Craft traditions are often imagined as practices rooted in the past: carefully preserved techniques passed from one generation to the next. But Unbound Forms at The Hepworth Wakefield reveals a more dynamic story. Bringing together the work of five pioneering women artists from India and Bangladesh, the exhibition shows how materials such as textiles, metal, ceramic, wood and paint can be transformed into works that honour inherited skills while pushing them into new territory.

The artists in the exhibition lived through a period of enormous change. Four were alive when India gained independence in 1947, while Mrinalini Mukherjee was born just two years later, in 1949. Their work emerged from the newly formed nations of India and Bangladesh, where traditions of making, craft and cultural identity were being reasserted. Across the galleries, familiar processes including wood carving, metal casting, weaving and knotting, are reimagined as tools for experimentation and personal expression.

One of the themes that recurs throughout the exhibition is that of sculptures as deities. Ritu Raja, meaning “ruler of seasons”, by Mrinalini is made from two shades of natural hemp, folded to imply both male and female genitalia. The cylinder at the base of the sculpture recalls a lingam – a phallus representing the god Shiva in Hinduism. The male structure is enveloped or held by a series of folds, recalling female anatomy or botanical forms. In Nag Devta II, also by Mrinalini, the lingam surfaces as a snake deity.

Leela Mukherjee is the mother of Mrinalini. Her carved wooden sculptures, Bull and Buffalo, depict important cultural animals in South Asia with additional associations as the vehicles for Hindu gods.

Novera Ahmed’s sculptures also imply the presence of divinities. Her works Shurjo (sun) and Chand (moon) are abstracted personifications of celestial forms, from stars to planets, with folkloric connotations. In Ahmed’s La Dame Lune “Chondraboti”, a highly textured steel sculpture with discernible facial features, Greek mythology is combined with a reference to a Bengali female poet, projecting female power and agency.

Snakes are also referenced throughout the exhibition, present in both Ahmed and Mrinalini’s work. These serpents or nagas – divine or semi-divine creatures that take both snake and human form – embody the borderline between animals and the anthropomorphic categories of beings (men, gods and demons).

In Hinduism the snake is both a sacred and sinister presence, often appearing in cobra-like form. In L’envoûtement (The Spell) and Un Serpent Nommé Désir (A Snake Called Desire), Ahmed alludes to an image of Buddha framed by the hood of a cobra.

Crafting with inbetween materials

Across the artworks on display, the way in which the materials are used – rather like the mythologies and deities – are open in their connotations, transmitting a sense of in-betweenness.

Mrinalini’s knotted hemp sculptures turn textiles into solid objects that are both dynamic and robust. Hemp was historically used in South Asia for garments, ropes and sails. These works combine decoration created through knots and folds with a material associated with the practicality of ropes and carrying heavy loads.

In Mrinalini’s work, ceramic and metal fold to mimic fabric or botanical and fabric becomes dense. Metal has a basket-like appearance in Meera Mukherjee’s (no relation) two works, Untitled and Boatmen, as if it has been woven not cast. In contrast, in her sculptures Atomic Couple and Time Past, Pilloo Pochkhanawala uses leftover industrial metal scraps combined with stones to create jagged sculptures like ruins or remnants in a post-industrial landscape.

Ahmed’s Bangladesh, a bronze sculpture featuring seemingly cut out shapes could arguably sit in relation to these two works, yet here possibly sinister figures with cut out eyes emerge from the landscape. Having spent time in Nepal learning traditional wood carving, Leela’s wooden sculptures are bulbous chiselled forms, in which the bulges can be seen as a series of heavy but overinflated folds.

Folds also feature in Meera’s work in bronze, Bou, which depicts a Bengali woman perhaps wearing a hijab. The patterning framing her face recalls the folds of the head covering and textile patterns of a sari. Created in the 1980s, this work was made in aftermath of the religious violence of partition and in the decade after the Bangladesh liberation war. The relationship between garments and folds is underlined by photographs of Mrinalini in her studio, working in a sari.

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The versatility of sari folding perhaps bears some resemblance to the folds in Mrinalini’s work, with the female form implied in many instances. She has described sculpture as “a kind of organic unfolding”. The fold as the cusp of unfurling or unfolding, of providing a revelation.

The work of these five artists form connections between themselves and craft practices stretching back in these locations for hundreds of years and the contemporary worlds of post-independence India and Bangladesh. The works represent the fluidity of female voices as shape-shifters that navigate the material cultures and traditions around them in diverse and individual ways, allowing their voices to create a powerful throng.

Unbound Forms is on show at The Hepworth Wakefield until 1 November.

Farming leaders call on government to step in as extreme weather forces many to complete harvest weeks early – with reports of unprecedented numbers throwing in the towel and selling up

The government has been urged to take action amid warnings that shoppers face higher food prices and possible shortages because of the prolonged drought.

Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union, called on ministers to help support the building of reservoirs on farms as part of wider measures. “Water security is food security and food security is part of our national security,” Mr Bradshaw said.

It came as heat health alerts were issued for most of England as temperatures are forecast to reach the mid-30s centigrade. That followed what has been the driest July on record for England and Wales.

Parched conditions have caused havoc for farmers. Many arable farmers have been forced to bring forward their wheat harvest by several weeks – in some cases the earliest for at least 20 years – because of the extreme weather, with an impact on yields – the amount produced.

Mr Bradshaw also explained that livestock farmers are using their winter feed rations because they cannot grow grass. He said: “It does feel like there is going to be some shortages of (food) products.”

Potato production is another crop heavily impacted as about half of what is produced needs irrigation. “The reservoirs are almost empty,” Mr Bradshaw added.

He went on: “We need to think about the resilience of our food system as a national priority. We need to adapt, we want to adapt, but we also need the government to recognise that this needs to happen urgently and we need their support.

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Mr Bradshaw argued tor farmers to be given tax breaks to build water storage systems on their land.

“Those other countries around the world that we currently rely on to produce our food and vegetables, their climates are changing as well,” he said.

Anthony Hopkins, director of cereals and oilseeds at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, said: “Across much of the UK, combine (harvesters) have been rolling earlier than usual this year, with many farmers working through the night to avoid the most extreme daytime temperatures.”

Some farmers, already reeling from soaring fertiliser and other costs, have decided to throw in the towel, with reports from agents of unprecedented numbers of farms being put up for sale.

There are warnings that food prices in shops could rise, adding to the cost of living squeeze on millions of families. New PM Andy Burnham has made tackling living costs a key priority for his new government.

Dr Anna Murgatroyd, a lecturer in hydrology at Newcastle University, said: “One thing I imagine we will start to see is food prices increasing, and we are probably likely to see fewer food products from Britain on our shelves – we might even start to see shortages depending on what happens over the next couple of weeks and months.”

Farmer Andrew Ward, in Lincolnshire, said the last rain it had was on June 11, with 4mm. “You cannot grow crops and produce food without water, it’s as simple as that,” he said, adding that it had finished its wheat harvest a month early and with a lower yield because of the weather. “Across the country we are going to be short of wheat, there is no doubt about it,” he warned.

The boyfriend of an Israeli woman murdered by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 massacre has taken his own life beside his late girlfriend’s grave.

The tragic incident occurred last Saturday, when 30-year-old Bar Asraf, shot himself by Liron Barda’s grave. Barda had been killed while attending the Nova Music Festival.

Asraf was found by his sister with a gunshot to the chest at the cemetery in Elkana in the West Bank. Despite the rapid intervention of emergency services, the man was pronounced dead.

Speaking to Israeli outlet Walla, his sister Lehi described the heartbreaking moment she found her brother’s body.

‘We were at my [other] brother’s wedding, and he apparently started to feel lonely…he left. I thought he went to be alone and think like he usually does. 

‘An hour, two hours passed, my older sister said, ‘Come on, let’s go look for him. First in the most logical places, and then we said at Liron’s grave. He liked to talk there and be with her.’

‘Suddenly I see him lying next to Liron’s grave. I told him, “Get up, what are you doing again”, Then I realized he was covered in blood. I stepped on a gun next to him. I screamed. I couldn’t function…. I knew it was the end.

‘He died in the place he wanted to be most, with the woman he wanted to be most.’

Barda had been working as a bar manager at the Nova festival 

Asraf and his girlfriend Barda, who was killed at the Nova Music Festival almost three years ago

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Barda tending to the injured at the Nova festival before she was murdered

Barda had been working as a bar manager at the  Nova festival. Although her friends and family begged her to flee during the terror attack, she stayed behind to tend to the injured.

Speaking previously to Israel Hayom, her father Avi said: ‘I spoke to her that morning, I asked her to leave the area – she refused, she said there were wounded people and she was staying.’

‘This was Liron – I would have been surprised if she agreed to flee.’ 

Asraf had been struggling for nearly three years with the death of his girlfriend, people close to him revealed. 

Asraf’s mother told Walla that her son was never the same after Barda’s death. She described Barda as his ‘soulmate’ and noted that his grief had completely consumed him. 

‘There were three days when we didn’t know what happened to her in Nova, a nerve-wracking experience,’ his mother Bracha said. 

‘He slept at my house and didn’t move from me from morning until night. He sat with her entire family. He’s stayed in touch with them ever since, brought his mother bouquets of flowers, got a tattoo in her honour.’

A short while before taking his own life, Bracha says her son expressed that he was very sad and that it was hard for him without Barda. 

‘I miss her. There’s no one to replace her, to encourage me,’ he told his mother.

Asraf’s funeral took place on Sunday where he was buried at the new Nahal Rabbah Cemetery.

Shiran Maor, chairman of the Safe Heart organisation, which provides psychological assistance to Nova survivours and their families, said, ‘Our hearts are broken by this terrible tragedy. 

‘We share the family’s deep sorrow and embrace everyone who knew and loved him.’ 

In April 2024, it was reported that 50 Nova survivours had taken their own lives in the six months following the massacre.

There have been other cases since, such as that of Roei Shalev, a 28-year-old who set himself on fire in October of last year.

Shalev was found dead in a burning vehicle on a highway exit near Netanya, two years after he witnessed his girlfriend’s murder.

Shalev’s girlfriend, Mapal Adam, and his best friend, Hili Solomon, were murdered before his very eyes at the hands of Hamas militants at the Nova festival.

Roei Shalev, 28, set himself on fire in October of last year (Pictured with his girlfriend who was murdered by Hamas)

Shalev had to pretend he was dead for hours after being shot in the back during the devastating assault

In October 2025, Yelena Giler (R), mother of Slava Giler (L), who was murdered at the Nova music festival in Israel, took her own life

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He had to pretend he was dead for hours after being shot in the back during the devastating assault. 

He had been trying to hide under cars with Adam and Solomon before they were killed. 

Shalev’s devastating final message read: ‘I’m truly sorry. I can’t bear this pain any longer.’

Also in October 2025, Yelena Giler, 56, mother of Slava Giler, who was murdered at the Nova music festival in Israel, took her own life.

Since the attack, Yelena had been hospitalised every two-to-three months due to psychological damage.

‘That day broke her,’ wrote Slava’s brother, Alex ‘Sasha’ Giler, in a social media post following the tragic death.

‘Until October 7, her condition was stable,’ Sasha said. ‘She was taking her medication and living a normal routine. But October 7 completely broke her.

‘Since Slava’s murder, she couldn’t bear the pain anymore. She reached a point where I didn’t recognise her. She really lost touch with reality.’

Yelena was buried beside her son at the Karmiel Cemetery.

For help and support, call the Samaritans for free from a UK phone, completely anonymously, on 116 123 or go to samaritans.org 

Iran has denied Donald Trump’s claim that new talks on ending the conflict would begin on Monday, after the US president called off what he said would have been “massive” strikes on the country.

Speaking on board Air Force One on Sunday, he said Iran “knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming”, adding: “We’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon.”

In an earlier post on Truth Social, Trump said he had been asked by Iran and US allies in the Middle East to “hold off” as the “perimeters” of a deal had been agreed.

But on Monday Iran’s foreign ministry denied they were negotiating with the US, or that there were any plans to do so.

Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei added that Tehran was negotiating with Oman to reach “an understanding over a path to ensure the security of shipping passage through the Strait of Hormuz”.

Earlier talks between the US and Iran have been facilitated through mediators.

Trump has repeatedly vowed that a negotiated end to the war is near, only for tit-for-tat strikes to resume.

In his remarks on Air Force One, Trump declined to outline a deadline for a deal to be struck with Tehran, adding: “We’ll just see how it is. We’re ready to go anytime we want… I’m not looking to kill people.”

The US president did not specify where the talks on Monday would be held or who would attend.

Trump added that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – as well as US partners such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – had urged him against conducting strikes over the weekend.

“We were all set to go,” Trump said. “The reason they asked is [that] they think there’s a deal,” he said. “There’s a deal on Hormuz, and there will be a deal on the nuclear.”

Global oil prices fell on Monday morning in Asia trading after Trump’s announcement. Brent Crude oil was down by 4.5% at $83.98 (£62.26), while US-traded oil was 4.6% lower at $80.74 (£59.85).

Energy prices have fluctuated since the conflict started on 28 February as traders reacted to disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Around 20% of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually flows through the strait.

Vessel-tracking data from trade intelligence company Kpler suggests commercial shipping through the strait has slowed.

According to the data, 51 vessel crossings occurred through the strait between 30 July and 2 August. This is a drop of around 28% compared to the previous 4 days, in which 71 crossings were recorded through the strait.

Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency denied that Tehran had asked the US to hold off on further military action, saying Trump’s claims were “nothing but a new lie”.

During his remarks on Air Force One, Trump said that the planned strikes would have been “the biggest attack since World War Two”, and could have derailed prospects of a negotiated end to the months-long war.

Trump declined to answer if he had been planning to strike Iranian energy infrastructure, which international law experts have said could constitute a war crime.

Madrid have seen their move for RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande worth more than £100million stall in the last week, while they remain in pursuit of Manchester City star Rodri after already signing Marc Cucurella, Denzel Dumfries, Bernardo Silva, Ibrahima Konate and Carlos Espi so far this summer.

Emergency services were called to the Crowther Industrial Estate in Washington on the afternoon of Friday, July 31.

Flames and thick plumes of smoke were visible for miles, with 999 calls pouring in from drivers on the A1 and other major roads.

The fire visible from Sacriston, Durham. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO CAMERA CLUB)

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service said they sent eight fire engines to the scene.

A spokesperson said: “The emergency call was received by our fire control team at 3.40pm and crews from Marley Park, Farringdon, South Shields, Gateshead, West Denton, Byker and Newcastle Central Community Fire Stations were dispatched to the scene near to Crowther Industrial Estate in Washington.

“Crews left the scene at 8.14am, once the fire had been safely extinguished.

“The cause is unconfirmed at present.”

Firefighters in Washington extinguishing the flames on Friday (Image: Ryan Atkinson/CAMERA CLUB)

At the time, the scene was cordoned off by police while firefighters tackled the flames.

The North East Ambulance Service later confirmed that no patients required treatment and there were no serious injuries reported.

Residents were advised to keep windows and doors closed due to the volume of smoke.

One woman said on social media: “Actually felt the house shake when it happened.”

Another resident said that smoke was visible as far away as Durham.

Investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing.

Two people have been arrested and subsequently released on bail following an investigation into an alleged illegal casino in Bristol.

A 36-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman were taken into custody on suspicion of gambling offences after authorities carried out a search warrant at an address near the city’s Brandon Hill park, reports iGaming Business.

Both individuals have been released on bail, though enquiries are still ongoing. The arrests come as part of a joint operation conducted by the Gambling Commission, the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit and Harbourside Neighbourhood Policing Team.

“Community intelligence plays a vital role in tackling criminal activity and keeping our neighbourhoods safe,” said Sergeant Michael Friis of the Harbourside Neighbourhood Policing Team.

“We encourage anyone who has concerns about suspicious or illegal activity in their area to continue reporting it to the police,” he added.

The arrests are the latest in a list of several recent initiatives to combat illegal gambling. Back in early June, a similar operation in Manchester ended in the detention of two individuals on suspicion of offences under the Gambling Act 2005 and the Licensing Act 2003.

At the time, Gambling Commission executive director of operations Sue Young said that “tackling all forms of illegal gambling is a focus for the Commission”, while the government has allocated £26m to the Gambling Commission over the next three years to help their efforts.

However, Madrid boss Jose Mourinho confirmed after Saturday’s 2-2 friendly draw with Fiorentina in Austria that Vinicius Jr would report back for training on Monday as expected after his own post-World Cup break, alongside Brahim Diaz and new recruit Bernardo Silva, and he was pictured arriving at the club’s complex in Valdebebas.

Turmoil in the London flat market has now spread to other cities around the country, stark figures show.

Flat owners in city centres across Britain are seeing the price of their properties plummet.

A majority of owners selling flats in Sheffield, Birmingham, Leicester and Newcastle are now selling at a loss of almost £40,000 on average, This is Money can reveal.

A staggering 62 per cent of flat sellers in Sheffield city centre (S1 postcode) have sold for less than they bought their homes over the past 12 months, according to research from analytics firm PropertyData.

It’s a similar story in Birmingham city centre (B1), where 61 per cent of flat sellers have sold at a loss over the past 12 months. 

The analysis looked at every sale in England and Wales in the 12 months to the end of May 2026 and matched them against the price the seller originally paid for the same property within the past 20 years.

The average flat owner sold for £39,509 less than what they had paid for it, while the average length of ownership was just under nine years.

It is no secret that flats are currently out of favour and therefore dropping in value across the country. 

The average flat sold on the market today is typically valued at less than it was worth four years ago, official Land Registry data shows. 

Average flat prices peaked in August 2022, when the typical property sold for above £200,000. As of May this year, the average price is back down to £192,000. 

Across the country as a whole, 25 per cent of flat sellers have sold at a loss over the past year. But it is in city centres where owners are taking the biggest hit. 

Philip Jackson, of Maguire Jackson estate agents in Birmingham, says he is deeply troubled by the current state of the market in the city centre.

‘The chill of London has hit Birmingham,’ says Jackson. ‘It is the worst sales market I have ever known. We have been through a lot of depressions but we can’t quite work out how and when this one will end.

‘The market here is flooded with apartments to sell, most bought over the past 20 years. My quick analysis shows 1,400 flats for sale within a mile from my office.

‘In one building there are 30 identical one-bedroom flats available for sale at the moment. Sellers have to price lower than all the others to stand a chance of selling.’

Why are flat prices plummeting?

The trend of falling prices has shifted up a gear in the past year.

Buying agent Nicholas Finn, of Garrington Property Finders, says this is mostly down to an oversupply of flats on the market. 

‘We always talk about there being a UK housing crisis, but I’m not so sure we have a flats crisis,’ he says. ‘It seems like the number of flats being built is just so much higher than the number of houses. 

‘The skyline across so many cities is dominated by cranes. Birmingham has so many new developments being built and completed. The same goes for Sheffield. 

‘Even places like High Wycombe and Maidenhead have seen lots of flats developed. It’s the locations where supply has exceeded demand where many owners will now be selling at a loss.’

In the case of new builds, they are often sold at a premium to similar homes on the second-hand market.

This means you would expect it to take longer for these properties to increase in value. Anyone selling a new build in the first few years can typically expect a loss.

While the market is flooded with properties for sale, Jackson says that there is more at play than just an imbalance in supply and demand. 

He says there has been a fall in interest from investors, too. ‘In the city centre here in Birmingham, a disproportionate number of homes are owned by investors as opposed to owner-occupiers. Given there is less interest from new investors, the current investors are struggling to find buyers.

‘Generally speaking, investors who bought between 2015 and 2020 are now selling for either the same or less than they paid. 

He adds: ‘Aside from that, the market here was hit badly by the cladding crisis post-Grenfell. There are still a lot of flats locked by cladding and people can’t sell unless they are prepared to consider a major price cut.’

Another major problem is the leasehold tag that flats, whether new build or not, are burdened with. Leasehold flats often come with some off-putting strings attached. For a start, many have ground rents they pay to their freeholder in return for no services given.

While ground rents have now been outlawed for all new leaseholds, many still endure these costs.

Many leaseholders, especially those in apartment blocks, also pay annual service charges which go towards the upkeep of the building.

It commonly covers things such as insurance, cleaning, gardening, repairs of communal areas, surveyors’ fees, fire risk assessments and managing agents fees.

For some apartments, it can also include a gym, concierge and parking.

Service charges have increased by an average of 41 per cent between 2019 and 2024, according to The Property Institute. It says the average leaseholder is now paying £3,634 a year.

Where else are flat owners cutting their losses?

Areas in the North East, including Sunderland’s SR2 postcode, Darlington’s DL3 postcode and the Newcastle city-centre postcode of NE1 are all among the top ten areas where flat sellers are incurring the highest proportion of losses.

Richard Donnell, of property website Zoopla, puts it down to the lower property prices in these locations and the heavy exposure to city centre new-build flat schemes run in the 2000s and 2010s, which were aimed at buy-to-let investors. 

He says that many of these flats were secured at high initial prices on low mortgage rates. These owners now face a smaller pool of buyers today.

The lack of house-price growth in these areas means some flats are worth less than they were 15 to 20 years ago.

However, severe flat losses are not limited to the North. Many affluent southern commuter-belt areas, alongside central London postcodes, have also seen flat owners bear widespread losses. 

Runnymede, Mole Valley, Hart, Woking, Uxbridge, Windsor and Maidenhead, Winchester and the London borough of Kensington & Chelsea have all seen large proportions of flat owners sell at a loss.

In Uxbridge (UB10) in west London, which includes parts of Hillingdon and Ickenham, 58 per cent of flat owners have sold their property for less than they bought it for over the past year.

Meanwhile, in Winchester’s SO22 postcode, 55 per cent sold at a loss.

Donnell attributes this to the fact many of these flats were bought in the disproportionately low mortgage-rate window of 2016-2021. 

Flats bought in London and the South East between 2016 and 2022 have a higher likelihood of selling at a loss today, according to Zoopla’s analysis. 

‘These buyers are being hit by the mortgage rate shock on larger mortgages since 2022,’ Donnell explains.

‘Prime London has specifically faced weak overseas demand and stamp duty drag on demand, [which impacts] what people will pay.’

Is now a good time to buy?

Many flats on the market are not selling at all, and it’s the sellers who are prepared to take a hit on price who are successfully finding buyers.

This means that buyers have an opportunity to snap up flats at discounted prices.  

Savvy investors smell blood in the water, says Jackson. ‘Auction companies are doing very well. Predator investors and one or two owner-occupiers who work in the city centre can drive a hard bargain.’

Or, as buying agent Nicholas Finn puts it: ‘If you were an investor looking right now, you would only buy aggressively.’

But individual buyers can also drive a hard bargain in areas where a large number of flats are on sale.

For first-time buyers, that could mean finding a cheaper way onto the property ladder, and for landlords it could mean securing a deal where the numbers stack up.

While flats are broadly performing badly today, it’s not universal – some sellers in certain locations are still selling at a profit, which suggests it’s more to do with local dynamics than an inherent problem with flats.

For example, in Chorlton (M21) in Greater Manchester not a single flat seller has sold at a loss over the past year.

In other areas of Greater Manchester, flat owners are also unlikely to sell at a loss. In Eccles in Salford (M30), only 6 per cent of sellers have made a loss, while 13 of the 215 flat sellers in Didsbury and Withington (M20) did.

Even in Brockley in south-east London, only six of 118 flat sellers took a loss.

In Birmingham city centre (B1), 61 per cent of flat sellers have sold at a loss over the past 12 months

What can sellers do to cut their losses?

If you’re a flat owner in an area where the number of homes for sale is exceeding the number of buyers, you’re going to need to stand out – either via appearances or price.

Get the basics right for a start. Declutter, clean the windows, paint the front door and walls where needed, keep decor neutral and fix anything that might put a potential buyer off.

If your flat is looking dated compared to others that are on the market, then investing in new kitchen cabinets and worktops or renovating the bathroom could be the difference between selling and not selling. Even a new carpet or flooring can help.

It may be tempting to try to list at an ambitious asking price, with a view of reducing it at a later date if your flat doesn’t sell, but experts warn this is usually a mistake.

Often, the longer a property remains on the market, the less interest it will attract – with potential buyers deeming the months of marketing or multiple price reductions as a sign there must be something wrong.

If you price your home below the competition, you are likely to get more offers and even a higher price than if you priced ambitiously. That is because a lower price could fuel that important ingredient that is so lacking among buyers right now – Fomo (the fear of missing out).

Pricing below other flats that are similar to yours will boost your chances of attracting competing buyers, resulting in a bidding war that pushes the price higher.

Properties that have been discounted are twice as likely to see sales fall through, take much longer to sell and are more likely to not be sold at all, according to Rightmove.

Wales has an ambitious goal: to achieve one million Welsh speakers by 2050. Schools are central to this.

For many children, particularly those who do not speak Welsh at home, school is where they learn the language. But learning Welsh at school is not the same as continuing to use it after leaving. A learner acquires the language, but a speaker has the opportunities and confidence to use it beyond the classroom.

My research explores what happens when young people finish compulsory education at age 16. The evidence points to a recurring problem. Many young people appear to use Welsh less often, feel less confident speaking it, or stop identifying as Welsh speakers altogether once they leave school.

Yet, we still know little about how these changes happen, who experiences them, or why.

Welsh is taught across Wales, but pupils’ experiences differ greatly. In Welsh-medium schools, Welsh is the main language of teaching. In dual-stream schools, Welsh and English-medium streams work alongside one another. In English-medium schools, Welsh is taught as a subject.

These routes do not produce the same outcomes. Welsh-medium education can give pupils strong language skills and opportunities to use Welsh. Pupils in English-medium settings may have less contact with the language and fewer chances to speak it.

Even strong skills at school do not guarantee continued use. At 16, the structures that supported Welsh use can disappear. A young person may enter an English-dominated college, university, apprenticeship or workplace. Their friendship groups may change. They may move away from a Welsh-speaking area. English may become the easier or expected choice.

The evidence

For my study, I reviewed census figures, surveys, qualitative studies and policy reports. Together, these suggested a consistent pattern but also serious limits in what we know.

The censuses of 2001, 2011, and 2021, all recorded a lower percentage of Welsh speakers among 16 to 19-year-olds than among children aged 5 to 15. This might suggest a decline around the end of compulsory education.

But census figures cannot prove that. They compare different age groups rather than following the same people over time. Parents often answer for children under 16, while older teenagers answer for themselves. The census asks whether someone can speak Welsh, but not how often they use it, how confident they feel, or how strongly they identify as a Welsh speaker.

Research with young people suggests that reduced opportunities, lower confidence and the dominance of English in education or employment may contribute to less frequent Welsh use.

These are clues, but they only tell part of the story. They point to different reasons, without showing which matters most or how young people are affected.

From learners to speakers

This creates a problem for Welsh language policy. Wales often measures progress by counting how many people say they can speak Welsh. But ability, confidence and use are not the same thing.

A young person may have learned Welsh at school but rarely use it afterwards. They may still understand the language, but feel uncomfortable using it with others. They may value Welsh while still seeing little place for it in their studies, work, or social life.

Such a person has not necessarily lost their Welsh. Their relationship with the language may have changed because circumstances have changed.

This problem is recognised at the highest levels of Welsh language policy. The Welsh language commissioner has identified the need to help young people retain their Welsh-language skills as they move into adulthood. Anna Brychan MS, the new cabinet minister for education and the Welsh language, has similarly warned that too many young people lose touch with Welsh after leaving school.

But recognising this problem is not the same as understanding it. This is not just a gap in research. It is a major problem for Welsh language policy. Without knowing what happens after young people leave school, policymakers cannot tell whether learning Welsh leads to using it in adult life.

Existing statistics cannot tell us when young people’s relationship with Welsh changes, why this happens, or which interventions would help. Success therefore cannot be measured only by how many pupils leave school able to speak Welsh.

The next step is to follow young people more closely. Experts need to understand why some continue using Welsh, why others do not and what kinds of support make a lasting difference.

The one-million-speaker target cannot be achieved through schools alone. Its success will also depend on whether young people have meaningful reasons, opportunities and confidence to use Welsh throughout their lives.