For Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, better known as Lady Phyll, advocacy feels less like a choice and more like something woven into who she is: “Activism really found me, when I didn’t have the language for it, growing up as a Black queer woman.”
She traces the connection back to being 12 years old, when she remembers a British National Party march taking place nearby, and an elderly woman urged her to go into a shop before they arrived as they “didn’t like your sorts”. The comment was directed only at Lady Phyll, not the blonde-haired, blue-eyed friend she was standing beside.
“It made me think there is something very different about me that people don’t like,” she recalled. The moment stayed with her and helped ignite what would become a lifelong commitment to campaigning.
“At my core, activism has always been about dignity and people wanting to feel safe, visible, and worthy of joy.” Joy is a word Lady Phyll returns to constantly throughout the conversation. For her, it’s key to have joyful moments, and it’s an essential part of her work.
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Lady Phyll pictured on stage for the finale of UK Black Pride 2024 (Getty)
That attitude to activism eventually led to the creation of UK Black Pride in 2005, which celebrated its milestone 20th anniversary last August. Lady Phyll now marks her third year as CEO after previously holding the role of executive director, and she has been included in The Independent’s Pride List 2026 for the fourth consecutive year for her decades-long work on race, gender and LGBTQ+ rights.
“UK Black Pride came from a need, frustration and desire to see ourselves in spaces where we could be fully ourselves,” she said. “Without having to fragment parts of our identity of being Black and being queer.”
At the time, she said many Black LGBTQ+ people felt pressured to choose between their Blackness and their queerness. Lady Phyll was then running Black Lesbians UK (BLUK), and organised a coach trip to Southend-on-Sea, which became something much bigger. “It felt joyful, liberating. We understood that shared commonality we had with each other,” she explained.
As they walked back to the coach, Lady Phyll floated the idea of creating a UK Black Pride similar to events in Chicago and Washington DC. A few people laughed it off, thinking it was just a “wacky idea”. The idea, of course, turned out to be anything but wacky.
Building UK Black Pride was far from easy, though. Lady Phyll said she struggled to find support and advice, faced resistance, and even received death threats in the organisation’s early days. Two decades later, she is still frequently asked why a Black Pride is needed at all. “It’s not something I feel the need to justify,” she said.
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Lady Phyll has been named on The Independent’s Pride List 2026 for the fourth consecutive year (Getty)
Part of the problem, she explained, was that Black queer communities often felt invisible within wider Pride spaces, or “tokenised with one Black speaker who’s supposed to speak on behalf of everybody… We’re not a monolith,” she said.
For Lady Phyll, intersectionality remains central to the organisation’s mission, and she’s encouraging people to look further than just the need for ‘diversity’, which she said is important, but doesn’t cover the full picture. “We should not have to separate our identities,” she added, explaining the lived experiences of race, gender, class, disability, age and more all matter.
Now 20 years on, the anniversary event was attended by25,000 people at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. Beyond London, events also took place elsewhere in the UK, including Cymru Glitter in Wales, recognising that not everyone can travel to the capital. Queer Britain (the UK’s first LGBTQ+ dedicated museum) also hosted an exhibition showcasing items from UK Black Pride’s archive. “When I walked in, I almost felt like breaking down and crying,” Lady Phyll said.
The anniversary wasn’t just about celebrating the past, but the momentous milestone meant the team began to look at how to sustain this event for the future, and as a result, UK Black Pride will be taking a break this year and will return in 2027. “It’s not because of a lack of sponsors or funding,” she explained. “It’s more about how we sustain UK Black Pride in an increasingly hostile environment, and make sure we can maintain it as a free event for the future.”
Lady Phyll traces her connection to activism back to when she was 12 years old (Getty)
Over its two decades, UK Black Pride has grown into the world’s largest celebration for LGBTQ+ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American, Middle Eastern and Indigenous descent. Though she knew the event would be big, as there was already “the traction and the need for it”, she didn’t envisage it would grow to the size it has done. “What it’s become today, I just think, ‘wow’,” she said, while stressing the importance of the work, efforts and dedication of the wider team behind the event. “I may be the face behind it, but it’s the people that make it happen.”
What moves her most about UK Black Pride’s success is not the scale of the event, but what it represents. “When parents come with their queer children, or seeing generations of global majority people [Black, Asian, brown, dual-heritage or indigenous people] dance together and when trans people feel safe enough to just exhale.”
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Lady Phyll also believes Pride must remain political at its core, particularly at a time when some feel events have become overly corporate or sanitised. “Pride can’t just be a party when we’re still fighting to survive… it was born out of disruption from people who had been criminalised and marginalised,” she said. “You can’t take the politics out of Pride.”
Despite growing hostility toward LGBTQ+ communities globally, Lady Phyll, who seems to be endlessly full of positivity and joy, feels hopeful about the future. “I come from communities that have always found ways to survive,” she concluded. Adding that she “finds hope in young people and definitely our trans activists who refuse to disappear.”
Dale Carlyle, 33, of Fifth Avenue, Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.
Newton Aycliffe magistrates gave him a 12-month community order with 15 days’ rehabilitative activities. He was made subject to a five-year restraining order aimed at protecting the woman from him and ordered to pay £300 prosecution costs.
Romeo Ngjela, 57, of Kexby Avenue, off Green Dyke Avenue, York, was convicted in his absence of jumping a red light and using a car without insurance in Oadby, Leicester. He was banned from driving for 12 months at Loughborough Magistrates Court, fined £660 and ordered to pay a £264 statutory surcharge and £120 prosecution costs.
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Two defendants were sentenced by Harrogate magistrates.
Abdulhafiz Abdu, 24, of Peterhill Drive, Clifton, was convicted in his absence of driving on Queen’s Staith without insurance and without a licence and driving a car without a valid MOT certificate. He was fined £660, ordered to pay £120 prosecution costs and banned from driving for six months.
Magdeline Mukoyi, 49, of Eastfield Walk, Tadcaster, was banned from driving for six months after she pleaded guilty to driving without a licence. She was fined £40 and ordered to pay a £16 statutory surcharge.
Trump says he does not need deal with Iran to get enriched uranium
Donald Trump has said he is “moving fast” on Iran and claimed its military is “totally destroyed”.
In a preview clip of a NBC interview, the US president also claimed he knows “exactly” how many missiles Iran has left, but refused to give a figure.
“I’m moving very fast, I’m into three months,” he said. “Vietnam lasted 19 years, I’m into my third month. We have totally destroyed their military.”
He added Iran has “maybe 21 or 22 per cent” of their missiles left, saying it is “a lot of missiles, but not what it was when we first attacked”.
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It comes after the US military said it downed six Iranian ballistic missiles launched towards its Gulf allies, while a seventh missile failed to reach its target.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted a US airbase in Kuwait and the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, according to Iranian state media.
The attack came on Friday just hours after the US military also shot down four Iranian attack drones headed towards the Strait of Hormuz, with US Central Command saying they “posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic”.
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Trump says he is ‘moving fast’ on Iran but declines to say how many missiles are elft
Donald Trump has said he is “moving fast” on Iran and claimed its military is “totally destroyed” – but declined to say how many missiles he believes Tehran has.
In a preview clip of an NBC interview, the US president claimed he knows “exactly” how many missiles Iran has left, but refused to give a figure.
“I’m moving very fast, I’m into three months,” he said. “Vietnam lasted 19 years, I’m into my third month. We have totally destroyed their military.”
He added Iran has “maybe 21 or 22 per cent” of their missiles left, saying it is “a lot of missiles, but not what it was when we first attacked”.
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When asked to give a ballpark figure, he declines.
Nicole Wootton-Cane6 June 2026 11:31
Russia’s Sechin accuses US companies of benefitting from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz
Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin has said US energy companies are benefitting from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and accused Washington of trying to change the fundamental contours of the global energy markets to suit US interests.
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Iran blockaded the Strait, the main route for about a fifth of world oil supplies and other vital goods including fertilisers, after the United States and Israel attacked Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in February. The US has blockaded Iranian ports.
The closues of the Strait has rattled global markets, sending oil prices to multi-year highs, stoking global inflation and undermining economic growth world-wide.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Mr Sechin, a long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin, also said that the OPEC+ group of leading oil producers has lost some of its potential with the withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates from the alliance.
“The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is an attempt to reshape global energy market regulations to benefit the United States. The measures taken to block the strait were aimed at Iran, but backfired on the entire world. The strategic risks were underestimated,” Mr Sechin said.
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“The main beneficiaries, of course, were American companies, who gained non-competitive advantages and the ability to secure high-cost supplies,” he added.
He warned that following Strait of Hormuz closure, other major global routes, such as Malacca, Bad El Mandeb and Gibraltar straits could also be under the risk of disruption.
Chief Executive of oil producer Rosneft Igor Sechin (Reuters)
Nicole Wootton-Cane6 June 2026 11:00
Watch: US forces down Iranian missiles targeting Kuwait and Bahrain
US forces down Iranian missiles targeting Kuwait and Bahrain
Nicole Wootton-Cane6 June 2026 10:30
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Iran World Cup players get US visas
Iran’s World Cup soccer players have received visas to enter the United States, a US official said days before their first match, but Iranian media said on Saturday that some administrative staff had not gotten their visas.
The White House official told Reuters on Friday, 10 days before Iran plays in Los Angeles, that the players had received their visas, after Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, said on Thursday that they had not received them.
A spokesman for Iran’s World Cup federation could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Some Iran stars will be playing in their first World Cup (AFP/Getty)
Nicole Wootton-Cane6 June 2026 10:00
Recap: US forces seize sanctioned supertanker in high-seas operation
US forces intercepted the sanctioned stateless oil tanker Davina overnight on Thursday in the Indian Ocean, the military’s Indo-Pacific Command announced on Friday.
It comes as part of Washington’s blockade on Iran’s sea trade, after Tehran fired on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and follows multiple US interdictions of commercial and oil tankers in the region recently.
“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the Indo-Pacific Command wrote in an X post.
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Nicole Wootton-Cane6 June 2026 09:30
In focus: How Iran’s ‘bazaar style’ negotiation tactic is stalling deal discussions to its benefit
Negotiations between the US and Iran over an end to the war on the country have been languishing in a stalemate for weeks as both sides remain intransigent about key issues including nuclear development and the situation in Lebanon.
The US is insistent that Tehran surrender its right to ever develop highly enriched uranium and appears to have been manoeuvring to install a government more sympathetic to Western interests.
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Meanwhile, Iran has said that it will never agree to a deal that does not ensure the sovereignty of Lebanon and its borders from Israel – with Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon continuing – and has insisted on its ability to hold on to some nuclear development capabilities.
This has likely not been helped by Iran’s particular “bazaar style” negotiation strategy, which aims to wear down its opponents.
Nicole Wootton-Cane6 June 2026 09:00
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Iran’s foreign minister hits back at Lebanon ‘bargaining chip’ claims
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has hit back at Lebanon’s president’s claims his country is being used as a “bargaining chip” in Tehran’s negotiations with Washington.
In a post on X, Mr Araghchi wrote the countries would have had a deal “long ago” had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran.
“Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President,” he added.
Nicole Wootton-Cane6 June 2026 08:30
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Several Lebanese soldiers killed in Israeli strike in southern Lebanon
Several Lebanese soldiers, including an officer, were killed in an Israeli strike targeting their military vehicle on the Khardali-Nabatieh road in south Lebanon, the Lebanese army said on Saturday.
The Lebanese army has historically avoided involvement in confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel and has not engaged Israel in the current conflict.
It comes as fighting continues between Hezbollah and Israel in the south of the country.
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Nicole Wootton-Cane6 June 2026 08:00
Everything you need to know this morning
Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know after the US said it downed six ballistic missiles aimed at Gulf states:
• The US military says it has downed six Iranian ballistic missiles launched towards its Gulf allies, while a seventh missile failed to reach its target
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• Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had targeted US bases and assets in Kuwait and Bahrain
• US forces later struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island along the strait “to defend against further attacks”
• No injuries have currently been reported
Nicole Wootton-Cane6 June 2026 07:30
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Watch: Trump says he does not need deal with Iran to get enriched uranium
Trump says he does not need deal with Iran to get enriched uranium
Police are appealing for witnesses and dashcam footage
A woman is in a critical condition after suffering a suspected medical episode at the wheel prior to a crash in Wythenshawe.
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Southmoor Road, between Floatshall Road and Royal Oak Road, was shut at around 10am on Friday (June 5) following the incident.
The driver of a white Ford Ka suffered a suspected medical episode at the wheel before hitting a vehicle in the opposite lane.
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An air ambulance was seen landing near the scene. The driver of the Ford, a woman in her 50s, was taken to hospital and remains in a life-threatening condition.
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The force’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit is now appealing for anyone who saw the vehicle before the collision, witnessed the incident or caught it on dashcam footage to come forward.
In a full statement, the force said: “Our Serious Collision Investigation Unit are appealing for information following a collision yesterday (Friday 5 June 2026) on Southmoor Road, Wythenshawe at around 9:55am.
“One vehicle, a white Ford Ka, was seen driving along the road when the driver suffered a suspected medical episode and collided with a vehicle in the opposite lane.
“The driver of the Ford, aged in her 50s, was taken to hospital where she remains in life-threatening condition.
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“Officers from the SCIU continue their investigation and are asking for anyone with information to please come forward.
“This includes anyone who saw the vehicle driving before the collision, witnessed the incident itself, or has dashcam footage of the incident.
“You can contact the SCIU directly on 0161 856 4741, contact the police on our Live Chat service at gmp.police.uk, quoting log 925 of 05/06/2026.
“Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.”
Across the UK thousands of dogs are searching for their forever homes after experiencing difficult starts in life.
Animal rescue centres and dedicated foster carers work tirelessly throughout the year to provide vulnerable dogs with the warmth, safety, and care they need, helping to prevent animals from ending up on the streets or facing euthanasia. While their efforts transform countless lives their ultimate goal is to find each dog a loving family where they can enjoy a happy and secure future.
Every rescue dog has its own story, personality, and challenges but each also offers the opportunity to welcome a loyal and rewarding companion into your home.
To help these deserving dogs find their perfect match rescue organisations have shared the stories of some of the pets currently waiting for adoption. You can find them all here
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Charlie is a handsome young Mastiff x Great Dane available for adoption at Many Tears Rescue, Llanelli(Image: Many Tears Rescue)
The works include repairs to the roof, replacing and restoring window glazing and frames, enhancing the metal work and the installation of LED lighting.
Moorgarth Retail Ltd have argued that the restoration work is needed and could work in conjunction with wider efforts to regenerate the town.
A design and access statement said: “Bolton Market Hall is Grade II listed because of its architectural and historic significance, particularly as a fine early example of Victorian civic market building.
“Its architectural interest lies primarily in the innovative use of cast iron and glass, which was impressive in the mid-nineteenth century.
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A range of refurbishments have been approved (Image: Wardell Armstrong)
“The iron columns, roof trusses, and open hall layout of the internal structure also reflect early industrial engineering techniques, placing it firmly in the period of rapid industrial growth in which Bolton played a pivotal role.
“Bolton Market Hall has historic interest as an example of how municipal authorities invested in public infrastructure during the Industrial Revolution.
“It reflects Bolton’s growth as a major mill town, where markets were central to urban life and the local economy.
“Purpose-built covered markets like this were symbols of civic pride and modernity at the time, and it has long been a focal point of Bolton town centre, contributing to the character and identity of the area. Its survival, largely intact and unaltered, adds to its heritage value.”
A letter of objection was received raising concerns about the works being carried out during nighttime hours, but council officers said this was not a material planning issue.
The council’s heritage officer was consulted on the plans and said there were no objections to the proposed refurbishment.
A report said: “The works to this Grade II listed building amount to more than just repairs but on the whole they are very welcomed.
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“The works would have a neutral to positive impact.”
Bolton Council announced on Tuesday June 2 that the plans had been approved.
Rylan Clark often invites his mother Linda on to his BBC Radio 2 show, but on one appearance she begged her son to “stop” as he told his listeners an “embarrassing” anecdote
Radio presenter Rylan Clark is renowned for having an extremely close relationship with his mum Linda. But she recently begged him to “stop” after he exposed an “embarrassing” moment live on air.
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Rylan often invites his mum to appear on his BBC Radio 2 show on Saturdays. On one such occasion Rylan told a hilarious anecdote about the events leading up to a family wedding.
Linda was attending their cousin Christopher’s nuptials and had a very specific request for her son on the day of the wedding. Rylan shared the request with his Radio 2 listeners, causing Linda to beg him to “stop” before he shared the “embarrassing” moment.
As Rylan started to share the story, Linda said: “No, stop it’s embarrassing.” Rylan disagreed, saying: “It’s not embarrassing, I think it’s quite fun.”
He continued: “I want to prelude this with ‘we’re very normal’. This is the world my mum lives in. So she’s going to a wedding yesterday, our cousin Christopher, congratulations to the pair of them.
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“And she goes: ‘Are you near a Chanel?’ And I go: ‘I’m at the flat at the minute, what’s wrong?’ ‘You can’t pop in there and pick me up a gold bag?’ I said: ‘Sorry?’ And she went: ‘Yeah, like a little one you bought me last year.’ And I say: ‘The black one that you never use?’ And I say: ‘Sorry, mum do you know how much a Chanel bag costs?’”
Linda then begged her son not to finish the story, saying: “Please don’t tell everyone.”
But Rylan wouldn’t be stopped, as he added: “I think you’re under the impression they just dish them out on the street.” He couldn’t resist ending the anecdote with a joke, quipping that Linda is “letting this Radio 2 and Gogglebox thing go to your head”.
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Rylan shot to fame on the X Factor in 2012, when he came fifth. He has since gone on to star on a number of television programmes, including Celebrity Big Brother which he won the following year.
Alongside his BBC Radio 2 show, his other credits include This Morning, Eurovision, the rebooted Supermarket Sweep and Strictly Come Dancing’s spin off It Takes Two.
Rylan has often spoken of his extremely close relationship with his mother, and this was perhaps illustrated by another anecdote on his radio show.
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Kicking off the segment, the presenter said: “It’s time to catch up with the woman who pretty much woke me up this morning.
“I was already awake, but what I mean by woke me up is came through my front door like a bulldozer screaming that your car weren’t working.”
Catch Rylan and his mum Linda on Celebrity Gogglebox tonight (Saturday, June 6) from 12.05am to 1.05am on Channel 4.
On a more serious note, the message also advised people to plan a safe place to meet if they lose their group “or The Ones You Love” – and urged people not to venture into the sea if they’ve been drinking: “It Would Take A Strong Strong Man (or woman) to fight the current in the North Bay. We don’t want you having to Sink Or Swim.”
Rick Astley’s Scarborough gig inspires safety message from a North Yorkshire Police officer. (Image: North Yorkshire Police)
The officer whose identity was not revealed is clearly popular among page followers, with several issuing a warm welcome: “Fabulous you’re back”, wrote one, and ‘Yay, you’re back’.
Others joined in the theme with “Sounds like a Cry For Help” and “Ah good to have u back love these posts glad your never gonna give us up”.
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One suggested the post must have been vetted by four levels of police management, to which the officer replied “No, it was just me! Wrote it, posted it!”
To give the officer’s talent the bigger platform it deserves, we’re sharing the post here in full:
“Let’s hope the Angels On My Side look after me for this one!
“There won’t be any Rickrolling tonight, because the man himself, Rick Astley, takes to the stage to open the summer season at Scarborough‘s Open Air Theatre.
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“Rick will be joined by The Covasettes and The Lottery Winners. This year, you can meet our team who regularly patrol outside the venue, as we will be getting boots on the ground with our Beat Bus.
“Come and find us round the corner from the Box Office between 5pm and 7pm.
“See if you can find Elizabeth! As It Was in previous years, you will also find us on patrol around the outside of the venue.
“Whenever You Need Somebody, make a Cry For Help whether on 101, 999 or in person and we get to you.
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“You might find me Dippin My Feet on the golden sands of the North Bay, as high tide isn’t until just after 8:30pm tonight. Please don’t try to enter the water if you’ve been drinking. It Would Take A Strong Strong Man (or woman) to fight the current in the North Bay. We don’t want you having to Sink Or Swim.
“Now, I Like The Sun, but it has decided not to show up today, with cloudy skies and temperatures to be in the mid-teens, make sure you keep hydrated tho.
“On that note, toilets outside the venue are located in the car park opposite the entrance.
“Please don’t be Slipping Away into the bushes, no matter what you think….we can see you! You can find hospitality venues for food and drink both inside the venue and outside, all within a 5 minute walk.
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“Make sure your personal items are not on show in your car before you leave it. You don’t want to make 85 Trips to check.
“In previous years, the mobile phone signal has been a bit sketchy in the area. Check out the Box Office for the Wi-Fi codes to show your digital tickets. When you arrive, plan a safe place to return to, should you become separated with your group, or The Ones You Love.
“When it comes to Lights Out and its time to leave, Keep Singing as you leave the venue, Don’t Say Goodbye! Hearing a sell-out crowd singing… What A Rush.
“If you head towards the roundabout as you leave, you can find buses to town and taxi’s. It’s going to be a bumper year in 2026 for events at the OAT, and when you ask about these posts, I’m Never Gonna Stop! I’ve managed to avoid working the opener this year so I hope you have a great evening and stay safe.”
England head coach Thomas Tuchel says reports about the state of the pitch for his team’s friendly against New Zealand will not influence which players are involved.
The Daily Mail, external said the playing surface for the match at the Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was a ‘plug and play’ pitch laid just a week ago.
Several pitches for World Cup matches are being played in stadiums that usually have artificial surfaces but which have been relaid with grass.
Travelling ground staff from the Football Association were reported to be liaising with the venue over the pitch which appeared in pictures to be slightly disjointed in parts.
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England have no injury concerns and despite the start of the World Cup being so close, Tuchel said the condition of the pitch “will not affect my team selection”. He said that he has “heard” it “will be OK”.
“I saw a photo from a journalist which made me a little bit worried and concerned, but let’s decide when we are there,” Tuchel told a news conference on Friday.
“If there are any issues, we can always react to it. The plan is to play 45 minutes with two complete teams, to expose everyone to the same amount of minutes.
“Then we can continue for the next three days with the same load of training. That is the plan and at the moment we are sticking to it.”
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England are in Florida for a pre-World Cup camp in West Palm Beach and will play New Zealand on Saturday (21:00 BST).
The game is the first of two warm-ups, with the other being against Costa Rica on 10 June (21:00 BST), before the World Cup officially starts on 11 June.
England trained with 27 players on Friday in a session which did not include Arsenal players Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka as they were involved in the Champions League final on 30 May.
Premier League players Josh King, Rio Ngumoha, Ethan Nwaneri, Alex Scott and Jason Steele have been training with Tuchel’s squad to boost numbers.
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Goalkeeper Dean Henderson also trained having joined the squad following Crystal Palace’s victory in the Conference League final.
The North Korean leader was accompanied by his teenage daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, while inspecting a new warship (Picture: KCNA via KNS via AP)
Kim Jong Un has vowed to accelerate efforts to build a nuclear-armed navy and develop ‘secret underwater weapons’.
The North Korean leader was accompanied by his teenage daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, while inspecting a new warship ahead of a visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
State media quoted him as calling for ‘rapidly developing’ naval forces capable of playing a larger role in the country’s nuclear deterrent and dealing a ‘deadly blow at the enemy any moment under the water or on the water’.
He said the navy was at the heart of a new five-year defence plan including the building of larger 10,000-tonne-class destroyers and developing unspecified ‘underwater secret weapons’.
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North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not report any quotes by Kim about Washington or Seoul amid persistent tensions over his nuclear ambitions and a prolonged freeze in diplomacy.
The report came a day after North Korean and Chinese state media confirmed that Xi would visit North Korea on Monday, the latest sign of Beijing’s efforts to reinforce ties with its nuclear-armed neighbour.
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In recent years, Kim has prioritized relations with Russia, notably by sending troop s and military equipment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Kim Jong Un, left and his daughter observe the sea trials of its destroyer Kang Kon at an undisclosed location in North Korea (Picture: KCNA via KNS via AP)
Photo provided by the North Korean government shows its destroyer Kang Kon during the sea trials at an undisclosed location in North Korea (Picture: KCNA via KNS via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea next week (Picture: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Xi’s trip was announced a day after North Korea unveiled what South Korea’s military assessed as a new uranium-enrichment facility for producing nuclear bomb fuel.
While visiting the 5,000-ton destroyer Kang Kon, Kim pledged to expand the country’s nuclear forces ‘at an exponential rate’.
Experts say the move reflects his desire to cement North Korea’s status as a nuclear weapons state ahead of Xi’s visit.
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Kang Kon is the second of two destroyers North Korea unveiled last year, following the Choe Hyon, whose development Kim hailed as a major step toward expanding the operational range and pre-emptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military.
State media said the ships are designed to carry a range of weapons systems, including anti-aircraft and anti-ship weapons as well as nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles, though some experts have questioned their effectiveness in active duty.
Kang Kon was damaged during a botched launching ceremony in May last year at the northeastern port of Chongjin, triggering a furious reaction from Kim, who called the failure ‘criminal’.
North Korea said Kang Kon was relaunched in June after repair, but outside experts have questioned whether the ship is fully operational.
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Kim has called for building two more 5,000-ton-class destroyers.
It has been running since 2017, following James’ departure from the BBC and the end of his stint on Saturday Kitchen.
However, this weekend’s show begins at a later time of 10.30am.
Instead, ITV Racing: The Opening Show airs from 9.30am to 10.30am, with James’ shortened appearance on Saturday Morning then airing until 12.15pm.
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It’s also the last show before a summer break, with the programme sharing on social media: “Can you believe its our last show before the summer break today?!
“Don’t fret as we have a great show coming up! @jamesmartinchef is joined by singer @natashahamilton, chef @mikereidchef and award-winning chocolatier @mwtchocolate!”
One fan replied: “Can’t wait! I’m a huge fan of Mark Tilling! Hoping to see @paulainsw6rth back on the show soon – always brilliant when he’s on!”
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Another said: “Well I will be watching the show later well done for all your hard work and making the show happen see you next season.”
Someone else wrote: “Love this show can’t wait for the next season to come back,” as a fourth said: “Another great lineup so sad it’s your last show enjoy your break.”
The scheduling change comes as James made a “super-sized” announcement at the start of this year.
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He returned to screens on New Year’s Day, revealing that the regular Saturday programme would be given an extra 45 minutes, running from 9.30am until 12pm.
This came as ITV faced a series of shake-ups, including those affecting daytime TV, with Lorraine Kelly’s show and Loose Women now running for only parts of the year on a seasonal rota.
James told viewers at the time: “That’s all we’ve got time for today. A massive thank you to my guests Sally, John and, of course, the brilliant Chris Robshaw. Thank you very much. We’ll see you back next Saturday morning, where we will be in the new super-sized slot, that’s where we’ll be. An improved show it says on [the autocue].”
He added: “But until then, enjoy the rest of your day. Happy New Year’s Day everyone, bye for now!”
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James Martin’s Saturday Morning airs at 10.30am on Saturday, June 6 on ITV1 and ITVX.
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