Teesside Hospice, in Middlesbrough, and Butterwick Hospice, in Stockton, plan to unite in a bid to ensure “long-term sustainability” of end-of-life care across the North East.

The decision, which has been agreed in principle, comes as hospices across the country remain at crisis point with finances running low and services at risk of being cut.

Both hospices continue to face “unending” financial challenges, spending more money than they are bringing in at a time when demand is increasing year on year.

Both Teesside and Butterwick now feel that they can generate more income together, with no immediate noticeable changes to services.

While the hospices will now jointly support more than 6,700 people across Teesside and County Durham, the merger has meant that two Butterwick staff now sadly face redundancy.

“By making these decisions now, we are protecting ourselves for the future”, Mike Thornicroft, CEO of Teesside Hospice, told The Northern Echo. 

(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

“We would always want to reach more people and deliver outstanding care. Demand is going up year on year, and we want to do more for more people.

“I think by working together we can share costs, we can bring more income in, and each hospice is protected by the other one’s success.” 

Edward Gorringe, CEO at Butterwick Hospice, said the two hospices are “stronger together”.

“They can better serve communities in the future”, he said. “We have got strengths in different areas at each hospice. We can hopefully create something taking the best elements of each.”

Both hospices ‘under pressure’

The merger, which follows a lengthy decision process, has been agreed to ensure services for those living with life-limiting illnesses and their families will continue. 

Mr Gorringe, who has been in his role since 2022, said all North East hospices have been working together for years.

In the last few months, the merger came about as an “opportunity to build something special”. 

(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

It comes just less than two years after Mr Gorringe revealed that, without additional funding, the hospice’s current provision would “simply become unsustainable”.  

Mr Gorringe said: “At some point in time, we could have [a financial challenge] that we cannot cope with. It could be anywhere between two months to a year from now.

“We are all under pressure with costs going up. 

“For the whole sector, the hospice’s funding model is based on a simple approach to providing care. But we are akin to a small hospital – and the funding model does not sustain that.” 

(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

However, Mr Gorringe did say that the hospice has made significant progress, recently reducing a £1 million deficit by around half. 

“The government needs to take these issues seriously”, he argued. “They need to wake up and take it seriously because if they don’t they will lose hospices.” 

Meanwhile, Mr Thornicroft, who has worked in the sector for eight years, said finances had been tough this year due to National Living Wage and National Insurance Contribution increases. 

He previously said difficult decisions could lie ahead for Teesside Hospice, which faced a deficit of around £300,000 last year – but there are plans in place to tackle the next forecasted deficit.

He said he hopes the merger will bring the potential for new roles within the hospices – but, with the ongoing crisis, cannot guarantee there won’t be cuts in the future.

(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

“I think both Teesside Hospice and Butterwick Hospice over the last few years have been delivering expert care to our communities”, Mr Thornicroft said.

“We both face challenges around financial sustainability, and we have both been experiencing a deficit budget. Over the last few years we have been eating into our resources. 

“It just makes sense to work together and be stronger together rather than competing for funding in our local areas. We feel that, working together, we can generate a lot more income.”

Mr Thornicroft said the changes will largely be felt behind the scenes:  “Nobody outside of the hospice should notice any change to services. 

“It is purely to make us more efficient and save money.

“We are going to work on the basis of a group structure, but both Butterwick Hospice and Teesside Hospice’s identities will be remaining. 

“They’ll still have separate bank accounts but we will have one leadership team across both.”  

Horses, pigs, sheep, and goats were found living in pens of thick mud, with no dry lying area

A mother and son who kept animals in “a hazardous environment” have been temporarily banned from keeping animals. Animals belonging to the pair, including horses, sheep, pigs, and goats were found living in muddy pens.

William Dickinson, 27, of no fixed abode, and his mother Tara Thorneycroft, 56, of Hilton St, Over, kept livestock at Greengage Farm in Impington. Officers from Trading Standards had visited the holding on nine separate occasions since April 2024. They gave advice to the pair on how better to meet the needs of the animals and poultry.

When the advice wasn’t followed, an Improvement Notice and Warning Notice were issued, but the welfare issues continued. On some of the inspection days, temperatures reached 28 and 30 degrees, and sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry had no water. Horses, donkeys, and sheep also lacked grazing.

Horses and donkeys were found to be living in a hazardous environment, and a horse was lame. In additon to this, pigs had been left with no bedding or wallow. Days before their first court hearing, a re-inspection took place and found horses, pigs, sheep, and goats in pens of thick mud with no dry lying area and no water.

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Dickinson and Thorneycroft pleaded guilty to 19 offences contrary to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and the Animal Health Act 1981. On May 6, Cambridge Magistrates’ Court disqualified the pair from owning and keeping animals other than cats and dogs for five years.

They were also imposed with a 12-month community order requiring them to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work. Each was ordered to pay £2,000 in costs.

Peter Gell, Head of Service for Cambridgeshire County Council’s Trading Standards team, said: “This case sends a clear message that we will not tolerate breaches of basic animal welfare standards in Cambridgeshire.

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“Whilst it is accepted Mr Dickinson and Mrs Thorneycroft were new to livestock keeping, when bringing animals into their care they have a duty to research how to meet the basic needs of those animals and put all measures in place to ensure their welfare needs are met.

“Officers visited time and time again, providing them with extensive advice on what was required of them, and yet serious welfare breaches continued and animals in their care continued to suffer.

“Other enforcement sanctions did little to accelerate progress, so prosecution became the only remaining recourse to protect the animals on the small holding. The sentence today will ensure that no animals suffer in their care for the next 5 years.”

Archaeologists have found something unexpected inside a 1,600-year-old Roman-era Egyptian mummy: a fragment of Homer’s Iliad. It wasn’t placed beside the body, but inside the mummy’s abdomen. But the real surprise isn’t just where the fragment was found. It’s how it got there. To understand, we must go back – to the Iliad itself, and to what it became in the Roman world.

In The Iliad, a poem shaped in the 8th century BC and attributed to Homer, the Trojan war does not end in triumph or renewal. It ends in devastation. The poem closes at the edge of collapse, with Troy reduced to a landscape of heroic ruin. And yet, this is not where the story ends.

According to later Roman tradition, one Trojan escaped. Aeneas – son of Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite – fled the burning city carrying his father on his shoulders and the household gods in his hands. He moved west, across the Mediterranean, towards Italy, where he became the ancestor of Rome.

This continuation did not come from the Iliad itself. It was shaped centuries later, most famously in Virgil’s Aeneid. But it changed the meaning of the Trojan war entirely. The past, in other words, was actively reorganised – through stories that could be reworked, extended and connected across time and space.

Turning defeat into origin

For Roman audiences, the Trojan war was more than a distant Greek legend. It became a way of thinking about origins, identity and power.

Claiming descent from Troy was more than a matter of tracing a lineage. It required constant cultural work – through storytelling, education and shared knowledge. The Iliad provided the raw material: characters, events and genealogies that could be reshaped and redeployed across generations.

Across the Roman Empire, educated elites learned Homer as part of their schooling. They quoted him in speeches, analysed him in classrooms and used him to signal cultural authority. To know the Iliad was to speak a language that others across the empire understood.

A senator in Rome, a teacher in Asia Minor or a student in Egypt could all draw on the same stories. The poem created a shared frame of reference – one that allowed very different people to situate themselves within a common past.

In the Roman imperial period, the site of ancient Troy – located in modern-day Turkey – became a destination. Emperors invested in its development, tying it directly to Rome’s claimed Trojan origins. Under Emperor Augustus, Troy was folded into the political language of empire. And under Emperor Hadrian, it became part of a wider culture of travel, memory and heritage.

A visitor to Troy in the 2nd century AD would have arrived at a curated landscape. There were baths, places to stay and spaces for performance. A small theatre – the Odeion – was built directly into the ancient citadel, so that the remains of the bronze age city, understood as the setting of the legendary battles around Troy, formed a dramatic backdrop.

Visitors could walk through what was presented as the setting of Homeric epic, experiencing the Trojan war as something anchored in the ground beneath their feet.

From Troy to Egypt

Across the Roman Empire, the Iliad circulated as a living text: copied, taught and read. Egypt, one of Rome’s most important provinces, was no exception. Yet here, Homer circulated within a cultural landscape that differed in important ways from the Greek literary world in which the poem had first taken shape.

For Roman observers, Egypt often appeared as a place where antiquity was materially preserved as well as remembered – through temples, monuments and practices that emphasised continuity with the past. At the same time, it was a deeply hybrid society, where Egyptian, Greek and Roman traditions interacted in complex ways.

Homer was among the most widely copied authors in Roman Egypt – read and taught as a marker of education and cultural belonging and deeply embedded in everyday literary culture.

The Homeric version of the Trojan War was particularly prominent among the Greek-speaking elite, especially in urban centres such as Oxyrhynchus, where the mummy was found. Other versions of the story – which placed greater emphasis on Paris and Helen’s stay in Egypt, as reported by Herodotus based on accounts from Egyptian priests – were probably more widespread among the broader Egyptian population.

The initial media coverage of the discovery of the fragment inside the Egyptian mummy suggested the text was deliberately chosen to accompany the deceased. As a personally meaningful object, perhaps reflecting their education or cultural identity.

The most telling explanation, however, may be the most straightforward. Discarded or damaged papyri could be reused as inexpensive material. The fragment may therefore have functioned as stuffing – bundled together and inserted into the body cavity without particular regard for its literary content.

The very fact that a scrap of the Iliad could end up as disposable filling, however, speaks to how deeply Homer had penetrated everyday life in Roman Egypt.

A text in motion

To make sense of the past in the Roman world meant moving between story and monument, between genealogy and deep time. Each perspective made the others more intelligible.

The Iliad helped create a world in which different pasts could be connected, compared and reshaped. By linking stories, places and traditions across the Mediterranean, the Roman world turned the past into a flexible resource – one that could generate identity, authority and belonging in shifting contexts.

This is why the Iliad mattered: it circulated across many different settings. It shaped elite education, but it was also part of everyday reading culture. At Troy, it helped transform the city into a place of cultural memory. The text itself also had a long material afterlife, surviving not only as an authoritative story, but through manuscripts and writing materials that were copied, passed on – or even reused for entirely different purposes.

Its most enduring insight is therefore this: the past is not something simply preserved, but something continuously made and remade – through the stories, practices and materials that carry it across time.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

President Donald Trump has commissioned the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as part of his initiative to make Washington DC ‘safe and beautiful’ ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday this summer. As part of that, contractors began work last week to paint the pool blue.

The historic pool, stretching 2,030ft (620m) between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, has long been plagued by leaks, structural deterioration, faulty pipes, algae growth and bird droppings.

Trump has said his project to restore and paint the monument would solve the leaking problem and make the pool more beautiful than ever. But it is unclear whether the repairs can specifically fix the underlying structural issues at the attraction, which was built in 1922.

The BBC spoke tourists and locals near the pool, who were conflicted on the renovation.

Video by Meiying Wu, produced with Madeline Gerber

Blood cancer survivor Dan is now cancer-free after being diagnosed aged 28, sharing how one surprise symptom which wasn’t lumps or weight loss was his key warning sign

A cancer survivor diagnosed with the condition at 28 has revealed how his primary symptom wasn’t one commonly linked to the condition. Dan, who has nearly 14,000 followers on TikTok where he posts as daninprogresss, frequently shares details about his diagnosis, treatment and recovery journey.

Having been declared cancer-free more than a year ago, he now dedicates himself to supporting others through their physical and mental rehabilitation. In a recent video, he discussed the principal symptom that prompted him to seek medical assistance, reports the Mirror.

“If I had to pick the biggest sign that I had cancer at 28, it wouldn’t be what most people think,” he said. “My name’s Dan, I got diagnosed with blood cancer at the age of 28 and I went into hospital for chemo and a transplant. Now I’m rebuilding my life both mentally and physically and trying to help as many people do the same as I can.”

He continued: “Most people, when it comes to cancer, think about lumps or sudden weight loss. For me it was fatigue.

“But when I say fatigue I don’t mean being tired for work or being tired after going to the gym the previous day. I mean doing absolutely nothing and feeling like you just run a marathon.

“For me, I just remember being out shopping and out of nowhere just coming across really lightheaded and faint and I started to see [those], like, squiggly lines in your eyes. And I was like, I need to go home, I don’t feel great.

“So I got home and just remember literally collapsing and falling asleep for like six or seven hours, and then, when I woke up I felt even worse than when I went to sleep. I just knew something wasn’t right.

“It just felt like my body was shutting down. I’m not gonna life, I was very lucky that I listened to my body when I did because that was just the start.”

Common signs of cancer

Identifying the possible warning signs of cancer at the earliest opportunity is crucial to ensuring treatment proves effective, according to Cancer Research UK. While there are numerous different indicators, the charity highlights some of the most frequently occurring:

General signs

• Heavy night sweats or fever
• Feeling more tired than usual
• Unexplained bleeding or bruising
• Unexplained pain or aches
• Unexplained weight loss
• An unusual lump or swelling anywhere on the body

Symptoms affecting the mouth, throat, or voice

• Croaky voice, hoarseness, or a cough that won’t go away
• A mouth or tongue ulcer that lasts longer than three weeks
• Difficulty swallowing

Symptoms affecting breasts or the chest

• Changes to the size, shape, or feel of breasts or the chest area, including the nipple

Symptoms affecting breathing

• Breathlessness
• Persistent cough

Symptoms affecting the tummy

• Persistent bloating or stomach pain
• Loss of appetite
• Persistent heartburn or indigestion

Symptoms affecting going to the toilet and the genitals

• Problems peeing
• Bowel changes
• Blood in poo or pee

Unexplained vaginal bleeding

• Symptoms affecting the skin
• A new mole, or changes to an existing mole

Changes to the skin or nails

• Sores that don’t heal
• Yellowing of the skin or eyes

VAR: Let’s get a tighter angle on the goalkeeper please. Slow it down, frame by frame. For me, there is a foul. Potential foul with the arm. His hand is holding his arm down. That’s impactful for me. The left arm, there, is holding, across the body and head. He’s holding the left arm of Raya there, which impedes his ability to get to the ball properly. Doesn’t look that impactful from that angle.

The Welsh star, 74, is currently in hospital in Faro, Portugal and was placed into an induced coma to help her recover after an intestinal surgery.

On Monday, May 11, it was reported that Tyler had to be “resuscitated after going into cardiac arrest” when doctors tried to bring her out of the induced coma.

Portuguese daily Correio da Manha reported that the singer’s medical emergency was due to a burst appendix.

A close friend of Bonnie Tyler has told Good Morning Britain he’s praying she shows some sign of improvement in hospital today.

The 74 year old Welsh singer went into cardiac arrest when doctors in Portugal tried to bring her out of an induced coma following surgery for a burst… pic.twitter.com/NK9MWr2wIN

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 12, 2026

The singer will remain in an induced coma in an intensive care unit at Faro Hospital until doctors can control the “serious infection” caused by a perforated intestine, according to the paper.

Bonnie Tyler resuscitated after cardiac arrest

Tyler’s close friend Liberto Mealha gave an update on the singer while appearing on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, May 12.

Sharing: “I could not see her because she is in intensive care and we are praying to get better news.

“The doctors are positive about the situation, but so far, it’s not that good.”

The singer’s friend previously said, “She started feeling unwell during a concert in London and went to a doctor for tests, but they didn’t detect anything there.

“She decided to travel to the Algarve, where she began to feel severe abdominal pain.

“Two days later, she went to a private hospital, which urgently transferred her to the hospital in Faro because her appendix had burst and she needed emergency surgery.”

A spokesman for the singer told fans last week: “Bonnie has been put into an induced coma by her doctors to aid her recovery.

“We know that you all wish her well and ask for privacy at this difficult time, please.

“We will issue a further statement when we are able to.”

Born Gaynor Hopkins, Tyler rose to international fame in the 1980s and is known for her distinctive husky voice.

Recommended Reading

Her other hits include It’s a Heartache and If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man).

The Grammy-nominated artist is due to tour Europe later this year to celebrate 50 years since her breakthrough hit Lost in France, released in 1976.

Tyler is due to perform in Malta and Germany later this month, with additional shows planned across the UK, Austria, Hungary, Turkey, and Romania.

She was awarded an MBE in 2023 for services to music.

A group of North Carolina college graduates was stunned to learn that their commencement speaker was paying off their senior year student loans.

Anil Kochhar took the stage Friday during the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University’s commencement, when more than 170 students earned their bachelor’s degrees, and 26 received their master’s, according to Axios Raleigh. Kochhar’s father, Prakash Chand Kochhar, received his bachelor’s and master’s from the college in the Fifties.

“It is my privilege to announce today that, in honor of my father, my wife Marilyn and I are providing a graduation gift to cover all the final-year education loans incurred by Wilson College graduates during the 2025–26 academic year,” Kochhar said.

“Marilyn and I hope that all of you leave Reynolds Coliseum today not only with a degree but with greater freedom to pursue your goals, take risks and build the lives you’ve worked so hard to achieve,” he continued.

Students appeared stunned by the generosity, clapping and jumping up and down in a video captured of the moment and shared to Instagram.

David Hinks, the inaugural Prakash Chand Kochhar Dean at Wilson College of Textiles, said in a statement: “I could not be more grateful to Anil and Marilyn for this extraordinary investment in our newest Wilson for Life alumni.

“As the preeminent institution for textiles education, research and innovation, we are deeply committed to ensuring the Wilson College enables students from all walks of life to transform their own lives while graduating with zero or low debt. One of our primary goals is to make the Wilson College affordable for all, and Anil and Marilyn are helping us achieve it.”

In the Instagram comments, many praised Kochhar for his kind gift.

“Instant tears!! As a parent of a kid in Wilson, to see them looking for their parents, it tore me up,” one wrote, while a graduate from the college added: “Absolutely incredible. We are so blessed by this donation and its impact!!!”

“I can only imagine they were clapping but were in shock and not fully processing the generosity. That’s a huge gift!” a third wrote.

Two months before the commencement, the school announced that Kochhar and his wife were gifting three funds in honor of his father, who earned his bachelor’s degree in textile manufacturing.

The offerings, all named after Kochhar’s dad, included the Dean’s Chair Endowment, the Endowed Faculty fund and the Graduate Support Endowment.

Alan Peacock, who died last June at the age of 87, was posthumously awarded the Freedom of the Borough at a ceremony held at Middlesbrough Town Hall on Wednesday, May 6.

The honour recognises his achievements as a Middlesbrough FC and England footballer, as well as his tireless work raising awareness of dementia following his diagnosis in 2018.

Boro legend Alan Peacock who has been posthumously awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Middlesbrough (Image: Middlesbrough Council)

His daughter Diane Symington, grandson Harry, and great-grandson Luca received the award on his behalf.

Ms Symington said: “Dad was born and bred in Middlesbrough and he was so proud of his roots here, so this would have meant the world to him.

“It means such a lot to us as a family and is a wonderful recognition of his life and legacy.

Boro legend Alan Peacock who has been posthumously awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Middlesbrough (Image: Middlesbrough Council)

“He was such a passionate advocate for Middlesbrough and its people.

“I just wish he could have been here.”

Mr Peacock scored 140 goals for Middlesbrough and played for England at the 1962 World Cup.

Following his dementia diagnosis, he became an ambassador for the club and championed its Dementia Friendly approach, supporting those living with the condition through community engagement and awareness-raising.

Middlesbrough Council Chair Jack Banks, Mr Peacock’s daughter Diane Symington, great-grandson Luca and grandson Harry (Image: Middlesbrough Council)

He helped develop football-inspired memory resources and engaged with more than 1,000 people affected by dementia during his campaigning.

Dr Tosh Warwick, a local historian who nominated Peacock for the award, said: “Alan was a true local legend whose influence continued long after his playing career came to an end.

“In raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities presented by living with dementia, he had a profound impact not just locally but regionally and nationally.

Mr Peacock’s family were presented with a certificate marking the conferment of the Freedom of the Borough, and his name is added to the Roll of Honorary Freemen (Image: Middlesbrough Council)

“That’s an amazing contribution to the life of our town, and one that fully merits this prestigious accolade.”

Mr Cooke said: “Alan Peacock was enormously proud of his home town, and that feeling was reciprocated.

“His ability as a footballer is well known and he had a long and illustrious career.

Mr Peacock’s family were presented with a certificate marking the conferment of the Freedom of the Borough, and his name is added to the Roll of Honorary Freemen (Image: Middlesbrough Council)

“But his work after his playing days was no less important, and this work and its far-reaching impact would not have been possible without Alan’s time, dedication and inspiration.”

In tribute to Mr Peacock’s legacy, close friend Alan Geddes established the Alan Peacock Memory Walk to raise funds for the MFC Foundation and Dementia Action Teesside.

The next walk will take place on Sunday, September 27.

Middlesbrough Councillors and civic dignitaries gathered in the Courtroom at Middlesbrough Town Hall to confer the Freedom of the Borough on Middlesbrough Foodball Club legend and dementia awareness campaigner Alan Peacock (Image: Middlesbrough Council)