face when she refused to go out during the night to get him more booze.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said his behaviour had turned her life upside down.

She said: “I became unable to make simple decision for myself without seeking reassurance that it was the right one.”

Wilson, of Longlands Drive, Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, pleaded guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour between December 2017 and November 2022.

Cainan Lonsdale, mitigating, said his client had began drinking heavily during Covid as he struggled with his mental health as a result as his time in the military.

He added: “He has always shown a degree of remorse in this case and when I was reading his messages to him, he asked me to stop and became quite upset by that.

“He understands that the victim didn’t have the same luxury, He is ashamed by the way he spoke to her at that time and how he treated her during the relationship.”

Mr Lonsdale said the former serviceman was in the process of securing a place at a residential rehabilitation centre.

Recorder Ayesha Smart sentenced Wilson to 15 months in custody suspended for 15 months and ordered him to attend 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

“This offence took place over a prolonged period of five years,” she said. “It was committed in an intimate relationship, which started off well, but soured particularly when you consumed alcohol.

“You assaulted your partner three times during that period.”

Wilson was ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation and court costs.

He was also made subject to a 15-year restraining order.

South Korea’s Kospi plunged 5% and Asian shares fell sharply after the U.S. and Iran threatened to target crucial infrastructure as the Iran war entered its fourth week.

In early Asian trading on Monday, Kospi tumbled as much as 6.3% before paring back some losses, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 by 4.3% to 51,088.30.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 2.8% to 24,580.11, while the Shanghai Composite index was down nearly 2% to 3,879.86.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Saturday that the U.S. will “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global oil supply, was not fully opened within 48 hours. Iran on Sunday said if the threat was followed through, it would retaliate by attacking key energy and infrastructure assets.

Gloriously, it is anything but. It’s an open-armed place, one that welcomes anyone and everyone, so long as they’ll buy a drink. Lemonade is permitted; tomato juice raises a wry eyebrow. The Wrotham does, however, love its rhythm and blues; it loves music of all kinds, from wailing harmonicas to screaming guitars and sea shanties, to men in denim doing their best Leonard Cohen. You might hear Mark Knopfler’s Local Hero being given a workout. Apt.

He will be cremated with no service or mourners before his ashes are taken to a top secret location

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Soham murderer Ian Huntley will have no funeral, with his body to be cremated and his ashes scattered in secret.

The child killer died earlier this month following a savage attack in jail, where he had been serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years for murdering best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002.

The 52-year-old died on March 7 after he was allegedly bludgeoned with a metal bar in a workshop at HMP Frankland on February 26 by a fellow inmate. Huntley, who never regained consciousness after suffering head injuries, had previously survived multiple attacks. His life support was switched off on March 6 and he died the following day.

Now The Sun reports he will be cremated with no service or mourners before his ashes are taken to a top secret location with his family declining a state-funded funeral out of respect for his victims’ families.

On funding cremations, the latest Ministry of Justice guidelines for prisons stipulate: “Prisons must offer to pay a contribution towards reasonable funeral expenses of up to £3,000. The only exceptions to this are where the family has a pre-paid funeral plan or is entitled to claim a grant from other government departments e.g., Department of Work and Pensions.”

On funding cremations, the latest Ministry of Justice guidelines for prisons stipulate: “Prisons must offer to pay a contribution towards reasonable funeral expenses of up to £3,000. The only exceptions to this are where the family has a pre-paid funeral plan or is entitled to claim a grant from other government departments e.g., Department of Work and Pensions.”

Reasonable fees would include undertaker charges, coffin expenses, hearse hire, cremation or burial costs and religious or belief leader payments. The contribution cannot cover headstones, floral tributes, obituary advertisements or wake expenses.

A source told The Sun: “There will be no service, no memorial, no mourners, nothing. It is as it should be. There will be no funeral. How could there be after what he did?

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“He will simply be cremated and his ashes handed to his family. They have always been utterly appalled by what he did. It was unforgivable and, for those reasons, they could not in good conscience hold a funeral.”

His ashes will reportedly be scattered in secrecy amid fears of reprisals.

It comes after Huntley’s daughter Samantha Bryan said the killer should “burn in hell” and didn’t deserve a funeral. She said: “We should flush his ashes down the toilet.”

Rathlin is home to Northern Ireland’s biggest seabird colony, with more than 250,000 birds including puffins, razorbills, guillemots and Manx shearwaters

A “world-first” conservation scheme has successfully eradicated feral ferrets from a Northern Irish island to protect thousands of seabirds.

Rathlin Island, off the north coast of County Antrim, is home to Northern Ireland’s biggest seabird colony, with more than 250,000 birds including puffins, razorbills, guillemots and Manx shearwaters breeding and nesting there each year and providing a major nature tourism draw.

It is also home to a population of corncrakes – a ground-nesting bird which is extinct in the rest of Northern Ireland.

But the birds have been under severe pressure from a population of feral ferrets, which have been on the island since being introduced in the 1980s and which prey on eggs, chicks and even adult birds.

The “LIFE Raft” partnership, led by the RSPB and working closely with the community on the island, has used trapping, camera and thermal drone surveillance and a detection dog called “Woody” to eradicate the animals, a domesticated relative of polecats.

While island eradication programmes have previously targeted the likes of invasive rats on South Georgia and invasive mice on Gough Island, in the Atlantic, to protect native birdlife, the team said it is the first time in the world a scheme has successfully removed ferrets from an inhabited island.

The LIFE Raft scheme is also working to remove brown rats – another threat to ground-nesting birds – from Rathlin Island.

LIFE Raft programme manager Erin McKeown said the “large-scale, ambitious partnership”, which has operated with significant involvement and support from the island’s community of around 150 people, had been years in the making.

Before the eradication there were an estimated 100 ferrets on Rathlin Island, with the potential to do serious damage to bird populations – with evidence of one animal getting into the puffin colony and killing up to 27 birds in a two-day period.

“They put a really high pressure on this place the seabirds have to breed and raise their young,” Ms McKeown said.

They also affected the local community, with ferrets getting into chicken coops on the island.

The project to eradicate them officially started in 2021, and has involved 30 staff and 60 volunteers, working mostly in the autumn and winter to avoid disturbing breeding seabirds and facing cold, wet, icy and stormy conditions.

Five years on, it has been declared a success, with efforts now focused on biosecurity – keeping ferrets and any other non-natural predators off Rathlin.

Already positive signs include Manx shearwaters breeding on the island for the first time in 20 years.

“From a wild bird perspective, this is one of the most robust, critical lifelines we can give our seabirds on our islands across the UK and the island of Ireland,” Ms McKeown told the Press Association.

She said seabirds were declining across the globe, and on Rathlin Island there had been a 74% decrease in the puffin population since 1999.

“If we don’t act now in this way, we could lose some of these island populations.

“This is one of the most urgent things we can do, and we know the benefits will be far-reaching for the community too,” she added.

Joanne Sherwood, RSPB NI director, said: “This is an extraordinary moment for Rathlin, for Northern Ireland, and for conservation globally.

“The successful, world-first eradication of ferrets means that puffins and other seabirds can now nest and raise their young more safely on Rathlin for the first time in generations.

“We are already seeing encouraging signs of recovery, and we expect to see populations rebound in the coming years.”

And she said: “This project is a testament to community and would not have been possible without the incredible support and commitment of the people of Rathlin, who have embraced this vision for their island’s future, ensuring protection of nature and the island’s heritage for generations to come.”

Marina McMullan, chairwoman of Rathlin Development and Community Association, said islanders would be able to raise poultry again, while the programme had provided employment, boosted local trade and brought new skills.

“It will be a delight to see some of those once-familiar birds able to flourish in the fields and cliffs of our island again,” she said.

“It’s much more than the excellent environmental win – it’s been a genuine boost to our community spirit,” she added.

The £4.5 million project received funding from the EU LIFE scheme, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

It was led by RSPB NI, in partnership with the Rathlin Development and Community Association, Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust, DAERA and the Causeway Coast and Glenns Borough Council.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Ways to secure National Insurance credits without claiming Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits have been revealed. National Insurance credits may be able to boost your state pension entitlement.

National Insurance credits can fill gaps in your National Insurance record, which determines your state pension entitlement. Usually, these credits are awarded to individuals on certain benefits such as Carer’s Allowance and Child Benefit, ensuring carers don’t forfeit state pension rights whilst looking after family members.

However, there are four methods people can obtain National Insurance credits without claiming any benefits. Some of these aren’t automatically granted, meaning individuals must make their claim or risk losing out.

Training courses

People aged 18 or over who have been enrolled on a government-approved training course by Jo Centre Plus should automatically receive Class 1 National Insurance credits. This only applies if the course doesn’t exceed one year, reports Birmingham Live.

If you’re over 18 and taking part in a government-approved training course that lasts no more than one year without being referred by the Job Centre, you may still qualify for credits but will need to apply. This involves writing to HMRC, specifying the period for which credits are being claimed and demonstrating your eligibility.

Jury service

Those who are not self-employed and have been summoned for jury service may be eligible for National Insurance credits for the duration of their court duty. To secure these Class 1 credits, a written application must be submitted to HMRC.

Partners of armed forces personnel

If you are married to or in a civil partnership with someone serving in the armed forces and have accompanied them on an overseas posting, you may qualify for National Insurance credits.

For those who departed for their assignment after April 6, 2010, and have since returned to the UK, Class 1 credits may be claimed. If your overseas deployment took place after April 6, 1975, you reached state pension age on or after April 6, 2016, and you’re not receiving Class 1 credits, then you may apply for Class 3 credits instead.

Wrongfully convicted

If your conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal, or Court of Criminal Appeal in Scotland, you can apply for Class 1 credits. You must write to HMRC, providing your National Insurance number along with details explaining your entitlement.

Information on how to apply and where to send applications for these credits can be found on the Gov.uk website.