Parliament must enforce point-of-sale restrictions on the purchase of e-bikes and introduce age limits, writes Record View.

Peggy Maxwell might be a 94-year-old pensioner but she is determined to change the law on electric motorbikes after being run over by one.

She tells her story today and we hope MSPs will read her words carefully – and put in place ­regulation to keep folk safe.

What was pitched as a green transport option has turned into a nightmare in towns and housing estates in Scotland.

These high-powered electric bikes are frequently modified to hit motor vehicle speeds but are often used with no training, insurance or licence.

This situation has led to an explosion of e-bike gangs roaming around without a care for their own safety or that of the pedestrians they crash into. Police are often unable to chase them – and the ­youngsters are well aware.

These are not harmless teenagers on pushbikes. They are riding heavy, silent machines capable of speeds over 50mph.

Beyond local anti-social behaviour, they have become the preferred transport for county lines drug-running and street robbery, offering escape for criminals.

Current legislation on e-bikes and ­electric motorbikes is not working. That’s why Peggy’s plea, backed by her MSP Richard Baker, needs to be heeded.

We need an aggressive policy overhaul. Parliament must enforce point-of-sale restrictions on the purchase of e-bikes and introduce age limits. There must be a mandatory e-bikes registration scheme.

CCTV captured the moment the victim thought he’s been punched in the back and legs but instead suffered three knife wounds

A warehouse operator who stabbed a man on the dancefloor of a Belfast nightclub in a revenge attack has been jailed for 27 months.

Judge Natalie Pinkerton told Mohamed Abdul Hakeem that he would spend an identical period on supervised licence on his release from custody.

The 20-year-old, of Airfield Heights in West Belfast, had previously pleaded guilty to a single charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Belfast Crown Court heard on Friday that on the evening of Sunday, August 31, 2024, the victim was out for the evening with some friends at Ollies nightclub in Waring Street.

It was the prosecution case that at around 2.20am the following morning the defendant approached his victim from behind and appeared to punch him in the back, before striking him a further three times to the lower back and legs.

A prosecution lawyer told the court that the incident was caught on CCTV cameras in the nightclub.

The victim had sustained three stab wounds: One to his back, and two to his lower left leg.

Judge Pinkerton heard the victim approached security who called the police and an ambulance. The injured party was taken to hospital where he received three stitches in the wound to his back and three stitches to one of the wounds in his left. The other leg wound did not require stitches.

The prosecution lawyer said police attended the nightclub around 2.32am and noticed blood on the dance floor and in anteroom where the victim had been taken by security staff to await the ambulance.

Officers viewed the CCTV of the incident at the nightclub and then returned to seize it later that day, September 1.

A detective constable who reviewed the CCTV recognised the assailant as Mohamed Abdul Hakeem. She had dealt with him four weeks earlier after he too had been stabbed. CCTV from around the area was examined which showed the defendant making his way to Ollies and then leaving on foot.

Hakeem was arrested a few days later on September 3 and was interviewed in the presence of his solicitor. He accepted that he had gone to Ollies nightclub on Saturday night/Sunday morning but made no comment on whether he knew the victim and if he had stabbed him.

In an agreed basis of plea document between the prosecution and defence, it was accepted that Hakeem was the victim of a previous knife attack from the man he had stabbed. The defendant and his friend were in a flat when they were attacked and he needed 15 stitches for his injuries.

Hakeem said on the evening in question he had gone into town for the night to meet a friend and when he went to Ollies he saw his attacker was present.

He accepted that he lifted a piece of broken glass and attacked the man on the dancefloor in what was described as a “spontaneous and short-lived” incident.

In written defence submission from barrister Sean Mullan, he accepted the seriousness of the offence and that the custody threshold had been passed.

“The background certainly does not excuse the defendant’s conduct, but it does provide important context to what happened,” wrote Mr Mullan.

“We ask the court to look at this incident through the lens of a young male who had been attacked himself, who was an 18-year-old teenager at the time and all the maturity that goes with that. He has no previous convictions.”

He outlined how Hakeem had come to Northern Ireland from Somalia at the age of six because of the civil war in his home country.

Mr Mullan’s submissions added that Hakeem was in a stable relationship with his partner and works full time as a warehouse operative, working 12 hour shifts.

Passing the determinate custodial sentence of 54 months, Judge Pinkerton said: “This was a revenge attack with a weapon, whereby three sets of stab wounds were occasioned, meaning three blows at least, which could be seen in a busy, crowded nightclub.”

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

Partridge Lakes in Culcheth – less than 30 minutes away will transform into a wonderful magical weird witchy world -from Saturday, October 3 October to Sunday,November 1.

Tickets are now on sale and demand is expected to be high following previous sell-out dates.

The enchanted land will be set over the picturesque site nestled in the idyllic Cheshire countryside.

Set against a stunning lakeside backdrop, guests will journey along an enchanting Halloween storybook trail, meeting a colourful cast of live characters who bring every chapter to life through magical encounters, interactive performances and immersive storytelling.

This year’s new story, The Rise of the Ancient Skeleton King, sees an ancient ruler awaken from centuries of slumber to seize control of Halloweenville. Now, brave adventurers of all ages are being called upon to embark on an unforgettable quest to defeat the Skeleton King and restore peace to the magical town.

Throughout the adventure, families can explore a variety of themed worlds – encounter the mischievous Skeleton Pirates and discover their hidden secrets, train alongside the brave Skeleton Knights inside Halloweenville Castle and learn the art of sword fighting, visit the witches’ hollow to brew magic potions, and step inside Halloweenville Town Library where aspiring wizards can learn spells and discover ancient magic.

Halloweenville 2025 (Image: Brian Roberts)

Join the quest. Defeat the Ancient Skeleton King. Save Halloweenville.

The people behind the event say it has been created especially for families and young children, Halloweenville offers spooky fun without the scares, making it the perfect autumn day or evening out for visitors of all ages.

And that every scene has been carefully designed to spark imagination and create lasting family memories, with attention to detail, atmospheric lighting, themed soundscapes and interactive experiences. And every corner of the village is guaranteed to transport visitors into a magical world where adventure, laughter and imagination come together in a celebration of Halloween suitable for all ages.

Halloweenville 2025 (Image: Brian Roberts)

As part of Halloweenville guests can also enjoy an incredible selection of food and drink including freshly made authentic stone-baked pizzas, loaded nachos, delicious, sweet crêpes, seasonal treats, pumpkin spiced lattes, hot chocolate and a fully licensed bar serving alcoholic beverages for adults.

And as the sun sets over the lake, visitors can gather around crackling fire pits to toast marshmallows while enjoying live music each evening, creating the perfect cosy autumn atmosphere to round off their magical adventure.

Further details and tickets on the website www.halloweenvilleUK.co.uk

Halloweenville 2025 (Image: Brian Roberts)

Event manager and Halloweenville organiser Barbara Ikin said: “As a parent myself, I know how special it is to find days out where children can completely lose themselves in their imagination, while parents get to enjoy making those memories together. That’s always been at the heart of Halloweenville.

“We want to create a Halloween that’s full of magic, adventure and excitement without being too frightening for younger children. Every year we try to make the experience a little bigger and a little more magical, and we’re really excited for families to discover this year’s adventure with the Ancient Skeleton King.”

Manchester City have brought in summer signings who are “desperate to win” and the whole squad is “buying into the idea” of new manager Enzo Maresca, says new captain Ruben Dias.

City spent a Premier League record £458m during the recent transfer window, with incomings including midfield trio Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi.

But the club also recouped more than £300m in sales and lost the experience of players such as 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, former captain Bernardo Silva and England international John Stones.

Dias has been part of City’s leadership group since joining from Benfica for £65m in 2020 and has now been handed the armband by Maresca.

“In terms of the role I have, it goes down to trying to be the best version of yourself, and in terms of that, nothing has changed,” Dias told the Football Interview.

“So many people have left and so many winners have left, and now new people have joined with a lot of ambition and people that are desperate to win and that is also what makes the club keep on going.

“Others, Enzo included, that have been here and have won so much here and can very clearly point the way of how to do it and the things that are the most important and undeniable.

“But then as well, [there is the] ambition from us that are here and still want to be here and keep on winning. They are joining and full of ambition and with all the dreams in the world. The mix of these makes it work.”

The attack took place after the 30-year-old dad of three went to a hotel where he consumed a large amount of alcohol and cocaine and took his shirt off

A three-and-a-half year sentence has been imposed upon a man who injured an off-duty policeman during a episode of cocaine-induced psychosis.

Kyle Knell was handed the sentence at Belfast Crown Court on Friday by Judge Philip Gilpin who divided the term equally between prison and licence.

From Tynan Drive in Newtownabbey, the 30-year old father of three was told his actions caused “significant harm to others.”

On January 6, 2025 Knell went to a hotel with friends where he consumed a large amount of alcohol and cocaine. His behaviour was erratic and he was captured on CCTV running through the reception area with no shirt on.

After leaving the hotel at around 8.45pm, he flagged down a motorist and got dropped off in a residential street in Co Antrim.

A female who recognised Knell was sitting in a parked car outside her parent’s home talking her to police officer partner on the phone when Knell approached the vehicle.

He started banging on her car door shouting “They’re trying to kill me … help me.”

The woman told her partner what was happening and he told her to hang up and get her father. Knell then approached the parents’ front door and pushed his way in shouting “Help me, they’re going to shoot me for ten grand.”

After Knell began vomiting blood an ambulance was called and a short time later the female’s partner arrived at the scene.

Knell shouted: “He’s here to shoot me” then lunged at the off-duty officer and put his hands around his waist.

The officer placed his hand on the grip of his Glock and pushed the gun down to keep it from Knell’s reach. Knell then noticed the weapon and made a grab for it and during a struggle which ensued, the officer slipped on the tiled floor.

As he steadied himself, he saw that Knell had the holster in both hands and he managed to release the gun from the holster.

As the struggle over the gun continued, the officer tried to force it to the floor as Knell was pointing it at his stomach.

The weapon was then discharged, a bullet ricocheted off the floor and fragments stuck the officer in his thigh and his partner in her ankle.

Despite being injured, the officer was able to jam the gun and wrench it from Knell’s grasp.

Knell then fled to a nearby house and after entering by the back door, he encountered a 17-year old male sitting with his 14-year old sister.

He told the male teenager “I’ve been shot and people are after me” and after locking the back door, he got on his knees and begged the teen for help.

As the teen rang the PSNI, Knell grabbed his phone and began talking erratically before ending the call. Police arrived promptly and heard Knell shouting for help from inside the property.

As officers approached the front door, Knell grabbed the 17-year old to stop him from answering. After a few minutes, the teen managed to open the door and Knell was arrested then taken to Antrim Area Hospital.

He was interviewed on January 9 and 10, 2025 and accepted he had consumed a substantial amount of cocaine in the hours before the incident and had experienced paranoia.

When asked what happened concerning the gun, Knell claimed he struggled with the off-duty officer as he believed his life was in danger.

He was also asked if he had spiralled in the period leading up to the incident to which he replied “I wouldn’t say the word spiral, I would say enjoying myself.”

Knell subsequently pleaded guilty to a total of six charges including two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, possessing a firearm in suspicious circumstances and false imprisonment.

Following his pleas, Knell told a Probation Officer he knew his actions would have frightened those involved and that he wished to apologise.

Judge Philip Gilpin told Knell that after reading statement written by his victims, it was “evident that you did cause significant harm to others.”

The Belfast Recorder also noted defence submissions that set out Knell’s diagnosis of PTSD, his addiction to cocaine and a conclusion that on the night in question Knell was experiencing an episode of drug-induced psychosis.

Also taken into consideration by the Judge’s was Knell’s troubled childhood, his previously clear criminal record and two character references.

Saying “the custody threshold has quite clearly been passed in this case”, Judge Gilpin imposed the four-and-a-half year sentence and Knell was led from the dock in handcuffs by prison staff.

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

By DAILY MAIL COMMENT

Published: 00:43 BST, 12 September 2026 | Updated: 05:26 BST, 12 September 2026

Nothing we have seen over the past seven weeks suggests Andy Burnham is proper Downing Street material.

Yet even by the underwhelming standards he has set since coming to power, he has let himself down badly by allowing the Green Party to dictate his actions.

On Saturday, the Daily Mail reports that the Prime Minister has postponed plans to approve drilling at the North Sea’s Jackdaw gas field until after next month’s Holborn and St Pancras by-election.

It doesn’t require the services of a mind reader to work out that he fears a backlash from eco-zealots who could help Greens leader Zack Polanski win the seat vacated by Sir Keir Starmer.

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The move speaks volumes about Mr Burnham’s blinkered outlook and (lack of) leadership qualities. But it also says much about his contempt for the people who pay his wages.

Delaying the Jackdaw announcement will have real consequences for job creation and Britain’s energy security. Yet Mr Burnham has clearly decided that these can be sacrificed – at least temporarily – on the altar of political expediency of the most cynical kind.

That it comes after Labour’s move to impose sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank – a move largely designed to curry favour with pro-Gaza fanatics in the environmental lobby – only adds insult to injury.

It begs the question as to who is really calling the shots in No10 and whether the PM is, in fact, effectively letting us be governed by proxy by the Greens.

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Everyone knows that the British public didn’t vote to put Mr Burnham in charge of the country. But neither did anyone choose to give the job to Mr Polanski.

The Prime Minister has postponed plans to approve drilling at the North Sea’s Jackdaw gas field until after next month’s Holborn and St Pancras by-election

A very shoddy Bill

Regardless of where they stand in the assisted dying debate, everyone directly affected deserves a sympathetic hearing.

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But there can be little doubt that the Bill rejected in Westminster yesterday was deeply flawed. Among its many shortcomings was a failure to offer adequate protection to the elderly, disabled and other vulnerable groups.

Now that it has been thrown out of Parliament, we can a breathe a sigh of relief and hope it has been consigned for good to the legislative dustbin. But it is frightening that it came within a whisker of being passed in the Commons.

The narrow margin in yesterday’s vote doesn’t reflect well on our MPs. And the fact that such a shoddy piece of work made it as far as it did is a very bad look indeed for Labour.

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

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Catalogue of errors

The litany of sickening migrant crime continues. 

In the latest case, Rasheed Rahman – a 21-year-old Sudanese national who arrived here in the back of a lorry – stabbed a grandfather to death in a random attack.

Rahman had been bailed by police two days earlier after punching and kicking passers-by on a canal towpath.

Although he had been involved in several violent incidents, he was given the knife used in the fatal attack by accommodation support staff. It also emerged that he had previously made a successful asylum application.

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This catalogue of errors raises all sorts of questions that need answers. But the most pressing one is this: what exactly does Mr Burnham intend to do about the migrant crisis?

Rasheed Rahman murdered grandfather Mark Carroll on 10 April 2024 in park in Camden, London 

The two vehicle collision involved a motorcycle and a car, with an air ambulance landed in the fields of Gaskell Community Primary School around 2pm.

Police have since confirmed the man’s injuries were neither “life threatening or life changing.”

(Image: NQ)

Gaskell Community Primary School was not itself connected to the school.

The collision was first reported at about 1.38pm, according to an ambulance service spokesperson.

An ambulance service spokesperson said: “The incident involves a road traffic collision on Gaskell Street.

“The incident was first reported around 1:38pm. It involves a motorcyclist who is going to be taken to hospital.”

The car that was involved in the collision with the motorcycle was badly damaged, with much of the front bumper, as well as the licence plate, being torn off.

(Image: NQ)

Police were at the scene.

An ambulance was present, and investigations continued during the afternoon.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: “The incident was a motorbike and car road traffic collision. One man taken to hospital with injuries not deemed life threatening or changing.”

Crews remained at the scene until around 3pm, when the man was taken to hospital to be treated for his injuries.

When Sky announced that it was bringing the legendary US sketch show Saturday Night Live to the UK, the public had questions. Would it be British enough? Edgy enough? Cooler than its American cousin?

The answer was emphatically delivered in week one when the cast performed a Hamnet parody, in which William Shakespeare returned to his family from London on a Lime scooter with a mild ketamine addiction and a “c***y little earring”. It was deeply British, a touch provocative, and extremely funny.

To get the sketch into the show, the cast had to talk to Sky and “have almost like a board meeting in the hallway about getting ‘c***y’ in, and the meaning of that”, says Jack Shep, who played a Brat-ified version of the bard. He had to explain how the word had become positive slang in Gen Z culture. “It was awesome. We were like, ‘It’s different now!’ That was week one, so that tells you everything you need to know.”

Since then, the sketch show has continued to venture near the knuckle when searching for the nation’s funny bone – from skewering former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over his Jeffrey Epstein links to the Muppet-esque portrayal of Keir Starmer – and it’s worked. SNL UK received a warm – and relieved – reception from viewers and critics alike after its first run, while its sketches have been watched over 54 million times on YouTube since it premiered in March. National treasures Louis Theroux and Martin Lewis even made cameos as themselves in various skits.

Tonight, the show is back for more, just four months after the first series came to an end. No one is more surprised than its cast of rising stars – many of whom had been warned that attempting to bring the live sketch show to a hard-to-please, ever sceptical Britain would be a disaster. “We have been spoken to by pretty much everyone in the industry who told us why it was gonna be bad,” says Paddy Young, who co-hosts the Weekend Update segment. “A poisoned chalice, that’s what I got told. But it makes me feel very patriotic. How else would this country respond to something that’s high risk like this? Of course, we’re just going to say it’s going to be bad.”

“People were like, ‘I think it was… good?’” Shep says of SNL UK’s first show. “It’s like we were waiting to hear a gunshot but we haven’t heard one. It’s been really nice. We obviously had supporters from early on, but I think everyone was very sceptical.”

Sitting across from the cast in a London hotel while they’re in junket mode, it’s clear to see that the doubters never needed to worry. Watching them fire jokes back and forth between one another feels like securing front-row tickets to the Wimbledon of comedy, with their electric rapport leaving me with mild whiplash (or rather, quiplash).

Surely those comedy sceptics must be eating their words? “A lot of them are dead,” Shep jokes, with Young quickly adding: “Yeah. Coincidence?”

Even fellow cast member Emma Sidi wasn’t sure the format would work in the UK until the first show aired. “I couldn’t see the laughter working in the room as well as it does,” she admits. “I think that’s only because we haven’t had a big comedy show with a live studio audience be successful in the UK for such a long time. I had a disconnect of even imagining a room full of British people laughing. In my head, it was either a dated thing or an American thing – but then we were like, it can work.”

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After 16 weeks off – during which the show’s stars and its extensive team of writers have been performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, cramming in holidays and rearranging tour dates – they’re all ready to return. Although given sketches are pitched on a week-by-week basis for each Saturday’s particular celebrity host, there’s not much they could do to prepare over the summer.

“It’s hard to prep material in advance,” says star Celeste Dring, who spent the time off hiring an accountant and moving flats. “You need to be around everyone and you need some feedback on what’s working, what’s not working.”

Young, who teases that he may or may not be reprising the role of now-prime minister Andy Burnham (although he may have to shave that impressive ’tache), admits that “a smart person” would have brushed up his impressions ahead of series two, but he didn’t. Instead, he’s been recovering after slicing open his finger with a samurai sword – which actually sounds like a great idea for a sketch.

“I’m in physio and I can only do that,” he says, while trying to bend the injured finger. “It builds character. The thing with hands is they’re overrated. Once you lose one, you think, ‘God, I don’t need that for anything. I don’t want to open a bottle of Pepsi…or Coke or Dr Pepper.” Briefly dropping into an eerily accurate impersonation of US president Donald Trump, he adds: “‘We love the lilt!’ I have been practising a few impressions, I guess. That’s Angela Rayner by the way.”

Meanwhile, Sidi spent the time off getting to know her baby son, who she welcomed last year with husband and SNL UK writer Al Roberts. “I wasn’t really able to do that during the last series,” she says. “I saw him learn to walk and I was a bit nervous that I’d be busy doing the show while he did that, but he did it in front of me so that’s great.”

The comedy couple will be doing the “crazy juggle” between work and parenting once again when they return to what Sidi describes as “Hogwarts for comedy”, but it does mean that they get to spend some quality time together. “This is a really weird way of dating,” she giggles. “We’re at work together, talking about comedy, without a baby.”

A typical week at SNL UK isn’t for the faint of heart; the cast and writers pitch sketches on a Monday, then plan sets, costumes and scripts all week before performing what can often be a completely different version of the skit on Saturday night. They get the Sunday off before starting all over again with new ideas for another celebrity host on Monday.

The cast are still getting used to watching their jokes, some of which they’ve been developing and working on all week, be savagely cut after Saturday afternoon’s dress rehearsal. “The second a sketch gets cut, you go, ‘I’m devastated.’ But then you go, ‘I know why – it wasn’t good enough’,” Sidi says. “It’s like doing your driving test every week and failing every week and rebooking every week. That’s what it feels like doing SNL. It is really fun, but it is brutal. There’s no two ways about it. But you just need to rebook that driving test – don’t give up. You will learn to drive.”

It’s the same for the show’s Weekend Update segment, where Young and co-anchor Ania Magliano deliver quickfire jokes about the week’s biggest news stories. “When you’re churning out ideas and most of them just by their very nature don’t work, that is such a weird thing,” Young says. “A show might go well on Saturday and then you have one day off and on Monday, you’re back to being crap all over again. It’s really humbling.”

While the likes of Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Hannah Waddingham and Ncuti Gatwa were the first celebrity hosts to take a chance on SNL’s British cousin, Jurassic Park star Jeff Goldblum is kicking off series two tonight with CMAT as his musical guest. Despite just how physically and mentally tiring making the show can be, its cast – which recently welcomed comedian and Such Brave Girls star Freddie Meredith into their ranks – can’t wait to return for their sophomore year and the sketch madness that’ll come with it.

For Young, it’s all worth it for the curtain call at the end of each live show, where the celebrity host and full cast take to the stage as the credits start to roll. “When we’re all waiting to go on for the bow and normally we’re all wearing whatever the last costume is, that’s always pretty sweet,” he says. “It’s just surreal to see Louis Theroux standing next to some Beefeaters. You see that and you think, ‘That’s why I got into this game’.”

‘Saturday Night Live UK’ returns tonight at 10pm on Sky One

Jaguar Land Rover’s decision to cut thousands of jobs comes after years of dealing with some extremely tough terrain in the world of car sales. Tough obstacles have included weakening demand from China, a shortage of vital semiconductors and the US slapping new tariffs on imported vehicles.

Then in Aug 2025, a major cyber attack caused production at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to grind to a halt for five weeks, losing the firm millions of pounds of revenue every day.

But these external shocks were just part of JLR’s recent journey. They also coincided with a period during which the business was becoming increasingly unbalanced.

For over the last decade or so, some of the company’s products (Range Rovers and Land Rover Defenders) have done exceptionally well, while other elements (electric vehicles) were being developed much more slowly.

And that focus on certain models has been an entirely understandable option in some instances.

During the semiconductor shortage that started in 2020 for example, JLR could not obtain enough chips to build enough vehicles to satisfy demand. So management made the commercially obvious choice – to prioritise the most profitable models.

The response reinforced what was already working best. As chip supply improved, JLR increased production of the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender, which it described as its three most profitable models. Strong demand supported high margins and high margins justified production priority. By 2026, those three models accounted for over 75% of of JLR’s wholesale volumes.

But this is where a competitive strength can also become a resilience problem. A company does not have to make a bad decision to become more exposed, but repeatedly backing its strongest products can gradually reduce the importance of other elements.

And certainly for a while, JLR’s electric efforts appeared to be less of a focus.

That said, the I-Pace model, launched in 2018, was a genuine innovation. It became the first Jaguar to win European Car of the Year in 2019 and also won World Car of the Year that year. JLR’s then chief executive Ralf Speth called it “a true game-changer”.

But being successful and quick to build one type of electric car is not the same as building an entire EV ecosystem capable of producing a succession of competitive models. Research on EV business models shows that successful scaling depends on complementary capabilities around the vehicle itself, including production, batteries, charging infrastructure and the wider business ecosystem. Tesla has been very good at this.

And while JLR invested heavily in battery, electric propulsion and manufacturing capability, it took a while to bed in. Eventually I-Pace was discontinued in 2024 and in September 2026 they launched electric Range Rover – again focusing on the car that was already the strongest.

For the Jaguar brand, a different and more radical route was chosen towards all electric and luxurious cars with a focus on value. Existing Jaguar models were progressively withdrawn while replacements were prepared.

À lire aussi :
Why Jaguar is taking such a big risk with its rebrand and pink concept car

That may still prove to be the right strategy. But in the short term, Jaguar vehicles contributed relatively little to the business, as JLR was becoming ever more dependent on Range Rovers and Defenders. And by the time a cyberattack halted production in 2025, JLR had much less room to manoeuvre. Jaguar cars were between product generations and the EV transformation was still a work in progress.

The US tariff shock exposed another limitation. Unlike BMW and Mercedes-Benz, JLR had no substantial US manufacturing base through which to absorb the change in trade conditions.

Shocks and strategy

Responding to reports of major job losses JLR said in a statement: “As we deliver the next phase of our strategy we need to adapt to evolving global market conditions while targeting approximately £1.7 billion of savings over the next two years.

“To achieve this, we must further simplify our organisation, improve efficiency, and build greater resilience.”

Chief executive PB Balaji added: “The automotive industry faces significant challenges, with technological change amidst intense competition and ongoing geo-political uncertainty.”

This does not mean JLR management should have predicted every shock, or that every earlier decision was wrong. The Jaguar F-Pace was successful, and the I-Pace showed real innovative capability. Prioritising profitable vehicles when chips were scarce was rational.

The problem is that individually sensible decisions can gradually narrow a company’s alternatives. Research on “success traps” shows how past success can reinforce investment in existing capabilities at the expense of developing new ones. JLR shows how this can create strategic vulnerability even while parts of the business are performing exceptionally well.

Success comes not just from foreseeing what might happen if a certain strategy fails. It’s also about not becoming too reliant on specific parts of the business, which can leave the whole enterprise exposed to shocks.

Last week I turned 69. And I don’t think I’m middle-aged.

I understand why people use the term. We are living longer, many of us are healthier for longer, and people in their sixties and seventies often feel very different from previous generations at the same age. But extending midlife further and further doesn’t seem to me to be the answer.

The long-running MIDUS study asked people when they thought midlife ended. The average answer was 59. That feels much closer to my own sense of it.

When I turned 60, nothing happened. Nobody treated me differently. I didn’t feel a shift in my body. If anything, I was the healthiest I had ever been. There has been research done in the past that suggests most of us feel younger than our years past 40, so perhaps this isn’t unusual.

But I’m less interested in feeling younger than in simply being 60, or 69, and having that be enough of an answer on its own.

So I was fascinated to read research from Stanford suggesting that ageing may not happen at a slow, steady pace. The researchers found dramatic molecular changes at two particular points in adulthood, around the ages of 44 and 60, involving everything from immune function and cardiovascular health to the way we metabolise carbohydrates and alcohol.

Yet I didn’t recognise myself in the idea of some great physical shift at 60 at all.

And that interested me. Because perhaps part of the problem is that we still don’t have very good ways of talking about this stage of life. We seem to move from midlife to old age without much language for what comes between. And I don’t want to pretend that 60 is really 40, or that 70 is really 50. I’d rather acknowledge that these years are different.

What would it actually mean to name this stage properly?

The phase from 60 to 80 feels to me like a distinct period of life. It isn’t simply an extension of midlife, and it isn’t necessarily old age as most people imagine it either. It has its own possibilities, limitations, changes and questions.

My own life since 60 certainly hasn’t looked like winding down. I divorced, completed a doctorate, bought four acres of woodland, wrote more books and eventually stepped back from much of the work that had defined me for decades. In many respects my life has expanded. But I am also more aware of my body, of people around me becoming ill or dying, and of the simple mathematical fact that there is more life behind me than ahead. Both things are true.

Work can look different here, not necessarily less of it, but differently motivated. The question shifts from: what am I climbing toward? to: what is actually worth my remaining time? Relationships can become more selective too, while creativity may intensify once there is less need to build a career or prove something to anyone.

None of this requires the dramatic “reinvention” we’re so often told later life should involve. Simply continuing, doing work you value and ageing without a headline-worthy transformation attached, is good enough.

There is loss in these years too, and pretending otherwise is its own erasure. Parents die, friends die, capacities narrow in places even when health holds up in others. A stage of life that can’t hold both the loss and the freedom honestly isn’t being named. It’s being marketed.

I’ve been trying to find a name for it. The one I keep coming back to is: olderhood, roughly the years from 60 to 80.

Not because everyone between those ages is the same, or because something magical happens on a particular birthday, but because it gives us a way to acknowledge that this is a life stage of its own.

For me, olderhood is less about a number than a shift in orientation. Your career stops being the organising principle of identity, and something else moves into that space: a clearer sense of who you actually are, alongside an honest reckoning with the fact that time is now finite in a way it wasn’t at 40.

That’s not decline. It’s focus.

This didn’t happen to me because some biological alarm went off at 60. It happened because I stopped organising my life around who I was supposed to become and started paying attention to who I already was.

I notice how rarely that’s the picture we’re given of ageing.

Too often, age itself is treated as something to be afraid of, something to be managed out of sight rather than lived through. Look at photographs of older celebrities, women in particular. Nicole Kidman is a good example, styled and retouched in the photos for her recent Vogue shoot until it’s genuinely hard to tell how much of what you’re seeing is her face and how much is the work done to it. The message underneath is simple: you are allowed to be this age, as long as no one can actually see it.

And the flip side is just as damaging.

If the only publicly visible image of being old is frailty, then everyone who is older but not frail has to keep proving they’re the exception.

I’m 70, but I can still do this.

I’m 65, but I can still…

That “but” is doing a lot of work, and it’s exhausting, because it means the only way to be seen as vital at this age is to distance yourself from your own age group. And if we keep doing that, younger people only see frailty when they picture old age. They also need to see that being 70 or 75 can mean being active, curious and engaged with life. That is part of what living longer actually looks like.

I’d rather say it plainly. Old and active. Old and curious. Old and, some days, tired.

Olderhood shouldn’t need a disclaimer. It should just be visible, ordinary, and allowed to look like what it actually is.

Dr Denise Taylor is a chartered psychologist and author of ‘ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now’. She writes about ageing and later life at denisetaylor.co.uk