But after arriving on the scene, firefighters discovered the blaze – first feared to be something bigger – was only a bin fire.

A Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said initially the fire was expected to be bigger than it was, but happened to be a bin fire,

The engines were spotted on Moss Bank Way near the Thornleigh Salesian School.

There were also fire engines in Little Lever this morning, after blaze in a flat living room on Dukes Avenue.

Two people have since been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the Dukes Avenue fire.

Four engines attended the blaze, from Farnworth, Bolton Central, Bolton North and Whitefield fire stations.

They worked in tandem with police officers to ensure people were kept safe.

There were no injuries as a result of the fire.

Tristan Hulbert, 34, of York Road, Flaxby, runs a small company that supplies specialist chairs to the care sector, Harrogate magistrates heard.

He was convicted of speeding in a Tesla car on the A1(M) northbound near Kirk Deighton on May 25 last year and because of the penalty points already on his driving licence should have been banned for at least six months, the court was told.

They decided he would suffer exceptional hardship if he were banned and allowed him to keep his licence. They put three penalty points on his licence, fined him £333 and ordered him to pay a £133 statutory surcharge.

Harrogate magistrates heard that if he was banned, the company, which had been going through difficult times, would lose a third of its income.  Hulbert was one of three people who could do bespoke measurements and meet with occupational therapists on site and would be unable to do so if he couldn’t drive.

The company employed 16 staff in West Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the Scottish borders and Hulbert drove between 35,000 and 40,000 miles a year..

They also heard he had family reasons for needing to drive.

The shortlist for the Turner prize 2026 brings together four artists whose practices are firmly rooted in sculpture and installation. Their work, in diverse ways, tests how material form can carry political, ecological and symbolic meaning.

This year’s Turner prize jury (chaired by Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain) is composed of Sarah Allen (South London Gallery), Joe Hill (Yorkshire Sculpture Park), Sook-Kyung Lee (The Whitworth) and Alona Pardo (Arts Council Collection). They praised the shortlisted artists for their material intelligence and their capacity to link sculptural language to wider systems of power, memory and belief. Here is a round up of this year’s shortlisted artists.

Simeon Barclay: performance, place and British ruin

Simeon Barclay is nominated for The Ruin, shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London in January 2025 and later at the Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire. His work combines performance, sculptural installation, spoken word and live brass music. This combination nods obliquely to the industrial and musical traditions of his Yorkshire upbringing.

Barclay’s practice frequently returns to British national identity as something shaped by labour, landscape and decay. In The Ruin, industrial materials become resonant rather than merely symbolic: scaffolding, sound and breath are choreographed to produce an atmosphere that feels both ceremonial and unstable. The presence of brass instruments (historically tied to civic pride and working-class culture) introduces a solemnity that is repeatedly undermined by fragmentation and collapse.

Barclay’s work stages Britishness as something assembled and disassembled in real time. Spoken language slips between declaration and hesitation, while the sculptural setting refuses to settle into monumentality. It is a practice less concerned with nostalgia than with the ways national identity is continually rehearsed, strained and repaired.

Marguerite Humeau: sculpting belief systems

Marguerite Humeau is nominated for Orisons (2023), originally produced for the Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum, and for her subsequent exhibition Torches at ARKEN Museum in Denmark. Her contribution to the shortlist brings an overtly speculative dimension into dialogue with sculpture.

Humeau’s work often begins with research into non-human intelligence and biological communication systems. In Orisons, a large-scale sculptural elephant emerges as a central figure. However, it is not as an image of wildlife, but a stand-in for matriarchal knowledge and collective memory. Elsewhere in her practice, attention shifts dramatically in scale, from insects and wasps to ecosystems that exceed human comprehension.

The jury highlighted Humeau’s “cinematic” approach, and this is apt. Her installations are immersive, carefully lit and choreographed, producing a sense of narrative without storyline. Yet the work resists being pinned down. Instead, sculpture becomes a speculative tool for imagining belief systems that sit outside rationality: an attempt to materialise what cannot be directly known, only inferred.

Kira Freije: softness, armour and the human figure

Kira Freije is nominated for Unspeak the Chorus, her exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire. Her sculptures take the form of life-size hybrid beings – part animal, part human, part automaton – constructed from fabric, metal and aluminium casts taken from her body and the faces of people close to her.

Freije’s work consistently plays hardness against softness. Industrial materials such as aluminium are used not for rigidity, but for their capacity to receive impressions through casting. The results are surfaces that appear armoured yet vulnerable. Faces emerge as partial traces, embedded within bodies that refuse stable identity categories.

These figures don’t dominate space so much as inhabit it uneasily. Suspended between animation and stillness, they suggest forms of collectivity that are fragile, negotiated and embodied. The jury noted her transformation of everyday and industrial materials, but it is the emotional economy of the work – its careful calibration of exposure and defence – that gives it weight.

Tanoa Sasraku: sculpture and petro-politics

Tanoa Sasraku completes the shortlist with Morale Patch, exhibited at the ICA in 2025. Her work looks at oil as a system of power, examining how petro-politics shapes corporate identity, military culture and national symbolism.

In Morale Patch, Sasraku disrupts minimalist sculptural grids by inserting objects laden with meaning: paperweights awarded to mark milestones in oil extraction, flags mounted on crates that evoke pallets or coffins, and repeated references to military terminology. The title points to the symbolic language used to maintain cohesion within structures of extraction and violence.

Sasraku juxtaposes American and Scottish flags, drawing attention to unexpected national entanglements within global energy systems. Sculpture here operates as a critical inventory, cataloguing how abstract economic forces find expression in objects designed to reassure, reward or commemorate.

Sculpture and the institutions that shape it

This year’s prize arrives at a moment when sculpture, funding structures and art education are becoming unusually entangled. For the first time, the prize will be hosted within a university setting, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (known as MIMA, part of Teesside University). The Turner prize is run by Tate, an Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) – as is MIMA. This means that ACE funds a national prize presented in an ACE-funded space, which also functions as a teaching and research environment.

In recent years, there have been clear connections between funding and nomination with some shortlisted artists holding NPO status. This is a pattern that my research has identified as part of the wider instrumentalisation of British art funding.

Then there are the concerns raised by the Independent Review of Arts Council England’s critical assessment of ACE’s increasing institutionalisation and its sidelining of artistic quality.

Together, these issues raise questions about how closely programming, funding frameworks and art education may begin to mirror one another. Universities, some of which are NPOs or host NPO-adjacent arts centres (as we do at the University of Lincoln), risk reproducing rather than challenging dominant artistic norms.

Yet this year’s shortlist complicates that concern. It’s notably strong on artistic grounds, driven less by identity-led rationales than by a renewed commitment to sculpture as a way of thinking about power, ecology and belief.

Marguerite Humeau stands out as a possible winner. Her work exemplifies a post-postmodern sensibility shaped by new materialist thought: sculpture no longer represents the world so much as participates in it, modelling forms of non-human intelligence and agency through matter itself.

Humeau’s ability to combine speculative research with rigorous fabrication gives her work both intellectual ambition and genuine aesthetic appeal. These are qualities that suggest the Turner Prize, for all its institutional entanglements, still has the capacity to reward artistic excellence.

An exhibition of the shortlisted work will open at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) on September 26 2026.

Iranian state media have shared footage appearing to show the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boarding two cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The video shows small boats carrying masked and armed men approaching the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas.

Analysis by BBC Verify indicates that parts of the video appear to have been filmed hours after the ships were reported as seized by Iranian forces.

Produced by Jemimah Herd. Graphics by Mesut Ersoz.

Archie York’s mum, Katherine Errington, issued a plea earlier this month for an end to destructive anti-social behaviour at the Parish Ponds in Woolsington.

A new nature trail is being created through the area in memory of Archie, who lost his life in the tragic Violet Close explosion in Benwell in October 2024.

Katherine’s call for the perpetrators to respect her beloved son’s memory has now been backed by the Prime Minister.

Vandalism at the Parish Ponds in Woolsington, Newcastle, where a nature trail is being created in memory of Benwell explosion victim Archie York. Photo: Woolsington Parish Council. Free to reuse for all LDR partners.

On a visit to Newcastle today (Thursday, April 23), the Labour leader described the attacks as “awful”.

The Prime Minister spoke on St George’s Day about the importance of  “service, generosity, and respect” in England.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “It must be particularly hurtful to his family and his loved ones, and actually everybody who cares about him and has decency. We do need to tackle this head-on.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer at the Newcastle United Foundation’s NUCASTLE centre in Diana Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne, on April 23, 2026. Photo: LDRS. Free to reuse for all LDR partners.

“I think the way we do that is to make sure we have many more community neighbourhood police and we give them more powers to deal with anti-social behaviour. But this particular act is really despicable and I think all decent, tolerant people would look at this with real abhorrence.”

The “Forever 7” nature trail will be completed next month, in time to mark what would have been Archie’s ninth birthday in May.

But his family and Woolsington Parish Council were left concerned that the tribute could be ruined, after a series of incidents around the ponds.

A memorial bench dedicated to Archie was damaged by a disposable barbecue, motorbikes and quadbikes have been seen tearing up grass, and wooden gates into the park have been ripped off and set alight in a bonfire.

Katherine called the anti-social behaviour “disgusting” and said it felt like “a threat to us as a family”.

She wants the nature trail to become a peaceful place where families from across Tyneside can enjoy spending time together, just as Archie did.

Her son was killed in an explosion caused by an illegal cannabis shatter lab that was being operated in the flat beneath his family home.

Katherine welcomed Sir Keir’s support and said that the attacks on the nature reserve seemed to have eased since her appeal.

She told the LDRS: “The response has been really good and I think having Archie’s walk on the Parish ponds will hopefully mean that there is lower vandalism and ant-social behaviour there. That would be really positive.”

Sir Keir has hailed the Government’s flagship Pride in Place programme, which will see £80 million of funding allocated for long-term improvements to communities in Newcastle over the next decade. 

The areas earmarked for cash include Fawdon, Red House Farm, North Kenton, Throckley, Walbottle, Newburn, Walker, Elswick, Byker, and Benwell.

The Friday letters page is unimpressed by Shigeru Miyamoto’s recent comments, as a reader looks forward to not hearing any more about Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Anniversary release
There’s been some talk of Bethesda and their… failings lately but nobody seems to be talking about The Elder Scrolls 6. It’s been so long since Skyrim I don’t even know if younger gamers even know what it is anymore. And we still don’t have anything close to a release date.

I had hoped that after Starfield came out on PS5 that Bethesda would switch track and announce something, but we already know it won’t be the big game during the Xbox summer showcase. It might get a smaller slot, but I know I wouldn’t bet on that right now.

I’m still holding out that there’s hope it could be released next year but I think the safer bet would be 2028 or later. The 20th anniversary of Skyrim is in 2031 and there’s a genuine chance its sequel might not be out until then. Considering how little Bethesda has done in that time that is incredible to me, especially as Fallout 5 won’t be out until after that!
Bosley

What is it good for?
I agree it seems like ages since anyone was talking about Call Of Duty. The most obvious way back for these sort of things is some sort of nostalgia grab but they’ve already remade the Modern Warfare series once and the last Second World War one was a flop. So that means the only real answer is remaking Black Ops, but that series is so all over the place it doesn’t really seem like each game has much to do with each other, so you might as well just make another sequel.

People will always want to play soldiers, but I don’t know if they’ll always want to play Call Of Duty, now it’s kind of ruined all its major sublines. The best idea would be to make up a new one, but I don’t know what you’d base it around.

War doesn’t seem like so much fun right now, given what’s going on in the world, so this really has hit at the worst time for Activision and I’m not surprised it’s sci-fi games that are more popular at the moment.
McReady

Piratical sequel
I’m so looking forward to not having to hear about Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced anymore. In fact, it’s a shame it wasn’t a shadow drop, so we could’ve put a lid on it right now. The graphics look better but at the same time there’s nothing that’s blowing me away or that looks any different than the bullshots they had when it first came out.

If the combat and stealth is better that’s great but I’m not sure why they didn’t just make a sequel. They had two for Assassin’s Creed 2 and I would’ve thought a brand new pirate game would’ve been a lot more exciting than a remake of one that was good in its time but not really anything anyone would play nowadays.
Tony T.

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Remaking history
I can’t say I remember anything about a white ZX Spectrum back in the day but then I was very young then and I’m not sure how rumours spread in those days, via the mags I guess?

44 years of the Speccy certainly makes me feel old but at the same time I’m glad it’s being remembered still. It won’t be long till it can think about its 50th anniversary and that’s crazy to me. That’s almost as long as the games industry as a whole, so it’s kind of nice to have known it since the beginning.

I am interested in the new replica, which isn’t quite as expensive as I expected, but I do worry how playable these games are going to be nowadays. I can’t help thinking that most of them would be better off as a remake, to improve things like controls and difficulty. It’d still be 2D and on an indie budget but I’m not sure there’s really the call for it.
The Bishop

15 minute reward
Replying go Woz G, about the play a PC game reward points. You don’t need a PC, create a GeForce Now account – it’s free – then link your Xbox account on the GeForce Now site.

All you need do then, is play one of the available Game Pass game on the GeForce Now service, such as Ori And The Will Of The Wisps for 15 minutes to get your reward points.

It even works if you do this with the Edge browser on your Xbox console. Been using this method for quite a while to get the PC daily reward points.
Aidax89

Keeping the British end up
RE: the letter on Thursday, about the lack of government promotion for GTA specifically, and the UK gaming industry as a whole; just wanted to offer an alternative view.

Firstly, of all the games ever made, GTA doesn’t need additional publicity. In fact, even though it’s a behemoth of a franchise, GTA likes to give off an anti-establishment vibe so wouldn’t welcome that sort of endorsement.

Secondly, the government (irrespective of political leaning) has given support to the industry, but not necessarily in an in your face way. For instance, just last week it announced a £30 million package for UK developers.

Furthermore, there’s tax breaks aimed specifically at the industry via the VGEC (Video Game Expenditure Credit) and historically governments of different colours have offered similar incentives to the gaming and film sectors, which bring in billions of pounds annually (although obviously not all the developers are UK owned).

And finally, there are a huge amount of UK developers at work today! Yeah, it may not be obvious that some titles are homemade due to the worldwide market, digital distribution, and the cross-border collaboration we now have, but the UK is the third biggest country for game development (by revenue) and the sixth largest market.
TheThruthSoul (PSN ID)

Free advertising
Nocturnal is free on Steam until Sunday, 26th April at 3pm. I have had this on my wishlist for a while but never thought it would be free.

I nearly bought it two or three weeks ago! I wonder if they are having it be free to promote Nocturnal 2.
Andrew J.

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The death of cinema
I found Miyamoto’s comments on the Mario movie critical backlash quite amusing, but I’m surprised he would come out with something as arrogant as ‘helping to revitalise the film industry’ and hope it was something lost in translation.

I haven’t seen the Galaxy film but have seen the first one and sadly agree with the critics. Found it near unwatchable and closer to the death of cinema than its revitalisation – and I’m a big Nintendo fan. If you’d told me in 2017, playing Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Super Mario Odessey, games that seem to fundamentally understand the appeal of exploring virtual worlds in a creative way, that 10 years later Nintendo would jump on cultural brain rot bandwagon… well disappointed wouldn’t cover it.

We are getting a lot of video game movies now, and I’m just hoping that following the success of Mario and Minecraft producers haven’t given up trying to craft anything that resembles an actual film. Though the trailers for the latest Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter suggest they have. Do audiences for these things really just want to clap like seals waiting for fish at ‘recognisable things’? Even Fallout stumbles into that trap. Heaven forbid an actual artist crafts a great story around these things that might not please everyone, when did we become so culturally conservative?

Anyway, we’ve got a proven movie maker in Alex Garland on Elden Ring. Someone who seems to understand games too, using his experience playing Resident Evil to craft 28 Days Later. So hopefully something good will come from that and we’ll get a proper, self-contained movie.
Marc

GC: Yeah, that whole bit from Miyamoto was pretty awful; we were very disappointed. We also admire Alex Garland, but we’d say that if you truly understood games you wouldn’t want to make a movie adaptation in the first place, which we argued was Nintendo’s approach with the Mario movies – which don’t seem to be intended as traditional films at all.

Inbox also-rans
Just been on to pre-order Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynched. There are two choices, the cheaper on has PS5 Pro support, yet the expensive one doesn’t. Is that right or has someone messed up?
David

GC: The Deluxe Edition doesn’t say PS5 Pro Enhanced on the PlayStation Store, but that must be a mistake.

Dammit, now I’m addicted to Vampire Crawlers! It already took me months to get over Vampire Survivors so I guess I’ll at least be saving a lot on new releases for now.
Statler

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE: Games Inbox: Is Call Of Duty still popular?

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York Council has agreed to extend the deadline for works on Bootham Park Hospital to August to avoid planning permission to redevelop it into a 172-bed retirement complex expiring.

Developers Stonehouse Projects Ltd and DRK Planning Ltd wrote to the council saying they were set to start on works required at the site under planning permission granted in 2023.

But York Central’s Labour MP Rachael Maskell said the Government should intervene to keep the historic psychiatric hospital in community hands, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying ministers would look into the case.

A spokesperson for NHS Property Services which owns the site, off Bootham, said they were obliged to sell it to get the best value for the health service.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Moves by the developers and Ms Maskell’s call at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, April 22, come after plans to turn the site into a luxury retirement complex were approved in 2023.

The 7.23 hectare site, including the Grade I-listed 18th Century hospital building designed by architect John Carr, was put on the market weeks after planning permission was granted.

It is currently listed for sale by Savills and the estate agent said it represented an exceptional and landmark opportunity for redevelopment.

The hospital itself closed in 2015 and has since stood empty.

Developers Stonehouse and DRK Planning have applied to discharge conditions required under the 2023 permission including site remediation, tree protection and biodiversity and bats schemes.

Council officials have agreed to a time extension until Friday, August 14 to allow the developer to complete the works.

York Central MP Ms Maskell told the House of Commons on Wednesday the site had been given in trust to the people of York when it was built in 1777.

She added £5.5 million had been squandered on maintaining it since the hospital closed in 2015.

Speaking after her intervention, Ms Maskell said she had long campaigned for the building to be kept in public hands for the public good.

Former Bootham Park Hospital site, York .Picture Frank Dwyer

The MP said: “I highlighted the case to the Prime Minister, noting the costs to the public of keeping the building empty for the last 11 years, this is almost the same as the original sale price.

“Now, if there is any chance of keeping this asset in public hands, I want the Government to pursue it and am following up my question by meeting the responsible Government Ministers.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir said he knew the site was hugely significant for the people of York and ministers would be happy to work on the case.

A spokesperson for owners NHS Property Services Ltd said funds raised by the site would be reinvested into the health service.

The spokesperson said: “It is now under offer and when completed would secure public access and local schools with sports’ facilities and a new cycle path, whilst enabling a long-term viable use for a heritage building.

“The planning permission allows for the former Bootham Hospital to be converted to retirement living.

“During our marketing, NHSPS incurred substantial costs to ensure its security and maintenance due to its heritage status.”

Bootham Park Hospital was the fifth public mental hospital when it was built in the 1770s and was originally known as the York Lunatic Asylum.

William Gallas has advised Mikel Arteta to replace two Arsenal players this summer and believes new additions could help get the best out of Viktor Gyokeres.

Gyokeres has endured a mixed first season at the Emirates Stadium following last summer’s £64m move from Sporting, scoring 18 goals but receiving criticism for his general play.

A number of pundits have questioned if Gyokeres is good enough to lead the line for title-chasing Arsenal, with Jamie Carragher recently claiming Arsenal needed to sign an upgrade in the summer.

Gallas believes Gyokeres can be a success at his former club but only if Arsenal ‘change their style’ and start providing him with better and more regular service.

Arteta has Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke at his disposal on the right wing but Gallas fears both Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard on the left are stagnating.

Gallas is surprised by Martinelli’s subdued season – the Brazilian has scored just once in the Premier League – and has described Trossard as a ‘squad player’.

‘Who would I sign for Arsenal? To be honest, I think they’ve got a good squad and they can do the same performance for next season,’ Gallas told BoyleSports.

‘Even up front they’ve got the wingers but the only thing is maybe they still need one world class striker or to change the style of the team.

‘When Arsenal play on the counter-attack, I think sometimes the midfielders have to look for Viktor Gyokeres to give him the ball at the first opportunity.

‘Gyokeres always asks for the ball in front, in the space, but he doesn’t get the ball, because the midfielder wants to keep the ball. That is the style of Arsenal. 

‘Gyokeres has scored goals but he hasn’t scored enough goals so he has to reach a minimum 20 goals next season and it will be difficult for him if Arsenal are going to play the same way because he doesn’t really dominate the league physically like he did in Portugal. 

‘Maybe you need a left winger because I don’t know what has happened to Gabriel Martinelli, he’s just not what he was, and Leandro Trossard is a good squad player but you need something else.

‘Would I prefer Khvicha Kvaratskhelia or Bradley Barcola for Arsenal? Barcola.

‘When you’ve got a striker like Gyokeres, you need players to give him the ball to score the goals, and that’s why maybe some of Arsenal’s style has to change, or Arsenal need to change their striker.’

Gyokeres was left out of the starting XI for Arsenal’s top-of-the-table clash against Manchester City last weekend and was only introduced for the final six minutes of the match.

The Swede will look to help return Arsenal to winning ways when they host Newcastle at the Emirates on Saturday evening.

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The remaining four teams continued their journey to the next checkpoint in Georgia

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Two stars from Race Across the World encountered difficulties during the most recent instalment of the BBC programme.

The popular travel competition features five adventurous teams undertaking the journey of a lifetime, covering more than 12,000km across southern Europe and Central Asia. They must pass through seven checkpoints en route to Hatgal in isolated northern Mongolia.

Without mobile phones or internet connectivity, and equipped solely with the equivalent of the airfare to fly the route, they must depend on resourcefulness, determination and the generosity of strangers to cross the finishing line first.

After the departure of cousins Puja and Roshni last week, the remaining four teams pressed on with their expedition to the next checkpoint on Thursday (23rd April). They were required to travel to Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi – amongst the world’s most ancient continuously occupied settlements.

As they departed Halfeti, the teams faced a crucial choice. They could either head north towards the Black Sea coastline, or venture east through Türkiye’s parched interior, reports the Mirror.

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Competition frontrunners Harrison and Katie saw their lead reduced to fewer than ten hours, with the pursuing teams detecting a chance to capitalise.

Following their departure from the checkpoint, Harrison and Katie became the only team to travel north, searching for their first homestay of the race, and undertaking an arduous 14-hour overnight bus journey that could provide them with a vital edge. In contrast, the remaining three teams headed east, encountering challenging bus connections that forced one duo to change their route to remain competitive.

As the episode progressed, the journey began to affect Mark, who suddenly became unwell – bringing his and Margo’s journey to a temporary standstill, just 200km from the checkpoint in Georgia.

“I’m not feeling too good, I must admit,” Mark stated, with his sister-in-law responding: “You’re the priority. Even if we lose like, you know, hours.”

She continued: “There’s no point in me sitting in the hotel while you’re ill, is there?” Margo subsequently ventured out to explore the local surroundings alone, while Mark rested in bed.

“We came here mainly, Akhaltsikhe, for Mark, but now it’s going to be Margo’s day. I am sorry Mark’s sick. It’s disappointing in race terms, and I do fear we’re going to be trailing in fourth place,” Margo revealed.

“Not a lot we can do about it, so I’m not going to get upset about it. I’m just going to go and eat some dumplings and drink some wine, because if you can’t do anything about it, you’ve just got to live your best life.”

Back at the hotel, Mark remarked: “I’m feeling pretty ropey this morning. I had TT troubles all night. Tummy trouble. So, I haven’t slept at all.

“It is frustrating. I would have loved to get to Tbilisi this evening. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but we wait and see if I can recover.”

Despite encountering difficulties, Mark and Margo successfully surged to the front of the pack for the first time at the midway stage, while former leaders Katie and Harrison dropped to the bottom of the rankings.

Race Across the World is available to stream on BBC iPlayer

According to the RSPCA eight out of 10 dogs don’t cope well with being left alone. This can manifest in behaviours including destroying furniture, going to the toilet inside, or endless barking

While some dogs cope with being left at home alone quite happily, and may take the opportunity to have a quiet nap, ready to awake full of energy when their owners return home, for others it’s much more difficult. According to the RSPCA, eight out of 10 dogs display some signs of separation-related behaviour, also known as separation anxiety.

This can manifest in a number of ways, including destroying furniture, annoying the neighbours with endless barking, whining, or howling, or going to the toilet indoors, as well as a number of other sings which are less easy to spot.

One vet has said there are three common mistakes many pet owners make when leaving their furry friends at home alone which are actually making their separation anxiety worse. Amir Anwary, who has almost one million followers on TikTok, laid out his advice on the social media platform.

Opening his video, Amir said: “I’m a veterinarian and I had a client bring her dog into the vet clinic today who was struggling with severe separation anxiety. There were a few things that this owner was doing that was actually making her dog’s separation anxiety a lot worse. So these are three mistakes pet owners make when dealing with their dogs that have separation anxiety that you should not be making.”

The first mistake many pet owners make is thinking that separation anxiety is bad behaviour and punishing and disciplining their dogs for it.

Amir said: “If you see your dog displaying any sort of destructive behaviour, whether it is biting shoes, burying in the garden, they’re peeing all over the house when you’re gone, or they’re doing anything like that, in most cases it is not them being naughty, it is that they are struggling with severe anxiety. They don’t need to be punished, they need to be helped.”

The second mistake Amir said pet owners make is treating leaving and returning back home as “very emotional events”. “When you leave your house and you go to your dog and you say ‘I’m so sorry, oh my God, I have to go now, you’re going to be fine’, you already make them sad,” he said.

“So your dog is assuming that something absolutely terrible is going to happen. And then you arrive back home and you’re so happy to see them – ‘hello boy!’ – and you’re super joyful, now they think that they’ve survived this absolutely terrible thing.

“The more you do this, the more you reinforce the behaviour that being left alone at home is something terrible that they need to survive. So take the emotion out of you leaving and you getting back home.”

And the third mistake is avoiding professional help. “So many pet owners think their dog’s anxiety is going to get better over time,” he said.

“Go to someone with anxiety and ask them if their anxiety gets better over time without help. It gets worse, guys, it gets worse.

“There are professionals out there, behaviourists that can help you. Veterinarians can prescribe medical treatments that can help a lot with dogs suffering with anxiety, so make sure you seek some form of treatment.”

How to deal with separation anxiety in dogs

The RSPCA has provided a number of tips of how to help a dog suffering with separation anxiety. These include:

• Make sure they have exciting things to occupy themselves while you’re out. A long-lasting chew, or a ball stuffed with treats the animal has to work to get out are ideal.
• Take them for a walk before you leave so they have a chance to go to the toilet and exercise. Leave a gap of half an hour between when you get back from the walk and when you leave, and make sure they are fed.
• Minimise disturbances by closing the curtains, putting them in a quiet room, or leaving the TV or radio on to muffle noise from outside.
• Get a dog sitter or dog walking service to keep your pet company.