Emergency services were called to Church Row at around 12.12pm this afternoon (May 27).

Pictures from the scene show two fire engines blocking the road as crews tackled the blaze.

The fire broke out on Church Row in Darlington. (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)

The fire broke out on Church Row in Darlington. (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)

One police car and a police van were also at the scene diverting the public away from the street.

The fire broke out on Church Row in Darlington. (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)

Fire damage could be seen from a top-floor window of the building, next to the well-known Boot and Shoe pub.

One resident said: “Apparently a fan caused the fire – I hope everyone is okay.”

A County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) spokesperson said: “We were called at 12.12pm today (May 27) to a fire in an office building on Church Row in Darlington.

 “Two fire engines from Darlington Fire Station attended.

The fire broke out on Church Row in Darlington. (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)

 “Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used a hose reel to put out the fire and a positive pressure ventilation fan to clear the smoke.

 “Crews left the scene at 1.34pm.”

Durham Police have been contacted for more information.

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Andy Burnham has hit out at Tony Blair suggesting the former Labour prime minister is out of touch and partly to blame for the rise of politicians like Nigel Farage.

His rebuke comes after Sir Tony warned that when it came to the future of the party and the country Labour was “playing with fire” and urged it not to move further to the left, saying it should instead occupy the “radical centre”.

In an interview with the Observer, Mr Burnham, who is fighting to win a parliamentary by-election to return to Westminster and potentially challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the top job, criticised the former prime minister, who he said did not “mention inequality once”.

“If you don’t get how that’s driving politics now, if you are not rooting your analysis in the fact that people are unable to live and that things that were taken for granted are no longer affordable, then you are not understanding what’s going on,” he said.

Mr Burnham also insisted it is the centrists, like Sir Tony, who had failed voters and fuelled the rise of Mr Farage’s Reform UK.

Mr Burnham said his former party leader “criticises my phrase about 40 years of neoliberalism but the last 40 years has given us wide inequality – that’s what’s responsible for the abandonment of the centre.

“People don’t think the centre has delivered for them in terms of their lives, therefore they’ve gone further to the extremes.”

Mr Burnham also attacked what he described as Sir Tony’s “obsession” with universities.

When he was in office the former prime minister famously set a target of 50 per cent of young people to carry on to higher education.

Mr Burnham, currently the mayor of Greater Manchester, said there should be greater focus on technical education.

“The prioritisation of universities is a significant part of the problem that has left out too many people and has impacted on the welfare system,” he said.

This is a developing news story, more follows…

Police had decided to conduct a welfare check at the property in Rhondda Cynon Taf where they discovered the woman had died in the house

A woman was found dead at her home in Rhondda Cynon Taf after police carried out a welfare check, an inquest opening has heard.

Lynn Susan Harris, 51, from Llwynypia, was found dead at her home in Pontrhondda Road by officers from South Wales Police who decided to conduct a check on the property after growing concerned.

She was found at the house on February 2 and a post-mortem examination was carried out at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil on February 12, Pontypridd Coroners’ Court heard on Wednesday, May 27.

At the brief hearing on Wednesday morning a provisional cause of death for Ms Harris was given as left ventricular hypotrophy, fatty liver, with mixed drug toxicity.

Coroner Kerrie Burge adjourned the inquest until a date yet to be fixed, stating further evidence had to be gathered. She expressed her condolences to Ms Harris’ family.

Ms Harris’ funeral took place at Glyntaff Crematorium in Treorchy on Friday, March 6, where mourners wore blue in tribute to her.

​The number of people waiting for 12 hours or longer on trolleys at the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s emergency departments is at its lowest rate in months.

​Last month, 77 people were recorded as waiting more than 12 hours, down from 237 people in March, 406 people in February, and 930 people in January.

​Martin Barkley, chair of the NHS Trust, described the reduction as “incredible”.

​Speaking at a board meeting on Wednesday, May 27, he said: “We are down to double figures from four figures when I arrived [at the trust in 2023]. Absolutely amazing, so thank you.”

​However, figures presented to health bosses stated that 5.9 per cent of Type 1 patients spent over 12 hours in emergency departments in April 2026, behind the trust’s monthly target of 5 per cent.

​In the latest available national data – for March 2026 – the Trust ranked 54th out of 118 providers compared to 62nd in February.

Scarborough Hospital Uecc. Courtesy Numminen/Ldrs

​“The emergency assessment units (EAU) have supported a reduction in patients spending over 12 hours in ED.

​“This is because medical patients awaiting admission are being managed in the emergency assessment unit by acute physicians and receiving timely senior reviews,” a report presented at the board meeting notes.

​“In order to maximise this opportunity, there needs to be a continued flow out of EAU through both discharges home and admission to the main bed base. Work to refine these pathways continues since this is important for managing flow and eradicating corridor care.”

​At the meeting, health bosses were also warned of potential risks to the improvement, including high levels of bed occupancy.

York Hospital. Courtesy Numminen/LDRS

​According to a report, the capacity required on wards could be higher than the escalation spaces can support.

​“Community health and social care capacity remains challenged and while the new model reduces patients waiting 12 hours in ED, some patients are waiting for the same time in EAU, which can quickly become full if patients are not discharged or moved to acute medical units and/or the main bed base.”

​

Superheroes are having a bumpy ride. Marvel, which gave the world Spider-Man and Captain America, is reeling from a string of disappointing film releases such as 2023’s The Marvels and 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. This has forced owners Disney to completely rethink their Marvel strategy just before the new Spider-Man and Avengers films hit cinemas later this year.

DC Comics, the creators of Batman and Superman, are vying to relaunch their own cinematic franchise, but leaving much to be desired if audience opinion is anything to go by. This places a big question mark over the success of the forthcoming Supergirl film.

And Sony, which still owns the rights to Marvel’s Spider-Man (it can get a bit confusing), is also rebooting its cinematic offerings following a long string of box office disappointments.

All of this creates the perception of “superhero fatigue”, with complaints of “same plots, same villains”. Consumers seem tired of superhero content and want to move on after a 20-year-strong romance.

Yet the superhero genre is known for its incredible survival skills. After all, DC is 92 years old now, and Marvel is not far behind at 87. So, is superhero fatigue really a thing?

What’s really going on

First, let’s look at the evidence. While Marvel’s cinematic offerings are underperforming, its video games are hugely successful. For instance, Marvel’s Spider-Man trilogy for PlayStation (2018-23) was released to critical acclaim and sold tens of millions of copies.

And Marvel Rivals, an online game based on Marvel’s large roster of comic book characters, attained 40 million players within two months of its release in late 2024. This means that superheroes are still much loved by the same people who are now disengaging with the superhero films.

In a different realm, Penguin shocked the world in 2022 when it released select Marvel comics as part of its prestigious Classics collection, making Marvel a part of the global literary canon alongside Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy.

The series reprints the origin stories of select Marvel characters and, according to Penguin, “serves as a testament to Marvel’s transformative impact”. This adds broad cultural legitimacy to superhero entertainment and attracts new audiences.

Lastly, while the traditional comic book publishing model may be waning these days, the longer formats are experiencing a major resurgence. For instance, the market for graphic novels recently reached an unprecedented US$1.57 billion (£1.16 billion).

The resonance factor

The major shift started after 2019, when Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing film of all time. This means that global audiences are now “accustomed” to long-format superhero entertainment and want to see more (or at least the same amount) of it.

So it is safe to say that superhero fatigue is not “a thing”. Indeed, consumers might be simply (over)reacting to a long stretch of bad releases that failed to inspire to the same extent as Marvel did in its halcyon days of 2008-19.

At the same time, my ongoing research on superhero franchises highlights another factor that Marvel and DC should account for: resonance.

It is commonly assumed that superheroes are popular because of the light and even cheap entertainment they provide. Revered filmmaker Martin Scorsese famously dismissed superhero films for not being cinema in the New York Times, likening them to theme parks.

However, my interviews with dozens of Marvel and DC fans reveal a totally different picture: audiences revel in the punchy sociocultural commentary that superhero archetypes can deliver.

For my study participants, the first leg of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008-19) offered salient commentary on some of the biggest issues that society is contending with today.

For example, 2018’s Black Panther was revolutionary in bringing the issues of racism and post-colonialism to the summer blockbuster genre. And the Iron Man trilogy (2008-13) dealt with global terrorism just as ISIS Islamic State was becoming a familiar dreaded name. It is this current lack of social and cultural commentary that participants reported as the reason behind Marvel and DC’s recent troubles.

This view is consistent with the entire history of superhero entertainment. The original “superhero boom” of the 1930s offered much-needed hope amid the Great Depression, the decade-long economic downturn that began with the Wall Street crash of 1929.

Marvel’s meteoric rise in the 1960s and the 1970s is frequently associated with the countercultural, “hippie” overtones that it was subtly spilling amid the Vietnam war and the general political instability of that era. And most recently, the whole superhero concept experienced a renaissance just after the events of 9/11.

This chimes with the successes of other, more niche superhero franchises like The Boys on Amazon Prime, which recently aired its last episode.

A dark, dystopian and subversive take on the superhero archetype, The Boys offers a timely and much-needed perspective on the major political shifts towards populism and nationalism, exploring issues of accountability of those in power, continuing the tradition that Marvel and DC started almost a century ago.

Superhero archetypes need to resonate with audiences to stay relevant. And while DC and Marvel are currently failing at this, their niche competitors do so with more success.

In other words, superheroes are here to stay. It is just a question of whether Marvel and DC, the two biggest names in superhero entertainment, can find ways to reinvent characters that resonate with the world – as they have done so successfully in the past.

When Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham announced that they intend to challenge Keir Starmer as prime minister, it felt like the start of a depressingly familiar loop. A leader who had made many great-sounding promises failed to deliver and lost the trust of the public. The public demands he quit, and he may soon be replaced by another leader who also makes impressive pledges.

During the past decade the UK has seen this loop many times. There have been five leaders of the UK government – an average of one leader every two years.

It is tempting to think that the rapid turnover is a quirk of the British system. It is not. People have become increasingly impatient with leaders in all walks of life – from coaches of professional sports teams to CEOs of large businesses to the leaders of political parties.

In our book, The Art of Less, Mats Alvesson and I argue that an important step is giving up on some of the fantasies of leadership. For example, there are often unrealistically high expectations of leaders to deliver on multiple fronts, and to do it quickly.

And when they fail, the public has become more intolerant and uncivil. There is also more willingness to push leaders out and look for an alternative. But this hasty search for alternatives often makes no difference to performance. In some cases, it can actually lead to worse outcomes.

To borrow a phrase from 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the tenure of leaders has become increasingly nasty, brutish and short.

1. Nasty

In many spheres of life, there are elevated expectations of leaders. People expect them to work on dozens of objectives quickly, and to a very high level. One study found that in the 1950s the CEO of a large US company typically had five to seven major goals. By 2014 that number was between 25 and 40.

In sport, coaches not only have to deliver a string of wins. They also need to ensure the team is commercially viable, grow the fanbase and develop players. And in politics, party manifestos have grown from a few hundred words at the beginning of the 20th century to tens of thousands today. These lengthy and complicated manifestos increase public expectations – but they can also increase the scope for voter confusion and disappointment.

The many (often unrealistic) goals that leaders sign up to often leaves them facing nasty tensions. Sometimes delivering on one objective means they cannot achieve another – cutting taxes, for example, often means cutting public services too.

2. Brutish

When leaders face unrealistic expectations, the public can quickly become disappointed with them. This can rapidly tip over into hostility. In the past, a sense of deference usually ensured that authority figures only faced tough questions after extreme institutional failures. Today, hostility and incivility has become routine.

This hostility can be found in declining public trust in leaders. PR firm Edelman has reported a long-term decline in trust and rise in grievance in most major public institutions around the world and the people who lead them. Trust in representative political institutions like parliament has been declining throughout developed countries since the late 1950s.

Recently this has spilled over – a study by the UK electoral commission found that 70% of election candidates had experienced some form of abuse. And another study by the UK parliament found that 96% of MPs who responded had experienced threatening language or behaviour.

Leaders in business are often targets of online trolling and death threats. In sport, coaches of professional teams are now routinely subjected to extensive online abuse. According to one recent study this online abuse is rising at a rate of about 25% a year.

3. Short

Leaders have increasingly short shelf-lives. CEOs of large US companies currently spend about 4.8 years in the role, while a decade ahead ago the median was six years. The tenure of managers of top English football clubs was about four years in 2012. A decade later that number had halved to two years. Now it is closer to 18 months.

The tenure of a political leader in the UK has also been decreasing. Between the second world war and the election of Tony Blair in 1997, the average length of service of a prime minister was more than seven years. Since then it has been under four years – with some very short-tenured PMs.

This increasingly rapid change in leaders is usually driven by an impatient search for better performance. However, one meta-analysis of more than 13,500 changes in CEO found that leadership change at the top led on average to a short-term performance dip followed by no significant impact on performance in the longer term.

In elite sport, studies have found that although changing manager might bring a short-term bounce, the club’s performance typically reverts back to the mean within a season.

But it can address one problem that failing political parties face – leader credibility. This can lead to a short-term improvement. But it typically does not address underlying issues such as policies, economic conditions and a government’s capacity to deliver.

Kinder, civil, patient

There is a danger that both followers and leaders are locked into a game of rapid change that makes no one happy. Followers have heightened expectations that cause would-be leaders to seek approval with unrealistic promises.

Perhaps if we actually want better performance from our institutions – whether businesses, sports teams or governments – we might need a different approach. Leaders might need to be kinder to themselves, and the public may have to set fewer, more realistic objectives.

Being civil to leaders doesn’t mean blind deference. Rather it highlights that delivering results takes time, effort and trade-offs. We may all need to be a little more patient. Disposing of leaders if they are not instantly delivering results might feel decisive, but it can also fuel longer-term problems.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

Use our interactive widget to fill your car for less

The cheapest place to fill up your car with petrol in Greater Manchester today (May 27) is at an Essar garage in Little Hulton.

According to the latest data supplied by retailers, a driver in an average family car could save up to £6 by filling up at this forecourt – compared to the most expensive petrol station.

The Essar garage at S & S Service Ltd in Little Hulton is charging motorists 149.9p per litre, which means it would cost £99 to fill up an average 55 litre tank. This is based on a feed of live petrol prices which is published by the government.

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Here are the cheapest places to top your car with petrol today:

• 149.9p – Essar, S & S Service Ltd, Manchester, M38 9AW
• 150.9p – Sainsbury’s, Trinity Street, Bolton, BL3 6DH
• 151.9p – Esso, 240 Warrington Road, Wigan, WN3 6PF
• 151.9p – Sainsbury’s, Worthington Way, Wigan, WN3 6XA
• 152.9p – Tesco, Cross Street, Wigan, WN2 3AT
• 152.9p – Sainsbury’s, 60 Union Street, Oldham, OL1 1DJ
• 152.9p – Morrisons, Oldham Road, Failsworth, Manchester, M35 0AN
• 153.9p – Sainsbury’s, Cricketers Way, Bolton, BL5 3ZS
• 153.9p – Esso, Ormskirk Road, Wigan, WN5 8BE
• 153.9p – Morrisons, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton, Oldham, OL9 7LD

The most expensive filling station in Greater Manchester is an Esso station on Buxton Road in Stockport. The cost of standard petrol at this station is 166.9p, meaning it would cost a total of £105 to fill up an average family car at this forecourt.

For the owners of diesel cars, the cheapest place to fill up is an Esso garage on Warrington Road in Wigan. The cost of a litre of standard diesel at this forecourt is 174.9p, according to prices supplied by retailers.

Here are the cheapest places to fill up your car with standard diesel today:

• 174.9p – Esso, 240 Warrington Road, Wigan, WN3 6PF
• 174.9p – Sainsbury’s, Worthington Way, Wigan, WN3 6XA
• 177.9p – Sainsbury’s, Trinity Street, Bolton, BL3 6DH
• 177.9p – Tesco, Cross Street, Wigan, WN2 3AT
• 177.9p – Morrisons, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton, Oldham, OL9 7LD
• 177.9p – Morrisons, Oldham Road, Failsworth, Manchester, M35 0AN
• 179.7p – Asda, Edge Green Lane, Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 3SP
• 179.9p – Sainsbury’s, Cricketers Way, Bolton, BL5 3ZS
• 179.9p – Texaco, Church Street, Littleborough / Rochdale, Lancashire, OL15 8JA
• 179.9p – Bp, 19 Bridgeman Place, Bolton, Lancashire, BL2 1DE

You can use our interactive widget to find out the price of fuel at the petrol stations near you.

UK drivers are currently paying 159.9p per litre of petrol, while people who own diesel vehicles are paying 186.6p on average.

In Greater Manchester, owners of petrol cars are currently being charged 3.1p less than the national average of 159.9p. Diesel car drivers in the region are paying 3.8p less than the national average.

The cheapest place to buy petrol in the country is at a Blakenhall Service Station garage in Wolverhampton, where a litre of standard petrol is 147.6p. The most expensive petrol station in the country is a Central Convenience garage in Sherbourne, Dorset, where motorists are charged 191.9p a litre.

The prices quoted are for standard grade petrol (E10) and for standard grade diesel (B7).

The figures are supplied by the major retailers under a scheme operated by the government to ensure motorists are given a fair deal at the petrol pumps.

Garden Helpers: the busy world of pollinators takes place on Sunday, June 7, and will cover what goes on in our gardens and the important role bees and bugs play in our ecosystems.

Dobbies Garden Centres’ Little Seedlings Club, a free-to-attend monthly children’s gardening workshop, is back this June at its Sandyholm store in the Clyde Valley.

Garden Helpers: the busy world of pollinators takes place on Sunday, June 7, and will cover what goes on in our gardens and the important role bees and bugs play in our ecosystems.

June’s Little Seedlings Club at Dobbies’ Sandyholm will explore how plants spread and grow, why flowers need a little extra help, and how pollen moves between flowers.

Children will then be introduced to ‘garden helpers’, learn about why they are so important, what plants they love and how they help our flowers and food grow.

This workshop offers children the chance to take part in hands-on activities, and this month they’ll have the opportunity to plant a pollinators’ perfect pot to take home and display in their gardens.

These creations are an excellent way for children to spend time outdoors, caring for their displays, and they’ll also get to enjoy watching the bugs and bees visit.

Dobbies’ Plant Buyer, Nigel Lawton, said: “The busy world of pollinators is a fascinating topic for June’s Little Seedlings Club at our Sandyholm store.

“Bugs and bees play a vital role in our ecosystem so it’s very important to attract these garden helpers to our green spaces.

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“This month’s free workshop will allow kids to expand their knowledge on pollinating plants, such as lavender and rosemary, and take part in a hands-on activity to attract bees and butterflies to their own gardens.

“This time of year is perfect for introducing popular summer flowers that are great for attracting pollinators, and our Little

Seedlings Club is a great way to get children learning about nature and gardens this summer.”

Those looking to get involved in Dobbies’ Little Seedlings Club this June can book a free space, visit www.dobbies.com/events.

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