Trainspotting smashed the box office 30 years ago with it’s realistic depiction of drug abuse in Scotland (Picture: Shutterstock)
Fuelled by a blistering soundtrack and a dark sense of humour, when Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting landed in cinemas on February 23, 1996, it was a box office hit like no other.
Based on Irvine Welsh’s book of the same name, the film followed Ewan McGregor’s self-assured addict Renton and friends, as they drifted through drink, drugs and petty crime, making various attempts to escape the clutch heroin had on them.
The stark scenes ripped up Edinburgh’s postcard image of cobbled streets and culture to reveal a city scarred by poverty, decay, and a heroin epidemic spiralling out of control.
The release of the film coincided with the earliest published drug death figures – 244 that year – and three decades on, that bleak reality lingers, with Scotland continuing to wear the grim crown of Europe’s drug death capital.
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It’s a title the country has held, unbroken, for the past seven years.
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The stark scenes ripped up Edinburgh’s postcard image of cobbled streets and culture (Picture: Shutterstock)
According to research, there were 19.1 drug misuse deaths per 100,000 people in 2024 – nearly four times as high as in 2000. The latest figures, from policing sources, showed 308 suspected drug deaths between January and March 2025, while police officers in Scotland now routinely carry Naloxone, a drug that can quickly reverse the effects of an overdose, saving lives.
So why has so little changed in three decades?
Thomas Delaney, who runs YouthWISE and speaks across the country about drug harm, tells Metro: ‘Inequality is a primary driver of drug abuse. If you grow up in poverty, you’re 18 times more likely to use substances.
‘Scotland was historically an industrial powerhouse and then all the industry left [in the 1970s and 80s], leaving behind inequality, as seen in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation which ranks income, employment, health, education, skills, training and housing.
‘People still think Edinburgh doesn’t have a drug problem,’ he adds, ‘but it is just as bad as in Glasgow, which is three times the size. Edinburgh just masks poverty and inequality because it also has so much wealth.’
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Thomas, who lives between Glasgow and Barnsley, has his own experiences of drug use, having spent 15 years as a functioning addict.
He started using cocaine at 17 to numb childhood trauma before immersing himself in the party scene, where drugs became a way to belong and escape. In his twenties, ketamine became a daily dependency, even as Thomas held down a respectable job.
‘For the majority of my addiction, I was walking around in fancy suits, meeting very important people and securing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of business a year,’ he recalls.
Thomas Delaney, a former functioning addict now runs YouthWISE to educate people about drug harm (Picture: Supplied)
By 2018, his health collapsed, ketamine had destroyed his bladder and Thomas was ordering drugs from his hospital bed. Even rehab wasn’t the safety net he expected.
‘I’d been to some of the worst drug dens ever and had never seen heroin – I was there for three days and I saw people using it,’ he remembers.
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While rehab was a battle Thomas has now been clean for eight years – although many of his peers from that time have since died. He now studies addiction as part of a Master’s in community learning and development.
‘The Scottish National Records and other figures show that the people dying are an aging population that have been long-term dependent, and there are tons of reasons for that – homelessness, punitive measures and the stigma attached to being a drug addict,’adds Thomas.
Trainspotting follows Ewan McGregor’s self-assured addict Renton, as he and his friends drift through drink, drugs and petty crime (Picture: Shutterstock)
Addiction specialist and psychiatrist Dr Peter McCann, who is Medical Director at Castle Craig rehab clinic in Edinburgh, tells Metro that the ‘depressing’ statistics show just how much the system is failing in Scotland. ‘We’re still worryingly behind where we need to be on reducing deaths,’ he says.
One problem is the over-reliance on methadone, ‘a treatment with known overdose risks,’ says Dr McCann. In the movie, methadone is depicted as something the system pushes to manage addicts rather than to truly help them heal.
‘If somebody wants to be on methadone, there’s pressure on us to allow that, even if we know as a clinician that it’s a lot more dangerous than buprenorphine,’ he explains. (Buprenorphine, widely used in the US and Europe as a heroin substitute, is 10 times safer in terms of overdose risk but less common in Scotland.)
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Like Thomas, Dr McCann believes treating addiction requires addressing broader inequality. While working with NHS patients in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, he saw addiction intertwined with a plethora of other social problems.
‘We had GP practices with lots of different teams working in one place, which is a good model for people needing treatment,’ he explains. ‘But it was really telling how severe and complicated the really unwell patients were.
‘They didn’t just have an addiction problem, they had housing issues, mental health issues, bipolar disorder, PTSD… there were people who had been attacked from involvement in drug dealing and or there was a lot of cuckooing.
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Dr Peter McCann says the ‘depressing’ statistics show just how much the system is failing in Scotland (Picture: Kenneth Martin)
‘Gangs would come from down south, take over someone’s home, weasel their way in by offering them drugs and before you know it, people have been subjected ot violence and sexual trauma.’
Fiona Spargo-Mabbs has spent more than a decade working to reduce drug harm after her 16-year-old son Dan died in 2014 after taking a single ecstasy pill. Believing education could have saved him, she set up the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation eight days after his death.
The DSM Foundation delivers training across the UK, including Scotland, for young people on how risk-taking and impulsive behaviour are linked to brain development – and how to make safe choices about drugs and alcohol.
16-year-old Dan died in 2014 after taking a single ecstasy pill (Picture: DSMF)
‘Drug death in Scotland is just heartbreaking, and it’s still off the scale compared to everywhere else. We want to support young people to make safer choices.
‘The diversity of drugs is much greater now,’ Fiona explains to Metro. ‘We are dealing with ketamine overtaking cocaine and MDMA and are seeing THC vapes, and spice, which is a whole other risk. Drug use is changing all the time, so educators are constantly evolving their understanding to stay ahead of the curve.’
At festivals, testing has revealed MDMA doses two to three times stronger than the harmful threshold, she adds. The dose that killed Dan – a talented and popular year 12 kid who ran errands for elderly people on his paper round – was twelve times stronger than what has caused deaths in the past.
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Experts say that the diversity of drugs is much greater now (Picture: Getty Images)
‘We didn’t realise somebody like Dan could be so close to something that had quite so much risk. If something like this could happen to someone like my son, then it could be anyone,’ warns Fiona.
‘If Dan had had a better understanding of what those risks were, I feel sure that he would have been able to manage that decision more safely and come home.’
‘You can get a bag of pills or crystals of ket for a fiver. You can order a bag of drugs, easier than you can order pizza, on Snapchat or WhatsApp,’ he says.
You can order a bag of drugs, easier than you can order pizza says recovering alcoholic and recovery coach, Rod Anderson (Picture: Caroline Robson)
Rod, a recovering alcoholic, lost everything to his addiction; his marriage, sons, job and health, before getting sober 12 years ago after frequent attempts. He has since rebuilt his life and relationships, but knows how hard it is to escape addiction.
‘You don’t just wake up one morning think – I’ll have a bottle of vodka for breakfast. You can’t stop at that point, because the withdrawal process is so unpleasant,’ he tells Metro.
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‘Everything else in your life at that point becomes irrelevant – relationships, jobs, money. It’s a horrible, horrible place to be, and that’s why a lot of people don’t come back from it, because they die, or they kill themselves, or they end up in jail.’
And jails, he argues, are no safe haven.
‘Drugs are just as easy or even easier to get hold of inside than they are in the community.’
Rod also points out that 70% of drug deaths in Scotland now involve poly-drug use, including alcohol. ‘The drug scene has changed dramatically since the heroin of the Trainspotting generation. Fast forward to now, a lot of those people are dead.
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‘People are still using heroin with a whole load of other things, like crack cocaine and synthetic opioids, and that’s dangerous – like Russian roulette. You don’t know what’s going to be in this next hit.
‘What we are looking at now is a much more dangerous environment than 30 years ago.’
The Night Agent season 3 has dropped on Netflix with viewers desperate to know whether Treasury Agent Jay Batra survives
Watch the official trailer for The Night Agent
The third series of The Night Agent landed on Netflix recently with nine fresh instalments, leaving audiences on the edge of their sofas. The latest run tracked the titular Night Agent Peter Sutherland (played by Gabriel Basso) as he attempted to locate Treasury Agent Jay Batra (Suraj Sharma), who escaped to Istanbul following allegations he murdered his superior, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Whilst Peter pursued Jay relentlessly, he simultaneously began investigating a shadowy financial network linked to terrorism and political wrongdoing. Peter joined forces with Financial Register reporter Isabel De Leon (Genesis Rodriguez) as they delved further into the operation, exposing carefully concealed truths that put their lives in jeopardy.
The third series of The Night Agent concluded with its trademark dramatic finale, featuring another substantial body count befitting the elevated tension of the narrative.
Numerous viewers are intrigued about what happened to Jay, here’s the full picture – though be cautioned, this piece reveals major plot points from The Night Agent series three.
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Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.
This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Stranger Things and The Last of Us.
Does Jay die in The Night Agent?
No, Jay survives The Night Agent series three. On the contrary, he remains very much alive and well by the closing moments of the final episode as he presents his version of events during a television news broadcast.
Treasury agent Jay was shown not to have murdered his boss and was actually attempting to highlight suspicious financial transactions connected to a terrorist incident. Following Peter’s discovery of the truth from Jay, he pledged to provide him with protection back in America.
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Jay collaborated with Peter and journalist Isabel to uncover money laundering, terrorist operations and blackmail connected to US President Hagan (Ward Horton), First Lady Jenny Hagan (Jennifer Morrison), and Jacob Monroe (Louis Herthum).
Whilst Jay made it through season three, several characters weren’t as fortunate, with Catherine Weaver (Amanda Warren) meeting her demise in a startling early episode. Banker Freya (Michaela Watkins) was eliminated by The Father (Stephen Moyer) following her threats against him.
Jacob also perished, murdered by Adam (David Lyons) under presidential orders and staged to appear as a suicide.
Jacob’s death came after it emerged he was journalist Isabel’s father and had been helping Peter with his enquiries, rendering him a liability requiring removal.
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Will there be another season of The Night Agent?
Netflix has yet to confirm The Night Agent for a fourth series and will probably assess the show’s performance before making a decision.
According to FlixPatrol, the thriller currently sits at number one in Netflix’s global TV rankings, which bodes well for potential renewal.
That said, showrunner Shawn Ryan recently hinted to Deadline that he’s got concepts prepared for a fourth instalment should they receive approval. Ryan cryptically told the outlet: “[T]here’s a world that we’re in, it’s a world that exists in Los Angeles, which is the creative reason why we moved the show to Los Angeles, because it’s a world that is present in Los Angeles, it’s not present in New York for the most part.”
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However, he refused to elaborate any further until Netflix formally commissioned another series of the show.
The Night Agent season 3 is streaming on Netflix now
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Actor Eric Dane, known for his roles in Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria, died this week after suffering from ALS
Steven Smith Content Editor
09:21, 21 Feb 2026Updated 09:36, 21 Feb 2026
ALS explained after Eric Dane’s death
A woman whose brother and husband died of Motor Neurone Disease like Eric Dane has revealed the unusual first “secret signs” they had the “cruel and devastating” incurable condition. Carol Deytrikh-White, 65, lost her husband Alex and brother Brian to MND in March 2009 and 2022, respectively.
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American actor Eric Dane, known for his roles in Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria, passed away on Thursday after suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of MND. Alex’s first symptom was that he noticed running was getting harder, despite going three times a week.
For Brian, his first sign was that he was losing his voice towards the end of each day. MND is a life-shortening and incurable condition that causes weakening of the muscles until a person becomes unable to move, breathe or speak.
Carol, a retired nurse practitioner from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, became a carer to her late husband Alex in the months before he passed. She now devotes her time to raising awareness and fundraising for the condition, which she described as “cruel and devastating”.
Carol said: “We’re all aware that MND is one condition you don’t want to get – it’s so cruel. I think I knew that Alex had MND before he did – but the diagnosis was a completely devastating, heart-dropping kick in the stomach.
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“It affects the whole family and, for the majority of people who develop MND, it doesn’t offer any hope. But awareness has a two-fold benefit – fundraising for treatments, but also so that the people around you can have more empathy for those affected. There’s a human tendency not to deal with or talk about things that feel uncomfortable.”
Alex was physically active, and he and Carol would regularly play squash and run together. But before he was diagnosed, Carol says Alex, who was an officer in the RAF, noticed his running was getting harder despite running three times a week.
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He got a weakness in his left arm and, after failing his RAF medical, consultants started to run tests. It was first thought he might have a trapped nerve, but he was diagnosed shortly after, which Carol described as “devastating”.
After his diagnosis, as Alex’s condition deteriorated, he was less able to walk, talk, breathe and sleep. She eventually reduced her hours at work to just a handful a week, in order to care for Alex.
She said: “With Alex’s journey, the rate of progression was quick. He died within two years of the diagnosis.
“In the last two weeks I had to attend to Alex every half an hour because he was unable to swallow even saliva. I was attending to him all day, but I was also getting up throughout the night for his feeds and ventilation.
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“I couldn’t go out, not even to the shops. But all I wanted was to be with him, I didn’t see it as a sacrifice. It was a privilege.”
After Alex passed away, Carol felt like she was “thumped in the stomach” when her brother, Brian, was diagnosed with MND a few years later. Brian – who was living in Thailand at the time of his diagnosis – emailed his sister to say he was losing his voice at the end of each day.
He had sent letters and tests back to Carol and the diagnosis was confirmed on a trip back to the UK. Brian returned to Thailand, with Carol flying over to help with equipment and support before his death in 2022 at the age of 57.
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Carol said: “Hearing Brian’s diagnosis years after losing Alex, because MND is still relatively rare, and they didn’t have a genetic relation, it was unbelievable as well as devastating. Brian spent the last three of four years ‘locked in’ in his bed. He couldn’t move or eat.”
Carol has since remarried and spends a lot of her time fundraising for the Motor Neurone Disease Association with her husband, John White, 69. Alex had already raised a lot of money for the association and Carol wanted to continue his work and keep his memory “very much alive and celebrate his life”.
They are walking along the entire coast of the UK, which is around 11,000 miles in total, and around 8,000 miles to walk because of the layout of the paths, she said. They have been completing it bit by bit for the past ten years, alongside juggling seeing their seven children combined, plus 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
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At their current rate, they anticipate finishing in four years’ time. The challenge has raised £5,500 for the MND Association so far.
She said: “For other conditions, there is an element of hope, but at the moment, for MND, it’s not there. And hope is the last human instinct to go – I almost didn’t believe Alex was dying on the night that he died.
“But when you do watch someone you love die, you realise how lucky you are to have that day and the next. In my lifetime I want to keep fundraising and I want to see hope given for others diagnosed. I realise we’re privileged to have life and it’s our duty to make the most of it.”
ECM Vehicle Delivery Service Ltd, based at The Airport in Carlisle, has applied to add an operating centre at Team Valley Trading Estate in Gateshead.
The site is located at North East Wholesale Fruit & Vegetable Market Ltd, NE11 0QY, and would be used to station 10 vehicles and 10 trailers.
Under the rules governing Goods Vehicle Operator’s Licences, anyone who owns or occupies nearby land and believes their enjoyment of it would be affected can make written representations.
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These must be sent to the Traffic Commissioner at Quarry House, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7UE within 21 days of the public notice being issued.
Those making representations are also required to send a copy to ECM Vehicle Delivery Service Ltd at its Carlisle address.
The company currently holds an existing operator’s licence and says the application is solely to add an official operating centre in Gateshead.
More details about the application process are available on the GOV.UK website.
The US military says it has struck a boat “engaged in narco-trafficking operations”, killing three men.
The vessel “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations”, the US Southern Command said on X.
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The military has not provided evidence that the boat or the men on board were involved in drug trafficking.
Footage of the strike on Friday shows the small boat floating in the Pacific before an explosion, causing it to burst into flames.
Image: Flames are seen billowing into the sky after the strike. Pic: US Southern Command
President Donald Trump previously said the US is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America.
US strikes on alleged drug boats have killed at least 148 people in at least 43 attacks in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, including 11 people earlier this week.
Mr Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs.
But critics have questioned the legality and effectiveness of the strikes, as the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is smuggled into the US via land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.
Located on the Northumberland Line, Northumberland Park station will welcome passengers for the first time on Sunday, February 22, with the opening service scheduled to arrive at 8.10am.
It is the fifth new station on the line, which reopened in December 2024, for the first time in 60 years.
Alex Hornby, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “We’ve been working hard to prepare for the opening of Northumberland Park and are looking forward to welcoming customers on board this weekend.
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“The Northumberland Line is having a really positive impact on the region, and this new station will allow even more people to benefit from quick, convenient and affordable train travel that opens up a range of new opportunities.”
The Northumberland Line has already recorded more than one million journeys since reopening.
Glen Sanderson, leader of Northumberland County Council, said: “We’re so looking forward to this next station re-opening, marking the latest milestone in this hugely ambitious project which is exceeding all expectations.
“We’re looking forward to meeting passengers at the new station from Sunday.”
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Martin Gannon, deputy mayor of the North East Combined Authority and cabinet member for transport, said the station’s completion follows a £10.9 million investment by the mayor.
He said: “This follows the mayor’s £10.9m investment to get Northumberland Park station completed so that passengers can now enjoy a simple, affordable journeys on the Northumberland Line and Metro alongside easy access to local bus and ferry services.
“We know how transformative good transport links are for local people, and we’ll continue to invest in regional schemes that deliver positive outcomes and opportunities for residents.”
The final stop on the line, Bedlington, is expected to open on March 29.
A Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) spokesperson said: “Crews are currently attending a fire at commercial premises at Ballyards Road, Milford, Armagh.
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“The initial call was received at 0345hrs, Saturday 21st February 2026.
“Currently over 50 Firefighters from stations in Armagh, Keady, Portadown, Banbridge, Dungannon, Newtownhamilton, Lisburn, and a water tanker from Pomeroy are currently working to bring the incident under control.
“Local residents are advised to keep windows and doors closed, and members of the public are asked to avoid the area to support firefighting operations.
“We would like to thank the public for their patience whilst we dealt with the incident.”
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The sinkhole is between number 11 and number 13 Chassen Road, Bolton, has been in place since February 2025, and despite barriers being erected around the damage, it is still not fixed.
Now, a pipe has been re-damaged by United Utilities during an investigation into the source of a nearby leak, according to Bolton Council.
Chassen Road sinkhole (Image: Anonymous)
A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “Whilst recent investigations regarding leaks in the vicinity were carried out by United Utilities found no issues, their recent works resulted in damage to a council drainage pipe.
“Discussions are ongoing with United Utilities to rectify the issue.”
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Residents have complained that the pothole and barriers have been making it difficult to get in and out of their drives, and are have been blowing into their gardens.
United Utilities workers visited the site last week to assess the problem and assess what they labelled a ‘complex issue’.
A nearby manhole was checked and found to be flowing as usual and the sewer water was clear with no signs of blockage.
At this point, the work was passed back over to the Bolton Council highways team.
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An email was erroneously sent to one resident that stated the work would not be completed until November 12, 2026, though this should have read February 12, 2026.
Chassen Road sinkhole (Image: Anonymous)
Cllr Andy Morgan said: “The site is currently safe and secure but still awaits full repair.
“However, speaking to residents the excavation has made it difficult for some to enter and exit their driveways.
“I appreciate how disruptive this is and understand the frustration it is causing.
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“I will be contacting the highways department to press for the site to be repaired and made fully safe as soon as possible.”
As Elaine, an artist in her 80s, stood at her window in north Manchester, she noticed new apartment blocks dominating the nighttime skyline: “The moon is no longer in view; I have to crane my neck out of the window in order to see it. Or to see the reflection of the moon.”
I have been meeting with the Many Hands Craft Collective – a group of older artists, knitters and poets – most Tuesdays for almost a year. The group has been gathering at the community room in Victoria Square, Manchester, for over a decade.
They have been reflecting on Manchester’s massive building boom as Victoria North – Britain’s largest regeneration project – transforms their neighbourhood with 15,000 new homes. City centre construction is also reshaping skylines they’ve known for decades.
Together, we have created a film tracking how urban regeneration transforms their world. The film explores their relationship with the elements through shifting light, redirected wind and changing rain.
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People who have lived here for decades – reading wind patterns, tracking seasonal light, noticing atmospheric shifts – hold memories that city planners cannot see. Residents’ observations also reveal how wildlife experience urban change – birds, insects and nocturnal animals are all affected by altered light and wind.
Construction alters wind, blocks views of the moon and stars, and changes the subtle conditions residents have learned to read over lifetimes. Observations from these artists show that heritage is not just about preserved buildings or recorded rivers, but about the knowledge people carry.
As a film-maker and sound artist, I study the connections between people and the natural world. In 2008, when Manchester City Council rehoused my 82-year-old grandmother after she had lived in the same house for 60 years, she wrote poetry to process her loss.
“Bodies, not walls, carry memories,” she wrote. Her words inspired The Flowering (2020), my first poetic documentary exploring urban regeneration through the memories the body holds. This influenced my research into how cities transform.
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Artists from the Many Hands Craft Collective meet weekly at Victoria Square in Manchester. Fiona Brehony, Author provided (no reuse)
In Manchester, the River Irk flows through Victoria North. New riverside properties rise while the river itself needs care. For two centuries it powered mills, was contaminated by dye works, then was eventually culverted (channelled into underground pipes, hidden from view). Yet the river flows on, and so does the memory it carries.
The artists at Many Hands carry intergenerational knowledge about how this urban environment has changed. Our conversations about riverside properties blocking sunlight led the group to reflect on how construction changes light in their own streets. Views of the moon disappeared, high-rise buildings shifted wind and rain, and the sound of water tapping against windows stopped.
My PhD project analysed atmospheric transformations alongside the river itself: how these numerous new buildings and developments change homes as well as waterways.
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As climate change forces cities to adapt, observations accumulated over decades – how rain moves through streets, how wind patterns shift, how rivers sound differently with the seasons – could inform climate-responsive urban design. Yet regeneration often displaces the very people who carry this knowledge before it is even recognised.
Materials and memory
To retrace the Irk’s history, we worked with clay and natural materials from the river – silt, stones, industrial brick fragments. An artist called Dot recalled seeing blue pigeons from old dye works, with feathers stained from chemical colours.
As the clay stiffened as it dried, conversations turned to how cities are built. Victorian brick from the 1890s still stands solid, while new apartment exteriors are designed for 20-year lifespans.
Poetry emerged from the conversations: “Sand, soil, silt, leaves, clay, decaying plants, coal and dust, ash chemical waste” and “human hearts holding on to heritage, ours. Made of natural materials, hands, rain, wind, sunlight”. Different perspectives recognise people and rivers as bodies carrying memory through change.
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Artists created poetry and artwork that represented their interactions with their urban surroundings. Fiona Brehony, Author provided (no reuse)
Sound and poetry
As a group, we reconstructed waterwheels to explore how the Irk powered mills. One artist, Jean, suggested recording with hydrophones (special microphones that work underwater) in kitchen sinks. Water through household pipes connected us directly to the river, flowing through our fingertips. Playing hydrophone recordings for the first time, Jean said it sounded like being deaf – without her hearing aids, it was like being underwater.
This revealed a crucial insight: listening is shaped by our bodies. Jean’s deafness meant she heard the river differently, noticing frequencies and vibrations others might miss. Kitchen sink hydrophones create access where it did not exist, bringing culverted, fenced or distant rivers into homes through soundwaves in domestic pipes.
These conversations evolved into Two Worlds, a sound installation created with composer and sound artist Simon Knighton. This piece of sound design informs the film score and explores how people coexist with the environment. The Irk pulsates different rhythms depending on where you listen. Harsh urban concrete or gentler upstream flows are heard differently by each set of ears.
As we wrote poetry together after discussing how some long-forgotten waterways have been buried beneath streets, Rose asked: “What happens to a river when it becomes a road?”
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Editing poetry and screen-printing words on fabric was part of the collaborative process. Fiona Brehony, CC BY-NC-ND
Rose’s question lies at the heart of myresearch: when cities develop, what environmental knowledge disappears?
Manchester has lost multiple rivers to culverting, development and roads. Older residents carry knowledge younger generations never knew existed. As climate change requires us to expose or “daylight” culverted rivers for flood management, these memories could guide restoration.
Many Hands’ Material River, a collection of films and poetry printed onto fabric, is on display within the River Stories exhibition until March 23 2026 in Manchester Histories Hub at Manchester Central Library.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Sitting among green rolling hills, studded with olive groves, most homes in al-Mughayir are in an area where Israel’s military controls security, but the internationally backed Palestinian Authority (PA) should provide basic services. Increasingly though, it cannot – it is mired in a deep economic crisis.
Developers behind an ’employment park’ next to the A14 in Cambridgeshire have released updated proposals. A public consultation has since opened on revised plans for Cambridge 25, which is proposed on land next to Junction 25 of the A14 between Bar Hill and Northstowe.
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Lolworth Developments Limited (LDL) invited views from the community and stakeholders to inform an initial proposal in autumn last year for around 123,000 square metres of new employment space. The wider Cambridge 25 site received a draft allocation in the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan (GCLP) as a major new employment site for around 240,000 square metres of floor space.
Graeme Cosgrove, Development Director at Lolworth Developments, said: “Cambridge 25 represents an exciting opportunity to deliver a modern, high-quality landscape led employment park in the best location possible in Greater Cambridge.
“It was an important and significant decision to allocate the whole of our site in the emerging new Greater Cambridge Local Plan, and we are naturally delighted to see the councils’ evidence-led approach recognising the suitability of the site. As a consequence of this draft allocation, we are now bringing forward a revised and more extensive masterplan which includes development on both sides of the bridleway.“
LDL is now inviting local residents to ‘have their say’ on its updated wider site masterplan that aligns more closely to the aspirations and objectives in the draft Local Plan. The latest masterplan also reflects feedback received from the autumn 2025 consultation, with additional features of the 2026 plans including:
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More structural landscaping and tree planting;
Community ‘hub’ facilities in the amenity block;
Providing public WC facilities in the nature park;
Better walking and cycling connections;
Providing large HGV yards with significant HGV parking bays;
Large interconnecting ponds with enhanced capacity.
Mr Cosgrove added: “This new masterplan is informed by the valuable insights gained from talking to people last year and listening to their comments and priorities. We are incredibly grateful for this feedback which has helped us to shape our wider site proposals – from even more landscaping to more extensive walking and cycling routes through the site and connections with the nature park.
“We would now welcome feedback on these revised proposals and are encouraging the local community to share their views before we submit a planning application this spring.”
The public consultation on the revised masterplan runs from February 17 to March 10, including two online webinars with a consultation website. You can find more information on the Cambridge 25 website.
