“He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, was driving on a provisional licence without someone accompanying him, didn’t have any ‘L’ plates displayed and had no insurance”

A learner driver was caught going 98mph on a Northern Irish motorway while unaccompanied, police say.

In a statement on social media, NI Road Policing and Safety officers said a vehicle was recorded driving without ‘L’ plates, without a full driver’s licence, and without a seatbelt on the motorway between Lurgan and Moira.

In Northern Ireland, drivers with a provisional licence are not permitted to drive on motorways. He driver was stopped on Saturday morning.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Road Policing Officers stopped the driver of this car in the last hour. He was detected travelling at 98mph on the motorway, between Lurgan and Moira.

“Not only that, but he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, was driving on a provisional licence without someone accompanying him, didn’t have any ‘L’ plates displayed and had no insurance.

“The driver will have to attend court in the near future.

“His friend, who was the owner of the car and had allowed him to drive, will also have to attend court for permitting no insurance.

“Drivers like this pose a risk to all of us on the roads; we will continue to deal with them robustly.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

A warning was issued by a council on Friday, July 3

Officials at a Cambridgeshire council have warned residents about text messages which falsely claim that people have been issued with a parking fine. Huntingdonshire District Council shared a warning on Friday, July 3, stating they are aware of residents being targeted by “fraudsters” who are claiming people had been issued with a parking fine or a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

The local authority has assured it would not contact residents by text message about parking fines. The council has asked anyone who has received one of these messages to not click any links or share any personal or financial details.

A spokesperson for Huntingdonshire District Council said: “We are aware of fraudsters targeting residents with text messages claiming that a parking fine needs to be paid.

“Please be aware that HDC would not contact you by text message about a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), as we do not hold residents’ mobile phone numbers for this purpose.

“If you receive a text message about an unpaid parking fine, do not click any links or provide any personal or financial information. If you’re ever unsure whether a communication is genuinely from us, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help: https://orlo.uk/Sruq8.”

Morocco’s evolution into a top football nation was ⁠no better exemplified than their comprehensive 3-0 win over Canada in the World Cup last 16 on Saturday as they absorbed pressure before inflicting three hammer blows on their opponents.

Morocco took 50 minutes to break the deadlock as Azzedine Ounahi scored twice and Soufiane Rahimi added a late third, but never looked flustered nor deviated from their plans.

Canada were on top in a frenzied opening and created several chances ⁠to score, but were wasteful and made to pay.

By contrast, Morocco had four shots on target in the 90 minutes and netted from three of them, economical in their chance creation but clinical with their finishing.

“As well as we played, Morocco bent a ‌little bit but did not break,” Canada ‌coach Jesse Marsch told reporters.

“The smallest details in a match can make a big difference. And if you do not take your chances when you are on top, that will cost you.”

It is a hallmark of a top team that Morocco are able to soak up the pressure placed on them, not panic and trust that chances will come their way.

“It’s a World Cup match and these are difficult games with teams playing for their lives,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. “We reacted very well in the second half in the second balls and the duels.

“I have to recognise that Canada were impressive they played a top match. It was no surprise for us but in the second half we were able to profit from the space they left us that was the key.”

More than that, Morocco believe they will have the quality in attack to take those opportunities when they come along. It is the kind of “big team energy” that sets the top teams apart ‌and the Atlas Lions have discovered it.

There have been several other examples in this World Cup, including Brazil’s performance against Japan and England’s comeback victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo. Morocco were World Cup semi-finalists four years ago, but ⁠this is an arguably better team, more balanced and with more attacking threats.

The win over Canada took them to number six on the world rankings and a team brimming with talent has worked out the street smarts needed to go deep into major tournaments.

Every time she releases a new album, journalists and social media commentary insist that Madonna is over. They are usually, eventually, proven wrong.

This debate has emerged again now Madonna is on the promotional circuit for her new album Confessions II. Despite the positive response to the music released so far, she is drawing controversy for her appearance and performances – surprise.

Madonna’s contribution to music was never simply the hit records. It was demonstrating that a woman at the centre of popular culture could have an audacity that matched any applauded (male) rockstar.

Now, just as it was back in the 1980s and early 1990s, that quality feels scarce in contemporary mainstream pop music. There are many more female artists in the 2020s, but there is no one as iconoclastic as Madonna, more than 40 years on from her debut.

This is not to say today’s female artists lack talent. Quite the opposite. Popular music is filled with extraordinary singers, writers and performers (see Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande et al). They are well-oiled, slick, inoffensive and easy to imagine the parental approval of teenage fans.

Madonna built her career by refusing precisely that approach.

From 1984’s Like A Virgin until the present day, she has made art that potentially jeopardised safe commercial success that became culturally significant because of its audacity.

Some projects did not perform as expected: 2019’s Madame X did not connect with many. Some attracted furious criticism: 2005’s Hung Up created a cultural debate about the ageist sexism in early 2000s music. Others were misunderstood for years before being reassessed: 2003’s American Life was ahead of its time with its critique of George W. Bush and early noughties US society.

The point is not that every provocation succeeded artistically. It is that she accepted the possibility of failure as the price of remaining culturally significant and having the audacity to say something beyond the solid harmonies and fantastic melodies. Madonna had a message and meaning.

For women, significance beyond representation

The music industry has never been especially comfortable with women exercising power over both their image and their business. Female artists continue to encounter double standards around ageing, sexuality and ambition that male performers rarely experience.

Madonna did not dismantle these structures. Instead, she repeatedly exposed them. The imagery for the Confessions II album shows Madonna in outfits she would have worn 35 years ago, and her refusal to acquiesce to society’s views of what a 68-year-old woman should wear, is exactly the reason she has an army of female fans supporting her, and why she matters.

It isn’t the simple fact she is a woman, and improves the quota of female artists, it is the fact she is a woman with opinions and a provocative mind that matters.

Her importance to queer audiences

Long before LGBTQ+ identities gained mainstream acceptance, Madonna treated queer culture as a source of artistic innovation and fought for the community. She employed queer dancers, collaborated with gay creatives during the Aids crisis and brought elements of queer “ballroom” culture into mainstream visibility through Vogue.

Those choices have since generated important debates about appropriation and cultural credit, particularly regarding the Black and Latino communities that created ballroom culture. Those criticisms deserve serious attention. But they should not obscure the fact that Madonna used unprecedented levels of mainstream visibility to platform queer aesthetics and queer people to audiences who might otherwise never have encountered them.

Now, 35 years on and her new Confessions II album is positioned directly to her gay audience; the project is sponsored by queer dating app Grindr and she is tapping into Pride month performances to launch the record.

This strategic partnership with Grindr is a first for the music industry, and given the salacious perceptions of the app, and the music videos and performances so far, it is clear this album is audaciously using a “sex sells” strategy for a 68-year-old female artist with a large gay audience. This is quintessential Madonna, and her gay audience is loving it.

Why she matters now more than ever

Every moral panic surrounding her career revealed less about Madonna herself than about society’s anxieties about female autonomy. Whether discussing gender, religion, sexuality, material consumerism or ageing, she has both ignited and contributed to society and culture’s big conversations.

In her recent interview with Graham Norton for the BBC, her audacious nature shows no signs of slowing down; she persistently pushed back on his questions, and was quite clear when she did not want to answer.

It is rare to see anyone be so confident and assured in their own skin. Many would want to appear likeable and hope for a positive reception so the audience would be warmed up to buy the record, but Madonna is less polished popstar and more confident rockstar, her answers felt more like those of Ozzy Osbourne, Jonny Rotten and Liam Gallagher in their swag and attitude.

Not every artist should aspire to be Madonna. But every generation needs an iconoclast: someone prepared to risk popularity in pursuit of possibility and to ignite debate and conversation.

You might love her or hate her, but in an age increasingly governed by algorithms, metrics and carefully managed authenticity, that may be Madonna’s most relevant legacy of all: queer-infused female audacity. There is no one like her, and she is needed now more than ever.

A Lake District village once described by Wordsworth as ‘the loveliest spot that man hath ever found’ is under siege… from a kebab shop.

Residents of Grasmere, a former civil parish located in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, are furious over plans to turn a restaurant into a Turkish takeaway.

Outraged locals complained to the council over the proposals to transform Goody Blakes on Stock Lane into Grasmere Kebab Shop, which led the local authority to refuse planning permission. 

The restaurant’s owner, Shwan Khder, had originally sought approval to install a ‘discreet’ new chimney on the rear wall in addition to smaller changes to facilitate a grill.  

Lakes Parish Council recommended refusal, noting in its response that a kebab shop would ‘introduce a level of activity and operational intensity that is out of keeping with the surrounding residential and sensitive village context’ and ‘undermine the established character and function of this part of the village’. 

The local authority also warned of additional noise pollution and vehicle congestion, saying Grasmere’s ‘tranquility’ could be ruined. 

However Mr Khder has said he will fight the decision in order to deliver Grasmere’s first-ever kebab shop – and in the meantime operate the venue as a restaurant. 

He has pledged that ‘customers can eat in or take out, but it won’t be a takeaway’. 

Poet William Wordsworth once described the village as ”the loviest spot that man hath ever found’ – but residents now fear a takeaway shop could turn Grasmere into a ‘nightmare’ 

Residents, however, are fuming over the ‘appalling’ plans, with one calling the prospect of a kebab shop in the village a ‘nightmare’, while another said the eatery would be an ‘eyesore’. 

But not all are opposed, with one local declaring he ‘believes in free enterprise’ and another saying: ‘I’d definitely try a kebab once’. 

Poet William Wordsworth once described Grasmere, where he lived and was buried, as ‘the loviest spot that man hath ever found’. 

But Mr Khder, 38, a British-Iranian Kurd, believes that if he were alive today, Wordsworth would have been a customer. 

He told The Telegraph: ‘There are no other takeaways in Grasmere and it is a busy place, especially at this time of year.

‘If Wordsworth was alive today, of course he would [be one of my customers]. He needed energy and he needed food, especially if it’s fresh, homemade food like my kebabs. Everybody back then would have wanted one.’

The restaurant owner described the backlash from residents as ‘absolutely unbelievable’ before saying he will ‘have to apply again for a change of use to a takeaway’. 

Bookseller Julian Hyde, 59, decried the prospect of a kebab shop in Grasmere as ‘appalling’, suggesting it could lead the quaint village down the path of destruction by encouraging a ‘fish and chip shop (to open) next to it – then a Tesco Express’. 

Pictured: Goody Blakes on Stock Lane, where the proposed kebab shop will be developed 

Advertisement

The plans have split the community, with residents having voiced opposition for and against the takeaway

He also expressed concern for the environmental impact, saying that litter from the takeaway could ‘get out of hand’. 

John Lowther, who owns puzzle retailer Barney’s Newsbox and lives on a private road shared with Mr Khder’s restaurant, said a kebab shop in Grasmere ‘is going to be a nightmare’. 

The 71-year-old, who has lived in the village for over 40 years, said a takeaway ‘simply does not fit in with this beautiful village’, before adding: ‘Being a vegan, I wouldn’t go there’. 

His verdict was that Grasmere ‘doesn’t need a kebab shop at all’. 

And Kyle Wyness, who owns the flat above the restaurant, complained to the Lake District National Park Authority that the takeaway would be ‘an eyesore that is completely out of keeping with the nature of what is a mainly residential area’.

Co-owner J Wynass wrote in a separate letter that it would have ‘a detrimental impact on our business and the value of the property’.

However some residents have voiced support for the plans, with bartender Leah Sky saying that as she works late into the evening, there is nowhere else open in the village to grab dinner after her shift. 

Art dealer Tim Hardy, 60, also said ‘I just believe in free enterprise’, adding that ‘everyone will be against it’ because residents like to keep Grasmere ‘as a museum’. 

And Paul Abbot, who runs a distillery in the village, said he would ‘definitely try a kebab once’. 

The Daily Mail has approached Lakes Parish Council and the Lake District National Park for comment.  

Hopefully the sun comes back out very soon!

The summer is flying past us and we can only hope the sun is going to make another reappearance very soon!

While festival season takes a little lull until the end of July after Belsonic finishes and CHSq returns in August, there are still plenty of exciting things to get up to this month.

From distillery tours to arts and culture festivals to scenic tours, every corner of Northern Ireland has something fun to explore this summer.

Discover Northern Ireland has put together a list of standout events happening in July 2026 to give you some inspiration for your next day out.

Here are 21 things happening this month across NI:

American Independence Weekend Celebrations at Ulster American Folk Park

Omagh, County Tyrone, 4-5 July.

A day for all the family, enjoy games and activities including traditional swing boats, a mobile shooting range, face painting and crafts. Listen to live music at the Frontier and hear a re-enactment reading of the Declaration of Independence by one of our costumed characters. We’ll also be joined by Paula McIntyre for ‘Hamely Kitchen’, a modern interpretation of classic Appalachian dishes inspired by Ulster migrants.

Picnic in the Park with Open House Festival

Bangor, County Down, July-August.

Open House Festival is an annual summer event that takes place in the beautiful seaside city of Bangor, County Down, curated and run by Open House, a local charity dedicated to regenerating the city through arts and culture. The festival’s eclectic programme includes music, comedy, film, theatre, boat trips, food and drink, talks and tours, and crafting events. The festival also hosts Picnic in the Park each Sunday throughout July and August, with free live music at the band stand in Ward Park.

Celtic Heart

Belfast Waterfront, until 30 August (select dates).

Created in collaboration with The Music Yard, Celtic Heart is a locally produced show celebrating Belfast’s rich storytelling, traditional music and homegrown talent.

USA 250: Showbusiness, Culture and the Causeway Coast Exhibition

Coleraine, County Derry, until 29 August.

Celebrate 250 years of the United States with this engaging new exhibition at Coleraine Museum, exploring the enduring cultural connections between America and the Causeway Coast.

Songs & Stories of Carrickfergus

Advertisement

County Antrim, 4 July (more dates through the summer).

Join local musician and storyteller, Lisa Dawson, as she shares Ulster-Scots heritage through song and folklore in the heart of Carrickfergus. Through the doors of Dobbins Inn, Lisa welcomes you by the 500-year-old fireplace. Her music reflects the language, stories and traditions of Ulster Scots culture and the rich history of her hometown renowned for the iconic Carrickfergus Castle overlooking Belfast Lough.

Lady of The Lake Festival 2026

Irvinestown, County Fermanagh 10-19 July.

The Lady of the Lake Festival is Fermanagh’s biggest annual summer festival which takes place every July in Irvinestown, providing 10 days of fun for all. Folklore has it that the legendary Lady of the Lake walked amongst the mists & islands of Lough Erne bringing a sign of good times ahead.

Shortcross Distillery Tour (Gin)

Crossgar, County Down, 2-3 July, 24-25 July and more.

Experience an immersive guided tour of Rademon Estate Distillery and discover the craft behind their award-winning Shortcross Gin. Learn about our unique distilling process as you explore the distillery, gaining an insight into the passion, expertise, and botanicals that make Shortcross Gin so distinctive.

Benone Visitor Complex Makers Market

Limavady, County Derry, 12 July.

Visit the Naturally North Coast and Glens Artisan Market at the Benone Visitor Complex this summer. Featuring a wide range of products including ceramics, street food, garden products, local produce and speciality food, art, handcrafted gifts, wood turning, pet products, gifts for children and so much more.

Orchard Cider Tour Experience with Tastings – Long Meadow Cider

Portadown, County Armagh, 11 July (more dates available).

Enjoy a fully immersive orchard/cider experience in the company of the McKeever family. Take an orchard walk explaining the various orchard plantations in place.

County Antrim Junior Senior and Masters Tennis Championships

Ballycastle, County Antrim, 11 – 18 July.

Held in the beautiful setting of the Ballycastle tennis courts, close to the beach, the tournament features events from age 8 to 80, with junior, senior and veteran events taking place in the same venue during the tournament week.

Twelfth of July Celebrations 2026

Various locations across Northern Ireland, 13 July.

Celebrate the Twelfth of July across Northern Ireland, as towns and cities mark the occasion with parades, music, and community festivities – the day honours tradition and heritage in every corner of the region. Whether you’re soaking up the atmosphere in a bustling city centre or enjoying local celebrations closer to home, there’s plenty happening across the country to mark the annual celebrations.

Harp By The Foyle

Greysteel, County Londonderry, 13 July.

Lucia brings years of professional performance, teaching and therapeutic experience, offering a warm, engaging introduction to the harp’s rich cultural history. Enjoy live harp music, hear the stories behind the tradition, and take part in a gentle, hands-on introduction where you can hold and play a harp.

Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne Guided Tour

Advertisement

Castlerock, County Derry, 13 July (more dates available)

Discover the history, ambition and character of Earl Bishop Hervey as you explore the landscaped gardens, the dramatic clifftop ruins of his once-grand residence, and enjoy special access to the iconic Mussenden Temple. Along the way, stories of the estate will be brought to life, from its remarkable architectural features to its breath-taking coastal setting.

Fiddler’s Green International Festival

Rostrevor, County Down, 15 – 19 July.

Prepare yourself for a captivating experience that combines traditional music, arts & crafts, mountain walks and so much more. With a history dating back over 30 years, the Fiddler’s Green Festival is a celebration of music, arts, and community that attracts visitors from far and wide.

Scarva Sham Fight

Advertisement

Scarva, County Down, 14 July.

Visitors can turn the clock to the 17th Century while watching performers in period costumes re-enact scenes from the 1690 Battle of the Boyne at the Sham Fight pageant in the Co Down village of Scarva.

Féile an Phobail

Belfast, July 25 to August 9.

Féile an Phobail is Ireland’s Biggest Community Arts Festival. Féile provides a programme of inclusive arts, cultural and community-based activities throughout the year, with its flagship festival, the August Féile, being the highlight of Ireland’s festival calendar. Join this year as they welcome over 120,000 visitors to our 500+ events.

Ulster Museum – GaelStair Exhibition

Belfast, until 16 August

Explore the origins of Belfast’s first urban Gaeltacht and the community that grew around it, and learn how the group built homes, raised children, founded schools, and established community.

Meet an Astronomer at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium

Armagh, County Armagh, until 27 August.

This summer, join Armagh Observatory and Planetarium for their ‘Meet an Astronomer’ sessions. Every Thursday from 12pm to 2pm, an astronomer from the Observatory will be at the Planetarium answering your burning astronomy questions.

Summer Explorers at Crom

Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, until 31 August .

Summer has arrived at Crom. After an eventful spring, come along for animal orienteering or borrow a tracker pack to find some of the animals you may have seen on TV. Take part in some summer games including play fishing, rabbit hoopla and other games. If outdoor activities are more of an interest, why not hire a bike, balance bike, boat or canoe.

Hillsborough Castle Hijinks

Advertisement

Royal Hillsborough, County Down, until 31 August.

Armed with a special Hillsborough Castle Beano comic strip story, you’ll track down six missing parts of the time machine and stumble across larger-than-life characters from Hillsborough’s history. With kids going free this summer and discounted entry to Hillsborough Castle and Gardens, there’s never been a better time to enjoy this Beano-inspired family adventure.

Dragonfly Festival at WWT Castle Espie