Pro-independence MSPs have been accused of dodging scrutiny after the Greens refused to join other opposition parties in demanding a probe into Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband.

The SNP and Scottish Greens have been accused of “sweeping things under the carpet” after they last night blocked a Holyrood inquiry into Peter Murrell.

The environmentalists instead proposed a broader investigation into the financing of all political parties – despite the Scottish Parliament lacking any powers to legislate on the matter – which was supported by Nationalists.

The SNP is under mounting pressure to explain why it ignored whistleblowers concerned about the state of party finances years before Murrell was eventually jailed last month. The former Nationalist CEO was able to embezzle £400,000 over a decade without any senior party figures raising the alarm.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “The Greens amendment that they moved is literally a smokescreen and a place, if you like, that affords cover for the SNP.

“This is about, as far as the Government and the SNP are concerned, sweeping things under the carpet, nothing to see here, we have just to trust them.

“The reality is, this is probably one of the biggest scandals that I have witnessed in Scotland in the Scottish Parliament, and it doesn’t just impact on the SNP, it impacts on all our politicians, because the lack of trust that the public have is further undermined, so we do need a parliamentary inquiry.

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“It should be cross-party, so there are questions that actually have nothing to do with the internal workings of the SNP.

“The internal workings of the SNP should be considered by them and should be considered by the Electoral Commission, but the reality is there are questions in relation to the length and cost of the police investigation.”

Murrell pleaded guilty last month to embezzling more than £400,000 over 12 years and will be sentenced later in June.

Asked whether Scottish Labour would take part in the inquiry that was voted through Holyrood, Dame Jackie said: “If an inquiry is set up, we will of course take part.”

MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster could still step in and launch their own investigation.

The committee has made clear it feels Holyrood is the “most appropriate place for an inquiry”, with MPs now waiting to see if there is any change at the Scottish Parliament before they decide if they should “undertake substantive work on this matter”.

Members of the Middleton Hall Retirement Village team attended the North East BUSINESSiQ Awards (Image: Middleton Hall Retirement Village)

The nomination reflects the employee owned organisation’s continued growth as a trusted provider of retirement living and care services in the Darlington area and its contribution to the wider North East business community.

At a national level, Middleton Hall achieved significant success at the prestigious 2026 Care Home Awards, where it was shortlisted in four categories: Best for Wellbeing, Best for Nutrition, Food and Dining, Best for Architecture or Interior Design, and Best Retirement Living Village or Development with Care Provision.

The Best for Nutrition, Food and Dining Award recognised Middleton Hall’s high-quality dining experience and seasonal menus (Image: Middleton Hall Retirement Village)

The village went on to win Best for Nutrition, Food and Dining in a highly competitive category featuring 13 finalists from across the UK. This achievement recognises the high-quality dining experience, seasonal menus and resident-focused approach to nutrition and wellbeing within its care and retirement village setting.

The wellbeing award nomination highlighted the strength of Middleton Hall’s holistic care services, with a wide variety of activities designed to support physical health, mental wellbeing and social connection.

The wellbeing award nomination highlighted the wide variety of activities designed to support physical health (Image: Middleton Hall Retirement Village)

The architecture and design category recognised the quality of the refurbishment of the village’s Middleton Grove supported living and independent retirement accommodation.

Further recognition includes shortlisting in the upcoming national Housing with Care Awards 2026 across three categories: The Garden Landscaper Award, Care Team Award and Senior Leader Award, demonstrating excellence across estates management, care delivery and leadership within an integrated retirement village environment.

The Estates Team are shortlisted for the Garden Landscaper Award in the national Housing with Care Awards 2026 (Image: Middleton Hall Retirement Village)

Recent investment continues to enhance life at Middleton Hall Retirement Village. The newly refurbished Drawing Room, formerly the village’s restaurant, has been reimagined as a multi-functional social and dining space inspired by the Georgian heritage of Middleton Hall and its connection to railway pioneer George Stephenson.

It now hosts dining experiences, activities, coffee mornings and community events at the heart of village life.

The newly refurbished Middleton Hall Drawing Room is a light-filled dining and social space (Image: Middleton Hall Retirement Village)

In addition, the newly released Middleton Grove supported living apartments offer modern, accessible accommodation with kitchen, sitting room and bathroom facilities, with some featuring balconies or patios.

Residents benefit from flexible care packages, hospitality services, meals and housekeeping, combining independence with access to high-quality care services in a retirement village setting near Darlington.

The Middleton Grove supported living apartments offer modern, accessible accommodation (Image: Middleton Hall Retirement Village)

Together, these achievements reflect Middleton Hall’s position as a leading retirement village in the North East, delivering outstanding care, wellbeing support and lifestyle-focused services for later life.

Middleton Hall Retirement Village, Middleton St George, Darlington, County Durham, DL2 1HA. For further information www.middletonhallretirementvillage.co.uk

Wolves have sacked head coach Rob Edwards after just seven months following their relegation from the Premier League.

The club had previously put on a united front and insisted they were behind the 43-year-old, appointed last November.

Cesar Peixoto, who guided Gil Vicente to sixth place in Portugal’s Primeira Liga during the season just completed, has been linked with the job at Molineux.

Edwards’ assistants Harry Watling and Paul Trollope are also leaving Molineux.

Wolves had already started planning for the Championship by signing Kieran Trippier on a free from Newcastle, with Edwards key to the deal, while Raul Jimenez returned, with his Fulham contract expiring at the end of the month.

Technical director Matt Jackson said last month that the club’s hierarchy was aligned in supporting Edwards as they looked to rebuild the squad.

“The plan and the goal is to get promoted straight away but we understand a lot of change has to take place,” Jackson said.

“If there isn’t alignment here, we’re dead in the water before we start, so that discussion has been going on for months already.”

Edwards left a Championship promotion race with Middlesbrough, replacing Vitor Pereira, but won just five of his 30 games in all competitions, losing 16.

Wolves finished bottom of the Premier League – and the former Forest Green, Watford and Luton boss called for change at the club recently.

“We’re a collective and I’ll take responsibility of course but it’s not an effort thing, it’s the fact that we’re the worst team in the league. That’s the bottom line,” said Edwards at a Q&A hosted by BBC Radio WM last month.

“I’ll be careful what I say because I’ve got to work with the boys as well for the next couple of weeks but we’re not good enough.

“That’s the situation we came into. I knew coming here in November, I might be sitting here in front of a lot of very angry people because this place is in a mess. I wanted to come here, I wanted to try and help.”

When Roberto Baggio missed a penalty in the 1994 Fifa World Cup final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, more than 94,000 people were there to watch Italian heartbreak and Brazilian ecstasy.

To this day, no other World Cup has been as well attended as the 1994 tournament. Tickets were cheap and abundant, and despite the relatively low profile of the game in the US compared to sports like baseball or basketball, people went along to see what it was all about.

Now, three decades later, as the 2026 World Cup returns to North America with games across Mexico, Canada and the US, soccer has grown a much larger and more dedicated fan base in America.

In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to John Sloop, a professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and historian of soccer and its fans in the United States, about what’s changed for the men’s game in the US and whether the popularity has staying power.

From Pelé to Messi

Part of the deal for Fifa choosing the US to host the 1994 World Cup was for the country to set up is own professional soccer league, Major League Soccer, which is now home to global football stars including Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Uruguay’s Luis Suárez.

But it wasn’t the first American professional league. In the 1960s, investors looking around for a new venture launched the North American Soccer League, which ran from 1968 to 1984. It originally struggled to get off the ground, but then in 1975, the New York Cosmos managed to lure Brazilian great Pelé out of retirement, reportedly for US$4 million. Other players followed, including Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, Dutchman Johan Cruyff and England’s Bobby Moore.

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How apartheid, European racism and Pelé helped cultivate a culture of diversity in US soccer that endures into Messi-era MLS

“The league takes off in a very flashy way, starts getting very large viewership, not necessarily on TV, but they were selling out stadiums of 60-something thousand when Pelé shows up,” explains Sloop. But eventually the teams went bankrupt and the NASL began to fall apart. Sloop says that collapse was “somewhat heartbreaking for real international soccer fans”, who began to ask what kind of model could work in the US.

Listen to Sloop on The Conversation Weekly podcast to understand how the launch of MLS, the success of the US women’s team, and the greater availability of soccer on television, has changed views of the game in the US.

This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware, Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl.

Newsclips in this episode from FIFA, NASL 1968-1984 Soccer History, AP Archive, TODAY and Olympics.

Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.

Bolton imam Hassan Patel, 42, lives at the property with his wife, four young children and his nephew

Horrifying CCTV footage has captured the moment the home of an imam and his family was ‘firebombed’ in an attack.

The attack took place on Eastgrove Avenue in the Sharples area of Bolton last night (Wednesday). The video footage shows a male, who was wearing a helmet and dark clothing, running onto the driveway of the home before the blaze erupts.

Hassan Patel, 42, lives at the property with his wife, four young children and his nephew. He wasn’t in at the time but spoke today of his shock.

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Mr Patel is the principal for Islamic Education at the Taiyabah Masjid mosque on Blackburn Road and an imam at Masjid e Aish on Seymour Road. He said police were investigating.

Mr Patel said: “I am shaken by it all really, and the children are shaken. It is a quiet community. We have not had any issues before.

“Everybody is concerned. They are asking why this has happened. The police are investigating. We want to thank everybody who has sent messages. We really appreciate the community coming together.”

No one was hurt in the blaze at just after 9pm. In the footage, a male appears to be holding a bag in one hand, and another item in the other hand which he pours liquid onto.

The item then bursts into flames on the driveway of the home. The footage then captures the male throwing the item on fire towards the front of the home.

He throws something to smash a window towards the front of the house. More liquid is then poured onto the fire, which then quickly spread onto the front of home.

The footage then captures the male grabbing the backpack and running from the driveway.

‘We are all traumatised’

Mr Patel’s son, Umair Yusuf, 19, told how the blaze was quickly put out after one of his younger brothers used buckets of water. A hose pipe was also used.

Umair said: “My mother, two brothers and sister, and my cousin, were in the house. The neighbours reported that there were two individuals dressed all in black driving up and down the street on a motorbike. One of my brothers was outside at the time.

“He saw they saw him and looked at him. We feel that it was racially motivated. We feel that it was targeted to this house. One person stays on the motorbike and the other intentionally walks up and calmly did what he did. He knew exactly what he was doing.

“My younger brother heard a noise and the smashing of windows. He quickly got a hosepipe and brought it outside. He was screaming. He put the fire out from the outside as my brother, cousin and mother put the fire out with buckets of water.

“The immediate threat of the house being burnt down was put out before the fire service came.”

He said neighbours came out onto the street to support them.

Umair said: “We are all traumatised and so are the local community. The police have said they are investigating at the moment. My father is very well respected by a lot of people in the community. There were a lot of people here in solidarity with us.

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“The community is vey close. It is like one big family and they showed us that yesterday when we were all standing together.

“It could have been a whole lot worse. If it had happened at night and we were all sleeping, who knows what might have happened.”

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said: “Just after 9.15pm on Wednesday 10 June, fire crews from Bolton North and Farnworth attended a house fire on Eastgrove Avenue, Bolton.

“Crews arrived quickly and worked alongside Greater Manchester Police to make the area safe. No casualties were reported. Firefighters departed after approximately an hour and a half.”