‘These new patient standards are the bare minimum’

The NHS is set to undergo a major communication overhaul designed to treat patients with “five-star customer service”, introducing Amazon-style tracking for hospital referrals and a mandatory three-week notice period for appointments.

The sweeping reforms, announced by NHS England on Friday, 3 July, aim to eliminate the administrative confusion that has long plagued the health service.

Under the new guidelines, patients must receive at least three weeks’ notice for scheduled medical appointments. Patients will also be able track their GP-to-hospital referral via the NHS App, receiving confirmation the moment they are added to a waiting list.

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The NHS will also provide status updates at least every 12 weeks, allowing patients to update doctors on their condition. If a last-minute cancellation occurs, hospitals must issue a new appointment within 28 days.

NHS England Chief Executive Sir Jim Mackey criticised the current state of patient communication, admitting that navigating the system often feels “like walking through treacle”.

“Almost everyone has a story in their family about how navigating the NHS has been like walking through treacle, including cases where patients aren’t even sure if they’ve been referred, which is clearly unacceptable,” Mackey said. “If we want to keep improving patients’ experiences and satisfaction with the NHS, we have to fix the basics – and that starts with how we treat people even before they arrive for their treatment.

“Our communication with patients needs to be clear and easy to understand. We have to get away from making patients ask us multiple times to get the information they need, and start delivering five-star customer service.”

He added: “These standards are by no means revolutionary – they are simple and clear standards that should be the bare minimum the public can expect from our services, and together we have to make sure that patient experience is always at the very centre of our decision-making and service planning.”

Health Secretary James Murray backed the measures, calling them the “floor, not the ceiling” of a broader government effort to modernise patient care. Plans are also underway to introduce a Single Patient Record to prevent patients from having to repeatedly explain their medical histories to different departments.

“For too long, patients have been left chasing the NHS for basic information on their treatment,” Murray said. “That’s not good enough.”

Patient advocacy groups have cautiously welcomed the news.

William Pett, interim director of policy at Healthwatch England, noted that patients have long complained about missing letters and feeling “forgotten about altogether”. However, Pett warned that implementation remains the critical hurdle.

“The real challenge will be to ensure these standards are delivered,” Pett said, urging trusts to properly upskill administrative teams to reduce the burden on patients.

The restaurant shared that is has a ‘soft spot for rock legends’.

The godmother of punk rock was seen to make a surprise appearance at a Glasgow restaurant this week, much to the amazement of customers and the owners. Rock legend Joan Jett has been described as a “true icon” by Italian restaurant La Lanterna as she sat down for a meal on Thursday (July 2).

The 67-year-old appeared at the restaurant ahead of her Joan Jett & The Blackhearts gig at the O2 Academy Glasgow last night. Many fans have since praised her performance, with some rock fans calling it “amazing”.

Ahead of the show, the rockstar took the time to take a picture with the staff at La Lanterna, located on Hope Street, which has since been uploaded onto social media. Thanking the stars for choosing their restaurant, the staff shared that they will “always have a soft spot for rock legends”.

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Sharing the snap on Facebook, they wrote: “Rock royalty at La Lanterna. The Godmother of Punk Rock herself, Joan Jett, graced us with her presence at La Lanterna Hope Street!

“From “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” to a love of great Italian food – we were beyond honoured to welcome a true icon through our doors.”

They went on to add: “Thank you for choosing us, Joan – Glasgow (and La Lanterna) will always have a soft spot for rock legends!”

Fans have since flooded the comments section, with one person writing: “She was amazing last night.” Another fan also added: “Amazing wish I was in the night before.”

Meanwhile, a third person mentioned: “My daughter Steff met her tonight after seeing her live at the O2.” This was followed by someone else writing: “Crikey is she still going strong? Good on her.”

Joan first burst on to the music scene when she formed the rock band The Runaways in Los Angeles in 1975. While the group officially disbanded four years later in 1979, they released four studio albums despite struggling to be taken seriously.

However, her time in the group and further career in the music industry allowed Joan to inspire a generation of girls to start writing and playing their own music.

The rock legend is most well known for her cover of I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll. Originally a B-side track for Joan Jett & the Blackhearts album, it was released as a single in 1982 and spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

Along with being a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Joan is a businesswoman, becoming one of the first female artists to set up her own recording label, Blackheart Records.

She has also had a career in acting as she starred alongside Michael J. Fox in the 1987 film Light of Day and appeared in Stephen King’s crime-thriller Big Driver in 2014.

In 2003, Joan was ranked number 87 in the Rolling Stone’s countdown of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, and she was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016 for the Blackhearts hit.

When David Taylor first appeared before the British judicial system in the late 1970s, the faded glamour of the Swinging Sixties underworld was still a recent memory.

The likes of the Kray Twins, Great Train robber Ronnie Biggs and even gangster ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser evoked images of crooks in collar and tie who saw crime as a lifestyle choice which was to be envied, not disparaged.

Indeed, Taylor seemed to live by the same criminal code, once describing himself in court as an ‘old-fashioned villain’, a ‘bit of a scrapper’, who as a young man chose armed robbery with a sawn-off shotgun as a warped ‘vocation’, rather than staying on the right side of the law.

‘Bit of a scrapper,’ was an understatement, to say the least.

No matter how Taylor, now 64, glossed over his criminality – attacking other thugs he deemed to be below him, such as paedophiles, was a lifelong speciality – the truth was much darker.

Just how evil this hulking 6ft 2in ‘psycho’ really is finally emerged earlier this month when he was handed a whole life term for the callous murder of a vulnerable young woman whose family are pleading for Taylor to reveal what he did with her body.

His role in the crime could only be disclosed after he was convicted of murdering child killer Kyle Bevan in his prison cell in November last year, while being held on remand at HMP Wakefield for the young woman’s murder.

Taylor and two other convicts already serving whole-life sentences – double killer Lee Newell and gangland assassin Mark Fellows – stabbed Bevan 25 times and left him to bleed out in his cell.

Today, for the first time, we can paint a full picture of David Alec Taylor, who has led a life of crime for almost half-a-century but had previously managed to stay under the radar. 

By analysing contemporaneous newspaper reports and speaking to an associate who knew him well, we have pieced together the story of a man deemed so dangerous that, as far back as the 1980s, he was segregated in a pioneering prison unit created to deal with the country’s most volatile offenders.

Indeed, such was the fear that Taylor might turn violent – despite being well into his seventh decade – that even when he appeared in court from prison via video-link last year, he was double-handcuffed and a team of officers in full riot gear stood outside the interview room.

Taylor was born in Glossop, Derbyshire, in 1962 and grew up in Ashton-under-Lyne in the Tameside suburb of Greater Manchester.

He was the eldest of four children – two boys and two girls – but, according to one former friend from his childhood years, ‘didn’t have the best start in life’.

‘He didn’t have much direction from his parents [Brian and June],’ he said. ‘He didn’t have a role model to look up to.’

It is said that when he was 13, Taylor was turfed out of the family home and for a period was homeless.

It was around this time that he first dabbled in criminality, initially petty thefts, before developing a ‘speciality’ in armed robbery.

Just how evil this hulking 6ft 2in ‘psycho’ really is finally emerged last week when Taylor was handed a whole life term for the callous murder of a vulnerable young woman

Kyle Bevan, 33, was stabbed 25 times by David Taylor alongside fellow inmates Lee Newell and Mark Fellows and David Taylor, who then left the paedophile’s body ‘tidily tucked up in bed’ at HMP Wakefield

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By 1977 – when Taylor was aged 15 – he had received his first criminal conviction and it wasn’t long before he moved to London ‘because he thought he could earn more money there and that’s where he got involved with some really serious criminals,’ according to his former friend.

He added: ‘He always used to boast that the first thing he would do on entering a shop or Post Office was to fire his sawn-off [shotgun] into the ceiling because he reckoned that ‘after that you had their attention’.

‘He became scary and was an absolute psycho. When he started attacking someone, he didn’t know when to stop. It’s as though he was always out to kill.’

Around this time, Taylor appears to have committed his first murder, bragging about killing a Leeds drug dealer, according to the former associate.

‘He said the guy was aggressive and dangerous and out to get him but that he’d got in first and killed him,’ his former friend said.

In 1986, Taylor received his first lengthy prison sentence: a 12-year term for a string of armed robberies stretching back three years.

During an armed raid on a Post Office in his hometown of Ashton-under-Lyne, Taylor, then 24, fired five rounds from his sawn-off shotgun when the postmaster began grappling with one of his accomplices, which included his younger brother Brian, then 19.

One hit the 62-year-old postmaster in the arm but he miraculously escaped serious injury.

The court heard the younger Taylor had hidden two guns behind the fireplace of his home and also stole a car for his older brother to use in a robbery.

It was during this prison term that Taylor began to cultivate a fearsome reputation. ‘He was a tall gangly kid but not much of a threat to anyone until he got into prison and after his first lengthy stretch he came out an absolute monster,’ his former friend said.

Taylor was housed in a controversial unit at HMP Hull which dealt with some of Britain’s most dangerous prisoners, including Charles Bronson

He is said to have fought former heavyweight boxer Paul Sykes, who spent much of his adult life incarcerated and was known for his temper 

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‘He’d spent his time during his first long stretch in the prison gym and he bulked up until he was massive and very intimidating and he used that to stake a reputation in prison.’

He added: ‘He wanted to be the top dog and he was happy to take on anyone, whether that was other prisoners or guards.’

Taylor caused so much trouble that he was chosen as one of only a few dozen inmates to be sent to the Special Unit in HMP Hull, a pioneering segregation wing opened in 1988 to deal with prisoners with a history of disruptive and aggressive behaviour.

The unit adopted a controversial approach to the rehabilitation of dangerous offenders, with prisoners and guards on first-name terms and no one required to wear a uniform.

It would only hold around 10 prisoners at any one time, and one of its former inmates was Charles Bronson, often dubbed ‘Britain’s most violent prisoner’, who has been locked up for much of the last 50 years after making frequent attacks on guards and other inmates.

It was also at HMP Hull that Taylor is said to have encountered notorious Yorkshire prisoner Paul Sykes, once a contender for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight boxing title.

Sykes spent much of his adult life in jail and became known as one of the most troublesome inmates in the country. He died in 2007.

A source said: ‘Sykes sought out David Taylor because he had heard of his reputation and he challenged him to a fight.

‘Taylor has always told how he got the better of Sykes, putting him in the prison hospital after telling him: ‘There are no Queensberry rules in here.’

He added: ‘He’s been the victim of a prison attack as well as handing them out. He was in Full Sutton prison near York when he got into an argument with another prisoner over something trivial.

‘The guy stabbed him with a sharpened toilet brush and nearly killed him. David spent several days on the ITU [Intensive Therapy Unit, similar to an Intensive Care Unit] in hospital and would have died if he hadn’t been as fit and strong as he’d become.’

Despite being sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment in 1986, by 1996 Taylor was back on the streets – and intent on returning to his old ways.

That year – now aged 34 – he was the focus of an armed police manhunt after he threatened a van driver with a double-barrelled shotgun before leaving him bound and gagged in a house in Ashton-under-Lyne. The man managed to free himself and escaped by jumping out of a bedroom window.

Taylor – only recently released from his robbery sentence – was also the subject of a West Yorkshire Police manhunt in connection with a shooting.

Greater Manchester Police warned the public not to approach him.

In 2007, Taylor was given a controversial Imprisonment for Public Protection [IPP] indeterminate sentence for aggravated burglary and possession of an offensive weapon.

He had accused a man in his 30s of being a paedophile and behaving inappropriately with his teenage daughter and forced his way into his property armed with a baton to attack him.

It was during this period behind bars that Taylor finally appeared intent on doing something productive with his life.

He is said to have studied humanist psychology and counselling, gaining a foundation degree from the Open University.

He was released on licence in 2013 and appears to have settled down to some degree. After leaving Greater Manchester for Lincolnshire, he moved to Willington, a small town in County Durham, to be closer to his younger sister Pauline. She died in 2019.

At one point, according to an associate, he even held down work with Samaritans, assisting people who were feeling suicidal.

But by 2022, the demons that had driven Taylor from a young age resurfaced as he entered his seventh decade.

The previous year, he had formed a relationship of sorts with 24-year-old Alisha Alpostoff-Boyarin, said to be a former girlfriend of the son of a friend of his from Greater Manchester.

He claimed the couple had stayed with him in County Durham but she was last seen on CCTV walking through an Asda supermarket near her home in Ashton-under-Lyne in January 2022.

Police established that Miss Alpostoff-Boyarin – who lived with her grandfather, looked ‘like a teenager’ and was described by detectives as ‘vulnerable’ due to being alcohol-dependent – was then driven to Durham in a distinctive gold-coloured VW Passat.

Alisha Alpostoff-Boyarin went missing in February 2022 – two years later Taylor was arrested at his home in Willington and charged with murdering the 24-year-old

She was last seen on CCTV walking through an Asda supermarket near her home in Ashton-under-Lyne in January 2022 

She was never seen alive again and her body has still not been found.

Taylor was arrested at his home in Willington in March 2024 and charged with murdering Miss Alpostoff-Boyarin. Officers also found rifle ammunition when they searched the property.

While awaiting trial, he was recalled to prison under the terms of his licence and this seemed to spark a fresh wave of violence in Taylor after almost a decade of freedom.

He became ‘angry… enraged with what is going on with my life,’ he would later tell a court.

In July 2024, while being held at HMP Frankland, Co Durham, Taylor requested a meeting with officers from Greater Manchester Police who were investigating Miss Alpostoff-Boyarin’s disappearance and suspected murder.

He told them that he had information which could help locate her but, seconds after the two officers came back from a break in the interview, Taylor lunged at them with a ‘shank’ – prison terminology for a makeshift stabbing device – he had concealed in the side of the chair.

He succeeded in stabbing one of them, DC Darren Bratby, in the chest, narrowly missing his heart. The officer spent four days in hospital but made a full recovery.

When he was asked what had been going through his head at the time, Taylor responded: ‘I just don’t know. I just snapped. I lost it, I lost my mind, I lost my nerve. I completely lost it.

CCTV showed Alisha Apostoloff-Boyarinhad been a passenger in a gold-coloured VW Passat saloon car that went to the Bishop Auckland area, in County Durham

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‘All I think is I’m being accused of something I haven’t done. It all came pouring out on that particular visit.’

In an exchange with the prison governor a few days later, Taylor added: ‘It was a planned attack and I went to f***ing kill him. There’s no two ways about it.’

He also admitted wanting to attack a more senior officer. ‘Even though they were still major crime team, the one I wanted was a sergeant, their sergeant, and obviously he’s f***ing not come up so I were kind of, I was kind of disheartened by that he wasn’t there. I just f***ing, I thought f*** it.’

Taylor’s wrath was clearly not satisfied by the attempted murder of the prison officer. He finally achieved a degree of notoriety this month after he was convicted for the fatal attack on child killer Bevan in his cell at HMP Wakefield in November last year.

Alongside the gangster Mark Fellows, known as ‘The Iceman’ for his ruthless demeanour while dispatching his victims, and Newell, who had previously killed another child killer in custody, the men were seen laughing on CCTV shortly before the frenetic five-minute attack on Bevan.

As Taylor was transferred from Wakefield, one nurse heard him shout at Newell: ‘Nice working with you and the Iceman.’

But make no mistake, Taylor is not the renegade hero or ‘old-school villain’ he may believe himself to be.

In February, he finally admitted murdering Miss Alpostoff-Boyarin, who was almost 40 years his junior.

Leeds Crown Court heard he had simply ‘tired of her’ and was trying to ‘end the relationship.’

Now that he knows he will never again be released from prison, her family are begging him to do the right thing. ‘David Taylor took advantage – preying on her, befriending her and leading her to her death,’ her great-aunt Theresa Robinson told the court.

‘I beg that he finds it in his heart to do the decent thing and tell us where her body is.’

But those who do know him doubt whether he will ever cooperate over the recovery of the body or express any remorse for his life of criminality.

As his former associate puts it: ‘He’s one of the most dangerous men in the entire prison system and he’ll stay that way until he dies in jail.’

Plans have officially been approved to redevelop a Cambridgeshire leisure centre

Proposals to redevelop a leisure centre in a Cambridgeshire town have been given the go-ahead. Part of Manor Leisure Centre in Whittlesey is set to be demolished as part of a multi-million pound redevelopment.

The Fenland District Council and Alliance Leisure project will redevelop and expand the pool building and demolish the sports hall building. Currently, the pool and sports facilities are within separate buildings either side of the main car park.

The upgraded centre will become a “modern, multifunctional combined facility building where all health and fitness activities could be located side by side”. It will provide accessible spaces for exercise, including fitness studios, swimming pools, sports courts, adventure play, community café, new skatepark and padel courts and exercise programmes.

The existing 25 metre swimming pool will be refurbished but with a retained pool tank structure. The ‘village change’ will provide 38 changing cubicles, showers, including seven pre-swim and six for post swim, approximately 150 individual lockers, grooming areas and a baby change facility.

A progress update report published in February said a leisure centre just for sport is no longer a “financially viable proposal” and must attract users for other activities.

A planning statement explains: “For the facilities to be successful, they need to create a community around them. The café area provides community refreshment space within the new building, leading to the viewing area which provides for a space where parents can engage in watching their children using the soft play area but as well spills into the viewing of the pool area.”

According to the now approved plans, the scheme is designed to “promote health and wellbeing for all users irrespective of their age, ability or background”.

It is proposed that the centre’s car park will undergo future expansion following demolition works. The Manor Leisure centre was built in 1974 beginning as an outdoor lido and covered during the mid 1980s. The sports hall building contained a hall, spin rooms and changing rooms for football which is no longer in use.

Major works are due to take place on the M60 motorway

Part of the M60 will shut in Tameside on two consecutive weekends as ‘essential improvements’ are made to the road. National Highways is partway through a series of drainage and carriageway repairs between junctions 23 at Ashton-under-Lyne and 24 at Denton, which began in January.

As the works continue, National Highways says the anticlockwise carriageway will fully close from 9pm on Friday, July 10, until 6am on Saturday, July 11. The motorway will then reopen, but with one lane closed throughout Saturday until 9pm.

The M60 will then fully close again anticlockwise between junctions 23 and 24 from 9pm on Saturday, July 11, until 6am on Monday, July 13. On the following weekend, works will focus on the clockwise carriageway, with further closures in place.

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The clockwise side will be fully closed between junctions 23 and 24 from 9am on Friday, July 17, until 6am on Saturday, July 18. As in the previous weekend, the motorway will reopen on the Saturday morning, with one lane remaining shut until 9pm.

From 9pm, the clockwise side will close fully again until 6am on Monday, July 20. Additionally, the anticlockwise carriageway will also be closed from midnight until 6am on Monday morning, July 6.

In a post on its website, a National Highways spokesperson said: “We’ll work on the M60 in both directions between junctions 23 and 24 near Audenshaw, Manchester. Drainage works finished in May 2026 and we’re now starting the next stage.

“This includes resurfacing both carriageways and replacing traffic sensors, bridge joints and road markings. Most of this work will take place overnight, as lane closures or full carriageway closures are required to complete the work.”

It added: “Please follow signed diversion routes. These works will create more noise than usual, especially if we need to dry the road surface prior to moving the road markings.

“We’d like to apologise in advance for any disturbance this may cause you. Please plan ahead and allow extra time for your journeys.”

Months after his death at the outset of Iran’s war with the United States and Israel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the nation’s supreme leader, will be honoured with a multi-day funeral and burial ceremony.

The extensive mourning period will see his body transported through cities in both Iran and neighbouring Iraq, a spectacle likely to be heavily promoted by Iran’s theocracy to encourage public, governmental and paramilitary participation.

Khamenei, who governed Iran for nearly four decades, was killed on 28 February when the US and Israel jointly initiated the conflict. The ensuing war necessitated a delay in his funeral arrangements. This delayed ceremony now serves as a critical test for Iran’s embattled theocracy, assessing its capacity to mobilise widespread public support, particularly as it unfolds six months after security forces brutally suppressed nationwide protests against Khamenei’s rule.

A significant turnout, while desired by the regime, also carries the inherent risk of deadly stampedes. Such tragedies have marred past high-profile funerals, including that of Iran’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

An uneasy ceasefire, recently cemented by an interim agreement with the United States, is believed to have provided authorities with the confidence to proceed with the ceremony and ensure the public appearance of top officials. Throughout the war, Israel targeted and killed senior Iranian leaders, in at least one instance leveraging public appearances to track them.

However, it remains uncertain whether Khamenei’s son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has assumed the role of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, will make his inaugural public appearance during these ceremonies. The younger Khamenei, reportedly wounded in the attack that claimed his father’s life, has remained in hiding.

The funeral is scheduled to commence on Saturday in Tehran, Iran’s capital. Khamenei’s body will be displayed at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla over the weekend. On Monday, it will be paraded through the streets of Tehran before being moved to the Shiite seminary city of Qom, approximately 120 kilometres to the south, where further tributes will be paid on Tuesday.

Wednesday will see Khamenei’s body transported to Karbala, Iraq, home to the revered shrine of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a long-standing symbol of resistance for Shiite faithful. This day also coincides with the anniversary of the protests against Khamenei’s rule, which resulted in thousands of deaths at the hands of security forces. The procession will culminate in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city.

Authorities have confirmed that Khamenei will be interred in Mashhad at the Imam Reza shrine. Imam Reza, the eighth imam of Shiite Islam, attracts millions of pilgrims annually. A hadith, or saying, promises relief from sorrow or sin to those who visit the shrine. Many prominent Shiite clerics, as well as Iran’s late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in 2024, are buried there.

The funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on 6 June 1989 saw millions of Iranians flood the streets, leading to chaos. Mourners surged towards the casket, causing the 86-year-old leader’s body to fall into the crowd. Initial reports indicated at least eight fatalities and approximately 11,000 injuries.

Similar concerns persist for Khamenei’s funeral, particularly if crowds reach millions. The burial of the late Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani in 2020 also resulted in a stampede, killing at least 56 people and injuring over 2,000.

This extensive funeral takes place as the interim deal to end the Iran war faces significant challenges. The agreement, reached in June, established a 60-day window for negotiating a final deal, encompassing Iran’s nuclear programme and the future of the Strait of Hormuz.

Technical discussions began in Qatar this week but have been complicated by deep disagreements and several days of crossfire between the US and Iran concerning the strait’s future.

Thousands of pubs will remain closed for England’s World Cup match against Mexico despite the Government’s licensing U-turn, with only five Wetherspoon venues open.

Sir Keir Starmer has made a late decision to allow pubs across England and Wales to stay open until 5am on Monday for the last-16 match, which kicks off at 1am.

MPs had called for leeway beyond the 2am extended pub opening hours already in place for England matches during the tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico.

The blanket extension announced yesterday means individual pubs do not need to apply for extended hours – but some owners have said issues with arranging staffing and being located in residential areas will mean they will remain closed.

Wetherspoon said only five of its 800 pubs across the UK will show the match – one of which already could under its existing licensing hours and another four which previously sought and received special permission from the licensing authorities.

Greene King, which has 2,600 pubs, restaurants and hotels across the UK, said more than 600 venues across England – including its pubs and restaurant brands including Hungry Horse and Flaming Grill – would be staying open late to show the match.

Fuller’s said that 23 pubs were planning to stay open, while Stonegate Group said 610 Craft Union, 182 managed sites and hundreds of leased and tenanted pubs will do so.

One government source said: ‘We probably clocked this a little bit late in the day to be honest – getting anything done in half a day in government is basically impossible.’ 

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said earlier this year that the number of pubs in the UK had fallen from 46,829 in 2020 to 44,656 in 2025.

Tommy Higgs, co-owner of The Three Horseshoes pub in Witney, Oxfordshire, said they would not be opening for the England match to avoid annoying neighbours.

Speaking to LBC, Mr Higgs said: ‘We’re in a built-up community around here, and I think it’s just a little bit disrespectful for our locals to have that sort of noise at 5am.’

The publican added: ‘No one’s going to want to work until five in the morning.

‘We’re not a nightclub, we’re a local pub in a small town, and I am not allowed to annoy my neighbours because I’ll be into holy hell with that.

‘A lot of our staff have second jobs. We employ a couple of full-timers, but mainly part-time, and I would never expect that of them.’

Discussing the Government’s decision to loosen restrictions, Mr Higgs said: ‘For some, I think it’s a huge benefit, especially in your bigger built-up cities, where there are places that open later, but for here and where we are, it’s just not something that we will do.

‘There’s other things they can be doing to help the pub trade out – staying open until five o’clock in the morning on a Monday – for some is a benefit, but for others it’s just completely pointless, really.’

The Treacle Mine Pub in Grays, Essex, has also decided to stay closed for the game.

It said in a Facebook post: ‘Due to the 1am kick-off and out of respect for our neighbours, we will not be showing the England v Mexico World Cup match.

‘We understand many of our customers would have loved to watch the game with us, and we sincerely apologise for any disappointment this may cause. We appreciate your understanding and continued support.’

In an apparent attempt to avoid disorder, The Foxley Hotel at Milton in Stoke-on-Trent said it would show the match but ‘by invite only’, asking punters to get in touch if they wanted to be added to a list.

The Three Horseshoes in Witney, Oxfordshire, is among the pubs that will not opening for the England match. The pub’s owner said the closure was to avoid annoying local neighbours

The owners said in a Facebook post: ‘If your name’s not down, you will not be permitted entry to the pub – no exceptions. Entry for the football will be between 11pm and 11.30pm, via the side car park gate only, which will be locked promptly after this time.

‘The pub will be closed at 10.30pm Sunday night, in order to get ready for the match. You will not be able to remain in the pub if your name is not on the list.’

The Daily Mail understands the Home Office initially resisted calls from inside government to amend licensing hours on Sunday night over concerns about the impact on already struggling police forces.

But Sir Keir pushed the change through, and the Home Office will initiate an emergency law change this morning.

However, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has criticised the timing of the decision to let pubs stay open.

In a joint statement, Chief Constable Mark Roberts, NPCC lead for football policing, and Acting Chief Constable Scott Green, NPCC lead for alcohol licensing and harm reduction, said the ‘late announcement’ meant forces having to adapt plans and take officers away from communities.

They also asked England fans to be considerate to others and drink ‘sensibly’ during the game.

The statement said: ‘We recognise there will be significant public interest in England’s match on Monday morning and that many of the public will want to come together in pubs and licensed venues to enjoy the occasion.

‘We also know from previous tournaments the knock-out games sadly see an increase in violent incidents particularly in the night-time economy and an increase in domestic abuse. This is directly linked to alcohol consumption.

‘The likely route for England progression has been known for a considerable time yet this late announcement leaves policing having to adapt our plans seeing officers working extended shifts which in turn takes them away from communities.

The Treacle Mine Pub in Grays, Essex,said it will be closed ‘out of respect for our neighbours’

‘From a policing perspective, our priority is to support people to enjoy the match safely and responsibly. We therefore ask those watching the game to be considerate – drink within sensible limits, and behave in a way that keeps you, your friends, staff, officers and the wider public safe.

‘We will continue to work with partners and venues to support a safe and enjoyable evening for everyone.’

And a former boss at the UK’s biggest police force said officers are having to ‘gear up’ after the Government’s announcement.

Andy Trotter, a former deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the ‘late change’ will result in last-minute shift changes for officers.

‘My anxiety is with the late change the police are now going to have to gear up across the country on a night normally when into the early hours it’d be a bit quieter than usual,’ Mr Trotter said.

‘Now they have to change shifts, get more officers out.

‘And we all hope this is going to be a great night in all ways. We all hope it’s going to be calm and peaceful, but we know the combination of hot nights, alcohol and sporting events can lead to trouble.’

He added: ‘There could well be issues as people come out at 4 or 5 in the morning, bumping into the morning bleary-eyed commuters.

‘So the police have got to be ready for this, but my anxiety is the late notice for police forces means a lot of late shift changes, which is unfortunate.’

England will face Mexico in the last 16 after beating the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2-1 on Wednesday.

Andrew Gallagher, brand and marketing director at Greene King, said: ‘We’re delighted to have been granted permission to stay open late as England progress through the tournament.

The Foxley Hotel at Milton in Stoke-on-Trent said it would show the England match but ‘by invite only’, asking punters to get in touch if they wanted to be added to a list

‘There’s nothing quite like the atmosphere in our pubs and it gives fans the chance to come together, soak up the occasion and hopefully celebrate. We know this will be a popular match, so urge guests to secure their spot as soon as possible.’

The Prime Minister said: ‘Football might be coming home but we’re making sure fans don’t have to.

‘Pubs staying open till the final whistle is good news for supporters and good news for the pubs and venues that bring our communities together. The whole country will be backing the team. Come on England.’

Communities Secretary Steve Reed has written to council leaders informing them of the changes.

Before the announcement, he had earlier urged them to sign off on pubs extending their hours to allow fans to watch to the end of the match, after claiming there were ‘still some councils that are saying no to the pubs’.

Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), said: ‘This pragmatic approach allows venues to focus on what matters most – bringing communities together to support the national team.

‘Major sporting occasions like this deliver a significant boost to hospitality businesses while creating an atmosphere that unites the country.

‘As England heads into one of the biggest games of the tournament, let’s get behind the team, support our local venues, and give the country something positive to celebrate.

‘We hope this weekend marks not only a memorable occasion for England on the pitch, but also a much-needed boost for our hospitality sector and the communities it serves.’

Lawson Mountstevens, managing director of Heineken UK’s Star Pubs, said: ‘The extension to licensing hours granted by the Government is very welcome – watching a big game like this in the pub is second only to being at the match itself.

‘We anticipate a large majority of our managed operator pubs will stay open for the game on Monday morning, and we hope millions of people up and down the country will be enjoying an England victory in their local in the early hours.’

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the BBPA, said: ‘Pubs and fans will be over the moon about this decision, because we all know the best place to watch the match is down the local.

‘This tournament is hugely important for our sector, so we’re delighted the Government listened to our concerns and acted so quickly.

Sir Keir Starmer said pubs across England and Wales will be able to stay open late for the match

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‘Now we can carry on being the home of live sport and welcoming fans through the door.’

Jared Sedgwick, director of operations at Marston’s, said: ‘More than 400 of our pubs were already set to open late for England v Mexico on Sunday night – and the Government’s decision to ease licensing restrictions means that number is only going one way.

‘When England are playing, a 1am kick-off is no barrier, and we’ll make sure fans have somewhere great to watch it together in the kind of big match atmosphere that’s hard to replicate at home.

‘If the last game was anything to go by, there’ll be plenty to keep people on the edge of their seats – and with spaces filling up fast, we’d encourage anyone planning to join us to book ahead to avoid disappointment. We also suspect there might be a little more ‘working from home’ come Monday morning.’

A spokesperson for Wetherspoons said ‘only five of the 800 Wetherspoon pubs will be open’ for the match.

These are: Bishops Mill, Durham; Cooper Rose, Sunderland; William Rufus, Carlisle; Penderel’s Oak, Holborn; and Solomon Cutler, Birmingham.

It is estimated that up to one million extra pints will be sold on Monday.

Labour’s Andrew Ranger, the Wrexham MP who saw through the legislation to relax national-level, licensing decisions, said: ‘I’m delighted to see that the Government has used the powers that my Bill gave them.

‘This is exactly what I intended when I introduced the legislation: allowing people to come together, support our brilliant local pubs, and giving the hospitality industry the flexibility it needs to benefit from major national occasions.

‘I fully support the decision to ensure that fans can watch Sunday’s game with a pint in hand in one of our many fantastic pubs. And, as a proud Welsh MP, I hope that one day I’ll be able to watch Wales in the same manner.’

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick branded yesterday’s confusion ‘ridiculous’, demanding: ‘Just issue a decree that any pub in the land can stay open late on Monday.

‘It’s been done before. Stop being pettifogging killjoys and get behind England.’

And Conservative MP Louie French said the announcement was ‘the least’ Downing Street could do for pubs ‘after two years of hammering [them] with Labour’s tax rises’.

Meanwhile Downing Street told parents to ignore manager Thomas Tuchel’s advice that parents should ‘write an excuse for school and let them watch football’.

He said: ‘They have so much school to go to, but the World Cup is every four years. Let them watch… and we need the support of everyone and especially of the children.’

But Sir Keir’s spokesman said: ‘Kids should be at school on Monday.’ Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson added: ‘Children should be in school the next day.’

It comes as English businesses brace for a ‘mass sickie event’ on Monday morning as bleary-eyed workers sleep in.

James Hughes, 67, murdered Harold Turner, 68, over a noise dispute at their sheltered accommodation block in St Asaph, North Wales, on December 25, 2025

A retired jeweller from North Wales has been jailed for murdering his neighbour in a bitter noise dispute.

James Hughes, 67, repeatedly beat Harold Turner, 68, with his walking stick and sat on top of him during an incident at Old Palace Flats in St Asaph on December 25, 2025.

Hughes denied murder and manslaughter but was found guilty of murder by a jury last month. A key part of the prosecution case was audio from a dictaphone worn by Hughes, which he said he carried because he feared Mr Turner might attack him.

At Caernarfon Crown Court on Thursday, Hughes was jailed for life with a minimum term of 13 years. A total of 185 days spent on remand in custody will be deducted from his sentence. He refused to leave his cell while the sentence was passed, Wales Online reports.

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The court heard that Mr Turner and Hughes lived next door to each other in the sheltered accommodation block. There had been ongoing difficulties between them, with Mr Turner making complaints about noise attributed to Hughes, including banging on walls and railings and disturbances at night.

Sentencing, Judge Matthew Nicklin said Mr Turner was “angry” and “distressed” in the hours before the murder, telling Hughes in a voicemail on on Christmas morning: “I want you to f*** off, that’s what I want. I’m going to make you f*** off and I am going to get you. You’re mine, you’re f***** with the wrong person. Good night, sleep tight.”

The judge said there was further evidence of threatening behaviour by Mr Turner that morning. He said Hughes called North Wales Police twice that morning – first to report that Mr Turner had been banging on his door and shouting, and a second time to play them the voicemail.

The judge continued: “At 11.03am, Mr Turner left a voicemail on the community house manager’s phone saying he was at the end of his tether and at breaking point and he was going to hurt somebody. Later that morning, a physical altercation between the defendant and Mr Turner occurred outside the defendant’s flat.

“I proceed on the basis Mr Turner began that physical altercation, and that is significant. The defendant did not go looking for violence that day. The confrontation took place outside the defendant’s flat after he had called the police and after threats had been made by Mr Turner.

“By way of the jury’s verdict, either he did not believe the force he used was necessary or the force he used was not reasonable in the circumstances. The central piece of evidence was the dictaphone recording which captured Mr Turner saying: ‘Get off me, I can’t breathe.’

“The defendant refused to get off him and said: ‘What a f****** shame, do you want me to hurt you again? You can f****** die for all I care, I don’t give a f***.’”

The court heard that after the incident, Hughes returned to his flat, turned on the radio and made himself a hot drink. He later called his nephew while the dictaphone was still recording, telling him: “I think I may have killed someone.”

When Hughes eventually called an ambulance, he told call handlers he believed Mr Turner may have had a heart attack. He said: “I hit him with my stick and he fell and he banged himself against the window.”

A post-mortem examination found that Mr Turner died as a result of asphyxia and had suffered blunt force trauma to his face and head.

Gordon Cole KC, for Hughes, said his client had been the victim of serious crime in South Africa on multiple occasions and was in poor physical condition.

The barrister said Hughes had called police twice on Christmas morning asking for help.

Mr Cole said his client, who had no previous convictions, would “serve the remaining years of his life in prison” due to his health.

Judge Nicklin said the incident was not a planned murder, but that Hughes had ignored Mr Turner’s pleas to get off him. The judge said Hughes’ response had instead been “angry, callous and cruel”.

Following the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Eleri Thomas said: “This was a senseless murder which was borne out of a dispute between two retired neighbours.

“Through his persistent, antagonistic actions, James Hughes drove Mr Turner to a confrontation at the door of his flat, and despite Mr Turner’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe, Hughes continued to sit on his chest and proceeded to strike his head with his walking stick.

“His recording of the attack and subsequent conversations afterwards were damning as to his guilt, and whilst Mr Turner’s family may never be able fully comprehend why this tragic incident happened, I hope we have provided them with some form of justice and closure today.”

The LINK spacecraft, which Lee’s team came up with, is a three-armed robot, about the size of a fridge, bristling with cameras and guidance systems and driven by small thrusters.

Launched on Friday, the spacecraft will spend the next few weeks waking up its systems one-by-one: power, navigation, the cameras and sensors it will rely on, and check that each one survived the ride.

Although the Pegasus XL rocket on which it rode has flung LINK close to Swift’s orbit, there is still much work for the three-armed robot to do to get close to Swift – the observatory’s altitude is shifting week-by-week.

The rescue spacecraft, itself moving, has to home in on a moving target. But about three to four weeks after launch it should finally draw alongside.

Using its cameras and sensors, LINK will slide in close and circle the telescope, photographing it from every angle. Engineers have guessed at where to grab hold, but Swift must have been altered by twenty years in orbit, according to Barber.

“The Swift telescope was never designed to be caught in space and have its orbit changed. So, the rescue craft is going to approach it very slowly and attach itself to the telescope.”

Then comes the nail-biting moment: the catch, when LINK’s three arms reach out.

If all goes to plan, LINK will take hold of Swift and take it back to where it can continue its vital work.

“LINK will fire its engines to slowly raise the orbit of the telescope again to an altitude where it becomes stable for a long period of time,” said Barber.

“It will be a very slow, graceful lift, not a sudden boost to a higher orbit.”

Over the following two to three months, LINK will fire its small thrusters and gently haul the pair back uphill, from around 220 miles (360 km) towards Swift’s old home 373 miles (600 km) above the Earth.

The mission is ambitious and has never been carried out before. A lot will have to go right if it is to succeed. If it does, attention will turn to whether the next rescue mission could be to save the even more famous Hubble Space Telescope.

Stay tuned.