Visitors arriving in Stirling by bus or train will be met by a newly decorated Station Square featuring deckchairs, giant interactive games, cheerleaders and the chance to get ready for the festival with glitter face paint.

As the crowds arrive for the all of the fun of Radio 2 Party in the Park, a business organisation is putting on city centre entertainment for those heading into Stirling.

Go Forth Stirling are supporting the star-studded event with entertainment being laid on in Station Square alongside the launch of the new ‘In Stirling’ app giving festival goers up to date information about the city.

This weekend, visitors arriving in Stirling by bus or train will be met by a newly decorated Station Square featuring deckchairs, giant interactive games, cheerleaders and the chance to get ready for the festival with glitter face paint.

Festival-goers are encouraged to download the free app which provides information on the BBC 2 event, travel tips and recommendations of places to stay, eat and visit during their trip.

The digital hub also features offers, alerts, local news and walking trails and can be downloaded now via Google Play or the App Store.

Go Forth have also joined forces with Keep Britain Tidy to help stamp out cigarette waste across Stirling during the weekend through the ‘Bin Your Butts’ campaign.

Go Forth Stirling BID Project Director Danielle McRorie-Smith is thrilled to welcome thousands of Radio 2 in the Park fans, as well as the many musicians and DJs, to Stirling for an unforgettable weekend.

Ms McRorie-Smith said: “We’re ready to host a fantastic weekend filled with music, energy and excitement in Stirling which offers the perfect entertainment venue for Radio 2 in the Park’s first Scottish festival.

“We have great transport links, are centrally located and have so much to offer visitors in terms of our history, heritage and landmark tourist attractions.

“We also boast a wide array of independent and national retailers who will ensure visitors are well catered for with accommodation, bars, restaurants, shops and whatever else they choose to do and experience during their stay.”

She added: “Go Forth are delighted to support the event with entertainment for fans in the city centre; our collaboration with Keep Britain Tidy and, of course, our new ‘In Stirling’ app which is available to download and gives visitors up to date information about the festival and everything else Stirling has to offer.

“We’re all set to give festival-goers a warm welcome to Stirling where they can enjoy some fun and entertainment in Station Square before walking through the city and along Dumbarton Road to City Park for the BBC 2 Party in the Park.”

The Russian army has a “pervasive culture of lying” over battlefield gains which has left Vladimir Putin with a “severely distorted” view of the frontline situation in Ukraine, military analysts have said.

Several Russian military bloggers have offered a bleak picture of the frontline near Lyman in the Donetsk region, where Ukrainian counterattacks are pushing back Russia’s forward positions and exposing misleading military reports from Russian forces.

One milblogger, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), argued that “beautiful reports” – a term milbloggers have coined to refer to the pervasive culture of lying within the Russian armed forces and misinformation about the state of the frontlines – need to be “absolutely forbidden”.

The claims have led the Russian president to have a “severely distorted” view of the frontline situation, which has led him to make “absurd and aggrandising claims of Russian advances”, the ISW said in a daily briefing.

Kyiv’s forces recently seized full control over Svyatohirsk, northwest of Lyman, in the days after Putin had claimed Russia controlled the village.

In a video posted on Monday, the commander of Ukraine’s Third Army Corps Andrii Biletskyi taunted Putin over his recent claim that Russian forces had captured it. Standing in the picturesque monastery town, he declared it was a “rear area for our corps”.

Russian milbloggers have been “increasingly expressing frustration about Russian officials’ false claims of advance”, adding that such false military reports “create operational risks for Russian forces” because they cannot call for offensive operations in locations they have already claimed to control.

The alleged lies make it as far as the White House, the ISW added.

Putin and US president Donald Trump held a phone call on Monday, following a visit by Washington envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv and Moscow over the weekend in a fresh attempt to find common ground for a peace agreement.

The Russian president likely used the phone call to push his misrepresentation of the battlefield situation on Trump, the ISW said.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin gave an “objective and extensive analysis of the current developments in the special military operation”, the latter phrase being Moscow’s euphemism for its aggression in Ukraine.

“Putin likely used the call with Trump to present his distorted picture of the frontline in an attempt to convince Trump that the US should force Ukraine to capitulate to Russia’s demands ostensibly before Ukraine’s battlefield situation worsens,” the ISW assessed.

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By ED HOLT

Published: 15:15 BST, 11 September 2026 | Updated: 15:24 BST, 11 September 2026

Police are trying to find the owner of the urn, which is believed to contain human ashes.

A tiny urn wrapped in a teddy bear and believed to contain human ashes has been left on a train between London and Aberdeen. British Transport Police has issued an appeal to try to locate its rightful owner.

The small red urn is wrapped in purple and white artificial flowers and held in the arms of a teddy bear toy. It is believed to have been left on an LNER service travelling from London Kings Cross to Aberdeen and was subsequently handed into lost property on the train’s arrival in Aberdeen.

British Transport Police (BTP) said according to the information they have available, it was lost at some point in the last four months. Police Constable Gary Herning said: “The urn appears to contain human ashes or remains and will clearly be of enormous sentimental value to someone.

“Unfortunately, we have no further information on where the owner may have boarded or alighted during the journey. We’re issuing the appeal in the hope that the individual or family concerned will reach out to us so that we can arrange its safe return.”

Police have asked the owner, or anyone who knows them, to contact BTP on 61016, using the reference number 2600110174.

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Rory McIlroy is set to be reunited with Donald Trump as the US President heads to Doonbeg in Co Clare

Rory McIlroy appears set for a reunion with Donald Trump as the US President prepares to visit his Doonbeg golf course for the Irish Open.

The Co Clare venue is playing host to the European Tour event, which wraps up on Sunday, with Trump expected to touch down in Doonbeg at around 3pm on Saturday.

McIlroy was candid about his thoughts on Trump’s visit when quizzed about it ahead of the tournament getting under way.

The world number two told BBC Sport NI: “It’s going to be different with him being here.

“We’re here to play a golf tournament, and it’s a good golf course and we will keep our heads down and play.

“I think the weekend, especially when he’s here, crowds will be limited.

“Obviously, there’s a lot that’s going on. Logistically, it provides some challenges, absolutely, but at the same time, if he wants to come and watch the Irish Open, who are we to say no.”

McIlroy further commented at a press conference in Doonbeg: “I think when the sitting President of the United States of America visits anywhere, it becomes a logistical challenge.

“There’s a lot that goes into it. They obviously have to lock down a specific area and make sure that it’s safe for him to travel into, and the entire delegation, whoever that is. Logistically, it provides a bit of a challenge, but we are at one of his properties that he has kindly provided for us to play a golf tournament.

“I said yesterday, the President of the United States wants to come watch a little bit of golf. I think we are all happy to be here, grateful to be here. His presence at The Irish Open makes it a truly international event. That brings more attention and eyeballs to the Irish Open, and it can only be a good thing.”

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McIlroy also discussed his connection with Trump’s son Eric after the 42-year-old praised the role the two-time Masters champion played in getting the Irish Open to Doonbeg, reports the Irish Mirror.

“Eric and I live very close to each other, kids are at the same school and see each other at school events from time to time,” McIlroy explained.

“So the DP World Tour reached out to me and said, ‘Do you think Doonbeg will be a suitable venue for The Irish Open?’”.

“I said, look, I haven’t been there, but from all accounts, I hear it’s a very, very good golf course with accommodation on-site. The Irish Open has not been in this part of the world in several years, since Lahinch in 2019. I think it would be a good thing.”

This isn’t the first occasion McIlroy has faced questions about Trump, having previously played golf with the US President on a few occasions.

At last year’s Irish Open, the Holywood native was questioned about whether he’d have any concerns playing the tournament at a Trump-owned venue.

“I’ve never played Doonbeg,” McIlroy said. “I might have gone there for dinner once while I was down playing Lahinch at some point.

“But no, I mean, I’ve obviously heard the rumours. I’m not sure if it’s confirmed or not, or when the schedule comes out, but if it were to go there, I’d have no problem.

“You know, the Scottish Championship was played at a Trump property near Aberdeen there a few weeks ago and looked like it was a great event.”

McIlroy had disclosed earlier that year that he’d shared a round of golf with Trump prior to his inauguration, revealing that the 80-year-old wasn’t keen on the LIV format.

“It was great. Yeah, it was really good,” McIlroy said. “I thought we had a good discussion.

“I learnt that he’s not a fan of the LIV format. I was like, ‘But you’ve hosted their events?’ He was like, ‘yeah, but it doesn’t mean that I like it’. So I think he’s on the Tour’s side.”

The golfer had previously responded to criticism after playing a round of golf with Trump in 2017.

He said in a tweet at the time: “I don’t agree with everything my friends or family say or do, but I still play golf with them.

“Last week, I was invited to play golf with the president of the United States. Whether you respect the person who holds the position or not, you respect the office that he holds.”

He added that the game was “not an endorsement, nor a political statement of any kind”.

“It was, quite simply, a round of golf,” he wrote.

“I’ve travelled all over the world and have been fortunate enough to befriend people from many different countries, beliefs and cultures.

“To be called a fascist and a bigot by some people because I spent time in someone’s company is just ridiculous. I hope, to some degree, this clarifies my decision to accept the invitation.”

However, McIlroy had previously suggested in 2020 that he would not play golf with Trump again.

“I haven’t done it since … out of choice,” said the Co Antrim native, as he questioned Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

He added: “I don’t know if he’d want to play with me again after what I just said. I know it’s very self-serving of me to say no, and if I don’t, then it means I’m not putting myself in position to be under scrutiny and that I’m avoiding that.

“But no, I wouldn’t.”

Notwithstanding the backlash, Trump remains a fervent admirer of McIlroy and has sung his praises on several occasions.

In a pre-recorded message played at an event marking 250 years of Irish-American friendship in July, Trump declared: “We have the Irish Open going to be there and we’re going to have a tremendous celebration. I think I’m going to come over and I think I’m going to see it and we’re gonna watch Rory and all the great players.”

Earlier this year, the US President asked McIlroy to stand during a White House banquet as he praised the golfer for his “unconquerable courage” following his second consecutive Masters victory. During a state visit by the King and Queen, Trump said: “The entire world has been uplifted by this distinct and special character we share. This unstoppable daring, this unconquerable courage. It really is, it’s unconquerable.

“Speaking of that, where’s Rory McIlroy? Can you stand up Rory, will you, please?”.

“That was unconquerable courage. That was very good Rory. I don’t know if that helps him talking about how wonderful the speech… but I had to interrupt my speech because I watched that man win a tournament that was a tough one.

“Congratulations, very proud of you.”

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By ANDY DOLAN, GENERAL REPORTER

Published: 12:01 BST, 11 September 2026 | Updated: 15:07 BST, 11 September 2026

A man has pleaded guilty to murdering a mother of seven who disappeared 28 years ago after telling police he disposed of her decomposed body months after killing her. 

Patricia Lashley disappeared near her home in Dudley, West Midlands, in September 1998. 

Trevor Dunkley, 66, also admitted a charge of preventing her lawful burial. 

Appearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Dunkley, from Dudley, showed no emotion in the dock as his barrister, Balbir Singh, told a judge that the charges had been brought following admissions in a police interview.

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Asked by Judge Michael Chambers KC if the victim’s body had been found, Mr Singh answered: ‘No, because this is 28 years ago and the body was put into the cellar downstairs. 

‘It decomposed.  When he was moving about nine months to a year later the skeleton was disposed of into the bins.’

Patricia Lashley was last seen near herhome in Dudley in September 1998 

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Last month a police van was parked outside the flat where Ms Lashley lived 

Asked if there was a basis of plea, Mr Singh said of the case: ‘It is down to what the defendant told the police when there was no evidence in reality of what had happened.’ 

Dunkley, appearing in the dock wearing round-rimmed glasses and a grey sweater, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on November 6.

West Midlands Police previously said Ms Lashley moved to Dudley in the mid-1990s and frequented the No Limits club and other pubs in the area.

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Several members of Ms Lashley’s family were present in the public gallery to see Dunkley enter his pleas today.

Her family made a fresh appeal to trace Ms Lashley, who would now be 61 and a grandmother, in 2017.

Police had earlier said it was understood she and Dunkley knew one another.

The West Midlands force said Ms Lashley was known locally as Pat or Jade, and had been known to have links to London, Newcastle, Wales and Scotland. She also used the names Vanessa and Tricia, as well as the surname Bradford.

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The former Lagan Valley MP is in Maghaberry prison awaiting sentencing.

A judge has said he has received victim impact reports ahead of the sentencing of disgraced former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson.

Judge Paul Ramsey confirmed that the sentencing process for the former MP would begin on September 25.

Donaldson, 63, was convicted at Newry Crown Court earlier this year of 18 sex offences, including one count of rape, relating to the abuse of two women when they were children. The offences were committed between 1985 and 2008.

His wife Eleanor Donaldson, 60, was found to have aided and abetted his crimes after a trial of the facts, which was granted on mental health grounds.

During a brief hearing in Newry on Friday, the judge said he had received two victim impact reports and a sexual offences prevention order in respect of Jeffrey Donaldson, and was awaiting some medical reports.

The judge said he would hear sentencing submissions later this month, but indicated that the sentence would not be passed until October.

Judge Ramsey also said he wanted to “correct an omission” from the end of the trial, saying he had failed to thank members of the media for their reporting of proceedings.

He said: “This was a case which was challenging for the press in view of the issues of anonymity, and I was impressed with the care and accuracy of the reporting, both in print media and in broadcast.”

Donaldson was not in court for the hearing.

The former Lagan Valley MP is in Maghaberry prison awaiting sentencing.

Since his conviction he has been stripped of his knighthood and removed from the Privy Council. His solicitor has previously confirmed that papers have been lodged for an appeal.

During his trial earlier this year, the two victims gave evidence against him.

Complainant A gave evidence of inappropriate touching and kissing by Donaldson and an incident where he used a light to examine her genitals.

Complainant B told the trial she had been raped as a child of primary school age by Donaldson and later sexually assaulted by him.

Donaldson had denied the offences but the jury at Newry Crown Court convicted him of one count of rape, 13 counts of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency.

At the end of the trial, Judge Ramsey told him that a custodial sentence was inevitable and it would be “lengthy”.

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A fresh bid to legalise assisted dying was defeated in the House of Commons today as efforts to revive a controversial Bill fell at the first major hurdle.

MPs voted by 286 to 270, majority 16, to reject the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at its Second Reading.

There were cheers and a shout of ‘good’ as the result was announced in the chamber, while some MPs could be seen hugging and pumping their fists as the Bill fell.

It followed a passionate four-and-a-half hour debate in the Commons on Friday between supporters and opponents of assisted dying.

Many MPs spoke emotionally about their own personal experiences and the experiences of their dying loved ones.

The Bill had aimed to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death.

It had been reintroduced by Labour MP Lauren Edwards despite its failure in the last parliamentary session when – although it passed two votes in the Commons – it fell in the Lords.

It followed a passionate debate in the Commons on Friday between supporters and opponents of assisted dying, with many speaking emotionally about their personal experiences

Ms Edwards re-introduced the Bill to the Commons after taking over from its previous sponsor, Kim Leadbeater.

During Friday’s debate, she urged her fellow MPs to send the near-identical Bill back to the Lords ‘so that they can finish what they started’ in scrutinising the legislation.

But critics have argued the ‘flawed’ Bill is ‘unsafe’ and told the Commons not to return it to the Lords unamended.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch warned against trying to ‘ram’ through the ‘badly drafted’ legislation.

‘It’s rushed, it’s badly drafted – and I say this as someone who is not, in principle, opposed to assisted suicide,’ she said. ‘I think we need to be very careful about what we’re doing.

‘I don’t think our NHS is ready and I think this should be something that the Government does thoughtfully, not a private members’ Bill, let alone one which has failed before and which they’re trying to ram through with government numbers.

‘I think that’s wrong.’

Ms Edwards on Friday said MPs were being asked to consider ‘who ultimately decides the laws that govern our nations’ after the unelected Lords blocked the Bill last time round.

Opening the Second Reading debate, she said: ‘We can and we must improve both palliative care and support assisted dying.

‘We must grasp that opportunity in front of us to create a holistic end of life care system that will deliver choice and dignity for every single one of our constituents.’

She said that, because of the four-year implementation period in the Bill, assisted dying would not be available across the two nations until 2031 at the earliest.

‘We owe it to the people that we represent to find a resolution to this issue, one way or the other, within this Parliament,’ the Labour MP for Rochester and Strood added.

Dame Karen Bradley, a Conservative former minister, said previous supporters of the Bill should feel ‘no shame’ in opposing the draft new law.

‘You do not have to repudiate the vote you cast last time in order to vote differently today,’ she said.

‘You do not have to decide that assisted dying can never be right. You do not have to abandon the compassion that led you to support the principle.

‘You need only ask whether this Bill, in this form, on the evidence before us now today, is safe enough for Parliament to force into law.

‘That is today’s test and there is no shame whatsoever in concluding that the answer to a different question is different, indeed, there will be something profoundly wrong with a Parliament in which members felt bound by an earlier vote, regardless of everything they’d learned since.’

Dr Zubir Ahmed, a cancer surgeon and former health minister, told the Commons that the social and palliative care system ‘simply is not ready’ for assisted dying, adding that there can often be uncertainty in a doctor’s prognosis for terminally ill patients.

He told the chamber: ‘I have to be honest with you. When I am asked to prognosticate as to whether someone has six months to live or not, I am as often wrong as I am right.’

Ashley Dalton, another Labour former health minister, told the Commons that she herself has stage four metastatic breast cancer, which is incurable.

She said her cancer ‘is stable’ but warned she was unsure for how long drugs would continue to work.

Ms Dalton said: ‘Palliative care professionals and oncologists tell me that, whilst they can more or less give me an indication of when I’ll die when I’m a few days or weeks off, anything beyond that is the flip of a coin.

‘The six-month prognosis in this Bill is something no one can ever be really sure of.’

The Bill had been reintroduced by Labour MP Lauren Edwards despite its failure in the last parliamentary session when – although it passed two votes in the Commons – it fell in the Lords

Campaigners in favour of assisted dying demonstrated in front of the Houses of Parliament this morning

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch warned against trying to ‘ram’ through the ‘badly drafted’ legislation.

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Fellow Labour MP Claire Hazelgrove, a supporter of the Bill,  spoke publicly for the first time about her mother’s decision to bring her late-stage terminal illness to an end ‘on her terms’.

She said the ‘harmful status quo’ meant her mother died alone in October last year, after living with a rare blood cancer for half her life and argued ‘not all pain can be palliated’.

‘For Mum, it wasn’t a choice of life or death. It was a question of what kind of death she would have,’ she told the Commons. ‘She was clear that she didn’t want a painful or undignified death. She wanted peace.

‘For us, it will always be a tremendous personal sadness that the current law meant that she couldn’t tell us her plan, and we couldn’t say goodbye to her.

‘But more importantly than that, that she couldn’t say goodbye at the end of her life, or be surrounded by her loved ones, which is what she would have wanted for her death.

‘Instead, the harmful status quo meant that Mum died alone, with photos of us around her.’

Ahead of the debate around 70 MPs had put their names forward to speak on the Bill. 

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would not vote on the Bill on Friday afternoon so as not to ‘unduly influence the debate’.

But Mr Burnham has previously argued there is a more immediate need to fix palliative care and social care than debate the legalisation of assisted dying.

The previous assisted dying Bill passed its Third Reading in the Commons in June last year by a majority of 23 votes.

Ashley Dalton, a Labour former health minister, told the Commons that she herself has stage four metastatic breast cancer, which is incurable

Fellow Labour MP Claire Hazelgrove, who is in favour of the Bill, spoke publicly for the first time about her mother’s decision to bring her late-stage terminal illness to an end ‘on her terms’

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Fresh polling shared with the Daily Mail revealed that the public overwhelmingly supports Mr Burnham’s view, namely that the debate about assisted dying should not come before palliative and social care are fixed.

A poll by Whitestone Insight found that 82 per cent agreed Parliament should first ensure no one would feel driven towards an assisted death because they cannot get the care and support they need at the end of life. Just 8 per cent disagreed.

It also found that 74 per cent agreed that current pressures on the NHS and social care funding could lead some people to choose to end their lives through an assisted death earlier than they would otherwise, because they fear they would not receive the care and support they need.

Nearly two-thirds agreed that money should not be taken from the NHS budget to finance assisted dying services.

The Parliament Acts mean that a Bill reintroduced to the Commons for a second time and passed by MPs in two concurrent parliamentary sessions, without amendments, can receive royal assent without peers’ approval.

However, Trenchers is also a must-visit spot in the town and has been named the UK’s Best Fish and Chip Restaurant at the 2026 National Fish and Chip Awards.

The restaurant was first opened in 1980 and offers a traditional fish and chips menu as well as other seafood dishes.

What is Trenchers in Whitby like?

The restaurant’s website says: “At Trenchers New Quay Road, we fry using the traditional method of beef dripping to ensure the best possible product for our customers.

“With options including seafood salads, crab, lobster, fresh fish, homemade pies and lasagnes, Whitby scampi, vegetarian options and a dedicated children’s menu, there truly is something for everyone.

“Situated on Whitby’s iconic harbour side, Trenchers provides the perfect setting for all of the family and parties of any size, with booth seating throughout, and friendly service at every visit.”

Since it first opened, Trenchers has become “an instant hit” with both locals and tourists.

The menu features a range of options from oysters and tempura-battered vegetables to start to salads and sandwiches.

You can get traditional fish and chips, choosing from hake, cod, haddock, plaice, and halibut that are served with the restaurant’s chips, which are fried in beef dripping.

Alternatively, you can have seafood chowder, fishcakes, Whitby scampi, salmon or steak pie.

Trenchers also has an extensive dessert menu featuring dishes like sticky toffee pudding, lemon and ginger cheesecake, and sherry trifle.

What do reviews say about Trenchers in Whitby?

Trenchers has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor with 6,192 people leaving reviews after their trip.

One person said: “Coming from the United States, I thought I knew fish and chips…until we ate at Trenchers!

“The fish was incredibly fresh, and the batter was wonderfully light and crispy.

“We arrived around 4pm and only had a short wait, but the restaurant and its takeaway counter became very busy.

“We finished with dessert, and my Knickerbocker Glory sundae was a delicious treat we don’t often find in the US.

“Afterward, we enjoyed walking around Whitby’s charming harbor during Pirate Week, which made the experience even more fun.

“Definitely worth a visit!”

Another person said: “We had our usual amazing fish and chips and crab sandwich.

“You cannot fault this restaurant and it is certainly highly recommended.

“The staff are very friendly and nothing is a trouble to them.”

Will you be visiting Trenchers any time soon? Let us know in the comments.