The 30-year-old tragically passed away on Tueday

A rugby league player in New Zealand has tragically died after suffering an “unsurvivable” injury in his team’s first game of the season.

Eugene Hanna was representing Glenora RLFC’s Premier Reserves squad against the Te Atatū Roosters on May 2 when he sustained the injury. The 30-year-old was rushed to Auckland Hospital and received care there for nearly two weeks before sadly passing away from his injuries on Tuesday, leaving his club, team-mates and West Auckland rugby league in mourning.

In a statement issued on social media, Glenora RLFC’s chairperson, Jane Hunt, confirmed the tragic news and said “there are not enough words” to express the loss suffered by Mr Hanna’s family.

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“It is with a heavy heart that we inform our members of the passing of Eugene Hanna on Tuesday,” the tribute read.

“Eugene was a valued player in our Premier Reserves squad and although a new Bears member had good friends within the club.

“Eugene sustained an injury in the teams first game of the season against Te Atatu which was tragically unsurvivable.

“Glenora Bears would like to extend its gratitude to the Te Atatu Roosters members who helped at the scene, the attending paramedics and Auckland Hospital for their care these last two weeks.”

Ms Hunt added: “To his family, friends and teammates we extend our sincere condolences. There are not enough words to express the unimaginable loss and grief you are feeling at this time.

“Forever in our hearts. RIL Eugene.”

Mr Hanna also previously represented West Auckland football club Lynn-Avon United AFC, with the club sharing its own tribute on social media.

“Sadly, we advise the passing of Eugene, a former player of the Lynn-Avon Men’s Reserves team in 2022,” the club statement read.

“He was known by many club members and will be remembered as a genuine all-round good bloke.

“The committee and club extend our sincere condolences to Eugene’s family and friends.”

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Then there is Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, currently marooned outside Parliament and so unable to take part in any immediate leadership race unless he can demonstrate he can get a move on – find a seat, persuade the party to let him stand, and hope that the timeframe of any contest means he can play a part in it.

It’s the latest time the technology has been used in the city

Two people have been arrested and a missing man found after live facial recognition cameras were used in Manchester. Greater Manchester Police deployed the technology in the city centre on Wednesday (May 13).

Cameras were used in the Piccadilly Gardens area. During the deployment, a 19-year-old man wanted on suspicion of shoplifting offences in Salford was picked up by the cameras.

A woman wanted for offences including harassment and breach of bail was also spotted by the technology. Both people were arrested by officers at Piccadilly Gardens.

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GMP says a man who had previously been reported missing was also found safe and well using the technology. He has since been ‘safeguarded’ by police, the force says.

“The two LFR vans were in city centre to support our neighbourhood policing operation and keep our communities safe,” a GMP spokesperson added. Live facial recognition was introduced by GMP last autumn.

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Specialist police vans are fitted with fixed cameras, with computers inside using biometric data to match faces in the crowd to those on a ‘watchlist’. Signs warn members of the public if they are entering the cameras’ ‘zone of recognition’, and GMP says the cameras are only used to find people police are already looking for.

Chief Inspector Mike Tachauer told the Manchester Evening News last year that Piccadilly Gardens is a key location to use the technology. “We speak to our community – our businesses, commuters and other users of the city centre,” he said.

“We know that Piccadilly Gardens is a priority for those people. We know that there have been historic issues here, no one is hiding from that, and we know there is a certain expectation that GMP does its part to make it a safe place. Any tools that are at our disposal that we can bring today in order to forward that imperative, we’re really keen to use them.”

A former artist turned art forger, Lori Butler (Michaela Coel) poses a deceptively simple question at the heart of Steven Soderbergh’s new film, The Christophers: does it really matter who paints an artwork?

She is commissioned by the adult children of renowned painter Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) – Barnaby (James Corden) and Sallie (Jessica Gunning) – to “complete” the last of his unfinished works, The Christophers.

Once complete, their real intention is to sell the series of paintings for a fortune once their father dies. Lori, who once endured a scathing critique from Julian that stalled her own career, reluctantly agrees to take on the job.

The film is, on the surface, a pleasingly crafted piece of art-world intrigue. But it raises questions about pleasure, authenticity, creative ownership and race that, ultimately, it seems unwilling to interrogate closely.

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The premise centres on a real psychological phenomenon called essentialism – the deeply human habit of treating objects as though they possess a hidden inner nature that no copy can replicate. Psychologist Paul Bloom explores this in his book How Pleasure Works (2010). He argues that what we enjoy about art is inseparable from our beliefs about its origin.

In a series of experiments in 2012, psychologists demonstrated that people judge original artworks as more valuable and pleasurable than perceptually identical duplicates. This was not because they looked different, but because the original carried the trace of the artist’s creative act.

Even children show this intuition. Research from 2007 showed that when offered a spoon supposedly owned by Queen Elizabeth II versus a perfect copy, children preferred the original almost universally.

Further experimental work has since confirmed that simply labelling a work a copy, with no perceptual difference, depresses viewers’ ratings of its beauty and emotional resonance. This suggests that we are not responding to art – we are responding to the story we tell about it.

The film understands this. It suggests the revelation that Julian’s series portrays a long-lost male lover will transform his paintings into works that are not just appreciated but revered by the art market. Were Lori’s forgeries ever exposed, this would not only jeopardise their commercial value, but also dismantle the essence of the artist’s intent and feeling behind each brushstroke.

The artist’s gaze

This idea of originality is tightly tied up with assumptions about race, gender and who gets to be seen as a “real” artist.

Instead of treating originality as something universal and open to everyone, the film filters it through a very specific lens shaped by white, male authority. Rather than challenging this dynamic, it ultimately reinforces Julian as the figure who decides what counts as true artistic expression.

This dynamic echoes film theorist Laura Mulvey’s analysis of classic cinema, in which the male gaze structures all meaning and value. Men are deemed active creators and women mere objects whose value is defined by men.

In one scene, Julian dismisses Lori’s polyamorous relationships, describing them as mere infidelity. He, however, is never made to reflect on his own situation. As a bisexual man, his sexual freedom is framed as expressive and romantic – the very source of his artistic legacy. As a queer black woman, Lori is afforded no equivalent interpretation.

In her book Creating Their Own Image, art historian Lisa Farrington argues that creative contributions from black women artists are often overlooked or constrained by racial and patriarchal expectations. Their originality is rarely recognised on its own terms, filtered instead through the tastes and authority of others.

As a forger, Lori’s skill operates invisibly throughout the film. She is framed technically as indispensable, but narratively as subordinate to Julian and his children. Her authority as an artist is dependent on someone else’s approval.

Lori’s path has been directly influenced by Julian’s brutal critique of her artistic talent, which extinguished her own originality and confidence, driving her to become a forger. Instead of challenging his views or improving her craft, she simply accepts it, further removing her from any independent agency. The film does not attempt to present this as an indictment against the art world that Julian represents.

For example, in one scene Julian sells his art in a yard sale as a protest against the fact that agents take 40% of the profits of his work while making no creative contribution. In this instance, Julian voice is repeatedly allowed to be heard. Lori is granted no such opportunity.

So what is Soderbergh trying to say? He has faced criticism before for uneven editing and ambivalent portrayals of ethnic groups. Despite being “unusually candid about racism in Hollywood”, according to film theorist Sarah Sinwell, there is a recurring pattern in Soderbergh’s films in which black characters are used primarily to drive and validate white male agency.

The Christophers updates that dynamic without dismantling it. Lori is sympathetic and brilliantly skilled – but her function in the narrative remains pragmatic. Unfortunately, the film does not extend to her the rich interior life it generously grants Julian.

Given the restrained, emotionally muted role Coel is asked to play, Soderbergh seems more interested in exploring ideas of originality and pleasure than questioning: what is art? Why are some creators overlooked? And most importantly, who does the art belong to: the creator or the aesthete?

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Sir Keir Starmer is fighting to save his increasingly threatened premiership as he faces mounting calls to resign over a bruising set of local elections.

The prime minister said he took responsibility for the results, which saw the Labour Party lose almost 1,500 councillor seats, but insisted he would not walk away.

He has faced relentless criticism of his leadership since he took office in July 2024, compounded by a string of U-turns and, more recently, the impact of the Peter Mandelson security vetting scandal.

The elections were widely touted as judgement day for the prime minister, and he was hit by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK snatching councils, some of which had been Labour for generations, in northern England, while Zack Polanski’s Green Party lured voters away from him in former urban strongholds, including taking control of some London authorities.

On Monday, Sir Keir gave a make-or-break speech intended to avert any leadership challenge and reassert his authority, but it was described by rebel backbencher Catherine West as “too little, too late”, and dozens of Labour MPs called for the prime minister to stand down or to provide a timetable to ensure an orderly transition of power.

Now cabinet ministers have encouraged Sir Keir to consider his position, opening a window for some rumoured Labour leadership candidates – some of whom are said to have been planning their challenges for months – to finally strike.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has been widely considered the most popular candidate, and allies say he has a credible plan to return as a sitting MP, a prerequisite for the top job.

Sir Keir’s former deputy Angela Rayner is also a frontrunner, alongside the current health secretary Wes Streeting.

Here, The Independent looks at each of the potential leadership candidates, while readers can also share their thoughts:

Andy Burnham

Popular among Labour MPs, party members and the general public, the mayor of Greater Manchester has been hinting at a leadership bid for months.

Recent YouGov polling puts Mr Burnham far ahead of any other Labour figure in popularity polls, with 34 per cent of Britons thinking he’d do a better job than Sir Keir.

Last year, Mr Burnham repeatedly failed to rule out a Labour leadership bid and has been regularly tipped as the leading candidate to take over should Sir Keir’s position as prime minister become untenable.

He was the focus of such rumours at the Labour Party conference last September, when he revealed that dozens of MPs were privately urging him to challenge the prime minister.

He is currently unable to launch an official bid as he is not a sitting MP, and has not made a public statement since Labour’s devastating defeat in the local elections.

Earlier this year, tensions came to a head when a parliamentary seat became available in the North West constituency of Gorton and Denton.

Mr Burnham put himself forward to run for Labour in the historically safe seat, but was blocked by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

Despite the government insisting the move was down to the potential cost of a Manchester mayoral election, critics accused Sir Keir and his allies of preventing the candidacy for factional reasons and out of fear of a leadership challenge.

However, allies say he has a plan to return as an MP. And his team is reported to have lined up an “impressive” candidate to replace him as mayor – potentially removing Sir Keir’s reason to block him.

Angela Rayner

Rumours about the Ashton-under-Lyne MP’s ambitions have been circling from the moment she resigned from Sir Keir’s cabinet last September, when it was revealed she had underpaid stamp duty on her Brighton flat.

Once the prime minister’s No 2, Rayner is popular on the soft left of the party and has been named as one of the MPs most likely to stage a coup.

Earlier this year, she launched what was widely seen as her clearest challenge to Sir Keir, when she warned Labour is “running out of time” to deliver change and cannot “go through the motions in the face of decline”.

Rumours of a joint bid with Andy Burnham were sparked after she met with the Greater Manchester mayor amid rumblings of a challenge to Sir Keir.

Working with the Greater Manchester mayor could prove essential for Ms Rayner, who is trailing behind him in popularity polls, with only 15 per cent of voters believing she’d do a better job than Sir Keir.

But there have been mixed signals about whether the former deputy prime minister wanted to oust Sir Keir altogether, or just rejoin his cabinet.

In December, the prime minister described Ms Rayner as “hugely talented” and said he would like to see her return to his front bench.

And in what was seen as a last-ditch attempt to secure his position ahead of the elections, Sir Keir reportedly offered Rayner a spot back in his cabinet.

However, her intervention on Sunday appeared to show support for Mr Burnham, when she told the prime minister that blocking the mayor’s bid to stand in Gorton and Denton was a mistake.

In a stark warning to Sir Keir, she added: “Labour exists to make working people better off. That is not happening fast enough, and it needs to change, now.”

Either way, it is unlikely she will be able to make a move until after the investigation into her tax affairs has been settled, which is expected to be in the coming weeks.

Wes Streeting

The health secretary is considered to be the most likely candidate to replace Sir Keir from within the sitting cabinet.

He is understood to have the backing of enough Labour MPs to launch a leadership bid, having recruited more than 81 MPs – the minimum required to trigger a leadership election.

Sir Keir was reportedly alerted to Mr Streeting’s intentions when a Downing Street staff member was accidentally texted details of his bid, including the “five pillars” of his campaign and his “PFG”, meaning plan for government.

In the centre-right of the party, he is a charismatic cabinet minister who is able to connect with the public.

Chatter about a potential leadership bid grew louder towards the end of last year, amid a briefing war targeting the health secretary over his perceived ambitions to succeed Sir Keir.

He has previously voiced his concerns about the direction of the government, and hit out at a “toxic culture” in No 10 when the briefings against him were made public in November.

Earlier this year, as questions around Sir Keir’s future reached fever pitch, the health secretary took the controversial decision to publish communications between himself and Lord Mandelson, which contained severe criticism of the PM’s economic and Middle East policies.

The publication broke collective responsibility and would normally lead to a sacking, but Mr Streeting justified it by saying it was necessary to deal with “smears” that had been made about his relationship with the disgraced former Labour peer.

The main obstacle facing Mr Streeting is the perception among some Labour factions that he is too far to the right of the party, and the general feeling that he does not have enough backing to launch a successful bid.

His public popularity ratings are also low, with only 13 per cent of voters thinking he’d do a better job than Sir Keir.

Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband has emerged as an unexpected contender to be the prime minister, more than 10 years since he led the party to defeat in the 2015 general election.

But in his time away from the leadership, the energy secretary has carved a niche for himself as the party’s top advocate for green energy and net zero.

Surprisingly popular among young people on social media, speculation has been rife that Mr Miliband is preparing an attempt to make a comeback as leader.

The recent Mandelson scandal has seen him grow increasingly critical of the government, telling broadcasters last week that he had raised concerns about the appointment with David Lammy at the time.

A Miliband supporter told The Independent recently: “He has the energy and enthusiasm. He is loved by younger members of the party. He is a new man from when he was last leader.”

Despite the noise, Mr Miliband has denied he is eyeing a leadership bid, and polling also suggests only 13 per cent of voters think he’d do a better job than the current prime minister.