Connect with us

NewsBeat

Andy Burnham warns all smokers amid disposable BBQ ban

Published

on

Andy Burnham warns all smokers amid disposable BBQ ban

The ban comes as the UK suffers from several wildfires following a handful of heatwaves, resulting in very dry grass and a bigger fire risk across the country.

The PM said the ban – which applies to Wales, Scotland and England, but not Northern Ireland – would be in place from today “until further notice”.

It’s not just people spending time outside picnicking and having BBQs that need to be careful, with Mr Burnham also issuing a message to all smokers.

Advertisement

Andy Burnham issues warning to all smokers across the UK amid disposable BBQ ban

Andy Burnham warned smokers against lighting up outdoors and urged them to dispose of cigarettes carefully.

It comes as West Midlands Fire Service shared a Facebook post earlier this month telling smokers to make sure they have completely stubbed out their cigarettes.

The post is accompanied by a poster that shows a cigarette butt that hasn’t been entirely stubbed out and is lying on some grass.

Advertisement

The fire service said: “It only takes one carelessly discarded cigarette to spark a grass fire.

“With hot, dry conditions increasing the risk of fires, please make sure cigarettes are fully extinguished before disposing of them.

“Never throw them from a vehicle or leave them on the ground.

“A small act of care can prevent a fire that spreads quickly, threatening people, wildlife and property.

Advertisement

“If you smoke, stub it out. Every time.”

More wildfires have now struck England and Wales in 2026 so far than in the whole of 2025.

Advertisement

The latest spate of blazes in the West Midlands has led to people fleeing their homes to get out of the path of encroaching fires.

West Midlands Fire Service’s Chief Fire Officer Simon Tuhill said 19 houses have been fully destroyed and 18 damaged by the wildfire in Stourbridge this week.

Speaking as he visited houses in Stourbridge which had been destroyed by wildfire, the Prime Minister said: “The temporary ban on barbecues, disposable barbecues, comes in today.

“All retailers will be receiving notification of that ban, and we ask them to, obviously, implement it in full until further notice when we can remove it.”

Advertisement

He also told reporters: “I would also want to say to the public, you can see what’s happening: 37 significant fires across England and Wales.

“Please do not light an open fire, a bonfire of any kind.

“If you’re disposing of a cigarette, take great care.

Advertisement

“This is obviously a really combustible situation, literally.

“We need to respect that fact and make sure that no one is taking any risk, because you’re taking risks with other people’s homes, with other people’s lives if you act recklessly in this moment.”

The Prime Minister added: “Britain is a tinderbox right now, and please just have that in your mind.”

Do you think the disposable BBQ ban is a good idea? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

NewsBeat

The One Show presenters now including Christine Lampard on BBC programme’s landmark anniversary

Published

on

Belfast Live

The BBC show has been a TV staple for 20 years, with a number of familiar faces having hosted including our own Christine

For 20 years, The One Show has been welcoming some of Britain’s biggest names to its famous green sofa – and plenty of those presenters have gone on to have fascinating careers of their own.

Since the BBC programme first hit screens in 2006, viewers have seen a revolving door of familiar faces take on presenting duties. Some became long-standing favourites, while others spent just a short time on the show before moving on to new opportunities.

Now, as The One Show celebrates its 20th anniversary on Friday night with Alex Jones and Roman Kemp at the helm, some former presenters have returned to mark the special occasion.

Advertisement

But what have the stars who once hosted the show been doing since they left? Here’s where seven former One Show presenters are now.

Adrian Chiles

Adrian Chiles was one of the original presenters when The One Show launched in 2006. He initially hosted alongside Nadia Sawalha before becoming closely linked with Christine Lampard, with the pair eventually leaving the BBC for ITV in 2010.

Since his One Show days, Adrian has continued to work across broadcasting and journalism. He remains a familiar voice on radio and has also established himself as a successful newspaper columnist, regularly writing for The Guardian about subjects including football, everyday life and his own experiences.

Advertisement

In 2026, Adrian returned to The One Show as part of its 20th-anniversary celebrations, giving viewers the chance to see one of the programme’s original faces back on the sofa.

Nadia Sawalha

Nadia Sawalha has a special place in The One Show’s history as one of the programme’s original presenters.

She joined Adrian Chiles when the show launched as a four-week trial in August 2006, with the pair fronting the programme as it tested out its mix of interviews, topical stories and features from around the UK. However, when The One Show returned for a full series the following year, Nadia was replaced by Myleene Klass, who was later replaced by Christine Lampard.

Advertisement

Nadia was already a familiar face to viewers, having played Annie Palmer in EastEnders before moving into presenting. But it was her work on Loose Women that would become one of the defining parts of her television career.

Christine Lampard

Christine Lampard, formerly Christine Bleakley, became a household name during her time on The One Show after joining in 2007.

She quickly became a popular part of the programme, particularly through her presenting partnership with Adrian Chiles. The pair later made the move to ITV together, where Christine went on to build a successful career in daytime television.

Advertisement

The Newtownards native is now best known as one of the regular presenters on Loose Women, having initially appeared as a guest anchor before becoming a permanent member of the presenting team.

Christine has also become a familiar face on Lorraine, regularly stepping in to host the ITV daytime programme.

Away from the cameras, she is married to former England football manager Frank Lampard. The couple married in 2015 and have two children together.

Matt Baker

Matt Baker spent nine years on The One Show and became one of the programme’s most recognisable presenters during that time.

After leaving in 2020, Matt continued his television career, particularly through programmes centred around the countryside, farming and rural life. He has also remained a familiar face on Countryfile.

But his career has increasingly expanded beyond presenting.

Matt is Creative Director of Big Circus Media, the production company he co-founded, and is involved in developing, producing and directing programmes.

Advertisement

His work behind the scenes has given him the opportunity to take a more hands-on role in creating television, while he continues to work on projects that reflect his long-standing passion for the countryside and family-friendly programming.

Jason Manford

Jason Manford’s time on The One Show may have been brief, but his departure did little to slow down his career.

The comedian joined the programme in 2010 before leaving later that year to concentrate on his comedy work.

Advertisement

Since then, Jason has become one of Britain’s best-known stand-up comedians, while also building an impressive television and acting career. His credits include Ordinary Lies and presenting roles on entertainment programmes such as The Royal Variety Performance.

He also hosted the BBC game show Unbeatable in 2021, although the programme was not recommissioned.

Comedy remains his main focus, with his A Manford All Seasons tour continuing across the UK in 2026.

Jermaine Jenas

Jermaine Jenas successfully swapped the football pitch for the television studio after retiring from professional football.

The former England and Tottenham midfielder built a career as a football pundit before joining The One Show, where he became a permanent presenter in 2021. He was also a regular contributor to Match of the Day and other BBC sports coverage.

However, his broadcasting career came to an abrupt end in August 2024 when the BBC terminated his contract following complaints concerning workplace behaviour and messages sent to female colleagues.

He subsequently lost his roles on both The One Show and Match of the Day. In June 2026, he appeared on Good Morning Britain for a major interview in which he discussed the impact the events had had on his career and personal life.

Advertisement

Ronan Keating

Ronan Keating is perhaps best known for his music career, but the Boyzone star also became a familiar face on The One Show.

He joined the programme as a regular presenter alongside Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas, bringing his experience as a performer to the BBC sofa.

Although his stint as a regular presenter ended in 2023, music has remained at the centre of his working life.

Advertisement

Ronan has continued performing as a solo artist and reunited with his Boyzone bandmates in 2026 for shows at London’s Emirates Stadium, which were billed as the group’s farewell performances.

For Ronan, then, life after The One Show has largely meant returning to where his career began – on stage and behind a microphone.

The One Show airs weekdays at 7pm on BBC One

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

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Four reasons why fully electric homes can be affordable and efficient

Published

on

Four reasons why fully electric homes can be affordable and efficient

Across Europe, running a home – whether you need to keep it cool in the summer or heat it during winter – usually means burning imported gas. That wastes energy and creates carbon emissions, contributing to climate change. The European Commission’s new electrification action plan aims to end that era, mapping out a drive to double electricity’s energy share from 23% to 46% by 2040.

“I have always looked forward to the day that our energy system is based on electrons, not molecules,” said Vangelis Tzimas, who heads an energy policy unit at the European Commission’s science service, in response to this news.

Electrons, not molecules. It sounds abstract, but for homes, it is the difference between a house that burns something and a house that doesn’t.

Buildings consume 40% of all the energy Europe uses, most of it for heating with gas boilers, so this is where this shift will succeed or fail. I measure energy performance as part of my work, through sensors in Irish social housing, and the data points to four reasons why electricity is superior to gas.

Advertisement

The most persuasive one is efficiency. A gas boiler burns fuel and gives you, at best, one unit of heat per unit of gas. A heat pump delivers three to four units of heat per unit of electricity.

A heat pump, essentially a fridge running in reverse, gathers warmth from the outside air and keeps working even in freezing weather. Run it the other way and it cools your home too, which matters more with every record summer.

So why doesn’t every house already have a heat pump? It’s expensive to buy one, and even to run it. Before government grants, installing a heat pump costs around £10,000 in the UK and close to €30,000 (£26,000) in Germany. In contrast, a new gas boiler will only set you back roughly £2,500.

This massive price gap isn’t about the technology. Steep labour costs, high VAT, and a shortage of installers mean the same machine costs twice as much across borders.

Advertisement

These upfront costs are being tackled through subsidies and low-interest loans. In the UK, the government introduced a clean heat market mechanism to try and increase competition and drive down prices of heat pumps by 2027. To fund the transition in the EU, the European Investment Bank is spending €75 billion on grids, storage and heat pump manufacturing.

Upfront bills form half a heat pump’s lifetime expense, but running costs are the real hurdle. Because EU electricity costs three times more than gas, a heat pump’s impressive efficiency is entirely cancelled out at the meter. In the UK, where electricity is 4.3 times more expensive, this greener technology actually costs more to run.

A heat pump, essentially a fridge running in reverse, gathers warmth from the outside air and keeps working even in freezing weather. Run it the other way and it cools your home too.
Planprophoto/Shutterstock

This difference between electricity and gas prices, called the “spark gap”, is partly because taxes are significantly higher for electricity than gas. The European Commission is finally imposing a legal obligation on EU governments to tackle this pricing accident. They are being asked to shrink the gap by 2030 to no more than 2.5 for households, by reducing the tax for electricity; allowing VAT cuts on heat pumps, electric cars and home batteries; and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies after 2030.

Advertisement

Britain has started to close the price gap too. The 2025 autumn budget shifted most green levies off electricity bills and into general taxation, which trimmed the ratio to around 4.3 from 4.7 in April 2026.

These strategies are the right way forward, because countries where the gap is smallest already sell around three times as many heat pumps as those where it is widest.

If the spark gap falls to 2.5, to match a 90% efficient gas boiler, a heat pump needs to generate 2.25kW of heat per kilowatt of power. UK data shows every unit tested beat that benchmark, meaning owners should save money in the long run. Once the spark gap is reduced, the heat pump will become a cheaper way to cool or warm a house.

The European Commission electrification plan puts emphasis on heat pump installations that allow heat-recovery ventilation. These can capture up to 90% of the warmth from outgoing stale air and transfer it to incoming fresh air — meaning heat you already paid for gets reused. The aim is to nearly double heat pump installations that allow heat recovery from 2.4 million a year in 2025 to 4 million by 2030.

Advertisement

The second reason why electricity wins is your home’s carbon footprint. Every time you burn gas, CO₂ exits the flue. An electric home burns nothing. Its emissions depend on how the electricity was made, which is improving every year: around 70% of Europe’s electricity already comes from home-grown clean sources.

That phrase “home-grown” is the third reason, and the one that finally motivated European politicians to commit to change. Molecules must come from somewhere, and for Europe that mostly means abroad; anyone who watched their bills after the 2022-23 gas crisis knows how much that dependence costs.

Electrons can be made at home, from our own wind, sun and water. The European Commission estimates that its plan could cut gas imports by more than 70% and shave up to €260 billion a year off Europe’s fossil fuel import bill by 2040. After which, the prices can be set by the EU’s own investment decisions, not by wars on the other side of the world.

Everything must work together

The final reason is the benefits from energy-efficient homes. It is now four years that I have been monitoring Irish social housing – a mix of new apartments and older dwellings that had a deep energy retrofit (a comprehensive, whole-building upgrade to radically improve energy efficiency).

Advertisement

My sensors record their electricity consumption, indoor temperature, humidity and air quality around the clock. The data shows that homes are more energy-efficient when different measures complement each other: insulation and the fixing of drafty air leaks, correctly sized heat pumps that suit the space, ventilation that keeps air fresh without throwing warmth away.

But even the best kit only goes so far. How we set the thermostat, use appliances, and time our energy use during lower cost off-peak windows matters just as much as hardware efficiency. Occupant behaviour alone can cause heating energy use to vary threefold. This means that our daily choices can result in savings that almost match major technical upgrades (albeit delaying dinner and bath times isn’t a reality for families with young children).

Smart meters make those choices visible. Home energy monitoring apps make it easier for households to shift power-hungry chores to off-peak hours. Add rooftop solar into the mix, and buildings transform from passive energy consumers into localised mini power stations. According to European Commission scientists, rooftop solar on Europe’s 271 million buildings could meet 40% of the continent’s long-term electricity needs.

That is the quiet promise inside “electrons, not molecules”. It’s a system that’s immune to gas shocks that can continue cooling you through heatwaves. Europe has simply decided to make it everyone’s normal.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Madonna And Kylie Minogue Land UK Top 10 With Love Sensation Duet

Published

on

Madonna And Kylie Minogue Land UK Top 10 With Love Sensation Duet

Pop fans have been waiting decades for a crossover between music icons Madonna and Kylie Minogue – and their wish finally came true last week.

Following the huge critical and commercial success of the Queen of Pop’s latest release Confessions II, she dropped a new remix of the album cut Love Sensation, with a guest feature from Kylie herself.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the two divas were on course to return to the top 10 thanks to Love Sensation, and while many initially fans held off allowing themselves to get excited… they’ve only gone and done it.

Advertisement

Yes, on Friday evening, the Official Charts Company revealed that Love Sensation had entered at number eight, marking Madonna’s highest-charting single since Celebration in 2009.

In that time, she’s only had one top 10 single, thanks to her feature on The Weeknd’s hit Popular, but Love Sensation is her first time achieving this accolade as a solo artist in 17 years.

She now has a total of 65 top 10s to her name – with only Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard boasting more.

Meanwhile, Love Sensation is now the third Confessions II track to reach the UK top 40, following the Sabrina Carpenter duet Bring Your Love and the surprise hit Danceteria earlier in the summer.

Advertisement

What an early birthday present for Madonna, who will be celebrating turning 68 this weekend.

As for Kylie, she’s been on something of a roll in recent history, since her chart resurgence off the back of her 2023 offering Padam Padam.

Madonna and Kylie have long been vocal fans of one another, previously sharing the stage on the Like A Prayer singer’s Celebration Tour in 2024, where they performed a surprise duet of I Will Survive.

Advertisement

More than a decade ago, Kylie opened up to HuffPost UK about her hopes to team up with Madonna one day, enthusing: “That would be incredible! It’s like maybe the world would stop mid orbit! Yeah, it would be incredible.”

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Wickford train derailment – live: Greater Anglia train comes off tracks in Essex

Published

on

Daily Mirror

Passengers affected by the derailment can use a number of alternative rail, Tube and bus services while disruption continues.

Tickets are being accepted on the Circle line between Liverpool Street and Tower Hill, the Jubilee line between Stratford and West Ham, c2c services between Fenchurch Street, West Ham and Southend Central, and the Liberty line between Romford and Upminster.

A number of bus routes are also available, including Arriva services 1, 7, 8 and 9, as well as First Bus services 25, 300, X10 and X30, linking areas including Rayleigh, Southend, Wickford, Chelmsford and Basildon.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Everton dispatch Newcastle to give Matthias Jaissle a reality check

Published

on

Everton dispatch Newcastle to give Matthias Jaissle a reality check

Newcastle United manager ​Matthias Jaissle is ‌refusing to dwell on the departure of key players that has left his club in turmoil going into the new season, as they step up their preparations against Everton at Murrayfield this evening.

Jaissle was recruited from Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli after Eddie Howe left last month, with the German coach joining a club who have lost Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and captain Bruno Guimaraes in quick succession.

“It’s a challenge, a big challenge, always when there’s a transitional period. ‌But it’s ‌not time to ⁠complain, it doesn’t make sense to see the negative things,” Jaissle said.

Advertisement

“We want to see the chance in that situation and that’s our approach from day one. We are here to do our ⁠best job. We want to support the players, the current squad.

“There will be adjustments to see in the coming days, weeks. But for now it’s only focused on the daily work, the work we can influence. That’s all that ​matters now.”

The 38-year-old coach arrived in Newcastle ‌having won two Austrian Bundesliga titles with Red Bull Salzburg before leading Al-Ahli to back-to-back AFC Champions League crowns.

He remained tight-lipped about new signings.

Advertisement

“Obviously, in that transition phase, the players who left the club were ‌great ​players, great characters, experienced ⁠players. This is now a vacuum,” he said.

“Either we adjust something in the squad, by signing these players, these profiles, or other players ⁠need to step up and fill ​these positions, these leadership roles. I’m quite optimistic, we can work in both scenarios.”

Jaissle said he had a ​clear vision of how he wants his team to play.

“The phrase how Newcastle ‌should play like is front-footed, intense, ​aggressive and of course also successful. ​In the end, it’s all about what ⁠I can ⁠say and it’s also why I’m sitting here,” he said.

Advertisement

“The approach we have as a coaching team and the identity of Newcastle is famed for, it’s so linked so close together – which is a perfect fit in my eyes and ​that’s going to be exciting.”

Team news on the way shortly.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Daisy Lane Play Cafe in Newton Aycliffe to close its doors

Published

on

Daisy Lane Play Cafe in Newton Aycliffe to close its doors

Daisy Lane Play Cafe, based at the Newton Aycliffe Youth and Community Centre on Burn Lane, will close for good on Wednesday, August 19.

Owner Emma announced the news in a social media post, saying the decision had been made with a “heavy heart”.

The café opened earlier this year, offering a place for children aged up to seven to play and take part in activities while parents and carers enjoyed coffee, food, and cakes.

Advertisement

It also ran stay and play sessions and birthday parties.

In a message to customers, Emma said: “I am writing this with a heavy heart.

“It’s not something I ever wanted to do, but Daisy Lane will be closing its doors for good next Wednesday, August 19.

“Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, it is not possible for us to continue trading.”

Advertisement

She thanked the families who had supported the business over its first few months, as well as relatives, friends, and staff who helped make the play café a reality.

Emma said: “I want to say a massive thank you for all the support I have had over the last few months.

“I could never have done this alone.

“A particularly big thank you to my family, my parents who have helped me massively both behind the scenes and front of house, my husband Adam who has helped and supported me the whole way through, and all our girls who have given their time to help and were so excited for our café.”

Advertisement

She also thanked her staff and the customers who visited Daisy Lane during its time in Newton Aycliffe.

She said: “A huge thank you to every single customer who has stepped through our doors.

“We have such amazing loyal customers and I’m going to miss you all.

“We’ve made so many friends, both big and little, and I can’t thank you all enough for being a part of Daisy Lane.”

Advertisement

Daisy Lane Play Cafe will be open as normal from Monday to Wednesday next week, with families invited to visit before it closes.



A toy and equipment sale is also planned for Friday, August 21, with further details expected to be announced.

Emma added: “It was always a dream of mine to open a play café and to have that dream realised has been an amazing and beautiful experience.

“I wouldn’t change it for the world and I hope we managed to bring you all a little bit of joy in the past few months.”

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

M4 traffic chaos after crash near Cardiff – live updates

Published

on

Wales Online

Once drivers pass the incident in Cardiff, they may be faced with more evere traffic elsewhere on the roads network in the west of England.

Drivers face long delays on the M5 in Somerset as Friday getaway traffic gets underway.

Photos taken show queues forming northbound at Bridgwater, with further delays southbound from Bristol.

Google Maps shows patches of congestion along the motorway from Wellington to the Almondsbury Interchange.

Advertisement

(Image: AA)

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

‘Tragic’ love story set in ‘island paradise’ is a must-see for period drama fans

Published

on

Wales Online

A story of forbidden romance starring Ellie Bamber and Mehdi Dehbi is out now

A period romance starring Ellie Bamber is out now and it’s must see.

Advertisement

Prisoners of Paradise is a tale of “forbidden love” set in Mauritius in the 1920s, where young orphan Lucy (Ellie) falls for labourer Krishna, who is played by Mehdi Dehbi.

The Willow actress – who is also known for playing Mandy Rice-Davies in The Trial of Christine Keeler – recently shared some shots from filming on Instagram.

“What an incredible experience filming in some of the most beautiful sceneries with such a wonderful team @mitchjjenkins mehdidehbi_official @mjg_1926,” she told fans, as she teased that the movie would be available for fans to watch this month.

A synopsis for the film said: “Prisoners Of Paradise is a haunting, tragic love story set in 1920s Mauritius, woven into a complex tapestry of beauty and brutality. Beneath the island’s breathtaking splendor – its turquoise waters and golden sugarcane fields, lurks a sinister system of abuse, oppression, and control.”

Advertisement

Into this world arrives Lucy, a 17-year-old British orphan sent to live with her charming uncle George, who is played by Rupert Penry-Jones.

“But like the island itself, his charm is a mask,” the synopsis goes on. “One that hides a darker nature rooted in manipulation and quiet cruelty.”

As Lucy begins to see the cracks in the island, she meets Krishna, an indentured labourer whose life is very different to her own.

Advertisement

“His kindness and quiet defiance awakens something in her that the world around her forbids,” the description said.

“Both their lives have been shaped, bought, and sold by men who trade in power behind closed doors. In each other, they find freedom and purity. Their forbidden love becomes their refuge: a secret island paradise untouched by the ocean of darkness surrounding them.

“But this paradise cannot last. As the forces determined to keep them apart close in, Lucy and Krishna must decide if their love is worth everything it will cost them.”

Advertisement

The film – which also features Rhona Mitra, Edward Akrout, JJ Feild and Amy Beth Hayes – draws from Romesh Gunesekera’s novel Prisoner of Paradise. Initially titled Ambleside, the production later underwent a name change to Prisoners of Paradise.

Prisoners of Paradise is available to purchase on the Sky Store.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

North Yorkshire mayor welcomes government disposable BBQ ban

Published

on

North Yorkshire mayor welcomes government disposable BBQ ban

While last year’s fire at Langdale Moor was not caused by a disposable barbecue, David Skaith said the fire caused “great harm to our communities, our wildlife, and our countryside”.

Prime minister Andy Burnham announced the disposable barbecue ban for Wales, Scotland and England on Friday (August 14) “until further notice”.

It comes after the grills were said to be the source of multiple wildfires which have broken out across the country.

Mr Burnham also warned smokers against lighting up outdoors and urged them to dispose of cigarettes carefully.

Advertisement

More wildfires have now struck England and Wales in 2026 so far than in the whole of 2025, with the latest spate of blazes in the West Midlands having led to people fleeing their homes to get out of the path of encroaching fires.

Mr Skaith said he has been asking retailers in York and North Yorkshire to remove “these £5 wildfire kits from sale” for weeks, adding: “I’m glad the government has acted and done the right thing.

“Last year’s wildfire on Langdale/Fylingdales Moor saw unprecedented amounts of North Yorkshire moorland burn, emitting more carbon from the burning peat beds than any wildfire in recent memory.

“These fires caused great harm to our communities, our wildlife, and our countryside. And they were all completely avoidable.

Advertisement

“I would like to once again thank our hardworking fire service, as well as the farmers, gamekeepers and landowners who were instrumental in getting the blaze under control.

“A temporary halt, particularly in times of dry weather like we’re experiencing currently, is a sensible move to avoid us repeating the events of last summer.

“I will continue to push for retailers to withdraw the sale of disposable barbecues across York and North Yorkshire on a permanent basis. The convenience of one must never come before the safety of our rural communities, our landscapes and our wildlife.”


Read next:

Advertisement

York Outer MP Luke Charters also welcomed the government’s temporary ban on disposable barbecues, saying: “We’ve seen first-hand in York and North Yorkshire just how quickly fires can spread when the ground is this dry.

“Just over a year ago we had the huge fire on Strensall Common, and more recently we saw a field fire come worryingly close to homes in the south of York.

Luke Charters, MP for York Outer (Image: Supplied)

“We also saw the devastating fire on the North York Moors, which investigators found was started by cooking with a naked flame.

“So while the weather remains this hot and dry, temporarily stopping the sale of disposable BBQs is a sensible step to help keep people and our countryside safe.

Advertisement

“Of course people should get outside and enjoy the summer. This is simply about using a bit of common sense while the risk is so high, because nobody wants to see another serious fire.”

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Stephen Bear sentenced to 24 weeks in prison for failing to comply with sex offender register requirements – a week after being jailed for breaching restraining order against Georgia Harrison

Published

on

Stephen Bear arrived at a sentencing hearing for breaching a restraining order against his ex Georgia Harrison at Chelmsford Crown Court last week with his pregnant Brazilian wife Miami, 19

Advertisement

Reality TV star Stephen Bear has been jailed after admitting failing to comply with sex offender register requirements.

Bear was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison at Thames Magistrates’ Court, barely a week after being handed a 16-month sentence for repeatedly breaching a restraining order against his ex, former Love Islander Georgia Harrison.

The disgraced reality TV star, 36, was handed a five-year restraining order and jailed for 21 months in 2023 for sharing a sex tape of Miss Harrison on his OnlyFans page.

A judge also ordered him to repay £22,305 that prosecutors said he earned from his subscribers. 

Advertisement

But after his release from prison, Bear breached his order by repeatedly posting degrading comments about Ms Harrison on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X and YouTube.

He also failed to comply with his sex offender notification requirements. 

He failed to inform police about a trip to Brazil last year and then failed to tell officers within three days that he had returned to the UK.

He also did not mention that he had acquired a new passport and two bank cards during the trip.

Advertisement

Stephen Bear arrived at a sentencing hearing for breaching a restraining order against his ex Georgia Harrison at Chelmsford Crown Court last week with his pregnant Brazilian wife Miami, 19

The 36-year-old - pictured in a police mugshot - was handed a five-year restraining order in 2023 and jailed for sharing a private sex tape of Georgia Harrison

The 36-year-old – pictured in a police mugshot – was handed a five-year restraining order in 2023 and jailed for sharing a private sex tape of Georgia Harrison

Bear filmed and uploaded footage of him having sex with Miss Harrison without her knowledge or consent

Bear filmed and uploaded footage of him having sex with Miss Harrison without her knowledge or consent

Advertisement

In January last year, Bear revealed he had relocated to Brazil with his new girlfriend, boasting: ‘The police can’t catch me now.’

In a grim video shared from the beach, he bragged: ‘Life’s good. I thought I’d come on here guys and say I love you all, simple as that. I love you all.

‘Stay true, because this year I’m fully active, I’m off licence. The police, they could still be after me, but I’m in Brazil. They can’t catch me now. Catch me if you can.’

Breaching the restraining order to post online, Bear had sought to cast doubt on his convictions, including by alleging that Miss Harrison and her mother had conspired to pervert the course of justice.

Advertisement

Bear – who arrived at court last week with his pregnant Brazilian wife Miami, 19 – also created an online petition seeking support for a retrial and attempting to obtain Miss Harrison’s bank statements.

The 2016 Celebrity Big Brother winner persisted with posting despite several of his accounts being shut down.

This is a breaking news story and is being updated. 

Advertisement

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025