Emergency services are currently on the scene of a building on fire in Co Fermanagh.
NIFRS received a call of an incident at a building on the Drumwhinny Road area of Kesh before 8am on Saturday morning.
The road remains closed at this time as 36 personnel from the NIFRS tackle the blaze.
A Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) spokesperson said: “NIFRS received a call to reports of a building fire on Drumwhinny Road, Kesh at 07:45 on Saturday 22nd August.
“There are currently four appliances, one water tanker, one aerial appliance, one Command Support Unit and 36 personnel in attendance from Enniskillen, Irvinestown, Belleek, Dromore, Northland and Strabane fire stations.
“We would ask the public to avoid the area whilst we deal with the incident.”
A PSNI spokesperson said: “The Drumwhinny Road in Kesh is closed due to a property on fire in the area. NI Fire and Rescue Service is also in attendance.
“Diversions are in place on the Killadeas Road and Duneaney Road. Please avoid the area.”
Follow our updates in the live blog below…
A PSNI spokesperson said: “The Drumwhinny Road in Kesh is closed due to a property on fire in the area. NI Fire and Rescue Service is also in attendance.
“Diversions are in place on the Killadeas Road and Duneaney Road. Please avoid the area.”
NIFRS received a call to reports of a building fire on Drumwhinny Road, Kesh at 07:45 on Saturday 22nd August.“There are currently four appliances, one water tanker, one aerial appliance, one Command Support Unit and 36 personnel in attendance from Enniskillen, Irvinestown, Belleek, Dromore, Northland and Strabane fire stations.“We would ask the public to avoid the area whilst we deal with the incident.
We will update you as information comes in.
Leeds United begin their 2026/27 Premier League campaign away from home when they travel to face Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The Whites will be hoping for a positive start at the City Ground as Daniel Farke looks to improve on last season’s 14th-place finish.
Forest, meanwhile, will begin a new era under Oliver Glasner, with the former Crystal Palace boss now in charge at the City Ground.
Both sides have undergone changes during the summer and Saturday’s opening fixture will offer an early indication of what supporters can expect from the new campaign.
For Leeds, a positive result would provide an immediate statement of intent as they look to move up the Premier League table.
Here are the key TV and streaming details for the match.
Unfortunately for supporters in the UK, Nottingham Forest v Leeds United will not be shown live on television.
The match kicks off at 3pm on Saturday, August 22, meaning it falls under the UK’s traditional Saturday afternoon broadcast blackout.
That means there will be no live TV coverage of the fixture in the UK.
However, Leeds supporters in the Republic of Ireland will be able to watch the game live.
Premier Sports has selected the match for broadcast, with coverage beginning at 2.30pm on Premier Sports 1.
There will be no live stream available to UK viewers because of the 3pm blackout.
For supporters in the Republic of Ireland, the match will be available through Premier Sports 1 as part of its live television coverage.
Both clubs are expected to publish highlights around two hours after the final whistle.
Match: Nottingham Forest v Leeds UnitedCompetition: Premier LeagueDate: Saturday, August 22, 2026Kick-off: 3pm BSTVenue: City GroundUK TV: Not available live due to the 3pm blackout
Neither side has played a competitive fixture yet this season, but both have had busy pre-seasons.
Leeds have lost just one of their six pre-season matches in 90 minutes, although they were beaten on penalties by Manchester United after a 1-1 draw in Dublin.
Their other defeat came in their opening pre-season fixture, when they lost 3-2 to Wrexham.
Forest have played nine pre-season matches under Glasner, winning five, drawing one and losing three.
On the basis of those results, Leeds have a slightly better pre-season win rate, although neither side will be putting too much weight on those figures once the Premier League season gets underway.
Farke will know there is a significant difference between building fitness during pre-season and competing for points in the Premier League.
Saturday’s clash at the City Ground will provide the first proper test.
The Premier League’s international broadcast rights mean coverage varies depending on the country you are watching from.
In Europe, the match is available through the relevant Premier League rights holder in each territory. These include DAZN in Spain and Portugal, CANAL+ in France and Poland, Sky Deutschland in Germany and Austria, Viaplay in the Nordic countries and Arena Sport in several Balkan markets.
In the United States, Premier League matches are shown by NBC Sports, while viewers in Canada can watch through Fubo.
In Australia, the rights are held by Stan Sport, while SuperSport has the rights across sub-Saharan Africa and beIN Sports covers the Middle East and North Africa.
Supporters should check their local broadcaster for the latest coverage details before kick-off.
Mercedes’ George Russell led from start to finish to win the sprint race at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Russell led a train of four cars for the entirety of the race but was always able to keep his pursuers at arm’s length.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc passed McLaren’s Lando Norris with six laps to go to take second ahead of the world champion, who fended off a late attack from Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
Russell’s win cuts his deficit in the championship to Antonelli to 56 points, with Lewis Hamilton in second place.
The seven-time champion, who finished seventh behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, is three points ahead of Russell in the championship.
Russell was in control of the race throughout. Norris followed him closely in the opening phases, often within a second of the Mercedes and looking quicker.
But after eight laps Norris radioed his team to say he had no rear grip and he began to lose time to the Mercedes and fall back into the clutches of Leclerc.
The Ferrari driver had chosen the soft tyres for the sprint, rather than the mediums of the other front-runners. But rather than losing his tyres as the race went on, Leclerc grew stronger in his pursuit of Norris and was able to pass into Tarzan, the first corner, on lap 18 of 24.
Russell said: “As soon as I saw Charles behind, I dropped the hammer a bit and the two of us pulled away.”
Russell’s only concern was the weather. Rain was forecast to fall two laps from the end. As it happened, it did not come until after the chequered flag, as the drivers completed their slowing down laps, but it was heavy enough that it would have made the end of the race eventful had it come sooner.
Norris now had to concentrate on holding off Antonelli. The Italian was 0.3secs behind the McLaren crossing the line into the last lap, but although he feinted a move into Tarzan, he was not close enough to make it work.
Norris said: “I don’t think it was the tyres. We lacked pace and we have a bit of work to do.”
Piastri lacked the pace of the lead group and fell back fell back progressively as the race developed, but he was just able to hold off Verstappen on the final lap, crossing the line 0.3secs ahead, with Hamilton close behind the Red Bull.
Gianni Infantino has batted away questions about his future by making a series of bald jokes.
The embattled FIFA president was in no mood to face serious scrutiny even though weeks have passed since his clandestine plot to sell off stakes in the World Cup.
He scrapped the controversial plan after a huge backlash in the wake of The Times revealing the devious scheme, which would have banked him millions.
But the pressure is still on Infantino to step down, with UEFA saying they will boycott all FIFA tournaments until he does.
Asked by Sky News reporter James Matthews if he has betrayed football and why he won’t resign, Infantino replied: ‘You have a nice haircut, thank you so much. See you at the hairdressers.’
Both Infantino and Matthews are bald.
Gianni Infantino brushed off questions from reporters about his future with a series of bald jokes
The FIFA president quickly darted to a nearby vehicle to dodge questions posed by Sky News reporters
In July, news broke Infantino was considering selling parts of the World Cup to private investors and forming a new company in a deal that could have been worth around £15billion.
The Times’ report added that Infantino could become the commissioner of that company once his role at FIFA ends in 2031, a highly lucrative position that estimates suggest could pay him more than $50million-a-year.
Infantino’s blueprint for the potential selling of stakes had been discussed among senior FIFA figures and potential investors, which could have included Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared – and they signed non-disclosure agreements.
Bank JPMorgan was said to be handling the process and the Donald Trump administration is understood to have been consulted.
Earlier this month, Infantino was given the ‘full support’ of FIFA’s top brass after summoning executives to crisis talks in Morocco.
He summoned senior FIFA officials to the Moroccan city of Sale for crisis talks after plans to sell £3.1billion in World Cup stakes leaked last week
The Swiss football administrator has since scrapped the proposals after widespread opposition – including an internal rebellion at FIFA.
UEFA and CONCACAF – the body for North and Central America and the Caribbean – are both calling for Infantino to step down, with Europe declaring a lack of confidence in the FIFA president.
Infantino is facing mounting pressure over his failed plan to sell off stakes in the FIFA World Cup but has refused to resign
Luis Figo branded Infantino as a ‘relic who should have no part in football’s future’ in an explosive article for Daily Mail Sport
Pressure grew further after Jordan FA president Prince Ali bin Hussein accused him of blackmail, becoming the first Asian nation to rebel against the FIFA president.
Jordan became the 91st member association to move against Infantino, assuming all UEFA and CONCACAF nations follow the stance set by their continental bodies. One hundred and six nations are needed to depose Infantino as president.
Portuguese legend Luis Figo wrote an explosive column for Daily Mail Sport demanding Infantino’s resignation.
Figo described the now aborted World Cup sell-off as the ‘lowest, most deceitful and cravenly self-interested behaviour I have ever witnessed’ and a ‘grubby, underhand plot’.
Across 600 no-holds-barred words Figo, who had initially backed Infantino in 2015, brands the disgraced exec a ‘relic who should have no part in football’s future’ and accuses him of ‘a litany of abuses’, also referencing the now-infamous suspension of the ban behind Folarin Balogun’s red card and the half-time show at the World Cup final which ‘broke the laws of the game’.
‘Infantino has debased the office of FIFA President that he promised to elevate,’ the former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan star writes. ‘He has lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game he is supposed to serve.’
Figo, now 53, is viewed by many as a potential successor to Aleksandr Ceferin, head of UEFA which is leading the war against Infantino.
On a spring evening four years ago, the peace of a Bristol cul-de-sac was shattered by what a judge would later describe as ‘shouts and screams of a horrifying nature’.
Neighbours looked out to see a full-scale battle being fought between rival Albanian gangs over control of a cannabis factory in what had only recently been a respectable £400,000 family home.
Witnesses described a scene of ‘extreme violence’ in which one man was stabbed in the back and another smashed around the head with a metal bar.
The carnage ended with the murder of a 32-year-old man who bled to death at the roadside from multiple knife wounds.
Detective Chief Inspector Phil Walker later explained that the ‘incredibly frightening’ incident over a £100,000 cannabis operation or ‘grow’ was down to the burgeoning trend of organised crime gangs using residential houses to ‘ply their exploitative trade under the radar’.
His words were to prove prophetic. The murder in May 2022, committed by two Albanians who had only just arrived in the UK, came at the beginning of a surge in small-boat immigration to Britain from the Balkan state.
And the Albanian gangs’ business model for cannabis farms has exploded in the four years since then.
Today, following a forensic, six-month investigation, the Daily Mail can reveal the terrifying true scale of this industry that has become the cornerstone of the £2.6billion annual UK cannabis trade.
There are no fewer than 450 Albanian cannabis farms operating across the country, although the figure is likely to be very much higher
Albanian Ramiz meeting with undercover Daily Mail reporters in Nottingham to provide a fake driving licence, bank statements and pay slips
We have discovered there are at least 450 Albanian cannabis farms operating across the country, although the figure is likely to be very much higher.
Our calculation is based on a detailed examination of police records and Press reports, both local and national, that show an average of two new cannabis farms have been raided or uncovered every week for the past four years, a trend that shows no sign of diminishing.
In an undercover operation as part of the investigation, we have also, for the first time, infiltrated the highly sophisticated ancillary industries servicing these cannabis factories – illicit operations that produce fake documents the criminals use to rent properties as well as specialised ‘cannabis factory clean-up companies’ that help cover the gangs’ tracks when they move on.
And we can reveal that at least 70 per cent of the 620 Albanians convicted for working in the drugs dens uncovered in these past four years were illegal immigrants running grows that produced hundreds of millions of pounds worth of the drug each year.
Yet these figures represent just the tip of the iceberg because many convictions were never reported and the majority of the criminals involved in the trade have never been caught.
What we do know is that more than two-thirds of the 450 Albanian-run cannabis factories we identified operated in residential homes stretching the length of the UK, from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands.
Grows producing multi-millions of pounds worth of cannabis have also been set up in abandoned primary schools, college campuses, care homes, register offices, nightclubs, cinemas, abattoirs, local newspaper offices, social clubs, pubs and municipal swimming pools.
The collapse of the High Street has presented Albanian mafias with a major opportunity, too, and huge factories have been found in empty WHSmith branches, Barclays and NatWest banks, long-serving department stores, shopping centres, fancy dress shops and, in one case, empty offices above a Jobcentre Plus.
Albanian Tanushi promised our undercover reporters he could clean two houses in five days to ensure all DNA and fingerprints were scrubbed with ‘no problem’ from police or landlords
Criminals advertise on TikTok offering to provide fake documents for potential migrants coming to the UK
The industry is a driver of illegal migration into the UK – one Albanian gang even runs its own small-boat Channel crossings to bring in scores of new workers and their families for its £1.6million farming operation in Oxford.
It also leads to an illegal migration merry-go-round which has seen multiple cases of Albanians deported after convictions for running cannabis farms – sometimes several times – only for them to sneak straight back into the country to resume their criminality. One was found running a major drugs den a year after he was released early from jail having told the Home Office ‘he wanted to go home as quickly as possible’.
Another convicted grower dodged deportation after finishing his sentence by claiming asylum – and immediately went on to start a new cannabis factory that flooded his area with the drug.
An Albanian murderer deported from the UK after serving his sentence was also able to return and start a massive farm – while some illegal immigrants found running UK cannabis factories had previously been convicted of murder and heroin trafficking in European countries.
As for the Albanian-run network of subsidiary operations that provide support logistics, they have become a specialised branch of the dark economy.
To rent a property to set up a cannabis factory requires showing letting agents extensive documentation that the drug gangs usually do not have. UK Papers is an operation advertising itself on TikTok using pictures of London buses and Albanian and Union flags. It also advertises ‘documents needed to rent a house’, sometimes with specific slang references to cannabis factories.
The business offers an array of fake documents including UK passports (‘books’) for £1,900; driving licences for £80; three months of bank statements for £35; utility bills and payslips for £35; and immigration documents.
When an undercover Daily Mail reporter posing as someone hoping to rent a property to set up a cannabis factory asked an operator at the firm to supply fake documents, he was happy to help.
A few days later, at a meeting on a Nottingham street corner, the grinning boss known as Ramiz took our £200 in cash as he handed us a fake driving licence, bank statements and payslips.
Numerous cases in the past four years have shown how false IDs have been used to rent properties for cannabis houses.
Brothers Sokol and Amarildo Rranci used a ‘staggering’ number of fake documents including bank statements to rent 13 homes across Yorkshire and the East Midlands to produce ‘mind-blowing’ amounts of cannabis worth almost £1million, Judge Steven Coupland said as he jailed them at Nottingham Crown Court in January 2024.
Five Albanian illegal immigrants were jailed in 2022 for using fake documents to rent houses for a network of cannabis factories in Bradford, Leeds, Keighley and Barnsley. Their illicit farms were hidden in spaces accessed via trapdoors under washing machines, behind secret panels and in lofts reached ‘like Narnia’ through wardrobe doors.
Albanian Afrim Krasniqi was jailed last year after using a fake ID to pose as an Italian looking for family accommodation to rent 12 properties across Scotland that were used as cannabis factories producing £3.8million of the drug.
Albanians have previously funnelled £5.5million of profits from a nationwide network of grows to crime boss Besnik Hoxha via a bank account his wife opened with a fake Greek ID card. She funded shopping trips to House of Fraser, nail bars and beauty salons with the drugs money.
After renting a property, gangs usually complete two to four harvests – each of which can take around three months – then move to a new location to avoid landlord inspections and police investigations. Before handing the keys back to the letting agent, organisers attempt to restore the property to its original condition, removing any visible signs of cannabis production and potential forensic evidence such as DNA traces or fingerprints that could later identify them.
It is to meet this demand that an entire industry of ‘cannabis factory clean-up’ firms has sprung up. One, called House Cleaning Jobs with a Union Jack and Albanian flag logo and the tagline ‘we take care of every detail’, has posted footage on social media of workers clearing scores of cannabis houses around the country, including in Maidenhead, Manchester, Leeds, Bedford, London, Doncaster and Leicester.
One of the numerous Albanian cannabis farms being advertised on TikTok
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Contacted by an undercover Daily Mail reporter, the owner laughed as he described how he has been running the business for three years after getting the idea when he was running his own cannabis factory in Leicester.
Giving his name as Tanushi, he promised his team could clean two houses in five days to ensure all DNA and fingerprints were scrubbed with ‘no problem’ from police or landlords. He asked to see the house before quoting.
When Tanushi was later contacted by the Daily Mail for comment, he denied doing anything illegal. He said he did it because ‘you don’t give me any other chance to work’ and this was an ‘easy way’ to earn money for his family. ‘They call me, I go, I clean up, I paint,’ he said.
He said he did not recall the phone call with the undercover reporter where he described previously running a cannabis factory and denied doing it. Another site, Repairs And Cleaning UK, which includes cannabis plant emojis in its biography and boasts ‘no job too big or small’, offers an extensive price list scaled according to the property size. Costs start at £3,500 for a three-bedroom house, rising to £4,500 for a five-bedroom and £6,500 for a pub.
The service includes painting and decorating, carpet cleaning and rubbish removal.
Others variously advertise with pictures of police officers in riot gear captioned ‘when they come and break, we come and fix’, boasting of serving ‘all over England 24/7’ and leaving houses ‘beautifully clean… like entering a pharmacy’ and responding to ‘emergencies… at any time of the day or night confidentially’.
One shows footage of gangs fly-tipping scores of disused cannabis plant pots.
Another has a sideline selling on equipment used in cannabis factories for other makers, with adverts offering grow buckets, cables, lights, air filters and electric motors from its apparent headquarters in Huddersfield.
Most brazenly, an Albanian site called House Cleaning UK, with 61,000 followers, includes a post captioned: ‘We managed to put off the uncles’ (Albanian slang for police) accompanied by a string of laughing emojis.
It features a cleaner filming himself joking with two police officers outside a property.
Having convinced the visitors that nothing untoward is going on, one of the officers tells him: ‘I’m quite happy with everything so thank you very much. We’ll let you get back on with your work.’
After shaking hands with the departing police, the cleaner walks back into the house to reveal he is dismantling a cannabis factory.
TikTok, where the cannabis factory support services were advertised, previously banned the fake documents page and took action against the ‘clean up’ companies after being alerted to them by the Daily Mail.
With such an extensive system in place, is it any wonder that so many Albanians come to the UK to work on cannabis grows?
And it’s not just hardened criminals. Those convicted include a former Albanian police officer, who was jailed for his part in an £800,000 cannabis factory, and a biochemistry graduate who worked for the Albanian Ministry of Defence before taking a job at a £105,000 factory in a residential street in Tyne and Wear.
Another, Xhafer Furriku, came to the UK to get free dental work on the NHS – then stayed to work in a cannabis factory.
The rewards can be huge. The leaders of a gang in Leeds enjoyed ‘vast personal wealth’ from their £3million chain of five cannabis farms across West Yorkshire with a Range Rover, Porsche, £150,000 Mercedes G-Wagon and Rolexes.
Even lower level workers enjoy luxuries. One cannabis factory was found in Southampton in 2022 with a fully stocked kitchen and gym for workers, while designer aftershave bottles were found in the living quarters of a pair working in a £400,000 Swansea grow.
Rigles Ndreka was found with a £400 pair of trainers at the Sheffield cannabis factory he ran. He told police he was only working there to pay off a £50,000 debt. Oetjon Agalliu, who arrived in the UK on the back of a lorry, used his proceeds from the £146,000 cannabis farm he ran in Mansfield to try to buy asylum documents for £25,000. Much of the rest went on prostitutes.
The cost to local communities of these enterprises in residential areas comes in the form of violence and terror – guns, knives and machetes have often been found in factories.
A year before that cul-de-sac murder in Bristol in 2022, three Albanians were jailed after beating to death a thief who raided the produce of their £120,000 cannabis factory in Cardiff and dumping his body in a nearby street.
The gangs’ farms also put neighbouring families’ lives at risk from fires and explosions caused by the way they illegally bypass the electricity mains and tamper with meters to avoid high bills and evade detection.
There have been at least 640 fires at cannabis farms between 2019 and mid 2024; they have caused three deaths including that of a seven-year-old boy in 2024 who was sleeping innocently with his family in a block of flats in Newcastle where a neighbour was producing the drug.
In a separate case, Kastriot Prendi, who was in the UK illegally, initially refused to open the door to firefighters into a residential maisonette where he was running a cannabis factory even as smoke billowed from the windows.
Fire crews eventually forced entry into the property in Fife but even then Prendi initially refused to let them check all the rooms during the blaze in March 2024.
Only when police were called did he relent and officers discovered the £342,000 cannabis factory. Prendi, who had overstayed his visa, was jailed for two years. When caught, the drug den operators frequently use the same story, dubbed the ‘Albanian defence’ by one exasperated judge, that they only worked as a ‘gardener’ and had been at the factory for a few days after travelling to the UK to try to pay off the debt for a relative’s medical treatment.
Another judge said that almost every week he hears the other ‘very familiar’ excuse that the accused had been ‘forced’ to work in the factory to pay off debts to people smugglers who trafficked him to the UK.
But while some of the crime gang members have faced the full force of justice, other judges have demonstrated an inexplicably lenient attitude towards them.
Redis Shahini arrived in the UK on a small boat and, after his asylum claim as an alleged victim of a ‘blood feud’ was rejected, he promptly started a cannabis farm in Ystalyfera, Wales.
Sentencing the 20-year-old at Swansea Crown Court in May 2024 to 12 months in a Young Offender Institution, Judge Huw Rees struck a compassionate note, saying he was ‘sensitive to the desperation’ the offender must have felt to have left his family in Albania.
Shahini was deported in 2024 after completing half his sentence and repaid the judge’s sympathy by smuggling himself straight back into the UK to set up another £200,000 cannabis factory in Nottingham. He was jailed for 22 months in February.
Benis Asllanaj, Fatos Daci, Luan Maci and Luan Prozllomi walked free from court despite admitting working in a £4.5million per year cannabis factory in Bodmin, Cornwall, after a judge blamed this on the delays in their applications to work legally in the UK.
As he gave them suspended sentences at Truro Crown Court in January 2024, Judge Simon Carr described the men as ‘gardeners’ who must have been ‘put into the premises’ and ‘told what to do’ and had ‘no alternative’. He added: ‘The reason you could be preyed on in this way is you are all Albanian nationals, seeking to stay in this country lawfully but caught up in a system which takes years for such applications to be considered, and little or no opportunity to earn income while that is done.’
Perhaps most depressing is the case of Xhoni Leka, who was jailed for 40 months in September 2020 after being found running a cannabis farm packed with 1,300 plants in Whitehaven, Cumbria. He was also caught in possession of class B drugs with intent to supply.
Most foreign criminals are booted out of the country as soon as their sentence is finished. But not Leka, who fought a lengthy legal battle to remain and this year successfully appealed against deportation by claiming it would breach his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Upper immigration tribunal judges Fiona Lindsley and Mark Symes ruled deportation would be ‘unduly harsh’ on his four-year-old daughter as it would leave her without a male role model.
Meanwhile, Albanian cannabis factories keep on producing the drug.
This month alone, busts have included a ‘sophisticated and substantial’ cannabis factory in a Nottinghamshire home (only found because of a fire which was narrowly saved from spreading to neighbours); a Wiltshire grow where £1.5million of electricity had been stolen from the National Grid; a £5million factory in Aston, Birmingham, detected after it caused a power outage because electricity had been illegally diverted for lights and fans; and a ‘huge’ grow worth £1.7million run by a suspected organised crime gang in Doncaster – where guns were also found.
With the rewards so great and the punishments so light, the industry and its millions of plants are flourishing as never before.
The latest line-up of Saturday Kitchen guests has got fans talking.
Chef Matt Tebbutt has been hosting the BBC cookery show for over nine years, having initially joined as a stand-in presenter in April 2016 before officially taking over as the permanent host in March 2017.
The presenter welcomed This Morning’s Demot O’Leary into the kitchen on Saturday (August 22) to discuss his latest work project as well as chefs Ellott Grover, Jack Stein, Roberta d’Elia and wine expert Helen McGinn was in charge of the drinks.
Before Matt got the chance to speak to his guests, viewers rushed to their keyboards to share their thoughts on the star-studded line-up.
One fan penned on social media: “Great line up.” Another added: “Incredible line-up.” A third person said: “Great. Looking forward to seeing @chef_roberta & @knackeredmother back.” A fourth wrote: “What a great line up.” Someone else agreed: “Great chefs and an amazing guest.”
Dermot appeared on the programme to promote his children’s book series Toto the Ninja Cat, which has a stage adaption touring across the UK through late 2026.
The former X Factor host also said that he’s “excited” following the news that the novel is being turned into a 52-episode action-comedy show by Emmy-winning head writers Nick Ostler and Mark Huckerby (Danger Mouse).
It comes after Laura Whitmore revealed her controversial favourite snack on the show. The former Love Island’s host dream snack proved to be controversial as host Matt said: “So Laura, a little birdy tells me you love eating raw mushrooms with mayonnaise?”
Laughing, Laura replied: “I love raw mushrooms.” The star then picked up a raw mushroom and proceeded to eat it as those watching turned in horror.
Presented with her own plate or raw mushrooms and two bottles of her personalised mayonnaise “Whit-Mayo”, Laura admitted the dish is called canapes, with which she sprinkles some cheese on top, adding: “That’s what I used to do when I was younger.”
The episode was first aired in 2022 and fans at the time were unimpressed. One person penned on X: “Watching in horror as Laura Whitmore eats raw mushrooms with mayonnaise on TV.”
After being served her favourite food of seafood linguine, paired with a glass of rose wine, Laura was seen enjoying her dish, seemingly speechless.
Saturday Kitchen airs weekly on BBC One at 10am
The crash, which also involved a Volkswagen Passat, took place on the A66 in South Bank, near Middlesbrough, at about 3.39 am on Saturday.
The A66 is closed in both directions between Normanby Road and Church Lane.
There is significant emergency response at the scene, and people should use alternative routes as the road “will remain closed for some time”, Cleveland Police said.
A Cleveland Police spokesperson said: “Around 3.39am this morning, a collision took place involving a police vehicle and a Volkswagen Passat on the A66 in South Bank.
“Sadly, the collision has resulted in multiple fatalities.
“There are significant emergency vehicles on the scene and the road will remain closed for some time.
“The public are asked to use alternative routes.
“We are working to identify the victims and contact their families.
“This is a quickly-evolving incident and we ask that members of the public respectfully avoid speculation.”
This is a national news story; check out local closures and delays before you travel.
A passenger’s laptop has caught fire on an American Airlines flight, possibly burning multiple people on the plane, according to air traffic control audio.
“Cabin fire in the back of the airplane,” the pilot said in audio obtained by the BBC’s US reporting partner CBS News. “The flight attendants are trying to put it out now.”
“I think we have about four to five passengers that were burned by the laptop. The laptop is contained about mid-aircraft.”
One passenger was treated and released after American Airlines Flight 2398 – coming from Atlanta, Georgia – landed at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas on Friday, the airport told CBS News.
The airline said in a statement that the flight landed safely “after reports of smoke from a customer’s device during landing. We thank our crew for their professionalism and swift response to quickly contain the device.”
The BBC has reached out to the airport and the airline for more information.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warns that lithium batteries, including laptop batteries, are capable of overheating, external “as a result of various factors, including if the battery is damaged, overheated, exposed to water, overcharged, or improperly packed”.
The FAA recorded , external58 verified lithium battery air incidents so far this year involving smoke, fire or extreme heat. In the last 20 years, the highest number of incidents was related to battery packs, with 84 cases related to laptops.
Lithium batteries must be stowed in carry-on baggage only, the US regulator says.
In May, a UK-bound EasyJet flight from Egypt was diverted to Rome after a power bank was found to be charging in a passenger’s luggage in the hold of the aircraft. The flight was rescheduled for the next day.
The UK’s aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority has said power banks are causing a growing number of serious issues on flights worldwide, and urged more awareness as portable chargers carry “serious risks” of overheating or catching fire.
There was a notable lack of food for the hard-working BBC sport production staff in their shiny new studio at their Salford HQ during the World Cup this summer.
Sustenance would have been expected without question for both on-screen staff and those grafting behind the scenes, during the unsociable hours they were required to work as the tournament was broadcast from the other side of the Atlantic.
The decision not to feed behind-the-scenes staff, made by the BBC’s director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski, infuriated those left hungry. Their anger was compounded, say sources at the broadcaster, by the fact that Kay-Jelski could be seen unashamedly tucking into his own meals, brought to his desk by Deliveroo (and paid for by him, the corporation insists).
Factor into this that Kay-Jelski, 41, earns between £275,000 and £279,999 – a significant rise on the £245,000 for which his role was advertised two years ago – and it’s perhaps understandable why he has become ‘extremely despised’ by many at the corporation.
‘There are many working on BBC sport who simply do not like how Alex is behaving,’ says just one disgruntled insider. ‘It was pretty much impossible to get food at 1am in Salford during the World Cup.
‘There are suggestions that he has had some huge pay rises since he has been in the job and it has really irked a lot of people.’
The ill-feeling towards Kay-Jelski, who joined the corporation in June 2024, replacing the long-serving Barbara Slater, is now threatening to derail BBC Sport’s crown jewel, Match of the Day, back tonight for the start of the football season.
Sources tell me a ‘civil war’ has broken out on the programme as both its presenting and punditry teams and those working behind the cameras have been left ‘at the end of their tether’ over what they consider to be their boss’s ambition to take the BBC’s sports coverage in a different direction.
Gabby Logan, Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates were announced as presenters of the show in January
Alan Shearer has reportedly had a fall-out with the BBC’s director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski, which has led to his appearances on the show being cut back
‘The view inside Match of the Day is that Alex’s ego has grown out of control,’ says my insider. ‘His decisions and attitude have left a lot of people very angry and upset. He has never worked in television before and had turned up here wanting to make changes while earning an absolute fortune.
‘Some are convinced he wants to change BBC sport from a traditional, terrestrial model into something more YouTube-like. It has caused an internal mutiny.’
When approached by the Daily Mail, a BBC spokesman said: ‘We do not believe this to be true.’
Murmurs of unrest at Match of the Day appeared earlier this week and were quickly shut down by Kay-Jelski and the BBC’s PR team.
Despite their protestations, his staff have been coming forward in their droves to brief against Kay-Jelski in their bid to ‘save’ the BBC’s sports coverage.
Meanwhile, I can reveal that he and his longest serving pundit, Alan Shearer, have had a huge fall-out which has culminated in the former England striker cutting back on his Match of the Day appearances to just one a month – or even less.
Their row began at the end of April when Shearer was enraged Kay-Jelski didn’t tell him Match of the Day was nominated for the Sports Journalism Awards.
Shearer demanded to know why he wasn’t told the show he had worked on for 20 years had been shortlisted (he only found out after the ceremony that it had won programme of the year), nor was he invited.
He was further irritated that not one of Kay-Jelski’s management team called or texted to congratulate him.
Kay-Jelski, I’m told, hit back at Shearer, insisting very few people attended due to cost cutting.
Shearer was also spitting feathers that during their row, Kay-Jelski accused him of ‘whining’.
‘Alan was staggered that Alex behaved like this,’ says my Match of the Day insider. ‘It wasn’t just about him, but others too who he feels should have been involved in such an achievement.
‘The whining remark really got to Alan, he didn’t like it at all. He took the view, and still does, that he and other members of the team should have been told about the show’s success. Alan understands cost-cutting, but a WhatsApp would have cost nothing to send.
‘While Alan and Alex agreed to move on from the row, Alan is no fan of Alex’s. Now he doesn’t really want to be on the show as much as he did previously.’
Alan, say sources, isn’t alone. Fellow pundit Micah Richards has also requested to reduce his appearances to ‘the bare minimum’. One idea was that he did only FA Cup games, but it’s not yet known if that has been agreed to.
While the BBC confirmed Shearer and Richards would be cutting back their hours, a spokesman said it had nothing to do with any issues between them and Kay-Jelski.
They would not comment, however, on any fall-out with Shearer.
Micah Richards has requested to reduce his appearances to the ‘bare minimum’
Mark Chapman is reportedly not a fan of Kay-Jelski either
Regarding the Kay-Jelski situation, Gabby Logan ‘keeps her head down and tries to keep the peace’
Mark ‘Chappers’ Chapman is also reportedly not a fan of Kay-Jelski either, while the ever-professional Gabby Logan ‘keeps her head down and tries to keep the peace’.
The third host, Kelly Cates, is said to be much admired by Kay-Jelski and therefore there is no animosity on her part.
There are also fears that a couple of senior production staff are so unhappy they might walk away.
‘We are talking about highly experienced staff who have dedicated their lives to Match of the Day,’ says the source.
‘There is one adored employee who is on the cusp of quitting over all of this and if that happens it would be absolutely devastating.’
It was Kay-Jelski who put together the new-look Match of the Day last year after Gary Lineker left following controversy over an anti-Semitic social media post.
He was certainly a wild-card choice to replace television veteran Barbara Slater.
Educated at the fee-paying University College School in Hampstead, north London, he began his journalism career at the Daily Mail as a trainee sub-editor. He later moved to The Times where he created a stir with his vocal pro stance on trans athletes in women’s sport.
Six years later he arrived at the BBC where he has won a reputation among his colleagues as ‘woke’.
He was also behind the deeply unpopular decision to cull Football Focus, the legendary Saturday lunchtime show which has been running for 48 years.
Kay-Jelski’s more junior colleagues are also somewhat bewildered that, unlike so many behind-the-scenes staff who have to work full-time in Salford – and therefore live there – he commutes from London and is said to be there for around three days per week.
His popularity waned further earlier this year when he took the controversial decision to cover the initial rounds of the World Cup, held in the US, Canada and Mexico, from Salford.
This meant Gabby, Mark and Kelly were presenting against fake backdrops of the cities where matches were being played. Their rivals at ITV hired a stunning studio with views of Manhattan and Brooklyn bridge in the background. Lineker, meanwhile, also had a lavish loft apartment in Manhattan to host his podcast The Rest is Football, which was screened on Netflix.
Talking of Lineker, sources tell me he is being ‘very supportive’ of his former colleagues at Match of the Day, ‘meddling’ that will surely enrage Kay-Jelski, who oversaw his departure from the show. ‘Say what you like about Gary and his politics, but he does care about his old colleagues,’ says the insider. ‘Gary isn’t Alex’s biggest fan, as you can imagine.’
Neither are those involved in the women’s football world.
The Women’s Football show, which airs highlights of matches in the Women’s Super League, was culled after 13 years, leaving many inside the corporation furious.
Instead there are rumours that a new project will be created for iPlayer made by the former production company of Alex Scott, former Lioness and host of the now defunct Football Focus.
‘Alex [Kay-Jelski] seems to want to take it all in a direction of social media and YouTube,’ says my source. ‘It’s as if he has a vision away from television. And it is terrifying for the older viewers.’
In response to this point, a BBC spokesman said: ‘The strategy isn’t broadcast versus digital – it’s both. We’re protecting the quality and distinctiveness of our flagship programmes, with Match of the Day at the heart of that, while also making sure they reach audiences wherever and however they choose to consume sport.’
Another source tells me there is much chatter that a decision to cast the UK’s most watched sports YouTuber John Nellis on the forthcoming series of Strictly could be part of a long-term plan to lure him into the BBC sport family – along with his 20 million followers.
Then there was the matter of a legal complaint from Oasis after Kay-Jelski ordered a celebrity version of their hit Wonderwall, featuring the likes of Claudia Winkleman, which was played during the World Cup.
However, the rights were not secured, leading to the band’s lawyers demanding it was removed. ‘Alex dug his heels in and didn’t want to take it down,’ a source says. ‘It caused a lot of issues before finally it was removed.’
Instead of the usual excitement this weekend at the return of Match of the Day, there is, I’m told, dread among staff.
‘The beginning of the football season was always something so special,’ says a show source. ‘This year it all feels very miserable.’
And as for any food for behind-the-scenes staff… well, again, there won’t be any.
An opportunity to move to Scotland’s ‘jewel of the Highlands’ is available with a popular hotel looking to hire two people on a permanent basis. The positions have been described as an “exciting new challenge” for anybody wanting to make a fresh start with their other half.
The Plockton Inn is a characterful hotel and restaurant in the Wester Ross village of Plockton, featuring 26 guest rooms in a popular destination amongst both tourists and locals. Plockton is often referred to as the ‘jewel of the Highlands’ due to its beautiful views over Loch Carron.
The hotel, restaurant, and bar is currently seeking a management couple to take the helm and deliver “an exceptional experience for guests”. According to the job listing on HiJOBS, the full-time and permanent positions at The Plockton Inn come with a “competitive joint salary”.
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As well as the competitive salary, the successful applicants will receive employee discounts for themselves, family, and friends. There is also the potential for bonuses based on financial and business performance, with an “opportunity to live and work in one of the most beautiful locations in the Scottish Highlands”.
Responsibilities will include leading, developing, and motivating the hotel team and ensuring that standards of service and hospitality are consistently maintained. You will also be expected to oversee the operational and financial performance of the business, as well as help drive revenue and manage costs.
Other day-to-day tasks the successful applicants will be expected to carry out are helping with recruitment, training, and team development. Additionally, you will foster strong connections with guests and the local community, and work alongside the wider team that owns The Plockton Inn.
Those applying for the positions should be experienced hospitality professionals who enjoy being involved with every aspect of the operation. You should have previous experience working at a hotel or inn, as well as very strong leadership and people management skills
Other desirable attributes include good commercial awareness, the ability to deliver strong financial results, and a real passion for food, service, and hospitality. Candidates should also have the confidence to make tough decisions, as well as high organisational skills and the ability to thrive in a busy environment.
When not working at The Plockton Inn, there is no shortage of picturesque walks to head out on in the area. One of the most popular beauty spots is the nearby Coral Beach, which is a picturesque and secluded bay that features unique sand made from calcified seaweed.
There are also various activities that you can take part in on Loch Carron itself, including wildlife cruises where you can spot marine like like dolphins and seals. There is also the opportunity for water sports, sailing, kayaking, and more.
The HiJOBS website states: “We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic management couple to take the helm at the Plockton Inn. We are open to applications from two experienced hospitality managers or a General Manager and Head Chef partnership.”
The job listing adds: “If you are an experienced hospitality couple ready to take on an exciting new challenge together, we would love to hear from you.”
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