Every now and then your neighbour’s garden may impact your property, as trees and hedges can overgrow. However, little you may know, there’s action you can take to solve the issue

Every now and then, gardens can become a little bit unruly, with trees and hedges growing out of control, but you don’t always have to tolerate other people’s trees or hedges overgrowing in your garden. In fact, there’s certain gardening action you can take to help remedy the issue, according to expert advice.

The topic previously came up on Reddit when one person asked what they can do about a neighbour’s trees, and the question got a lot of people talking. However, there are some property rules you need to follow when it comes to tackling the issue, so you need to be clued up on the law before you take action.

It’s not the first time advice on the topic has been shared either. Previously, four experts revealed tips on how to deal with a neighbour’s overhanging tree.

A social media user asked: “Can I cut my neighbours trees/plants that overhang into my garden? I just bought a house with a beautiful garden in the UK.

“It gets great sunlight; however, some of it is shaded because of my neighbours at the back. The ends of our gardens meet. They have huge trees and plants that are so overgrown and overhang into my garden and prevent even more sunlight.

“I’ve spoken to them about cutting it themselves, but they’ve ignored me. So my question, can I cut the parts of their trees/plants that overhang into my garden?

“Can I cut and just chuck the cut bits back into their garden? I was just wondering if this encroaches on property tampering or something of the like.”

The question got a lot of people talking, and they offered all sorts of suggestions. They had a lot of thoughts to share.

One said: “Yes you can cut them back to your boundary, as long as you don’t damage the plants. You have to offer to return anything you cut but, if they don’t want it, you need to dispose of them. You can’t throw them over the fence as it would be fly-tipping.”

Another added: “As others have said, you can cut anything which overhangs or comes onto your property. But note that you cannot kill any tree/plant which belongs to your neighbours.

“Example, if a trunk curved into your garden, you shouldn’t cut into that, as it could risk the whole tree.”

A third also replied: “You can cut overhanging branches etc. I’d offer back the clippings (as you must), but throwing them over the fence may create hostility.”

What are the rules?

While many people are right, you can actually cut back overhanging branches, there are rules you must follow to ensure you’re not causing any severe damage or breaking the law. However, it’s advised you speak with your neighbour before doing so to see if you can come to an agreement before taking action.

Regarding trimming hedges and trees, the UK government website states: “You can trim branches or roots that cross into your property from a neighbour’s property or a public road. You can only trim up to the property boundary.

“If you do more than this, your neighbour could take you to court for damaging their property. If you live in a conservation area, or the trees in the hedge are protected by a ‘tree preservation order’ (TPO), you might need your council’s permission to trim them.”

There are also a few other things you need to know. You shouldn’t step into or lean over onto your neighbour’s property to carry out the work without permission.

As well as this, the branches, leaves and fruit you cut off legally still belong to your neighbour. Therefore, you should offer to give them back to your neighbour first. If they don’t wish to keep them, you will be responsible for disposing of them.

You should also always check with your local council’s planning department before starting. If the tree is protected by a TPO, or is located in a conservation area, cutting it without prior written consent can be illegal and can carry hefty fines.

If you’re concerned about anything else, contact your council for further advice. They will be able to help assist you further, and more advice is available on the government website too.

Fans always get excited when the transfer window comes around.

Your team is linked with a big-name signing and you start to dream they could be the ones to lead your club to glory.

Tottenham fans might have felt this way a few years ago when they were strongly linked with a young, prolific striker from Nigeria by the name of Gift Orban.

They had every reason, on paper at least, to be excited.

In the summer of 2023, Orban, then 21, was regarded as one of the hottest prospects in the game.

After scoring 16 goals in 22 games for Norwegian top-flight side Stabaek, he moved to Belgian side Gent and continued his impressive goalscoring record, netting 20 times in 22 matches.

In a wild four-day period in March 2023, he scored seven goals in two matches. He got four in a 6–2 away league win over Zulte Waregem, becoming the first Gent player with a four-goal haul in one game in the 21st Century.

He then followed up with a quick-fire hat-trick in a 4–1 away victory over Istanbul Basaksehir in the Conference League last 16.

That hat-trick was completed within three minutes and 25 seconds, at the time a record in Uefa club competitions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he will order American forces to hold off on new strikes against Iran, claiming Mideast allies had reached the parameters of a deal to end the five-month old war.

The emerging deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” Trump wrote in a Saturday evening social media post.

“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” Trump said.

Israel agreed to join the U.S. in the commitment to try to complete the agreement with Iran that would bring about an end to the war, he added. Iran did not offer any immediate public reaction to the announcement.

Trump’s announcement marked another turn in the conflict a day after he had suggested the U.S. was close to resuming heavy military strikes to force Tehran to the negotiating table.

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, starting a war that Trump said was aimed at destroying Tehran’s missile capabilities, preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ending its support for allied armed groups. But the stated goals and timelines for the conflict have repeatedly shifted, and an earlier mid-June deal to stop the fighting crumbled within weeks.

Here are the most important developments in the Middle East today:

Saudis concerned about Iran retaliation

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, spoke with Trump by phone Saturday and raised concerns about the U.S. potentially escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a person familiar with the leaders’ discussion. The call happened before Trump’s social media announcement.

The Saudis, according to the person briefed on the substance of the call but not authorized to comment publicly, are concerned that Tehran could respond with attacks on the energy infrastructure of the kingdom and other Gulf countries.

The crown prince sought clarity from Trump on what potential new action he was weighing to take against Iran, the person said.

A White House official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity, confirmed the leaders spoke Saturday but did not offer any detail.

Iran has repeatedly attacked vessels attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz without its authorization as part of its ongoing conflict with the U.S.

Elsewhere in the region

— The State Department issued new security alerts on Saturday urging U.S. citizens in the region to prepare for the possibility of flight cancellations, temporary airspace closures and other travel disruptions. The warnings covered Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

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Madhani reported from Washington.

WADDINXVEEN, Netherlands (AP) — Jeroen Wouda and Dirk Boom walk slowly along a Dutch dike, prodding at the bone dry surface with metal rods and scanning the parched grass for patches of green that could give away the location of a leak.

In a scene that brings to mind the fictional Dutch boy who heroically plugs a hole in a dike with his finger, the two men are hunting for cracks in the low-lying Netherlands’ famed water defenses caused a drought that is gripping Europe and has fueled raging wildfires in France and Spain and sent the Danube and Rhine rivers to record low levels.

Unlike the low-tech solution in American author Mary Mapes Dodge’s 19th-century story, modern dike patrols are able to plot possible problems caused by drought in an app and send it to authorities who can then quickly carry our repairs.

In the Netherlands and neighboring Germany cargo ships that ply the Rhine and its offshoots have been forced to carry significantly less freight or risk running aground in shallow navigation channels. Farmers facing restrictions on irrigating their crops are warning of smaller fruit harvests and rising prices this season.

And for some houseboat owners, the drought has left their water-borne homes resting on sandy river bed.

Checking dikes for damage

Peter van Duijvendijk is a flood defense manager at the Schieland en de Krimpenerwaard water corporation, one of 21 such organizations covering the Netherlands that are responsible for issues including flood control.

He has a team of 140 volunteers who are responsible for checking about 100 kilometers (60 miles) of dikes, reporting any problems they find. So far this dry summer there have not discovered any major issues. But they remain alert now and likely into the fall.

The volunteers “are our eyes and ears on the dike,” Van Duijvendijk told The Associated Press.

Like many inland dikes, the barrier in agricultural fields near the small town of Waddinxveen, east of The Hague, is made of peat that needs to be damp to be strong enough to hold back water. It is in one of the lowest points in the Netherlands, some 5 meters (16 feet) below sea level.

“Because it is so dry right now the peat loses moisture, and because of that it becomes weaker,” Van Duijvendijk said. “If that peat becomes weaker, then there is a chance that water will flow through the dike and that waterway will drain into the polder,” referring to reclaimed Dutch land.

Cargo traffic choked by low river levels

Europe’s major rivers face a lack of water flow.

In Cologne, Germany, people walk along parts of the dried-up bed of the Rhine, a river that is a major highway for European freight traffic.

On Saturday, the Rhine’s water level in Cologne dropped below the record low set in October 2018. Marcel Beck, manager of the western German ports of Neuss, Düsseldorf and Cologne at RheinCargo, a port and freight transport company, said the levels are having a “devastating impact” on shipping.

“A ship that would normally carry 2,000 to 2,500 metric tons of cargo can now only transport 400, perhaps 600, metric tons depending on the ship’s design,” he said. “This places an enormous burden on the entire transport chain to reorganize everything in order to still get the goods inland.”

In the eastern Dutch city of Nijmegen, a rusted bicycle and shopping cart are exposed on the dried bed of the Waal — the main Dutch arm of the Rhine — and houseboats are left almost high and dry by receding water.

“It’s a little out of level, it’s not a big problem,” said Schilte, who describes the drought as “the negative effect of climate change.”

Water levels are a Dutch dilemma

The Netherlands, about a third of which is below sea level, is involved in a balancing act between preventing winter floods and having enough water for crops and canals in the summer.

“Throughout the year, we have enough water in the Netherlands, there’s no shortage,” said Vince Kaandorp, a groundwater hydrologist at Deltares, an independent Dutch water research institute.

“But, of course, it is not evenly distributed over the seasons,” Kaandorp said. “In the winter we drain it away quickly because we want to keep our feet dry and we don’t want water on the land. How can you ensure that you do that slowly and give water time to sink into the ground?”

Such measures don’t have to be high-tech, Kaandorp said. Adding something as simple as a hedge near a river slows down water and gives it time to seep deep into the ground. Authorities are studying how to turn soil into “sponges” to better hold water throughout the year.

The low-lying parts of the western Netherlands that are reclaimed land suffer increasingly from salinity in droughts, posing problems for farmers who grow fruit and vegetables in the fertile soil. Water authorities trying to maintain adequate supplies of fresh water have banned farmers in some parts of the country from pumping water out of canals to irrigate their crops.

“It is an extremely challenging year for growers,” John Kusters, chair of the Netherlands Fruit Growers’ Organization, said in a statement.

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Associated Press journalists Ahmad Seir in Nijmegen, Netherlands, Daniel Niemann in Cologne, Germany, and Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired the biggest prize on the trade deadline market, getting two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.

Skubal got the news during the Tigers’ 8-6 win over the Athletics and was emotional after the game as he prepared to leave the team that drafted him in 2018 and developed him into a star to join the two-time defending World Series champions.

“I’m excited to be a Dodger,” he said. “I’m excited to get down there and meet all those guys and chase three championships in a row. That’s hard to do, so I’m so excited to a part of that. But it’s a lot of different emotions. Definitely kind of a roller coaster a little bit.”

Skubal is the latest star to join the high-priced roster for the Dodgers that already has big-name players like Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mookie Betts. If everyone is healthy, he could be part of a rotation with Ohtani, reigning World Series MVP Yamamoto, fellow two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. The Dodgers lead the majors with a 3.36 ERA from their starting pitchers and now add Skubal to the mix.

The Dodgers are in first place in the NL West and were already the favorites to become the first team to three-peat since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000 before adding Skubal. They began the season with a $323.3 million opening-day payroll for their 40-man roster and a $163.7 million tax for a $487.1 million total. They will pay Skubal about $9.5 million for the remainder of the season.

ESPN first reported the deal and said the Tigers would receive three minor league prospects in right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith and outfielder Zyhir Hope.

Skubal is eligible for free agency after the World Series. He has a $32 million salary, a record total in arbitration, after the team offered $19 million, and is expected to sign a massive contract in the offseason.

The 29-year-old lefty said in July that it was his preference to finish the season with the Tigers and to compete for a World Series championship, which has eluded the franchise since 1984. Skubal took the loss in the decisive Game 5 of the division series against Cleveland in 2024 and then got a no-decision in a 15-inning loss to Seattle in Game 5 of the division series last year.

He said it was “very tough” to leave the Tigers having fallen short of the goal of winning a title.

“Ever since that ’24 Game 5, the failure that I experienced on the mound, I’ve used that as fuel to try and bring a World Series to the city of Detroit. I truly did,” he said. “That whole offseason I’ve never been more motivated and then go in and we lose Game 5 again. That failure kind of sparks some more motivation, just to dig deeper and see how good you can truly be. The goal was always to win a World Series for the city, for the organization that took a chance on me. It’s tough. I love all those guys in there. They’re some of my best friends.”

Detroit planned to contend again this season, bolstering the Skubal-led rotation by giving two-time All-Star pitcher Framber Valdez a $115 million, three-year contract in free agency and retaining three-time All-Star infielder Gleyber Torres with a $22 million deal.

The Tigers, though, got off to a rough start and are currently 2 1/2 games out of the last wild-card spot in the American League.

“It’s crazy. Going into the season, this isn’t what I planned on doing,” Skubal said. “But circumstances change, situations change, and I’m very appreciative of everything the Tigers have done for me.”

They bounced back in June and most of July to get into playoff contention with Skubal leading a rotation and three All-Stars in the lineup: rookie infielder Kevin McGonigle, catcher Dillon Dingler and outfielder Riley Greene.

With a chance to possibly persuade management to keep Skubal by improving its playoff positioning, Detroit lost ground by dropping four of its last five games at home, including Skubal’s last start that was made even more memorable by a late-inning collapse.

The Tigers led Baltimore 7-0 after six innings Wednesday and lost 10-9 in 12 innings. Skubal started the game, recorded his 1,000th career strikeout and was cheered at every opportunity by a crowd of 34,406.

“I’ve watched this guy rise to the top of the sport,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s carried us a lot. I’ll forever be grateful that our paths crossed and the things that he did for this organization and for a couple of playoff teams. His presence, his work ethic, his example, his dominance. There’s so much to go through, it’s hard to capture in one quote or kind of one setting. But I’m very grateful that I was able to manage him for the time that I did.”

Skubal is 7-5 this season with a 2.79 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 96 2/3 innings. He is 61-42 with a 3.04 ERA over seven seasons, all in Detroit. In two postseasons, Skubal is 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA in six starts.

Skubal had a minimally invasive surgery on May 6 to remove a loose body from his pitching elbow and returned to pitch on June 13.

“The way the surgery went is exactly how it was supposed to go,” he said in July.

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AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in Detroit contributed to this report

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Wind your way between suburban roads of Prestwich and the rolling hillocks of its golf club and you’ll find yourself in a village within the village. Up a leafy avenue, with its rear patio basking in the late July sunshine, Heathlands Village looks more like a European ski resort than a care home.

With origins reaching back to the 1860s, when Manchester’s Jewish community began establishing charities and homes for the community’s elderly, this purpose-built facility run by the Federation of Jewish Services can now accommodate more than 100 people in residential, nursing and end-of-life accommodation.

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A charity at which around 30 per cent of residents are state funded, the Fed is one of the biggest employers in the area with around 300 staff. But its impact is felt far wider than that, with around 500 volunteers carrying out vital work in the local community, reaching approximately one in seven Jewish households in Greater Manchester.

And this week it was name-checked by the new Prime Minister.

Andy Burnham called it the ‘gold standard’ of what social care could be in this country as he promised to expedite the Casey Commission into adult social care; improving pay and standards in the social care workforce; and to start cross-party talks on the issue.

Speaking at Jewish Care in Golders Green on Wednesday, The MP for Ashton-in-Makerfield said that the current state of social care is ‘very bad for everybody’ and must be reformed ‘with urgency’.

He cited the many people pushed into hospitals for lack of adequate care, the subsequent strain on the NHS, and the need for integration between a national health and national care service.

“It can break people if they’re left without the support that they need,” he told his audience. “People can see everything they’ve worked for wiped out by the cost of care.”

The majority of residents at Heathlands are privately funded, with residential accommodation costing around £1,300 a week. For the around 30pc of council-funded residents, the Fed receives about £742 per week.

The charity covers the resulting shortfall. To fund the rest of what they do, it must raise £2.5 million a year.

On a sunny day, Heathlands has an airy feel. Walking in past a wood and glass-panelled reception, you are greeted by a bright foyer, dining area, and patio with tables and parasols extending towards the garden.

There is an industrial-scale kitchen serving kosher meals, a comprehensive nursing facility, a hair salon, and a synagogue.

There are mental health support groups; a mums and tots group where toddlers sing with residents; a nursery; animal visits; day trips; a music and art therapist; sports days, bingo games and dance nights.

No dingy corridors, faint smell of bodily functions or miserable-looking residents – the abiding stereotype of many care homes, state-funded or private equity alike – it’s a far cry from your typical facility. What is it that makes Heathlands different?

One of the main issues Burnham highlighted was the practice of 15-minute care visits practiced by many councils across the country. “That’s all that councils say they can afford for many people,” he said.

Fed CEO Mark Cunningham thinks the centre’s success lies partly on its 500-strong army of volunteers, who put in thousands of hours every year.

Volunteering might be doing someone’s shopping and helping to unpack it. It might be driving someone to a doctor’s appointment – or acting as an advocate in that appointment when the clinical jargon seems impenetrable.

It could be helping people access support from benefits and pensions that they didn’t even know they could. But it is often as simple as a chat and a cup of tea: the Fed’s befriending service is one of its most popular.

In the volunteer co-ordinators’ office, you get a sense of the impact. The staff work diligently, calendars and schedules pasted on every wall, headsets and keyboards at the ready, phone ringing every other minute, usually someone in need on the other end of the line.

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A team of trained social workers also work from the centre, engaging with anyone from families with a disabled child to victims fleeing domestic abuse, all ages and ‘throughout the various phases and challenges of life’.

It seems like a model for what Burnham called for: preventative, person-centred care.

“Whatever their problem is, we’ll try and solve it, and if we can’t, we will signpost them elsewhere,” says Sara Ogden-Cunningham, who manages social work and community services at the centre.

“Volunteers might be helping with homework, looking after children, helping with cooking while Mum looks after a special needs child. It’s really flexible and very bespoke.”

Inquiries and referrals come in every day from Greater Manchester and beyond in what Sara describes as a ‘very challenging’ but ‘very, very rewarding’ job.

“We get to think holistically and creatively,” she says. “We might go into a four-generation family, it might be a child with special needs or an older parent. We have a lot of those sandwich generations…it’s not really a sandwich, it’s a club.”

But some of the calls are distressing. “We are going into the worst,” she reflects. “Last year we visited a lady who was fleeing domestic abuse. She and her child were living in a house where there was literally no furniture and no bed.”

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Raphi Bloom, who is director of fundraising, marketing and communications at the centre, recalls the first visit he went on with Sara. “I walked into the house and the smell of damp stayed on my clothes the rest of the day.

“There is a stereotype that the Jewish community is all affluent and doesn’t need support – that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“The doors were hanging off, they had no food. She had sold all her jewellery and ornaments, and were making do with just a microwave and about £10 a week.

“She was the same age as my mum and she was so dignified but having to pawn her jewellery on Cheetham Hill Road.”

The Fed helped the couple with a new fridge and helped them to claim their state pension and some disability benefits – a complex system that many older people, or those unfamiliar with the internet, struggle with.

“£100 a week on Universal Credit might not sound like a lot, but if you haven’t got it, it’s a fortune,” says CEO Mark. He became a social worker in 1996, which means he has had a front row seat to the more than twenty social care reviews undertaken in the last three decades.

In his speech on Wednesday Burnham called the lack of action a ‘major dereliction of public duty’ – something Mark agrees with.

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“It gets kicked into the long grass all the time…it’s a travesty that Parliament hasn’t grasped this nettle. It’s unpopular, nobody wants to pay for it.”

Burnham has acknowledged the challenge of funding and that many can lose ‘everything they’ve worked for’ through paying for care.

“You can have as many headlines as you like about this tax or that, but when people are losing hundreds of thousands of pounds, everything they’ve worked for, well, what about them?” Burnham said.

“Unless we all take some responsibility, it’s just going to carry on,” says Mark. “We will all need social care at some point – we’re going to have to pay for it one way or another.”

And Mark agreed with the Prime Minister that the way to fix the NHS was by fixing social care – and that hospital was ‘the worst place’ for the elderly to end up.

Burnham cited that the number of over-65s going to A&E had doubled to almost six million a year since 2010. “People end up in hospital needlessly and once you are, you’re on a pathway and it’s really difficult to get off,” Mark said.

“A volunteer might notice someone is not well and refer them to a GP. They might discover a mild infection which, if left unchecked, could have led to hospitalisation and then the pattern of decline.

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“I think there has to be a holistic, preventative approach to this, and a recognition that some of the solution lies in the community and not hospital wards.

“Social care doesn’t have to be over-elaborate – it’s about connections and community and doing the basics well. People are generally proud and dignified, they don’t want much intervention but just some support.”

Whether that’s an ice-cream van in the garden, trips out, animal visits, or music therapy, Heathlands is about ‘adding fun back into people’s lives,’ says Mark. “There’s a statistic that says 80% of people that go into a care home and don’t go outside again…not here.”

Those who do come to live at the centre – Heathlands’ ethos is all about keeping people at home for as long as possible – are trending older, with the average age now 91, and several residents ‘in the hundreds’.

Saul Levy, 95, came to Heathlands three years ago after a brain haemorrhage meant he could no longer live on his own. He lives in one of the supported living flats – but says he ‘hardly ever’ uses the extra help dressing or showering.

“It’s done me the world of good, it’s given me another lease of life, truthfully. You can do exactly what you want, go to any activities you like.

“I get up when I like, shower myself, dress myself, go for breakfast. It keeps me independent.”

Gerda Rothberg celebrated her 100th birthday a few months ago. She is proud to still be washing and dressing herself – and holding court as Heathlands’ Queen of Rummy.

“No-one can beat her,” smiles volunteer Amanda Harris, who is visiting. “It’s very relaxing here,” Gerda says.

She came to Britain just before the war with her two sisters from East Prussia. Her story of escape on Kindertransport is enshrined in the Fed’s My Voice project, which documents the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees.

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“It’s something I wanted to do for the generations to come, for the people who say the Holocaust never happened,” she says baldly. “It did happen, it’s a fact, it’s there in black and white.”

Heathlands received an influx of messages after the synagogue attack in Heaton Park last year, says Sara. “People who had never come through our doors began approaching us, saying they had previously been Jewish ‘in name only’.

“After the attack, they were scared and wanted to re-engage with their community.”

“They wanted to be together with other Jewish people, to feel solidarity, a sense of security and identity,” agrees Raphi.

The centre does serve non-Jewish people, but with its synagogue, Kosher catering and celebrations of Jewish festivals, it is ideal for those who ‘wish to see out their days in a warm, loving, state of the art Jewish environment’. Staff are often there for people in their last moments.

“We often have a lot of clients that have no family and we arrange burials,” Raphi says. “We arrange a gravestone and a commemoration service, and often, it’s just our staff that are standing around the grave when this person takes their final journey on Earth.

“We all feel that is a real privilege. When Andy talks about his father, and how carers can bring a lucid moment out of him where he can’t, he genuinely means what he says. It’s personal to him.”

Mark is confident that Heathlands’ success can be replicated elsewhere – with a strong voluntary sector, he adds.

“We think we’ve got a really good model for social care and we’re cautiously optimistic about the future – that we can improve the system we work within.”

New manager Enzo Maresca is a “perfect one” for Manchester City, says defender Josko Gvardiol.

The Italian has been given the perhaps unenviable task of taking over from the legendary Pep Guardiola, who stepped down at the end of last season after a trophy-laden decade in charge.

Maresca signed a three-year deal to succeed the Spaniard, having previously won the Championship title with Leicester and the Club World Cup with Chelsea.

The 46-year-old took charge of City for the first time in Saturday’s friendly defeat on penalties by Inter Milan in Hong Kong.

“The level is that high and he has been chosen with reason as the manager,” said Gvardiol.

“I think he has a quality, has some new ideas and also we need to see what we are going to do [with] the style of [play], the football we are going to play and the tactics.

“I think he is a perfect one, but of course, it takes time. It’s something totally new, it’s not easy to change the manager, so we will take time.

“It’s our job to help him as much as possible and also to listen to try to adapt as quick as possible.

“I met him, we spoke a little bit about my injury [and] also how we played, how I played before with Pep, and that’s it, more or less.”

Amazon Prime’s $1,000,000,000 Lord of the Rings prequel series, The Rings of Power, is coming back for a third season, and it just made a show-saving decision.

Since it first arrived in all its high fantasy glory in 2022, Rings of Power has been fighting a battle tougher than Helm’s Deep to win over the beloved franchise’s fiercely protective fanbase.

The epic series, starring Morfydd Clark as Galadriel and Robert Aramayo as Elrond, is set thousands of years before Frodo ever sets foot outside of the Shire, as we trace the origins of the eponymous rings, including the one to rule them all.

Despite the mammoth budget, sweeping sets and expansive world-building, the first series didn’t resonate with the masses. It may have attracted more than 150million global viewers, but it only secured a measly 38% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Criticisms ranged from disappointment at how Tolkien’s work has been adapted to the ‘awful pacing’ and ‘convoluted, padded and boring plot’ – and that’s some of the nicer commentary. I can understand the gripes; it took me two tries of the first season to properly immerse myself in the show.

A big part of my discontent was thanks to one subplot that has been a real slog to get through from the very start, and that is the Harfoots – early ancestors of the hobbits – to whom Gandalf first crash-lands on earth.

Essentially, we see young Harfoots Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy (Megan Richards) taking the stranger (Daniel Weyman) – as Gandalf is first known – under their wing while he tries to figure out who he is and his purpose.

The acting is fine enough, but the tedious stretching out of this plot across two seasons, especially when the stakes grew higher every episode with action-packed sequences and riveting storylines, was almost difficult to watch.

I would find a groan escaping my lips every time we would return to this trio of characters, even tempted to skip forward with the remote because I could already see myself nodding off.

Now, the Rings of Power showrunner J.D. Payne has delivered music to my ears by telling Empire that we won’t be seeing much (if any) of the Harfoots in the upcoming season.

‘It was time for them to take a little bit more of a backseat,’ he said, adding: ‘But I will also say: never count a Halfling out.’

Without a doubt, the second season is leaps and bounds better and kept me mostly hooked from start to finish as we witnessed Sauron’s manipulation of elven-smith Celebrimbor, the comings and goings in Numenor filled with bloody betrayal and Gandalf’s ongoing origin story.

By the end of the second series, Gandalf has revealed himself and is at Tom Bombadil’s house, having bid adieu to his Harfoot friends. And good riddance, I say.

I’m not sure if I’m yet convinced by this storyline in its entirety when there are far more interesting goings-on with Sauron and the ever-precarious politics of Middle-earth, but at least we won’t have to endure any more trekking through the desert with inane chatter.

At least I hope.

If the show leans into all that has made it engaging and special in this third season, we very well could see a turnaround in sentiment. Perhaps naysayers could give the show a try.

I’ll certainly be recommending it to more people, knowing they won’t have to endure the more dreary aspects of the tale.

And it seems as though there is plenty to look forward to with the new season as Jamie Campbell Bower comes on board as Celeborn, the husband of Galadriel.

Meanwhile, perhaps most excitingly of all, the showrunners have teased that the One Ring will finally be forged this season.

So, as they say, out with the old and in with the new. Amazon Prime’s Rings of Power might just save itself from doom.

MORE: Andy Serkis defends lack of diversity in new Lord of the Rings film after criticism

Live TV and radio coverage will run throughout the week as well as the latest video updates and features

The Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann comes to Belfast this Sunday for what will be its 75th year running. The weeklong event is expected to bring in over 700,000 visitors to the city where they will experience traditional Irish music and culture.

But for those who cannot make the event in person, RTÉ will be running coverage throughout the week across RTÉ One, Raidió na Gaeltacha, and RTÉ Radio 1. TG4 and BBC Radio Ulster will also be airing the events, so you won’t miss a thing.

The main event kicks off Sunday, August 2, and as official partners of the Fleadh, TG4 and RTÉ promise extensive coverage of the events. From Wednesday onwards, RnaG and RTÉ Radio 1 will be running programmes described as ‘a front-row seat to the very best of the craic, ceol and culture’.

Throughout the week, RnaG will be live from the RTÉ Stage in Writers Square, where you can catch Ríl na Rodaí from 3-5pm and Ceol Cinn ó na Been a from 7-9pm.

Saturday will show traditional music live from the RTÉ Stage, Writers Square until 4 pm, before a special programming of RTÉ Radio 1’s Céilí House kicking off at 9pm.

Sunday, the final day, RTÉ RnaG will be airing Sunday Mass live from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

RTÉ Highlights

Wednesday August 5 | Dé Céadaoin an 5ú Lúnasa

7-9am Morning Ireland – RTÉ Radio 1 | Live from RTÉ Studio, Belfast

3-5pm – Ríl an Rodaí – RTÉ Raidió Na Gaeltachta | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

3-5pm – Tutor’s Concert | Ulster University

7-9pm – Ceol Binn ó na Beanna | RTÉ Raidió Na Gaeltachta | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

Thursday August 6 | Déardaoin an 6ú Lúnasa

11-12pm – Live Music | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

3-5pm – Ríl an Rodaí | RTÉ Raidió Na Gaeltachta | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

7-9pm – Ceol Binn ó na Beanna | RTÉ Raidió Na Gaeltachta | On the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

Friday August 7 | Dé hAoine an 7ú Lúnasa

10-4pm – RTÉ 100 Exhibition | Belfast Central Library

11-12pm – Barrscéalta | RTÉ Raidió Na Gaeltachta | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

2-3pm – Aniar Aduaidh | RTÉ Raidió Na Gaeltachta | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

3-5pm – Ríl an Rodaí | RTÉ Raidió Na Gaeltachta | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

7-9pm – Ceol Binn ó na Beanna | RTÉ Raidió Na Gaeltachta | On the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

Saturday August 8 | Dé Sathairn an 8ú Lúnasa

11am –12pm – Live Music | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

1-2pm – Live Music | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

3-4pm – Live Music | Live from the RTÉ stage, Writers Square

9-10pm – Céilí House | RTÉ Radio 1 | Live from the Gig Rig

Sunday August 9 | Dé Domhnaigh an 9ú Lúnasa

11-12:15pm – Aifreann an Domhnaigh | RTÉ Raidió Na Gaeltachta | Live from St Patrick’s Cathedral

TG4 is set to broadcast four spectacular nights of live entertainment from 9.30pm August 6-9. The programme will be spread across Fleadh stages between Fountain and Castle Street and promises top performances from rising stars, traditional talent, and competition winners. Select competitions will also be streamed on YouTube.

On August 6, you can also catch Jack Warnock and Caoimhe ‘Ceol’ Ní Cathail’ live on BBC Radio Ulster at 6.05PM, where they will be discussing and celebrating the traditional music of the city throughout the week.

The BBC is also offering a pre recorded performance of folk and trad music. The Fleadh Folk Concert will air on Sunday, August 2 and will feature music from traditional Irish and Ulster-Scots artists alongside contemporary folk artists.

Belfast Live will of course be bringing you all the latest essential information if you’re heading to the Fleadh or if you want to follow along at home, keep your eyes peeled on our website for daily updates as well as some incredible videos on our social media channels.

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

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Picture this: you’ve just put together an outfit you absolutely love. The jeans are jean-ing, the blazer is adding that tailored twist, the top is doing exactly what it needs to do, and then comes the final hurdle… the shoes. 

Suddenly, you’re standing in front of your wardrobe questioning every option you own. Black feels too heavy, metallics feel like too much effort, and before you know it, you’ve tried on six different pairs, and you’re somehow late. We’ve all been there.

Thankfully, there’s one footwear hero that never really lets us down: white shoes. Yes, they can divide opinion, but hear us out.  Whether you lean towards sleek trainers, chic sandals, ballet flats or barely-there heels, a crisp white shoe has a way of instantly making an outfit feel fresher, lighter and more put-together. Plus, they go with virtually everything already hanging in your wardrobe, from laid-back denim looks to occasion dresses, making them one of the hardest-working staples you can own.

So without further ado, it’s time to elevate your footwear game with our best selections from the high street.

Shop the best white shoes

Mango Kitten-Heel Sandals with Strap

Once a feared style, kitten heels are all the rage in 2026, and it’s no wonder when they provide a sophisticated finishing touch without trying too hard.

This minimal strappy design from Mango makes them endlessly versatile, whether you’re styling them with relaxed denim, floaty dresses or tailored trousers. 

Buy Now for £35.99

H&M Appliquéd Mesh Ballet Flats

You can’t go wrong with a ballet flat, and they’re dominating the high street this Spring and Summer.

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You might think the design of them is plain and simple, but these H&M floral options prove otherwise.

The appliqué detailing adds a playful, feminine touch, while the sheer finish keeps them looking fashion-forward. 

Buy Now for £32.99

ASOS DESIGN Melody Square Toe Soft Loafers

A loafer is one of those timeless staples that instantly leave an outfit looking and feeling polished and thought through.

Give them a modern upgrade with a square toe instead of a round one for a contemporary vibe that makes them look a lot more expensive than their price tag.

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Style them with wide-leg trousers or tailored shorts on warmer days.

Buy Now for £30

Schuh Sade Slingback Court

A white heel should be in everyone’s wardrobe, as you never know when you’re going to need a pair for a smart occasion.

Slingbacks provide an elegant touch without feeling overly formal, whilst the pointed toe gives it that fashionista edge. 

Buy Now for £38

River Island White Weave Block Heel Mule Sandals

Incorporating texture into your accessories immediately elevates anything they’re styled with.

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The chunky heel of this River Island pair makes them far easier to wear than a stiletto, while the woven finish adds a relaxed, expensive-looking touch.

They’ll work just as well with occasionwear as they will with jeans.

Buy Now for £36

New Look White Faux Leather Croc Embossed Trainers

A crisp white trainer is a non-negotiable in any wardrobe, and this croc-embossed pair adds just enough detail to elevate them from basic to stylish.

They’re easy, versatile and ideal for everyday wear.

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Buy Now for £23.99

M&S Kitten Heel Toe Post Sandals

This M&S pair strikes the perfect balance between minimal and chic.

The kitten heel keeps them comfortable enough for all-day wear, while the sleek design makes them perfect for day-to-day, holidays, and even wedding guest outfits.

Buy Now for £46

Stradivarius Bow Sneaker Ballet Flats

If ballet flats and trainers had a fashion baby, this would be it.

Combining a sporty aesthetic with bow detailing, this hybrid style feels playful and trendy without being too kitsch.

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Perfect for anyone wanting to dip into the balletcore aesthetic while still keeping things practical for everyday ensembles.

Buy Now for £27.99

Next White Leather Single Strap Footbed Sandals

Minimalist sandals like this are the backbone of a great summer wardrobe, and now is a great time to invest in a pair.

The clean single-strap design keeps them clean, while the footbed sole makes them comfortable enough for all-day wear. 

Buy Now for £30

The best tools to keep them white

Crep Protect Ultimate Barrier

Crep Protect Ultimate Barrier is a protective spray designed to repel water, stains and dirt from footwear.

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Suitable for materials including leather, canvas and mesh, it creates an invisible barrier that helps keep white shoes looking cleaner for longer and protected from everyday wear.

Buy Now for £12

Whilst we’re huge fans of white shoes, they are the one colour that can show any scrapes, bumps, or stains instantly, so we’ve got you covered with advice on how to keep them looking as fresh as the day you bought them.

One way to keep them clean is by regularly wiping them down after you’ve worn them to reduce the buildup of dirt and avoid any discolouration that might have occurred whilst wearing. 

Before wearing them out for the first time, you can use a product such as Crep Protect Ultimate Barrier for £12, which you simply spray 20cm away from the shoe and leave to dry for 10 minutes before repeating to make sure the fabric is fully coated. This product is great for use on multiple shoes as it works on an array of fabrics, from leather, canvas, and mesh.

Jason Markk Shoe Cleaning Care Kit

Jason Markk Shoe Cleaning Care Kit is an all-in-one footwear cleaning set featuring a premium cleaning solution, soft-bristle brush and microfibre cloth.

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Designed to lift dirt and stains without damaging delicate materials, it’s a simple way to refresh trainers and keep white shoes looking their best.

Buy Now for £20

If you find they pick up any unwanted marks, then refrain from throwing them in the washing machine. We know this is hard to hear, as it requires a lot less effort, but this can actually damage the shoe more than fix it.

Using a product such as Jason Markk Shoe Cleaning Care Kit that consists of a foaming cleanser that not only cleans but also conditions the fabric to restore it. Start by pumping the solution onto the shoe, and then use the soft-bristle brush that accompanies it to buff and clean without causing any damage. Once you’ve done this, use a microfiber towel to dry.

Tarrago Super Whitener

Tarrago Super Whitener is a handy shoe care product designed to restore the bright white finish of leather, canvas and synthetic footwear.

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Featuring an easy-to-use sponge applicator, it helps cover scuffs, discolouration and marks, leaving tired-looking white shoes looking fresher and revitalised in just a few minutes.

Buy Now for £11.30

Additionally, you can use Tarrago Super Whitener, which is a targeted product to use on most fabrics apart from suede. Brush any dry dirt off the shoe, gently pat the footwear with the product, then use it to wipe over without pressing down and leave it to try for 10 minutes.

So, if you’re ever stuck with what to wear, a white shoe will always have your back, and keep them fresh with our recommendations to make them last longer.

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