Royal Mail has launched a new campaign encouraging children aged four to 17 to send letters of support to the England and Scotland men’s World Cup football teams.

The initiative aims to inspire a new generation to rediscover the value of letter writing while wishing the national squads well during the tournament.

Alistair Cochrane, chief executive of Royal Mail, highlighted the community spirit of such events.

He stated: “Sporting moments like this bring people together across the country and we wanted to give children a simple and meaningful way to get involved. Writing a letter is a personal way to show support, and we hope this campaign encourages young people to take part while highlighting the value of sending letters.”

Children wishing to participate can send their letters to the dedicated Freepost addresses: World Class Letters Freepost England or World Class Letters Freepost Scotland.

Scotland have enjoyed mixed emotions at the World Cup so far. Steve Clarke’s team beat Haiti 1-0 in the opening match, their first win at a World Cup since 1990, giving them a strong possibility of qualifying for the last 32.

However, despite a resilient showing on Friday night against a strong Morocco side, they wound up losing 1-0, conceding the only goal of the game within the first 70 seconds.

England, considered to be one of the tournament favourites, secured an impressive 4-2 win over Croatia on Wednesday night. England were level 2-2 at half-time with their European counterparts, despite two goals from talisman Harry Kane.

England, though, showed much more dynamism and attack intent in the second half, with goals from Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford ultimately giving Thomas Tuchel’s side the win.

The Three Lions continue their tournament on Tuesday, when they face Ghana in Boston.

The London Fire Brigade confirmed it received 19 calls reporting the blaze, prompting more than a dozen fire engines to be dispatched to the scene where crews found three people trapped

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Three people have died following a blaze that erupted in west London on Saturday night (June 20), the London Fire Brigade has confirmed.

Approximately 100 firefighters and 15 fire engines rushed to tackle the inferno on New Zealand Way, which started at around 6.52pm, after the fire brigade received 19 calls about the incident.

Speaking at the scene on New Zealand Way in White City, London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Pat Goulbourne said: “The fire involved a single-storey pavilion, with just over half of the structure damaged by the fire.

“Three men were rescued from the building by firefighters and treated on scene by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service. Sadly, two of the men were declared dead at the scene. The third man was taken to hospital for further treatment, but was later declared dead.”

He said the brigade received the first of 19 calls reporting the fire at 6.52pm, and crews from North Kensington, Acton, Chiswick and surrounding fire stations were dispatched to the scene, with firefighters managing to bring the blaze under control by 9.25pm, reports the Express.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Brigade’s specialist fire investigation officers and the Metropolitan Police Service, Mr Goulbourne said.

A police appeal has been launched to help officers

A teenager has died after being stabbed in Poole, prompting a murder investigation and the arrests of four young men.

Emergency services were called to Longfleet Road at 2.13am on Friday, June 19, where an 18‑year‑old was found with a suspected stab wound and taken to hospital. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards, according to the Mirror.

Detectives believe the victim, who was from Poole, was injured during an incident in nearby Dale Close before being driven to Longfleet Road. Four men, aged between 19 and 22, have been arrested on suspicion of murder as inquiries continue.

A 19-year-old man from Poole came forward overnight and was arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday (June 20). Two 22-year-olds, one from London and one from Bletchley in Buckinghamshire, who were initially arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, have since been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Also, a 20-year-old man from Blandford in Dorset has been arrested on suspicion of murder. All four remain in custody, police confirmed.

Two men aged 36 and 38, from Bournemouth, have been released with no further action taken after they were initially arrested on suspicion of murder.

“We are continuing our investigation into this incident and are keeping the victim’s family updated on our progress. Our thoughts are with them at this incredibly difficult time,” said Detective Superintendent Neil Third, of Dorset Police.

“Officers have concluded searches in the Dale Close area and continue to carry out searches at an address in Castleman Smith Close in Blandford in connection to the incident. We do not underestimate the concern and upset that an incident of this nature will have in the community.

“We still need help from the public and would reiterate our appeal for anyone with information – or relevant home CCTV, doorbell camera or dashcam footage – from Dale Close or Longfleet Road around the relevant time to please contact us.”

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An appeal was launched for information regarding a dark-coloured Nissan Juke seen in the area of Dale Close at the time of the incident. Still, later on Saturday night they said they had identified the vehicle’s location.

Anyone with information has been asked to contact Dorset police online or by calling 101 quoting reference number number 55260090826. Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously through independent charity Crimestoppers online or by calling 0800 555 111.

The show will run at Newcastle Theatre Royal in June next year before heading to Sunderland Empire later in the 2027 tour, giving fans on both sides of the Tyne and Wear the chance to see Broadway and the West End’s hottest musical close to home.

Hadestown North East dates and venues

The big news for local theatregoers is that Hadestown will play a week‑long engagement at Newcastle Theatre Royal from June 1–5, 2027, with evening performances and mid‑week matinees expected.

Sunderland Empire welcomes Hadestown in November, bringing the underworld to Wearside from November 9-13 of 2027.

What is Hadestown about?

Hadestown reimagines the ancient myths of Orpheus and Eurydice, and Hades and Persephone, as a gritty, Depression‑era fable about love, power and the cost of hope.

Set to a score that blends New Orleans jazz, folk, blues and contemporary musical theatre, it follows young songwriter Orpheus as he journeys to the underworld to rescue Eurydice from the factory‑like Hadestown run by Hades.

The show began life as a concept album by singer‑songwriter Anaïs Mitchell before evolving into a fully staged musical that opened on Broadway in 2019, winning eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, before transferring to the West End.

(Image: Storyhouse.)

For North East audiences, used to big touring titles, Hadestown offers something a little different: it’s sung‑through, narratively rich and politically sharp, with a distinct sound and a staging that breaks the fourth wall.

Fans of Hamilton, Les Misérables or Come From Away are likely to find plenty to love in its mix of storytelling, ensemble work and inventive choreography.

How to book in the North East

Booking for Hadestown’s North East dates is being phased, with membership schemes and mailing‑list subscribers often getting first access before general sale.

The safest route is to check the Newcastle Theatre Royal website regularly and to register for updates, as well as keeping an eye on the official Hadestown tour page where new details are added as they’re confirmed.

Sunderland Empire tickets can be booked here: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/hadestown/sunderland-empire/.

With the show’s award‑winning track record in London and on Broadway – and this being its first UK and Ireland tour – demand for North East performances is likely to be intense.

Thousands of volunteers across England now regularly take out their own testing kits to study the levels of pollution in rivers and the sea.

With sewage spills rarely out of the news, citizen water testing has become one of the most visible responses to England’s pollution scandals.

A crisis of trust in the water companies appears to be driving the public to take water quality testing into their own hands. Thousands of people take part in the twice yearly water testing events, organised by charity Earthwatch. Spring 2025 saw the highest number of participants at more than 7,000. Other organisations also report rising numbers of people getting involved in water testing.

These people, often referred to as citizen scientists, are doing tasks as varied as surveying aquatic insects to sampling water for chemicals.

Much public attention has centred on sewage pollution in UK rivers in the past few years. Waste is regularly and legally discharged into lakes, rivers and along beaches by water companies during periods of heavy rainfall. But incidents of sewage discharges on days with no to low rainfall have also been identified, and in some cases legal action has followed. In some cases water companies have been fined millions of pounds.

The Environment Agency (EA), the main environmental regulator for the water industry, reported nearly 300,000 sewage spills across England in 2025 alone.

The consequences have affected both wildlife and people. Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage documented more than 7,000 cases of illness linked to swimming at official bathing sites over just five years. In 2025, 12 of England’s 14 inland bathing sites were rated “poor”, meaning swimmers were recommended to avoid the water because of potentially harmful bacteria. In April, the UK’s largest pollution claim began to be heard in the High Court, over allegations of chicken waste pouring into rivers along the Welsh-English border.

Public campaigning is believed to have helped trigger recent government action, with reforms expected in a planned Water Reform Bill.

Citizen sceptics

Some water companies now fund freshwater citizen science initiatives. These run across locations including the Thames Valley, south-east England and Wales. The programmes claim to enhance community awareness, empowerment and improve transparency of water companies’ management efforts.

During my PhD, I researched how one group of volunteers in Oxfordshire collected and interpreted river data. Some told me that they felt that water companies encouraged participation in citizen science, while ignoring the data.

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As one citizen scientist explained in my own ongoing preliminary research, “people keep beavering away, and eager beavers are just what the water industry wants”. In his view, citizen science risks becoming a tool for keeping volunteers busy and distracted, rather than driving accountability.

However, recent research shows water companies have historically underreported the number of sewage spills. The Consumer Council for Water, which represents customers, has reported widespread dissatisfaction with water companies. An independent water commission has also highlighted a deterioration of public confidence in the environmental regulators.

A recent Channel 4 docudrama, Dirty Business, echoes these frustrations. It follows two citizens trying to hold water companies and regulators to account.

In line with some recent academic research, the programme explores suggestions that the water industry attempts to deflect blame and distract attention from sewage pollution. In a statement addressing the allegations, the EA said: “Prosecutions are just one tool against water pollution, and we have also levied a record £8.5 million in enforcement undertakings against water companies in the last year alone.”

Public confidence

The Environment Agency also faces questions about public confidence. Research suggests that volunteers believe current regulations allow water companies to act without sufficient oversight. In this study, people felt that the EA was not fulfilling its responsibility to hold the water industry to account.

In 2024, the head of the EA, Philip Duffy, said that the organisation had buried freedom of information requests, with staff worried about revealing the embarrassing truth of water pollution. In a statement reported in the Guardian at the time, the EA said: “Philip is completely committed to the highest standards of transparency.” It added that he wanted to make more EA data readily available.

In January 2026, the Office for Environmental Protection, a public watchdog on environmental protection, also found possible failures by the EA to comply with water quality laws.

My participants felt that the agency shouldn’t ignore their data in monitoring water quality.

Concerns about data bias and reliability are often cited as reasons to limit the use of volunteer data to support regulatory responses to pollution incidents.

These concerns are not unreasonable. Citizen science data can indeed vary in quality, depending on training and sampling practices. Ensuring consistency across the sheer number of volunteer groups is also a challenge.

Using citizen science

Nevertheless, research now suggests volunteers can produce reliable data suitable for official monitoring. The debate is gradually shifting to how regulators can include it in decision-making. For example, a national programme has already developed a shared framework on how to use data collected by citizens.

In the meantime, groups such as environmental charity Earthwatch and Surfers Against Sewage design and publish their own online maps and dashboards. These make thousands of historic data points publicly available.

As summer arrives and 13 new bathing sites open, pressure is again mounting on water companies and regulators to clean up England’s rivers and beaches. The citizen water sample collectors will be on standby.

A “deeply caring” young man has died following a crash. Callum Hanson, 22, died in hospital on Wednesday, June 17 following the collision on the A4075 near Cross Hands, Pembrokeshire.

Callum’s family have paid tribute to him through a statement released through Dyfed-Powys Police. They described Callum, from Haverfordwest, as a kind and loving person.

The statement reads: “Callum’s family wish to remember him as the kind, loving person he was, who lived his life to the fullest, despite his own personal challenges.

“He was a deeply caring person and spent the last month looking after his grandad, who sadly, also recently passed away. Callum has a passion for gaming and motorbikes and was training to be a mechanic in college.

“Callum will be remembered by his mum Joanne, dad Carl, sister Kacey, nan Heather, girlfriend Emily, and his wider family and friends. The family now ask for privacy during this difficult time.”

Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police continue to appeal for anyone who was travelling on the A4075 between Canaston Bridge and Yerbeston around 6.15pm on Wednesday, June 17 to get in touch.

It also has a name that catches almost every visitor out on their first visit.

How to pronounce it

The correct pronunciation is Boomer.

Not Bowl-mer. Not Bool-mer.

Boomer, like the word some young people would use to describe someone born after the Second World War.

Why does it sound like that?

The answer lies in the village’s age.

The name Boulmer is recorded in earlier documents as Bulemer, and derives from the Old English bulan-mere, meaning “bull’s mere” – a mere, or pool, frequented by bulls.

Over centuries of use in the Northumberland dialect, the spelling calcified while the spoken form kept moving, until the gap between the two became impossible to guess from the page alone.

There is a second theory.

The RNLI’s own archive, recording the lifeboating families of Boulmer, notes that the origin of the name “is given as Bull’s Mere or Bow Mere, the second being more probably right, from the shape of the water in the haven, enclosed by reefs of rock in the shape of a bow.”

The haven itself was known locally as the Mer-Mouth, pronounced “Marmoothe.”

A third possibility comes from even earlier.

The North Cottage Boulmer website notes that the village’s name may have its first roots in ancient Gaelic, in the words Búir na mara, meaning “roar of the sea.”

Whether the Gaelic, the Old English or the bow-shaped haven is the true origin is a question scholars have not fully settled, but the pronunciation has been fixed for as long as anyone can remember: it is Boomer.

The village itself

Boulmer sits on the Northumberland Coast National Landscape three miles north of Alnmouth, accessed along a narrow road through the dunes.

It is one of the last genuinely working fishing villages on the Northumberland coast, and the pub, The Fishing Boat Inn, sits steps from the shore. RAF Boulmer — also officially pronounced “RAF Boomer” — occupies the land behind the village and is home to the Air Command and Control Force.

One English-learning visitor who walked the coastal path from Alnmouth wrote drily online in response to place names with strange pronounciations, saying: “Boulmer, pronounced Boomer for some reason.

“How people ever learn English I’ll never know. It’s hard enough coping with the various accents without pronouncing things differently to how they look.”

They are not wrong. But now you know.

T20 World Cup, Group 2, Headingley

England 200-5 (20 overs): Dunkley 57 (37), Capsey 40 (25); Gordon 2-30

Scotland 162-7 (20 overs): S Bryce 34 (24)

England won by 38 runs

Scorecard. Tables

England’s batting sparkled again as the hosts closed on a place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals with an 38-run victory over Scotland at Headingley.

Sophia Dunkley ensured injured captain Nat Sciver-Brunt was not missed by capitalising on three dropped catches in making 57 on her return to the side.

Alice Capsey stroked 40 and Heather Knight 25 but most impressive was a barnstorming unbroken partnership of 61 from just 21 balls from Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson.

Together they took England from 141-5 after 17 overs to 200-5 after 20 – with Kemp hitting an unbeaten 39 from 16 balls and Gibson an 11-ball 30 not out.

After an edgy chase over Ireland in their second match, this was more reminiscent of England’s performance on the opening night of the tournament when they piled up 219-1 against Sri Lanka.

The Kemp-Gibson pyrotechnics pushed the target beyond Scotland and, despite an admirable effort, they finished on 162-7 – their highest score batting second in T20 internationals.

A win in either of England’s last two matches, against West Indies on Wednesday or New Zealand next Saturday, will likely be enough to secure a top-two finish.

Scotland, who have a win and two defeats, play New Zealand on Tuesday.

The family said they are ‘totally heartbroken’ by the sudden and unexpected loss

Mark Hughes has been left ‘totally heartbroken’ following the death of his son, Alex, at the age of 38.

A statement issued by the League Managers Association on behalf of the former Blackburn, Manchester City and Stoke boss Hughes reads: “Jill and I are totally heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected loss of our beloved son Alex.

“Alex was a wonderful son, brother to Curtis and Xenna, devoted husband and father to Jessica and their two beautiful children Sebastian and Leonardo.

“Alex was Player Recruitment Lead at Grimsby Town FC, and had many good friends and colleagues. He will be so deeply missed by us all. We ask for privacy during this sad time as we come to terms with our family’s loss.”

Alex Hughes had been employed most recently within Grimsby Town’s player recruitment team at the time of his passing, reports the Mirror.

He was born in 1987 while his father Mark was contracted to Barcelona. He enjoyed a short-lived football career in Wales before transitioning into football administration.

He began as a match analyst at Blackburn before progressing to Manchester City as a scout.

He subsequently held positions with Fulham, 1860 Munich and Reading. Hughes later assumed the role of director of football at AFC Fylde before moving to Morecambe and Grimsby.

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