Lindsay Clancy’s defence lawyer has stated that his client would not be able to emotionally handle a second murder trial.

Clancy, 36, is on trial for the 2023 killings of her three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months, in the basement of their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Clancy does not dispute killing her children but has pleaded not guilty to murder, with her lawyers arguing she was in the throes of postpartum psychosis and taking powerful drugs to cope with depression at the time, leaving her not criminally responsible for her actions.

After more than five weeks in court, over 70 prosecution witnesses and 10 for the defence, the jury has yet to reach a unanimous verdict.

Deliberations began on Thursday last week after closing statements were made, but so far no decision has been made.

Yesterday, Judge William Sullivan ordered the jury — made up of nine women and three men — to go home after pausing the deliberation clock at 23 hours and officially declaring a deadlock.

‘My understanding is that you requested to be excused until tomorrow [Wednesday] at 9am. I just want to thank you for your hard work and commitment,’ the judge said.

Clancy’s lawyer Kevin Reddington argues Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time of the murders, which is a rare mental illness that can follow childbirth.

Symptoms include insomnia, delusions, hallucinations, severe confusion, and dangerous thoughts regarding self-harm, suicide, or harming the infant. The condition is treated as a medical emergency.

Therefore, the defence state that Clancy could not distinguish right from wrong.

However, the prosecution claims she made a calculated decision to kill her children.

They also allege that Clancy deliberately sent her ex-husband and father of her children, Patrick Clancy, out on an errand at the time of the killings so that she was free to commit the crimes.

During the trial, Reddington — who has become somewhat of an internet celebrity over the past few weeks — has consistently told reporters that Clancy has found the experience harrowing.

Clancy has broken down in court multiple times, including wailing, ‘I can’t do this’ during testimony about the injuries her children suffered in their deaths.

The mother-of-three has also appeared vacant in court, often staring into space or holding her head in her hands.

When asked outside court on Tuesday about how Clancy is feeling, Reddington replied: ‘She had a flat affect, she’s sad.’

A flat affect is a total or near-total absence of outward emotional expression, even if the individual is feeling emotional from the inside.

Reddington also responded with an immediate ‘no’ when asked whether he thought Clancy could deal with another trial — a real possibility should the jury fail to reach a verdict.

Clancy, a former labour and delivery nurse in Massachusetts, pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.

Reddington has argued that Clancy loved her children, but committed the murders — before attempting suicide — during a psychotic episode where she lost grip on reality.

Clancy also claims she heard a man’s voice on the night of the murders telling her to kill the children.

Defence expert Dr Phillip Resnick backed this up, telling the jury that Clancy was ‘frankly psychotic’ when she carried out the killings, having experienced a command hallucination.

This is an auditory verbal hallucination where a person hears a voice that instructs them to perform a specific action.

However, prosecutors have said Clancy strangled her children with exercise resistance bands because she was depressed and tired of living, and made a conscious choice to kill them before attempting suicide by self-harming and jumping from a second-storey window.

The suicide attempt left her paralysed from the waist down.

Reddington also brought Clancy’s attempts to seek help for her worsening mental health to the jury’s attention.

It was reported that Clancy checked herself into a psychiatric hospital, and was ‘begging for help.’

Susan Clancy, the mother of Patrick Clancy, testified that her former daughter-in-law was ‘struggling’ and that they were ‘all concerned’ about her welfare.

Clancy also called a suicide hotline and was prescribed a cocktail of medications in the months before the killings.

Reddington says that these powerful drugs, taken to cope with her depression at the time, left Clancy not criminally responsible for her actions.

However, Avram Mack, a psychiatrist who testified for the prosecution, disputes Clancy’s psychotic episode claim.

Mack — who has since resigned from his job after testifying — told jurors that he believed Clancy understood what she was doing to her children was wrong when she killed them.

Ultimately, the psychiatrist formed the opinion that Clancy was suffering from a major depressive episode.

He told jurors: ‘While depressed, her mental state was relatively stable.’

What are the possible outcomes of Lindsay Clancy’s trial?

The jury has five ways to decide Lindsay Clancy’s fate, as deliberations continue.

These are:

• not guilty
• not guilty by reason of insanity
• first-degree murder
• second-degree murder
• manslaughter

Although Clancy was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, the jury is being allowed to consider alternative charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

If they find Clancy guilty of first-degree murder, which requires ‘premeditation’ or ‘extreme atrocity or cruelty,’ according to Massachusetts state law, she would face life in prison without parole.

If convicted of second-degree murder, she would be eligible for parole.

For lesser manslaughter charges, Clancy could still face up to 20 years in prison for each count.

There is also the option of not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, which is a complex outcome in itself.

This would mean a judge could confine her to a mental health facility.

There is also the not guilty verdict, in which Clancy would walk free. However, that is considered highly unlikely. 

If the jury returns with another note indicating they are deadlocked, the judge will likely consult the lawyers and read the ‘Tuey Rodriguez’ charge.

This is Massachusetts’ version of what is commonly called an Allen charge.

That instruction would encourage jurors to continue discussing the evidence and make every reasonable effort to reach a unanimous verdict. The judge would still remind them to not abandon an honestly held position simply because other jurors disagree.

If they tell the judge again that they cannot agree, that’s when the possibility of a hung jury and mistrial becomes even more serious.

Should a mistrial be declared, the case essentially goes back to the same status as before the trial.

Clancy would be charged with murder and would continue to be held at a psychiatric hospital awaiting a resolution of the case.

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Most types of ibuprofen can be accessed without prescription

NHS inform is highlighting when people may need to contact their GP or dial 111 after using ibuprofen.

Ibuprofen is available in various forms including tablets, capsules, liquid and granules. It’s commonly used to relieve mild to moderate pain, such as toothache, to manage fevers, and to reduce inflammation and swelling. Most types of ibuprofen can be purchased from supermarkets or pharmacies, although certain types require a prescription. Regardless of which form of ibuprofen you’re using, you should always read and follow the instructions on the label or leaflet.

Typical side effects of ibuprofen include nausea (feeling sick), vomiting, indigestion, stomach pain, diarrhoea, and constipation. NHS inform advises you should speak to a GP or contact 111 if someone has used ibuprofen and:

• they continue to experience pain
• they have a high temperature that doesn’t improve
• their symptoms worsen
• their symptoms persist for more than three days
• they feel unwell

People who should avoid ibuprofen

You shouldn’t take ibuprofen if you’ve ever experienced a severe reaction to aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), or if you have a stomach ulcer, or have suffered from one previously. You should also avoid ibuprofen if you’ve been using low-dose aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease, or if you have severe heart failure or severe liver disease.

Ibuprofen should be “used with caution” if you’re 65 or older, breastfeeding, or suffer from asthma, lupus, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, high blood pressure, kidney or liver issues, narrowing of the arteries (peripheral arterial disease), or any heart problems, such as angina, heart attacks, or mild or moderate heart failure. The same applies if you’ve previously had a stroke.

If you have any concerns about taking ibuprofen, you should consult a pharmacist. You can also contact your GP surgery or ring 111.

In a statement, DUP leader Gavin Robinson said: “A scrap metal recycling facility is currently on fire in the Harbour Estate. Belfast Harbour Police are currently assisting NIFRS and PSNI.

“A large plume of smoke is affecting parts of Inner East Belfast, including Victoria Park.

“Two fire appliances are currently at the scene of another fire at Clearway.

“Belfast Harbour Police are supporting the response and tugs have also been deployed.

“Residents in the surrounding area should keep windows and doors closed as a precaution if affected by smoke.

“Please avoid the immediate area and allow the emergency services to carry out their work safely.

“I’ll share any further confirmed updates when available.”

Defendant Frankie Nielsen was said to have initially sent sexually explicit messages to the secondary school-aged girl.

But his abuse escalated and he then went on to twice sexually assault her.

The girl has now described how she has gone from feeling “safe in her everyday life” to being “disgusted and too scared” to inform her family.

The long-term impact of Nielsen’s offending was heard at Newcastle Crown Court in the victim-survivor’s personal statement, which was read before the 38-year-old defendant was sentenced on Tuesday (September 1).

Frankie Nielsen given suspended sentence for sexually assaulting and communication with a secondary schoolgirl (Image: Northumbria Police)

She said: “I no longer feel safe. I still cannot walk past the place where this happened on my own and I have never returned there alone.

“My trust in people, especially males, has never been the same.

“My self-confidence has dropped very low.

“The biggest change in my life has been living with this trauma every day and trying to put it behind me.

“What the defendant did was wrong. He has given me trauma that I will carry for the rest of my life.

“I want the court to know that the harm did not end when the crime finished.

“It continues to affect me, my family and the way I live my life.”

The court heard that when arrested by police and interviewed, Nielsen told them: “I hold me hands up to sending some stupid messages”, but he denied the assaults.

Following a complex investigation by Northumbria Police’s Safeguarding Department, in January last year, Nielsen, of Bentinck Villas, Newcastle, was charged in connection with the abuse.

He was convicted of three offences, two charges of sexual assault and one count of sexual communication with a child, at Newcastle Crown Court, in July.

The case was sent to the city’s crown court for sentence, where Nielsen received a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

As part of his sentence, Nielsen will spend 10 years subject of notification requirements on the Sex Offenders’ Register, and he must observe the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for a similar period.

A lifelong restraining order was put in place prohibiting him from contacting or approaching the victim.

Detective Constable Kerry Kane, of Northumbria Police, said: “It’s clear that Frankie Nielsen is a sexual predator who has an interest in girls.

“As always, my thoughts and appreciation go towards the ‘victim-survivors’.

“Here, she has shown immense courage, from making that first report all the way through to sentencing today.”

She said: “As a force, we’ll relentlessly pursue justice against anyone who looks to take advantage of children, who are some of the most vulnerable in our society.

 “No-one should ever have to experience this type of offending, but please know if you have, we’re here and we’re ready to listen.”

Anyone who has experienced any form of sexual abuse, whether recent or non-recent, should contact police using the ‘Report’ pages on the Northumbria force website, or send them a direct message on social media.

Read next … more court stories from The Northern Echo, by clicking here

For anyone unable to report this way, they should call 101.

In an emergency, or if a crime is ongoing, the message is to always call 999.

Crimes can be reported anonymously, via the independent charity, Crimestoppers, by calling 0800 555111 or by visiting its website.

In this sixth and final part in our series on how the UK has changed in the past 25 years, we focus on tech, culture, religion and entertainment.

Media

Adrian Bingham, professor of modern British history, University of Sheffield

In December 2001 the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology published a report entitled E is for Everything? Public Policy and Converging Digital Communications. With “E” standing for electronic, prefixing everything from email to e-commerce at the time, the report outlined the rapid changes in the world of communications. It noted: “More than seven out of ten UK adults have mobile phones, over a third have home internet access and a similar proportion have digital television.”

It also observed, with a tone of wonder, the trend of convergence: “As faster internet connections become available to home users, it will increasingly become possible to view film clips and television programmes, listen to the radio and to play games over the internet on a home computer”.

How has the UK changed since the start of the century? From Blair to Burnham, from the dotcom era to AI agents, time has certainly not stood still. In this six-part series, a team of some 35 experts look at everything from defence spending to species populations to the rise of populism to try and make sense of the intervening years.

Twenty-five years later, this world has arrived and gone further than the report’s authors could ever have predicted. Indeed, looking back, the digital world of 2001 looks laughably basic: of the 39% of adults with internet access, almost all were using painfully slow dial-up connections.

We can identify four key shifts across the period. First, the UK has witnessed a dramatic decline of the print press. National daily newspapers were at the heart of British public life throughout the 20th century, and in 2001, sales remained substantial: The Sun’s circulation was over 3 million, the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror over 2 million, and even the Daily Telegraph had only recently dipped below 1 million.

Circulation data is harder to come by now, but the UK’s most popular newspaper now is the Daily Mail, with sales of just over 600,000; The Sun sells around half a million copies, the Daily Mirror 166,472, and papers like The Times, Daily Telegraph and Guardian less than that. The print newspaper is very much on life support.

The broadcasting environment has fragmented and globalised. In 2001, for the first time, half of UK viewers had access to more than the five terrestrial television channels, through digital, satellite or cable platforms. It was also the year that Sky launched its first Sky+ television recording box. Nevertheless, the broadcasting environment was still dominated by the big beasts of the BBC, ITV and, to a lesser extent, Channel 4, and governed by the daily schedule.

Twenty-five years later, YouTube has a bigger audience than the BBC, and UK broadcasters are struggling to keep up with the streaming giants of Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Apple. Viewers are now in charge: they have access to hundreds of digital channels providing more content than they can consume, and they can determine when and where they watch programmes through apps and catch-up services.

Spotify to the rescue?

The music industry has been transformed by streaming. In 2001 CD sales peaked in the UK – some 123 million were sold, more than five per household (the best-selling album was Dido’s No Angel. The threat to physical music sales was already clear, though.

The year also saw the launch of Apple’s iPod, a device offering listeners the ability to store around 1,000 songs in a pocket-sized device, while music executives were increasingly alarmed about the capacity for illegal file-sharing. The industry was saved by the rise of legal music streaming services such as Spotify (launched in the UK in 2009), Amazon Music and Apple Music.

By 2025, almost half of the UK population had access to streaming services, playing over 200 billion digital tracks – only 10% of music consumption was now through physical formats. Here was convergence in its purest form; even iPods died out because mobile phones became the device of choice for music listening.

Finally, and least anticipated by the authors of the 2001 report, social media has transformed the whole media ecosystem. Facebook and Twitter (later X) became open to the public in 2006, Instagram in 2010 and TikTok in 2018.

With the rise of internet-enabled smartphones (Apple’s game-changing iPhone launched in 2007), engagement with social media not only became supremely convenient, it has been hard to resist. As of 2026, 89% of adult internet users are engaged in at least one social media platform, with as many as 97% of 16-34-year-olds doing so. Two-thirds of users admit they sometimes spend too long on their devices, 40% that this happens most days.

In 2001 the UK media environment was still largely controlled by a series of key players, particularly the main broadcasters and the leading newspapers. Twenty-five years later, big tech (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Meta (Facebook) and Bytedance (TikTok) operate global platforms that enable individuals to consume, share and sell in their own personalised worlds.

These tech firms are now facing lawsuits alleging that their platforms are deliberately designed to be addictive, just as artificial intelligence is providing cheap new ways to generate endless fresh content. “E is for everything” is perhaps a more timely slogan than ever before.

Entertainment

Andrew Russell, lecturer in film and animation, University of Portsmouth

In 2001 the way we consumed entertainment felt broadly shared. Primetime television drew millions of viewers watching simultaneously, enabling endless discussion around the watercooler. Chart music defined the sound of the year, with compilations such as the Now series collating the most popular songs. Twenty five years later this sense of a homogeneous mainstream has weakened, driven by technological change.

In the early 2000s television scheduling mattered, and competing options were limited. Popular taste was dictated by broadcasters who largely decided what Britain saw, with audiences having few alternative choices. A show like The Office or Big Brother could become a cultural barometer in a way that doesn’t happen so easily today.

By the early 2010s this model was eroding. The rise of streaming services such as Netflix and BBC iPlayer placed less onus on terrestrial scheduling, allowing viewers to shift to a watch-when-you-want approach that encourages binge watching.

Now algorithms push content that services believe we would like. This has the effect of making viewers less likely to step outside their comfort zones. Overwhelmed by the huge number of options available, we tend to stick with what is familiar. Big hits have included teenage crime drama Adolescence (2024), as well as Bridgerton and Stranger Things.

Algopops

Music consumption has followed a similar path. The UK singles chart used to reflect what people were buying in stores. By the mid 2010s, streaming had transformed both how music was discovered and how success was measured.

Artists such as Lil Nas X or Central Cee gained prominence not through being played on radio but by trending on social media. A recent report from TikTok claims that in 2025, all 13 UK #1s had a viral TikTok moment first. Playlists have replaced charts as the primary mechanism of discovery. Just like with TV algorithms, this allows listeners to inhabit highly personalised musical worlds with limited overlap.

Thanks to algorithms, short-form content is playing a more pronounced role in our lives in the 2020s. Viral clips now seem to be as important as mainstream appeal. Social media makes us feel like this is curated, yet arguably we are seeing a flattening of culture. The tech author Kyle Chayka argues persuasively that media consumers now have very little agency because of the extent algorithms dictate our choices.

This has also had a positive effect, though, especially for musicians, with older songs finding renewed interest after viral exposure. Fleetwood Mac benefited from this a while ago, for instance, and the same thing has happened more recently with Dire Straits. Meanwhile in the world of TV, [German sci-fi thriller Dark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_(TV_series) recently went viral nearly ten years after it began.

Film consumption has gone through a comparable transformation. With 68% of UK households subscribing to a streaming service, these are increasingly the first port of call for moviegoers, with the likes of romcom Office Romance (2026, Jennifer Lopez) and the remake of action movie Road House (2024, Jake Gyllenhaal) among the most popular. Cinema attendance dropped from 155.9 million admissions in 2001 to 123.5 million in 2025.

This said, there are indications that blu-ray sales are increasing again with boutique companies such as the Criterion Collection and Indicator on the rise. Some see this as a form of cultural rebellion, with these viewers relishing having a collection on their shelves. Generally streaming is also of a lesser quality than a 4k disc.

Importantly, however, there are also instances where films have been censored on streaming services, from God’s Own Country (2017) having sex and nudity removed to The French Connection (1971) having a racist insult edited out. This feels like an especially pertinent issue with censorship of history seemingly happening in real time.

Lincoln Geraghty, professor of media cultures, University of Portsmouth

In 2001, 23 million viewers were asking “who shot Phil Mitchell?” in EastEnders in what was the UK’s most watched TV show of the year. In the list of the top 50 shows, BBC One took the top two spots, though ITV had the most entries. Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant’s The Office on BBC Two captured the nation’s attention with mockumentary hilarity, while music fans were introduced to pop group Hear’Say (including Myleene Klass), who were created on ITV reality show Popstars.

The two big franchise releases that year were Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. They dominated the box office and would set the pattern for years to come. Book lovers rejoiced in seeing the hugely popular novel, Bridget Jones’s Diary, adapted for the big screen, becoming the most successful non-fantasy film of the year.

Fast forward to 2026 and one might be forgiven for thinking UK audience tastes have not changed that much. Last year saw the release of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the fourth film in the franchise, which received a favourable score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

EastEnders showed its continued popularity and longevity by winning Best Soap at the Bafta Television Awards. Peter Jackson recently revealed that not only will there be a new Lord of the Rings film coming to cinemas in 2027 – The Hunt for Gollum – but there will be a second one some time after. It’s got the working title Shadow of the Past and is being developed by recently unemployed talk-show host Stephen Colbert.

By year’s end we will also have a brand-new TV version of Harry Potter made by Warner Bros and streamed on HBO (available in the UK through the likes of Sky and Amazon Prime).

So does this mean that a whole generation later, we have not changed our viewing and reading habits? Short answer: no.

Nostalgia is peak just now. In an era of global uncertainty, audiences are reflecting on more confident times. Through films and series like these, we see characters coming back, franchises rebranded and traditional formats reimagined.

To a similar end, popular offerings like The Great British Bake Off (since 2010), The Great British Sewing Bee (2013) and The Repair Shop (2017) are a shift towards lifestyle television that soothes rather than excites. It allows audiences to reminisce vicariously about food, fashion and favourite objects from their own past.

Having said all that, the types of stories we want to read and watch are similar to those on offer in 2001. Comedy and irony are still present: the American version of The Office (from 2005) was just as big in the UK thanks to Netflix. Romance is still romance, even if it has shifted to include reimagined history in Bridgerton (from 2020) and “romantasy” like the Twilight films (from 2008) and book series A Court of Thorns and Roses starting from 2015.

Tastes are more global as we have greater access to content across multiple streaming platforms and the internet. From Korea we’ve seen drama (Squid Game (from 2021), kids’ blockbusters (KPop Demon Hunters (2025) and music such as boyband BTS. We’ve seen Nordic noir – TV’s The Killing (2007-12) and The Bridge (2011-18) were global hits and adapted for other markets. And Japanese animation has appeared not only in cinemas (such as Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2021) but London theatre, where Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro has been very successful since 2022.

For the past ten years we have been intrigued just as much by retro visions of the 1980s seen in Stranger Things (from 2016) as what the series gave us in terms of horror and science fiction. In 2025 the latest episodes became Netflix’s most viewed Christmas Day offering ever. So even while we are told that audiences are more divided than they have ever been, the combined popularity of nostalgia and global series suggests that less has changed than has stayed the same.

Tech and culture

Steven Buckley, lecturer in media digital sociology, City St George’s, University of London

The internet made the world smaller, faster and more interconnected. It has given us the ability to access everything, everywhere, all of the time. But with this has come a range of issues that have helped make many feel disempowered and disconnected.

Multiple aspects of society have come to feel like a game. One example is the way people seek validation through likes and followers on social media, which has been shown to have a direct effect on their self-esteem. Combined with everything from trying to succeed on dating apps to more recently prediction websites like Polymarket where you can bet on anything, it’s not surprising the public feel disconnected from the real world.

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Back in 2001 it was far easier to have collective, watercooler moments through the shared experience of watching a particular TV event. Streaming networks and other digital content have enabled everyone to find content for their own niche interests, and less likely to have witnessed what our friends and family have.

This is especially true of news content, which we receive from an increasingly diverse selection of sources. The difference between younger and older generations is particularly pronounced, with younger people consuming content from a wide array of creators on places like TikTok and Instagram while older people still rely on traditional institutions like the BBC or newspapers.

This speaks to a cultural gap between the generations that seems far worse than a quarter century ago. The old social contract that “if you work hard, you can afford a home and start a family” has been broken in relation to today’s younger people.

Then there is the impending climate catastrophe. Younger people often blame it on older people, while it makes them feel powerless and not listened to, leaving many reporting feeling anxious and overwhelmed.

Large parts of the digital environment are now based upon meta-references and ironic detachment. There is now a generation with a “lol nothing matters” nihilistic mindset, who feel they might as well have a laugh while posting about the downfall of society.

Surveillance society

One final area where our culture has shifted is how our sense of privacy has been whittled down. At the turn of the century, we still assumed there was some level of anonymity online and that we were at little risk of having any of our actions caught on camera.

This changed with people’s willingness to hand over personal data to social media platforms, the introduction of digital IDs, and the fact that everyone now can record a video of anyone out in public. It has brought about a version of Orwell’s panopticon from Nineteen Eighty Four (1949), where not only is the state surveiling you, but corporations and fellow citizens are as well.

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Welcome to a world in which young people are now fearful of dancing in public. The looming social media ban for under-16s risks alienating teens further from attempting to find connections within society.

The question our culture has asked us over the past 25 years is “Could I interest you in anything and everything, all of the time?” Most people answered yes. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about the consequences.

Chris Rojek, professor of sociology, City St George’s, University of London

People now regard being attached to their smartphones and tablets as a standard part of getting from A to B. You only have to take a walk along any British street to see this in action.

In universities these devices have become a universal feature of lecture halls and seminar rooms. Here and in so many other parts of society, the first casualty is the art of conversation. Small talk and passing the time of day increasingly takes the form of texting and streaming. Online attention means bracketing out and devaluing physical face-to-face interactions.

Digital data flow has become the arbiter of facts and truth telling. If an authority challenges us for some reason, it is not the quality of our personality but the browsing and messaging history on our smartphone or tablet that is the best line of defence.

Unquestionably, digitalisation can make difficult decisions faster and sounder. But the effective use of the technology also depends upon digital competence. These days in universities we often work on the presumption that everyone has an internet account and a smartphone.

This may make sense when as many as 95% of British people use the internet, and the same percentage are estimated to own smartphones. But this still leaves 2.8 million non-digitalised citizens, most of them aged 75 and over.

Consider further the number of our fellow citizens that are classified as functionally illiterate: one in six adults, over 6 million people. An additional 8.5 million are estimated to have difficulties with reading. They do not have the knowledge or skills to fill in an online medical form, a job application, a council tax or passport document.

When I think of culture and citizenship in 2026 I often find myself concluding that the smartphone and tablet have become a prosthetic device. They enhance our communication skills and have become a precondition for full and effective citizenship. Conversely, they add new exclusionary dimensions to life with others.

Religion

David Voas, emeritus professor of social science, University College London

A question on religion first appeared in the census in 2001 (except in Northern Ireland, where it was being asked already). The results were a surprise: 72% of people in England and Wales selected “Christian”, considerably more than the 54% of adults classified as such by the British Social Attitudes survey in the same year. Perhaps Britain was a Christian country after all?

The census figure was probably inflated for various reasons and said more about the quasi-ethnic character of religious identity than belief or practice. Nevertheless, it led to some exhilaration among church leaders: having consoled themselves with the notion that Britain was at least believing, they now saw some hope that belonging – nominal as it might be – would persist.

That hope did not survive subsequent data collection. The Christian share of the population in England and Wales fell to 59% in 2011 and then 46% in 2021, according to the census. Using a slightly different question, the British Social Attitudes survey put the Christian share below 50% in every year since 2009, with estimates as low as 38% by 2018.

In Scotland, where the wording of the religion question on the census is slightly different and the tick-box options refer to specific denominations, the Christian figure was 39% in 2022; a majority of the population chose “no religion”.

The rise of religious minorities

Although the growth of “no religion” is largely responsible for the Christian decline across Great Britain, there has also been significant growth in minority religious groups. In 2001 just over 5% of the population of Great Britain was Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish or other. By 2021-22, the figure was almost 10%. The relative youth of non-Christians means that in decades to come their share of the overall population will rise to at least 16%, Muslims being two thirds of the total, even in the absence of immigration.

Northern Ireland is a case apart: nearly 80% of its people identify themselves as either Protestant or Catholic. Non-Christian religions are growing but barely exceed 1%. Non-religion is also on the rise in the province, however, largely as a result of Protestant disaffiliation, and reached 17% in the 2021 census. The major news is that Catholics now outnumber Protestants for the first time since the partition of Ireland in 1920-22, even using the “community background” measure, which focuses on which religion you were brought up in.

Of course religion is not just about identity, whether strong or weak. Belief and practice are important aspects of religious commitment. Some high-quality social surveys include questions on belief in God, life after death, and so on, and also on attendance at worship services and frequency of prayer. On nearly every indicator, religiosity is waning.

The engine of religious decline is generational replacement, not adult defections. Elderly people who are mostly Christian are dying out, and being replaced in the population by young adults who are typically less religious or non-Christian. Claims that young people are leading a revival of churchgoing caused renewed excitement among some church leaders in 2025, but the story was too good to be true. The evidence shows that the decline continues.

Interestingly, the royal family shows Britain in microcosm. The late Queen Elizabeth was a committed Christian. King Charles is interested in religion and spirituality but famously declared that he intended to be the defender of faith, rather than the faith. Prince William is well disposed to the Church of England (of which he will become the supreme governor) as long as he does not have to attend or think much about it.

In terms of religious change, the royals are just an ordinary family. Britain continues to undergo a long, slow secular transition.

The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.

An investigation has been launched

A woman was left “seriously injured in hospital” following a crash on the A10, according to Cambridgeshire Police. The incident happened at about 10am on Thursday, August 27.

A grey Skoda Fabia was being driven northbound towards Waterbeach when it was involved in a crash with a white Isuzu D-Max, with a cherry picker lift fitted on the back, heading in the opposite direction.

The driver of the Skoda, a 69-year-old woman from Milton, was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge with serious injuries, according to the force. The injured woman remains at hospital. The driver of the Isuzu, a 41-year-old man from Oakington, was uninjured and was interviewed at the scene by officers.

An investigation has been launched and anyone with any information, including dash cam footage, is urged by the force to report this online or by calling 101, quoting incident 152 of August 27.

He pushed the victim to the floor before biting her and kicking her in the stomach

A man attacked his former partner and continually breached a restraining order. James Upton was handed the restraining order in March 2024, which meant he was not allowed to contact his former partner or visit her home in St Neots for five years.

However, the 26-year-old breached the order by making several attempts to contact the victim. He also turned up at her house on different occasions.

During one of those visits, in February 2024, an argument broke out between the pair which quickly became physical. Upton pushed the victim to the floor, bit her, and kick her in the stomach. Upton also damaged the victim’s iPhone, smashing the screen.

He was arrested and charged with ABH and four counts of harassment – breach of restraining order, which he admitted.

At Peterborough Crown Court on Friday (August 28), Upton, of Coventry Road, Bedford, was jailed for one year and five months after the activation of the previous suspended sentence.

DC Madie Mayers-Brandrith, who investigated, said: “Upton is a very dangerous individual, who shows no regard for the law and the restrictions imposed on him by the courts. To attack his former partner in her own home when the pair’s young son was present is despicable so I am pleased Upton will now serve time behind bars for his actions.”

Terrance Howarth, of Westwood Close, Farnworth, appeared before magistrates charged with obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty on Wednesday (September 2).

The alleged incident happened on Thursday, April 23, on Plodder Lane.

Howarth appeared before Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court wearing a black hoodie with green pants, and denied the charge.

Prosecuting was Jane Deakin, and defending was Peter Cunliffe, appearing before the chair of magistrates, Yvonne Rooney.

Ms Rooney was on the bench with Carl Navarro and Karon John.

Howarth was released on unconditional bail and the case was adjourned ahead of a trial at the same court on Tuesday, December 7, 2027.

Ms Rooney explained the date is due to backlogs within the court.

If Kansas megachurch pastor and Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton manages to pull off an upset victory in his race for a U.S. Senate seat, he’d join a very small group. In the past 100 years, only incumbent Raphael Warnock of Georgia has accomplished what Hamilton aspires to do: serve in the Senate while continuing to lead his congregation.

Warnock has continued to preach regularly as senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta since his election as Georgia’s first Black senator in 2021.

Hamilton has made clear that if he wins, he would like to continue as senior pastor — preaching 12 to 18 times a year — at the Church of the Resurrection. With roughly 25,000 members in the Kansas City area, it’s the nation’s largest United Methodist church.

Warnock, in a video on U.S. Senate Democrats’ Facebook page, discusses how he melds his political and pastoral careers.

“They are both about working for people even as you walk alongside them,” he said. “I have always been engaged in a kind of ministry that takes you far beyond the sanctuary to the streets, far beyond preaching to the public square.”

Only a few other ordained clergy have served in the Senate

Aside from Warnock, only a few other ordained ministers have been in the Senate in recent decades, but none who strived to simultaneously lead a church of their own.

John Danforth, who served from 1976 to 1995 as a Republican senator from Missouri, is an Episcopal priest who also worked as an attorney and diplomat. In 2004, he presided over Ronald Reagan’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral.

Hamilton said in an interview that Danforth has been an inspiration and mentor for him.

“I talked to Jack before I got into this. I actually phoned him up and just said, ‘Hey, help me understand, how does this fit together?’” Hamilton said. “He and I share a lot about trying to bring people together, as opposed to dividing people, trying to lead from the center.”

Tim Hutchinson, an Arkansas Republican, was a Baptist pastor before entering politics in 1985. After serving in the state legislature and the U.S. House, he served one term in the Senate from 1997 to 2003.

Still serving in the Senate is James Lankford, an ordained Southern Baptist minister who has represented Oklahoma in the chamber since 2015. Before entering politics, he was president of a Baptist-run conference center and youth camp.

Many more clergy have served in the House

Throughout U.S. history, it’s been far more common to have still-active pastors serving in the House. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., for example, served 13 terms representing the New York City neighborhood of Harlem while he was pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church.

Other Black civil rights leaders who combined pastoring with congressional careers included Walter E. Fauntroy, who was Washington, D.C.’s delegate to the House, and William Gray, a pastor in Philadelphia before serving in the House from 1979 to 1991.

Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, who has represented Kansas City, Missouri, in the House since 2005, was pastor of St. James United Methodist Church from 1972 to 2009. His district, just across the Kansas-Missouri state line from Hamilton’s home base, has been reconfigured by GOP state legislators to jeopardize his chances of reelection.

On the Republican side of the U.S. House, conservative white Baptist pastors who have served in recent decades include Mark Harris of North Carolina, Jody Hice of Georgia and Ron Lewis of Kentucky.

One of the most prominent clerics in Congress was a Catholic — Jesuit priest Robert Drinan. A Massachusetts Democrat, he served in the House from 1971 to 1981 before stepping down. He dropped his reelection bid in 1980 after Pope John Paul II said Catholic priests would no longer be allowed to hold political office.

Drinan was elected on a platform opposing the Vietnam War, and had moderate views on abortion and birth control that differed from official Catholic teaching. He was the first member of Congress to call for Richard Nixon’s impeachment — not due to the Watergate scandal, but rather what Drinan viewed as the administration’s undeclared war against Cambodia.

There is no official count of all the clergy who ever served in Congress, but overwhelmingly they have been Protestants. Drinan is one of only two Catholic priests elected to Congress; no rabbi or imam has served there.

The first speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, was a Lutheran minister. He served in Congress from 1789-1797.

The first African American to serve in Congress, the Rev. Hiram Rhodes Revels, was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was elected in 1870 by the Mississippi Legislature to fill a vacant Senate seat as a Republican.

Other pastors are running for Congress this year

This year, several members of the clergy from each major party have been nominated to run for the U.S. House. The Democrats include the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a prominent Baptist pastor in Dallas, and two women currently serving in Iowa’s legislature — the Revs. Lindsay James, a Presbyterian chaplain, and Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran pastor.

On the Republican side, at least three current or former pastors – all evangelicals – have been nominated: pastors John Elleson, running in a Democratic stronghold in Illinois; Mark Harris, seeking reelection in North Carolina; and former pastor Tim Walberg, seeking reelection in Michigan.

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AP reporter John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

CAIRO (AP) — At least 22 people, including Egyptians and Jordanians, were killed Wednesday in a passenger bus crash in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, authorities in both countries said. Twenty-eight others were injured.

The accident happened on a road linking the tourist resorts of Dahab and Nuweiba in South Sinai province, the Egyptian Health Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said it deployed 20 ambulances to the scene to transport the dead and wounded to nearby hospitals. It didn’t elaborate on the victims’ nationalities.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said there were Jordanians among the casualties, without providing a toll.

The Amman-based al-Mamlaka public broadcaster reported that 10 Jordanians were killed in the crash. It said the bus was bound for Amman from Cairo when it overturned on a road between Dahab and Nuweiba.

The Egyptian health ministry didn’t elaborate on the causes, but local media reported that the bus overturned after one of its tires blew out.

Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. Speeding, bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws are the main reasons behind most of the crashes.

In January, 21 people were killed and 16 injured in a massive multicar pileup on a road near the southern province of Beni Suef.