Newcastle Wine Week, first launched last year, will run from June 19 to 28 and promises exclusive discounts and events at top venues across the city.

The scheme allows people to purchase a wristband, unlocking half-price wines by the glass and bottle at participating bars and restaurants.

Leah Newman, the East Boldon-based wine expert behind the idea, said: “The whole idea was about making great wine more accessible.

Leah Newman, the East Boldon-based wine expert behind Newcastle Wine Week (Image: Supplied)

“It means that people can really experience wines at a price that isn’t often available and hopefully discover a whole new world.”

Her company Whispering Wine organises the event, and Ms Newman is among the few in the UK to hold a prestigious Wine Spirit Education Trust (WSET) diploma.

This year’s line-up of venues includes Michelin-starred House of Tides, The French Quarter, Kaltur (both Dean Street and High Bridge Street), Dobson and Parnell, Gino D’Campo, Victor Indigo November, Dood, and Blackfriars.

Wristbands also unlock offers at Cavavin, Osters at Gosforth High Street, Lovage in Jesmond, Pique, Gosforth Traders, Colonel Porter’s, Hotel du Vin, Jesmond Wines, Angels Share, and Las Casa Delicatessen.

Ellie Pearson Graham, general manager of Blackfriars, said: “We had new customers who had never been to Blackfriars, we were absolutely mobbed on the weekends.

“This year we will put in more outdoor seating to accommodate Newcastle Wine Week participants and look to offer a selected menu for those customers also.

“Financially it was definitely a success and we look forward to being involved again.”

In addition to discounted wines, wristband holders will have access to a variety of special events, including half price tasting flights and specially curated pairings.

Ms Newman, who also organises wine tasting tours in Europe, launched Newcastle Wine Week last year to make high-quality wine more accessible.

She said the positive response to last year’s event inspired her to bring it back for a second year.

Wristbands are priced at £14.99 and are available from the official website at www.wine-week.co.uk.

The boxer responded to comments Adam Thomas made to his famous brothers

I’m A Celebrity South Africa star David Haye has called Adam Thomas ‘weak’ and has claimed that the former Emmerdale actor ‘doesn’t need therapy’.

The boxer’s latest comments arrive after Adam revealed that he has seen a therapist over what went down on the pre-recorded ITV reality series. David was seen calling out Adam, who has arthritis, for not feeling well enough to do a Bushtucker Trial.

Having already shared a lengthy Instagram post about David’s comments made him feel, Adam spoke about the series with his brothers Scott and Ryan Thomas on their podcast At Home With The Thomas Bros. Noting that he ‘doesn’t regret’ going on the series, Adam said that there were times he had ‘a bit of a tough time in there with one of the campmates’.

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“I know for a fact, I’m not the same person as I was when I went into the jungle, to when I came out. It’s changed me and that’s no over-exaggeration. It’s changed me. I’m in therapy now because of it. It’s f***ed with me mentally because I just thought, ‘How is this happening? I’m a 37-year-old man’. I’m like, ‘How am I letting some other person do this to me in here?’

“I think, in a different environment, on the outside if this happened to you, you’d go, ‘Oh alright, he doesn’t like me, I’m going to leave the situation’, but because you’re in an environment like that, there’s nowhere to hide. You just have to grin and bear it,” he said.

Adam went on to say that he asked his therapist why he was unable to ‘stick up for himself’. Which led to him learning that he didn’t want to ‘bring attention’ to his struggles, and was more focused on putting others instead of himself.

Going on to say that David was ‘mindf***ing him constantly’, Adam told his brothers that he isolated himself away from the group. When David was eliminated, he felt like ‘a weight had lifted’. “If I saw that happening to anyone else, I would stick up for them but I just couldn’t do it for myself. I just became like a little kid again,” he admitted.

However, David has now said what while he ‘didn’t know’ about Adam’s health struggles, he ‘couldn’t care less’. He told The Sun: “Everyone’s got something. If you go to the doctor and say, I don’t feel well because of this, that, the other, they’ll prescribe you something, give you some pills, and now you’ve got this thing to hold on to.

“So any situation that might be uncomfortable, you go, ‘Look, I’ve got this doctor’s note’ and they’ll all feel sorry for me. Adam was jumping around, dancing. I think whatever the trial was, he didn’t like the sound of it, so he’s lying in bed, so I gave him some s*** about that.

“I don’t think it’s bullying. It was just banter to another guy who was nearly 40 years old. Do I care about people that don’t like me saying what I really think? No, I couldn’t give a s***. If a few comments breaks him, how soft is he? How weak, how brittle-spirited is he?”

Pointing out that he’s ‘grown up in gyms’, David said that if their argument is ‘what breaks him’ then Adam ‘comes from a very soft, padded lifestyle’. He added that ‘life gets way tougher than that’.

Bringing up Adam’s brothers, David said: “Someone sent me a video of him doing some TikTok dance with his brothers and that — it was kind of the feminine thing. I’ve got a really cute little chihuahua, so beautiful.

“And she’s not a guard dog, she doesn’t do anything other than just comfort you. Adam’s like a kind of chihuahua. I’m more of a doberman or a boxer or a pit bull or something. He’s the chihuahua.”

Stating that Adam ‘doesn’t need therapy’, David said that he ‘needs to do some push-ups’ and become more involved with ‘males who are powerful’ and ‘don’t sit there talking all the goddamned time about how hard life is’.

I have discovered that you can make potato salad tastier without the extra calories by ditching mayonnaise for a better kitchen ingredient

After months of grey skies, the UK is finally basking in some welcome sunshine, and at this time of year, most of us have little desire to spend hours in the kitchen, turning instead to quick and easy dishes such as potato salad. It’s a personal favourite for its creamy, satisfying qualities, though it wasn’t always that way — the dish can frequently be unpleasantly greasy, largely due to the widespread use of mayonnaise.

It’s never been entirely clear why mayonnaise became such a staple in salads. While it undeniably works wonders in a sandwich, it is predominantly composed of oil and fat, which can weigh heavily on potatoes. After a spot of culinary experimentation, however, it turns out mayonnaise is entirely unnecessary — Greek yoghurt delivers an equally delicious, savoury result. It may sound unconventional as a dressing, but it can completely transform the taste and texture of a potato salad, making it a firm lunchtime favourite.

Why should you use Greek yoghurt to make potato salad?

Greek yoghurt shares the same dense consistency as mayonnaise, yet boasts a higher protein content and considerably less fat, meaning you won’t be piling unnecessary calories onto your plate.

Beyond its nutritional advantages, Greek yoghurt offers a considerably fresher flavour profile and can intensify the taste of any herbs incorporated into your dressing, resulting in a more vibrant dish.

Greek yoghurt is simply far less oily than mayonnaise, which has a tendency to lend potato salad an unpleasant, slippery texture — particularly unappetising during warmer weather. It is a straightforward substitution, yet it has transformed potato salad into a far more pleasurable dish, leaving me genuinely astonished by how delicious it is — so much so that I now prepare it for lunch regularly.

How to make potato salad taste even better

You will need:

• 1kg of baby potatoes
• 300ml of Greek yoghurt
• 20ml of extra virgin olive oil
• Three tablespoons of spring onion
• Fresh chives
• Three teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
• Two teaspoons of Dijon mustard
• A tablespoon of leftover water from the boiled potatoes
• Salt and pepper

While some people opt to steam their potatoes, I favour boiling them, as the starch released into the water can lend your salad dressing a smoother, silkier consistency.

A modest amount of this starchy water makes the salad dressing wonderfully velvety, though be mindful of how much you incorporate, as too much can make it excessively watery.

Method:

To start, I scrubbed the potatoes before placing them into a pot of cold water. I then boiled them for 10 to 15 minutes until thoroughly tender, before draining them.

Subsequently, I allowed the potatoes to cool briefly for two minutes before slicing them in half. At this stage, the potatoes are remarkably soft and can be cut using a fork or spoon.

In a large bowl, I combined all the dressing ingredients, mixing together the Greek yoghurt, Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

I blended everything until smooth, then incorporated a tablespoon of the reserved cooking water from the pot.

I then spent a moment finely chopping the chives and spring onions before folding them into the bowl.

Once the potatoes had sufficiently cooled, I transferred them to the mixing bowl and gently folded them through the dressing until thoroughly coated. Next, I simply served the potato salad on a plate, seasoned it generously with salt and pepper, and my effortless midday meal was complete.

It’s one of the most flavoursome yet satisfying dishes you can prepare without spending hours in the kitchen, which is precisely what makes Greek yoghurt such an invaluable staple to have in the fridge throughout the warmer months.

Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US keeps coming back to haunt him. It has now emerged that Mandelson was granted security clearance by the Foreign Office, despite concerns raised during the
vetting process. Top Foreign Office civil servant Olly Robbins was sacked over these revelations.

Mandelson was controversial long before Starmer appointed him in 2024. A New Labour figure known as the “prince of darkness” due to his reputation as an adept but often ruthless and underhand political operator, Mandelson had already been embroiled in a number of scandals involving allegations of corruption. He was also known to have had a close relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as well as close business links in China.

Starmer fired him in September 2025 after emails were released showing Mandelson offering supportive messages to Epstein, who faced charges of soliciting a minor at the time. Further emails released by US officials suggested that Mandelson might have passed privileged and market-sensitive information to Epstein during the fallout of the financial crisis. In February 2026, the former ambassador was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He has denied criminal wrongdoing and has not been charged.

Therefore, it is perhaps unsurprising that Mandelson did not pass the vetting process carried out by the Cabinet Office’s UK Security Vetting team. Almost all civil servants are required to go through some form of vetting. But as a top diplomat, Mandelson was subject to the most intensive form of scrutiny. From what is known about the process, red flags were probably raised about Mandelson’s links with Chinese and Russian business interests, though the exact details have not been made public.

Starmer and his allies have argued that Robbins did not tell the prime minister about concerns raised in the vetting process as he should have. In giving evidence to MPs, Robbins said that Number 10 took a “dismissive” approach to the vetting process. He also said that he was under “constant pressure” to approve Mandelson’s clearance due to this being a political priority for Starmer. Mandelson’s appointment was announced publicly before the vetting took place.

The opposition is piling on the pressure for Starmer to resign. But behind speculation about the prime minister’s future stands a deeper set of constitutional questions about accountability and standards in public life.

From Starmer’s perspective, the scandal has revealed a pressing need to improve the independent scrutiny of appointments. He has ordered a review into vetting procedures, and argued that failings lie with civil servants in the FCDO and with the robustness of vetting processes – not with him.

On one level, this defence is an effort to deflect blame. Yet the response also fits with Starmer’s approach to politics as a follower of rules and lover of process.

In arguing for a more robust independent process around vetting in their attempts to avoid blame, Starmer and his allies invoke a longstanding critique of Whitehall culture. This view treats independent, depoliticised scrutiny and checks and balances as key missing links in British politics. Building these would be vital for ensuring transparency and accountability around appointments and politics more broadly.

Since coming to office, Starmer has consistently argued for a rewiring of the British state to modernise the government. Like academics, thinktanks, journalists and former Whitehall insiders before him, Starmer’s view suggests that Whitehall and the centre of the British state operate in an antiquated way. When it comes to accountability and standards, the government arguably lacks proper independent scrutiny and constitutional checks and balances to hold decision-makers to account.

Instead, Whitehall is too reliant on a “good chaps theory of government”, which suggests politicians typically act with the best of intentions and therefore do not need to be subject to independent scrutiny.

Who is responsible?

Critics, echoing Robbins’ testimony, have argued that Starmer and his allies pressed Mandelson’s ambassadorship as a political priority, announcing it before vetting procedures had been completed in order to push through the appointment.

Many have pointed out that Mandelson’s reputation as a potentially suspect character was well known before the release of the Epstein files. Within this narrative, blame for the appointment of Mandelson lies squarely with Starmer.

In a sense, this approach offers a different view of British politics. In terms of appointments – both to top civil service positions and to more political posts – the UK’s approach has been argued to resemble medieval “court politics”. Here, the ruler decides their key advisers on the basis of their own preferences and objectives.

This too implies a lack of proper checks and balances around appointments. But one of the proposed advantages of such a system is that it places accountability and responsibility for decisions clearly in the hands of elected politicians. Britain has a longstanding tradition of individual ministerial accountability.

Starmer, however, is now seemingly weakening this tradition by deflecting blame onto the civil service and its processes. It is this notion of direct political accountability that Starmer’s opponents are invoking when they call for his resignation.

Overall, these two images of British politics are contradictory and indicative of the emergence of an increasingly incoherent form of government. On the one hand, the state has failed to move towards modern and robust independent scrutiny of ministerial decision-making around appointments. On the other hand, politics has shifted away from a culture of clear, individual ministerial accountability.

This leaves Britain in a “worst of both worlds” scenario when it comes to accountability and standards in public life. It has neither robust independent scrutiny, nor clear lines of political accountability. More than anything, the Mandelson vetting scandal reveals the need to fix this broken system.

Isaac Davidson said it “felt surreal” to be invited to Downing Street for the ceremony marking St George’s Day.

The invite followed Isaac cleaning the racist graffiti sprayed on the Dragon House in Foxwood Lane last August.

The racist graffiti daubed on the Dragon House, in Foxwood Lane, on August 29, 2025 (Image: Supplied)

Isaac said he was thanked by the prime minister in Downing Street as Sir Keir Starmer celebrated “service, generosity, and respect” as English values which the nation should celebrate.

“I went in and [the prime minister] did a speech and he said, ‘Where’s Isaac?’” said Isaac, 31, from Foxwood. “I just put my hand up and he thanked me in front of everyone … I couldn’t believe it was happening.”

“I’m still in disbelief, if I’m honest,” he added. “Standing outside 10 Downing Street was something I never imagined, but actually walking through the door and being mentioned in his speech took it to another level.

“It all felt surreal – like a moment that didn’t quite sink in at the time but means even more looking back on it now.”

Isaac, who works for Crystal Clean Windows, said he continues to visit the Dragon House for meals, adding that the takeaway saw an increase in trade after the incident last summer.

A Dragon House spokesperson told The Press it had been “deeply moved by the amount of support and kindness shown to us from the community after this incident”.

‘Time and time again, when times get tough, we pull each other together and we pull each other up,’ says prime minister

Isaac was thanked by Sir Keir, alongside George Sutherland, a volunteer at a food bank in Telford, and Ben Huntley, the nurse who looked after the primer minister’s brother Nick Starmer before his death from cancer on Boxing Day 2024.

“These are three very different stories, all in different parts of England, but they’re bound together by the same values of service, of generosity, and of respect,” Sir Keir said.

“They are examples of people stepping up in their communities, when, frankly, it would be easier in many cases to step back. But they step up.

“They’re exceptional stories, and yet in this country, they feel familiar because you will find them in every community across England.”

The prime minister continued: “Time and time again, when times get tough, we pull each other together and we pull each other up.

“It’s really important we do that, because there’s no getting round the fact that there are voices both here and abroad, who would seek to divide us, who want to set us apart from each other, who want to pretend that in this country, what we really do is to distinguish between people, to find their points of difference, to have a sort of toxic culture of hatred between different individuals, different groups, different communities.”

Sir Keir added: “We reject their division completely, and we will fly our flag proudly. It’s our flag. It belongs to us, and we will fly it for the values that we believe in, and they are the values of the people I’ve named in this room tonight.”

‘I believe partition has failed all of us’

It is “very conceivable” that a referendum on Irish unity could take place by 2030, Michelle O’Neill has claimed.

The Sinn Fein vice president described unity as the “big idea” of her generation, adding she had “not given up” on the poll taking place by the end of the decade.

The republican party’s Ard Fheis will take place in Belfast this weekend with keynote addresses from Ms O’Neill on Friday and party leader Mary Lou McDonald on Saturday.

While the event will cover a number of areas, Ms O’Neill said Irish unity was the “big ticket conversation”.

In an interview with the Press Association, she said: “I think when we look at a lot of the challenges we are facing in today’s world, I think the answers to a lot of challenges that we face are actually in constitutional change.

“And we’re only two years out from the Good Friday Agreement anniversary of 30 years.

“I want to see the fulfilment of that, we were promised a unity referendum, and now we need to see that delivered upon.”

Ms O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first nationalist First Minister, said while she was co-operating with other parties to make Stormont work, there were “limitations” in the Assembly and Executive arrangements.

She said: “We see a bigger, brighter future.

“We see something that’s more meaningful to people’s lives.

“If we could have constitutional change here, where we break up the link to policy choices in London that are showing a real disregard for people here, Brexit is the best example of all.

“Since that we have had a rolling door of British prime ministers, none of them have fixed the fundamentals around the funding model here.

“None of them have actually acted in the best interests of people here.”

Ms O’Neill added: “I think that shows why we need to take control of our own fortunes, why we need to control our own destiny going forward.

“I think the best answers to a lot of big challenges today is constitutional change.

“I believe partition has failed all of us. There’s so much to be achieved in the years ahead, and I’m certainly up for that. I think that’ll be the real focus of the Ard Fheis.”

Senior Sinn Fein figures have often called for a unity referendum to take place by the end of the decade.

However, unionists in Northern Ireland have claimed there has been no increase in support for Irish unity, while Taoiseach Micheal Martin has previously said he is not planning for a border poll by 2030.

Under the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, a referendum would be held if the UK Secretary of State believes it is likely that a majority of people in Northern Ireland would vote for Irish unification.

Asked if the prospect of a unity poll by the end of the decade was diminishing, Ms O’Neill said: “No, I don’t give up on that, we have said it should be 2030.

“We’re going to fight two by-elections in the 26 counties over the course of the next number of months.

“We’re going to fight an Assembly election next year, we’re going to have a Westminster election, a Dail election.

“So yes, I still think it’s very conceivable we will have our unity referendum for 2030.

“I think all those elections will demonstrate that change is possible, will demonstrate that people endorse a better future, and we will use all those election opportunities to speak directly to the voters, to ask them to get behind the big idea of our generation.

“I believe the big idea of my generation is Irish unity, and I believe that there’s opportunity to rectify the wrongs of partition.”

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The quintuplets arrived at Croft Farm in Uffington in the early hours last Thursday – and incredibly, it’s not the first time it’s happened at the farm

A ewe has beaten odds of one-in-a-million by delivering a set of five healthy lambs at a family farm. The quintuplets were born at Croft Farm, in Uffington, Lincolnshire, in the early hours of April 9.

Remarkably, the very same occurrence took place at the farm — run by sisters Liz, Kate and Susan — 48 years ago in 1978. The sisters represent the third generation of the Genever family to manage the farm, which is home to approximately 300 sheep.

Susan Genever-Jones, 52, who also works for the National Association of Agricultural Contractors, said: “When the mother was scanned to check she was healthy five lambs showed up on the scan. We knew we had to feed her more as she was carrying more than most – and she was absolutely enormous during pregnancy.

“Two arrived at around 2am last Thursday and by 4am she had the others – it was a really lovely surprise. I did have a quick look at the odds, and it says one-in-a-million but I don’t think it even happens that often. We might get four to one sheep once a year so you might get that from one sheep out of around 500.

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“But to have five and for them all to live and be healthy is very rare indeed – plus mum did it all by herself. They are all doing really well. You can’t keep all five with mum, so two have stayed with her while two others have been bottle-fed and hand-reared.

“Another one has been taken on by an adoptive mother who lost her own lamb this year. So they are all still on the farm, albeit in different places. We had about 240 to lamb this season and we’ve got about 15 left. That has been over the last three weeks, which is okay considering the weather we had this winter.”

The likelihood becomes even more remarkable given that the lambs represent the second set of quintuplets to arrive at the farm, which was established by their grandfather, Albert, in the early 1950s.

Liz added: “Kate and I were very young back in 1978 so we don’t remember it. But to have lightning strike twice at the same farm almost 50 years apart I suppose makes it even rarer. Liz was born two years after that but I’m sure we’ll all remember this for a long time.”

The EU pet passport – which is still valid for EU residents – is issued by a vet, valid for the life of the animal, and contains details of a dog, cat or ferrets microchip or heath records (like rabies vaccinations). It also contains contact details for the owner and the vet who issued the passport.

Spud Boys Blackburn, based at the Aquamania car park off Higher Audley Street, shared the exchange publicly after receiving the comment on a review.

The customer had praised the food, describing it as “full of flavour” and “very decently priced”, but added they would not return after discovering the business is halal.

In response, Spud Boys said: “Thank you for your review, Cathy, and for your positive feedback. It is appreciated. However, we note your comment regarding not returning due to us being a halal establishment. We respectfully stand by our values and offerings, and as such, we kindly ask that you do not return in the future.”

The interaction between the reviewer and Spud Boys (Image: Google)

The business later added in a separate statement: “At Spud Boys, we proudly serve halal food and remain fully committed to continuing this across our menu.

“If this does not align with your preferences, unfortunately we are unable to offer an alternative.

“This reflects our dedication to quality, ethical sourcing, and inclusivity within our community. We appreciate your understanding.”

The response has drawn attention online, with many highlighting the business’s wider efforts to support the local community.

READ MORE: Finch Bakery hit back at ignorant trolls complaining about ‘halal friendly’ signs
READ MORE: ‘Free spuds for the homeless’ over Ramadan in Blackburn

In recent months, Spud Boys has run initiatives to help those in need, including providing free food to homeless people during Ramadan and over the Christmas period, regardless of background or faith.

They have also encouraged customers to donate essential items, which are then distributed to members of the homeless community across Blackburn.

The Lyrid meteor shower is a burst of meteor activity occurring around mid to late April, the  Royal Museums Greenwich explains.

It continues: “The Lyrid meteor shower is associated with long-period Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher.

“It is the oldest recorded meteor shower still visible today, and was first recorded in 687 BCE.”

Waiting for the Perseids? Don’t skip the Lyrids 🌠

This is the most promising meteor shower until August, providing up to 18 meteors an hour under dark skies. The peak comes on April 22 at 19:40 GMT, though the best time to watch for most locations is after midnight through… pic.twitter.com/uj8erXMgQV

— Star Walk (@StarWalk) April 20, 2026

The best time to see the Lyrid meteor shower in the UK

The Lyrid meteor shower is active between April 16 and 25 in 2026, but is set to peak tonight (April 22), according to the Royal Museums Greenwich.

The experts add: “The best time to see the shower is generally in the early morning of the peak day.

“Wait until after midnight when the radiant point, in the constellation of Lyra, will have risen in the East.

“The later in the morning you wait, the higher the radiant will rise and the fewer meteors will be hidden below the horizon.

“But the closer you get to sunrise, the brighter the sky is going to become, so plan accordingly!”

The Royal Museums Greenwich continues: “In 2026 the Lyrid meteor shower reaches maximum on April 22, two days before the First Quarter Moon, meaning the Moon won’t cause too much light pollution. 

“The best time to look for meteors during the peak will be after the Moon has set, from 2am onwards.

“By this point the Earth will have spun towards the cloud of debris, and it will be easier to spot Lyrid meteors. Then simply fill your view with the sky and wait.”

Stargazers may also be able to catch a glimpse of the Eta Aquariids, which will overlap with the Lyrid meteor shower.

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower will be active from April 19, but won’t reach its peak until May 5.

Best spots in the UK to watch the Lyrid meteor shower

The Royal Museums Greenwich said the main thing when trying to catch a glimpse of any meteor shower is to find a dark site, with an unobstructed view of the sky.

The museum added: “The number of meteors you actually see will depend on all sorts of things, from the time of night to the level of background light.

“A bright sky will drown out the fainter meteors making them much more difficult to see.”

The experts added lying on the ground or using a reclining deckchair was a “great way” of seeing as much as possible.

For those looking for the best spots in the UK to watch the meteor shower, visit Go Stargazing.

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The website contains a map with all the top stargazing locations across the country.

Most of the locations on the map are classified as official dark-sky discovery sites.

Will you be heading out tonight to try and catch a glimpse of the Lyrid meteor shower? Let us know in the comments below.