The historic Edwardian garden at Newby Hall, Ripon, was opened by broadcaster Gyles Brandreth on Thursday, June 4.

Restoration of the 2,800sqm garden was led by Lucinda Compton and head gardener Lawrence Wright.

Work started on the garden in 2019, but the implications of Covid slowed its progress.

The refurbished rock garden at Newby Hall in Ripon (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Head gardener Lawrence said: “It’s amazing. When I joined in 2021, it was maybe a third of the way done, and it was still early days in terms of visitor engagement with the rock garden.

“We never closed the rock garden off, so visitors have seen the progress over the last seven years.

Head gardener, Lawrence Wright, speaks at the opening of the refurbished rock garden at Newby Hall in Ripon (Image: Stuart Boulton)

“It has gone from essentially being an enchanted fairy woodland over rocks that were overgrown and had their own charm, to something that is horticulturally interesting and has a different feel.

“It is much more engaging; there is a better range of plants, and it’s more horticulturally focused.”

Aiming to recapture the original drama and romance of the rock garden, while conserving it for future generations, hundreds of tonnes of soil have been excavated and replaced, with tonnes of gravel applied as mulch.

The refurbished rock garden at Newby Hall in Ripon (Image: Stuart Boulton)

More than 10,000 plants, bulbs, trees and shrubs have been planted, and the waterfall and aqueduct bridge restored.

Lawrence added: “We are proud of the whole garden, but it is great we’ve now got this piece that is a fantastic addition to the garden.

“It is a completely different style to the rest of the garden, so as a team, it’s a great thing to have had the chance to work on.”

The refurbished rock garden at Newby Hall in Ripon (Image: Stuart Boulton)

And he also said Gyles Brandreth was a “really nice chap”.

“He was really engaged with the garden when he was here,” Lawrence said.

“He wanted to know what we’d done and how we’d done it. He absolutely loved the rock garden, and it was fantastic he wanted to join us.

“He hit the nail on the head when he was saying that it was an enchanted place in his speech before the ribbon cutting.”

Jon Snow, 79, the iconic Channel 4 newsreader, has opened up about his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in a new documentary

Legendary newsreader Jon Snow has disclosed he is living with Alzheimer’s disease, choosing to go public about Britain’s biggest killer.

Jon, 79, famed for fronting Channel 4 News from 1989 to 2021, received a dementia diagnosis in 2023 but has kept his struggle private until now.

The broadcaster, who is backing Alzheimer’s Society, has opted to share his diagnosis to shine a light on the condition, which impacts roughly one million people across the UK.

His journey with the illness will be chronicled in a new documentary by Basement Films, Jon Snow: A Last Big Story, set to broadcast on Channel 4 on Saturday, June 20.

In an exclusive chat with the Daily Mail, Jon revealed that after stepping down in 2021, he plunged into severe depression. He became isolated and lost enthusiasm for pastimes he’d previously cherished, reports the Daily Star.

Jon also fretted that mates were no longer getting in touch – “Nobody ever rings,” he remarked, “I’m forgotten.” Yet in truth, he’d simply forgotten about the conversations.

Though hesitant to consult a GP, maintaining nothing was amiss, a cognitive test and brain scan confirmed Jon had Alzheimer’s disease.

Jon continues to question the diagnosis, stating: “I mean sometimes I doubt whether I’ve really got it. I don’t know if it’s widespread knowledge. I don’t feel disabled in any way,” pondering whether his behaviour is merely typical for someone his age. His wife Precious revealed: “Friends kept asking me if Jon was alright and I would have to lie and say he’s fine, but I knew he wasn’t.”

The Alzheimer’s Society emphasises it’s a widespread myth to assume dementia is simply part of growing older. While memory lapses become more frequent with age, dementia stems from brain diseases and can manifest through difficulties with organisation and judgement, communication, and occasionally shifts in temperament or conduct.

In the documentary, Jon admits: “At the beginning I wanted to hide it, there’s so much prejudice. Any sort of hint of mental decay, you’re sort of dead. There are moments when it pops up but it’s not an all day every day condition, and that’s what I cling onto.”

Michelle Dyson, CEO of Alzheimer’s Society, commented: “Jon’s decision to talk publicly about his dementia diagnosis is a real act of courage and his story will resonate with so many. His support for Alzheimer’s Society will help spark a national conversation about dementia that we so desperately need.

“Despite being the UK’s biggest killer, dementia is still not treated with the same urgency as other major health conditions like cancer.

“Alongside his wife Precious, Jon is shining a light on the need for faster, fairer access to diagnosis. An early diagnosis can unlock vital support, help families plan ahead and potentially open the door to participation in clinical trials. Yet too many people across the country are still waiting far too long for a diagnosis.

“We look forward to working with Jon, whose long-standing commitment to speaking out against injustice will help ensure the harsh realities of dementia cannot be ignored by the UK Government and the NHS.

“I would encourage anyone needing help or information to call our Dementia Support Line on 0333 150 3456 or visit alzheimers.org.uk.”

In Jon Snow: A Last Big Story, audiences will also witness Jon emerging from retirement for one final investigation to expose a mining disaster impacting local communities in Zambia.

Louisa Compton, Head of News, Current Affairs, Specialist Factual and Sport at Channel 4 remarked: “Jon Snow is not just one of Channel 4’s most recognisable faces – he is part of our very fabric and is dearly loved by viewers around the UK.

“It is a profound privilege that we are able to document his last big investigation, in a sensitively made film that frames Jon’s current affairs nous alongside a new life lived with Alzheimer’s. We hope this film will go a long way to raise awareness of how to live whilst facing a life-changing diagnosis.”

Martin O’Neill is set to continue as Celtic manager after two interim spells last season culminated in a Premiership and Scottish Cup double.

The 74-year-old has now agreed to stay at Parkhead on a one-year deal – with the option for a further year – after holding talks with the club’s major shareholder Dermot Desmond earlier this week.

Celtic have yet to officially confirm the appointment.

Twenty years on from ending a five-year tenure as Celtic manager, O’Neill returned in late October on a temporary basis after Brendan Rodgers’ departure, overseeing eight games.

He made way for Wilfried Nancy but the Frenchman left after six defeats and only two wins from eight matches. O’Neill was back as Celtic boss in early January, appointed for the rest of the season.

The league title race went to the final day of the campaign, with Celtic beating long-time leaders Hearts 3-1 to finish top. Then, at Hampden two weeks ago, O’Neill won his ninth trophy as Celtic manager with a 3-1 win over Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish Cup final.

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Alison Hume, the MP for Scarborough and Whitby, refused to be drawn on whom she would back in a potential leadership contest, should Andy Burnham win the Makerfield by-election and challenge Keir Starmer.

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She added that the prime minister had her full support.

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Appearing on a BBC Question Time special on Thursday, the mayor of Greater Manchester said he would seek to enter any potential Labour leadership contest if he wins the by-election on June 18.

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Ms Hume, who was first elected in 2024, remained tight-lipped on the party’s leadership crisis which intensified after almost 100 MPs called on the prime minister to resign following major losses in May’s local elections.

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Asked who she would back in a potential leadership contest, she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “No comment. There is no leadership challenge at the moment, and the prime minister continues to have my full support.”

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Labour MPs have been asked to campaign twice in the by-election, as well as on polling day.

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Mayor Andy Burnham At Scarborough Cricket Club. Courtesy Anttoni James Numminen

Ms Hume told the LDRS she had not yet been canvassing in Makerfield, adding: “As with all by-elections, I’ll be supporting [the candidate], and probably go on polling day.”

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This week, multiple Labour backbenchers loyal to the PM told PoliticsHome that they would defy instructions to campaign twice in the constituency.

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Rachael Maskell, the MP for York, has backed Andy Burnham to replace Keir Starmer as the Labour leader and said he would bring hope if he entered Number 10.

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Ms Hume also declined to comment on whether the York MP was right to say the current mayor of Greater Manchester should replace Mr Starmer.

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Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said a leadership contest had not been triggered but “the prime minister has been absolutely crystal clear that if there is a contest he will be in it”.

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A Survation opinion poll (June 4) on the by-election put Andy Burnham ahead at 49 per cent, Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon on 39 per cent, Restore Britain’s Rebecca Shepherd on 8 per cent, the Green Party’s Sarah Wakefield on 2 per cent, and both the Liberal Democrats’ Jake Austin and The Conservatives’ Michael Winstanley on 1 per cent.

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LONDON (AP) — Anthony Head, the suave, smooth-voiced British actor known for roles in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Ted Lasso,” has died, his family said Friday. He was 72.

Head’s daughters, actors Emily and Daisy Head, told the Press Association news agency that the actor passed away due to complications from pneumonia.

The stage and TV performer became well known to British audiences in the 1980s as one half of a will-they, won’t-they romantic couple in a series of ads for Nescafe Gold Blend instant coffee. The ads were later re-shot for a U.S. audience for Taster’s Choice.

Head achieved wider fame as librarian Rupert Giles, mentor to the title character in the cult-favorite supernatural series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which ran from 1997 to 2003.

He most recently played Rupert Mannion, the villainous ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s character Rebecca, in “Ted Lasso.”

“Our grief is far greater than the hole he has left behind, but we know his legacy will live on, in the shows he was a part of, and in the audiences that love them,” his daughters said. “How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us.”

Head was born in London on Feb. 20, 1954 to Seafield Head, a documentary filmmaker, and Helen Shingler, an actor. His older brother, Murray, is also an actor.

Other notable roles included playing Geoffrey Howe, the deputy to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played by Meryl Streep, in the Oscar-winning “The Iron Lady.”

Head portrayed a prime minister himself in the sketch comedy show “Little Britain,” as well as King Uther Pendragon, the father of Prince Arthur, in the “Merlin” TV series. He also appeared in “Motherland,” Manchild,” and “Silent Witness,” along with acting in many plays, musicals, and recording music as a singer.

He was predeceased by his longtime partner, animal welfare activist Sarah Fisher, 61, in 2025.

Flavio Cobolli is through to the French Open final after fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi withdrew minutes before their semi-final with a virus.

The good friends were supposed to meet in the last four at 18:00 BST on Friday for a place in a first Grand Slam final.

However, Arnaldi’s withdrawal was announced just 20 minutes before the players were due to step on Court Philippe Chatrier.

It puts world number 14 Cobolli straight through to Sunday’s Roland Garros showpiece, where he will face second seed and title favourite Alexander Zverev.

Arnaldi had spent 19 hours and 42 minutes on court en route to the semi-finals in Paris – the longest anyone has played on their way to the last four of a major since 1991.

A high school graduation ceremony in central California descended into a brawl on Tuesday, leading to five arrests after a fight spilled onto the field.

The altercation occurred during the commencement for Kings Canyon Unified School District’s alternative education programs, held at the Reedley High School football stadium.

A nearly three-minute cellphone video obtained by ABC30 captured the moment the violence began, just as graduates’ names were being read over the loudspeaker.

The footage begins with two young men in their caps and gowns suddenly trading punches on the field. Within seconds, two others jump in, escalating the confrontation. A fifth person, also a graduate, then steps in, visibly attempting to separate them and break up the fight.

As the fighting intensifies, the students’ graduation sashes can be seen falling off their bodies. From the stands, an onlooker can be heard yelling in dismay, “At a graduation?”

The situation quickly deteriorated further as attendees from the crowd rushed onto the field. The video shows a woman in a brown shirt entering the scuffle, throwing a punch and then losing her balance and falling over.

Two police officers are then seen running onto the scene, joining school district administrators who moved to separate the students. Five people were escorted off the stadium field in custody.

Among those arrested was 19-year-old Adam Velasquez.

His family told ABC30 that the incident was completely unrelated to any gang activity. According to his relatives, Velasquez was waiting in line to receive his diploma when another graduate made an unprovoked, insulting remark about Velasquez’s brother, who was killed several years ago.

The family said Velasquez had worked hard to earn his diploma to make his family proud, but that his emotions got the best of him in the moment. Because of the arrest, Velasquez was unable to walk across the stage or receive his diploma. His family added that they did not justify his behavior and understood that there were consequences for his actions.

The disruption left an impression on the community as families gathered at the high school theater the following evening for a separate graduation ceremony.

“You got to respect everybody here,” Curtis Wood, a parent and resident of nearby Orange Cove, told the publication. “It’s a family event. Whatever issues you have, whatever is going on, leave it at the door.”

Wood called the behavior entirely inappropriate for an event meant to honor the students.

“We got women here, we got kids here,” he said. “Everybody’s here. This is their time. It’s about them succeeding.”

In a statement released after the incident, the Kings Canyon Unified School District stated that the ceremony was able to resume after the disruption was contained.

“Despite this incident, the focus of the evening remained on celebrating our graduates and their accomplishments,” the school district’s statement read. “Thanks to the security measures in place and the quick response from Reedley Police, district staff, and site administrators, the situation was resolved promptly and the graduation ceremony continued with minimal disruption.”

Police are at the scene of a three-car traffic collision which is causing severe delays for motorists.

The incident has taken place on the A465 between Skewen and Llandarcy.

It happened at around 1.10pm and the occupants of the vehicles are currently being assessed for any injuries.

The incident is currently ongoing.

Live updates:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is still waiting for clarity from the Pentagon following President Donald Trump’s back-and-forth on troop levels in Europe, upending the lives of military personnel and potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars, two U.S. defense officials told The Associated Press.

NATO allies were bewildered in May when Trump said he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number pulled from Europe, following a spat with Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war. The Trump administration says troop reductions in Europe have long been planned and coordinated with allies.

The Republican president announced on social media two weeks ago that he was sending troops to Poland — the same day the Pentagon had officially ordered the cancellation of a rotation of soldiers heading there, one of the defense officials said.

The unit’s equipment was already on the way. Sending it cost the military $32 million, said U.S. Transportation Command, the military agency largely responsible for moving troops and gear across the globe.

The abrupt changes are forcing the military to “retroactively engineer” a policy in line with the president’s latest pronouncement, the official said. Both officials were briefed on the decisions and, along with others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

The uncertainty is not only rattling European allies worried about the message being sent to Russia, but it also risks hurting morale among American troops — some of whom had their rotations canceled shortly before departure — and comes as the Army budget is already strained.

Changes to troop deployments to Poland add up

The rotational deployment to Poland of 4,000 troops from the Army’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas, was canceled in a memo sent to the military at the beginning of May. European allies found out mid-month.

Some of those troops were told shortly before traveling not to get on a flight to Poland, while those who had been sent ahead — initially around 1,000 troops — are still waiting for confirmation they are being sent back, a U.S. military official said.

The military also is still waiting for details from the Pentagon on how to satisfy Trump’s order to send 5,000 troops to Poland, that official said. The working assumption is that they will come from units already in Europe, rather than an additional deployment from the U.S., the official said.

U.S. Transportation Command had chartered a ship to take the team’s equipment from Texas to Poland and transport a departing unit’s gear back to America. The incoming team’s portion of the cost was $32 million, including chartering the ship and loading and unloading the gear.

Because the ship was chartered to take one unit to Europe and bring another back, it is hard to say if that amount would have been saved had the decision to halt the deployment been made before the new team had already begun moving overseas.

However, the military official said the unscheduled move of personnel and equipment back from Europe is most likely not a cost the Pentagon budgeted for and would be an additional expense.

Total costs of canceling the rotation are hard to quantify because of many factors, said Joe Costa, a former senior Pentagon official who now focuses on challenges faced by the U.S. military as director of the Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense program.

They most likely stem from returning equipment and troops sent ahead of the deployment and would probably be on the low end of the rotation’s overall cost, Costa said. The greater impact is on the readiness of troops who were trained for one mission and may be deployed on another, he said.

U.S. military contracts with private companies to transport troops and equipment contain cancellation clauses that often add extra fees if a deployment is called off, said John Deni, a senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council who has studied such costs.

“The question is what additional costs were incurred by deciding to send them back prematurely, changing the arrangements, changing the plan?” said Deni, a former U.S. military adviser and planner who focused on forces in Europe.

It is not clear if the Pentagon can recoup those costs or those associated with moving the unit to Europe. The Defense Department did not answer questions about the costs of changing the deployment plans, and the White House referred a request for comment to the department.

Pentagon officials have repeatedly said they planned to lower troop levels to have Europe shoulder more of its own defense and that the decision was part of a “comprehensive, multilayered process.”

Last month’s memo also led to the cancellation of a deployment to Germany of a battalion trained in firing long-range rockets and missiles.

Pulling troops stationed in Germany would be more expensive

When Trump first threatened to remove 5,000 troops from Europe, Pentagon officials initially suggested pulling back the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which is based permanently in Germany, the defense official said.

Instead, officials decided to cancel the rotation of the other unit to Poland. Then Trump threw that plan into confusion as well.

Pulling the troops stationed in Germany could cost in the low billions because there is no dedicated space and infrastructure in the U.S. to accommodate them and their families, Costa said.

“The other option is basically breaking up the unit,” Costa said. “They move the equipment in different places. They move the people to different places. That carries significant readiness costs because now you’re artificially jamming pieces of units into places where they don’t necessarily belong.”

Pulling or pausing deployments also can hurt morale among soldiers and families because they plan for them months and years in advance, Deni said. The uncertainty can be disruptive.

“That’s often the last thing you want to do to military families,” Deni said.

It is still unclear what will happen to U.S. troops stationed in Europe, the two officials said. Options include moving military units assigned to Germany to Poland, but that could take several years and cost more, the military official said.

Troop changes happen during an Army budget shortfall

The moves come as the Army is facing a budget shortfall, which the service’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, recently acknowledged to Congress.

Estimates put the deficit somewhere between $2 billion and $6 billion, according to an Army official who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive defense matters. One impact has been cutting training courses for soldiers nationwide, which ABC News earlier reported.

In a statement, the Army said it has issued guidance to its commands to “make tough and sound resource decisions that optimize and prioritize resources toward their most critical requirements, to include major training and readiness events.”

The Army official also noted that the service has been tasked with missions like the National Guard deployment in Washington, a bolstered presence along the U.S.-Mexico border and its part in the Iran war — all of which have strained its budget.

The Department of Homeland Security expects to reimburse the Army for its role in the border mission.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told lawmakers at a May 15 hearing that he was “optimistic” there would progress on those payments “within a week or two.” But to date, the Army has not been reimbursed.

“We want those backfilled payments,” Driscoll said then.

The U.S. military in Europe also is scaling back support for non-combat related training and ruthlessly prioritizing critical functions, the military official said.

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Burrows reported from London.

After the sentencing hearing, Malkinson said: “I am insulted that this violent, depraved individual – who was content to let me suffer two decades of vilification and more than 17 years wrongly imprisoned for his crime – has received a softer sentence than was imposed on me, an innocent man.